Deep Googling With a Mac Bias

Created by: HackCollege

The Digital Package: Give This Gift

If learning is changing, what will be the role of the teacher-librarian in relation to that learning in schools? I think there will increasingly be a need for the work of teacher-librarians as a school's and district's resource experts simply because formats for resources and information-delivery are changing rapidly.

At a recently convened Databases Roundtable, teacher-librarians reviewed the current array of digital resources -- what do we have and what do we need to see more of, what's being used, who's not getting what they need, and how do we get the best "bang" for the investment?

There are bigger questions as well. How do we provide an array of digital products that support not only broad information needs but specific classroom and curriculum needs? How do we see our role in relation to promoting and reviewing these kinds of products, and in advocating for funding to support the digitally activated learning community? What expectations are there for teacher-librarians in this changing landscape? How well are they prepared to keep the pace of change? Remember the September Update metaphor of sandcastles at our Update sessions this year. Your teachers will need your expertise if they are just getting started.

The new look of the databases page certainly helps "sell" this package, as will opportunities for sharing these more broadly within your educational community. Sharing the digital resources is like giving a gift. Last week JO's technology-focused Pro D day featured Stephen Heppell's "Empowering Young Learners" on the mobilelearninginstitute's A 21st Century Education webpage. They explored various digital resources that piqued interest and generated really good questions. They are educational bloggers. Some of the district's newest teachers were keen to find out more about using the digital resources. Learning Services had its annual update on digital resources. French Immersion administrators were next. The package is "tipping" now into the educational community.


Digitally Yours: TL Studio II has Morphed!

Part of the work this week has been designing and re-designing plans for TL professional development in January and February. With just a little consultation, the name of the TL Studio II was changed to "Digitally Yours: Using VSB online resources and Web 2.0 Tools in Classrooms and School Libraries" to broaden its audience appeal. The on-going support of TLs in exploring particular resources and applications is absolutely important. Digital resources will be the focus presentation on January 13, leaving time for hands-on to get into specific databases for practical consideration.

Do you have someone on staff who might like to come or accompany you? There is still lots of room. If any of you are looking for a review of databases or new ideas, or have a particular group of teachers for whom this can be focused or for whom you would like to make a presentation on resources, then Digitally Yours might just be the place. This slightly-adapted series is booked for second Wednesdays in January, February, April, and May. Teachers and teacher-librarians may attend one or all session(s).

One New Resource Reading

Beyond Google: Fifteen tools and strategies for helping students (and your colleagues) ...

Two New Teaching Resources from TC2

Pivotal Voices -- Exploring Identity, Inclusion and Citizenship: The 1907 Vancouver Riots. This print resource offers a new approach to teaching history. It recognizes there is no one story for most historical events, but rather differing accounts depending upon whose story is being told.

Investigating Images: This print package of 9 lessons helps students understand historical and contemporary times and places through the critical examination of vivid and evocative images.

Victoria Day in Vancouver

Happy Long Weekend
It's (Queen) Victoria Day
Is Absolutely Everyone Gardening?

About this archival photo, perhaps you already knew:
There are still May Queens in New Westminster.
The 140th is to be crowned this year.

Our city is Victorian in its origins. If you look carefully, you can still see the evidence on our landscape (City Reflections), in our curriculum when local resources are created (Roedde House), and in our culture (VAG Emily Carr). Nearby New Westminster, a place deeply implicated in the present-day landscapes of the province at the hands of Colonel Moody's Royal Engineers, and our present-day Vancouver Island capital city of Victoria, characterized by Rattenbury's grand colonial architectural staging, remain outposts of the Empire, reminding us, should we get carried away with our new-found global connections, that we are Victorian by birth. Can't you tell I was a former social studies educator? These links are the kinds of places you can "meet your teacher colleagues in curriculum," as James Henri advised.

For most, the May long weekend has come to mean a much-needed time to catch your breath before heading into the busiest six weeks of the school year. A time to get the garden ready, to plan the summer months, to think about summer reading -- our own, our colleagues' and our students' -- and to rest. Acknowledging that all teachers face this as the busy time, for teacher-librarians, lost books, inventory, weeding and MIA reports, collection clean-up, and plans for building the program next year form the unrelenting pattern of the days as classes dwindle away and energies are directed to managing the unruly collection. All right, have a restful weekend -- you don't need me to remind you why!

VPL Events of Interest

• Canadian Book Camp: Got the Write Stuff? two groups, for ages 11-13 and 14+
• Summer Reading: Follow the Leader for ages 6-12

A Story to Tell & a Place for the Telling
Fleeing Horrors and Coming by Sea:
Vietnamese and Chinese boat people of the 80s and 90s

Thousands of the most persecuted peoples from Asia have settled in British Columbia and helped to build its economies. This session asks: Are we better prepared to respond to such emergency migrations?

It's free and for all age groups
Tuesday May 19, 7:00 pm
Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street

One Book, One Vancouver
Janet Love Morrison

Anticipate an animated and intimate discussion with the author of The Crazy Canucks: Canada's Legendary Ski Team who will read excerpts from the book.

It's free and for adults.
Tuesday June 2, 7:00 pm
Britannia Branch, 1661 Napier Street

Sandra Harper

Join local author Sandra Harper as she reads from her new novel Not until now : The Rattenbury story.

It's free and for adults.
Tuesday June 9, 7:30 pm-9:00 pm
Alma VanDusen Room, Lower LevelCentral Library, 350 West Georgia Street

The Travelling Road Show

It is a wonderful thing to take the May Update sessions "on the road." The school library spaces we have been invited to are so fresh and bright and inviting and busy. Learning Commons we have! They inspire us all. Thanks to Churchill, Kingsford-Smith, Henderson Annex, and Weir, so far. We have Nelson and DLG "Elementary" sessions this week ahead and an after-school session, with the secondary session to be held at UBC.

