Thing #7 -- Library 2 Play 2

I have tried to provide online video resources for my teachers for years, but in the past few years our computers and internet connections got so slow that they could not watch anything I found...if I could see it myself. I am excited that in the coming year, we are getting new computers, greater speed internet, and video projectors for all our classrooms. This should be a great resource for the classroom now.

I have used Hulu for some time now to watch movies, but have not considered it for the classroom until now. One of my favorites with the anniversary of the moon landing was found there. It is SpaceRip: Apollo 11: To the Sea of Tranquility. It would be great to use in our Earth Science class.



I have learned to let the video buffer before trying to watch it by clicking the play button and then immediately clicking the pause button and waiting a bit. Mine works better this way. Also Hulu videos have more controls available from the original site than from an embed.

Also, in most cases it would be best to download a video you are planning to show in the classroom rather than play it straight from the internet site. Some of the advertising surrounding the video screens on some of these sites is not very appropriate for students.

I used Blinx to search for videos on the Texas Revolution and found this on YouTube. It is an excellent emotional reading of Travis Letter at the Alamo. It would make a profound difference in our Texas history class to watch this video. The only action is actually the words of the letter projected on a flag background...but the reading is great!



I tried embedding this video from the Blinx site but wasn't successful, so I went to the original YouTube site and embedded from there.

I found a remarkable video on the NARA site from the Lyndon B. Johnson library of a recorded phone conversation between Johnson and Truman. It's unique as a slide show inside a video. American History classes would get a unique perspective of a Texas president in his own words...and it also has Lady Bird Johnson speaking as well. Unique conversation between 2 former presidents.

I did not realize so much of PBS was video online. Lots of educational things going on there. I did not find a way to make all these videos full-screen. However on many sites, going full-screen lessened the visual quality, so showing these on a large screen with a video projector will lose many students. A suggestion would be to go to the computer lab and assign a video to watch individually so the small screen (and better quality) would be an asset, and provide an assignment to do while watching the video. That way, individuals could work at their own speed (stopping and starting when needed) to complete an assignment using online video.

One of my favorite videos is A Fair(y) Use Tale so I used Google Video search to find it again. It sums up fair use and copyright pretty good.

On Joyce Valenza's site I tried searching for Anne Frank on SearchForVideo (since we read the biography in 8th grade) and found this: Anne Frank - My Heart Will Go On through Live Video. It is a music video and a good example of Remix Culture using clips from the movie, historical photos, set to a song not usually associated with Anne Frank....but in this case fits well.

And NeoK12 is awesome! Definitely something to tell teachers about.

Thing #6 -- Library 2 Play 2

Although this Thing will be a little complicated for me (I do not know anyone with an iPhone and do not live in a town with an Apple Store), I will do the research anyway and see where it leads.

The first thing I found is there is a graphing calculator app! Wow, we provide graphing calculators for all our students via library checkout...and they cost $100 each! We could save thousands of dollars if the students could each download their own for 99 cents from the iTunes store. But...we can't have cell phones in school, but if we did....these would be cool.

I also liked Stanza, the free app that allows you to access and read over 100,000 books and periodicals on your iPhone or iPod Touch. This would be a great asset for students doing research and not finding the book they need in our small library. Also great for having "something to read" at their fingertips, anytime, anywhere.

And my science teachers would love Starmap for finding constellations, planets and shooting star zones. It does cost $11.99 though.

Google Earth is an awesome computer app so having it available on iPhone would be great! Reading a novel in class and it mentions a spot...google earth and find it immediately. Talking about a current event in another part of the world...google earth and find it at the point of discussion. Discussing rainforests in science..google earth to the hot spots and see what they look like right away. Great idea!

Searching for ways to download apps to iTouch, I found these helpful sites:

How to Download an Application on an iTouch
Kathy Schrock's iPod touch online applications for education
And my favorite Learning in Hand by Tony Vincent, a former school teacher who pioneered educational handheld computing. It's a simple straightforward site with simple explanations.

