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Comment by silky Vyas on November 28, 2012 at 8:18am

Does anyone have an idea how to add URL's to the Netvibes dashboard 
??

Comment by Nell Fleming on June 18, 2012 at 7:21pm

http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com/group/library-services-for-deaf-st...

Deaf Friendly Web 2.0? Join us, we're new!

Comment by bj neary on February 21, 2012 at 9:25am

Awesome! Thanks for the new tool!

Comment by Denise Borck on February 19, 2012 at 10:19pm

 

http://www.bigreboot.com/images/cacoo_logo.gif

Cacoo is a free online diagraming tool which allows real-time collaboration. Teachers can sign up for a free Academic Plan which allows them to add student users. *Please note the Academic Plan is free through June 30, 2012 after which it will be half the price of the Team Plan.
The Project:
After studying Georgia's barrier islands for the term, students used Cacoo to create a food web of native plants and animals. The class was divided into groups of four students. All four students in each group had individual Cacoo accounts and were required to work collaboratively via Cacoo to design one food web. As an added challenge, group members were not allowed to talk about the project but were required to “chat” online within their Cacoo accounts instead.
My Observations:
Teaching the kids how to use the program took half a class period as students caught on very quickly. We had a few problems with students returning permission forms, forgetting passwords, and one group not working well together. Since group activities and the guidelines for group work were very familiar to students, group problems were quickly resolved. I found no technology problems with Cacoo at all and will use the tool with future projects. I do wish they would reconsider the upcoming price increase for the Academic Plan.

Comment by Debra Farquhar on July 1, 2011 at 11:11am

@Susan, I suggest that initially you look at giving grades based on variance of checkouts vs. "average borrower habits, this class/grade" (perhaps weighted by reading ability/stage, i.e. whatever reading scheme your school operates). In my experience, the more switched on (often the more influential, too) teachers become curious about other data you might be able to feed into their students' diagnostics map and it creates an opportunity to  collaborate professionally. Most LIS give you the chance to suck such data out and spit it into an EXCEL spreadsheet and/or create special reports, if it not already there as standard.

This is a small step, but it can be very exciting, as it opens up professional discussion about borrowing habits, synchronisation of library classification vs. classroom reading materials and so, so much more. It reinforces that we librarians are teachers too!

 

 

Comment by Susan on June 30, 2011 at 1:55pm

I, too, am trying to transition to a mixed schedule.  I have proposed a fixed schedule for grades PS-2 and flex for 3-5.  We are an IB school & I am interested in knowing how the PYP programme fits into your flex schedule.  I looked at the upcoming UOI schedule for next year & did a "best guess" as to which ones I could provide the most/best support (based on my single year's experience) & have set aside time in the schedule for "UOI support" - 2 period blocks at a time.  It's not the best solution, of course, but I am also in the process of creating a secondary school (6-12) library at the same time & I can only provide so much support for the upcoming year.  I have the same questions Karen does - especially since we have a small space that can only accommodate one class at a time.  I included Whole School checkout first thing in the morning & was planning on encouraging grades 3-5 to 'pencil in' a regular time for their students to stop in.  Since we are also a pretty small school right now, I was also planning on monitoring students who come & who don't so that we can make sure they don't just 'blow us off', so to speak.  Since I am required to give grades, I am not sure how this whole proposal is going to actually turn out.  Any comments/suggestions would be appreciated.  Thanks

Comment by Karen Dumas on June 27, 2011 at 7:59pm

Thanks Michelle and Frances for the ideas RE flex scheduling. I do want to go into the year with a 'plan' and I think I will follow the advice to start with primary classes on a fixed schedule and the intermediate (gr 4-6) on a flexible one. I appreciate your cautionary notes RE those who do not engage and collaborate. I will be a little more proactive than I might have thought necessary. Frances, I am with you on wondering how to manage 'sign out' when others are coming into the library for other reasons. How are others managing this ? Does anyone use a 'self signout' tech solution ? Curious how that might work. I was wondering if book signouts are restricted to some blocks of the flex schedule ?

Michelle, thanks for the link to your Weebly web site. It looks so pro. I want one ! I like the streamlined look and the tabs across the top for users. I appreciate the advise. Small world. I lived and taught in Nelson my first year teaching. That was a long.....time ago. How is it working internationally ? I studied with a TL last year that was teaching in Russia at an Int school. She loved it. Thanks everyone for sharing. K

Comment by Michelle Rinker on June 27, 2011 at 7:02pm

In response to Karen's question about a web tool to showcase the library and student work (wiki or blog), I use a Weebly website and have found it to be effective. It allows you to embed video, I have my Library Thing and Shelfari on the page and can link out to the Edublogs, wikispaces, Animoto etc sites that my students are working on. My site is at http://isylibrary.weebly.com/ if you want to take a look.

By the way Karen- I am from BC too (near Nelson) but am currently working in an international school.

Cheers!

 

Michelle

Comment by Michelle Rinker on June 27, 2011 at 6:58pm

Thanks Cheryl for bringing up the issue of equity in the flex. Our school switched to a 3-5 flex two years ago and it has been great for SOME teachers who take advantage of the library but not all. As you mentioned, some teachers just never seem to book or show interest in collaborating and so unfortunately it's their students that miss out on the great opportunities that the flex has to offer.

To remedy this, next year I hope to work with teachers to schedule a full week with each class every quarter. Once it is on the calendar, we are more apt to sit down and talk about what would be a meaningful use of that time (research, book reviews, author studies... whatever seems to fit at the time). And so it has become a sort of "half-flex" in the sense that there is a set time but it is not the old 'weekly-drop-off' that seemed to be so disconnected from what they are doing in the classroom. I'm keeping fingers crossed that it will go over well with even the more reluctant teachers-

Cheers-

M

Comment by Frances Callero on June 27, 2011 at 5:19pm

Thank you for the information on flex schedules, we are just switching to a 3-5th flex and the teachers are a tad freaked out to say the least. I understand the project based situation. How do you deal with classes checking out? Is that scheduled? At will? Please dispense advice! :)

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