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So you’ve done the ground work. You’ve talked to the teachers and convinced them that you can help them out. They want to meet to plan out library time with you. You have your curriculum, they have theirs. The big question now, is how to compromise and make things work for everyone involved.
Typically in April, library classes for 3rd graders are made up of exploration of the 811s, talking about poetry formats, creating concrete poems and spine poems. The teacher I am working with wants me to spend library classes teaching the students how to use edmodo. Hmmm.
Why not use edmodo to explore poetry?
We are setting up the pages for the students and I am spending break figuring out ways to fit my curriculum into the new format. One of the cool things about edmodo is that I can create assignments and polls, and making them poetry focused will bring my curriculum nicely into synch with the teacher’s curriculum of teaching the tech.
As with every new venture, I am expecting some bumps. But with a firm collaboration in place, I trust that we will help each other make it work!
Is it snowing where you live? Thanks to the search engine Google, it can be! Using Firefox or Google Chrome as your browser, simply type “Let it snow” into the Google search engine and watch the flakes begin to fall. In just a short period of time, the snowstorm will cover your screen and you’ll have no choice but to use your mouse to start to clear your screen. Or take the easy route and simply click the defrost button.
Enjoy the snowstorm!
Happy Holidays from all of us at the ALSC Blog!
Are digital technologies the best thing ever or the root of all evil?
Correct answer: neither.
I recently attended a day long seminar where David & Erin Walsh argued that digital technologies are not inherently good or bad, they are powerful.
As youth workers we need to learn how to maximize the benefits and minimize the harm of these powerful tools. So let’s take a few minutes to review the rewards & the risks.
Digital technologies can provide these rewards:
- Extending real world relationships
- Providing the tools to delve deep into interest areas
- Providing opportunities to become politically involved
- Building connections
- Sharing information with the world
Digital technologies can present these risks:
- Bullying (the kind that doesn’t stop when a kid leaves school for the day)
- Losing privacy
- Developing attention issues (The Reactive Attention System is a survival instinct – we are programmed to focus on things that move and things that are emotionally stimulating. Focused Attention, the kind that you need to read, must be developed through practice.)
- Being chronically distracted (FYI – multi-tasking is not possible, our brains are not built to do more than one thing. We can hold 7 chunks of information in our working memory for 10 seconds. If we try to do too many things at once we are taking up all of those 7 slots and only paying partial attention to each thing. To think deeply we have to use those 7 slots in working memory to combine information from the environment with information from long term memory.)
- Becoming addicted (think lab rats)
- The double digital divide (There is the regular digital divide where some kids don’t have as much access as others and now there is the new digital divide. Some kids just use digital technologies to hang out and pal around and other kids use these media to aid their success. Librarians take note: adults are the #1 influence to move kids from hanging out to learning and growing.)
As we guide kids towards responsible digital citizenship we need to encourage them to:
- Protect privacy (everyone’s)
- Think before they post (here is a nice commercial on the topic)
- Share their creativity
- Be good to others
- Create a positive community online
- Be a role model
- Speak up and protect others
You can find digital citizenship curriculum materials at Common Sense Media and you can find tips, tools and conversation starters at DrDaveWalsh.
If you have an opportunity to hear David & Erin Walsh speak, please take it. They are dynamic and fascinating presenters.
I am not a social media expert.
I just wanted to get that out of the way. I know that this title exists, that people give talks on social media and companies are hiring people to Tweet for them and to set up blogs. I’m not that person. I’m just an author who uses social media to connect with other people in the reading and writing community.
That said, I think I’m doing a pretty good job at using social media. In the past few years, since I made Twitter a part of my life, I’ve seen my career grow quite a bit. I mean, I met MirandaKenneally on Twitter – okay, we were mostly talking about Coach Wade from Survivor and, like, Hanson songs, but we started blogging together. And our blog, DearTeenMe.com – featuring many authors whom we got to know online – is in the process of becoming an anthology, to be published by Zest Books in 2012. We’re really excited about it.
Yeah, it’s about as rare as a unicorn fart to get a book deal out of a blog. Still, without the book deal, a strong online presence is good for an author – and for the readers we want to reach. Even before Dear Teen Me launched, I spent a lot of time at my own website discussing new books, writing about writing, and promoting freedom to read. Every year, I get the most unique hits during banned books month, when I host guest posts from authors, librarians, and other industry professionals on the topic of banned books. And a lot of those hits come in from libraries – Google Analytics tells me so. As an author whose book won’t be out for a year, I think this is kind of a big deal. Readers and educators have me on their radar. And that’s awesome. We all know how important name recognition and branding are for an author.
