Importing Records into Atrium

    Here is some handy information for importing records into Atrium: 

1.  Click on the attachment in the email and choose to “save” the file ( I generally save these to my desktop, but you can save it where you want as long as you know where it is later).

    2. Open up Atrium and choose "Catalog".

3. Click "Import MARC file".

4. Click "Browse".

5. Navigate to the file you saved earlier.

6. Click "Continue".

7. Then you should get the confirmation screen. You then click the "blue" words: Review Imported Bibliographic". You will see a screen that looks like a "report" screen that says "View Imported Bibliographic".

8. Now click "edit" and add holdings by inputting a barcode for each record. Rather tedious but necessary. If you are importing records for e-books, go back to step 4 and choose "Import MARC E-book File" and follow the next steps. There will be no need to input barcode numbers.

For a document with screenshots, please e-mail dstaton@jefcoed.com

Postermaker site

Kids are visual, and creative posters can be the best effort we can make to help them understand announcements, details of events, etc.

BigHugeLabs and Glogster are among the most useful sites out there to help with the visual cause!

Digital Learning Day - February 6

Alabama is celebrating Digital Learning Month, but the official Digital Learning Day is Wednesday, February 6.

My library will be celebrating on Tuesday with an afternoon BYOD - Bring Your Own Device Day. The library will be open from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. Students can bring snacks and I am supplying the lemonade. Up to 40 students can sign up.

One of my library aides made a huge sign with butcher paper to advertise the event and hung it in the hallway. She then taped up a sign-up sheet with a pen taped to the wall. So far 30 students have signed up and the pen has not disappeared!

We are going to share information about great Apps and I will talk for one minute about Internet safety. The rest is up to them!

Please share what you are doing for digital learning day!

CBS 42 One Class At a Time Grants

Are you in the market for a grant?

 

Alabama teachers can apply for a $1,000 grant for classroom supplies, software, or other "educational necessities online at CBS News online.

 

It is simple to fill out the application. It literally takes less than a planning period!

 

So, what do your students need to be successful? Good luck, everyone!

 

Need ideas?

 

Books for teen book clubs

 

Software for learning

 

Art Supplies

 

Technology

 

I-Pad or I-Pad mini

 

Digital Cameras

 

Easy Readers

 

Hip-Hop Genre Books

 

Common Core Books

 

 

 



eLearning Opportunities

Alabama has developed a wonderful system for online PD. eLearning for Educators is a web-based system in which teachers can sign up for courses using STIPD, then participate in 6-week online courses that offer up to 30 hours of professional development. It also meshes nicely with Educate Alabama, so when you are determining your areas of growth for the year, try an eLearning course. 

There are courses offered on everything from "Teaching Students to Think Critically" to "Internet Safety in Schools." I took a course earlier this year on meeting the needs of English Learners in the classroom. I really enjoyed the format because the professor presented the class with our assignments from the first day, and we had complete freedom in completing each task whenever it was convenient for us. For me, sometimes that was at 2:00 in the morning; others, it was during my planning time. Flexibility is the greatest asset of learning in the 21st century, and that goes for professional learning as well! 

If you have any questions about these eLearning courses, please let me know. 

Alabama Virtual Library: Searchasaurus

Searchasaurus is the last in a series of posts on elementary resources provided by the Alabama Virtual Library. 

Searchasaurus is a fairly "fun" database for young researchers simply due to the dino theme. Kids dig dinosaurs. They just do. 

Once you click in to Searchasaurus, one of the first things your eye will notice is the categorical browsing capacity. Students can click on the icons for categories such as Animals, Sports, Stories, and People to learn more about what they find interesting. 

One of the second things you will notice is that there are 5 buttons at the top offering choices (Home, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Pictures, etc.). These are like what we call bread crumbs in Sharepoint and remain at the top of the screen no matter where you click within the database. This provides a handy anchor for young students. 

Teachers can also limit each individual student's search by Lexile level to ensure they are perusing content most appropriate for their reading level. 

Enjoy using this with your students! 

Getting Started with Twitter

Twitter is a wonderful source of information for educators of all brands. Librarians especially love it because it's a newer (kind of...it's been around for almost 4 years) social media technology, and because it is so easy to connect with other librarians and ed-tech folks across the state, nation, and globe.

