These are some of the creations I’ve made for our school, the Kentucky Association of School Librarians, and others. (function (d) { var js, id = “genially-embed-js”, ref = d.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) { return; } js = d.createElement(“script”); js.id = id; js.async = true; js.src = “https://view.genial.ly/static/embed/embed.js”; ref.parentNode.insertBefore(js, ref); }(document));
ISTElib Webinar
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Yesterday I had the pleasure of being part of an ISTE Librarians Network webinar. I presented an introduction to Google Geo tools. Thank you, Donnie Piercey, for your resources. The recorded webinar is below as well as slides. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/EWfmonQA-n0″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Google Sites and Drive Folders
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Although I love for students and teachers to improve their search and database skills, sometimes that is not the focus of a given lesson. For these cases, I’ve been experimenting with curating Kentucky Virtual Library and other web resources on our EDhub Hub (school library website). There are so many great publications that have full-text PDFs of articles. EBSCOhost offers a button that allows saving these directly to Google Drive for MasterFILE and MAS ultra (the databases where many of these can be found.) Google Sites, which is what we use for our library site, allows easy embeds of entire...
Reflect
I was going through some photos and videos this morning. It really got me thinking. It’s crazy how many things happen at school in just a few months. Sometimes it feels like not much is happening, but these videos help remind me. This hastily compiled compilation are only things that have happened since January, 2018, and I left a ton out. It also omits the regular cool stuff like book checkouts, random questions, and lots of laughing. It’s been a fun year.
Solar System
Pam Renfrow, a Curriculum Specialist with Britannica, wrote up this cool post on a project Jen Gilbert and I worked on for some of our first-grade classes. We took Britannica articles from our KYVL subscription and used Google Sites with some QR codes to make it a little easier for our first graders to access with their iPads. Here is a link to the page we put together on our school’s library website, the EDhub Hub.
Busy Week
It was a great week in our library! Somebody on our Kentucky school library listserv posted a list of everything she did in one day. It made me think how hard it is to remember everything that happens in one day. I love the unpredictability of our library and how diverse the experiences are for our students (and me😊). The video/pictures show our after-school gaming club, my co-librarian’s creations for weekly football team awards, an Ozobot/Google drawings/personal narrative challenge, a visit from a local meteorologist, a digital signage upgrade to our self-checkout kiosk, and our public service class’s shelving project....
Dash!
Meet Dash, our new EDhub box turtle. She loves red peppers, berries, and super worms! Ms. Gilbert takes her outside every day to enjoy some sunshine. We inherited her from a high school biology teacher who recently left us. The kids love her and check on her every day!
Virtual Tour
Virtual reality is still kind of a new and developing technology. I jump at the chance to try every new tool and resource. YouVisit allows you to create your own VR tour by uploading your own 360 images, videos, and audio. I created a virtual tour of our new library space, the Eminence EDhub, recently. You can try out the tour yourself at by clicking here. I don’t believe they offer a free version now, but hopefully their awesome service is a sign of awesome things to come. Dang… YouVisit deleted my tour. I’m working on a new one.
A New Kind of Library
Although the quote near the beginning of this piece is not something that I said, I do appreciate our new library being featured in Kentucky Teacher.
EDhub Photos
This is a Google Photos Album of our new school library, the EDhub, Experimental Davinci Hybrid Ultra Bibliotheca.
EDhub Grand Opening
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The grand opening of the EDhub was such an exciting day! I’ve been so looking forward to this for over a year. It is not just a new space. You can feel the energy and positivity when you walk in the door. It is a dream library.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/uiwcMPMs4p8″ css_animation=”rotateInUpRight”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
#KyEdChat
Thank you Mike Marsee, and Kentucky Teacher for sharing this piece on #KyEdChat with teacher across the state.
Kentucky Teacher
Kentucky schools and school librarians are lucky to have a highly qualified and dedicated school librarian at the state level, Kathy Mansfield. She helps coordinate initiatives, shares pertinent information, recognizes school librarians across the state, and makes sure school libraries and their impact on student learning are considered in every context. Thank you Kathy, for interviewing me and sharing this feature with Kentucky Teacher!
I loved having the opportunity to participate in this AASL webinar on Smithsonian’s app, Ripped Apart. I love the interactiveness of the app, and how it really puts students in the shoes of a researcher. Finding clues, viewing images closely, and a requirement to put the pieces together, are what makes this app so great.
Design Thinking Challenge
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]My first full-staff professional development day at Eminence Independent Schools was a Design-Thinking Challenge! This place is awesome! Our challenge was to build a boat out of cardboard and duct tape. We built them at school and took a bus to a local pool. Some designs were more successful than others![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/fz4Pc-NoaBY” css_animation=”right-to-left”][/vc_column][/vc_row]