I'm working on Teacher Librarian through ETFO AQ and our instructor, Jane Brouse, along with my classmates, have given me a lot to think about. I see now if we want to develop 21st Century Learners and all that that entails, we need to do away with the popular Bootcamp model of Digital Literacy.
We need, as an entire school, to embrace digital literacy and embed lessons and skills throughout classrooms and years using consistent practice so our students will have a set of guidelines to automatically fall back on as they progress through our increasingly interconnected world. Small mistakes have much larger consequences than they ever have. So I collected resources, focused my thinking and decided that a continuum is a way to go, but it wouldn't be easy. It would need to have buy-in from staff at all levels and a dedicated team to create and implement the program. If I was to present at a staff meeting, SCC meeting or even at the Board level, I could use this infographic to help guide my argument.
Plus, I love having useful resources embedded all in one place.
To introduce it, I would use a chopped version Simon Simek's On Millennials in the Workplace to grab attention and help the audience grasp the importance of why we need a program like this now.
Then I would proceed to lead them through the infographic.
This is the first time I've created an infographic and I experimented with Venngage. It was a little glitchy and would be hard for students to manage. I wanted to download a .jpeg version or .pdf version, so I could upload it into Prezi, zoom in & out and place videos & images for the presentation, but it would cost me money to update, so I couldn't go in that direction. I would like to find an infographic creation site that is better. Any recommendations? I am happy with my results, though.
If you want to quickly check out the books, figure out where they could fit into your classroom programming, and connect with a few cool resources to support this year's Ontario Library Association's Blue Spruce Nominees, scroll down.
I loved learning how the Fan Brothers collaborate in The Night Gardener. I think I'm the newest fan of the Mayor of Edmonton & I now know the importance of Vincent Van Gogh's Wheatfield with Crows. You can too! There are so many programs that can support our students and our classrooms, that it's hard to know where to begin. Even our Board offers us a variety of choices. We could start with Moodle, D2L, our websites or O365, but for our students in Grade 4 and above, I prefer Office 365. Here's why:
It appears, I'm slightly addicted to Smore as an information sharing tool. It's easy, clean, and can be shared on a multitude of platforms. Let's not forget that it's free too! Think about using it for parent newsletters or any information you wish to share!
Hey Quaker Staff!
If you are interested in any of the books below, we've got them all!
Here's a one page pdf, if you want a quick take away for future reference.
This year we've been experimenting with Makerspace Mondays on a low budget with success. We've run a Cardboard Challenge & up-cycled books to create trees and jewelry, but nothing has been more successful than coding with Scratch! Mondays were a busy lunch recess, but now it's been expanded to a Grade 3-5 Monday Makerspace and a Grade 6-8 Friday Makerspace to accommodate everyone. The library is jumping. It can be overwhelming, but If you have the skills to run a Workshop program, you have the skills to run a Coding Club. With the excitement and enthusiasm, a Coding Club brings, you'll need those skills too! Here are five reasons why!
Every year we run the Ontario Library Association's Blue Spruce Program, along with the other Forest of Reading programs, through our library. The Blue Spruce program has provided us with many quality picture books by Canadian authors & illustrators, as well as giving us a lot to discuss over the years. This year is no different!
So many of the character traits we want our students to develop are embedded into these ten nominated stories. Introduce them to your students randomly or on an as-needed basis. I've posted quick blurbs & connections on each book, so you can get a feel for them before you share them with your students. Don't forget! I'd love to book a time to share the program & kick it off by reading a book or two to your class!
That time of year is coming again! I'm pounding through those Forest of Reading Books. Okay, I wish I was pounding through those Forest of Reading books, but I have read the Red Maple book. Lots of interesting and varied topics there!
Usually I create Prezi to present the books to our students, but since the Durham Distict School Board has gone the way of Office 365, I thought I'd play with our new presentation software, Sway. I have to admit, I had fun with it & love the ease with which I can find various media resources through it. I still have a ways to go, but I put this together this morning. It's fairly simple, but I think it will work!
Here's a couple videos in case you feel like you want some support or tips!
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