Though currently blocked by our district's filters, you can get your Twitter account started by following these steps at home.

1. Go to twitter.com and click "Sign up for Twitter."
Choose your user name, password, and other account specifics. If this will be a solely professional account, it is acceptable to use your school email address. If you want to use it for any personal reasons, use your personal email address. You can only associate an email address with one Twitter account, so keep that in mind as well.

2. Choose your other account specifics. This is where you will want to consider how private you want this account to be. Many users prefer leaving their account open to promote more interaction with other people (teachers, librarians, etc.) For me, I never post anything I wouldn't want anyone to read (a wise rule of thumb in this information age, people!), but I do prefer having my account as private to keep spammers from having the ability to follow me without my permission. With a protected account, you have to approve each and every person who wants to read your tweets. If that sounds overwhelming, you may want to leave yours open. 

3. Now that you are all set up, you can start making connections. There are some great lists out there where you can find people to follow. Maximize what you get out of Twitter by following good tweeters. (Ahem, NOT those who overshare or tell you what they are having for breakfast.) We are keeping a list of librarians from our district who tweet (look to the right side column of this blog), so if you would like to be added to that, please do let me know and I will make it happen. 

4. Consider your profile. You have already chosen a user name, and you want to be sure to include just enough information in your bio to let people know you are legitimate but not so much that everybody knows all your beeswax. People won't want to connect with you if you leave your bio blank. They might think you are a spammer or some creepazoid surfing for "friends" and either block or deny your follow request.

 Here's mine:

5. Now it's time to get in on the conversation! start tweeting by clicking the blue box with the quill. Share great resources or links you have found, share ideas about issues or trends, and definitely post questions! I've received some seriously fast tech support/troubleshooting from my Twitter people. 

6. Here is an example of what your feed will look like once you've established some connections with other librarians, teachers, etc. 

7. Learn the lingo:

"Twitter" is the website/web 2.0 tool.

A "tweet" is what someone posts.

When you start a Twitter account and begin to use it, that makes you a "Tweeter."

Your Twitter user name is called your "handle." You always include the @ symbol before your name. (Ex: @mwilson518)

A "re-tweet" (symbol is RT) is when others repeat an important tweet. This might be someone's plea for votes in a classroom contest, or it might be a great quote about libraries. Re-tweeting is sort of like saying
"Yeah, what he/she said!"

A "mention" is when you have a conversation with another user (symbol is @ and then the person's user name, ex: check out Elizabeth Hester's reply to me in the third tweet above) or when someone mentions you in a tweet of their own. (ex: check out the second tweet above when BreakingNews mentions ABC, CNN, and AP media).


Well, okay! I hope this has been a helpful mini-tutorial. If you have any questions about using Twitter or want to know more about the value of it in education today (especially for librarians), please do not hesitate to contact me!

App-tastic

Here are some great resources to use with your iPads and iPod Touch devices!

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/apps-elementary-classroom-mary-beth-hertz

http://appitic.com/index.php?option=com_sobi2&catid=106&Itemid=309

http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/Digital+Storytelling

Philosophies of Teaching Keyboarding in the 21st Century

I've long since stopped believing that students should be taught keyboarding.

I can literally hear people gasping right now.

Don't throw your lunch at me or call me a techno-heretic just yet! Hear me out, people, hear me out...

My reasons are four-fold:

1. Keyboarding skill-and-drill practice takes time that could be spent on more valuable experiences with technology. (Example: Instead of practicing home keys or finding capital and lowercase letters, let students-even 5 year olds!-type a list of words that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Have older students type reports, blog posts, comments on other blog posts, etc.) I'm not saying never give them a few minutes here and there on some sort of open-source software, but for the love of Pete don't take your 45-minute lab class to make students practice finding j-j-j, then h-h-h, and so forth. Oy vey.

2. My own personal experiences with technology has proven that it just takes time and consistent connections to real-world tasks to acquire ease on a keyboard. I am a digital immigrant who was never taught keyboarding, and I have survived just fine.I believe that it is much more meaningful to give students more opportunities to type in context of their course content.

