Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Helping Teachers Research Using Google



When asked to present a session to high school ELA teachers about research, I was inspired by a post on Ditch That Textbook called "Writing Papers and Research Reports the Google Way." 
I incorporated some of these ideas and requests from principals to create a session about tech research tools.
Before we meet, each teacher is asked to complete this pre-assessment in Google Forms.



Each teacher will also be asked to download the following Chrome extensions: Google Keep, Tab Scissors, Tab Glue, Easy Bib, Kami, Grammarly, Destiny Discover.

The teachers will be asked to join a Google Classroom class and will proceed through the rest of the session as if they were students completing the research process. Here are the tasks:

1. Complete the pre-assessment above and download extensions.

2. Let's daydream about summer vacation. Open the attached Google Sheet and add your name and location you plan to research. (We shared this one so that everyone can edit, in order to show how Classroom can be used to collaborate on one document.)

3. Open the research paper template. (I created a template shared so each student will get a copy. Then I can show the teachers how they can share on Classroom in order to have easy edit/view access as students work. You can also use a template so that the documents are in the format you require.)

4. Finding and Citing Resources. Teachers will use the state database to find a few articles related to their vacation location then save the articles and citation information in Google Drive. I created short video instructions for this.

5. Taking Notes in Google Keep. Teachers will use the Keep extension and/or app to paraphrase notes from their saved articles, insert parenthetical documentation, and use tabs in Keep to organize notes. They will use the following three tabs: Land & Climate, History, Tourism.

6. Writing the Paper in Docs. Teachers will open the template, go to Tools>Keep Notepad, then use the labels to copy and paste their notes into the appropriate parts of their paper. Then they only need to fill in connecting sentences to finish the short paper.

7. Peer Editing in Docs. Teachers will choose a partner to share using the Can Comment option. They will add a few suggestions for their partner then go back to address suggestions in their own paper.

8. Self-Graded Rubric and Turning in Completed Paper. Teachers will complete a short self-assessment on Google forms and turn in their paper through Classroom. (Then I can show them how I see it as a teacher and can edit, grade and return in Classroom.)

There will be some teachers who are challenged (hopefully not overwhelmed) by this plan. Others will finish this quickly and find themselves bored. For those teachers, I created a hyperdoc of additional activities to explore. I loved this post from Joyce Valenza and was eager to give it a try.

This will be my first official session with the ELA teachers from my new high school so I am hoping that this goes well and that they will want to collaborate with me to use these tools with the students.

Creating Instructional Gifs

I have been working on a research PD session for high school ELA teachers and I wanted to try out instructional Gifs after seeing them on Alice Keeler's page. I love that it is little bite-size instructions that loop automatically for learners. I feel that this is less intimidating that a long Youtube instructional video.
I had to alter the creation from her original instructions because Snag it is no longer a free Chrome extension and I don't have the extra money to buy the full version right now. I will consider it for next year though.

I used Screencastify Chrome extension to record how to save files from our state DISCUS databases and how to use the citation tools in the databases. Then I uploaded the recordings to Youtube, used the Youtube editing tool to trim the clips, and then used the MakeGIF video capture Chrome extension to create and download those clips into Gifs.

Here are a few examples.
This is a loop showing how to use a PDF printer to save articles from the database into Google Drive.



This is a loop showing how you can send some database articles straight to Google Drive.


My main issue is that I am not sure why they show up so small with a big gray border. I may purchase Snag it next year and try making more of these to insert into hyperdocs, Google Classroom, the library website and other instructional delivery methods. I think if I can figure out how to enlarge them they will be very useful for helping teachers and students use tech tools.
If you make Gifs, I would love to hear about how you make them? What tools work for you? How have you used them in instruction?

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

A New Curation Tool: Elink.io

I learned about a new curation tool, Elink.io, on the Future Ready Librarians Facebook page. I like how visual this tool is for curating several links. I thought this was the perfect tool for links to the summer reading books.


I see potential for using this tool for curation activities with students and creating a research launchpad for projects. I hope you can find this tool useful as well.

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Summer Reading Plans Underway

I am lucky that the middle school that feeds into my new school has an amazing librarian, Emily Pataky (@MrsPatakyReads) and very supportive ELA teachers. I scheduled a time with them to introduce the summer reading program, Wren Reads, to the rising freshmen. Unfortunately, that is the day that my children were ill.
I know time is precious at the end of the year so I snuck into a quiet room and recorded my presentation using the Screencastify Chrome App so the show could go on without me. You can find my presentation and playlist of book trailers below. Students will begin signing up for their books very soon. We're waiting on the announcement of a new administrator and the title he/she chooses.
I sent an email to the upperclassmen today with the Summer Reading Bingo sheet, SYNC YA flyer, and a short video I recorded in Shadow Puppet. I embellished the email with my Bitmoji character to make it more fun and personalized. My next Google Form survey will also feature my character thanks to Alice Keeler's instructions for inserting them into Forms. So fun!

Monday, May 1, 2017

Reaching Out to My New School

I know that relationships are vital in being the best librarian I can be for my new school. In an effort to reach out to my new students and teachers, I created a quick video introduction and asked for feedback using a Google Form.
I used Snapchat and Animoto to create an introduction video.

I created a separate survey for students and teachers.
Here is a copy of the teacher survey.
Here is a copy of the student version.
I was very happy with the number of responses and useful information for planning. When asked about social media the students answered that Instagram and Snapchat were their favorite sites/apps. I shared this information with the principal and asked for permission to create a library account in each of these platforms. She agreed to Snapchat as long as it was only active after school hours and said that next year I would have access to use the school accounts on the other sites. Thanks to Nikki Robertson and other librarians for sharing how they use Snapchat in the library.
Sixty percent of students felt that they had enough opportunities to visit the library even though half of them visit only when teachers took them or once a week and a full 30% visited rarely or never. A few stand-out answers for what would make them visit more often included "if books were arranged in a way I understand", "I didn't have to pay fines", and the most popular answer: more variety of books. One student recommended bean bags and cotton candy machine. Yum! I'll consider it. This is good evidence for me to support my move to genrefy fiction and drop overdue fines. The most popular answer for "favorite thing about the library" was the quiet. That lets me know that even though I'm not a shushing librarian, I do need to maintain some areas for quiet study. I also added 27 books to my order list that students requested.
The teacher survey illustrated to me that they are not accustomed to co-teaching, something I'd like to work on. Almost 60% of teachers are interested in coming to a monthly tech session with me, which could be a way I can build some collaborations. Eighty percent were interested in summer PD, which is why I organized and shared the Camp Readamorra program last week.
I have already met with a few teachers as a result of the survey to discuss ways we can work together next year. I look forward to sending another survey next year and comparing the answers to guide my library goals. If I can share something here with you to make your efforts easier, contact me.