Lizzie Librarian

Inspired by Dan Pink's Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 3 Jan 2010 18:29:00 -0500

On my last day of winter break, I am working my way through Dan Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. So far, I am just not blown away to the extent that I was with A Whole New Mind, but I'm still finding plenty of motivational nuggets.

I started thinking about the concept of "20% time" that's been most publicized by its implementation at Google -- where employees are permitted to spend 20% of their time at work on a project of their own choosing. The idea is that with autonomy and motivation, people can produce the kind of work that is above and beyond what they do during a "normal" workday. This all sounds great when you're working with adults, but how could the same idea be implemented in a school setting, particularly at the elementary level? It's a little trickier!

My thoughts: the 20% thing really wouldn't fly with the way most schools are required to be managed today, but what if we designate a day (or even half-day) for the kids to work on projects completely of their own choosing and then present/post whatever they create? I know that in the typical business model, the independent time is NOT used as a reward, but in a school setting, it might make sense to have it be something the kids work towards. It would certainly be a more useful reward than a pizza party or movie day. Many teachers seem to go with the idea that the kids need to decompress after tasks like testing, but that's a lot of time wasted over the course of a year...maybe instead of decompression time, they just need a different kind of challenge to get them going again? The more I write, the more I TOTALLY want to try this and see what the kids could come up with when pretty much their only direction is to learn and create....

A few other quotes I found useful:

"Goals that people set for themselves and that are devoted to attaining mastery are usually healthy. But goals imposed by others -- sales targets, quarterly returns, standardized test scores, and so on -- can sometimes have dangerous side effects." p. 50

"In environments where extrinsic rewards are most salient, many people work only to the point that triggers the reward -- and no further. So if students get a prize for reading three books, many won't pick up a fourth, let alone embark on a lifetime of reading..." p. 58

"'When people aren't producing, companies typically resort to rewards or punishment. What you haven't done is the hard work of diagnosing what the problem is. You're trying to run over the problem with a carrot or a stick,' Ryan explains." p. 72

More to contemplate as I keep reading, I'm sure...

Hidenwood Students Go Green!

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Thu, 9 Apr 2009 16:32:00 -0400

Our fifth grade students will be running a new recycling program at Hidenwood Elementary this spring. Their teacher, Brian Lieberman, received a grant from the Kids In Need Foundation, an organization dedicated to funding creative, innovative learning projects. The students will distribute recycling bins around the school and will take responsibility for the collection of these materials. This will be the start of an exciting project-based authentic learning experience, during which students will not only study science and social studies, but also develop personal, social, and civil responsibility.

The project has already begun to bring students together. To get the project underway, students visited classrooms throughout the school to distribute recycling bins. After outlining the program, they fielded questions from their fellow students. I was so impressed with how confident and competent they sounded! Of course, our students could not contain their enthusiasm to join the project, and began collecting materials as soon as the bins were delivered. Thanks to the hard work of Mr. Lieberman and his students, Hidenwood Elementary will soon be a cleaner, greener place!

Diigo Webslides

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Mon, 6 Apr 2009 18:43:00 -0400

I am presenting at the VEMA Spring Regional York Conference this week and am playing around with Diigo Webslides as a way of sharing the links for my presentation.

Problems so far:

I'm not thrilled about the fact that everything is a cached version of the website. I am having trouble adding any Google applications to the slideshow -- they all show some message about the website timing out.
I wish there were an easier way to rearrange the slides than going back into your Diigo list and clicking "move to top" or "move up." Drag and drop, please!
YouTube video will not display.

I feel confident that the capability exists to create the tool I want, but I have yet to find it! I tried Flowgram and loved the set-up and options, but found it slow and unreliable. I also tried creating a stack in SearchMe, but ~~could not find a way to drag and drop to rearrange slides~~ had trouble finding the itty bitty button that lets you change the slide number order. I still think drag-and-drop functionality would be useful, too!

Check Out These Links -- Diigo 4.5.09

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 5 Apr 2009 16:05:00 -0400

Lost Generation Video

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:19:00 -0400

My principal sent me this awesome video YouTube video posted by metroamv. It placed second in the AARP U@50 video contest. It is a very powerful message, but also opens up all kinds of ideas for writing!

