Videos and QR Codes In the Library

In today's blog post I will be highlighting the use of YouTube, Animoto, and QR codes in school libraries. Teens in today's society love technology so it is important to incorporate technology into the school library program.

First I will talk about YouTube in school libraries. There are so many ways that YouTube can be incorporated into school libraries. For example, YouTube can be used to upload and view book trailers, library procedures videos, to showcase library activities, etc. As I explored YouTube and how it was used in school libraries I took a closer look at some school library YouTube channels. The first school I looked into was the Norman High School Library. A video that was posted by the library that I felt would be the most helpful to students was the NHS library orientation video.  This video is not only perfect for new students to the school, but it is an excellent resource for all students. A video that all students would like is Tigerpalooza 2015 Dark Lord Funk. This video was funny and it incorporated students and teachers. 

The next YouTube channel I looked at was The Unquiet Library. A video that I found that would be extremely helpful to students was Tillery Tutorial Video: Creative Commons 101 for Senior Project Slides. This video shares very pertinent information about creative commons and it explains creative commons in a student friendly way. A video that students would like was Creative Commons Licensing: What it is and Why Should I Care.Students will like this video because it is a short video that explains in a nutshell what students need to know about creative commons.

The next school YouTube channel was Pikesville High School Library. A helpful video for students was 2014-2015 Course advisements. It is very important for students to be well informed before registering for their classes. The video students would most likely like is Hip Hop Day at The Panthers Library. This is a fun video showcasing the activities that the library put together in an effort to celebrate Black History Month at Pikesville High School.

  

The last school library YouTube channel that I navigated through was Bonnie Branch Middle School. A helpful video for students was Online Career Resources. This video is helpful to students because it shows them how to use the library resources for their career research assignment. A video students would like is All I Do Is Read. This video would be attractive to students because they used a popular song that kids know and it is any easy way to remember that library books are due. 

Having a library YouTube channel is a great way to advertise the library. I would utilize YouTube as a way to get more students to participate and collaborate with the school library. For example, I would have students help me create the videos and/or act in the videos. I would feature school library activities, highlight student created book trailers, create screencasts that would help students with databases and research, etc. All of these videos can be used to promote the services available at the campus school library.

The next tool I want to discuss is Animoto. When I found out we had to create a book trailer I was terrified because I thought it would be a difficult task. I had always seen book trailers on YouTube and I always thought they were awesome, but figured they were difficult to make. I was wrong and I had such a great time making my book trailer. Animoto is a user friendly tool that makes creating a book trailer very easy. I signed up for a free educator account and it was as easy as adding pictures, text, and music. I found the pictures for my video at www.pixabay.com which is a free image website. After I completed my book trailer, Animoto enabled me to upload the book trailer to my YouTube channel. Then I went to www.qrstuff.com and I created a QR Code for my book trailer. It was really simple and all I had to do was select the data type, enter the video’s URL, and select the color for my QR Code and then it is ready for download. After downloading it all you need to do is save it in your files. I highly recommend using Animoto and QR Stuff  because they are both easy to use and very effective.

QR Codes are a fun way to get students engaged in the school library program. Not only will students enjoy discovering what the QR Code will lead to, but they will also enjoy scanning the code with their electronic devices. Below you will find information about the book that I selected for my book trailer and QR Code: The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John. Scan the QR Code to view my book trailer.

The night Martine Allen turns eleven years old is the night her life changes completely. Martine's parents are killed in a fire, so she must leave her home to live on an African wildlife reserve with a grandmother she never even knew she had. When Martine arrives, she hears tales of a mythical animal living there-a white giraffe. They say no one has ever seen the animal, but it does leave behind footprints. Her grandmother insists that the white giraffe is just a legend, but then, one stormy night, Martine looks out her bedroom window straight into the eyes of the tall silvery animal. Could it be just Martine's imagination, or is the white giraffe real? And if so, why is everyone keeping its existence a secret?

