Screencasting

I can't believe I haven't gotten to respond to screencasting before "Thing 3" was released. That is partly due to the fact that we have been traveling for the past 2 weeks, and it is hard to find a quiet place to record with three kids on vacation. :)  

Oh well, I was able to get here finally.  Screencasting isn't the topic I was most excited about, as I have used Screen-Cast-O-Matic a fair amount, and have developed a comfort level with it.  I had hoped to find something to do Screencasts from the iPad, but wasn't surprised to find that there is not a free tool yet.  We have a teacher in our Classroom 21 group who has flipped her 7th grade math class to a large extent, and has been looking for a tool to use with a tablet.  I will bring the tools for App-Casting to her attention though, as it may be well worth it for her needs.  

I did play with Jing, as a new tool to learn, and found it very simple to use.  Once I had it downloaded I pulled out my planning sheet (a nice tool to use with kids!), and had my Screencast recorded and uploaded in under 15 minutes.  It is always nice when things go smoothly!  This was good motivation for me to do something to promote the new library website, and now I have my Screencast all set for orientations in the fall, which feels great.  

In the past some teachers had a difficult time posting their screencasts, but Jing seems to have worked very well, so it will be a good option to share.  Of course those who are using it to Flip lessons, may not  find the 5 minute time limit enough for them.

I really appreciated Kathy Schrock's page of resources, she does great stuff!  I particularly like the labels on her Rubrics: "Awesome Screencast", "Cool Screencast", "OK Screencast", and "Re-do Screencast".  I particularly like that a One on the Rubric= "Re-do", because I think we need to do this more often, so our students learn how to improve their work rather than accepting below satisfactory products.  Her language makes expectations very clear for students.  

Thing 1: Curation Tools

There are so many great ideas to apply here!  I am particularly interested in the usage of ScoopIt with students.  I have been using ScoopIt for about a year to gathering interesting content professionally and sharing with colleagues (http://www.scoop.it/t/inquiry-learning-in-the-library) but I would like to expand on this and inched students in the creation of collections.  I have been working with a 10th grade English teacher on developing an ongoing activity with her students where they each select a region of the world (Global Studies connection), and have a RSS feed with which they gather information, and then blog about their developing understanding of that place.  I think that ScoopIt may be the tool we use for gathering their sources.  I hadn't thought about their ability to add comments to the posts right on their ScoopIt page. This may allow them to interact with the information in a quick and easy way before going to write a more in depth Blog post.  This was something their teacher was looking for.  I created a new topic on Liberia to test out this use (http://www.scoop.it/t/english-10-liberia).  I look forwarding to learning more about this country that I love as I test out this project idea!

Here is another interesting article about ScoopIt to check out as well: http://www.teachthought.com/technology/why-scoopit-is-becoming-an-indispensable-learning-tool/.

Another great person to follow is Gwyneth Jones: http://www.scoop.it/u/gwynethjones.  She has great ideas.

Pinterest is a tool that I am already totally hooked on, but these articles have given me some fresh board ideas, including creating a board for book suggestions for my own children, which I am always trying to keep track of!  

My profile name on Pinterest is lglibrarylady, and I have a library board with some great ideas that I have collected.  I also recently started a board for Infographics, as I want to expand the creation of them in our school.  

EdCanvas reminds me a little bit of Symbaloo, which has been a great tool for our Classroom 21 students to gather all of their commonly used links.  EdCanvas expands on this idea, and has some great additional features, which I am going to look at with our Classroom 21 teachers, as we are always looking at tools to help students keep their resources organized.  (Classroom 21 is a group of teachers who have committed to teaching in an inquiry/ project based environment, using technology to engage and expand student learning).

There is so much to continue looking at here, I feel like I have only scratched the surface, but that is enough to have my creative juices flowing!  

Beginning Bloggers

It is interesting how things seem to take off in waves.  This spring I have had multiple teachers decide to use blogs with their classes, and so I have been spending quality time here in Blogger.  I wonder if that is because Blogs have been around long enough to "feel safe".  Whatever the reason, I am excited for the new opportunities it is affording me with both teachers and students.
This will be a nice venue for me to continue to expand my comfort level with Blogging, so that my skills are fresh, and I am prepared to easily answer any questions that come up.
I created some very simple directions in Google Docs that anyone is welcome to take and modify for their own students if you so desire.

I am looking forward to learning and exploring with all you lovely library ladies this summer.