No Future Left Behind

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Wed, 4 Mar 2009 18:54:00 -0500

"This film was created as the Keynote for Net Generation Education Project:

http://netgened.wikispaces.com

When kids at the Suffern Middle School were asked to talk about education and their future, they gave Peggy Sheehy, the SMS media specialist, an earful. Listen and learn the bits of wisdom that can be gleaned from the students, if we only dare to ask them."

Check Out These Links -- Diigo 3/1/09

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 1 Mar 2009 11:10:00 -0500

PicLits.com - Create a PicLit

Choose a photo, then drag and drop descriptive words to your photo.

tags: writing, photos, web2.0, piclit
ARKive - A unique collection of thousands of videos, images and fact-files illustrating the world's species

"Welcome to ARKive, a unique collection of thousands of videos, images and fact-files illustrating the world's species." The pictures and videos on this site are amazing.

tags: science, animals, resources, images, reference
anchoractivities » home

Tons of games and activities for students.

tags: anchoractivities, activities, games
Capzles

tags: timeline, slideshow, photos, multimedia, web2.0, capzles

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

I miss living by a lake...

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:50:00 -0500

Check Out These Links -- Diigo 2/22/09

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 07:50:00 -0500

Weblogg-ed » Those Who Publish Set the Agenda

Interesting post by Will Richardson about correlation between family structure, access to technology, and contributions to online community.

tags: access, education, shifts, technology
David Merrill demos Siftables, the smart blocks | Video on TED.com

So cool! I WANT THESE!

tags: siftables, technology, blocks, future, education, ted
Odyssey Online: Greece

Awesome interactive site about ancient Greece -- learn about geography, architecture, government, etc.

tags: Greece, history
Index of /smart

This directory of SMARTBoard files has a TON of resources for primary grades.

tags: smart, smartboard, primary
ABCya! The Leader in Kids Educational Computer Games & Activities

ABCya! is a new and exciting way for elementary students to learn on the web. All educational games and activities were created by teachers for kids! Activites are modeled from primary grade lessons and enhanced to provide an interactive way to learn. Below you will find links to interactive games separated by grade level. The lessons incorporate content areas such as math and reading while introducing basic computer skills.

tags: math, reading, elementary, abcya, interactive, education, smartboard
Flowgram

AWESOME new web presentation tool -- "Create interactive guided presentations by combining web pages, photos, PowerPoint and more with your voice, notes, and highlights. Viewers can control the pages, scroll, click on links, view videos and more."

tags: presentation, web2.0, slideshow, tools, screencast, flowgram

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

New York Times Article

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 20:51:00 -0500

Check out this article about the role of library media specialists in the 21st century. For those people who ask "Do you just stamp books all day and shush people?" or "So you know the Dewey Decimal System, right?" this is a pretty accurate description of what my job really is!

Why Glogster.edu Irritates Me

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:59:00 -0500

When I found out that Glogster had come out with a kid-friendly edu version, I jumped all over it, and so did our entire school district! We were VERY excited about the privacy and restrictions put in place, and students really got into creating glogs to showcase their learning. However, we ran into a few snags when we found out that their privacy claims are not all they're cracked up to be. So as a forewarning to others, I'm sharing what we've learned.

It IS possible to friend people outside of your classroom network. There are a number of ways to do this, but it's easier to show than tell, so here's a screen capture. Note that I am logging in to the edu site as a student. The one friend this student currently has is the teacher who created the account (me).

I'm still not sure why it is so easy for students to get to that page full of glogs in the first place -- I thought all glog content on the edu version was private, but I never got that lame warning telling me I was leaving the edu site, so where am I?

Not only that, but I was unimpressed with the response I got from Glogster when I expressed my worries:

"Dear teacher,

students cannot add any friends, not on EDU nor on Glogster.
When they try to go to Glogster main site they are alerted about possible non school-safe elements. If they still decide to go to Glogster main page, for example to chat room, and regular Glogster user adds them as a friend they can accept it.
You can advice your students not to go to Glogster main site or you can arrange Glosgter main site to be blocked."

Typos aside, it bothers me that the people at Glogster believe that their alert when leaving Glogster actually informs students that they might encounter "possible non school-safe elements." When I click on that big pink Beta button that sends me back to the main site, yes, the green warning pops up, but it doesn't say anything about "non school-safe elements"! The image quality stinks, but the warning below says

"Hey, do you know that you are leaving the EDU zone and returning to Glogster.com? If you return to Glogster.com then you will be automatically signed out of the EDU zone. If you want to use the full version of Glogster then you will have to register a new account. Do you really want to return to Glogster.com?"