After learning how to create QR Codes I am very excited to incorporate them into the library. As I searched how other school libraries are implementing QR Codes I found a lot of really neat ideas. For example, some schools use them as promotion for new library books. They display QR Codes all over the library and the school hallways and when the students scan them they get information about the new library books that have just arrived. Other librarians make library orientation videos and place the QR Codes for those videos all over the library. The students then scan the codes to watch the videos. After the students watch the videos they answer questions on a worksheet pertaining to the library procedures. Another idea I found was some libraries have QR Codes displayed all over the school and when students or parents scan them they get the latest library news and announcements.  

After discovering how other school libraries are using QR Codes I am going to definitely incorporate them into my school library as a way to promote the library in order to get more students and parents to come in. I will use them as a way to advertise new library book arrivals, I will use them to guide students to databases for research projects, I will use them to promote tips for ethical internet use and research, to promote library activities, etc. There are endless possibilities on how librarians can effectively use QR Codes in their libraries. As for me I am so ecstatic and grateful that I was required to learn about Animoto and QR Codes. 

   

  

Blogs and Blog Readers

In this blog I will discuss my new found excitement about blog readers and I will also highlight some of my favorite blogs. Call me old school, but I had not looked into blog readers until recently. In order to keep up with my favorite blogs I would visit their sites as often as I could, but to be honest I really needed a place to keep them all together. Blog readers do that for you! It is so much easier and it saves time to have all your blog feeds in on place. All you do have to do is login to your blog reader of choice and like magic all your favorite blogs are there. Some of the popular blog readers out there are Bloglovin’, Feedly, Bloglines, News Blur, Digg Reader, and Newsvibe. After reading reviews and looking at the sites myself I decided to use Feedly. It was so easy to sign up for Feedly because you can use your Google account to sign in. So if you already own a Google account Feedly is a good choice. I loved that it was linked to Google because several of my accounts such as YouTube and my blog are linked to my Google account so I do not have to worry about having to memorize so many passwords. I also selected Feedly because as I was looking at the sites before selecting one, Feedly offered a tutorial with tips on how to use their blog reader. I loved this feature because as a new user I want to see how to use the service.

After choosing my blog reader I added my favorite blogs. All of the blogs I follow are either school libraries, leaders in school libraries, or sites that will help improve school libraries and/or librarians. One of the blogs I follow is The Nerdy Book Club. The Nerdy Book Club features book reviews. The bloggers on this site focus on children and young adult books. They also post editorials about their experiences with reading; they share their love of reading, and their experiences teaching reading. I like this blog because the bloggers are a group of book lovers who have their own blogs, but have joined together to share their book reviews on this particular site. I love this because I do not have to visit several sites I can find several awesome bloggers here! I also like this blog because they blog about young adult books and I want to be a middle school librarian so I need to stay up to date with the latest books for this age group.Check out The Nerdy Book Club at https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/.

The next blog on my list of favorites is The Unquiet Librarian. The Unquiet Librarian is none other than Buffy Hamilton who is very well known in the world of school libraries and is regarded as an educational technology leader. This blog posts about what is going on at Hamilton’s school library as well as important things going on in the world of librarianship. I follow this blog because I like to see what is going on in school libraries so I can get ideas for my future library. I love that when she posts about something new that is going on at her library she also includes pictures and we are able to see students who are engaged or we get to see the work created by the students. You can find The Unquiet Librarian at https://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/.

Another blog that I follow is The Daring Librarian. The Daring Librarian is Gwyneth Jones who is also very well known to librarians and technology lovers. In her blog she posts about her daily experiences as a librarian, links to past presentations that she has delivered as a guest speaker, her school library blog, and advice and motivation for librarians. I really like that she motivates librarians to try new technology or new approaches in order to meet the needs of the students. She advises us to try new things until we find something that we like and that works. I enjoy following this blog because Jones has a link to her school library blog which I love to get ideas from. I also like this blog because she is a leader in technology and I can learn a lot from her. Follow The Daring Librarian at http://www.thedaringlibrarian.com/.

