The Bookmark

There has been a lot of new EduTech portrayed on here this semester and I used Storybird to create a cute little book to reflect on the value of some of the apps I talked about. I was resistant of its charms at first, but I really like it actually! I did mess up though. I signed up as a student and because of that, I can't embed the link on my blog, but I do have a handy link below that will take you to it! Just click HERE !

So I love memes, (like a large part of society) and I try to use them whenever possible, but sometimes you have more information to share than what a mere meme will allow. For that, we have... comic strips! I test drove 3 websites that allow users to make their own cartoons and I have thoughts and opinions about them all. This first one was made using Pixton. Pros and cons, people. Pro: Pixton would be great for having students create a digital comic strip to represent something or summarize something. Con: The free version comes with next to nothing to work with. My comic person (who I THOROUGHLY enjoyed making and was fully customizable) is stuck in a dorm-like room because that was one of the 4 options available. If you are willing to buy the packs with more options, they run about $15 each. BUT, you can set up class groups on there and have students log into your Pixton account and create toons, so that's a big plus (especially if you can get your department to pay for some ...

Podasts are really popular now and it’s easy to see why! In a world where people have earbuds in most of their multi-tasking lives, it makes sense to listen to something that is informative or funny. Enter: Podcasts! As a librarian, you can use a weekly podcast to do book teasers, give a local school news cast, inform teachers about new edu-tech (I don’t know if that’s a word, but I like it) or literally anything else that strikes your fancy! There are quite a few podcast-creating apps out there, so you want to check out your options thoroughly. A couple friends and I (Shout-out to Christy Ta and Heather Cowham) did some research into what a library should look and feel like recently and here is our visually aided podcast sharing our findings.   Enjoy! This one was made with a combo of WeVideo and Podbean .  P odbean was used to create the original vocal track. It is SUPER easy to use and has a handy phone app that makes podcasting-on-the-go easy peasy lizard...

Hey there bloggers (and blogettes…bloggerettes?), The YouTube! So today I’m going to join the modern world and talk about YouTube in the library! I know lots of y’all out there (like me) think YouTube is a dangerous territory, which it can be, but it is also a valuable too. Who uses YouTube constantly? STUDENTS! What better way to share info with them than by using their own beloved communicative vehicle? I looked at a few neat videos posted by librarians and they’re sharing some really great stuff with a really wide audience! Here are some I thought would be a really valuable learning tool for the kids! This helps kids build a bibliography using GALE articles and easybib.  “How to Pay for College” walkthrough (Fearless FAFSA).  How to do research using Ebsco Host, (A skill I didn’t learn until halfway through college).  A graphic US Constitution review, since we know government can be…complicated. Here are some I really think the kid...

I don't know about you, but no matter how many times I see a screencast and think it's super-dandy, I still feel daunted by the idea of making my own. Why not? Well, aside from the fact that I tend to have a chipmunk digital voice, I don't even know where to start in regards to software! How much does it cost? How much digital space does it take up? Can I share it with literally every person I know (or is that excessive)? Well, here is a start. I checked out two screencasting options: Screencast-O-Matic (sounds like something from the Jetsons) and Screencastify (recommended by a techie co-worker). These can be used to show student how to do things for themselves in the library (tutorials that get requested a lot!), to help kids with homework even when you're not around! I definitely could have used a few of these videos in High School Calculus! Also, if you have a homebound student, the ability to send videos of what you're doing could be very beneficial! Here is ...

I used Piktochart (and Easel.ly for the chart) to create this infographic about an article you can find here . I started with a blank page and not a template so it was a struggle at first, but exploring it was fun.

This is 2019, the year of "anything is possible" right? Well I have found the light readers! I don't know about you but I use infographics in my class from time to time to help the kiddos understand various processes or concepts. I do it the "old fashioned" way: Microsoft Word! I used word to create syllabi, Greek god charts, storyboards, character maps etc. and it took HOURS to get everything to line up and layer correctly and then one piece would always end up on another page and make me cry. Those days are over y'all. OVER. I played around with 3 different websites that help users build infographics to use all willy nilly. The first is Infogram ! This site was very simple to work with and manipulate but didn't allow as much freedom with the templates as I wanted.  It did, however, have a lot of options as what what type of graphics you want to create. Reports, slides, facebook posts etc. allow this to be used for a lot of purposes. It is limited to...