MK and I are a heavy-hitting staccato tag-team of streaming information, with some interactive consideration. We are building capacity, if only our own, to move books, paper, food, ideas, information, and equipment out to the field for shock-and-awe delivery of new technical, curricular, and resource information. Stay with us. We're moving along the continuum and we're sure we are very 21st century! No more powerpoint for us.

Technology Integration and Your School Library Program

Good news! Some school libraries have been considered to be "labs" and will be getting new computers. Which works rather well seeing as the world is becoming more electronic and we are hearing that there is lots of work for us in school libraries to make sure our students are able to access and use the reliable and credible electronic resources and access other resources, tools, and applications for post-secondary learning, for life, and for work. UBC Libraries, as a point of reference, have seen their acquisitions budget aligned now to 70% allocated for electronic resources.

TL Studio 2 / Your East Side Sandbox for
Technology Tips, Try-outs, and Talk

See You at Gladstone Next Year!
Thanks, Pat, Frances, and Alan

As ever, we snacked and talked and showed lots of cool things. This time we saw Evernote, a great way to "snip" webpages and capture them visually as references; Library Link of the Day; Pageflakes, an application similar to Evernote; The New York Times Bestseller Lists, which you can load onto your iGoogle page; WolframAlpha which -- get this! -- intends:

to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone, to collect and curate all objective data, implement every known model, method, and algorithm, to make it possible to compute whatever can be computed about anything, to build on the achievements of science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to factual queries.

We also looked at the Google Wonder Wheel, Google Timeline, and Google Chrome which is a new face with new capabilities for the Google we are used to. Here is a blog entry that explains how to get to the Wonder Wheel and Timeline options from your Googled search results (look for the Show options link at the top of the results).

Our Studio group has expanded to include Sandy who is a resourceful Richmond teacher; she found us while searching for something else in our online Pro D calendar and is keen to stay with us. I'll have to get her onto the blog feed as well.

I have to tell you to try out easy webpage-making with Weebly. The recommendation comes from Jo-Anne at Van Tech. She's right ... it's fantastic!

Michele's latest find is Debut Video Capture software to record video from webcam, capture devices, or screen. She is liking this a lot for making little "how to" or tutotial videos for students or teachers to use, like How to Use the Webcat or How to Read the Electronic Newspaper. The Debut tool doesn't have a 5-minute limit, although much longer might lose students and colleagues!

I just found SpicyNodes for teachers and think it looks like fun. Mind-mapping with the flavour of food? And I just joined slideshare and particularly enjoyed this slideshow that attempts to define Web 2.0. It's free to share your own and to use others' slideshows. I like the slideshare version of Shift Happens, although it lacks the techno-pop music. Overwhelmed but fascinated, and determined not to be left behind, of course I will have more for you. Am reconsidering my views on slideshows, views shared with other presenters seen recently, by the way. One slideshow I watched suggested the days of slideshows aren't over although bullets are passé ... will have to check the date on that one!

You must look at this one -- think about how to use Thinkmap's Visual Thesaurus / VocabGrabber. It is unquestionably a tool that would help students grappling with some of the denser text of databases and academic research. Check out the potential of this resource. Or read Jamie McKenzie's review from FNO (From Now On).

Here's what I did ... go back and take that passage of text (above in this blog entry) about WolframAlpha that is both confounded by and confounding in its own use of vocabulary. I copied and pasted the passage into VocabGrabber so it looked like this (I know you can't read it, but I wanted you to see where I pasted in the passage).

Then I simply clicked and waited for the results ... and there are 40 words with definitions, as well as web diagrams and discipline links and more as you can just about discern on this screen capture image (below). The images are much better in McKenzie's review, by the way.

My Own TWITTER!

NOTE: Great action and settings in Angels & Demons
Visual effects that recreate Rome were done in Vancouver

I'm opting for a cleaner fresh look for the blog:
might this bring a comment or two?
Also, how about the Teacher Search Widget from Google?

Added two new books to My Shelfari: See sidebar
Can't we use this tool for class and student book reviews?

Added some new blog links as well. Love the Copy/Paste guy.

Thought it was time for an embedded Youtube
as I am not happy with the Youtube bar selection:

Have a great weekend!

Best Wishes, Professional Reading, Online Resources, and Calendar

*

Happy New Year and Welcome Back

*

If you didn't get to this before or over the Holidays, now is your chance. Please check the upcoming events which I will keep current until posting again on January 16.

*

Downtown
Bay Window

Hudson's Bay Company, 1916
Library and Archives Canada / PA-122005

Best Wishes

... for a restful and joyful holiday from the staff "downtown" who support strong school library programs in our diverse school communities:

ME, Diane, Maryann, Irinya, Thyrza, Donna, Jesse,
Fay, Ingrid, Mike, Larry, Sharon, Frank, and Val.

Where's Santa? Google for Educators is a great place for new ideas for information and tools to empower students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. Or how about enabling kids of all ages to learn about geography as they follow Santa on his Christmas Eve journey around the world. Google works with NORAD to track Santa's progress (in six languages) on December 24, with daily updates and surprises until the 24th.

Mark Your Calendar: The busy season is coming so you will need to rest up! New professional development opportunities for January are now online. Many more events to choose from as well.

