D-West Library Report: September

ISTE 2015 Wrap Up

Skype Translator: I'm excited

So, I'm excited.  I know, that doesn't really take a whole lot, but friends, this is exciting.  Microsoft has added a real-time translator to Skype!  In fact, you can just go ahead and download the Skype Translator preview here.  

At Downingtown's first EdCamp this year, I was really interested in fellow librarian, Christy Brennan's (@christybrenn) presentation of Google Hangouts and I started wondering how I could work this into our work at West.  I didn't get much beyond that honestly... It's been tabled for next year. I'll get to it, I promise. This, though, I don't have to wonder all that much about.

Immediately, I thought of our language classrooms, of our elementary students who have just started their language journeys in Rosetta Stone, of our African-Asian Studies students, of our Holocaust Symposium, of our student exchange programs, and the list goes on.  What gets me is the video below.  Check out the looks of wonder on those students' faces.  Notice when the children say "I would love to visit you someday."  Think of these connections and of those boundaries that are immediately traversed and overcome in an instant.  Think of where these kids can go virtually, and then maybe someday,  physically.  And then, come back to that wonder on the students' faces.  Isn't that what we are all about, that spark?

So, I'm excited.  Let me know if you are too, and we can do something about that.

For more details, please check out these two blogs, especially Joyce Valenza's: 

Richard Bryne's Blog: "Skype Translator Preview Opens to All Windows 8 & 10 Users" 
Joyce Valenza's Blog: "Translator is Here.  Forget the Four Walls Thing." 

Hey, friends! I'm going to just go ahead and say it: this blog post is information overload.  In fact, that's kind of the point.  We are so overloaded with information every moment of every day.  Today, I'm specifically talking about the "tips and tricks" sort of overload.  You know, the kind of overload that you look at and say, "That's awesome. I'll definitely use that," and never look at again, not because you don't still think it's awesome or you didn't intend to use it but because life happened.  I've heard quite a few people say that they wish there was a place where all of these tips and tricks can be organized... enter: libguides*.  

I've created two libguides that I hope will be useful for you: 

Tech Tools: This libguide focuses on organizing tools and apps that you and your students can use by subject area. 

Open Source Content: This libguide organizes sites and tools that are content oriented and give you stuff that you (or your students)  can freely use within your teaching (or learning). 

Why reinvent the wheel?  These libguides are just a start, as more tools come across my virtual desk, I intend to add them to this growing list.  As you use and discover tools yourself, please feel free to e-mail me at mnass@dasd.org, and I will happily add them as well.  My intent is that when we are working and think, I need some sort of timeline thingy... we can remember to just click on this libguide and find the appropriate box of timelines for you to explore.  

Also, these libguides were not curated in whole by myself, but rather, by an amazing team of individuals that I happen to be connected to.  Kristie Burk, our amazing Cyber Coordinator who oversees our Blended program at Downingtown, has this great blog you should follow.  I got lots of these tools from her blog.  I attended a training given by the lovely Michele Gill of PLS/3rd Learning.  She and her colleague, DeLaina Tonks, have developed two wonderful Google Docs that Michele gave me permission to build off of and share. Please feel free to join this team of curators and share what you've found to be useful!  

Until then, happy exploring! 

*What’s a libguide? In Downingtown, our librarians create libguides that organize and deliver information, content, resources, etc.  When in doubt, ask your librarian! J

Google Templates: Another Way to Use Google Apps in the Classroom

Templates

             Disclaimer: I'm a huge fan of Google Apps in the classroom for many reasons, but one is because it is an equalizer.  Everyone has access.  As a librarian, I'm all about equitable and awesome access for all.  However, I've run across a few problems that I just didn't have time to investigate, and one of those problems was the lack of templates.  My husband needed help writing his resume and where is my resume wizard?  And recently, one of my favorite teacher friends, Shelly Francies, had this incredible idea for a lesson, but it called for a newsletter template.  Argh! Where's my newsletter template!  In a time when we ask many of our students to work digitally and outside of our school environments, we cannot expect that they all have a particular software program at home.  There had to be an answer.  Enter Google Templates!  