But that makes it sound like Tweeting and blogging is all business for me – and it’s not. I really enjoy my time online. Weekly “tweetchats” (a guide to which can be found here, thanks to Debbi Ohi) have connected me with a vibrant national and international community, effectively shrinking what seems to be a very large industry into the small circle of book aficionados that it really is. I’ve talked with teachers during the weekly #kidlitchat about what they’re reading in their classrooms. I’ve talked with agents and editors during #YAlitchat about sexuality in teen lit. We’ve also chatted about our cats, exchanged recipes, and confessed to crushes on TV characters. With social media at my finger tips, I feel like a fairly well-connected individual with not only contacts but colleagues and friends. I’m so glad that I can consider librarians among these people.
Authors aren’t just photos on the dust jacket anymore. We’re our Twitter feeds and our blogs and our Facebook fan pages. We’re more available, more reachable than ever. We do Skype visits, virtual book tours, and video blogs. And I think we’d all be silly, as a community of readers, not to take advantage of each other. So now, what I’m wondering is – what do you, the library community, want from authors online? Are you looking for something different than the “civilian” reader? What are some definite “don’ts” that you’ve seen on author blogs? What have you totally loved?
Reading is no longer solitary, is no longer passive. With social media, reading is a community, a group activity, an active process. We can’t wait to see you somewhere around the web.
****************************************************
![]( "Emily Kristin Morse")
I am not a social media expert.
I just wanted to get that out of the way. I know that this title exists, that people give talks on social media and companies are hiring people to Tweet for them and to set up blogs. I’m not that person. I’m just an author who uses social media to connect with other people in the reading and writing community.
That said, I think I’m doing a pretty good job at using social media. In the past few years, since I made Twitter a part of my life, I’ve seen my career grow quite a bit. I mean, I met MirandaKenneally on Twitter – okay, we were mostly talking about Coach Wade from Survivor and, like, Hanson songs, but we started blogging together. And our blog, DearTeenMe.com – featuring many authors whom we got to know online – is in the process of becoming an anthology, to be published by Zest Books in 2012. We’re really excited about it.
Yeah, it’s about as rare as a unicorn fart to get a book deal out of a blog. Still, without the book deal, a strong online presence is good for an author – and for the readers we want to reach. Even before Dear Teen Me launched, I spent a lot of time at my own website discussing new books, writing about writing, and promoting freedom to read. Every year, I get the most unique hits during banned books month, when I host guest posts from authors, librarians, and other industry professionals on the topic of banned books. And a lot of those hits come in from libraries – Google Analytics tells me so. As an author whose book won’t be out for a year, I think this is kind of a big deal. Readers and educators have me on their radar. And that’s awesome. We all know how important name recognition and branding are for an author.
But that makes it sound like Tweeting and blogging is all business for me – and it’s not. I really enjoy my time online. Weekly “tweetchats” (a guide to which can be found here, thanks to Debbi Ohi) have connected me with a vibrant national and international community, effectively shrinking what seems to be a very large industry into the small circle of book aficionados that it really is. I’ve talked with teachers during the weekly #kidlitchat about what they’re reading in their classrooms. I’ve talked with agents and editors during #YAlitchat about sexuality in teen lit. We’ve also chatted about our cats, exchanged recipes, and confessed to crushes on TV characters. With social media at my finger tips, I feel like a fairly well-connected individual with not only contacts but colleagues and friends. I’m so glad that I can consider librarians among these people.
Authors aren’t just photos on the dust jacket anymore. We’re our Twitter feeds and our blogs and our Facebook fan pages. We’re more available, more reachable than ever. We do Skype visits, virtual book tours, and video blogs. And I think we’d all be silly, as a community of readers, not to take advantage of each other. So now, what I’m wondering is – what do you, the library community, want from authors online? Are you looking for something different than the “civilian” reader? What are some definite “don’ts” that you’ve seen on author blogs? What have you totally loved?
Reading is no longer solitary, is no longer passive. With social media, reading is a community, a group activity, an active process. We can’t wait to see you somewhere around the web.
****************************************************
![]( "Emily Kristin Morse")
Setting is an integral part to story, and creating bookmaps can help readers visualize a story, whether informational or fictional. Bookmapping: Lit Trips and Beyond (2011 International Society for Technology in Education) by Terence W. Cavanaugh and Jerome Burg is divided into 12 chapters, defining the concept of bookmapping and how it can enhance classroom instruction including collaborative and multi-disciplinary learning, as well as using existing bookmaps and creating one’s own. While bookmaps can be low-tech, this book focuses on ways to incorporate technology such as Google Earth. By the way, Burg is the founder of Google Lit Trips.
Bookmapping: Lit Trips and Beyond is geared toward classroom application although one could use the technology and activity in a public library setting. Have you used bookmapping? If so, how?
As I have been retooling my curriculum this summer I have fallen in love. The subject of my affection is no other than wordle. Wordle, if you don’t know, is a “a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide.” The overall effect is powerful, and I’ve been figuring out ways to use it in my library classes as well as ways to suggest its use to classroom teachers. The following are some of the ideas that I’ve seen online and come up with myself!