Today we are going to be checking out how some libraries are using social media! Don’t be scared, social media isn’t all bad! The Facebook! I stalked, ahem, followed a few libraries on Facebook an was mostly really excited about what I found. Librarians are using their library pages to high light student achievement, enlighten patrons about month themes and new literature, show school spirit and pride and showcase literary stars of the campus and community! What a great tool for sharing! I can’t tell you how many times I have been scrolling through facebook hoping for some great, positive posts and here they are! Just follow a few libraries! My particular favorite was Liberty Junior High School’s page. They had everything! Kids, staff, community, PSAs and memes. What more could you need?   Twitter I ventured into the Twitterverse to follow the ideas of a few educational gurus. I struggle with Twitter, but I am slowly warming up to it!   A lot of the professionals I t...

So this post will not directly address a book like all the others have! In this post, I will be sharing a little bit of information about a thing called a "Feed Reader." If you are the type of person who enjoys following various blogs but does not always enjoy surfing forever to find them, a feed reader is definitely something you need! They compile the posts on as many blogs as you would like to follow and present them to you as a feed. Its almost like Facebook, but with blogs instead of friends. There are a lot to choose from so navigate them carefully and decide which suits you better. Is it IOS friendly? Can I rate certain articles to better narrow down new blog choices? Is it free?! Will there be ads if I don't pay? Is the cost worth the convenience? As you can tell, I ask a lot of questions. The feed reader I chose to try out was Feedly, largely because it is free but also because it reminds me of Google's email server which is easy for me to navigate. S...

Harris, Robie. (2014). It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health. Somerville, MA: Candlewick. ISBN: 978-0-7636-6871-6                 I have to admit that the amount of nudity in this book threw me for a loop at first. It seemed excessive but the more I flipped through it and read, the more I realized that it answered real-life questions that real-life kids have. It does say on the front, “for age 10 and up” and that makes sense. That seems to be the age where children have anxiety over things they don’t understand and are also developing in a way they might think is abnormal. It’s really important for them to understand that what is happening to them is normal, but that “normal” looks different to some people. This book definitely does its part to fight body dysmorphic disorders.               ...

Kidd, Chip. (2013). GO: A Kidd’s Guide to Graphic Design. New York, NY: Workman Publishing Co. ISBN: 978-0-7611-7219-2                 This might be the most user-friendly book I’ve ever seen. The pages have a pleasant weight to them. The colors are very well utilized to emphasize a point without being overwhelming. The fonts are chosen for specific purposes and then explained in each font.                 It doesn’t go into an extreme amount of detail on any one aspect of graphic design, but it does a very good job of covering the bases for a young reader who is curious about the topic, or career field.   It could also be used for project research and has a great timeline for the development of graphic design that shows how it has evolved. There is a LOT of information in this book. Just the images of various levels of DP...

Telgemeier, Raina.(2016). Ghosts. New York, NY: Graphix. ISBN: 9780545540612                 This was a really quick read! I let a student borrow it to read after STAAR testing and he read the whole thing that day! I thought he was fibbing until I did the same thing. The illustrations are great, very eye-friendly, and the storyline is very straightforward. The boy thought it was really cool and even talked about it with me the next day (he’s not even my student, he sought me out to discuss the book!)                 Basically, Ghosts tells the story of Maya, who has cystic fibrosis, and her sister Cat, who is dealing with the eventually death of her baby sister. They have to move to a place that is easier on Maya and her disease so they end up in Bahia De La Luna, translates to “Moon Bay,” which is known for its friendly ghost...

Palacio, R.J. (2012). Wonder. New York, YN: Knopf. ISBN: 978-0-375-86902-0                 Prepare yourself emotionally before reading this book. Go ahead, build that little wall that keeps your heart in your chest while getting lost in fiction. I did not get that warning. There were tears.                 Granted, this was a wonderful (no pun intended) read, but it still hurt my heart to vicariously go through a “normal” day in the life of August Pullman. He was born with a 1-in-4 million chance craniofacial abnormality. This means that he does not look like a “normal” kid. He never really describes himself, but he mentions his “cauliflower” ears, “melted cheese” features and “tortoise mouth.” The picture these comparisons paint is not a pretty one. Auggie never lashes out at the kids who make fun of him for looking the way he ...

Garden, Nancy. (2007). Annie on My Mind. New York, NY: Square Fish. ISBN: 978-0-374-4011-8                 This book struck me as very old fashioned. It is set in New York, but the behavior and language of the characters felt a little turn-of-the-century in a British way. Since it was written in 1983, the perspective and events were quite different than some of the other coming-of-age novels I’ve read recently, but the ridicule the protagonists faced was no different. It moved a little more slowly than I was expecting it to but, in a way, it mirrored the relationship between the two protagonists and how it developed slowly as well.                 Annie and Liza don’t know they are gay until they meet and fall in love. They feel like gay might not be the correct word for what they are, since all they know is the love they have f...

