BooksForMyKindle

Two Week Kindle book loan

Did you get a Kindle for Christmas? Would you like to be able to borrow titles from someone else's collection? Or lend books from yours? Check out www.booksformykindle.com  This site was recommended on LM-NET.

"Now you can loan or find your favorite eBooks in one free community of Kindle owners. Use our simple search to find that title you're looking for. Once you locate a member that has the book you're looking for, use our site to contact them to find out availability."

http://www.booksformykindle.com

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The "Fully-Loaded" Teacher-Librarian

Outfitting new teacher-librarians for the 21st century.

SLJ Blog from Joyce Valenza

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/printissuecurrentissue/888448-427/fully_loaded_outfitting_a_teacher.html.csp 

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Teachers' Domain - Video Streaming site

Try out video streaming by visiting "TeachersDomain" (http://teachersdomain.org):

7 free views, and then you can register for more access.

"Teachers' Domain is a free digital media service for educational use from public broadcasting and its partners. You’ll find thousands of media resources, support materials, and tools for classroom lessons, individualized learning programs, and teacher professional learning communities."

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Technology in the Classroom - Kevin Honeycutt

Some great videos collected/created by Kevin Honeycutt

(His Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/kevinessdack )

Join the kids on the 21st century playground

http://www.youtube.com/user/kevinessdack#p/u/19/YZGhpDbKxPg

http://www.youtube.com/user/kevinessdack#p/u/17/LqQmJ5BYopw

Tradigital Mini-Concert at AESA Conference

http://www.youtube.com/user/kevinessdack#p/u/1/WznL3FPxfBo

I Need My Teachers to Learn v2.1 (song)

http://www.youtube.com/user/kevinessdack#p/u/0/IBxdcJMNI1k

A repository of famous speeches

American Rhetoric

http://www.americanrhetoric.com

ALA review:

"American Rhetoric [provides] one easy-to-use, searchable reference database for all ages. According to the website, the online speech bank is an index to and growing database of 5000+ full text, audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews and other recorded media events.

While mostly American in content, and with advertising sprinkled liberally across the pages, it is nonetheless a good source of historical audio and text material. (There are also some international speakers represented: Blair, Gandhi, Harper, Queen Elizabeth, Benjamin Netanyahu, etc)

Rhetorical Figures in Sound is a compendium of  200+ brief audio (mp3) clips illustrating 40 different figures of speech.

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/rhetoricaldevicesinsound.htm

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Fact Checking Resources

Help your students get some perspective on how to read material in the media by taking a look at Fact Check Ed.

http://factchecked.org/

From the site:

"Not all information is of the same quality or veracity. Much of it, in fact, falls far short of the standards we’d like our students to learn and live by. Our aim is to help them learn to be smart consumers of information, not to accept it at face value; to dig for facts using the Internet, not to stop looking once they get to Wikipedia; and to weigh evidence logically, not to draw conclusions based on their own biases."

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Author - Illustrator Videos

The website "WatchKnow" has a collection of videos organized by subject area and grade level. The section on Authors/Illustrators features some interesting interviews with writers.

http://www.watchknow.org/Category.aspx?CategoryID=1114

Example: Author Kate DiCamillo Interview - Booklist

http://www.watchknow.org/Category.aspx?CategoryID=1377

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WatchKnow, authors,

Teaching Vocab so it sticks!

Doing it Differently: Tips for Teaching Vocabulary

By Rebecca Alber

Rebecca shares some recommended steps to make vocabulary instruction "stickier". She explains Marzanno's "Six Steps to Vocab instruction."

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Vocabulary,

Flashcards on your iPod Touch

iPod - Use it to view Flashcards

"Is it possible to use your iPod to study?  It is now!  Mr. Coley has created specially designed PowerPoint presentations that can serve as digital flash cards to help you review some of the concepts studied in class.  Using iPod's "Photos" feature, you can transfer the images to your iPod and study on the go!  How cool is that?!"

http://www.mrcoley.com/flashcards/index.htm

http://www.mrcoley.com/flashcards/flashcards_resources.htm

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flashcards, ipod

Using eReaders with students

Miguel Guhlin is currently the director of Instructional Technology Services for the San Antonio Independent School District. He writes an interesting blog on technology and education. Here are some of his posts about using eReaders and ePub books with students.

Create ePub Books (includes list of web sites that offer free content as

well as create your own)

http://www.mguhlin.org/2010/09/create-epub-ebooks-for-ipad-nook.html

eReaders in Schools

http://www.mguhlin.org/2010/08/ereaders-in-schools.html

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ePub, eReaders,

Urban Alphabet Book

Blurb, a virtual publishing site, has a number of books that could be used in the classroom. One great publication is the "Urban Alphabet Book".