Book recommendations
Students can write book recommendations as they have in past years. But instead of posting a hand written “card” with their book blurb, they will create wordle recommendations either by copy and pasting their text, or listing character traits, plot points, genre and conflict.
Tall Tale Character Creation
Every year my second grade students study tall tales in depth. At the end of the study, the students create their own tall tale character. Instead of listing their traits and strengths, the students will create a wordle to post beside their illustration
Dewey Study
Our fourth graders take on Dewey in their final year of lower school. They are responsible for learning the 10 main categories, and each year I ask them to choose their favorite category. (Don’t laugh! They have favorites, trust me!) As a part of their favorite category explanation, they will create a wordle listing the sub-categories within.
As a colleague recently pointed out to me, images are powerful. So are words. Combining the two gives people pause, and can encourage deeper thinking on so many topics.
What would you do with wordle (or word clouds) with your students/patrons/kids?
Wordle taken from Drape's Takes
One of the things that I like best about being a school librarian is that every year is different. Just when I think I have the perfect curricular match, or an activity that hits it out of the park each and every time, changes occur. There could be new teachers coming in; curriculum might change; or as with this year, technology may need to work its way into my lessons in new ways across new platforms.
I am exploring ways to integrate i-Pads and Kindles into the upper elementary classrooms in ways that may developmental sense for 8 through 10 year olds. We all know that simply placing new devices in the classrooms is not going to help anything. As librarians, we are looking to provide classroom teachers with apps and activities that will enhance their curricula and add depth to student work.
This summer I am super grateful for social networking. Partly because it’s nice to not have to reinvent the wheel each time something new comes up, but also because so many folks are working on the same type of projects. Quick keyword searches on twitter and google led me to many resources that I can mine in order to tweak my curriculum for the 2011-2012 school year. Some of the resources that I have found particularly helpful are:
21st Century Educational Technology and Learning
This blog written by Michael Gorman is “devoted to educators intent on infusing technology and 21st century education into the classroom.”
Technology Tidbits: Thoughts of a Cyber Hero
David Kapuler provides what my profs in Library School used to call “quick and dirty” breakdowns of technology resources that are helpful in school and library environments.
I also follow the #edtech conversations on twitter whenever I get a chance.
All of these small steps help me fine tune my practice as a school librarian.
Are you a librarian who is changing practice to integrate technology into your classroom/library? Please take a moment to share the resources that you find helpful!
When it comes to physical books and materials, librarians are confident reviewers and collectors. We can distinguish between a so-so beginning reader and a truly excellent one. We know what makes a particular work of middle grade fiction absolute shelf candy versus a hard sell. We can appreciate what goes into the creation of a brilliantly designed picture book. The good news is that many of the same critical skills used to evaluate physical media are transferable when evaluating digital media. Ebooks and apps, however, do present new challenges as well as new possibilities. It can be helpful to go in armed with a simple set of criteria for evaluation.
The following is a rough checklist for evaluating book-based apps and enchanced ebooks, compiled from expert advice on the SLJ Touch and Go blog*, leading children’s app developers, and my own trials and tribulations navigating this brave new digital world:
1. Does it expand and enhance the traditional reading experience?
There’s not much point in offering an ebook or app if it is simply a page-by-page replication of the physical book. A great app or ebook should be interactive and encourage creative thinking and problem solving. It should take the characters, the setting, the themes, or the world of the book and allow the reader to explore them in new ways.
2. Does it allow a linear reading experience?
While cool games and interactive features can distinguish a good app or ebook, it can also be its weakest attribute. As Michel Kripalani, CEO and founder of Oceanhouse Media Inc., a leading children’s app developer, explains, “it is important that the games and additional features have purpose and do not diminish the reading experience.” Kripalani recently related the story of a friend who had a rather disappointing experience while sharing a book-based app with his daughter at bedtime: The app interrupted the story so many times with games and activities that the little girl and her dad were never able to fully enter into the narrative. The magic of that shared reading experience was lost. A well-designed app should strike a balance between opportunities for exploration outside of the narrative as well as opportunities to lose oneself in the story alone.
3. Does it engage multiple literacies and learning styles?
An excellent book-based app or ebook should offer the user a dynamic experience that engages the senses and allows for interaction in a variety of ways. For example, many apps are geared, by their very nature, towards visual learners. What about an app that also engages auditory or kinesthetic learning styles?
4. It is intelligently designed? Is it intuitive, flexible and customizable?
Just as a well-designed picture book achieves a fine balance between tension and surprise, and expertly employs the “turn of the page” as a means of creating drama, an intelligently designed app or ebook can maximize (and individualize) the unique relationship that exists between screen and user. Above all, a good app will be user friendly and easy for children to navigate. Beyond that, a great app may offer customizable features such as the ability to alter the settings (easy/medium/hard) and accessibility options (such as font size or narration speed.)
