Digital Learning and the Digital Library Page

Have you seen the new look of our Webcat? How about the Digital Library (click on tab on Webcat page)? See also on Digital Library page: Video tab (includes image banks) as well as Recommended Links and Teachers' Professional pages. Nice work, our Maryann. Thanks. We are really looking forwarding the picking up the virtual circulation this year ... but it would be precipitous of me to release any news yet of heightened expectations for a new foregrounded district location for these invaluable learning resources. Sssshhh!


While here in the Digital Library, you may notice three new features: Scholastic's Bookflix (a literacy resource, it pairs fiction video storybooks with non-fiction e-books, and it's interactive), Passport to the Internet (an internet literacy tutorial for grades 4 to 8), and Gale's fantastic new Global Issues in Context (upper intermediate to senior, it looks at global, social, environmental, and other issues from multiple perspectives: includes a truly global title list as well as such recognizable titles as CBC, Globe & Mail, Maclean's, Toronto Star, and Time Canada; Newsweek International, The Economist, USA Today, NY Times, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times; PC Mag and PC World, as well as Wired; and my favourite, New Internationalist).


Our colleagues and students are going to get access to these amazing resources. Plan to take these to the first PAC meeting of the year. Ask to be put onto the next staff meeting and/or Pro D day agendas? We are anticipating seeing greatly improved stats for usage, and I have no doubt Vancouver is one of the top districts for usage as it is. Way to go, colleagues.


While I am on the topic, thought you might like to poke around in Aaron Mueller's Master's e-Portfolio (UBC, MET) entitled Digital Libraries and Information Literacies. He offers an introductory video that helps guide you into the structures. Thanks, Aaron, for this inspirational look at your vision for Digital Library, VLN style, and congratulations on finishing that degree.

And why not introduce your teachers and students to Twiducate for social networking to enhance communication in learning. Another Michele recommendation! Do we need to do TL Studio / Digitally Yours this year at a school? Maybe we could "twiducate" ourselves, Michele convening! Just kidding ...

Yes, Lady Gaga Sings About Databases!

Happy Valentine's Day

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Winter Tonic with a Theme of Love

This year's Winter Tonic was perhaps the BEST ever. Certainly well attended, the event at once entertained us, moved us, nourished us, and informed us, all in good spirit and spirited participation. Thanks to all kinds of people who made this a success, including the VTLA Winter Tonic organizing committee who always do such a great job, the VTLA Exec who saw the need to invite and welcome new TLs, the newbies who came and we know will be back, the presenters who "wow'ed" us, and the out-of-district TLs who always join us too.

Our Superintendent warmed to the invitation to say a few words on one or more aspect of this year's theme of Love, Libraries, and Chocolate. Using a booktalk approach, a strategy we are very familiar with and were delighted to see, Chris shared three authors' perspectives on love.

• From Robertson Davies (in When We Were Young, ed. Stuart McLean), on the subject of a young boy's realization of love and life while gazing at peonies -- for a review of McLean's collection, see page 66 of Adult Canadian Books for Strong Teenage Readers, by Margaret McKey et al, published with 10th edition of Resource Links. Davies' use of this moment in other writings would suggest it is for the child a moment poignant and exquisite, as well as autobiographical.
  
• From Shantaram: A Novel by Gregory David Roberts, the largely autobiographical story of Lindsay, later renamed Shantaram, or "man of peace," who escapes an Australian jail to become a slumdweller and petty operator out of the Mumbai slums. Writes Lindsday in the opening lines, “It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming of my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn’t sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it’s all you’ve got, that freedom is an universe of possibility. And the choice you make between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life.” No copies of this 900+ page read are available from our schools!
  
• Finally, from Buckminster Fuller, in his 1970s free verse book Intuition: Fuller coins the term synergy, seeks to explain life's complexities as well: Writes Fuller, “Love is omni-inclusive, progressively exquisite, understanding and tender and compassionately attuned to other than self.” Suggests Kelly, as are schools.
  

Mary, looking for all the world the proudest mom, was with us all for the early evening. The young performers astounded the crowd, taking us instantly from thoughts of love to high culture. Amazing, they were.

I went to see the Adult Reads this year, where Jennifer from Hager Books "booktalked" 25 books in 45 minutes. I will attach her recommended list to the tlspecial wiki (linked to this blog in left-hand sidebar) ... this was unquestionably a dizzying repertoire of reading possibilities and one of the very best we've seen do this.

I dropped in on David Brear's Web 2.0 lab session where 40 people were jammed in. Suzanne from Maple Ridge, who was extremely happy she had come in for the event, noted that the hand-out alone was worth the trip! I found the lab just as jammed when I came to find a seat for Ciara and Gwen doing databases. Fantastic amounts of work went into making databases more accessible for inquiry and curriculum-related projects.

I am hoping that people who attended Tiffany's session -- she talked about her new book, to be published in the Spring -- will add reviews of her session as comments in this blog. Also, Linda's puppets were very busy. Your reviews are important. Please use the comment feature to add to the description here.