That doesn't sound like much of a warning to me! In addition, it is not possible to block glogster.com without also blocking glogster.com/edu. We tried. I'm of the opinion that the people at Glogster should know that, too, and not send me a bunch of garbage answers! So those are my issues. Awaiting Glogster reply. If nothing else, they DO get back to you...

Check Out These Links -- Diigo 2/14/09

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:44:00 -0500

Literature-Map - The tourist map of literature

Type in an author's name and get a visualization of other authors you might like.

tags: literature, books, visualization, authors, map
Many Eyes

"Many Eyes is a bet on the power of human visual intelligence to find patterns." Organize data in graphs, charts, maps, or even wordles.

tags: visualization, data, web2.0, tools
Exploratree - Exploratree by FutureLab

Awesome site for mindmapping tools/graphic organizers.

tags: mindmapping, web2.0, visualization, tools, graphic organizers
JeopardyLabs - Online Jeopardy Template

tags: jeopardy, game, education, interactive, template, web2.0, tools
Crickweb | Welcome to Crickweb

tags: interactive, resources, smartboard, literacy, education, crickweb

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Check Out These Links -- Diigo 2/8/09

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 8 Feb 2009 18:19:00 -0500

Teachers Love SMART Boards: SMARTBoard Web Resources - 2008

tags: SMARTBOARD, links
Science Up Close

Harcourt science activities arranged by grade level. Great for interactive SMARTBoard use.

tags: science, elementary, interactive, smartboard, Games
Go2Web20.net - The complete Web 2.0 sites directory

A directory of a billion web2.0 tools.

tags: web2.0, directory, tools, list
Google Earth Gallery

Educational Google Earth tours that you can download and use with your students.

tags: google, google earth, web2.0, education, tours, images
Sadlier-Oxford :: Phonics Student Online Components

Great elementary phonics and language arts games that will work with the SMARTBoard.

tags: phonics, Spelling, elementary, LanguageArts, literacy, grammar, smartboard, games, activities
Dropbox - Home - Secure backup, sync and sharing made easy.

Store, sync and share files and photos online.

tags: storage, backup, sync, dropbox, share, web2.0
Remember Everything. | Evernote Corporation

Create, clip and share notes from everywhere. Sync from your desktop, phone, or the web. Save and search snapshots, to-do lists, audio, notes, etc.

tags: web2.0, notes, tools, productivity, notetaking, evernote
Cooliris | Discover More

Visualize websites in an awesome 3D format.

tags: web2.0, firefox, browser, tools, plugin, images, visualization
art.com artPad

tags: fun, flash, design, tools, artpad, Web2.0, interactive, animation, art, smartboard
Gmail Labs: Ten Gmail Labs Features You Should Enable

Make gmail work for you. This list details 10 of the best gmail labs features -- like offline gmail, multiple inboxes, and even a feature to remind you when you forgot to attach your attachment!

tags: gmail, labs, google
10 Websites No Teacher Should Be Without | Teacher Tech Tips, bestwebsites teachertips teacherresources | Making Teachers Nerdy

tags: education, technology, websites, teacher, web2.0, links

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Glogster EDU

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 8 Feb 2009 10:10:00 -0500

I have started using Glogster's edu site to create library websites. It is SO easy and fun to use! I am using my library glog as a gateway to student projects, links, and research tools for students and teachers.

Our students can't get enough of Glogster, either. However, we recently learned that the edu version is not everything we imagined it was! I somehow got it in my head that within the edu sphere, a teacher created a classroom, gave her students usernames, and they could not communicate with anyone outside of that classroom. We learned the hard way this week that this is not the case! Students can accept friend requests from users on the general glogster site and can view glogs from that site as well. I'm not sure what the point of having the edu site is if there is no separation from the two! At any rate, we now have a great opportunity to start dialoging with students about how to use the Internet responsibly...

"idk, my bff jill?"

