New Livebinder for Grade 5 Virginia Science SOLs in Light and Sound

Check out what our group has curated for LIBS 605: Selection and Evaluation of Non-Book Media.

This Livebinder is by Wendy Nelson, Julie Welter, and Susan Whited.

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=1940499

Grade 5 Force, Motion and Energy

A tutorial on Symbaloo

Alysia Deem and I prepared this little tutorial on Symbaloo for LIBS 605, Selection and Evaluation of Non-Book Media. It's a cool, free tool that makes for an attractive set of visual bookmarks.

I will be speaking at VAASL this year!

I am pleased (and just a little terrified) to announce that my presentation "Lightning-Fast Tech Tools" has been selected for the state VAASL conference this fall. I will be presenting in a concurrent session not yet scheduled, Nov. 19-21 in Williamsburg!

A Fall 2015 update

Well, I have four semesters done and three more to go. I am taking three classes this semester. One is a teacher education class in which I have to complete a 70-hour practicum. I have been assigned to a kindergarten class, so that will be fun and exciting! I love kindergarteners. Of course, I have some trepidation because it has been a long time since my own kids were in kindergarten. At that time I did plan some lessons, crafts, and centers for class parties and Girl Scouts, but making spider lollipops out of pipe cleaners and Blow Pops was pretty low stakes. I am already madly pinning lesson ideas on Pinterest. Despite my placement in a regular kindy class, I hope the teacher will allow me to teach library-type literature activities to get some practice. But I am prepared to teach anything! One thing I am sure of is that I can handle the curriculum. Pretty sure I know my alphabet and how to count to 10.

My other two classes are a bit less interesting, but necessary. Technical Services in Libraries is essentially Cataloging 101. The history of cataloging is dry but I do like history so it is holding my attention so far. The second class is Reference and Information Retrieval. I have tons of experience in research so I am not too worried about this class as long as I dot my i's and cross my t's.

I'm a bit concerned I might need reading glasses though...the font on some of the articles I have to read seems awfully small this semester. This is what you get for being a non-traditional student.

Tech Tools Presentation

This is a Web 2.0 Conference Presentation I have created as my final project for LIBS 602.


 

Makerspace Bonanza at the MAKESHOP

Last weekend I visited the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh with my family. Four years ago when we visited, they had a makerspace in its infancy. To my excitement, the MAKESHOP (on Twitter: @makeshoppgh) is now a force to be reckoned with, and I had to share some of the pictures I took there. My 12-year-old daughter wanted to stay there all day!

Words and pictures don't do the MAKESHOP justice, but I was hoping the projects, storage ideas, supplies, and so forth would prove inspirational to librarians. Although the makerspace concept is different in a children's museum in terms of scale and budget (and the MAKESHOP is on an epic scale), many of the lessons are similar in terms of safety, supplies, supervision, and scope.

I was lucky enough to chat with the MAKESHOP's manager, Rebecca Grabman, who gave me permission to share her name on my blog along with the pictures I took. Her email is rgrabman[at]pittsburghkids.org. (Replace the at with @.) She is incredibly knowledgeable about makerspaces and making/learning research, some of which is supported by the Children's Museum. We had a fascinating conversation, and while we talked I was busy making a tiny house out of cardboard while my daughter sewed a bunch of grapes out of felt. This place will truly bring out the creativity in everyone. Go see it if you're ever in Pittsburgh!!

Here is part 1 of my MAKESHOP slideshow!

And because PhotoSnack limits the number of slides you can use, here is part 2:

A Blog to Watch

After viewing several blogs that were new to me, Will Richardson's really grabbed me: http://willrichardson.com

I took a class last semester about teaching social studies, and my professor spoke a lot about authentic intellectual work (AIW) and project-based learning. This seems to be what Richardson is interested in as well. His posts are extremely thought-provoking, and he challenges many of our base assertions about what school is and needs to be. He has his finger on the pulse of the need of education to evolve with the technological times. Very interesting stuff and one to learn more about.