3. New technologies don't even utilize the classic QWERTY-style keyboard. If we're keeping our kids up to date with tech tools, then we're putting iPods and iPads in their hands.  

4. There really is no one "right" way to type. Whatever makes the user most comfortable and gets the job done most efficiently IS the right way for that person.

But you know what, don't take my word for it. Check out what these experts have to say on the subject!

And if you hate this philosophy of keyboarding (or rather, philosophy of NON-keyboarding), you don't even want to hear what I have to say about cursive handwriting (Which, from what I gather, was left completely out of the Common Core Standards)! ;)

Podcasting is not LAME

Hi!
I would love for my basic skills class to do a pod cast.  We are practicing open-ended ARMT items, and I think it would be beneficial if they could read their answers aloud and hear it back (so they can hear the flow or lack thereof).  I’m embarrassed to say that I have no idea how to do a pod cast.  Would you have time anytime this week during 1^st period to teach my students?  I will be in there to learn as well.  I figured it may take one day of learning and one day to say it here and have them listen back to what they read.  I thought I’d let them fill out a little evaluation on how their answers sounded.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Lesli

...And here is where collaboration begins! E-mails such as the one above are music to my ears. For the last few years, I have been inviting teachers to podcast with me. It can take a while. Sometimes teachers are not ready to use the technology or they don't see a need for it...yet. Offering short workshops or demonstrations will resonate with teachers, though, and soon the e-mail will come!

Thanks to school librarian Valissa Burnham, Hueytown Middle, and The Alabama Educational Technology workshop on podcasting that I attended five years ago, I have the tools to podcast. I should also add Lisa Boyd, Jefferson County (retired) technology guru, to that list. I must admit - it took a village.

Here is what is needed to get started:

A download called Audacity and an MP3 Encoder called LAME. These files should be saved on your computer and you should know where they are (you can always search for them, if you forget).

This 7th grader is on her way to podcasting!

Many tutorials on podcasting can be found with a quick Google search, but I have my favorites for ease of use.

Podcasting can be used for numerous projects, but this particular one was used to record open-ended questions that students had written in preparation for ARMT testing.

So, podcasting is not lame. It's a great way to support teachers in preparing their students for testing and lends a bit of levity to the days ahead. Tomorrow we will add music to their words.

Interesting Thoughts about Technology and School Librarians

Doug Johnson is one of the Great Thinkers in the field of librarianship and technology. The Alabama School Library Association (then AIMA) hosted him as our keynote speaker at our 2009 summer conference. He was phenomenal!

Check out his recent post regarding school librarians, technology, and ethics HERE. 

Managing Multiple Devices

Just for kicks, I wanted to share with you all one little tiny techno device that has really made my life a lot easier of late.

I was browsing Pinterest one night as a treat between graduate work assignments and stumbled across this adorable USB hub shaped like a little pot of tulips.

I immediately pinned it to my "WANTED" board. 

As luck would have it, one of my family members saw the pin and gave it to me for Christmas. Sweet! 

Many of you may be using these little hubs already, but this was my first one. Okay, it's true that I like it because it looks like a pot of tulips...but I LOVE it because of the added convenience it brings to my use of various technology pieces throughout the day. Now I can keep my printer, scanner, barcode scanner, digital camera/video camera, and a multitude of other devices connected at once, whereas before it was a matter of figuring out which item to unplug in order to use its port.  

Pinterest + Contest = Fun!

*Today's post was written by Meg Brooke, one of the school librarians at Shades Valley High School/JCIB. 

OK, all of you “Pinners” in the Jefcoed library world. We have a contest especially made for YOU!  Michelle wroteabout Pinterest on a blog post several weeks ago, and hopefully several of you have started using this tool for curating your ideas as well as others’ ideas on various boards. I know that several of you are Pinterest addicts because you follow me, and I, you!  It’s a lot of fun, and I’ve learned so much from you and others in the Pinterest world.

I ran across Joyce Valenza’s blog post today, and got really excited when I saw that it pertained to Pinterest.  Say the word, and I’m all about reading anything Pinterest related. Rather than recap her post, I’ve copied and pasted it below so that you can read it and see if the contest is something that would interest you. If so, the contest rules link is at the bottom of Joyce’s post.