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sat, 8 Mar 2008 20:03:00 -0500

During my last drive to Virginia, I spent some time catching up on long overdue podcasts, including Dr. Yong Zhao's keynote speech from the BLC 2007 Conference. He constructed an interesting analogy between the inventions of the printing press and the Internet, stating that the the printing press necessitated that the average person become a reader, and the Internet now necessitates that the average user become a writer. This is such a powerful statement for educators -- that as blogging, etc. continue to shape students' worlds, that writing (specifically, writing for an audience) will take on new meaning and relevance.

Of course, the idea of blogging changing the face of writing has its downsides, too -- the prevalence of texting and blogging has already changed the casual form of written English that is used by many students.

This form of written English has truly become a standard dialect with teens. Many of us squirm at the very thought -- how will students ever learn the difference between you're and your if they can just write "ur" and do away with the whole thing? How can the world possibly go on as it should when the masses are homophone-illiterate?

I wish I were more tolerant, but I am one of those grammatical elitists who has to fight an urge to scream every time an educated adult writes "she think's" or "their going." At the same time, I was actually a linguistics major who believed in the idea that languages should change over time, and that unnecessary grammatical constructions should be phased out over time. Does that mean that I must be willing to embrace the "l8r" generation's form of written language? I'm not sure I can stomach it!

Of course, the "l8r generation" got me thinking about something else I heard recently -- that as more and more non-native English speakers adopt English as their primary language, those of us who speak the American English "dialect" will actually become the minority. The outsiders. The people tied to a past when the U.S. presided over all. Meanwhile, the Chinese and Indian businessmen and women will adopt and develop their own simplified (and therefore more linguistically advanced, believe it or not) English. Those of us still complaining about subject-verb agreement will be wasting our time on obsolete, inconsequential details. Is it possible that those of us complaining about "ur" will be in the same boat?

Blackboard Exemplary Course Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 2 Mar 2008 17:31:00 -0500

I was recently chosen to record a tour of my Blackboard site for our local Exemplary Sites page, which highlights the "best" Blackboard sites in Central New York. I was very excited to get to do this, and pretty happy with how the final product came out. It is also a great resource to be able to view other outstanding tours and see first-hand how different educators have used Blackboard. I have all kinds of new ideas on what to do next! Click here to listen to my tour...and please, let me know what you think!

Creative Writing Prompts

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 3 Feb 2008 21:36:00 -0500

Taken from Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

Using blank (i.e. no captions) cartoons, create your own humorous captions for the cartoons;
Write a story based on only a title, picture, or title/picture combo, i.e. "The Octopus's Sneakers" (think Chris Van Allsburg's The Mysteries of Harris Burdick);
Respond to real-life challenges, such as convincing a teacher to let you make up a missed assignment, or going to your first middle school party and not knowing anyone in the room;
Write a mini-saga: an exactly 50-word story with a beginning, middle, and end;
"Riff on opening lines" -- use powerful opening line prompts to write a new story, for example, "Call me Ishmael";
Play "Who are these people?" -- make up stories for the people in line at the bus stop, buying lottery tickets, etc.

A Three Dog Life

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sat, 2 Feb 2008 19:41:00 -0500

An excerpt from A Three Dog Life, by Abigail Thomas, on the wisdom of dogs:

"I watch my dogs. They throw themselves into everything they do; even their sleeping is wholehearted. They aren't waiting for a better tomorrow, or looking back at their glory days. Following their example, I'm trying to stick to the present."

War on Technology?

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sat, 2 Feb 2008 17:05:00 -0500

For the past few weeks, I have been in a fight with technology. It all started when I somehow mangled my RSS feed for this blog. It was my fault, really. I had been working at the computer for too long and was letting myself get frustrated with some of the tics on FeedBurner. A few rage-infused clicks of the delete button, and my blog info was lost in RSS purgatory. I shut down my computer for most of the day, only using it to check e-mail periodically. For two weeks, I left my blog and the various errors within it to rot. I Xed out of Twitterific more often than I read my tweets. I ignored Google Reader and growled at my computer every chance I got. At school, I haphazardly deleted student blog posts for minor infractions of the rules. Not only that, but I changed my daily routine. I spent more time at the gym, went to bed earlier each night, and spent more time reading those books and professional magazines that had been stacking up for months. I was honestly having fun NOT being on speaking terms with technology, for once.