*

Resolve to attend one or more of the following:

*

January 21: Assessment For Learning and Descriptive Feedback, part 2 of the Provincial Webcast Series, 2008/9, at DT, 3:30 to 6:00 pm.

Each session will include the webcast program with experts and facilitated discussion, electronic copies of all materials, and handouts. Archived materials from earlier webcasts are available here. Assessment is a hot topic in the district so be sure to share this with your colleagues. Register online.

January 23: Family Literacy Day; consider registering your school. Break the Guinness World Record™ for Most Children Reading with an Adult, Multiple Locations by reading Robert Munsch. See email notification sent December 18.

January 27: After-school workshop at Gladstone: Strategies for Reducing Plagiarism; see Miscellaneous and register online. Invite colleagues.

January 28: TL Studio 1, Kerrisdale. Register online.

February 3: 4:30 to 7:30 pm -- Dr Leu on The New Literacies at the Italian Cultural Centre. For more information, contact Meredyth at mkezar@vsb.bc.ca. $65 includes dinner.

February 4: TL Studio 2, Gladstone. Register online.

February 10: Winter Tonic, Tupper. Watch for flyer and email details.

February 20 (am) Of particular interest for TLs at District Day:

Literacy Day at Killarney (check link from online registration under Literacy to view program and get registration information)

Technology Day at Magee. Alan November, keynote speaker. More information about sessions and speakers, will be available in January. Registration will be online.

PLUS

NEW! Online Conference for TLs: 21st Century Learning: Transforming school libraries with Web 2.0 tools -- 1 pm to 2 pm at Magee.

After Technology or Literacy Day events, you can attend the official launch of the 9 days of online sessions and discussions amongst TLs from Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and elsewhere. James "the Guru" Henri and Sandra "Web 2.0" Lee will be hosting more of what we saw in August. If you missed them at the VSB Summer Institute, or if you want more of the same, watch for details of how to pre-register in January. I will let you know when registration will be available online. Cost for VSB TLs ($60 per person) will be subsidized, and lunch will be provided.

February 25: TL Studio 1, Kerrisdale. Register online.

______________________

Some Professional Reading for those Quiet Times

Linking into and from the BCTLA's Virtual Bookmark provides TLs with lots of reading for professional development in the quiet moments of the holiday. Here are a couple of articles posted by online editor and Kelowna TL Al Smith, with links to deeper reading on the topics:

Students Struggle with Information Literacy, by Justin Appel, Assistant Editor, eSchool News:

For additional relevant articles on eSchool News, check here: Measuring 21st Century Skills

Strategy for Overcoming Resistance to Technological Change, by Tom Haymes, Director of Technology and Instructional Computing at Houston Community College Northwest

If technologists just build it, they (the users) won’t come—you need to shape users’ behavior by acknowledging their world view rather than your own as a technology implementer; here is the link for the complete with the 3E strategy (that is, those charged with technology change need to build user awareness that the innovation is evident, easy-to-use, and essential) in EduCause.

Educational Leadership (Dec 2008/Jan 2009): Data: Now What? The New Stupid, by Frederick M. Hess.

An interesting read about assessment and accountability trends in the US, interesting in light of the recent FSA vote! "Educators have made great strides in using data. But danger lies ahead for those who misunderstand what data can and can't do." The New Stupid, writes Hess, is characterized by "an enthusiastic embrace of data [that] has waltzed us directly from a petulant resistance to performance measures to a reflexive and unsophisticated reliance on a few simple metrics—namely, graduation rates, expenditures, and the reading and math test scores of students in grades 3 through 8."

Launch of A Great New Online Digitization Project:

The British Colonist (1858-1910)

A great digital resource became available last week: The British Colonist Digitization Project is a joint effort by the Times Colonist, the University of Victoria, and a consortium of British Columbia libraries. The website covers the period from Dec. 11, 1858, to June 30, 1910, and offers 100,544 pages. Because the digitizing is only as good as the original or microfiche, you can try searching on the site but may also want to use the Index of Historical Victoria Newspapers.

NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English)

INBOX blog:

Most read blogs for 2008 Inbox on NCTE were about effective writing assignments and strategies for teaching nonfiction along with the summer series on 21st century tools for the classroom. Check out the IRA's ReadWriteThink Resources linked here too. For the rest of this excellent NCTE newsletter, click here. You can subscribe and get this every week.

Great Science Resources to Pass Along

Learning Science:

Here's a really useful site for online tools for teaching science. Collaboratively developed by teachers and Eucation faculty in Pennsylvania, it features the best science interactives and resources from around the world. SFU site-reviewer Linda Hof writes that Learning Science is divided into seven sections: Physical Science, Life Science, Science & Society, and more. Browse through teaching resources: web-based lessons, pedagogical tools, and links to external resources. Particularly good, says Hof, is the "Tools to Do Science" section: find printable rulers, a printable protractor, a stop watch, and printable graph paper. Or search the entire site via a convenient search engine and send along comments.

YT or no YT?

The New Media Literacies on YouTube is a video explanation of how various literacies enable students to have more skills and confidence that will prepare them for the 21st Century.

New Literacies for a New Age on YouTube is the history of how heffalumps brought new technologies to the education system and caused havoc as standardized testing benchmarks and students' abilities to memorize began to falter.

Education from the Outside on YouTube makes the case to bring the images from popular culture into classrooms to teach our students to read them and to learn ourselves.

Web 2.0: Cool Tool for Schools is a wiki full of social networking software programs that can be integrated with classroom learning processes and projects.

And finally, Teachers: Is There a Place for YouTube in the Classroom is the product of the research of a Toronto-area TL on the pros and cons of using YT in the classroom.

