Back to school, are you ready? I am and here's why

It's that time of year, back to school!  How many of us are ready?  We've read professionally, learned new web 2.0 or technology skills to share, and took advantage of the myriad of PD available, live and online.  If you did, good job; now is the time to figure out how to most effectively share this with your teachers.  Will you have a 10 for tech, a ten minute overview of a new tool you have learned?  Or maybe an enticing email teaser, if you plan with me you will find out about .....?  Maybe you are like me and you are a blitz bomber; just bound in to a planning meeting with "Ooohh, look what I have to share with you!  And, I brought candy!"  Whatever your style, remember it is not really professional development unless you use what you've learned.
Here's one great tool I use: Scoop It (http://www.scoop.it/).  You set up the topics you want searched, and this program culls the Internet for possibilities, puts them together in a magazine-like forum, and delivers it to your email box for you.  You then get to decide what articles/links work for you and you add them to your page.  People can follow you, I think this would be great to collect information for a particular course project.  In the past I have used it for "women in the military" when a student was doing a research project, I have a technology in education page, inquiry in library, and others.  I love that new material is collected and sorted for me; and it also provides a place to save this info so I can find it again!
Any great tools you have discovered this summer? Please share!

Summer of Personalized Professional Development

This is a great summer! No, not the hot, hot, hot weather, but all the wonderful opportunities to learn more and engage with folks about what I am interested in.  I have been creating and enjoying my own personalized PD, focusing on those areas I want to, not a district driven expectation.  Don't get me wrong, my district can do good PD, but still ... 
In June I attended ALA in Anaheim, great!  Went to sessions about new databases (yes, I am geeky that way!), listened to publishers talking about what new books would be coming out in the fall, and wandered the vendor hall chatting individually with those businesses I had an interest in.  I also got to meet and talk with my ALSC committee members with whom I will be working for the next two years (Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Videos). I came home with a suitcase full of books, which I am currently reading my way through, and a year's subscription to some ABC-Clio databases. 
In July I was back on the road to the Mazza Institute at the Findlay University (Ohio).  This is a week of illustrators and authors sharing what they do with additional breakout sessions by folks that related to teaching and learning.  (I actually got to hear Mary Higgins Clark, what a hoot! And David Diaz, and Wendell and Florence Minor!)If you don't know about the Mazza Museum, it is an amazing collection of illustrator art and the picture books they came from.  My kind of museum with original art and the artists I know, children's illustrators, and the book the art was from.  Gorgeous, amazing, and wonderful; I love it there! Here is the link to learn more about it: http://www.findlay.edu/offices/resources/mazza/default.htm
Also in July I was able to attend a wonderful one day Library Symposium held at Kent State.  I heard Candace Fleming and Shelley Pearsall (maybe I will give historical fiction and biographies a better look this year!) as well as some great sessions of web resources and a wonderful session about new young adult titles.   If you didn't know it before, yes I am a geeky girl who loves to spend her free time learning.  But why not?  I get to talk to people who are interested in the same things I am, I get my professional batteries recharged, and I always come away happy.
This first week of August finds me at another conference, this time it is held at my own high school.  It is an Innovative Learning Conference that has been held for the past few years and is getting larger each time.  Yesterday I heard Will Richardson (twice!), learned some new tips and tricks from the great folks at INFOhio, and co-presented a session myself.  I will be back there today, ready for more fun summer vacation opportunities!
How do you spend your summer vacation?

Happenings at the library ranch!!

Haven't heard from me in a while?  That's because the media center has been crazy busy.  Was it just last September that I wondered whether anyone would use the library in a collaborative manner -- well, let me tell you, times have changed!  I am working with English teachers on a novel unit, with my own group of students I am blogging with (and yes, I am grading my part of the unit), math teachers with whom I have created a PBL unit (so cool, they are creating 21st learning tools) so there are geometry students using all manner of technology and teamwork to create this learning tool, and a marketing plan as well. ELL students are creating book talk videos for our Destiny catalog, and my Student Advisory board is beginning all kinds of projects.  Add to this mix those beloved study hall students who talk about how much they love to be in the media center to work (translation, socialize) because the atmosphere is a happy place -- one period today I had 90+ learners creating that special buzz that comes with active learning!  Happy, crazy days at the library ranch!  I think I am starting to build an authentic learning commons, the variety of  uses of the media center dictates how things are arranged and what type of learning grouping are working.  Students love to stop by the circ desk to talk, make book suggestions, and talk about additions they think would make the library better.   What fun to hear these ideas, and even better when I can implement some of them.
I am trying to catch up on my reading as well, but I have to say it takes a lot longer to read those full length novels than those 32 page picture books!  I have a long list of books to be read, again complements of the students and their passion for sharing!  (Of course, I just added the newest award winners to my list of books to read!)
With all of this activity, am I happy?  Yes.  Satisfied with my media program? No way!  I still need to get teachers to include me in the collaborative planning, integration of technology for 21st century learning, include pre and post assessments that demonstrate growth in these areas, and more!!
Life is good, but it can always get even better!

Check it out!

http://bit.ly/r0HCtN



That is the QR code to the library media center survey.  It is done in Google docs, and it has a Bitly URL for those who can't access by SmartPhone!  Wow!  I now have all my new technologies done for the year!  OK, not really, but this is so cool, and so easy.  (I will give your the site address to do this and you can look cool, too.  Just don't tell anyone else, otherwise everyone will be doing it and none of us will be cool.)  I used the site, http://www.i-nigma.com/i-nigmahp.html to create the code.  You just title your Code and enter the URL address and, just like magic, you have one of these boxes.  Then I used

https://bitly.com/  to shorten the absurdly long URL address of the google doc survey, and PRESTO!

I'm back to my getting ready for school stuff now.  Book marks to be copies, new signage (Yes! using QR codes!) and the other hundred  assorted things that are not teaching but that make the teaching easier.

Don't you work too hard, either!

Ready for a new school year!

As I get ready to start a new year I am deciding what focus I want. Of course, I want to do it all; reading support, curriculum integration, cutting edge technology; but I know the reality is, once school actually starts, and the nitty gritty of daily life begins, it will be hard to stay out of a rut.
My current thoughts include: a rotating book display with student reviews (literacy), grade level teacher technology classes (technology), and monthy tech nights for families (community outreach).
Will I be able to follow though with all of this? I hope so. My overarching goal is to implement the AASL standards for 21st century learners; primarily concentrating on reading and inquiry.
Feel free to share with me any ideas you have for this year.