Sales of books and puppets seemed brisk. Thanks to our friend Helen for the fantastic meal and Valentine desserts, along with the serving princesses Nancy and Sylvia whose very presence at an event makes everything more fun. Thanks to Cecil for putting up with all of us.

Allison thanked me for bringing in Dr Jason Ohler for next Friday's Technology Day. She'd heard such great things from her husband who had seen him in October and she was so pleased she'd be able to see him too.

So here's the reminder: Have you registered for Technology Day yet? We are still looking for 70 more to register. AND I need more people (10 to date are committed) to the online conference which I am sure will be something like the Summer Institute, an event you won't want to have missed.

Coquitlam's Pro D Day:

Three of us took the New Databases / Technology Integration workshop on the road and travelled out to Port Coquitlam to Coquitlam's Technology Day event. In addition to doing a workshop for 20 or more TLs, we knew we could hear their keynote speaker Marco Torres, an educator whose work with new visual and other technologies, whose message to become more involved with the verbs than the nouns, whose focus on the process, has inspired young learners in his San Fernando school and community. We attended Alan November's session as well. I also ran into Tom Grant ... and guess what? He blogs every Friday!

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Be sure to READ the GiggleIT information (Feb 10 posting) below!

What funny Canadian stories do we need to share?

The Web is The Thing!

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Great Web-things:

Whoo-hoo! The long-awaited FALL Issue of The Bookmark (49:2) is available FREE and online:

• This the link for future access to this and other BCTLA publications.
• For direct download in pdf format, click here.

In this edition of The Bookmark, linked to more in The Virtual Bookmark (it's an interactive supplement / blog format), you can read about the IASL Conference in Berkeley, Smartboards (yes, that's our Sylvia!), Canadian Science Fiction, the BCTLA Conference in Victoria, book reviews, the experiences of new and "seasoned" TLs (well, it's Sylvia who is not so "seasoned" as some), and many many great web-things from John Goldsmith and Greg Smith. A huge thanks to Editor/TLs Al Smith and Angie MacRitchie from the Central Okanagan for all the hours that went into this latest great edition.

Simply Books: a wiki that promotes reading and literacy for boys

Library Thing and Library Thing (French Version) -- from a earlier post to this blog, LibraryThing Releases One Million Free Covers [Library Journal] -- This is very good news for teacher-librarians, who may have been contravening copyright in order to beautify their OPACs and webpages. Hooray for LibraryThing!"

Bookwise Quotes on youtube: The Importance of Literacy

Joyce Valenza's "Neverending Search" blog in School Library Journal: recent article on Web 2.0 and intellectual freedom

Kathy Schrock's "Kaffeeklatsch" blog on Digital Pioneers, a position she takes on the Prensky terms Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

The NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) statement on 21st Century Literacies

The AASL (American Association of School Librarians) Standards for the 21st Century Learner and the second draft of the Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action, for response.

Have you checked out the Google News Canada feature? How about the French version of Google News Canada? And here's an interesting article from BBC News ("Old newspapers get online launch," by Maggie Shiels, Technology reporter, BBC News, San Francisco) about Google's latest new initiative to bring to the web old newspapers that pre-date the digital age. Google has partnered with around 100 newspapers to digitize them and make scanned copies available online.

"Ressources" (French Primary) are available for parents and students online from the Delta School District.

I have added my first-ever RSS Feed (or Really Simple Syndication): Check out the daily comic strip from Unshelved by clicking the link at the bottom of the left-hand sidebar (under the bookshelves) of this blog. Just moving along the tech-learning continuum here!

"The Database Bundle" -- at $1 per student per year, districts are buying into databases, the licensing rights to which have recently been negotiated in a multi-sector deal (public and academic libraries are included). As you know, for us in Vancouver schools, this represents little change as we were already subscribed to EBSCO and World Book. Do your administrator and teacher-colleagues know about these resources (and other databases available through our Webcat) and their value to learning? As you, the teacher-librarian, are the ones defined in our local contract as the educator whose job it is to "promote the effective use of resources," now might be a good time to make an appointment with your principal to show him/her what is there, and then ask for time on the staff meeting agenda or an upcoming Pro D day to give a demo.

Proquest Workshop for eLibrary (elementary and secondary versions) and Culturegrams databases went really well. More than 30 TLs were in attendance. Thanks, Maryann, for bringing in the very engaging Tasha from Toronto. We saw all kinds of fantastic features. If you search a French terms in the newspaper section, the results are French news sources! Try "autotochtone" for example.

Here's a free online set of databases from IBM Canada K–12 Division’s The Edmark House Series. These interactive software programs are for students pre-K to Grade 2 to build basic learning skills, and you will also find lesson plans, print activities (both in-class and take-home), and teacher guides, downloadable in pdf format. I am willing to bet that these go well with the new Smartboard technology in primary classrooms. This set includes Early Reading with Bailey’s Book House, Exploring Numbers with Millie’s Math House, Life Sciences with Sammy’s Science House, and Social Sciences with Trudy’s Time & Place House. Or just search "Edmark" in the webcat for the direct link! That's our Maryann at work ...