You can also view her original post here: http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/2012/03/07/syracuse-poses-a-pinterest-contest/

Good luck, and happy pinning!

 Syracuse poses a Pinterest challenge

from NeverEndingSearch by joycevalenza

I am beginning to love Pinterest as a tool for searching, exploring, and curating visual content.  Teachers and librarians are currently settling this visual territory with their boards of professional content.

In the spirit of Pinterest Challenges, the iSchool at Syracuse University just announced a forward-thinking, library-flavored Pinterest challenge.  Participants are invited to share their new library vision on Pinterest, the highly popular, visual (and pretty) curation network.

The Pinterest Contest for the New Librarianship is a search for a a few good boards that define and illustrate the future of our profession.

But, well beyond the contest itself, the resulting boards should demonstrate the value of this tool for creating communities of practice and visual professional sharing.  I am hoping it will create beautiful inspiration for us all.

Kelly Lux, Executive Editor of Information Space and Social Media Strategist and Community Manager for the iSchool, writes of the Pinterest platform,

"communities revolving around shared interests are creating dialogue that transcends borders. Librarians are using it as a way to build a collection of resources, organize display ideas and facilitate collaboration. The Pinterest community is a reflection of your local community—members include Moms swapping recipes, lifelong educators and professionals networking and making their experience a resource for others, young people building their careers and defining their lives, artists and entrepreneurs sharing their products and services."

Lux shares the example of librarian Joe Murphy’s boards

Source: learningtimesevents.org via Joe on Pinterest

To enter the Pinterest Contest for the New Librarianship challenge, submit your Pinterest Board URLs in any of these three ways:

• Tweet the @iSchoolSU using the hashtag #NewLibPinterest
• Leave a comment on their Facebook page under the contest post
• Share via your comment in the blog post announcing the event

Winners will receive a copy of David Lankes’ ground-breaking and provocative Atlas of New Librarianship.

Entries will be accepted through March 19th.  So start pinning your library future right now!

Pebble Go

Although the Alabama Virtual Library offers several good databases for elementary aged children, they can still be a bit complicated for the youngest students in our buildings. 

Pebble Go is the best database for early childhood that I've ever used, and teachers of all grades here at North Highland LOVE using it with their children. You pay an annual subscription fee to have access, and then you will be given a school-wide user name and password to use. Our PTA paid for it the first year, and I have used library funds to split it with PTA the two years we've had it since then. Because it benefits every child in the school, the PTA really enjoys using their funds on this service. 

If you decide to subscribe, begin sending home notices to parents with the school login information. Print each teacher a sign for their class with the user name and password printed, and post several in your library and computer lab. 

Here are a few great reasons my teachers and students love Pebble Go:

Pebble Go truly is created for young readers/learners. It has all the basic features of a "big boy" database, but in simplistic terms and clicks that even first-week-of-school kindergarteners can operate. 

There are 3 different individual databases from which to choose (you can subscribe to one or all three). We use Animals most often with the lower grades, but the upper grades like Earth & Space and Biographies as well. Each database is filled with categories and sub-categories of entries. Here is an example of what you would see in PebbleGo Animals: 

Students can choose a category of animals and then a sub-category until they find an animal they are interested in. Most article have a "Watch" button, which students can click to view a short video of the animal in action. Each article also has a button students can click to have the article read to them aloud. Hyperlinked words provide students with definitions to unfamiliar terms as well. 

Click here to see how easy it is for a student to click on a video! 

Each article also has printing capability and citation support, which will generate a citation for students to use in reporting their research. It's always good to promote ethical use of information even from the very beginning! 

If you have any questions about Pebble Go or would like to order it for your school, I can direct you to the vendor who represents this company in our area. Just shoot me an email! 

Alabama Virtual Library: Britannica Learning Zone

Another of our gems in the Alabama Virtual Library is Britannica Learning Zone. Though it is not searchable, it is a great database for the early childhood years. The interface is very simplistic and user-friendly. Once students "click to enter," they have four main categories from which to choose: Explore, Play, Read, or Draw. 

There are also several other content categories students may select. They include First Steps, I Can Read, Numbers, Sounds, Time, Words, etc. These scroll slowly across the bottom of the page, marquee-style to ease students' process of selection.  