5. Does it have legs (i.e., longevity)?
As far as whether or not any particular ebook or app will be technically compatible with future devices and services is hard to say. That depends a lot on the vendor, the device(s) currently used, and how libraries wind up negotiating and reimagining terms of service contracts with publishers, developers, and service providers. Be that as it may, it is still useful to look at the overall shelflife of any particular app or ebook.
Quietly ignoring the changing landscape of library services is getting trickier. Though it still happens, often at the expense of the eager digital minds with which we work. Transliteracy (literacy across multiple media) is a big part of what kids need to make it in the 21st Century and many of us are not part of the mechanism that’s equipping them with those skills.
I’ve been in my position as a Youth Services Coordinator for a large library system now 5 years and when I started, blogs, wikis, RSS-that whole Library 2.0 thing was just getting underway and I know there are libraries who continue to resist taking advantage of tools that not only make our jobs easier like Delicious, RSS, wikis and Google Docs but tools that kids/tweens/teens greatly benefit from as part of their education and in their personal lives. As information specialists, it’s our duty to get with it and here are some easy, mostly-free or cheap ways to jump in and get more comfortable while also engaging in little professional development:
- College of DuPage offers some great teleconferences that address this changing landscape and they make it a lot less scary.
- CCBC or The Cooperative Children’s Book Center offers some quick, free 1/2 hour sessions on books (yes, with paper!) So, in the process of learning about some new books, you’ll be actively involved in new technology! They even offer podcasts so you can listen on your own schedule.)
- WebJunction: even if your state isn’t officially a part of WebJunction, you can still take advantage of the professional development they offer like courses on just about everything and cool webinars.) Again, by participating yourself in some of this technology, you’ll be more likely to recommend and employ it in your own library.
- TechSoup is a great hub for nonprofits and they offer all kinds of guides on topics like creating RFPs, How to Tell Your Digital Story and How to Plan a Successful Webinar.
- The University of Wisconsin has some great resources like Creating a Vibrant Facebook Fan Page for Your Library and Gaming in the Library and Youth and Family Outreach.
- Hewlet-Packard Learning Center for all kinds of free courses on digital photography, Facebook and Twitter: Getting Started and
2 Comments on Jumping In, last added: 6/23/2011
Anyone who knows me, knows I heart technology. My IT husband hearts it even more, so in our house we’re always working to find some balance between ‘life’ and technology. I know they often intersect, but sometimes we struggle to avoid evenings and weekends in front of a screen – as tempting as it sometimes is!
I imagine many parents and kids with whom you work probably struggle with this too. On the one hand, we have that whole transliteracy thing going on (which is the ability to read and write across a range of platforms) where we want kids to be able to thrive in all of these cool technological ways but on the other hand, we have Enough Already with the technology! So how do you help your families (and yourself perhaps!) get to a place of balance? I offer a few tips (some of which I got from this great Mashable article):
- Create tech-free zones (in the library and at home!) Though I’m not a parent, if I were, I’d probably make the bedroom a tech-free zone – much like mine and my husband’s. Or better, the breakfast/dinner table! Which would be a little hard for me – I MUST check email! As far as library space goes, I know many libraries have cell-phone-free areas, like the storytime room that allow parents to be fully present with you and their little ones (though I wouldn’t recommend making your whole library cell-phone-free – that’s just ridiculous!)
- Encourage parents to take part in some of their kids’ online activities. And I don’t just mean in the ‘monitoring’ sense. The more parents share in what their kids are doing, the more discussion and interaction that can happen later!
- In the same vein as the tech-free zones, suggest parents establish un-interuptable times. My husband and I try to have one computer-free day a week. It’s actually really challenging, but rewarding. We find ourselves enjoying the yard, taking a walk, or (gasp!) reading a book! One father from that Mashable article won’t answer emails or texts from 7-9 every night. I love it!
- Consider offering workshops for parents on parental permissions across various platforms. Parents in your community might not understand the kinds of limits they can set for Xbox Live, for example. Do they want their 9 year old chatting with everyone? Cell phones also have restrictions like not allowing multi-media texts. With multiple computer users in a household, accounts can be created for each member of the family. Each account comes with its own unique sets of permissions – no downloading anything for the 6-year old! I don’t even have admin rights on our TV computer! I imagine parents would love an evening workshop to learn about some of those options and tactics.
Last month, the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), added recommended Web sites to Great Web Sites for Kids (www.ala.org/greatsites), its online resource containing hundreds of links to outstanding Web sites for children.
Great Web Sites for Kids (GWS) features links to websites of interest to children 14 years of age and younger, organized into diverse subject headings, from astronomy and space to zoos and aquariums, from games and entertainment to geography and maps. There is also a special section with sites of interest to parents, caregivers and teachers.
Members of the ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids Committee review and evaluate potential sites for inclusion and vote on the sites to be included. They also regularly check the entire site to ensure currency and re-evaluate sites when necessary.