This is not without a little necessary caution, but finally, after two long weeks of estrangement, I am ready to make up. Being able to experience the position of a technophobe (relatively speaking) got me thinking about why so many people still shy away from technology. As an energetic young educator with a pretty big crush on my Mac and all things Web 2.0, I tend to secretly pass judgment on those who do not share my enthusiasm. I am a crusader for the importance of 21st century skill development in schools and am often dismayed at the seeming lack of support or interest in these vital skills. When I first read Karl Fisch's post, "Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?", my answer was pretty one-sided: no. I actually found myself cheering when I read this paragraph:

The Fischbowl: Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher? via kwout

But this past week, I was pleasantly surprised to hear from certain unexpected teachers about how happy they are that I am teaching technology skills in the library and how important it is for the students. I couldn't quite reconcile that with my earlier perspective, and started thinking about why this might be so. I came up with a few ideas:

There are plenty of truly important curricular areas that I personally have no desire to teach. This reluctance is not at all because I think they are of lower value than other subjects, but because I know I am not the best person for the job. Sure, I could learn what I need to know and do a passable job, but perceptive students would pick up on my lack of true enthusiasm and knowledge within seconds. It is the same with technophobic teachers. Do we really want to force them to embrace and teach technology when it just may never be their thing?
Maybe being a librarian has given me a leg up in this department -- I am not used to knowing the answers, I'm used to knowing where to find them! It is almost part of my job description not to answer students' questions, and instead to direct them in seeking the answers. I get tons of requests for information I know absolutely nothing about (even at the elementary level), and I have learned not to try to fake it. Teachers are different -- they are used to knowing all of the answers. They impart wisdom and knowledge on a daily basis, and they are very good at it. So it's not that the technophobes think technology is unimportant. But from their perspective, it is easy to forget that embracing technology does not, and in fact cannot, necessitate mastering technology. It is difficult for those who are accustomed to mastering content to view technology not as a content area, but as a tool.
In order to truly embrace technology, many teachers would have to actively let something else go. What should we tell them to abandon? Time with their families? Time for their own physical and mental health? Time helping students learn to read and write? I look to the teachers with 10 years experience as model teachers, but sometimes it's easy to forget that they were already contributing their energy and enthusiasm to projects I knew nothing about while I rolled my eyes in 10th grade French. In this one respect, I am "lucky" in that during my first year of teaching, I am living here in Central New York with little in the way of family, friends, or outside entertainment and have plenty of time to devote to this form of professional development. But should other teachers be punished because they actually have lives?

That being said, I'm still not ready to give up any ground. (When am I ever?) Fisch goes on to state:

"But then I think of our students, and the fact that they don't much care how much is on our plates. As I've said before, this is the only four years these students will have at our high school - they can't wait for us to figure it out."

My Favorite Christmas Present

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:14:00 -0500

I LOVE my Circus Puppet Theater from Restoration Hardware -- the students have so much fun using the puppets! Earlier in the year, I began using puppets with first graders to help them develop comprehension skills while listening to a story. Each puppet had a job to do -- asking a teacher question, making a prediction, summarizing the story, or acting out an important part of the story. Now, we are moving onto illustrator studies and need new jobs...luckily, I have these great new puppets!

Circus Puppet Theater via kwout

Podcasting

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:31:00 -0500

I am finally getting the hang of podcasting! For the first time, I actually have a student/teacher (i.e. me) collaboration that sounds good! So far, I am still doing most of the tech aspects, but I am hoping to get a group of 4th grade tech clubbers to start learning Audacity.

Let me know what you think!

Subscribe Free Add to my Page

Internet Safety for Parents

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:24:00 -0500

What can you do to ensure that you and your children have a safe, positive Internet experience? As promised, here are some ideas and resources for parents.

1. First, and most importantly, discuss not just rules but guidelines with your children. Develop a household contract for Internet usage.

Rules tend to be of the “because I said so” variety and do not enable children to truly learn why they are necessary. Instead, work with your children to come up with a shared group of guidelines. Talk through the importance of each guideline. Turn them into a contract, with each member of the family signing off on them. Then post them right next to the computer for all to see. Check this website from NetSmartz to find Internet safety pledges your family can use.

