#10-Technology Hardware-Introducing the Chromebook!

With so many schools going to a 1:1 student to device ratio, Google's Chromebook has become a popular purchase.  What is a Chromebook, you ask?  Basically it is a laptop computer, but the major difference in it an a regular laptop is that the Chromebook runs on Google's web-based Chrome OS, which is designed to be used with an internet connection.  Upon startup (roughly seven seconds), users find only the Google Chrome internet browser, which is the key to all apps and programs one can find and use on the web.  Everything is stored in the cloud rather than on the Chromebook.  Schools love them because they are cheap, durable, and offer the ability to control students access, to an extent.

In a K12 learning environment, Chromebooks are becoming the go-to device for 1:1 technology initiatives.  Teachers are using these devices to support all curriculum areas while they encourage sharing of ideas and information and promote creativity through the use of technology.  One of the mostly widely used features is Google Drive, which allows students to create, save, and share documents, slide presentations, and spreadsheets.  Another popular feature is Google+ which allows users to connect and communicate with others.  Possible applications of this idea are office hours for teachers or inviting guests to share (virtually) with your class.  Google also offers Sites and Classroom for education, which really appeals to schools because they are free, yes free...and help teachers to share and manage class content in an efficient manner as well as offer students the ability to collaborate on projects and to submit assignments...mostly with no paper needed.  Below I have shared some links to great resources on how to use Chromebooks in a K12 education environment.

Best Practice Use of Chromebooks

Chromebook Classroom (YouTube Channel)

30 Ways to Use Chromebooks in the Classroom (A Google Slides presentation)

Classroom Uses for Chromebooks

Chromebooks in Elementary School (ideas to take and use immediately)

Chromebooks are incredibly easy to use and manage.  Once started up, you may choose to log in with your own google account, or you may simply browse as a guest.  Chromebooks that are enrolled with a school's Google Education credentials allow students to access the internet under a manageable and protected filter.  Once logged in, the user has access to any and all web-based applications and programs.  In my school district, students in grades 4-12 are given student Google accounts, which they must use to log in to the Chromebooks.  The district can them monitor their activity and use.  Students in lower grades simply click on the district logo once the Chromebook starts up, and off they go.  Below are links to several getting started resources.

Getting Started with Chromebooks

Chromebooks 101 (a thinglink...excellent!)

Getting Started with your Chromebook (some ads, but a good overview)

Accessibility Features

Chromebook Training

As more and more school districts look to Chromebooks to fit their 1:1 student to device needs, I hope that the information I have provided will make the transition an easy and exciting one.  Please feel free to share ideas, websites, and videos for Chromebooks in the comments!  

#9-Free Choice-QR Codes in the Classroom

Something that I have been interested in trying is creating QR (quick response) codes and using them in the library.  Basically, a QR code is a 3-D barcode.  As they gain popularity, I see them everywhere...in magazines, in weekly ads, even at the National Junior Beta Club Convention. In a nutshell, a user scans the code, which links to information.  As I began exploring, I found some great resources to help me get started.  Kathy Ogen created this presentation to share a fairly simple explanation of QR codes and some really great ideas for using them in a class setting.  One of my favorites is to put QR codes on books to link to author information, book reviews, read alouds, or videos.  I would even extend this activity to have students create their own book talks to include.

Another great resource I discovered is QR Codes in Education, a LiveBinder by Steven Anderson.  He covers the basics with explanations, videos, and examples.  He also offers tools such as a QR code generator and scanner.  However, the best thing about his LiveBinder is suggested uses for QR codes.  There are about eighteen tabs linking to a ton of possibilities for using these codes in a school setting.  Some examples include using QR codes to tell a story and creating a scavenger hunt.

Gweneth Jones, a.k.a. The Daring Librarian, created an excellent comic tutorial to explain QR codes
.

I think QR codes can be a useful and engaging tool when used to fit a purpose.  Teachers can incorporate these into lessons, classroom management, and engagement.  Librarians can use codes to connect students to books and other information.  They are quite easy to create and to incorporate. Have you used QR codes...if so how?  Share your ideas in the comments. 

#8-ISTE/AASL Standards

Fortunately as librarians, we have standards to help direct our teaching to better encourage student learning.  The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) both offer such standards.  While the ISTE standards are easy to follow and user-friendly, the AASL standards are quite detailed and take a little more time to study.  I find both helpful for those reasons.  

As I plan for next school year, I have set a goal to develop a makerspace area, even if I start small.  With that in mind, I have reviewed and compared the standards from both organizations.  AASL Standard 4 covers personal and aesthetic growth.  Specifically, standard 4.1.8 says, "Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning." Although this is a general statement, it definitely applies to any and all makerspace ideas, which could help to persuade my principal to support this goal.

ISTE Standard 1 covers creativity and innovation and lists four specific indicators to encourage this type of learning.  I think these indicators will be most helpful as I plan for specific spaces to begin with once I have my principal on board.  For example, ISTE Standard 1.b says, "Create original works as a means of personal or group expression."  This would directly support a Lego station, or even a foil sculpture station where students do exactly as the standard suggests, creating original works to express an idea.

