Trying out Sketchcasting

Can You Tell I Was in an Elementary School for 9 Years?

My blog is like looking at a picture book. I'm a woman of few words and I learn visually....
That's my excuse.
I read everyone's blog (and took notes) on a school conference night. I was all worked out and thought it was time to respond to a few blogs (something I'd never made the time for). Well, guess what? I can't respond to blogs in my building either (a lot of you can't blog in your buildings like me, right?) I have a number of things to try thanks to all of the brilliant MILP people. I will report on them as soon as I try them out. Thank you!

Hope your Spring Break is Great!

The Magic of Books

Landscapes in Information Literacy

I just finished a Reliable Resource chapter on my library web page: http://arlington.spps.org/lmc.
Under the pictures of the Arlington Library there are different chapter links and two include:
"Are these Reliable Resources?" and "What is a Reliable Resource?"

The first chapter: "Are these Reliable Resources?" includes four fake websites that have the appearance of being real. There is a link for evaluating websites, as well.

The next chapter: "What is a Reliable Resource?" includes a number of articles explaining URL parts, researching the purpose of websites (to sell, support, or inform without bias), evaluations, vocabulary, finding the origins of a website (history & ownership), sponsorship (such as hate groups), and evaluation guidelines and charts. The chapter includes the links to reliable resources such as our district databases, public library databases and others.

I have not found the phrase "Reliable Resources" to be a well known or understood phrase at Arlington. We will be in a better place when the language is shared by all (students and staff). This is my next goal: to create a unified landscape/language for information literacy.

Art Technology

I attended a workshop yesterday given by Chris Turnball . We learned about some new art software available on the web. ArtRage and TuxPaint. Both have free downloads off the internet. You can buy additional tools for ArtRage for a small fee ($25 for download & $39 for a CD ROM).

TuxPaint is a great tool for elementary students and a great replacement for Appleworks Painting and Drawing. It has a few extra bells and whistles that will excite the kids!

ArtRage is more sophisticated and will be a great tool for the junior and senior high. It includes textured surfaces, chalk, pencil, knife, and brush. You can trace a photo, too, for some great effects.

Chris Turnball will be having another training session for Art Technology March 11th. Check it out on PD Express!
I'd love to see students use their own art for school projects, just like we did in the old days! I'm so tired of Google Images.

Two headed cat or more Photo Booth?

Photo Booth still entertains my kids every weekend! If I leave my computer on the kitchen table, there are more pictures in my Photo Booth file by Monday morning...

Mark Anderson showed an Arlington English teacher a very cool place on the internet to create student portfolio's. It works much the same way as our Urban Planet websites because it is created by the same company.

The English teacher here at Arlington has each of her students entering their papers that meet the English curriculum standards, as well as resumes, links they use often and a biography of themselves, including pictures. It is very cool and the students are inspired and editing carefully because they understand how it may become public.

Go to the website: http://www.efoliominnesota.com/

Click on gallery and see the examples. It will inspire you and your students will love it!

Blogging Bully

Are you feeling haunted or stalked because you are not blogging enough? I just wish I had more to say. Images are my thing. . . . This is the blogging bully coming your way.

I've been thinking about wikis a lot, though. I really like the idea. I'd love to see Arlington include wikis in subject area (English, Social Studies, Math, Science, Languages & Facs) that includes curriculum, themes, units & subject matter for the week. As the librarian, it would give me a great resource for pulling books and websites to aid students and staff for additional resource beyond the textbook.

What about student wikis for online discussion and debate? Could we change the environment of the building by putting some serious, thought provoking questions that students, parents and staff could participate in? Kind of like an online town meeting. Eden Prairie High school is up in arms due to drinking pictures on Facebook/MySpace. A number of students were suspended (mostly the extra curricular participants because of signed contracts promising to steer clear of substance abuse.) for pictures in party settings. It has created a huge community debate on underage drinking, Facebook/MySpace commuication and what is private and what's not.... Our students at Arlington will do anything to look at their MySpace. How can we continue to deny them? It is very time consuming to keep them off. The penalty is a huge inconvenience (one month suspension from the internet.) What if we had a wiki that was so popular that debates could take place online that were as desirable as MySpace communication and available to all to participate?

Two New Things to Explore

Google's Street View is fun to try. My own street has not yet been photographed by Google, but maybe yours has. Go to Google and type Google Street View in the search box and watch the tutorial. Then try your own address and see if the Google photo/film team have been in your neighborhood!

Have you tried the newest search engine? Wikipedia has launched a new search engine using the same elements/principles as their "encyclopeida". It has not received great reviews, yet, but is worth trying just for curiousity's sake....

http://search.wikia.com/wiki/Search_Wikia
(includes insights & explainations)

http://alpha.search.wikia.com/
(begin a search)

Have fun searching, we'll find all the answers soon....