Library Media Tech Talk

On January 18, 2015, The Great Gatsby collaborative event returned to the Lakeside High School Library Media Center. Mrs. Misti Bell , LHS Library Media Specialist, is the author this blog entry! “The party has begun.” –from The Great Gatsby Once again the LHS Library Media Center teamed up with the 11 th grade class to experience Gatsby .    Previously, this event was held as a culminating Common Core enrichment activity; however, this year the students were in the process of reading the F. Scott Fitzgerald classic.  Our goal for this collaboration was to bring the 1920’s to our students, giving them the opportunity to experience the tastes, sounds and images from the era.  The library was transformed into an extravagant party decked out in elegant gold and black. The learning stations remained the same; however, due to student suggestions, we did extend the time for Dance the Charleston.  Our learning stations consisted of: an A...

In the most recent blog entry , I discussed some of the ways we support teachers in the library by helping them present research tools. Recently, I've been trying to work in social media whenever possible. Students are presently using social media to post selfies and brag about themselves. In recent months, I have discovered that these great social tools can be used for so much more . We should strive to model better ways to use social media in the classroom! Two weeks ago, I was showing an 8th grade English class how to do basic research using Britannica School.  I also taught a brief introduction to EasyBib . After I had taught a few sessions, I thought about bringing Twitter into the lesson. I decided to take one of the photos we had captured (we always take lots of photos of events in the library for evidence!) and send out a Tweet to share what we were doing. I sent the first Tweet about Britannica School  and EasyBib after I got home from school that evening. ...

I'm in my 5th year as a library media specialist (LMS) at Lakeside High School. I am so fortunate to have great working relationships with our faculty. Both Misti Bell (also a LMS at Lakeside High) and I are frequently asked to present sessions on research tools and technology. It is exactly what I envisioned when I entered this career field! I hope the school library will always be a place teachers and students come to seek assistance with research and tech tools! Recently, I had the opportunity to do a full day of sessions to one section of our 8th grade English classes. Mrs. Mari Simmons requested that I share Britannica School and EasyBib as preparation for a small research project on poets that her students will complete using Prezi . I enjoy sharing these tools with all ages, but especially 8th graders because it is their first taste of the research process at the high school level. If we can get them comfortable with this process at the beginning, it will make a huge...

One of our high school English teachers asked me if I might be interested in her son and his friend (who are now sophomores in college) coming by to give students some pointers they have learned after a year and half in college. We are always looking for new ways to engage our students through lunch programming in the library, especially student led programs. This was perfect! All too often students hear adults telling them how to succeed in college.  By the time they are juniors and seniors, it has to get old for them. Students greatly prefer hearing from peers ! These two alumni haven't been gone from our school that long, so they are still familiar to our students. I shared the possibility with the library staff, and they loved the idea. We requested that they present two sessions so that all our library visitors in grades 8-12 could hear their tips. I couldn't wait for this program to happen! Both sessions went great. The presenters talked about the importance ...

We asked some of our library regulars to write an article for the blog. We want to know why they like to visit the library. We asked them to talk about the things they like and how the library media center has affected them.  Freshman Lakeside High School student, Sidra Hanson, brought the following article to us just a few days after our request! "Not Just A Room With Books" by Sidra Hanson             The word “library” didn’t always mean a lot to me. After all, the word’s literal meaning is a room or building where collections of books and other media are. So if you like to read, you go to the library. If you don’t enjoy reading, you find other places to go. Right?             Wrong. This perception changed when I came to Lakeside. I’d always loved reading. The question of whether to come to the library wasn’t a difficult one. But I was startled by how different the Lakeside librar...

I have noticed that public libraries have started holding movie nights in recent years. I've often thought, "that must be nice, how can they do that?" Luckily a few years ago, my wife, Cindy, who is also a school library media specialist, discovered a company that sells public performance licenses for schools (and other organizations). She purchased a site license from  Movie Licensing USA . This license allows movies to be shown within their building for entertainment or public performance. Please, note this is separate from the educational exemption or "fair use" / face to face teaching use allowed to teachers. Educators can use resources or show movies/ movie clips in order to teach concepts directly related to their class content. The license Cindy purchased covered movies shown for reasons other than face to face teaching. This is important to note because on any given day there might be teachers in your building showing movies as a reward or for ent...

Our school provided us with a new 3D Printer during the summer of 2014. It has been a fascinating tool for our learning community. Since school started in the fall, we have made it available to students. We have a makerspace on Thursdays after school for students that want to try the printer. Our most successful students have been in our EAST program. Several of these student teams have designed and printed projects. Three particular students have worked with the device so much, I asked them to present about the printer during a library lunch program. The students quickly agreed! They brought me an outline proposal for what they intended to present. They decided to give a description of the printer, a discussion of the 3D software they have used, and actually print items to give away at the end of the session. Since it was close to the holidays, they decided to print two snowflake ornaments. I have noticed that student led programs have been among the most successful in m...

Still puzzled by Twitter? I know I'm still learning about this great social media tool too! If you didn't catch the first part of this post, go here . I'll cover what I've learned about Hashtags and Twitter chats in this post. What is a Hashtag anyway ? When I first started using Twitter, I couldn't figure out how to find people to follow. I didn't know how to find Tweets about the topics that interested me. Hashtags helped me find these items! A Hashtag  is a keyword or phrase (no spaces) with a "#" at the beginning. The keyword or phrase helps categorize the Tweet. These words can be anything from #edchat (a popular education hashtag) to #bestmemoriesof2014 (a popular hashtag at the end of 2014).  You can search a specific hashtag by going to the "search Twitter" tool and typing it in. Twitter will then show you the current Tweets and photos posted to that hashtag. You can get a list of Educational Hashtags here  (thanks ...