Another one of my favorite blogs is The Mighty Little Librarian. The Mighty Little Librarian is run by Tiffany Whitehead who is the librarian at Central Middle School in Baton Rouge. She posts about her activities and experiences as a middle school librarian. She also posts helpful ideas that have worked for her in her library. For example, she posted a video that she made with her 7th and 8th grade students that helped explain the library procedures to the 6th grade students. I thought this was an awesome way to incorporate students into her lesson. Instead of having to explain the procedures herself to students over and over this video was a helpful tool, especially because she runs the library on her own without any helpers at a campus of about a 1,000 students. The reason I follow this blog is because I can get tips from an actual middle school librarian. Getting tips from a middle school librarian is very important to me because I am looking for a middle school librarian position. The Mighty Little Librarian can be found at http://www.mightylittlelibrarian.com/.

The final blog I want to highlight is School Library Displays. I loved this blog because let us be honest we have all been guilty of logging on to Pinterest to get ideas for library displays and bulletin board ideas. Well this blog gives you creative ideas and themes for library displays. The best part is you can view everything without having to log in because I will be honest a lot of times when I go to Pinterest in search of ideas I forget my log in information so I can’t view anything and it is really frustrating! The School Library Displays blog can be found at http://schoollibrarydisplays.blogspot.com/.

Before I end my blog I want to touch upon Tumblr. As I searched through Tumblr to see how school librarians are using it I found that school librarians are creating pages to promote activities at their libraries. This is great because they give students another way to stay in touch with their school library. Librarians are also using Tumblr to post articles that deal with reading and libraries. Finally some school librarians are using Tumblr to post book reviews. Whether you like using blogs, blog readers, or sites like Tumblr the reality is that social media is here to stay. The best way to see what sites work best for you and your needs the best advice I can give is to try several out. Once you try several sites you will find what works best. As I continue to embrace technology and find what works best for me I have created a Tumblr account. Follow me on Tumblr at http://dgonzalezshsu.tumblr.com/.

Younger Americans' Reading Habits and Technology Use

Zickuhr, K., & Rainie, L. (2014, September 10). Younger americans' reading habits and technology use. Retrieved September 11, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/09/10/younger-americans-reading-habits-and-technology-use/

As I navigated through the Pew Research Center I found this very interesting article about the reading habits and technology use of teens and adults. As I read the article I was fascinated to see that there was a correlation between reading and technology use.  I noticed that technology partly increased within the younger generation of Americans because some used smartphones and tablets as a reading device or listened to audiobooks. According to the article, younger Americans are more likely to read than the older generation. The article also stated that 67 % Americans under the age of 30 are more likely to read a book using various formats on a weekly basis compared to 58% of Americans over the age of 30. The research also found that adults ages 50-64 are less likely to read a book on a weekly basis. I was surprised by this because even if the older generations aren’t into technology the can still read print books as opposed to the younger generations who use technology to read books. The authors also stated that in a survey conducted in January 2014 they found that, “while most adults in all age groups are reading print books, young adults have caught up to those in their thirties and forties in e-reading, with 37% of adults ages 18-29 reporting they have read an e-book in the past year.”  I believe this has a direct correlation with technology use because the recent generations have grown up with the internet and so therefore it is no surprise that the use of e-books among younger Americans is on the rise. For example, my three-year-old knows how to operate an iPad and an iPhone better than my parents do. In regards to technology use the research conducted found that younger Americans have embraced technology use as opposed to older adults. The article stated that 98% of Americans under the age of 30 used the internet and 90% of those internet users reported using social networking sites. The report also found that younger Americans have smartphones, tablets, or e-readers as opposed to older Americans.  This was no surprise to me because like I have mentioned before younger Americans have grown up with the internet as part of their everyday lives. Older Americans on the other hand have had to learn how to use technology and many are reluctant to use new technology because they are not comfortable with it. For example, my dad is 64 and used to have a very old flip phone until about 3 months ago when I finally convinced him to upgrade to an iPhone. He didn’t want to let go of his old phone because he was afraid he wasn’t going to be able to fully understand a new phone that was going to have a lot more features. Finally the article discussed the perceptions Americans had about the internet. It was a general consensus that Americans no matter the age group felt that the internet makes finding information much easier than it was in the past. All age groups also feel that they are capable of assessing their online information as good or bad. What really surprised me was that only younger Americans felt that there was a lot of useful information that was not found on the internet. I would have figured that it would be the older Americans that would feel this way.