One interesting feature is that once students enter BLC, the task bar as well as any additional open tabs are removed from the internet page, making it very difficult for the students to leave the site. I have a few little angels who like to click their way around the universe before I can stop them, so this is another very desirable feature for working with young children. :)

If students choose the "Explore" category, they can choose continents to learn about. Once they choose a continent, they can pick a specific area and one click will display a short video of life on that continent. This is an excellent feature for English Learners, as we work to build up their background knowledge about various topics. 

"Play" will take them to simple literacy and math games (instructions read aloud). 

"Read" will provide various words and definitions, with sample sentences (also read aloud). 

"Draw" is a more simplistic version of Microsoft Paint, but will permit printing so students can carry their work out of the library or computer lab. 

The only improvement I would suggest for BLC is to enable searching. Searching is the heart of information literacy, and even our youngest should be learning how to recognize and use search boxes. 

iPads

Apple iPads are quickly becoming infused in the technology program of many schools in our district. Priced relatively low with serious computing power, iPads are becoming the tool of choice for supervisors, administrators, and teachers. iPads are overflowing with learning opportunities for children!

 Here are some great resources to peruse when making a splash with iPads:

http://www.scoop.it/t/ipadsineducation


http://educationaltech-med.blogspot.com/2011/09/list-of-excellent-ipad-apps-for.html


https://sites.google.com/site/schrockipad/

http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/ten-sites-supporting-ipads-in-education-a-post-of-resources/

http://learninginhand.com/blog/classroom-ipod-touches-ipads-dos-and-donts.html


http://www.ipadcurriculum.com/

http://www.tech2date.com/40-ipad-apps-for-language-learners.html

https://sites.google.com/site/digitalstorytellingwiththeipad/home

http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/10/13/ushering-ipad-into-the-classroom.aspx

Screencastomatic

*This post is by Carla Leake Crews, one of the school librarians serving at Shades Valley High School/JCIB. 

In theOctober post titled Screen RecordingTools, Michelle posed the question “What other ways can you use/have you used screen recorders in the library?” Our library has recently used screencast-o-matic.com to create tutorials and capture on-screen information. It is web-based, FREE software that records everything happening on your computer screen while you narrate! After showing teachers how to use this site at one of our recent Teacher Tech workshops, teachers commented on how easy it was to use…. no email registration, no software downloads, and no file conversions! There are a variety of screen capture softwares available, including Jing, CamStudio, Screenr, and Movavi. But, I’ll tell you a little more about Screencast-o-matic since our library found it easy to use and within our budget. 

What you need:

1. For Screencast-o-matic, you need the most recent version of Java installed on your computer. See Java.com for downloads (Not sure if you have Java? The “Do I have Java?” button from the site’s main page can check your computer for the software and/or latest version).
2. A microphone. Laptops generally have internal microphones. You will need to attach an external microphone if using a desktop computer.

What to do:

1. Go to www.screencast-o-matic.com and click on the blue “Start Recording” button.
2. Fit the dotted lines around the portion of your screen that you want to record.
3. There is a menu bar at the bottom of the dotted box. You may want to adjust the recording volume before you begin.

1. Record your presentation.
2. Click “done” and preview your recording.
3. If you are pleased with the recording, you can choose to upload or save your video. The “publish to video file” option will allow you to save the video to your computer or jump drive.
4. Select the file type for your video. This should be determined by what program you will use to play back the video. For example, if you record a video on a MacBook, save it to a jump drive, and want to transfer it to a Windows machine, you want to select the “Windows Media Player (AVI)” save option. On this same menu, there are options for adding notes and captions to your recording. Don’t forget the SAVE button all the way down at the bottom!

Would those instructions be easier to understand if I showed you? Certainly! Here’s a brief tutorial: http://www.screencast.com/t/1ZZxeKtvVeH

How to share your video with others:

• If students will be viewing your video from school computers, you can save the video to a jump drive and transfer it to the student machines.
• If you want to send parents or teachers a link to your video, you will need a site to host your video: YouTube, TeacherTube, SchoolTube, etc. You upload your recording and then send people a link to the site so they can view it. Some screen recording tools, such as Jing and Screencast-o-matic, will also host your videos on their sites. Sometimes the hosting requires a paid membership (Screencast-o-matic’s Pro account is currently $12 a year; Jing will host a limited amount for free at screencast.com).
• Upload the video file to your JefCoEd SharePoint page.

