Monday, March 26, 2012

What I Learned at my Conference, part 1

Greetings!
I recently attended the NCCE Convention in Seattle and had a great time. I learned some interesting information and will be sharing some of it with you for the next few posts. NCCE stands for Northwest Council for Computers in Education. I have some cool websites that may interest you and tips and tricks for computers.

Do you use PowerPoint with your students? I learned of a couple of FREE options to use. One is called SimpleBooklet. Templates are available to use. The word is that this was designed for business use rather than educational use, but is still a good alternative for kids. It is FREE which is a good thing. Be advised that you must use Chrome, Firefox, or Safari to create your booklets rather than Internet Explorer. www.simplebooklet.com

Another option for PowerPoint is to use Prezi. Go to prezi.com and click on the “pricing” button, then you should see a bar with “Student and Educator” pricing line. You can use this for FREE. The upgrade is only $59.00 and might be something you choose to do or not. www.prexi.com

If you have your students write papers and wonder why they don’t get the grade they thought they would, there is a program called ‘PaperRater’ which is a simplified version of Turnitin. Many colleges and universities use Turnitin to check for plagiarism, but this is a little different. This FREE service will analyze grammar, spelling, and originality along with a few other options. If the student is 9th grade or higher, it will even give a suggested grade for the paper. I tried it with a student’s paper and was pleased with the information I got. www.paperrater.com

If you are having trouble with students not citing sources correctly, there are multiple programs to help with this problem. Son of Citation Machine is a FREE website that makes this very easy to do. www.citationmachine.net For a FREE bibliography go to http://easybib.com and create a bibliography quickly and easily.

Need an interesting and fun journaling activity? Go to http://oneword.com and press go. A word will appear at the top of the page and a timer is at the bottom. Students have one sixty seconds to write about that word. They can type on the computer using the word that appears on their individual screens or you can project the word onto the screen and have everyone write about the same word. You may think of other things to do with this website, too.

Have you tried Wordle yet? It is such a fun website. You can input text and Wordle will then turn your text into a picture. The words that are used the most will be the largest words and the words that are used the least will be smallest. www.wordle.net Another site that is similar is Tagul. The good thing about tagul is that is does not run on Java and there are more options. http://tagul.com Please note that while both websites are free, you need to sign up for Tagul, but not for Wordle.

I do not want to overwhelm you this week. Try some or all of these sites and see what you could put to use in your classes. I’ll have more next week for you.
Hope you have a great week.
Audrey

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Kindle Survey Results

Greetings!
I know you are busy people, and I thank the few of you who were able to respond to my survey regarding the purchase and use of Kindles or other e-readers. Here are the results of the survey.

Q. Have you thought about purchasing e-readers for your library?
A. One out of five had considered it. One response said that there were so many things that were needed for the school, and e-readers were not at the top of the list.

Q. Do you see these as circulating items or for library use only?
A. Most responses said that they would be used in the library or in the school building only. One respondent said that at first they would be used in the library, but possibly checked out later, and another suggested that it might be library use for lower grades with upper grades allowed to check them out. One person commented that some special needs students might benefit from the use of e-readers which is why they had considered purchasing them.

Q. What are the pros and cons of e-readers in the library for check-out purposes as you see it?
A. Pros: lots of cool features that students can use, might entice the technophiles who view books as “a bit prehistoric”, the price of e-books is often cheaper.
Cons: loss of the device, not enough for everyone to check out, checkout system at the school is consistent, damage to the device, expensive, hard to monitor, unsure students would respect the cost of the device to take care of them, no guarantee that students would read, students would miss the feel of books and the joy of turning the page, would hate to see the world turn its back on actual books and go completely digital.

Q. How do you handle students who bring their personal Kindle to school? Do you supervise their reading? Are they allowed to play games on them at school?
A. None of the respondents were at schools that allowed electronic devices at their schools. No students had them or brought them to school. One teacher said that students would be discouraged from bringing them to school. Another said that she would monitor the reading just she monitors books brought from home. No games would be allowed at school.

Q. Do you or your teachers feel that monitoring e-readers might add an additional burden to your life?
A. No – 1; yes – 1; Probably – 1, Students will usually monitor themselves if presented with clear directions and you have a no tolerance policy – 1; Worry more about damage of the e-reader than regulating them - 1

Q. Are your families ready for this step? Do you think it would be a positive addition to your program?
A. One teacher said that many kids had them already and it could be a positive addition, one teacher said that it would not be either positive or negative but just something the school does. They have some families who would be happy to have their children learning another type of technology and some families who would feel it unnecessary. Two teachers said that it would be a great addition of cheaper books, but did not think the families were ready for this step. One teacher said they have families that really appreciate the school updates the technology and would be impressed that e-readers were available especially if it encouraged their student to read more.

