Library Media Tech Talk

Students examine historical newspapers I've been experimenting with using our weekly 35-minute RTI (Response To Intervention) enrichment time to bring engaging, real-world programming into the library. This flexible time allows us to schedule programs for students who don't require mandated remediation, offering valuable enrichment instead. The need for local connection became profoundly clear when I discovered how few students connect with the Malvern Daily Record , a paper with a deep history in our county. It was surprising how many students don't look at the paper—one even told me they had never physically held or read one! To bridge this gap, I decided to invite Mrs. Heather Bennett Ritter , Staff Writer for the Malvern Daily Record , to present during one of our library sessions. We had an excellent turnout for the event. Mrs. Ritter and I take a moment for a photo! Building Connections and Learning History Mrs. Ritter took time to talk about the history of the newspa...

This was the second year for the Library Media Tech Talk Blog. The blog was created in March 2014. We hope that our posts have been both interesting and helpful to all educators! As 2015 comes to a close, I want to share our most read articles of the year. Top 5 most read blog posts of 2015 1825 pageviews:  Our First Mysteryskype! 1535 pageviews:  Our First Makerspace Day In The Library 1154 pageviews:  How My Wife Became Super Librarian 926 pageviews:  Tweet Us Some #Inspiration 819 pageviews: Students "Teach The Teachers" Prezi At Lunch In The Library Thank you for reading this blog! Happy New Year, friends! Please Subscribe  if you are enjoying this blog. Please, put your email address in the box on the right side of the page. You will receive notifications when I post new blog entries! Contact Me/ Follow Me Email:  stony_evans@lakesidesd.org Are you on Twitter? Follow me : @stony12270 Follow our library (LH...

Whatever career you have chosen, it is important to rest and recharge. For most teachers, down time in the summer is key! I try to get away every summer for at least a week even if I just have a stay at home vacation. I always try to do some of the things I enjoy doing or visit places that are recreational. Any place or activity can be inspiring to a teacher. It might be a museum, a state park, a great movie, a concert, a novel or professional book. For me, the inspiring place this summer was Walt Disney World! It was good to get away and relive the things that inspired me as a kid. This is a great practice since we all teach young people! It was good for me to go back and remember what it was like to be a teenager again for a few days. I enjoyed seeing Mickey Mouse, C-3PO, Kermit the Frog, and even Indiana Jones! It was also great to learn about Walt Disney’s life and his innovations to the entertainment industry. Too often we tend to think that success just happens i...

A few weeks ago, I shared about our inspirational quotes Twitter program. Go  here  if you didn't get to read it! Since that time, I have continued to Tweet successful people and celebrities for inspirational quotes to share with our learning community. Others on our faculty have even joined in this activity! Our high school principal and two other teachers have Tweeted out to get inspirational Tweets from successful people in their networks. In addition, we have started receiving positive Tweets from recent Lakeside High School alumni. To show off these Tweets, one of our library assistants (Mrs. Peggy Schaeffer) came up with a great iPhone display to hang on the library walls and doors! Mrs. Schaeffer put small text balloons in the messages to identify the name and position of the people that sent the Tweets. She used the #inspiration hashtag on signs to attract attention. Students have been stopping to read the Tweets ever since we posted them...

This school year, I have become hopelessly addicted to Twitter! As a result of Twitter education chats, I have gained many new connections in the education field. It has changed the way I think about learning and communicating professionally. I am constantly trying to think of new ways to model good social media behavior for our learning community. Recently, the PARCC test has been a strain on our school in both personnel requirements and technology resources. I have been serving as a test administrator for the past two weeks and have been unable to plan any engaging library programming... until two days ago. I decided that we should try to Tweet successful people on Twitter for inspiration! I took requests from students, teachers, and administrators after PARCC test sessions. I took these lists home and started Tweeting at night. The lists included actors, singers, authors, athletes, news anchors, and more. I Tweeted around 20 people wondering if I would get a response... The Twee...