              I've written before about the usefulness of the Google Add Ons that can be linked to Google Docs, and this is one of those.  Truth be told, I knew they were useful, but I spent little time exploring.  Who has the time?  Today, I took a quick dive into the apps that can be connected to Drive and found a wealth of potential for teachers and students.  I've attached the screen cast that I developed for that class that needs newsletters.  It shows you how to:

• Find the apps to connect to your Google Docs
• Quickly navigate through those apps, with a brief stop-over into the teacher and student section. (So much to explore here!  Maybe another time...)
• Search for specific apps and link it to your Docs
• Use the "research tool" to help create your product.  (Do you know about this yet?  You should!)

There are just so many applications and customizations to the Google Apps.  Mrs. Francies and I were remarking today on what a useful skill set this is for our students.. to know what tools are available to them (for free!), how to customize them, and then how to utilize them to create a product that best reflects their learning and ingenuity.  I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty cool.
**Note: the template app that I connected in this video is called Drive Template Gallery

A Visit with Beth Kephart

The following post is written by Beth Kephart, author of many books, but notably, for this visit, Going Over.  She was so kind to spend the day with us in recognition of "PA Forward Speak Up! Authors & Illustrators Speak Up for PA Libraries."  It was truly a great day here at WEST!  Our students eagerly learned about Ms. Kephart's writing, about the Berlin wall, about walls (both real and imaginary, both in the story and in their own worlds).  They wrote poetry, created graffiti, and shared.  Our book club met with her to discuss the book, the writing process, and their inspirations.  One student pulled up his own writing on his iphone to share with her.  I was so proud of our students, and so thrilled to be a part of one of those moments that reminds us why we do what we do, in both libraries and in education.  Thank you, Beth, and to the amazing people behind this day, for making this happen for our students! 

The Berlin Wall poetry and art of Downingtown West (incredible)

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2014

Yesterday, as part of the Speak Up for libraries program (of which I wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer here), I spent four consecutive periods with the very special students of Downingtown West and their beloved (for such good reason) librarian, Michelle Nass. We talked about the role of libraries in our lives, and the treasures we've found there. We learned some of the history of the Berlin Wall (history libraries helped me uncover) and reflected on the metaphorical and physical walls that still separate us. We listened to Ada and Stefan of my Berlin novel Going Over weigh the consequences of freedom, asked ourselves when, if ever, we'd take the risk to jump a wall, wrote poems, and made graffiti art.

After school during the book club hour, we talked about how books get made, what editors do, the difference between writing and publishing, and the writer friends I've come to love.

I was staggered by the receptivity, creativity, and generosity of these students. Their willingness to dig in deep, to answer hard questions, to write—and eagerly share—their work. I came home with a fat file of poems and art, wanting to share every sentiment and drawing here. Space is my limitation. I share a few poems below, a collage of art above, but please know this, Downingtown West: all of it was special, and so are you.

Write about what risks are worth taking, and freedom is, I prompted. This is what happened:

What is life 
but a bundle of risks
a handful of desires.
We get thrown in the mix
of temptations and hopes
but in order to obtain
the things that we want
we must go through pain.
— Mike Lodge

Freedom isn't free.
Yes, that's the irony.
We hear its cry.
We hear its call.
Yet here we are
at an ancient wall.
A wall we cannot live without.
A wall that fills us up with doubt.
And some of us will take a risk.
Some of us will die to have it all.
That freedom filled with irony.
For that I would fall.
— Micky

Freedom
It's not impossible,
but it's not clear.
It's what lies in the future that is feared.

But what's life without freedom?
A life of being caged?
The only thing that gives us freedom
is change.
— August Walker

Not much is worth risking my life for.
Family, friends, love, freedom come to mind.
Would you risk everything now for a chance at freedom?
If everything could be lost, would you try?
One moment you're there, the next you're gone.
Never to see your loved ones again.
Is it really worth it, for a chance at freedom?
— Samantha Goss

Can you go against the stream?
Fight the system?
Make your own path?
It will be hard.
Blood. Loss. Isolation.
You are a soldier with no army.
You are a lone soul looking for a place
to call home.
Stay strong.
— Megan

To rebel against the evils which control
our very lives.
In hopes to prevail against the wings of Freedom
and its vibes.
These days our right to think different is
challenged by all.
Yet without the help of others our ideas
will surely fall.

What is worth my life?
What is worth my death?
What will hold me back?
What will set me free?
Love
Freedom
Freedom
Love
That is all I need.
— Emily Gibbs

Many, many thanks to Michelle Nass for organizing this day. Thanks to the students. Thanks to the librarians who do what they do and keep their doors open for us. And thank you to Jennifer Yasick, with whom I began this beautiful day.