Pew Reading Total For This Article: 6 pages 

My infographic can be located at:
https://infogr.am/younger_americans_reading_habits_and_technology_use_infographic

Twitter: Following Educational Technology Leaders

For this blog post I will highlight tweets made by some of the biggest names in educational technology. As I read through their posts and clicked on their links I was able to learn a lot of interesting and helpful information. Check out some of my favorite tweets and click through the links and I promise you will learn something from these leaders in technology. Kathy Schrock @kathyschrock tweeted a video showing West Des Moines Schools teachers at their welcome back assembly. Schrock said they set the bar high and I have to agree with her! If only all teachers were like this at the beginning of school.

What every teacher opening day faculty meeting should be like! https://t.co/vgOB9E1VKW You set the bar high, @WDMCS!

— Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) August 28, 2015

Linda Braun @lbraun2000 tweeted a link to the new YALSA Core Professional Values for the Teen Services Profession. Library staff working with teens should take a look at this helpful document that not only lists the core values, but also offers examples of how to achieve these values.

Why should library staff working with teens pay attention to @yalsa core professional values? http://t.co/0th85Ok3XO

— Linda W Braun (@lbraun2000) September 1, 2015

Tony Vincent @tonyvincent tweeted an awesome video with tips on how to create infopics.

Here’s my video with tips, ideas, tips & techniques for making infopics: http://t.co/MTU3URCIM2 Transcript: http://t.co/NqTpEbzpKe #edchat

— Tony Vincent (@tonyvincent) August 17, 2015

Buffy Hamilton @buffyjhamilton sent a powerful tweet that I'm sure will resonate with many librarians. When are administrators going to understand that budgets cuts to the library are actually counterproductive to student achievement? Administrators should help their campus librarians get funding.

Telling school librarians with no budget (which is a school choice) to go look for grants to fund media budget is unacceptable.

— Buffy J. Hamilton (@buffyjhamilton) September 1, 2015

The Daring Librarian @GwynethJones tweeted about starting a professional Instagram account for your school library. Social media is not only popular with students, but also with adults. Let's be honest we all know several adults who are constantly checking their social media accounts. So why not have a school library Instagram account?

Say Yes! To a School Instagram! = #PicMonkeySmarts #EDUSpin http://t.co/ZJ2fDj9gQz

— The Daring Librarian (@GwynethJones) August 19, 2015

Jim Lerman @jimlerman tweeted eight free alternatives to Google Image Search. Teachers can use the site that best meets the needs of his/her students. He even created a chart for teachers to see the differences between the sites. Easy to follow and great to know other options!

Free Technology for Teachers: Eight Alternatives to Google Image Search ^ by Richard Byrne http://t.co/jEoJKeAWzf

— Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) August 31, 2015

Sharing my favorite tweets has been fun, but for those of you wondering how I embedded the tweets into my blog let me tell you that it was rather easy. To be honest I had never done this before so of course I looked it up on Yahoo. I found the instructions at blog.hubspot.com . The instructions were easy to follow and they even included screen shots. All I had to do was look at the bottom of the tweet and look at the options. You are given the option to reply, retweet, select as a favorite, or more. Click on the option that says more and you will get a drop down menu. On there you will find embed tweet. Click on embed tweet and copy the HTML code. After you copy the HTML code you paste it onto the blog and you're done. It's that simple! I hope you have found something helpful in today's blog post. After following these leaders in educational technology I was reminded that there are many people who are willing to offer their expertise. All we have to do is seek for information.