SLJ SummerTeen 2014 Conference - online and Free

A must for anyone who loves YA/teen literature.

http://www.slj.com/summerteen/

This free online event features authors, illustrators and editors of teen titles. It's completely virtual conference—no traveling and no cost! SummerTeen is a must for anyone who loves YA/teen literature.

"The third annual SummerTeen virtual conference presents popular YA authors talking about their writing experiences and current and forthcoming titles in an engaging, conversational format, including live Q&A with the audience. Get up close with co-keynoters Matthew Quick, author of Silver Linings Playbook and The Good Luck of Right Now and Gayle Forman, author of If I Stay."

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"One Best Thing": A Collection of Multi-Touch Books

Explore a unit, a lesson, or a best practice

http://blog.isaacpineda.com/2014/04/apple-launches-one-best-thing.html

This set of iBook format resources is well worth checking out. Just do a search on the iBooks store for "One Best Thing". These materials are free, and produced by educators for educators.  Apple describes the "One Best Thing" collection as:

A collection of books, created by Apple Distinguished Educators, that demonstrate the use of Apple technologies to transform teaching and learning. Each "One Best Thing" book shares a unit, a lesson, or a best practice and is designed to help another educator implement a successful practice.

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eBooks and pBooks - what do the numbers say?

Do you read eBooks?

http://ebookfriendly.com/libraries-matter-library-infographics/libraries-are-forever-infographic/

[Link to graphic file]

There has been some controversy in the media about the relative merits of paper vs screens for fiction & non-fiction reading. This infographic has some interesting data about the use of eBooks by the general public. Electronic or print – it may not matter in the long run - what really matters is finding that "good book"!

For more info: http://libraries.pewinternet.org/2012/04/04/the-rise-of-e-reading/

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2014 Summer Reading List | Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)

Reading Lists with new and exciting titles

http://www.ala.org/alsc/2014-summer-reading-list

"Updated Summer Reading Lists with new and exciting titles!  Three Summer Reading book lists are available for K-2nd, 3rd-5th and 6th-8th grade students. Each list is available to download for free in color and black and white."  

(Lists can be customized - PDFs have blank customizable fields in the middle panel of page one of the flyer. Put your school and library name, as well as a "plug" for reading!)

The suggested titles page for each list could also be passed on to classroom teachers so they can promote selected novels with their students.

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Tech project changes how a district views its librarians

School librarians are part of the team leading digital transformation

http://www.districtadministration.com/article/tech-project-changed-how-we-view-our-librarians

A district in Nebraska recognizes and embraces the valuable role of teacher-librarians in leveraging the use of digital resources and facilitating technology integration.

"[I]t is vital that school librarians and media specialists are part of the team leading the digital transformation, maximizing resources and expanding knowledge in our schools. [...] They are instructional leaders aligning the curriculum with subscription and open-source digital content. The librarians are showing our teachers, students and parents how to access these curated resources. [...] Leaders are everywhere and media specialists and librarians have this natural opportunity to meet and know all students, and to meet and work with all teachers," Edwards says. "It just makes sense that we would activate and really build capacity for that leadership."

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What excellent library design should be...

Not a warehouse, but a place to delight users.

"We recognize today that the focus of excellent library design should be to delight users, not to warehouse objects. ... In addition to providing shelves of books, libraries today must, at a minimum, provide those catalysts of curiosity that engage the mind and uplift the spirit: natural light, ubiquitous but largely invisible technology and a variety of spaces flexibly designed for independent study or collaboration."

Richard Reyes-Gavilan "How a public library set me free": Washington Post. May 16, 2014.

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Invitation to Register for BCTLA Summer Institute

Registration is now open for the BCTLA's 2014 Summer Institute, Participatory Culture and the School Library in the 21st Century featuring Buffy Hamilton.  (August 26th, West Van) Ms. Hamilton is a teacher librarian and author of the award winning blog, The Unquiet Librarian.  She is what most of us aspire to be: a front line teacher librarian whose knowledge of literacy runs deep and broad, is researched based and is practice oriented.  Several of our BCTLA executive members have heard her speak and have raved about her presentations.   KidsBooks will also be presenting, offering book talks on new titles for a new school year.  Please register early as this summer institute is likely to fill fast. Here is the link: http://www.bctf.ca/bctla/info/pro-dev.html. 

P.S. You can follow Buffy Hamilton on Twitter or Facebook. 

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How to share IDs and passwords

Letting your school community know!

Remember that your students and parents will need to know the ID and password for your school if they are going to use any of the district eResources from home. Here's a suggestion: print mailing labels with ID and PW and stick them to bookmarks, print newsletters and agendas, etc. Don't forget that we cannot share this information on an open website! (There are a couple of lawsuits working their way through the legal system on this very issue.) You might also want to remind your teaching colleagues to check their blogs and class sites too.

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How to Decode a Tweet

What are all those @s and #s?

http://edtechsandyk.blogspot.ca/2013/01/how-to-decode-tweet.html

Sandy Kendell explains what the different elements of a typical tweet are used for.

"When you first start using Twitter, one of the things you have to figure out is how to decode Tweets. What does each part represent? What does it mean when a word starts with a #? ..."

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