Thing 20 Websites, Pathfinders, Portfolios and more

I started this module by reading "Things I Think Teacher-Librarians Should Unlearn." It is amazing that some of my peers actually think like this!
I am lucky enough to have control over what is available on my library page. Our district uses School Center for it's teacher pages. We do have a web master who controls the district and school web pages, but the teachers are responsible for their individual classroom pages. I have links to pages for the major research projects the classes do, but the main focus of my page is a link to the Online Catalog,  links to all the databases, and a link to a password protected Google Document with the database usernames and passwords. I change what databases have direct links according to the major projects the classes are doing at the time.
I looked at some of the Word Press, Blogger and Weebly examples. I particularly like the Weebly site with the Senior Project Demo.
I used wiki spaces when I was in grad school. We were assigned a collaborative research project and it was a great way to compile each group member's information for all to see. After reading "My Perpetual Pursuit of the Perfect pathfinder Platform", I think if I were to design my own pathfinder, I would use Google Sites. Grade 9 just received the Research Module for the Common Core Learning Standards. I have plans to make a pathfinder site for the Mythology research project for next year. I need to find out exactly how the teachers are going to adapt of modify this module before I spend time on this--hopefully over the summer.

Thing 19: Online Learning and DIY PD

I have mixed the activities together because I did a little bit of everything. I read "Why 20% is Good for Schools", and "Genius Hour".  I love the idea behind students and teachers having time set aside each week to pursue their own interests. I have found, however, because this is not common practice in our District, when high schoolers are given the option to choose a topic of their own to research, they have a difficult time getting started. They are so used to being told what to do and how to do it, they shut down when they have to make their own decisions. I looked at the Library Advocacy Unshushed course---that would have been a great course to take. I will watch for others like it in the future. I looked at Global Education DB eCourses.
I also registered for the Killing Dewey webinar scheduled for April 16th through WebJunction. I personally hate browsing bookstores because I am so used to how my school library is organized. I am hoping this webinar will open my eyes to other options.
I already have a kind of learning plan for myself for the next year or so. I am taking this course now;I am attending the SSL conference in Syracuse in a few weeks for the first time (and have convinced my district to give me PD credit for it); I am attending the Leadership Institute at Cornell in August for the first time (and will be receiving inservice credit for it); and as a SLMSSENY board member, I am helping SLMSSENY plan the 2015 SSL conference that will be held at the Doubletree in Tarrytown next year. If I survive the next year, I am planning to start taking some online Library and Information Science Courses for inservice credit. It is frustrating that I have to spend money to take graduate level courses for inservice credit, but the classes offered through our Teacher Center often don't apply to librarians. When the time comes, I will revisit this module for links to free courses and will have to do some creative writing to convince administration to give me inservice credit for them. http://cooltoolsforschool.wordpress.com/thing-19-online-learning-diy-pd/

Thing 18 Digital Citizenship

I really enjoyed this topic. That articles were very informative and hit close to home. My son is now a junior in college, but when he was applying to colleges, I urged him to clean up his Facebook page. He had pictures on there of him partying with his friends ( yes, underage) and making obscene gestures. He could not figure out how I knew what was on his page since he would not allow me to be his "friend". My point to him was that if I could get to the information, college admissions offices could too. The best part about this lesson learned, was that he shared that information with all his friends and they have been posting responsibly since.

I read Skills We Can't Teach, ASCD Digitally Speaking/Positive Digital Footprints, Footprints in the Digital Age, Digital  Footprints-How Big and Do They Stink, Is Your Schools' Digital Citizenship Practice pass or Fail?, They Loved Your GPA and Then They Saw Your Tweets. 
My school district gets a passing grade on the Continuum rubric at a "3" in that we block and filter social networking sites, but we do have a Digital Citizenship curriculum that begins in 1st grade. We also use Edmodo and Moodle, and students are required to post discussions in a responsible manner. I shared the links to the Digital Citizenship Education Site and the Digital Passport program with the rest of the librarians in my district. I also shared and printed up the Students Guide to Personal Publishing to hang in  my library.

Thing 17: Coding

I learned quite a bit reading through these coding materials and trying out some of the programs/apps. I looked at Kodable and Flappy Birds. I can see where kids would get a kick out of making their own game, and learn in the process. I will be honest here---we do not have access to IPads in my school, so I tend to skip right over the iPad apps. I did read "7 apps for Teaching Children Coding Skills." It is interesting to read how coding can be linked to literacy. I read about the Hour of Code and will share that information with the elementary and middle school librarians in my district. I read "Why Should Librarians Learn Python?", but I am still not convinced this is something I should be teaching my high schoolers. I think they probably already know way more about gaming and coding than I ever will. I read "Why Programming Teaches So Much More Than Technical Skills" and find this interesting with the push toward STEM. I shared "These Are Skills Students Learn from Coding" with our tech savvy Math teachers. I played around with Codeacademy animating my name. I was able to follow all the steps and found it quite easy with the step by step instructions. I will share some of the coding programs with my study hall students who play games on the computers. Maybe they will actually learn something useful.