The added sites are:
Members of the 2010 Great Web Sites for Kids Committee are: Meaga
My palms get sweaty. I’m nervous. I feel a little anxious. There’s some tingling in my fingertips. I feel like I’m falling in love. And the video below is the reason. You may have seen it; it’s making the rounds on various literacy and children’s literature blogs these days. But in case you haven’t, here it is.
Gotta Keep Reading
See? Do you feel like you’re falling in love too? When I first saw this last week, it made me want to leap out of my chair, run into the streets and change the world. Cheesy? Yes, but actually true. Even now, watching it again, I feel a thrill. Hundreds of kids are dancing, singing about reading with books in their hands!
Did you catch the copies of The Giver, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Kingdom Keepers II? There was even a book exposing the library check-out card and pocket! Did you catch that very happy, smiling teacher around minute 2:36? And the cool kid who’s clearly got rhythm at 3:55?
This group of school kids pumping their book-filled fists in the air reminded me of the energy and spirit that drew me into a career as a librarian in the first place. Today, I’m in love with being a librarian.
Kelley Beeson Children and Technology Committee, member
by Teresa Walls
Several years ago, I offered a Jazz Appreciation program for children and their families. We had a great time reading Charlie Parker Played Be Bop and Mysterious Thelonious, both by Chris Raschka, playing along to jazz recordings with rhythm sticks, and scat singing.
The Smithsonian offers Smithsonian Jazz Class (http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/class/jc_start.asp), a place to “develop your jazz chops” with lesson plans and worksheets to go with thirty-one recordings by jazz artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and more.
PBS Kids has Jazz Kids (http://pbskids.org/jazz/index.html) which offers an interactive timeline.
April is Jazz Appreciation Month. Jazz it up!
A Kaiser Family Foundation report has been released that finds that kids are still reading. “According to Generation M, total media usage by that age group rose to seven hours and 38 minutes per day in 2009 from six hours and 21 minutes in 2004. Time spent with digital media rose in all categories, while the use of print media fell from an average of 43 minutes per day in 2004 to 38 minutes in 2009.”
According to the summary, “Over the past 5 years, time spent reading books remained steady at about :25 a day, but time with magazines and newspapers dropped (from :14 to :09 for magazines, and from :06 to :03 for newspapers). “ “The decline in reading print was due entirely to young people spending less time with magazines and newspapers over the last five years, while the time spent reading remained steady at about 25 minutes per day.”
View the report and other information at http://www.kff.org/entmedia/mh012010pkg.cfm. It’s interesting that with multitasking, kids pack more time into their media hours–10.75 hours of media into 7.5 hours of time.
ALSC’s Great Web Sites for Kids (GWS) features links to Web sites of interest to children 14 years of age and younger, organized into diverse subject headings. There is also a special section with sites of interest to parents, caregivers and teachers.
Members of the ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids Committee review and evaluate potential sites for inclusion and vote on the sites to be included. They also regularly check the entire site to ensure currency and re-evaluate sites when necessary.
The newly added sites are:
Little Lunkers – http://www.takemefishing.org/fishing/family/little-lunkers-learning-center
Janet Wong – http://www.janetwong.com/
Catch the Science Bug – http://www.sciencebug.org/
Color with Leo – http://www.colorwithleo.com/
Coretta Scott King Book Award Curriculum Resource Center – http://www.teachingbooks.net/crc.cgi?id=1
Global Trek – http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/globaltrek/
What’s it like where you live? – http://www.mbgnet.net/
Literacy Connections – http://www.literacyconnections.com/index.php
Getty Games – http://www.getty.edu/gettygames/
Kids’ Science Challenge – http://www.kidsciencechallenge.com/
I was wondering… – http://www.iwaswondering.org/
CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards – http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/home/index.php
Storynory – http://storynory.com/
Earthquakes for Kids – http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/kids/
The Great Plant Escape – http://urbanext.illinois.edu/gpe/gpe.html
Invention at Play – http://www.inventionatplay.org/
Library of Congress: Books for Kids – http://read.gov/kids/
Encyclopedia.com – http://www.encyclopedia.com/
Up To Ten – http://www.uptoten.com/
The Story Home – http://thestoryhome.com/
The complete listing of great sites with annotations and selection criteria can be found at www.ala.org/greatsites.
BAM! Body and Mind (http://www.bam.gov) is maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This site helps to answer kids’ questions about health issues as well as recommend ways to make their bodies and minds healthier, stronger and safer.
This is one of many sites recommended in the Biology section of the ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids (http://www.ala.org/greatsites).
The ALSC Great Web Sites Committee has added more recommended Web sites to Great Web Sites for Kids (www.ala.org/greatsites), an online resource containing hundreds of links to commendable Web sites for children.