Libraries can create a video tour of the library and loan iTouch phones to play them on such as done by Baker Library.

Thing #5 -- Library 2 Play 2

I created a Facebook account (I think!) but I have no idea what to do with it. I have never had one and never seen one so I don't have a clue what to do with it. I have been reading about the importance of not posting private information on it and so I'm scared to post anything. I used my Avatar for my photo, hid my birthday, put my school and college, and my religion. Other than that...that's it.

I gave them very little information and it was downright eery how friends, family and others I knew whose names automatically popped up to click for friends!!!! I clicked on a couple and then got leery because I didn't know what was going to happen if I clicked on them....or why I was even clicking on them! I kept saying over and over....how did they know to put those people on there to choose???

At one point it asked me to agree to access my yahoo account...and I backed out. Facebook may be something EVERYBODY already knows about....but not me and the tutorials on this part are not helpful. I did search for a friend's name who has an account and clicked on it to see what it was supposed to look like...everything was private. So I clicked on something and it allowed me to send her an email and I tried to explain what I'd just done. I'm not comfortable with this because I don't have enough explanation on it yet.

I did go back and look at my friend's facebook page. (I guess I was able to because I clicked her to be my friend) I could see her photos (my family was in some of them...and identified....kinda scary) and I could read comments she and others had made. I don't like that....some sound personal. I'm not convinced yet unless I can see a good example of how to use it productively. If I want to post useful information...I see a blog as more positive.

I now have some "friends" on my facebook. I can see one advantage and that is if I want to contact someone for whom I do not have an email, I could search facebook and click under their picture (provided they have a facebook account) and contact them that way.

As to Twitter...you can see me at http://twitter.com/luv2learn2 and my 3 little tweets. I spent the longest time searching for friends who also tweet and came up empty. So I tried searching for some topics I was interested in and either came up bust or a bum search result. For example, I searched for "school library" and got random tweets which happened to have school and library in the same sentence...nothing I could use. So consequently, I did not check anyone to follow. I did add a photo and changed the background.

However, I do see a use for twitter in my school library. I could post the titles of any new books I get or tweet about library events.

Back-channeling looks like it would be a useful tech tool in some schools, but we are such a tiny school that we don't have class settings where that would be feasible. It might work for our teacher in-service sessions though.

Thing #4 -- Library 2 Play 2

I've looked at YouTube forever, but did not realize how unbelievably easy it is to upload your own videos with basically the same format for TeacherTube. I especially like that you can upload support material with TeacherTube. The tutorial videos were excellent.

I practiced with a video I already had in my file made with my digital camera which has an .mpg extension. The hardest part is the long wait for it to upload. It was easy to embed here in the blog.

Dutch Oven Cooking



I also tried uploading a PhotoStory 3 file with a .wmv extension. Also easy and the music and voice over came through great. It is true that the photos lose their quality the more they are copied. The originals were extremely sharp, then they went into PhotoStory, then into YouTube.

Visiting Rome



I see a great advantage in uploading teaching/learning videos that can be used in the classroom! Sharing video resources shares the load of creation. Why reinvent the wheel when it is already out there and ready to use. By sharing videos, teachers do not have to create one for every lesson and therefore are more inclined to use them. "I don't have time to do this" is what I hear from my teachers who aren't real tech savvy. If they are available they will probably use them...and when they see how easy it is...then maybe they will create one.

My students would love sharing their work online. Motivation is one of our biggest problems in getting students to produce quality work. If they see it can really be published online perhaps they'll take a few more steps to develop something worthy of publishing.

Thing #3 -- Library2Play2

I downloaded Skype and am trying to get my daughter to set up an account too so I can practice.

I once attended a Texas Library Conference session where the speaker in the auditorium was debating someone using Skype so I have seen the app in use even though I have not used it. I can see a lot of potential for this technology in our small rural 1A school where we do not have a lot of monetary or physical resources.