"The paintings in this Urban Alphabet are from photographs taken by the American Artist Stephen Magsig from details of old theater marquees, neon signs and painted signs of local businesses. They are a record of a vanishing landscape. Most are derived from photos of the Detroit vernacular scene. With this alphabet Stephen Magsig examines a bit of Detroit’s past and shows a bit of his own."

Could be a spring board for a student project.

(NB, always preview, as some of the books on the site may not be for a student audience.)

Here are some other samples: (just search for alphabet.)
http://www.blurb.com/books/1094628 (shown below)

http://www.blurb.com/books/485625

http://www.blurb.com/books/1598322

http://www.blurb.com/books/1758291

http://www.blurb.com/books/417846

http://www.blurb.com/books/1649517

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The Alphabet Book by Techno-Mondays | Make Your Own Book

Mammals 'R' Us - interactive site

This site presents an interactive  "mammal tree" organizer that helps students see the relationships between mammals. There are also links to a blog, latest news, and some video clips.

http://www.mammalsrus.com/

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mammals, science,

The Role of School Librarians in Promoting the Use of Educational Technologies

The+Role+of+School+Librarians+in+Promoting+the+Use+of+Educational+Technologies 9 10

The Nuts and Bolts of Setting up Literature Circles

Elena Aguilar walks teachers through the steps she used in setting up Lit Circles for her class. It was not an "instant process", but the rewards are great.

"... it took FIVE MONTHS to prepare my first batch of sixth graders for literature circles. I know it was the preparation that led to the success we had. [...] What did I do during those months? I slowly, carefully led students into this structure -- paying close attention to skills, attitude, and social relationships, and then I slowly released them, looping back to re-teach or re-enforce weak skills. Here are some of the things I did:"

The Nuts and Bolts of Setting up Literature Circles

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Lit Circles,

Book trailers - Youtube Channel

This librarian has "favourited" a bunch of book trailers for secondary.  Cool idea to have them all on one page!

http://www.youtube.com/user/elginparklibrary?feature=mhum#p/a

This Elgin Park librarian has "favourited" a bunch of book trailers for secondary and created a Youtube Channel to display them.  Cool idea to have them all on one page! Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/user/elginparklibrary#g/f

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Elgin Park, Youtube, Booktrailers,

For a TL and teacher: Technology Innovation Competition

Announcing the opening of this year's Media Specialist Technology Innovation Award competition! Open to Canadians as well!

Here are the details from Laurie Conzemius (Communications Chair of SIGMS: Media Specialist Special Interest Group of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) )

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This annual award is presented to two teams of a school librarian and collaborating teacher who have conducted an exemplary technology program extending beyond the library to meet the needs of classroom students and teachers. The purpose of this award is to identify, promote, and sustain excellence in collaborative and innovative technology-based projects driven by the school library media center in support of curricular and instructional needs in elementary, middle, and high schools.

Award Winners Receive:

   * ISTE Membership (2 per team).

   * ISTE Annual Conference & Exposition registration (2 per team), and recognition at awards ceremony.

   * Featured in an article by Learning and Leading with Technology magazine.

   * $1,000 cash award payable to the school media center (1 per team).

   * $1,000 travel stipend if attending the conference (per team).

   * $300 professional library from ISTE.

   * Inscribed award plaque (one per team).

Read about past winners and download information about nomination materials, criteria, and the judging rubric from the Awards website at:

http://www.iste.org/membership/awards-and-recognition/list-of-awards/sig-media-specialist-technology-innovation-award.aspx

Laurie Conzemius

SIGMS Communications Chair

Christmas Wishes

Digital greeting personalized with Smilebox

Teach English idioms with videos. (ESL and others)

The BBC has produced a series of "Bill Nye" style video clips on a range of English idioms that use sports, colour, body, food, animals, etc. Your ESL teachers might find this useful. The clips could also be used as part of a creative writing workshop!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theteacher/

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ESL, idioms, BBC,

Author-Illustrator Websites for K-8

Authors & Illustrators

Here's a page of author/illustrator websites.

Pages are tagged for Middle School, Elementary School or K-PreK.

Some contain podcasts, video interviews, games, quizzes or teaching materials.

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Immigration lesson website - Grade 5

Immigration "Webpath" for the Grade 5 level. (BC teacher created.)  Includes clickable links with worksheets for the unit study. Incorporates computer skills.

"These lessons are designed for teachers to help grade 5 students learn about immigration and Canadian Citizenship through a series of fun activities involving discussion, books, role playing and computers. Teachers may wish to consult with their school ... Librarian to get help in doing some of the activities in this unit."

http://sd71.bc.ca/sd71/edulinks/immigrat/immless.htm

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immigration, Grade 5, socials,