Currently...

Each month on the OhBoy! Fourth Grade Blog (http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/) Farley provides a poster and invites others to download it and complete the phrases. Is this some sort of sneaky psychological test? It's harder than you might first think, or at least it was for me. Also I had to refresh my Paint Shop Pro skills in order to get the words on a pdf.

But I was thinking that it would be a nifty tool for student feedback about a lesson or unit.

From Idea to Birth in 7 Days

Last week I mentioned to Michelle Cooper  that  a monthly podcast for librarians should be created as another avenue for connecting the school library community. Guess what the incubation period is to be short lived! 

Starting on Monday, September 23 at 7:00 CST (the 3rd Monday) several premier librarians will have host a inaugural Google OnAir Podcast for Librarians. Michelle Cooper @_MichelleCooper, Nikki Robertson @NikkiDRobertson, Elissa Malespina @eMalespina, Matthew Winner @MatthewWinner, Sue Levine @staffdevjnkie are the "management team" and content providers.

Details are being worked out as I write this post. But it will be officially announced on tomorrow's (September 9) TLCafe webinar at 7:00 CST (http://TLvirtualcafe.wikispaces.com) Stay tuned for late breaking news about tlNewsNight.

The Crush of the Day

We all have the same 24 hours a day, right? We all have too many things to cram into that 24 hours, right? We all read timesaver tips and promise ourselves we will be more organized and become a super librarian and significant other, right? 

We're supposed to continue our professional development and build our PLN by daily keeping up with Twitter, Facebook, email, and blogs, right? What happens? At least for me, my best laid plans are often forgotten in the rush/crush of the day. For example, right now I am supposed to be at the grocery store buying items for tonight's potluck dinner. But I made the mistake of checking my email before I left the house. Not the best plan. One thing led to another and here I sit mesmerized by what I've been reading.

Here's one of my new strategies. Recently I became a newly certified Symbaloo educator with a certificate and everything =). One of the requirements was to create a webmix that I could use and share. So,  I created a webmix for School Librarian Blogs. There are jillion blogs, but I focused on blogs that were librarian reflection and not librarian book reviews. Here is my shared webmix. Enjoy but don't get bogged down trying to read every one every day. 
http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/librarianblogs

Shoutout for #txlchat

 

Last April, seven Texas librarian decided it was time to build a Twitter Chat community aimed primarily at Texas schoool librarians. The chat moderators, Naomi Bates, Sandra Carswell, Michelle Cooper, Marsha Edney, Sue Fitzgerald, Sharon Gullett, and Sonja Schulz figured that we would be chatting among ourselves and a few friends. 

But little did we dream that the Texas chat would become national within the first five minutes of the first chat as librarians from Oklahoma, New York, and Florida joined in the conversation. This weekly chat continued through May when it was decided there would be a summer hiatus.

Last month Joyce Valenza was the keynote speaker at the Dallas ISD/Region 10 Library Summit, and she gave us a shoutout. You can't image how excited four of the txlchat team were when we saw our name on Joyce's presentation slide. Need I share that there was a Woot! from someone in the audience?

As we launch Season 2 on September 10 at 8:00pm CST, we've become a little more organized and have made great plans for the coming year. Also we've changed the chat times to the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month from 8:00-9:00. I hope you will join us as an active participant...although we appreciate lurkers too. 

Library Kind Bombing

How about a “library kind bomb”? Okay, I may need to explain what I mean about a “library kind bomb.” It’s a slip of paper slipped/hidden somewhere in a book that promotes the library in some way. For example, in social studies books you could include a link and the password to an appropriate database with an added note that you are always ready to help with their research needs. Or it might be a coupon for waved book fine or a free color copy. Or it might be a "if you like this book, then..." Or it might be "Smile. You've been kind bombed!" Actually kind bombing would be a fun activity for a Book Club.


Image source: http://mamascouts.blogspot.com/2012/10/guerrilla-art-kind-bombing-with-kids.html

Textbook Woes

Textbook responsibilities can be a real drain on a librarian’s time, and I don’t know how the actual process is handled at your school. BUT if you and your team are physically handing the books to the kids, it is a super chance to make a personal connection with all the students and promote the library at the same time. Otherwise some of the kids may never come to the library during the year.

By the way, the Lego Librarian is in set 10 of the mini legos. Although you probably can't read it, the coffee cup says SHHHHH!

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drewmaughan/8686728280/

Nothin's New under the Sun

Several months ago, I was  cruising around the web reading blogs and tweets at random looking for inspiration for a project I had in mind. Sometime in the middle of my meandering, I jotted down two words on the back of an envelope and then used it as a bookmarker in a book I put back on the shelf. Today I discovered my treasure!

http://langwitches.org/blog/2013/06/25/no-you-cant-just-take-it/

The words? Ideas Bandit. So what is an Ideas Bandit? An Ideas Bandit is someone who "steals" ideas or teaching strategies. Is there anyone among us who is not an Ideas Bandit? Isn't that the whole purpose of Pinterest? <grin>