The Internet safety pledges on the NetSmartz page are a great jumping off point for discussing protection from strangers, but don’t say much about protecting yourself even when you are talking to known friends. Many children and teens are using social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook to connect with friends, chat, and develop a sense of self. Social networking sites are great tools, when used appropriately; however, many children (and adults) don't consider or realize all of the effects of having a virtual "self." (If you are unfamiliar with social networking services, sign up for an account yourself, check out this Wikipedia page to learn more, or watch this quick video from Lee LeFever on the Common Craft Show:

2. Establish trust.

All children inevitably defy their parents at some point or another. For whatever reason, they just can’t believe that you have their best interests in mind. But when it comes to Internet safety, the danger becomes even greater if you have not already established a trusting relationship with your children. If their fear of losing their Internet privileges is greater than their fear of a danger they face on the Internet, they may not come to you to discuss it. At the first hint of trouble, your primary inclination will be to lock the computer away, and your child with it. Try to hold back. Remember, these kids are the information age, and no amount of locks and keys will keep them from using the Internet, so help your child solve their problem responsibly and be the adult they need.

From the beginning, let your children know that in order to use MySpace, Facebook, e-mail, instant messaging, Blogger, Twitter, Bebo, YouTube, Second Life, Webkinz, Flickr, or even Amazon, they will need to let you in on it. Set up the profiles together. Talk about password protection together. Let them know from the beginning that you do not want to invade their privacy, but if they don’t want mommy to see it, it isn’t happening. Keep your computer in a high-traffic area of your house, not in your child’s bedroom. As your child gets older, give him/her more privacy to explore personal issues, but develop that privacy slowly, and continue to discuss privacy issues with your child.

3. Really, truly, thoroughly discuss the notion of privacy on the Internet.

Children often post pictures, events, and other personal information to their profile pages, assuming they are private. These pages can be set to private so that only known friends can see the information, but children also need to know that any "friend" can copy and past the information to a public forum or distribute to a wider audience. In addition, children also befriend people they don't really know, thereby eliminating the whole notion of privacy. Be sure you talk to your children about this notion of privacy. Together, work through all of the advantages and disadvantages of posting certain types of information to the Internet. Allow them to work out for themselves exactly why they need to be careful, and guide them toward safe, appropriate behavior. We all know that a child's ability to reason something through to the end is simply not as well-developed as an adult's, and your children will be much more responsive to your guidelines if they understand the reasoning behind them!

4. Become a positive role model for your children. Do what they are doing, but do it better.

If your child is using Facebook, MySpace, IM, Twitter, e-mail, or anything else, you should be doing it too. You don’t need to spend all your free time checking your friends’ status updates, but play around with the tools enough that you feel confident discussing and using them with your child. If you don’t figure out how to use the tools appropriately and responsibly yourself, how can you expect your child to be more responsible than you are? Create a social network of parents and use it to model a positive social network. You will probably be surprised at what you can do with it!

5. Learn from your children.

Face it. Unless you are in the IT business, your kids know more about using the Internet than you will probably ever know. You are the digital immigrant, your children are digital natives, blah blah blah. If it were truly a language barrier, you would never just go about your life speaking a different language than your children and being unable to communicate with them. This is their mode of communication. This is their language. Learn it. Let them teach you what they are doing on the computers. It will help you learn, establish that all-important trust, and help them develop their skills!

6. Do your research. Google yourself. Google your kids. Pay attention.

Regularly keep track of your Internet presence. Go to www.google.com and search for your name in quotes. Add the name of the company you work for, a league you are in, or an organization you belong to. Do multiple searches to find information buried on the Web. Do the same for your children. Find out what is already out there on the Internet about you and your family, and monitor it regularly. Be the role model your children need.

7. Talk to me!

I don't claim to be a true expert on these issues, but I am certainly accessible. I use social networking sites, e-mail, IM, and other technologies regularly and would be glad to show you how I use them, what I use them for, and how you can set up your own accounts. Please, don't feel at all afraid to bother me. The worst thing you can do is to stay in the dark.

Internet Safety - Conversations with Parents

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:10:00 -0500

When you sign up to be a librarian, it's almost like signing the Hippocratic Oath of Information. Most of us believe fairly strongly in the Library Bill of Rights and in free access to information. So I was a bit worked up after attending a recent PTA meeting about the perils of the Internet. As a first-year librarian without any social capital, I really needed to gain the parents' trust and was in no position to disagree with a police officer, so I found myself stuck in a corner, biting my tongue.