I see us connecting our Spanish class students with students in a Spanish speaking country. It could be an opportunity for them to practice their English while talking to us and for us to practice our Spanish while talking with them.

I also see an astronomy project with New Zealand or Australia...calling up at times during a month to compare the phases of the moon.

How fantastic it would be to actually have a conversation with the author of a book we are reading or a discussion with a scientist about a scientific principle!

Homebound students meet regularly with our homebound teacher, but say they are having to write their major senior research paper and have specific questions. They could use Skype for an afternoon video call to the senior English teacher to ask and receive help.

I especially liked the 50 Awesome Ways article that provided links to suggestions for use in the classroom.

Thing #2 - Library 2 Play 2

OK, I thought since I got high-speed internet since 23 Things, everything would run like clockwork... not exactly. I used IE7 and the Wordle image would not show. I followed directions and reinstalled the newest version of Java with a restart and still no luck showing the image on IE. (I had also noticed that lately, my Avatar was not showing...the "Red X Syndrome." I had even changed the Avatar image and no luck).

Then I tried Mozilla and still no Avatar (but no red X box either), but this time my cloud shows up in Mozilla but still not IE. Any suggestions out their on how to get rid of the red X in IE? I followed the directions. And how do I get my Avatar to reappear?

Anyway, I created a Wordle image of the first chapter from the official site of The Alamo - History and the most frequent words are San Antonio and Indians. It would definitely be helpful in bringing the most common words to the forefront for a summary, especially in longer passages. I see here that the mission at San Antonio was built for the Indians.

(created at http://www.wordle.net/)

I just got through playing with Glogster and love it. Here is a link to what I created on Traveling. I found it super simple to use. The tutorials were really good and I liked the fact that she gave the same tutorial in several formats. It would be excellent for my students to create posters online instead of the traditional paper poster (which they always forget...or claim to). This way they all have access at school to the internet and can all create a project. It would be good for upper elementary through high school on animals, biomes, artists, biographies, Spanish speaking countries...to name a few we do. I also liked the concept of the teacher created one for information purposes. It is a lot more exciting to look at than all text. Student thinking...I found it is quicker to do this type of poster. It eliminates some steps (printing, cutting, pasting). If internet access is not available at home, time must be provided at school. Students can manipulate what goes on the poster easier...changing sizes and colors at a whim without wasting paper. Students will want to do this more than the traditional poster because it is new and they prefer anything technical.

I also played with Animoto and created a 30-second quickie on travel. It was unbelievably easy. Although it needs more practice to really tweek it, I know it has great potential in the classroom. Librarians already use it for booktalks. History projects showing a sequence of events set to music, art projects showing works of art by a particular artist or showcasing a students own work, using photos to illustrate an abstract concept.


Bookr was a unique little tool from Flickr although working with it I encountered some limitations. However when I looked at a few in the archive I could see that by spending more time I could probably work out some of my issues of picture size as others did. I see a lot of possibilities with this from elementary to high school. K-2 could build a book with the teacher working the computer and the students telling her what pictures to find...as in what do you find on a farm, in a rainforest, in the snow, etc. Older students could do history events, science projects. This could take the place of any of the other tech tools in this lesson or PowerPoint or PhotoStory. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Here is one I did on the Missions of San Antonio.

Thing #1 -- Library 2 Play 2

Common Craft is one of my favorite online video tutorial sites because it is so simplistic. (As a matter of fact, before I opened Thing #1, I had just sent the Common Craft web site along with both Library2Play sites to 3 other teachers to use!) It is a perfect way to open the door for discussion on using online technology tools.

I agree that the 21st century student needs to be tech savvy to succeed, and I also believe that same student is probably more tech savvy than me! The key is to channel that expertise that he already possesses into the education field and show him/her how it can apply to life after school in meaningful ways. On the way, we can teach each other!

And most definitely...the librarian can play the role of teacher, whether tutoring the student on library computers one on one or co-teaching a lesson with a classroom teacher in the lab.