Q. If you did decide to purchase e-readers for your school library, what would you see as the ideal ratio of students to e-readers?
A. Answers ranged from 1:1 (ideally); 1:2; 1:4. One idea was to have one or two in the library for younger students to use and then have one for every 3 or 4 students.

Q. Which e-reader would you consider purchasing and why? Kindle, Kindle Fire, Nook, Sony, other.
A. Most respondents said they would need to do more research before choosing one, but one person replied that she felt the Kindle 3 was the best as far as options and price point.

I found this information interesting and I hope you did too. I do not expect any of us will run out and buy e-readers, but now we know how others feel and have a few facts to back up our opinions.

Hope you have a good week and enjoy your vacation time.
Audrey

Conventions

Greetings!
Do you like to go to conferences and conventions? I happen to love it. I get to see some new ideas and come back energized to work. There’s something about getting around other educators that is revitalizing and inspiring even if you don’t make any major changes in your program. Sometimes it is nice to just get assurance that you are doing something worthwhile and productive in your classroom.

I have been asked what conferences would be worthwhile to attend. I have some ideas that may interest you.

ALA – The American Library Association holds two major conventions each year. The Midwinter one is usually held someplace warm. This conference is popular because the Newbery, Caldecott, and other medal winners are revealed. The larger one is held in the summer months and is popular because the medal winners give a speech at a banquet. The attendance at these conventions is usually around 18,000 for the summer convention and about 9,000 at the Midwinter one. This convention is geared toward the librarian and more particularly, the public librarian rather than the school librarian. Of course there is plenty for a school librarian, but I did notice that as I walked around the exhibit hall, there were many free books for adults. Did I say ‘Free Books’? Yes, I did. I attended an ALA a few years ago and was amazed at the amount of books that were piled on tables just for the taking. Nearly all of the books were advanced reading copies and nearly all of them were not at all appropriate for a Seventh-day Adventist school library. I get a little thrill reading an advanced reading copy knowing that I am one of the first to read that book. Many of the exhibitors giving books away also have authors signing books. I picked up a copy of Jeff Shaara’s Gods and Generals for my husband and had Jeff sign the copy. For Free!

IRA – The International Reading Association holds one major convention each year held in North America either in the United States or Canada in early May. I believe there are years that they have had a convention in a more exotic place as well such as Australia. Attendees come from all over the world to this convention totaling about 16,000. The sessions are geared toward teachers and literacy. This is the convention that I prefer to attend over ALA. The exhibitors also bring in authors who are signing books. In order not to miss your favorite author, there is a small booklet listing the days, times, and booths where authors will be signing. It is advisable to arrive early and stand in line for some of the authors. At this convention, most of the books are for purchase, however, I noticed that in the last few years there have been quite a few more free copies available. At IRA there are so many sessions to choose from, you need to be quite selective. One year I decided to focus on a particular subject and went to a number of Reader’s Theatre sessions. Another year I focused on listening to authors speak. This is a convention where US attendees may also earn clock hours for attendance at sessions.

BER – The Bureau of Education and Research has excellent one-day workshops. I have attended a number of these and have thoroughly enjoyed each one. The workshops are small enough to receive personal attention and get answers to your questions, the presenters are qualified and entertaining and each attendee leaves with a book filled with the information that was presented during the day. I keep these and use them for reference.

Tips for a good convention:
1. Make out a schedule for yourself. I usually make this on a small card that can fit into my pocket. I list the time slot, room and the session title. I also list other options in case my first choice is filled when I arrive. That way I don’t waste as much time hunting for a second or third choice.
2. Wear a fanny pack. This keeps your arms free. If you must carry a purse, get a travel sized one or one with a long strap that can cross your body.
3. Join the organization. It is usually well worth the yearly dues in order to get lower convention rates. Members also receive other perks that may or may not intrigue you.
4. Wear comfortable shoes! You will be walking a lot.
5. Wear layers as some rooms may be chilly. I usually wear clothing I would wear for school and a lightweight sweater. I used to take a rolling canvas bag that can fold up, but those are no longer allowed at large conventions.
6. Have fun. Learn as much as you can.

I hope you have a great week.
Audrey