Great Web Sites for Kids (GWS) features links to Web sites of interest to children 14 years of age and younger, organized into diverse subject headings from astronomy and space to zoos and aquariums, from games and entertainment to geography and maps. There is also a special section with sites of interest to parents, caregivers and teachers.
Members of the ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids Committee review potential sites for inclusion and vote on the sites to be included. They also regularly check the entire site to ensure currency and re-evaluate sites when necessary.
The newly added sites are:
Members of the 2009 Great Web Sites for Kids Committee are: Meagan Albright, co-chair, Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center, Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Sharon Haupt, co-chair, San Luis Coastal Unified School District, San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Kimberly Knight, Arlington (Va.) Public Library; Diana McFarland, Brunswick, Maine; Carla Morris, Provo City (Utah) Library; Jacqueline Partch, Multnomah County Library, Portland, Ore.; Marilyn Sobotincic, Medina County (Ohio) District Library; and Terrell Young, Washington State University, Richland.
The complete listing of great sites with annotations and selection criteria can be found at www.ala.org/greatsites.
By: Teresa Walls,
on 7/26/2009
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During the 2009 Annual Conference, the American Library Association’s Council adopted the Minors and Internet Interactivity statement as part of ALA’s Interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights. As stated in the introduction to the Interpretations,
Although the Articles of the Library Bill of Rights are unambiguous statements of basic principles that should govern the service of all libraries, questions do arise concerning application of these principles to specific library practices. […] These documents are policies of the American Library Association, having been adopted by the ALA Council.
Please read Minors and Internet Interactivity, which is available on the ALA Web Page (Mission & History–> Key Action Areas–> Intellectual Freedom –> Policies, Statements, Guidelines.) To provide for ease in commenting, it is also included here in its entirety:
Minors and Internet Interactivity: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights
The digital environment offers opportunities for accessing, creating, and sharing information. The rights of minors to retrieve, interact with, and create information posted on the Internet in schools and libraries are extensions of their First Amendment rights. (See also other interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights, including “Access to Digital Information, Services, and Networks,” “Free Access to Libraries for Minors,” and “Access for Children and Young Adults to Nonprint Materials.”)
Academic pursuits of minors can be strengthened with the use of interactive Web tools, allowing young people to create documents and share them online; upload pictures, videos, and graphic material; revise public documents; and add tags to online content to classify and organize information. Instances of inappropriate use of such academic tools should be addressed as individual behavior issues, not as justification for restricting or banning access to interactive technology. Schools and libraries should ensure that institutional environments offer opportunities for students to use interactive Web tools constructively in their academic pursuits, as the benefits of shared learning are well documented.
Personal interactions of minors can be enhanced by social tools available through the Internet. Social networking Web sites allow the creation of online communities that feature an open exchange of information in various forms, such as images, videos, blog posts, and discussions about common interests. Interactive Web tools help children and young adults learn about and organize social, civic, and extra-curricular activities. Many interactive sites invite users to establish online identities, share personal information, create Web content, and join social networks. Parents and guardians play a critical role in preparing their children for participation in online activity by communicating their personal family values and by monitoring their children’s use of the Internet. Parents and guardians are responsible for what their children—and only their children—access on the Internet in libraries.
The use of interactive Web tools poses two competing intellectual freedom issues—the protection of minors’ privacy and the right of free speech. Some have expressed concerns regarding what they perceive is an increased vulnerability of young people in the online environment when they use interactive sites to post personally identifiable information. In an effort to protect minors’ privacy, adults sometimes restrict access to interactive Web environments. Filters, for example, are sometimes used to restrict access by youth to interactive social networking tools, but at the same time deny minors’ rights to free expression on the Internet. Prohibiting children and young adults from using social networking sites does not teach safe behavior and leaves youth without the necessary knowledge and skills to protect their privacy or engage in responsible speech. Instead of restricting or denying access to the Internet, librarians and teachers should educate minors to participate responsibly, ethically, and safely.
The First Amendment applies to speech created by minors on interactive sites. Usage of these social networking sites in a school or library allows minors to access and create resources that fulfill their interests and needs for information, for social connection with peers, and for participation in a community of learners. Restricting expression and access to interactive Web sites because the sites provide tools for sharing information with others violates the tenets of the Library Bill of Rights. It is the responsibility of librarians and educators to monitor threats to the intellectual freedom of minors and to advocate for extending access to interactive applications on the Internet.
As defenders of intellectual freedom and the First Amendment, libraries and librarians have a responsibility to offer unrestricted access to Internet interactivity in accordance with local, state, and federal laws and to advocate for greater access where it is abridged. School and library professionals should work closely with young people to help them learn skills and attitudes that will prepare them to be responsible, effective, and productive communicators in a free society.
Adopted July 15, 2009, by the ALA Council.
Yes, summer is almost here, a perfect time to plan how to promote your library’s research databases this fall.
As I begin my plan, I’m thinking:
- Use them myself. Keep a notebook. Share what I learn with colleagues and patrons.