Storytelling and Booktalks
From the Honorary Ambassador for the IASL!

This list of suggested resources was compiled by Margaret Stimson, Retired Library Media Co-ordinator (Manitoba), and received via IASL post from Gerald Brown, Honorary Ambassador of the IASL:

Totlol. Developed by a Vancouverite, this video directory is intended for use with younger children, although more senior users like us will enjoy many of the selections. The site is moderated. It's powered by YouTube.

Book Video Ning. Visit or join the ning to find or share videos about books. The ning
was initiated by Joyce Valenza on December 12, 2008. As much as anything, the
ning serves to show us what is possible in the area of booktalks.

Speakaboos. If you like Storylines, you'll love this site as well. There you'll find online books, celebrity readers, teacher resources, and technology that enables kids to make their own recordings.

CogDogRoo Story Tools: This blog is more about making digital stories (or booktalks). Alan Levine offers 50+ web tools you can use to create your own web-based story. He provides several samples that have been made with each tool. In fact, the story of Dominoe the dog is told repeatedly using all of the tools.

Also from Gerald Brown in Winnipeg:

"I wish you a day of ordinary (library) miracles and little things to rejoice in.

Eight hands that go up to request the title you've just book talked.
A computer that goes for an entire day without crashing.
A less-than-successful baking experiment taken to the teachers lounge, gratefully
eaten before 10 am.
A child asking for another book "just like this one."
A software installation that does not cause another program to crash.
A parking spot close to the school door.
The principal saying a sincere thank-you.
An unexpected larger amount on your paycheck or a smaller amount on your mortgage payment.
A new book just published by your favorite author.
A student who is actually concerned about the quality of his work.
A dozen doughnuts as "thanks" for service above and beyond the call.
A quick and pleasant response from a technician.
A kid who wants to help you.
A human voice on the phone when you expected a recording.
A student who wants to become a librarian when she grows up.
A chance to show a tech-tip to a teacher who thinks you are a "guru."
A library with windows and sunbeams in the winter.
A request to use the library for a meeting because " it is the nicest room in the school."
A smile of accomplishment from a student who shows you how to do something on the computer. A quickly-answered reference question asked by a teacher.
A library aide you like and who likes you.
A student so absorbed in a book, he doesn't hear the bell ring.
A call from a parent about a lost book found while cleaning.
A student who wants to hold your hand.
Students who give genuine praise to each other.
A small space of time to read for pleasure!

What strikes me, says Gerald, as I read this list of "ordinary" miracles, is how we, ourselves, often make them happen. It is by treating others well that good is returned to us.

__________________________

Blogging off now for a rest from the pace.

Celebrate Canadian Children's Book Week!

Check the CCBC website for resources that encourage, promote and support the reading, writing, illustrating and publishing of Canadian books for young readers. Programs, publications, and resources help teachers, librarians, booksellers and parents selet good books for young readers. Click here for resources for use in schools or at home. Shall we order the CCBC publication Best Books for Kids and Teens: Annual, 2008 ($5.95)? This guide contains over 425 recommended books for kids and teens ages 0-18 deemed the very best books Canada has to offer by expert committees of educators, booksellers, school and public librarians from across Canada, so every book included in the guide is guaranteed to be a great read!


Considering an author visit to extend the "book celebrations"? Check the list of local authors at CWILLBC (Children's Writers and Illustrators of BC) -- under H, you will find our Nancy Hundal, author of nine picture books and soon to publish her first chapter book, and Glen Huser, my neighbour and Governor-General Award winning author of Stitches and more.

More Professional and Practical Resources

Journey back in time with The Vancouver Sun . On Wednesday Nov 19th check the feature "An Immigrant's Journey: 150 years of Newcomers to B.C." and join in celebrating BC’s birthday by engaging your students with articles, photos and video from the past 150 years.

Have you checked out the Newspaper Resources on our Databases page of the Webcat, yet? These are worth sharing with your teacher colleagues.

__________

Ministry-provided BC150 Resources are available online -- website BC Education: The Story of the One-Room Schoolhouse; Far West: The Story of British Columbia Teacher's Guide (pdf) and text; The Rush to BC: A Social Studies Resource Teacher's Guide and Student Activities; BC History in Action: A Guide to Teaching History through Drama (pdf) K-7 and 8-12.

Shall we Bulk Buy?

Vancouver: Stories of a City, by Lisa Smedman, published by The Courier. $47.20, or multiple book order deal available. More than 300 pages with historic photos, maps, and illustrations of the history of our city, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.

New Resource for Teaching Research in the Digital Age

Meredyth, ever watchful for resources that work in school libraries to promote the multiliteracies, including information literacy, brought this to my attention. I hope to have a copy for preview by Monday; Meredyth's disappeared before I could grab it. My reviewing question will be, Would this make a nice Christmas gift for school libraries? Being a huge fan of Toronto-based Koechlin and Zwaan (who often work with American school library researcher at San Jose State, David Loertscher), I can't help but think so, but I would like to check that it works for all grades first. You can check this new publication description (from Pembroke Publishing online catalogue):

BUILDING INFO SMARTS: How to work with all kinds of information and make it your own by Carol Koechlin & Sandi Zwaan.(Pages: 32 ISBN: 9781551382265 Price: $ 12.95). The online catalogue describes this as an "innovative flip book [that] shows students how to identify their learning style as they build important information literacy skills. The book explores strategies learners need to be successful when working with digital media, as well as global and more traditional literacies. Students will investigate effective strategies for finding and using all kinds of information and making it their own from reading books and analyzing a movie to working on a research project. As they work with data that they gather, students are encouraged to build personal understanding so their projects reflect original thought. The book is committed to nurturing confident learners who go beyond mere retelling of information and focus on a deeper understanding of the information they experience."

