Thanks to freetech4teachers--I found this great site to make infographics. I love how infographics can be great visual displays of information, but I was never sure how to make one. Well, Easel.ly helps you do just that. The site has some premade templates you can use or start from scratch to make your own.
What a great way to end the school year--let your students choose a topic of interest to them, research (using library databases!) and put together an infographic to display their results. High interest, engaging and using researching skills--a much better use of time than a video!
The only issue I see is the site doesn't support IE, which is our school's default browser. But that's easily fixed by choosing another site like Firefox.
Wonder if I can convince some teachers to give this a try?
Friday, May 18, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Digital copyright slider
One of my fellow librarians sent this along. It's a visual representation to help you decide if an item is in public domain and it's from the ALA Office of Information Technology Policy. Very nice and very user friendly!
http://librarycopyright.net/digitalslider/
http://librarycopyright.net/digitalslider/
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Heroic Teachers
As the year starts winding down...and kids are all wound up...I think we all need a reminder about what we do every day. As the slogan says, "It's not just a job....it's an adventure!" This infographic is small but if you go to the website, you'll be able to see it more clearly.
From Educational Technology and Mobile Learning:
From Educational Technology and Mobile Learning:
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
All these Lives--Book Review
My most recent book review submitted to SLJ today!
All these lives
Grades 7-10
As a tiny infant she and her mother survived a horrible car crash. Hearing this story and others just like it have convinced Dani she has nine lives. And right now those nine lives may come in handy because her twin sister Jenna has been diagnosed with leukemia. Jenna needs a bone marrow transplant to survive, but Dani isn’t a match and can’t help. All she can do is sit back and watch her sister get weaker every day. Her feelings of helplessness come out at school, from a belligerent attitude to mouthing off to everyone, causing her to become an outcast among her friends. From Mom’s constant hovering to Dad’s secretive smoking, the entire family copes as best they can.
But after hearing a story about a cat’s nine lives floating out in the atmosphere to help other cats, Dani gets an idea how she can help. She’ll give her nine lives to Jenna. And so she embarks on a series of risky endeavors, each one designed to take one of her lives. And each time Dani watches carefully to see if Jenna improves at all. From almost drowning to crashing a motorcycle to swallowing pills, Dani tries to count down her lives. But what she doesn’t see is how her destructive behavior is causing her parents even more heartache.
At one point in the dead of winter, the family goes on a family camping trip and for a few brief days, things seem normal again. The parents even leave the girls alone for an evening, but the night ends disastrously. Jenna becomes seriously ill and though Dani handles everything from calling paramedics to getting Jenna to the hospital, she feels responsible. And she decides it’s time to give all remaining lives to Jenna by doing something seriously dangerous.
All ends well, and Dani learns the best way to help her sister is not to give up her own life through destructive behaviors but to be there for Jenna. Narrated in Dani’s somewhat sarcastic voice, the story shows how living with a terminally ill person affects every family member. Details about Jenna’s illness are revealed through the narrative as needed. Interesting without being syrupy, the story will show kids, who may be going through similar tough family situations, destructive behaviors are not always the best solution.
All these lives
Grades 7-10
As a tiny infant she and her mother survived a horrible car crash. Hearing this story and others just like it have convinced Dani she has nine lives. And right now those nine lives may come in handy because her twin sister Jenna has been diagnosed with leukemia. Jenna needs a bone marrow transplant to survive, but Dani isn’t a match and can’t help. All she can do is sit back and watch her sister get weaker every day. Her feelings of helplessness come out at school, from a belligerent attitude to mouthing off to everyone, causing her to become an outcast among her friends. From Mom’s constant hovering to Dad’s secretive smoking, the entire family copes as best they can.
But after hearing a story about a cat’s nine lives floating out in the atmosphere to help other cats, Dani gets an idea how she can help. She’ll give her nine lives to Jenna. And so she embarks on a series of risky endeavors, each one designed to take one of her lives. And each time Dani watches carefully to see if Jenna improves at all. From almost drowning to crashing a motorcycle to swallowing pills, Dani tries to count down her lives. But what she doesn’t see is how her destructive behavior is causing her parents even more heartache.
At one point in the dead of winter, the family goes on a family camping trip and for a few brief days, things seem normal again. The parents even leave the girls alone for an evening, but the night ends disastrously. Jenna becomes seriously ill and though Dani handles everything from calling paramedics to getting Jenna to the hospital, she feels responsible. And she decides it’s time to give all remaining lives to Jenna by doing something seriously dangerous.
All ends well, and Dani learns the best way to help her sister is not to give up her own life through destructive behaviors but to be there for Jenna. Narrated in Dani’s somewhat sarcastic voice, the story shows how living with a terminally ill person affects every family member. Details about Jenna’s illness are revealed through the narrative as needed. Interesting without being syrupy, the story will show kids, who may be going through similar tough family situations, destructive behaviors are not always the best solution.
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Most Read Books in the World: INFOGRAPHIC
Designed by Jared Fanning--the 10 most read books in the world!
Friday, May 11, 2012
Designing books
Here is a great TED video on the importance of book design--something as a reader I seldom consider. But obviously that's the point!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Libraries and Apple stores!
I ran across this article via Twitter--10 things libraries can learn from the Apple Store. Basically it says libraries should be run like the store--following the principles Apple has in place for their employees to follow. Having just spent a good deal of time and money at our local Apple store, I must say the article contains some interesting ideas.
Embrace diversity, don't try to sell stuff, enrich people's lives, spend as much time as necessary and above all, SMILE! All good business practices for a commerical business and more importantly, a library.
I especially enjoyed this article because it made me really stop and think about how we are approaching our "business" of the library, even at this time of the year. Maybe it struck me even more because it's near the end of the year and I need to be reminded of some of the reasons why I love my job.
Take time to read this article. It will make you think.
Embrace diversity, don't try to sell stuff, enrich people's lives, spend as much time as necessary and above all, SMILE! All good business practices for a commerical business and more importantly, a library.
I especially enjoyed this article because it made me really stop and think about how we are approaching our "business" of the library, even at this time of the year. Maybe it struck me even more because it's near the end of the year and I need to be reminded of some of the reasons why I love my job.
Take time to read this article. It will make you think.
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