- Offer classes and pathfinders for each database.
- Provide individual appointments for students, parents and teachers to demonstrate the use of the databases available, focusing on their particular topic(s) of interest.
- Partner with school media specialists and teachers in which we focus on PROCESS of research over the product, to celebrate what we learn along the way.
What research databases are available at your library? Do you currently promote their use? If so, how?
The Great Web Sites for Kids committee has selected 19 sites as a 2009 Great Web Site for Kids. These sites have been added to the Great Web Sites for Kids page. See the annotated list below, or go to the website: http://www.ala.org/greatsites.
Great Web Sites for Kids are those considered the best web sites for ages birth to 14, outstanding in both content and conception. As applied to web sites for young people, “great” should be thought to include sites of especially commendable quality, sites that reflect and encourage young people’s interests in exemplary ways.
Sincerely,
Meagan Albright & Sharon Haupt
co-chairs of the 2009 Great Web Sites for Kids committee
Annotated List of New Great Web Sites for Kids - Spring 2009
Building Big
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/index.html
Explore large structures and what it takes to build them with BUILDING BIG™, a five-part PBS television series and Web site from WGBH Boston. BUILDING BIG explores the history behind some of the world’s greatest feats of engineering and the ingenuity of the engineers, architects, and builders who designed and built them.
DogEared
http://www.kidsblogs.nationalgeographic.com/dogeared/
An online book club: DogEared is a blog ALL about books. Good books, funny books, adventure books. Books about animals, friendship, pirates, faraway places… Books about, almost EVERYTHING!
First Palette
http://www.firstpalette.com/
First Palette is an art site with ideas for educators and parents who share an enthusiasm for art, who recognize the value of doing meaningful and fun activities together with kids, and who have a passion for nurturing creativity and the love for learning.
Giggle Poetry
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/index.aspx
The self proclaimed number one fun poetry site for kids on the web! Learn to write poetry, create poems online, and read and rate hundreds of poems. Teacher resources available.
Great Group Games
http://www.greatgroupgames.com
Your ultimate game group resource for free and fun youth party games, icebreakers, outdoor games, and more! Searchable by size of group, age of group, playing area, and type of occasion.
Imagination Café – Feed Your Mind!
http://www.imagination-cafe.com
Imagination Café is safe, fun, education and entertainment site for kids and tweens with quizzes, recipes and articles on careers, animals, history, sports, science, and more!
Jack Prelutsky
http://www.jackprelutsky.com
Explore the wacky and inventive poetry of Jack Prelutsky, the first Children’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation.
Jean Marzollo
www.jeanmarzollo.com
List of Jean’s books online as well as paper format. Preschoolers can enjoy listening to a book read to them as they view works and illustrations. Short and Long bio of Jean.
Journey North
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
Global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. Engaging stories, photos, videos and slide shows from the natural world. Viewers can read, view, track, graph, analize, view migration maps, sightings, and read the latest news on our ever changing natural world
Kaboose: Where Family Comes First
http://funschool.kaboose.com
Lots of arcade-style games to play online and coloring pages to print out.
Kokone
http://www.kokone.com.mx/
A wealth of activities, games, stories, and recipes, as well as information about Mexico, ecology, and the solar system. Una sobreabundancia de actividades tales como juegos, cuentos y rectetas, también información tocante México, la ecología y el sistema solar.
Mr. Schlytter’s Mathematics Site
http://classrooms.tacoma.k12.wa.us/stadium/eschlytter/index.php
Mr. Schlytter, math teacher at Stadium High School in Tacoma, WA, shares links to his favorite algebra, geometry and graphing sites. Don’t miss the links to the Jeopardy-style math review pages.
Mrs. P
www.MrsP.com
Kids can listen in as Mrs. P (played by Kathy Kinney) reads aloud classic children’s stories. The site also contains interactive games and activities. Requires a high-speed Internet connection.
Read Kiddo Read
http://www.readkiddoread.com/home
An authoritative resource for finding the best, current literature for children of all ages. It includes summaries, read-alikes, reviews, and links to related activities. Find the books with links to Library Finder and various booksellers. Join the newsletter and the ReadKiddoRead Community to access author interviews, blogs, lesson plans, and more!
Scholastic News Online
www.scholastic.com/news
Today’s news headlines in a kid-friendly format. Kids will experience the news from a variety of angles with articles, videos, book reviews, surveys, newsfeeds, and podcasts. The Kids Press Corps are real kids conducting interviews, reporting, and maintaining the blog. The site includes interactive games about current events, geography, newsmakers, and more.
Science New for Kids
www.sciencenewsforkids.org
A collection of the latest science news articles from around the globe.
The Lorax Project
http://lorax.conservation.org/
This site raises awareness of environmental issues and helps children to take action to conserve forests and species.