__________

"How Canada Came to Be" CD from Rhonda Draper, SD#23 Kelowna, Governor General's Teaching Award winner for the Teaching of Canadian History. This CD, the story of our country through song and oratory, includes 14 folk songs representing the many regions and eras of Canada's history. You can order this for $20.00, including tax; S/H, add $7.00. As well, a teacher's resource package ordered for $15. Rhonda is a music specialist, children's performer, and recording artist. Order directly: rdraper@sd23.bc.ca. Might your social studies teachers be interested in this? Suitable for grades 3-6 and younger children like the songs.

__________

Evaluating, Selecting, and Managing Resources: A Guide (revised 2008) replaces the previous version (last revised in 2002) and has been specifically revised to include the role of ERAC in evaluating resources for districts. This document articulates the current criteria for resource selection in schools, the role of teacher-librarians as site-based resource experts, and the role of the centralized media and library services and personnel in district resource management processes. It's long and full of forms but it would be well worth your while to review it yourself and to make an appointment to review this with your administrator and staff (but do make a point to see pages 61, 62, and Appendix 10).

__________

Interesting Readings:

Edutopia article: Google for Educators -- The Best Features for Busy Educators by Sara Ring

Educational Leadership (Nov 2008) article: Footprints in the Digital Age by Will Richardson

__________

The Latest From The Critical Thinking Consortium:

Interested in a repertoire of thinking concepts and strategies to improve the ability of students Grades 5 to 10 to think critically about a variety of topics? Download the inaugural issue of "Tools for Thought" from TC Squared. Let me know what you think. Is this something your school might be interested in purchasing?

__________

2009 Canada-Wide Virtual Science Fair: Connecting Scientific Minds from Coast to Coast. Here you will find an annual online science and technology contest open to all Canadian students in grades K-12. This year there will be special awards for Going Green. Share this with the keenest science teachers in your schools.

___________

Find the right video for what you are planning to teach on The Futures Channel: Connecting Learning to the Real World. It's free videostreaming and it's worth looking through their collection.

__________

ALA's Great Websites for Kids: The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, has added Web sites this fall to Great Web Sites for Kids, its online resource containing hundreds of links to commendable Web sites for children. "Sites must stand up to an evaluation and voting process by the committee before being deemed ‘great’ and added to the GWS page.”

__________

VPL Events of Interest:

• Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Branch, 7:30 to 9:00 pm, November 20: Stephen Hume presents his book, Simon Fraser: In Search of Modern British Columbia. Journalist and poet Hume followed in Fraser's footsteps and canoe wake for four years.
  
• Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Branch, 7:00 to 9:00 pm, December 12: City Reflections: 1907 - Vancouver - 2007: Join the Vancouver Historical Society in viewing Vancouver's earliest surviving film, taken from a moving streetcar in 1907. The film has now been replicated 100 years later. The viewing will be followed by a question and answer session.

Kidsbooks Event Features Adrienne Gear

There is a group of TLs going to Adrienne's Book Launch at Kidsbooks on Broadway, Monday, November 17, 7 - 9 pm. Why not come along for the event.

_________

The Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada have announced the 2008 INFORMATION BOOK AWARD for excellence in Canadian non-fiction aimed at informing, inspiring and connecting young readers from coast to coast. The 2008 Information Book Award of $1000 will be presented on February 28, 2009, at the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable Serendipity Conference.


WINNER: One Well: The Story of Water on Earth by Rochelle Strauss, illustrated by Rosemary Woods (Kids Can Press)

HONOUR BOOK: Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose: The Story of a Painting by Hugh Brewster, paintings by John Singer Sargent (Kids Can Press)

The Web is The Thing!

*

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]

_______________________________________

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.

Looking for Some New Teaching Ideas?

Resources

Edheads / Activate Your Mind! is a great elementary website. Thanks to TOC Lodders who recommended this one while training to work in school libraries.

Learning to Look and Looking to Learn: Visual Thinking Strategies at the Eric Carle Museum

KQW - Knowledge Quest Web Edition: Visual Literacy (January/February)

“With the art and design of the picture book at the center of its program development, The Eric Carle Museum has forged strong connections between visual and verbal literacy. Programs that explore and expand on the traditional uses of the picture book are featured in the Museum’s Galleries, Reading Library, and Art Studio. Teaching children to compose, consume, communicate, and think critically in a visually saturated world begins at an early age. What better place to begin than with the art and design of the picture book.”

- Rosemary Agoglia, Curator

Google Earth Lessons is a free public resource created by teachers, for teachers, to give educators tools and ideas for using the free Google Earth software in their classrooms. Using the ideas and resources found on this site, teachers of all subjects and grade levels can incorporate Google Earth into their curriculum. A section called "Google Earth How-tos" gives educators the basic skills they need to use the software, and a discussion section includes threads for exchanging ideas on a variety of topics. Users also can search for lessons by content area, share lessons with other, search through a library of screenshots, and more. All that is needed to use the lessons is a free download of Google Earth software.

If you are interested in working with Google more, why not attend a workshop this month: see Pro D Connections booklet under "Miscellaneous" -- Alan Zisman, David Neufeld, and I are collaboratively presenting Google for Educators, Part 1; it's for teachers including TLs. Encourage colleagues to come. Sign up online. See you at Chief Maquinna on Wednesday, April 16. You may also want to opt for more with part 2, collaboration using Google, at Kerrisdale in May.