Every link to the FREE Sun and Province subscriptions has been checked. There seems to be a growing interest. Don't forget to show this link and the ways to read it, along with its various features -- remote access, translations, audio, custom print, 30 days of back issues, and access to all the other Canwest papers -- to your principal and teacher-colleagues as well. While the goal is to get them to design assignments that have our students familiar with the online newspaper, it is important for teachers to see the value first.

GET READY FOR THE COUNTDOWN TO DEAR

In addition to many posted local ideas and resources, here is a repeat of an earlier post about more resources from Rick Mulholland, local TL/teacher, co-ordinator of International School Library Month for the IASL:

ISLM resources webpage: letter or 11x17 sizes.
ISLM 2008 Bookmarks -- Literacy and Learning at Your School Library [PDF 111 k]
ISLM 2008 Flyer [PDF 181 k]
ISLM 2008 Flyer [PDF 126 k]
ISLM 2008 Tabloid format [PDF 221 k]
ISLM 2008 Tabloid format [PDF 323 k]

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PS: Have you checked here for teaching ideas? TLSpecial ("the wiki") ... be sure to click onto Sidebar on the right hand sidebar to see the pages you can choose from. Many at the Accounting workshop found the Managing Your SLP (notice the Excel template for school library accounting) to be quite helpful.

Have a good weekend.

Great Initiative ... lots going on here!

Short and sweet will be my blog this week (yeah, right!) ... I am late in getting this out despite goals for Friday publishings but have been driven these first few weeks by a frying agenda of meetings and workshops and planning. I am just off this Saturday morning to the BCTLA Executive retreat. It will be so nice when September is over!

NOTE: Please check the posting from last week -- I have added some new dates based on information received from many of you, and thanks for these updates. Again, I would encourage you to use the comment feature of the blog to have direct input to this flow of information.

Needless to say, I am as ever amazed by the professional energies of our Vancouver TLs! We are getting lots of feedback on school-based efforts to promote the electronic resources and The Vancouver Sun and Province subscriptions. You are actively engaging in the challenge to expand the resource "horizons" of our teacher colleagues and in constructing an "information literate educational community" for Vancouver educators.

From Bill Raikes:

I really enjoyed the Update session last Thursday. I can see how I can increase my value as a teacher librarian. I loaded Webcat into all my staff's BCeSIS computers and showed them how to use it .... BCeSIS has forced [our colleagues] to become more familiar with computers and I decided to strike while the iron is hot. This week I am teaching myself how to access and navigate many of the databases in Webcat. I plan to introduce my staff to a new database every fortnight or so. I don't want to overload them. I am [also] pushing for Smartboards as the possibilities seem endless.

I mentioned Bill's great idea about the webcat link and database promotion to John Hunter who immediately saw the possibilities for promoting electronic and print resources in the district. John is the administrator for BCeSIS implementation. Thanks to Bill and John, every teacher will automatically have the Webcat link on their BCeSIS interface, and you in the pilot schools will have a new way to promote the use of resources. How's that for great initiative.

Email received from Christianne Hayward about upcoming professional development at Christianne's Lyceum of Literature and Art (3696 W 8th Ave, Vancouver):

Thank-you very much for taking the time to help us get news out about our PD workshops. [Here's the] link on our website that allows interested parties to download the pdf .... Thanks again - I hope your fall is a fruitful one, Christianne Hayward

News on recent Ministry-released resources:

• The DVD The Boy Inside will be catalogued and sent out to our high school libraries. This is a thought-provoking documentary about a young boy with autism. If your elementary school has need of a copy for professional development, there will be addtional copies added to the district media collection or you can ask to have one sent for your own collections as well.
  
• Soon to arrive in schools will be the beautiful specially-commissioned book British Columbia: Spirit of the People by Jean Barman. With any luck at all, we can divert these to our media and library cataloguing services first ... but do let your administrator (or school secretary) know that, if the book and stamp arrive there, you would be the best and first place to send this resource to ensure its retention and circulation in the school.

From Margaret at Van Tech comes a reminder of the annual Word on the Street (WOTS)event to be held next Sunday, September 28, from 11 am to 5 pm. Get there early to get your pass and bag for "freebies" at the displays. Promotional materials will arrive in the first media bag delivery at your schools this week. Please share the information with interested staff ... and maybe put a notice out in the daily bulletin. Here's a list of some of the authors and literary notables you will find there:

Caroline Adderson, Peter Bagge, Linda Bailey, Jean Barman, Michael Byers, Norma Charles, Lisa Cinar, Ian Ferguson, Steven Galloway, James Glave, Garry Gottfriedson, Robert Heidbreder, Lee Henderson, Deborah Hodge, Stephen Hume, Mel Hurtig, Susan Juby, Hadrien Laroche, Mark Leiren-Young, Adrienne Mason, Dr. Gabor Maté, George McWhirter, Susin Nielsen, Kathryn Shoemaker, George Stanley, Meg Tilly, Karen X. Tulchinsky, Richard Wagamese, Howard White, John Wilson, and Michael Yahgulanaas.

Have a great week, everyone.