Screencasting ideas for librarians:

• Create and post a video that shows students and parents how to register and log hours for Scholastic’s summer reading program
• Create a video demonstration that reminds students how to access the school’s OPAC from home or navigate the AVL databases
• Create and post videos for teachers that shows them how to use a new software or website

Screencasting ideas for students:

• Be the tour guide of a virtual museum – have students record themselves as they “walk” viewers through the online content of the Smithsonian Institute or Modern Museum of Art
• Create your own digital story – after using an online comic generator to produce comic strips or mini graphic novels, have students narrate their story

Screencasting ideas for teachers:

• Record lessons/PowerPoint slides with voice-over narration. Post these for students who are absent, students who need to hear an explanation more than once, or even leave a recorded lesson for a substitute teacher.
• Record yourself correctly pronouncing words that you have typed on the screen. This type of tutorial could be used with new readers, ESL learners, and older students who take foreign language courses.

The possibilities are endless! Anything you can display on your computer screen can be captured in movie format. Give it a try… you may end up adding “producer and director” to your job description!

Fillable Forms

*This post is by Valissa Burnham, the school librarian at Hueytown Middle School.

Creating Fillable Forms on Microsoft Word   (*Keep in mind that this will not work with Word 2003 and earlier versions.)

Click on the Office Button

Click “Word Options” at the bottom

Click “Popular” on the left side

Put a check next to “Show Developer Tab in the Ribbon”

As you create your document (or add to a document already created) click on the Developer tab at the top of the screen to add the areas that you want people to be able to change.  The buttons are found in the “Controls” group.  Hover over each button to see what it will do.  For example:  The “Aa” button will add a space for Rich Text. 

Once you finish creating the document, click on “Protect Document."  Then click “Restrict Formatting and Editing."  Put a check next to “Allow only this type of editing in the document:” Click the drop down box and click “Filling in Forms.”  Click “Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.”  It will ask you to create a password.  Do not forget the password you create, or you will not be able to edit the document.  

Once you have done this, people will only be able to edit the areas you have designated with the buttons in the Developer Tools.  If you need to edit the document again, click “Protect Document” then “Stop Protection." You will have to enter the password you just created.

Interactive Sites

These are great resources to accompany lessons on a variety of topics!

http://interactivesites.weebly.com/

http://karenogen.blogspot.com/

Offline Circulation

One of the coolest features of Atriuum is that even in the rare event that the network goes down, we can continue to manage circulation by using the Offline Circulation tool. This is an incredible piece to our circulation system because it means we never have to go out of the business of putting reading material in the hands of students and teachers who need them RIGHT NOW (isn't it always RIGHT NOW?)! :)

In order to use this feature, you have to download the application. To do that...

1. Log in to Atriuum and go to Administration and then click the link for Library.

2. Click Downloads, and scroll to the bottom section titled Utilities.

3. Click Offline Circulation Setup (Mac or Windows, depending on your machine). This is an executable file (.exe), so you will want to click Run or Open (not Save). From this point forward, I'll be listing directions for Windows machines, since that is what most of us are using. If you're on a Mac, well...a)You're awesome, b)You're on your own, and c)You can probably handle that. :)

NOT that all my Windows peeps aren't equally as awesome, of course! 

So anyway, up will come this installation wizard. Click Next. 

4. Select your installation destination (just click Next). 

5. Select Start Menu Folder (just click Next). 

6. Select your target icons. (Just leave everything as defaulted and click Next). 

7. You are now ready to install. Click Install. 

8.  Click Finish. 

9. Okay, just one more step and you will be ready to roll. Now you must configure your server settings. To do this, click File and server settings.  

Everyone's server name is the same: library.jefcoed.com

Your library name should be the extension you see in your Atriuum after library.jefcoed.com: (Ex: mine is library.jefcoed.com/norhes, therefore my library name is norhes) If you need help with this, I would be happy to assist you. 

Your user name is what you use to log in to Atriuum. 

Your password is what you use to log in to Atriuum. 

And Ba-da-Boom. You're in business!!!