BOOK YOURSELF OFF TO AN EVENT

Dr. Lorna Williams is at the VPL TONIGHT

The Minerva Lecture Series was created by the Canadian Council on Learning to foster discussion between Canadian learning researchers and citizens from across the country. It is a unique opportunity to understand how research can inform and affect students' learning and the everyday work of educators across the country. Come to discover why learning and education are topics that matter to everyone. Dr. Lorna Williams will be giving a free, public talk on March 28 at 7:30 PM at the Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library. The title of her lecture is "Weaving Worlds: Enhancing the learning of Aboriginal Students".

Anyone interested in issues pertaining to Aboriginal Educational will know of Dr. Williams, a renowned scholar of Aboriginal Education, an Assistant Professor of Education and Linguistics, and the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledge and Learning. Lorna also worked for the VSB before pursuing scholarly goals. Visit the Minerva Lecture Series page on the Canadian Council on Learning's website for more information.

LOMCIRA'S SPRING FLING

Waverly is hosting an evening with David Ward, children's author and researcher on Thursday, April 10, from 4 to 6 pm. The event, called "Collective Imagination: Reading and Writing with Children," will explore how we can further support young readers and writers in literacy as we collaboratively write and read with them.

Call Meredyth at 5328 for more information. Tix are $20 for non-members. Alanna at Trudeau writes, "I took a Multicultural Literature course with David last summer at UBC. He was an insightful professor. I was inspired by his passion for literature and his respect for all cultures. I will definitely be going to hear him speak and will be encouraging my staff to go as well." Anyone going to join them?

EXTRAORDINARY CANADIANS

Did you see this entry on last week's blog? I am still waiting to hear from anyone interested in joining me for an evening of Extraordinary Canadians with award winner David Adams Richards, historian and author Charlotte Gray, and acclaimed novelist Lewis deSoto. Shall I pick up tickets? See Blog Archives for last week for more details. It's 7:30 pm, Thursday April 17, H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver. Tickets: $15/$13. Bring colleagues.

PRO D CONNECTIONS for April

TL Studio is April 9 at Kerrisdale. Online registration.

Google for Educators: Well-known Maquinna computer educator Alan Zisman is working collaboratively with David, Michele, and me in a 2-part session to learn more about Google Tools for Educators, including Google Earth, Picasa, and more. Online details and registration. April 16, 4 pm. Chief Maquinna Elementary, 2684 East 2nd Avenue (between Nanaimo and Renfrew Street), Room 102. Also, May 21, Kerrisdale School Library, on 41st, east of Blenheim. Bring colleagues.

teachingbooks and other databases: We are going to try something a little different by offering this webinar in five different locations. Bring teaching colleagues to find out about this wonderful resource for teaching literature. Online details and registration. Sessions number 409.0 to 409.4, depending upon whether you are planning to go to the school library at Byng, Killarney, Tillicum, Hamber, or room 461 at the VSB.

February is Black History Month

Here are two great Black History resources for high-school students:

Library and Archives Canada presents Under a Northern Star, a virtual exhibition of accounts of early Canadian settlers whose lives represent true and successful challenges to racism and slavery. Dr Afua Cooper from the U of T introduces the exhibition: "What is brilliant about these collections is that each one speaks to the historical experience of African Canadians in different parts of the country at different time periods. Moreover, each one tells a story of the important contributions Blacks made to Canada as pioneers, enslaved persons, explorers, citizens and settlers."

BC's Amazing Black Pioneer: Crawford Kilian's book Go Do Some Great Thing: The Black Pioneers of British Columbia tells the stories of Black settlers in British Columbia. Kilian has been revising the book for a new edition. In this The Tyee article he discusses Mifflin Gibbs: "Abolitionist agitator and a worker on the underground railway in Philadelphia. Shoeshine boy, boot merchant, and newspaper publisher in gold-rush San Francisco. First competitor with the Hudson's Bay Company in gold-rush Victoria. Builder of B.C.'s first railway, in the Queen Charlotte Islands. Victoria city councillor and acting mayor. Member of the Yale Conference that framed the terms of B.C.'s entry into Confederation. America's first elected black judge, in Little Rock, Arkansas. U.S. consul in Madagascar in his 70s, and founder of a bank on his return. He died rich in 1915, aged 94." Look for excerpts from the revised edition in upcoming issues of The Tyee and check Kilian's Pioneers blog.


MORE RESOURCES

Google for Educators

The 2Learn.ca Education Society -- Alliance of Alberta Education, Alberta Teachers' Federation, U of A Faculty of Education, Telus

eScrapbooking -- Here are some great electronic, educational, experiential, engaging strategies that combine photos, memorabilia, poetry, narrative, quotes, stories, and more. Sample projects included on the site.

Ever read Mental Floss? Try this online blog, Fun with Venn and Euler

HOT TOPICS

CLA Copyright Press Conference - This 8-minute video press conference features Don Butcher, Executive Director, Canadian Library Association, who speaks up for the rights of average Canadian users which are ignored by the proposed new copyright legislation influenced by the Hollywood lobbyists and the American Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

AUTHORS

Writer/Illustrator Ian Wallace will be in town and is available for full or half days of readings on May 6, 7, and 8. Contact Meredyth or me for more information.

Julie Burtinshaw: In an email earlier this week, Rennie wrote, "If you would like a name for a terrific upper intermediate, early high school author visit, try out Julie Burtinshaw, a local author/presenter. She is very interactive with the students and well prepared. Some titles by her: Adrift, Dead Reckoning, The Freedom of Jenny, and a new one coming out for high school students called The Perfect Cut. You can contact her at burtinshawtrue@gmail.com or #604-878-7144." Or try her blog. Karen C adds, "The Freedom of Jenny ... is based on the migration of an African American family to California, then Victoria and then the Gulf Islands prior to and into the Civil War."

