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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Read-Aloud Handbook - Jim Trelease

Selected Web content from "The Read-Aloud Handbook"

http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah-contents.html

What's in the web-version of the Handbook?

Each web chapter consists of several excerpts from the print chapter but the excerpt represents only about 15 percent of the actual chapter. (The actual book contains 400 pages, - posted here is a representative sample of the book's contents, excerpts from the research and anecdotes in its chapters, and a listing of books from the Treasury of Read-Alouds.)

What's in the print Handbook?

The book divided into two parts: the first half contains the "ways" and "whys" of raising readers; and the last half consists of an annotated bibliography of almost 1000 children's books for reading aloud, from picture books to novels and anthologies, with synopses and guides to the age of the audience for which it was written.

[Google Books preview]

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Quebec French - Wikipedia article

An exploration of the roots and realities of French spoken in Québec

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French

Much has been said (and misunderstood) about the origins and current state of French in Canada, and specifically in Quebec. This Wikipedia article gives a good overview of the antecedents of our uniquely Canadian way of speaking French, and explores the differences between the regions, the perceptions of "québécois" as well as variations in formal and informal registers, distinctive features and phonological realities.

This article is useful for teachers of French as well as senior students wanting to deepen their understanding.

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Book Café interview with Anthony Horowitz

Interviews and Book talks

Download this episode

Tue, 9 Oct 12

Duration:44 mins | File Size:21MB

If you are a fan of Horowitz, either for his YA writing or his adult titles, you will enjoy this interview with him on BBC-Radio Scotland about his upcoming title.

"Anthony Horowitz talks about his latest in the Power of 5 series, Oblivion which took him as far as Antactica on a research mission. Iain M Banks takes us into his Sci-Fi world discussing inspiration for his latest in that genre, The Hydrogen Sonata. We hear about a revival of the Brothers Grimm fairytales as well."

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Stop Motion Short Made Completely with Moleskine Notebooks

Moleskine Notebooks Featured in a New Stop Motion Short

by Rogier Wieland

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/11/a-new-stop-motion-short-made-completely-with-moleskine-notebooks-by-rogier-wieland/

I love the stop motion genre, especially when they involve books. Take a look at this new creation by Netherlands-based designer Rogier Wieland. This impressive stop motion ad for Moleskin relies on the notebooks themselves to create nearly every aspect of the animation including the precisely cut typography. (The making-of video is pretty great too - see second clip.)

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Inquiry-based Learning: Concept to Classroom series

Pro-D workshop - Inquiry-based Learning.

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html

"Concept to Classroom is an online series of FREE, self-paced, professional development workshops covering important and timely topics in education. The workshops are intended for teachers, administrators, librarians, or anyone interested in education -- and there's no technical expertise required."

In this workshop:

• What is inquiry-based learning?
• How does it differ from the traditional approach?
• What does it have to do with my classroom?
• What are the benefits of inquiry-based learning?
• How has inquiry-based learning developed since it first became popular?
• Another perspective
• What are some critical perspectives?
• How can I use inquiry-based learning in conjunction with other educational techniques?
  

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It's a Jungle Out there - Infotopia

Eight ways to tell good web sites from bad ones

Youtube Clip

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKV0Hi47bhs

As a Slideshow

• http://www.infotopia.info/jungle_out_there.htm
  
  

"It's a Jungle Out There" is a video-slideshow that shares indicators of good web sites vs bad web ones when they are doing research on the Internet. There are eight critical ways to tell the good, authoritative web sites from the bad. This may be a useful video for librarians to use with students.

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Wireless iPad Projector Display

Tammy's Tip No. 116 - Airplay without AppleTV

http://www.tammyworcester.com/TipOfWeek/TammyWTechTipOfWeek/Entries/2012/11/2_Tip_116_-_Wireless_iPad_Projector_Display.html

You've got an iPad, and you've got a laptop connected to a projector, but no iPad adapter, or even an AppleTV. What to do!