Our PTA invited the local police officer to speak about Internet safety at tonight's meeting. Don't get me wrong, it was a very necessary conversation to have, but I wish it hadn't been so one-sided. The officer thoroughly covered the dangers children face when using the Internet -- knowingly or unknowingly divulging personal information to strangers, navigating to inappropriate sites, etc. But the answer proposed was secretly installing tracking software that allows you to view everything your child (and babysitter) posts. To each his own, but I find that terribly offensive and would use such a method only as a last resort. I understand that Officer Fuller is a police officer first and an educator second. As a result, she stresses prevention at any cost and sees the issues from that particular lens. But with something as important and ever-changing as the Internet, there will never be a quick fix. To suggest that parents can pass off all personal responsibility onto a software package is awfully short-sighted, considering the stakes. In addition, parents risk losing their children's trust as well as the important dialog that takes place when parents and children learn and develop Internet safety strategies together.

During this meeting, there was no real conversation about how to talk to your child about Internet safety, what to do to truly educate yourself, or how to positively learn and navigate your way through the Internet with your child. It was a lot to handle in one session to begin with, so maybe that's Part 2. I sure hope so. Because the conversation should never be about preventing your child from learning and exploring. The conversation needs to be about learning and exploring with your child in a meaningful, positive environment.

In addition, I learned that Internet safety education is conducted at the same time as drug and alcohol education for our 5th grade students. I'm not crazy about the message that the Internet is in the same hateful category as booze and cigarettes. The Web is their world. By the time they graduate high school, it will literally be everywhere. We are putting them at a severe disadvantage by equipping them only with the skills they will need to navigate the world we know, and ignoring what they will need for that world.

The whole meeting got me truly thinking about where a parent's responsibility lies. It is common for adults to talk about the ways their children misuse the Internet as if they themselves know better. But do they? Are they taking the steps to educate themselves as fully as they would like their children to be educated? Do they regularly conduct Internet searches on both themselves and their children? Do they experiment with Facebook, MySpace, and Webkinz themselves when their children ask to set up accounts? Have they attempted to get involved in a positive and appropriate social network to model for their children? And it goes even further: as an educator, I do what I can to teach students these vital 21st century skills. But have I been neglecting half of my duty by not also educating their parents?

The bottom line is this: you can't expect your kid to be more responsible about the Internet than you are yourself. Yes, you are a digital immigrant and that is a difficult position to be in. I get it. But it is your responsibility as a parent to at least TRY to speak the same language as your child. And I am here to help.

Now that I've gotten past being appalled, I would be remiss to rant without giving my own positive suggestions, so...coming soon: effective strategies parents can use to practice and preach Internet safety in their homes.

Book-to-Movie

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Wed, 9 Jan 2008 20:29:00 -0500

I went to see The Golden Compass this past weekend. It was good, but didn't hold a candle to the book. One of the previews for the movie was Inkheart, also based on a great fantasy book. While I always end up just as excited about these movies as the 10-year-olds are, I am starting to get a little irritated about the sheer number of children's/YA books that are being turned into movies these days. If I loved the book (and chances are, I did), then I always see the movie too...and usually I even like the movie. But it bothers me when the entire New York Three Apples Book Award list is made up of books that have been turned into movies. Of course, the list is composed of student suggestions in the first place, and there is certainly a chance that some of these students ended up reading the books because they liked the movies. So maybe I am being pessimistic to assume that those students are few and far between, but it's discouraging when a whole class responds that they have not read the book, but the movie was really good!

Just FYI, the 3 Apples list for this year is below. How many are not popular movies?

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
The BFG by Roald Dahl
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
Holes by Louis Sachar
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Matilda by Roald Dahl
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Embed Flickr Notes!

noreply@blogger.com (Liz) — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:47:00 -0500

After finally catching up on blog postings, I learned a great new trick from Alan Levine -- using the code created by Yuan.CC Flickr Experiments, you can display flickr photos with notes.

Here is Alan's "What Can We Do With Flickr" image -- hover over the boxes in the image to get more info and links:

I have been using Creative Commons Flickr photos with 4th graders to write animal poetry, which we will then record to VoiceThread, but I had also wanted a fun way for students to post the text of their poems onto my Blackboard site...the discussion boards and blogs provided by BB just don't do the job I want! This could be another option...