EVENTS

Serendipity 2008 First Nations Writers at the Longhouse

A Celebration of First Nations Writers and Illustrators of Children's Books

Saturday, February 23, 2008. 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

First Nations Longhouse, 1985 WEST MALL , UBC.

Registration, coffee and book sales 7:30-8:30 a.m. Program begins at 8:30 a.m.

For more information go to VCLR website -- http://www.library.ubc.ca/edlib/table/index.htm

This year, come to hear Leo Yerxa, author and illustrator of Last Leaf, First Snowflake to Fall , A Fish Tale, and Ancient Thunder; Richard Van Camp, author of A Man Called Raven and What's the Most Beautiful Thing You Know About Horses?; Diane Silvey, author of The Kids Book of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada; Julie Flett, illustrator of Zoe and the Fawn and The Moccasins; Earl Einarson, author of The Moccasins; and Nicola I. Campbell, author of Shi-Shi-Etko.

TL Studio

Monday February 18 - Come jing and blog with us! Online registration -- or just come.

VPL "Speak Up 2008 Series: My Virtual World"

Tuesdays Feb. 19, 26, March 4, 11 at 7:00pm, VPL Central Branch.

The "Speak Up" website is not yet functioning, but you can find details by looking at the VPL Current Events Calendar. Here are the topics: Feb. 19: On-line Privacy; Feb. 26: Gaming; Mar. 4: Information Online; Mar. 11: Social impacts of our Virtual World.

TOC Training for Horizon and Library Operations - March 4 and 5 (2 parts)

Tell TOCs to sign up now online for this two-part training: Mar 4, Room 100 (Lab), VSB - Horizon Training; Mar 5, Moberly School Library - Library Operations.

They will need to attend both to get priority call-out for school libraries. Thanks, Denise and Gwen, for agreeing to present with David and me.

Spring Weeding - Feb 28, March 6 (2 parts)

See you at Dickens for two workshops, Thursday, February 28, and a week later on Thursday, March 6. Online registration.

RESOURCES

e-Resources found at SLRCCC: Chris Ball, Head of the UBC Education Library and Associate U. Librarian for Collections and Scholarly Communications, has joined our School Library Resource Centre Consultative Committee, along with Colleen Alstad, former TL and now an SFU Education and Political Science Librarian. Chris's report to the committee on campus libraries could lead one to conclude, they have the same problems, only a much much bigger budget. 70% of UBC's library funding is spent on electronic resources -- big implications for how we prepare our students for post-secondary, right? He has sent the link to UBC e-resources which have remote and open access and which may be of interest to secondary schools. And so the mutually beneficial partnership begins!

-----------------------------

Freedom To Read Kits -- As promised, these were ordered and will be in the secondary schools on Friday ... that's today.

-------------------------------------------

Has anyone seen the free DVD The Boy Inside, the one the Ministry was sending out to all schools?

-------------------------------------------

February is Black History Month:

This month AwesomeStories includes a feature about Slavery, amongst other topics. Check out the site ... I have recommended this one before. We have an academic membership. I can email you the password if you want to join.

And check out teachingbooks (see Databases page off "webcat" -- you will need the password) for more Black History month resources as well.

-----------------------------

Dragon Books:

I need these next week.

Please let me know if you have

some really good ones set aside for me.

-------------------------------------------------

I checked this Google Maps mashup (click here for Wikipedia definition of mashup) just as someone edited the entry for "Windermere Secondary School" on Wikipedia ... at 11:33 pm! How can this be? or rather, who? Thanks, TL Annabelle, who emailed this really cool tool to explain how it all works but I am not sure how the tool works -- I just can't imagine how it works! I think mashup refers to my brain under the influence of too much technology! "...this Google Maps mashup shows additions to the Wikipedia in REAL-TIME based on where the person is who added it..."

Happy Rabbie Burns Day!

Lib/bloggin’ away …

Although I can’t imagine why, the title of this week’s blog is sung to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel’s song, the refrain for which is:

Slip sliding away, slip sliding away
You know the nearer your destination,
the more you slip sliding away …

This week's blog is a late Friday posting … lots of meetings this week as well as planning for meetings, scheduling and preparing for Pro D, and getting out to schools. Wednesday evening I attended Marlene Asselin and Keith McPherson’s Literacy for Today’s Youth session at the Burnaby Public Library, a Family Literacy event sponsored by the BC Coalition for School Libraries. This afternoon I was off to Maple Grove and Linda’s bright, inviting, and organized collection was a joy to behold. I checked up on Joanne there as well … she’s just fine, but who would doubt that!

If you haven’t seen the National School Library Day youtube clip in which Dave Cubberly speaks in the Legislature about his meeting with TL Aaron Mueller at Killarney, you can click onto it on the lefthand sidebar of this page. It brings tears to your eyes.

With feedback from Aaron, as well, I thought I had figured out how to implant comment options within a weekly entry so you don't have to scroll down to the very bottom but I didn't. I guess I need a one-on-one lesson, Aaron! Soon you will be able to comment on information within the sections. That is, it is my hope that you will soon be able to use the interactive feature of this social networking (Web 2.0) tool.

I have been checking out some really cool ways that blogs are used for teaching and will soon have some local blogs for you to use. Lana at Byng suggests that webpages have been replaced by blogs and wikis -- food for thought, my friends.

