Reeling in Reluctant Readers - Booklist Webinar

Reaching struggling readers ages 10 and up

[LINK to webinar] 50 minutes

"Teachers and librarians are always looking for new ways to connect with children and teens categorized as "reluctant readers." In this free, hour-long webinar a reading specialist and literacy coach—along with representatives from Orca Book Publishers and Saddleback Educational Publishing—will discuss strategies and resources effective in reaching struggling readers ages 10 and up, as well as present books that combine high-interest topics with accessible writing. Also hear about new releases and best-selling series from Saddleback Educational Publishing and Orca Book Publishers. Moderated by Books for Youth associate editor Ann Kelley."

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American Libraries Live - Video Livecasts

New free streaming video broadcasts, AL Live

http://www.americanlibrarieslive.org/ 

The audio of this first broadcast is a little jumpy in parts; hopefully this will be cleared up in future episodes.

"AL Live, is the new free streaming video broadcast from American Libraries. In the first episode, author and ALA TechSource columnist Jason Griffey moderates a discussion on libraries in the near future, with an expert panel including Marshall Breeding (independent consultant, speaker, and author), Nina McHale (Web Developer at the Arapahoe Library District, Englewood, CO), and Rebecca K. Miller (College Librarian for Science, Life Sciences, and Engineering at Virginia Tech)."

The programs are easy to view; Future broadcasts include:

• Nov. 16: Library 2017: Tech at Warp Speed

• Jan. 10: Landing Your Ideal Library Job• Feb. 14: Mobile Services: The Library in Your Pocket• March 14: Library Safety and Security• April 11: The Present and Future of Ebooks

• May 9: Library Learning Goes Online

• June 6: New Technologies in Library Equipment• July 30: Discovery Services: The Future of Library Systems• Sept. 12: Digging into New Databases

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Online reading vs Offline reading - What is literacy?

What Is New about the New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension?

http://www.literacyinlearningexchange.org/sites/default/files/42936chap03_x.pdf

"It is clear that the Internet is this generation's defining technology for literacy and learning. It is also clear that classrooms have yet to take up Internet integration systematically, let alone instruction in the new literacies the Internet requires. In fact, those pioneering teachers who have led the way with Internet integration focus on the technology aspects of use, not seeing this as an instructional issue for literacy at all (Karchmer, 2001)."

This chapter (from NCTE's Secondary School LIteracy) prompts educators to think about the nature of "online literacy" and reflect on what we could be doing in the classroom to help students be more literate as they are reading and researching online.

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Open Dyslexic - Dyslexia Fonts

A font that increases readability

http://dyslexicfonts.com/

"OpenDyslexic is a new open sourced font created to increase readability for readers with dyslexia. The typeface includes regular, bold, italic and bold-italic styles. It is being updated continually and improved based on input from dyslexic users. There are no restrictions on using OpenDyslexic outside of attribution."

Listen to an interview about this font on CBC's "Spark" Episode 194.

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It’s Elemental | Chemical Heritage Foundation

Student-Created Videos and the Periodic Table

http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/online-resources/its-elemental/index.aspx

"It's Elemental"  is composed of nearly 700 videos submitted by over 1,000 student contributors from 36 states. (This site won the 2012 Best of the Web Award for Best Small Museum Website.) Students were challenged to submit a video that explained the origins, disovery and/or uses of one of the elements. You can view the results on the site.

This would be a great activity for students to try informally - create your own school based table of videos!

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Searching within a specific publication (magazine) in EBSCO

Finding that article in a magazine in EBSCO
(for a video version, click here.)

1) Browse to the landing page of the specific magazine you want to search. (You can use the choices available at this link, or search for your own title.)

The link is also available in your library catalog, under the visual tab with this icon:

2) On the upper right hand corner of the magazine landing page, you'll see a link to "Search within this publication"

3) Don't erase the existing search string in the search box, (this specifies the journal/magazine you wish to search)

After a space, add the following:  TX "wordyouwanttosearch"

(Note: there is a space after TX, and quotes around the word you are searching for.)

You could alternatively use  SU "subjectterm" if you know what existing subject term you want to find. (ie SU "space station")  The TX command searches for words as they appear anywhere in the text of the article (title and article contents.)

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Urban Legends Reference Pages

A reference source for myths, rumors, and misinformation

http://www.snopes.com/

As teacher-librarians, we point students towards definitive sources of information, and teach them about the weaknesses in crowd-sourced reference works. But how do you check the veracity of a rumour? Snopes tracks the stories that flourish and lets you know which ones are based on facts and which are fiction. Many of your students may know about this site, but it will be new to some.

From the website: "Welcome to snopes.com, the definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation. Use the search box to locate your item of interest, or click one of the icons to browse the site by category."

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