Author Archive
Book Review: Wintergirls
There is one word to describe this book: Stunning. I eagerly added Wintergirls to my middle school library’s book shelves because 8th grade girls were chomping at the bit to read it. When a very excited 8th grade girl dropped the book off the day before vacation, I saw my chance to get my hands [...]
Digital Storytelling
During an in-service this coming Wednesday afternoon, I will present the idea and how-tos of digital storytelling to a group of middle school teachers. Photo Story3 will be the software of choice for the session. It makes it very easy to create a self-narrated slide show set to music, allowing students to make projects in [...]
Book Review: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
So yes, this book just won the Newbery Award. I finished it last night and decidedly ended a bit confused. Mind you, I read it in two parts, taking a break somewhere in the middle to tend to other kid/teen books on my shelf. However, I’m usually able to jump back into a read and [...]
Hope for Haiti Now with Partners in Health
I wasn’t able to tune into the Hope for Haiti Now concert benefit that aired on Friday but now that I’ve peeked at the clips on Hulu and YouTube, I’m sorry that I missed seeing it in its entirety. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the performances, but Justin Timberlake’s performance of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is [...]
Talkin’ ‘Bout Books
Yesterday, four 8th grade classes came to the Library to learn about titles that they might find interesting. Their teacher, Mr. Olivo, made and posted a little movie to show what it was all about:
Check out Mr. Olivo’s blog.
An Introduction to Internet Vocabulary
This afternoon I’ll be introducing teachers to basic Internet vocabulary and a little bit about Delicious, too. Feel free to use these resources when teaching similar material to people you know who need to know a little bit more about the difference between search engines and Web browsers or what that URL/HTML thing means. Pass [...]
Edmodo is the Key to Online Forum Discussions in Schools
MassCUE opened my eyes to many new ideas and technologies but the tool that seemed like a sure and easy go-to application was the amazingly simple but effective Edmodo.com – a forum-like platform for students to communicate in varied groups and for teachers to manage without stress or confusion.
When I returned to school after the [...]
Tales from and Reviews of YA Authors and the Books They Write
Young Adult (& Kids) Book Central: So many reviews at my fingertips! I like that it’s a companion to a handy Website, too. Overall, a nice resource.
http://yabookscentral.blogspot.com/
Mitali’s Fire Escape: Mitali Perkins came to visit my school a few years ago and her presentations were a big hit. She’s as approachable in real life as she [...]
My Annotated List of 7 to 10 Things
After hating technology’s existence for the majority of last week and this, I have to donate some blog space to technologies I have to admit I wouldn’t want to live without.
As a shout-out to a brilliant English teacher friend, here’s an annotated list of 7 to 10 of those items, in no particular order, mind [...]
Making the Impossible, Possible
Technology is driving me crazy. Sometimes I have to have a pep-talk with my librarian self and remind her that she became a librarian because of literature and as far as anyone can tell, literature is not going anywhere any time soon. However, sometimes I wish that broken SmartBoards and DVD players and VCRs (I [...]