The biggest joy this week has been having a parent thank me for access to the free newspaper subscription ... her TL had sent the information home to parents in a newsletter about this resource and so she was now reading the news online. I told her to look at the other resources on the Databases page of Webcat but she knew this too. Way to go, Chris!

RESOURCES

From this week’s Webbits by Linda Hof from SFU: Google for Educators – The Best Features for Busy Teachers is an article by Sara King from Edutopia that identifies “user-friendly tools to you’re your [classes] inspired, inventive, and organized.”

Karen Lindsay, BCTLA VP, Advocacy, posts regularly and frequently to the BCTLA Forum. This week she draws out attention to these great resources:

• Docfish/Pageflakes: Karen writes, "Please share this page with your science teachers. I don't think I've ever seen anything so rich. It has also blown the doors off what I think a web page is. Enjoy. (Warning, the page loads slowly, even with cable, but it's worth the wait.)"
  
• “The IFLA/UNESCO Information Literacy Resources Directory has been redesigned and includes the just-published latest version of the State-of-the-Art report on Information Literacy in different countries.”
  
• Joe Landsberger’s Study Guides and Strategies in multiple languages.

HOT NEWS! FOR FRENCH IMMERSION SCHOOL LIBRARIES! World Book Kids (French) is due in mid-March: This news item comes from David this afternoon.

Email from Maryann Kempthorne: “I noticed this course …” and, well, she thought of you! (She hopes you are all well.) Please check out the schedule for web conferences and workshops offered by the “ei” (education institute) of The Partnership (Provincial and Territorial Library Associations of Canada). Let me know if I should be looking into scheduling us into any of these in the upcoming months.

For Secondary School Libraries, News about Freedom to Read Week: Click here for information about Freedom to Read Week Feb 24 to March 1. Thanks, Anne S., for bringing this to my attention. Kits have been ordered for the secondary schools.

Reminder -- I need DRAGON BOOKS for upcoming VSB Display (Note: opportunity here for student field trips).

EVENTS

Technology Day at Magee has big-name keynote speaker Alan November. Check out his weblog and website. There are 21 different workshops to delight both TLs and their colleagues. There are 7 TLs from Vancouver giving workshops and 2 from North Vancouver as well. These sessions are for teachers as well as TLs so encourage your colleagues to attend. Register online (see "Information Technology.") Although there are lots more to choose from, here are brief summaries of workshops provided by TLs:

Mary Locke and Gwen Ingham will work with Susan Atkey from the UBC Libraries to present a session about "the new learners," including teachers (and TLs) as
newcomers to learning about and within the more highly technical learning
environment.

Katharine Shipley and Frances Renzullo-Cuzzetto are presenting a session on electronic resources that are successful with French Immersion teaching. Look for information about a blog that is under development with electronic resources for using in French Immersion classrooms.

David Brear from Coquitlam -- yes, he's related to one of ours so he counts! -- will bring everyone up to date on the Web 2.0 phenomenon.

Virginia Lam and Ciara Kelly are doing an introduction to using electronic databases with both elementary and secondary students. These two TLs are the BIG users of the databases as resources to support inquiry so they will have lots to share about what works.

Sylvia Zubke is presenting with teacher Heidi Cyr on using Smartboards in classrooms and school libraries and again later you can see Sylvia with student William on social networking software.

Pat Parungao and I are doing our session on plagiarism – "Just Copy, Cut, and Paste: Phooey on Academic Integrity" - strategies for teachers and TLs on making it hard to do, not on how to do it!

North Vancouver TLs Lesley Edwards and Hazel Clark will show yograydonu how to enhance research through the use of MS Word, including new note-taking techniques such as highlighting, commenting, and creating tailormade graphic organizers. You may also want to check out how Lesley is using blogs as a means to build online assignments with appropriate resources. The example: Canadian poets.

Other sessions of interest: Raza Mirani from Gladstone on videostreaming; Diane Potts from UBC on the Multiliteracies; Drs. Wanda Cassidy and Margaret Jackson from SFU on the Cyberbullying research in Vancouver schools; Alan Zisman on using technology to create School Newspapers; Gerry Kent on Classroom Discussion using
technology; Alan November has a workshop for teachers and there are lots more
… see online registration for more information.

Register NOW for Literacy Day (see last week’s blog for more information) or go online to view Current Professional Development Opportunities. You can’t register online but you can go online to print out the form, than attach your cheque, and blue-bag it in to Pat Dymond ASAP.

Shari Graydon – she’s here to speak to Vancouver educators about on Feb 6, Room 400, VSB 4 pm to 5:30 pm. I sent out the electronic flyer this week. Please post/copy the flyer liberally, and promote/attend this event. Register online. [NOTE: Please encourage your colleagues, including counsellors, Home Ec and Planning 10 teachers, teachers involved with school-based social responsibility initiatives, Language Arts/English teachers, and others.] Or see Shari later the same evening at 7 pm at the Metrotown Burnaby Public Library, a free event sponsored by the BC Coalition for School Libraries.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Excerpted from Val H's Vancouver Retired Teachers' Association blog, sad news:

Karen Bailey (1942 - 2008) passed away peacefully on January 5 at VGH after a long and courageous battle with breast cancer. Born in Vancouver, Karen completed high school in Vancouver, graduated from Simon Fraser University, and later completed her library science training at UBC. Karen was an active member of VESTA who will be remembered as an amazing classroom teacher and teacher-librarian at several East Side Vancouver schools. After her retirement in 1999, Karen continued to be involved with children with special needs. No service will be held at her request, but donations may be made in Karen's memory to the BC Cancer
Agency or to the SPCA.