Wildlife Film Maker
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/filmmaker.html
The National Geographic Wildlife Filmmaker allows kids to make animal movies using short clips of a wide variety of animals. With a simple drag-and-drop interface, they can add animal sounds, music and captions. Once a masterpiece is completed, it can be saved on the site to share with family and friends or e-mailed directly to them.
Spatulatta
www.spatulatta.com
Spatulatta.com presents kids with beginning cooking tips and recipes while encouraging them to eat well and to understand the connection between farms and the dinner table. The site also encourages kids to ask family members for recipes they can cook together.
posted by Teresa Walls
Have you read How Computer Games Help Children Learn by David Williamson Shaffer? I have just begun. Already, there is plenty of food for thought, especially regarding games that allow children to role-play, moving beyond rote memorization. I imagine many of us who became librarians like trivia and random facts. But, really, where does that get you? O.K., perhaps on Jeopardy.
Shaffer discusses SodaConstructor as a “free, Java-based spring-mass modeling system–and when described that way it sounds like it might be about as interesting as a simulation of growing grass” (p. 42). I hadn’t heard of it, but I am inspired to learn more. It is a project created by Soda Creative Ltd. (a team of artists, developers and entreprenurs) and supported by NESTA, the United Kingdom’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. Since being mentioned in Shaffer’s book, things have changed a bit (isn’t that the way with life on the World Wide Web?), but registration is now open if you want to play.
Shaffer and other researchers contribute to a blog, Epistemic Games: Building the Future of Education where they “welcome questions, insights, and comments on education, gaming, media literacy, and other related topics.” The Epistemic Games Research Group is housed within the Educational Psychology Department and the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
ALA Connect (http://connect.ala.org/) is a networking site specifically for ALA members. Non-ALA members are also welcome to register and participate in the public content and communities.
The two committees on which I serve are already set up as communities on ALA Connect. If you are involved in committee work, ALA Connect is a wonderful way for your committee to do its work virtually. Members can also set up new groups. In fact, Jenny Najduch (ALSC Marketing Specialist) and I are in the process of creating an ALA Connect community specifically for ALSC Bloggers to have a place to discuss post topics, common blog practices, and blogging issues as they arise.
Please read the page of User Guidelines which includes the following bullet points:
- Engage in a professional, congenial dialogue.
- Foster useful, dynamic discussions.
- Fashion a community that works for you.
- Play nice with others.
- Respect the role of community moderators.
- ALA respects freedom of expressions.
- Observe basic netiquette.
Bye for now! Maybe I’ll run into you over at ALA Connect.
– Teresa Walls
Manager, ALSC Blog
StoryTubes - the 2-minute or shorter “my favorite book” video project sponsored by public libraries has accepted videos from across the United States and Canada in 2009. The number of contest participants tripled from last year (over 400)! Now it’s time for voters to view and choose their favorites.
This week. March 16-19, anyone can vote online for individual entries made by students in grades K – 4 and students grades 5 - 8. Just go to www.storytubes.info to vote this week and
during the following weeks:
March 23 – 26 Individual entries grades 9 and up
March 30 – April 2 Group entries grades K – 6
March 30 – April 2 Group entries grades 7 and up
StoryTubes recently was awarded the 2009 PLA Polaris Innovation in Technology John Iliff Award, which recognizes the contributions of a library worker, librarian, or library that has used technology and innovative thinking as a tool to improve services to public library users.
from a press release
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 (www.ala.org/greatsites), its online resource containing hundreds of links to commendable Web sites for children.
Great Web Sites for Kids (GWS) features links to valuable Web sites of interest to children, organized by subject headings such as animals; literature and languages; mathematics and computers; the arts; and history and biography. There is also a special section with sites of interest to parents, caregivers and teachers, plus an area devoted to sites in Spanish. The ALSC Great Web Sites for Kids Committee maintains and updates the site.
“Not all Web sites for kids are created equal,” said Karen Lemmons, co-chair of the committee and a library media specialist at Howe Elementary School in Detroit. “To make the cut and appear on the Great Web sites for Kids, a site must demonstrate commendable qualityand reflect and encourage young people’s interests in exemplary ways. Sites must stand up to an evaluation and voting process by the committee before being deemed ‘great’ and added to the GWS page.”
ALSC’s GWS Committee voted to add the following sites in fall 2008:
Members of the 2008 Great Web Sites for Kids Committee are: Karen Lemmons, co-chair, Howe Elementary School, Detroit; Becki Bishop, co-chair, Campbell Court Elementary School, Bassett, Va.; Amy Brown, Worthington Libraries, Columbus, Ohio; Robin Gibson, Granville, Ohio; Diana McFarland, Brunswick, Maine; Carla Morris, Provo City (Utah) Library; Marilyn Sobotincic, Medina County (Ohio) District Library; Terrell Young, Washington State University, Richland.
The complete listing of great sites with annotations and selection criteria can be found at www.ala.org/greatsites .
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