As school librarians, we have a responsibility to prepare our learners for successful 21st century learning and to create lifelong learners who are purposeful users of information.  In order to make this happen, we must use appropriate guidelines, such as the AASL and ISTE standards to hone our teaching.  While the AASL standards are more generalized, they do offer very detailed indicators.  The ISTE standards are easier to read and follow, offering more specific standards and indicators.  I find both helpful at various times, depending on the purpose.

Post #7-Web 2.0 Tools-Google Classroom

I am fascinated by the idea of transitioning to a paperless classroom.  If I was still a fifth grade teacher, I would definitely give it a try.  Over the summer, media specialists in my district were introduced briefly to Google Classroom, which is free as a Google App for Education.  This web-based tool offers a platform for schools to help create, distribute, collect, and even grade assignments without using paper.  The following video does a great job of explaining further:

In order to sign in, students and teachers must have a Google Apps for Education account provided by the school.  Once in the program, teachers can create, share and collect assignments as well as communicate with students.  Your Classroom account is linked to your Google Drive, Docs, Slides, etc. making it easy to share class content.  Students can access class content, collaborate with peers, communicate with the teacher and turn in assignments.  All of this can be accomplished without paper...isn't that amazing?

After exploring some this summer, I found the app fairly easy to set up and to use.  While I do feel that letting go of paper and pencil will be a bit scary, I think using Google Classroom will only enhance the experience of students and teachers as we work together, collaborate, and utilize new technology. 

#6: Free Choice...Accessibility

A recent class topic on accessibility has me wondering how I can make materials and information more accessible to my elementary students.  One particular student is visually impaired and requires special screens for computer use.  First and foremost, the library should provide the screen he needs to access our online catalog and various other resources used by the students.  The monitor costs about $350, which I could purchase with my technology budget.

I also plan to introduce him to South Carolina Talking Book Services.  This great resource offers over 70,000 downloadable recordings of books as well as Braille texts and large-print texts for free...children's titles included. Visually impaired students could use the audio recording to follow along with the text, or just listen for pleasure.

I also have one student who is hearing impaired, requiring that her teachers use amplifies in the classroom.  In thinking about how I could improve access for her, I researched You Tube's closed captioning feature as well as Jing for creating screencasts.  First of all, any videos I create will be uploaded to my YouTube channel so that closed captioning can be included.  This video from Heather Moorefield-Lang explains the process beautifully.  Although the process takes a few extra minutes, it is important to go that extra mile for my students.

Finally, for the many students who struggle with attention deficit disorder, I plan to use Jing to create short screen casts (five minutes or less) explaining various processes in the library from accessing Destiny Quest to DISCUS research and even sections of the library.  These screen casts will help those who forget easily or don't sustain attention in class when these lessons are taught.  Often students will not admit that they don't know how, so providing short videos will allow them the extra time and review on their own.

Accessibility is my responsibility.  After this class session, I think differently about my lessons as I plan.  Although there are so many ways to make information more accessible, I think the key is to get started...try to incorporate one new tool or feature until you are comfortable using it, and then add another and another until your users' needs are fully met.

  

Blog #5-Web 2.0 Tools-Ripped Apart: A Civil War Mystery

Picture courtesy of the National Museum of American History

Apps for teachers and teacher librarians are quite plentiful these days, but I still struggle to find things to support social studies and science curriculum for my elementary students.  I was thrilled to find a great app for social studies on AASL's Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2015 list!  The Smithsonian Institution has developed Ripped Apart: A Civil War Mystery, available for free in the app store.

 

This innovative product uses an inquiry-based approach to teach students about the Civil War.  Users participate as an intern in the National Museum of American History and must solve puzzles to unlock clues and make notes in a journal as they work to solve the mystery.  Did I mention that the app incorporates primary source documents?  With an amazing collection of historical photographs, the app brings a portion of the museum right into the classroom.  The creators shared a webinar to explain the reasoning behind the app as well as insight into its use.

 I downloaded the app and played around with it.  Puzzles and clues and even a creepy basement, oh my!  It was incredibly easy to navigate and totally engaging. Who doesn't love a good mystery?  Plus the bonus of learning content from curriculum standards make the one a real winner.   I would recommend it for upper elementary and middle school students as the content and reading level is more appropriate for those levels.  This best app of 2015 will be a hit with your students and teachers.

Post #4-BlogShare-Free Technology for Teachers

For those of you who love a good blog and are interested in the latest technology, I have a great one to share today.  Free Technology for Teachers (www.freetech4teachers.com) is an award winning blog written by Richard Byrne whose purpose is to "share information about free technology teachers can use in their classrooms."  I discovered it last summer as I was looking for ways to use iPads in my classroom.  Now that I subscribe to his blog, I receive updates on all of his posts.  Here is where I came across a tip on a favorite app of mine-Kahoot!

Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that allows teachers to create quiz questions for students to answer on their devices.  Points are awarded for answering quickly and correctly.  Believe me, students are completely engaged and excited to play this game.  I prefer to use it with teams of students so that they can work cooperatively to answer questions.  The only drawback is that it can take time to create quizzes.  Using others' quizzes is hit or miss, as they may not exactly meet your needs.  Free Technology for Teachers shared this amazing tip...you can duplicate and edit public quizzes!  What a time saver!  Here is a video Richard shared to explain the process:
I used these instructions to locate, duplicate, and edit a public quiz on Harriet Tubman.  Within in five minutes, I went through the quiz, deleted a question, added a question, and changed a question.  It was saved and ready to play within in five minutes...wow!  I am excited about this option to edit already made quizzes because I think it makes Kahoot even more useful to busy teachers and librarians.  And now I have a quick, fun quiz to review with my classes this week...not bad for five minutes, huh?  I hope you get a chance to check out freetech4teachers as well as Kahoot.

Post #3...Web 2.0 Tool-Smore

This week I am sharing Smore, a great Web 2.0 tool that I was introduced to at our monthly district school librarians meeting.  This easy-to-use service allows users to create online flyers that can be quite dynamic.  Our chairman uses it to create eye-catching agendas for our meetings.  When I say eye-catching, I mean cute, pretty, neat, organized.  We were all immediately asking...how did you do that?  Students and parents would definitely be attracted to the information you wanted to share.  Below is a brief video overview of Smore.  Notice how quickly a project can come together and how easy it is to modify.

A Cupcake Story from Smore on Vimeo.

Although registration is required, many basic features are offered for free!  The free service allows you to create and save flyers as well as a shareable link so that you can publicize as needed.   Although the service does offer limited backgrounds and templates for free, an upgrade is available to educators for an annual fee of $59, which is a bargain compared to $15/month for personal accounts.  The upgrade allows you unlimited flyers, use of all templates and backgrounds, the ability to use your own backgrounds, and tracking statistics.

My favorite thing about Smore is its ease of use.  Once I was registered, I created a flyer literally in minutes.  Once my background and template were selected, the website led me through each section.  The pictures were on my computer, so adding them to the flyer was as simple as uploading them into each spot.  Any information that I did not want to include on the template, I just left blank.  Serioulsly, this was so easy, I don't know why you wouldn't want to try it.

The possible uses for librarians and teachers include newsletters, web pages, announcements, and even powerful promotions for fundraisers or school events. Really the possibilities are endless, especially if you purchase the upgrade plan.  I was impressed even with the free options of Smore and plan to use this service for my monthly newsletters, announcements for faculty meetings, and I am going to investigate ways to tie it into my school webpage as well.  While I am not sure I will purchase the upgrade package, the shareable nature of the flyers makes them super easy to distribute, and think of the trees we can save! 

Post #2-Web 2.0 Tools-Quizizz

Quizizz is a free platform offering access to tons of previously created learning quizzes.  Users may also create their own quizzes.  Once registered, teachers simply select a quiz, generate a code, and share that code with students.  Students then access the quiz from their devices by logging in with the code and a nickname, and the game(so to speak) begins.

This app has been compared to Kahoot, with the difference being that Quizizz allows teacher and students access to questions, answers, and leader board on their individual devices. Another difference with Quizizz is the ability to extend the allowed time for students to answer questions.  In addition to an engaging classroom activity, the app also features a Play Live and Homework option for students to use outside of school. 

I found the app easy to use and relatively quick to access, especially if I chose a premade quiz.  Teachers would love this app when they wanted a quieter competitive review.  Students would definitely be engaged in the lesson and willing to try since their answers appear on their own device rather than on a screen for everyone to see.  Below is a video tutorial for this exciting new app.

Post #1-BlogShare-The Mighty Little Librarian

Today I am sharing a terrific blog that I recently discovered.  The Mighty Little Librarian shares library lessons on various topics as well as book suggestions and reflections. Tiffany Whitehead, aka The Mighty Little Librarian, is the school librarian at Central Middle School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Her dedication to the field has earned her the title 2014 Library Journal Movers and Shakers.

New and Noteworthy:  Nontraditional Shelving
I was surprised to learn of a movement away from traditional shelving of library books.  In her blog post, "Ditching Dewey,"  Tiffany explains her reasoning for adopting a new approach for shelving books.  Beginning with fiction, she arranged the books into genres...what a brilliant idea!  Terrifying to someone who enjoys order and typically does things by the book, but brilliant from a student standpoint.  She reports that her students love the new arrangement and feels that it, "opens them up to new authors in a way that traditional fiction shelving does not."  With no regrets at this point, she moved on the reorganize nonfiction titles by book industry categories.  This is definitely something to consider in the future as my students typically want to know where to find the _(insert any topic here)_ books. In order to put this idea into practice, I would likely start with fiction titles as well.  Because the younger students do not yet understand the concept of alphabetical order and often have trouble finding the types of books they want without assistance, I am very interested in categorizing the "everybody" or "easy" section...at least for certain series and high interest topics.  This idea of nontraditional shelving seems rather controversial.  I am not sure how middle school and high school librarians in my district would feel about students not having training in locating materials through our online catalog.