Thing 16 My Pick: Novel NY Databases

I attended a one day workshop back in September about the NOVEL NY databases. I am scheduled to present this information to teachers in March during a faculty meeting, but I have not had a chance to organize the information into a 45 minute presentation. I took this opportunity to do so. Novel NY was started by NYS librarians in the 1990's to offer a state wide resource. Since NYS has a state library, we receive grants and funding for the databases. It seems like it is free to NYS residents, but taxes really support the NYS institutions. Librarians across NYS decide what databases are included each year. The first set of databases are provided by Gale Cengage Learning. I have tailored the presentation to my teacher's needs. The General Science Collection will be used for the Environmental Chemistry students to do their Oil Spill research.  The Health Reference Center may be used by Physical Education teachers and Health teachers for articles related to nutrition, health, and exercising. New York State Newspapers and Newsstand may be used by any teachers wishing to find newspaper articles for research or current events. The Social Studies/History teachers may benefit from US History Online, World History Online, and the War & Terrorism Collection. Guidance Counselors may find the Vocation & Careers Collection useful. A new database to the Novel collection is Opposing Viewpoints in Context. To get ideas for research, there is a Browse Issues tab which lists all the topics with information available in the database. There is a tab for Resources which provides resources for teachers, students,and librarians; a tab for Curriculum Standards allowing the teacher to browse articles according to which standard the article addresses; Citation Tools to assist the student in developing a proper Works Cited; and Advanced Search to look for a specific document type. Another new database to Novel this year is the Lincoln Library. This is very easy to navigate and the information provided is basic. Some topics covered are Biography, American History, Mythology and Science. One of the new ProQuest databases is Gannett Newspapers. We have access to 6 ProQuest databases, so by doing a power search all of them are searched at the same time. Click on the Publication tab to see all the publications that are indexed withing the ProQuest Databases. Teachers find this particularly useful when looking for a specific educational journal. The lase database is Grolier. The High School Tab has a News Desk with scrolling headlines, Our World offers interactive maps, Newspapers from all over the world. These international newspapers are useful for looking at different points of view on a topic. Pro Con offers two sides of debate topics. Lands and Peoples offers Culture Cross which compares statistics of two countries. The Educator tab leads to Go Tube which can be browsed for videos; Lesson Plans can be searched by standards, grade level, and subject--offers maps and printable organizers. There are other databases provided by NOVEL NY, but these are primarily the ones my teachers will find most helpful for their curriculum.

Thing 15: App-palooza

I do not have a Smart phone, nor do I have access to iPads. I did, however, read many of the articles and clicked on links to view how the Apps work. I started with "Library in Your Pocket". My students use Destiny, Easy Bib and Gale resources, so those Apps may apply to my students. We do have a Bring Your Own Device program in our school that has been approved for individual teachers/ classrooms. It has not been approved for the library, however, because of the space my students occupy and concerns about supervision. I am sure it would be okay for me to discuss the Apps, but students will not have access to the Wifi to download the apps while in school. I looked at the AASL Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. I passed along the information about Shakespeare in Bits-Hamlet to the English teachers. I printed and shared the Pedagogy Wheel linking Apps to Bloom's Taxonomy. This will help the teachers who do use devices in their classrooms to see what links to the standards. I read 43 Apps, Games and Websites and passed on the info about the Virtual Math Manipulatives Library to the chair of the Math department. I read Tools and Apps for School Libraries. I passed on the information of How to Make a Book Trailer to my district's librarians.I also printed out 100+ Google Tricks for Teachers and plan to use some of them with my classes that are using the library this week. This was not my favorite module, but I did learn some useful ways to use Apps in an education setting.

Thiing 14: Social Reading and Book Stuff

I was excited to see this module topic, because of course I love books!  I use GoodReads personally all the time, and have taught my book club members how to use it. I really like the recommended readings feature related to other books we have read.
I signed up for Library Thing, and Net Galley. I really need to spend some more time on them.
My library has eBooks through Gale Virtual Reference Library, which are searchable through my automation system, Destiny. I also have a few Follett EBooks that are housed on my Follett Shelf.
I have used OverDrive when I worked as a Reference librarian in a public library, and I use it all the time as a patron. I refer teachers and students to their public library when they want to download ebooks and audio books. I am looking into it for my high school library, but cost is an issue. I have approached the head of our School Library System to see if our BOCES may be willing to purchase it for all schools to use. I don't really think it is necessary though, because most students have access via their public libraries.
I have an account with BookBub which was recommended to me by a teacher who downloads their free ebooks every week. I also have Calibre on my PC. A teacher shared an EPub book with me, and I used Calibre to convert it to Kindle format so I can read it on my Kindle Fire. It is very user friendly.
I shared the information for WeGiveBooks with my District's elementary librarians. What a great resource. I also shared the ICDL information with our ESL/ELL teacher because she is always looking for books in languages other than English.
I read "The Next Big Thing: Social Reading", but didn't really think it is anything new, probably because I am already immersed in it...