Week 12: Staying Current

I cannot believe this is my last blog post for this class. Time flew by this summer! For the last blog post, I looked at AASL Best Websites 2019 and found two I bookmarked because I really want to try them.

The first website that sounded awesome was Deck.Toys. This website works well with schools that are 1 to 1 (like mine) because the students login the link and get started. How is works is the teacher creates a “deck” where the students start that has different paths the students follow. It seems to be self-paced and the students can go different routes to complete the lesson. This could be used in both the classroom and the library. In the classroom, I would use this when I needed to do small groups. All students could get started on Deck.Toys and then as they are working, I could call individual students up to conference them about their writing. In the library, I could collaborate with the teacher to decide what she wants taught, and then this could kind of be like a “break out” box where students work together to complete the deck.

Deck.Toys. (2019). Retrieved from https://deck.toys/

The second website that sounded fun was NowComment . This website is an online discussion tool where students can discuss images, documents, or videos that reminds them of social media. I like this tool because not all students like speaking out loud; with Now Comment, they don’t have to do that. This generation better expresses themselves through computer on social media; this tool mimics that. In the library when collaborating with the social studies teacher, I could have propaganda photos up and the students could discuss its purpose, where it’s from, and how affective it is on now comment. I could also use this for March Madness in the library. I could put two books out each week and students could login and discuss what is the better book and why it should move on to the next round on the bracket. In the classroom, I could use this in my socratic seminar on the outer circle. While the inside circle is discussing, the outside could be as well with this tool.

Allison, P. (2018). NowComment.com. Retrieved from https://nowcomment.com/

As for the blog I would like to follow, I really liked The Mighty Little Librarian. This blog is run by a librarian named Tiffany Whitehead who uses technology and social media in her library. From her most recent post on poetry in the library for National Poetry Month, I was hooked. I also loved her reading competition and this is definitely something I want to do in my library in the future. Read more about it here.

Whitehead, T. (2009, October). Mighty Little Librarian [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.mightylittlelibrarian.com/

The AASL website and this blog definitely inspire me and spark ideas not only for the close future in my classroom for this coming school year, but for my future library as well. I will check these resources to get ideas of what activities I can do in the library and bring these ideas to the teachers that I will collaborate with in the library. When I become a librarian, I want to be teaching classes every day. That’s what I will miss most about teaching is being in the classroom and having my own set of kids. By using resources like this, teachers will want to bring their kids down to my library and use me. I already have so many ideas circulating in my head just from these websites; I even shared a couple with the AVID teacher at my school and told her I could help her get started with them!