Gephart, Donna. (2016). Lily & Dunkin. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.   ISBN: 978-0-553-53674-4                 The first word that comes to mind after reading this book is: sweet. It deals with some pretty heavy subjects and still manages to feel sweet! The two protagonists, Lily and Dunkin (neither kid’s birth name) don’t seem to have a lot in common at first, but as we read, it becomes more and more obvious that they are not on the inside, what they seem on the outside.                 Lily was born Timothy and Dunkin was born Norbert. They both feel that those names do not represent who they really are though and they struggle with that throughout the storyline. The development of their identities is followed into troubled households, stressful school situations and the offices of various types of medical profess...

Bardugo, Leigh. (2017). The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic. New York, NY: Imprint. ISBN: 978-1-250-12252-0                 Ugh. Even the cover of this book is beautiful. It has a wonderful hand-stitched texture that reminds me of something that belongs in a museum behind glass.   Within this museum-quality book are 6 familiar stories, or at least 3 familiar ones. I had never heard of half of them, even in my Grimm page flipping youth. The stories are so beautifully written that it’s impossible to put the book down once you’ve started it.                 Among the three I recognized (eventually) were The Witch of Duva (Something like Hansel & Gretel), The Soldier Prince (The Nutcracker), and When Water Sang Fire (The Little Mermaid-ish). I loved the fact that it took me until the last page of t...

King, A.S. (2012). Ask the Passengers. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN: 978-0-316-19468-6                 Astrid Jones is real. She reads like absolutely real people and I loved it. She’s equal parts snarky and loving in her head. She lets down her parents. She loves her sister (even when her sister doesn’t love her) and she (thinks) she loves her girlfriend. She sends love up to people in airplanes soaring overhead and to people she sees daily. She’s got so much love in her that she feels the need to send it all outside of her so that she doesn’t have to worry about anyone taking it without her giving. The best part about her sending her love to them is that we get a glimpse of them receiving it! King adds the perspective of people on the planes she is sending her love to and shows how their lives are somehow linked to Astrid’s and how their clarity is somehow part of her growing clarity....

Zentner, Jeff. (2016). The Serpent King. New York, NY: Crown Books for Young Readers. ISBN: 978-0-553-52402-4                 I was reluctant to read this book and I’m not sure why. Something about the title had me fully mislead and I didn’t feel like reading something that was completely fantasy. I squinted suspiciously at it for a while before finally giving in and reading it. I was immediately draw to Dill and his very mysterious background (later Lydia explains that certain women find brooding men attractive) but not so much Lydia, who I pictured as a perky, pretty, smart, almost perfect type. I liked her better once I got to know her and her socially awkward, wittiness and her crooked teeth. Travis completes the protagonist trio and I adore him. He is his own person and doesn’t care that people might think he’s odd, which he is.            ...

Angel, Ann. (2010). Janis Joplin: Rise Up Singing. New York, NY: Amulet Books. ISBN: 978-0-8109-8349-6                 I’m typically not a fan of biographies. They have a tendency to be a little dry and to sugarcoat some of the facts to favor the subject. This is not your standard biography! It is full of pictures, both black-and-white and color, and is brutally honest about who Janis Joplin was and what she went through. Before, I wanted to party with her. Now, I want to give her a hug and tell her its ok to just "be."                 Before this book, of course, I knew who Janis Joplin was. I knew she was a smoking, drinking, drug-using rock icon. This book introduces Janis as a slightly rebellious frizzy-haired high school student in Glee Club. It turns out, she spent her entire (short) career feeding off of the love from her fa...

Stead, Rebecca. (2007). First Light. New York, NY: Random House Children’s Books. ISBN: 978-0-375-84017-3                 This book is like a childhood fantasy come true, (sort of). In it, there is a society of people living inside a polar ice cap! Did I mention that the society was mystically gifted with abilities like binocular-eyes and ears that can comprehend even speech patterns of animals? I know I always assumed that was what was going on in the North Pole.   In First Light , we are immediately alerted to the fact that part of this does not take place in the normal world we know of. A boy, Matthias, talks of paper being a sacred commodity in his land and suddenly we know that we are not in Kansas anymore.                 Matthias and Thea, our main characters, live under ice and the characterization of their city Gr...