"Now there are two great and inexpensive (less than $15) options for doing a wireless display from the iPad (or an iPhone 4S or 5) to a projector. Actually, you will need to display to a computer that is connected to a projector, but you probably already have that setup...."

Visit Tammy's site to find out more about "Reflection" and "Airserver".

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Printable dice with text and images

A free printable dice maker

http://www.toolsforeducators.com/dice/

"Tools for Educators offers a free printable dice maker -  this worksheet wizard allows you to create dice with pictures, dice with text or printable dice with both images and text."

Print, fold and tape (or glue) to create dice with story prompts (Make an adjective die, verb die and a noun die.), lit circle roles, book club questions, or whatever else you can think of. Fun for math, FSL or ELL classes.

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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel

Graphic Novels - Who, What, Why, Where, etc

http://books.google.ca/books?id=-Sav9nam5ekC&pg=PT18&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false

This "GoogleBooks Preview" is good, not only for aspiring artists, but for TLs wanting to know a bit more about the ins-and-outs of the graphic novel phenomenon.

Review: "Here is a clear, beginning-to-end guide to creating a graphic novel—from developing a concept to getting it to readers. Heavily illustrated, this book explains the tools used, demonstrates techniques, and offers tricks of the trade. Writers and illustrators alike will find it the best overall introduction to the world of graphic novels.

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It’s All About Text Appeal: Readers’ advisory that makes a difference

Teach your kids how to speak intelligently about books.

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/home/885803-312/its_all_about_text_appeal.html.csp

Olga Nesi (onesi@schools.nyc.gov) a librarian at the Joseph B. Cavallaro Intermediate School, writes about how she gives her students the vocabulary to speak meaningfully about the books they want to read.

"I realized I had to expand my students' reading horizons by teaching them to speak intelligently and thoughtfully about their book preferences. But what was the best way to do that?

"To help solve the problem, I turned to Mary K. Chelton, my mentor at the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies in New York, for guidance. She suggested that I take a close look at Joyce Saricks's Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library (Google Preview - ALA, 2005). This book gave me the clarity I'd been craving—a complete explanation of the elusive concept I'd been trying to convey to my students.

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What Should I Read Next? Book recommendations

"Automated" Readers' Advisory

http://whatshouldireadnext.com/index.php

Sometimes you just need a few suggestions! WSIRN serves up a list of "compatible" reads, with links to the Amazon database for info and purchase price. It's another way to point an avid reader to titles s/he may not have considered. The results may be quirky since they are based on other readers' lists, but you might just find a gem of a referral.

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YA Not-Just-Books Book Club

A virtual book club!

http://westwoodyoungadultbookclub.blogspot.ca/

Stacey, part-time YA library assistant, part-time children's library assistant, writes a blog featuring a new book once a month. I like the writing style and the wide variety of titles she presents. She uses blogger as the anchor point for an online book club that teens can subscribe to. Great idea.

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Report: How Teens Do Research in the Digital World

For students today, "research = Googling."

http://www.infodocket.com/2012/11/02/new-report-from-pew-internet-looks-at-how-teens-do-research-in-the-digital-world/

An interesting look at the research "smarts" and data-collecting habits of teens. The quote below highlights the limited range of strategies adolescents use. This has important implications for the role of teacher-librarians. Who will teach students and their teachers to maximize use of databases, navigate online encyclopedias and other eTexts, and formulate powerful search strings?

"According to the teachers in this study, perhaps the most fundamental impact of the internet and digital tools on how students conduct research is how today's digital environment is changing the very definition of what "research" is and what it means to "do research."  Ultimately, some teachers say, for students today, "research = Googling."  Specifically asked how their students would define the term "research," most teachers felt that students would define the process as independently gathering information by "looking it up" or "Googling."  And when asked how middle and high school students today "do research," the first response in every focus group, teachers and students, was "Google."

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