Changes to Noodletools

I've talked before about how much I love Noodletools. Of all the citation generators out there, this site is the best by far because it teaches kids about citation elements instead of just doing it for them. Well, I got a video the other day showing some of the changes Noodletools is going implement this summer. They're making a good site even better! Check this out:

This too shall pass

Here is an amazing video.  A group called OK Go wanted to produce a video that would actually be distributed as a viral video for their song entitled "This Too Shall Pass."  They wanted a Rube Goldberg type of approach.  This video talks about the way the music video was put together--they had to restart it 85 times just to get a final video!  But the final one is really cool.  Check it out and see what you think.

Partnership for 21st century skills

I was a school design meeting earlier in the month and one of the websites mentioned was the Partnership for 21st century skills.  According to the website:


The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is a national  organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student. As the United States continues to compete in a global  economy that demands innovation, P21 and its members provide tools and resources to help the U.S. education system keep up by fusing the 3Rs and 4Cs (Critical thinking and problem solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and innovation). While leading districts and schools are already doing this, P21 advocates for local, state and federal policies that support this approach for every school.


Now is this an educational organization?  or is it an outside partnership? Because I get tired of outsiders telling those of us in education how things should be run.  But until I know for sure, I'm going to withhold judgement.

I do like this graphic from the site:

That's a nice way to look at  21st century skills students need.  I especially like the fact that information, media and technology skills are given such a high priority!

Common Core standards

I keep hearing a lot about this Common Core standards being adopted across the country.  Turns out that Texas is one of only 4 states that is not partcipating.  Wonder why?  Is it because we already have such a standards driven curriculum in place for our state?  Are our standards higher than the ones in the Common Core?  Or is it because our students are already tested to death anyway, so why add to it?  I don't know.

Seems to me a nation wide standard is a good idea to a point.  There are so many variations in funding, materials, building set ups, teaching methods,etc. across the country that I'm not sure how "common" the standards can be.  Now a disclaimer-- I have not studied these standards yet so I don't know too much about them.  And again, since Texas isn't participating, I hadn't really paid attention.  Guess I should! Time to go and do some research on this topic.

So if anyone out there reading this is from another state who is participating in the Common Core, can you give me some information?  Let me know what you think about this standard curriculum implementation.

WBNA followup

Well, I wanted to give you a quick followup to our WBNA 2012 project.  The look on most of the kids' faces was priceless!  They didn't really understand that I was giving away books to them with no strings attached! It was fun for me too.  Hopefully, we'll get to participate in this event again next year!

World Book Night America

So as I am writing this, today is World Book Night in England and the US.  Supposedly one million free books will be handed out across both countries today.  The idea is to find nonreaders and get them interested in a book, especially one that is free.

I have copies of Friday Night Lights to hand out--particularly to our athletes.  Since I got a boys' book, my assistant got a copy of Jody Piccolt's book My Sister's Keeper as a girls' book. I don't quite know what to expect as a reaction.  Will the kids like the books?  Will they ignore us?  Will they appreciate them?  I'm just not sure what to expect. 

If you are interested in finding out more about World Book Night US, here's the link to their website.  They have a nice blog and I'm sure tomorrow there will lots of stories about the books.  I also follow them on Twitter and have seen some really unique ideas for distribution.  Makes my idea of giving to our students seem rather tame!

Since this time of year is so busy I tend to write these posts ahead of time so I don't miss out.  But if anything fun or exciting happens during our book distribution, I'll be sure to let you know!

TLA presentation 2011

With TLA in Houston this year and with budget issues, I wasn't able to go. So I was reminiscing and remembered our presentatio from last year's TLA conference held here in Austin. I must admit I was pretty proud of it. I did not do it alone--my friend Zandra was right there with me. We were both so nervous! But we were talking about Libguides, one of our favorite tools so that made it easier. Once we got started, we just talked and talked. I wanted to post our Slide Rocket presentation here so I can hang on to a copy of it and also share with anyone out there in Cyberland who still does not know about Libguides.