Back to School Conferences

All school librarians should make plans to attend the summer conferences for your respective grade levels in the coming months. We've not had the opportunity to participate in these before, but it is exciting to hear that we will be attending the same professional development trainings as our teacher colleagues. There will be special library-specific strands for us at each one of the conferences, so we will have the opportunity to mix and mingle with teachers as well as grow in our own field. Winner, winner!

Elementary: July 26 at McAdory Elementary School

Middle and High: July 31 at Pleasant Grove High School

Summer Siesta

LibraryVision will be on brief hiatus during the summer months. We may pop in here and there to advertise upcoming PD opportunities, but regular posts will resume in August. Feel free to use the search box or labels to review past posts on certain topics of interest to you...you may have missed something good during the very busy 2011-2012 school year! If you are a JefCo librarian interested in writing a post for LibraryVision, please feel free to contact Michelle Wilson via our list-serv or email. All are welcome!

Happy summer, library friends!

Friday Flashback (6)

Each Friday through May, I'll be posting some of our most popular posts from the year (judging by hit counts and comments).

http://libraryvision.blogspot.com/2011/12/igoogle.html
*Originally posted on 12.6.11.

Friday Flashback (5)

Each Friday through May, I'll be posting some of our most popular posts from the year (judging by hit counts and comments).

http://libraryvision.blogspot.com/2012/03/let-games-begin.html
*Originally posted 3.13.12.

Friday Flashback (4)

Each Friday through May, I'll be posting some of our most popular posts from the year (judging by hit counts and comments).

http://libraryvision.blogspot.com/2011/09/best-darn-websites-for-teaching.html
*Originally posted on 9.11.11.

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!