Making Life Easier with Current Events

As I often tell students, I am a firm believer in making my life as easy as possible. That is why I believe in using databases and online encyclopedias, not online searches on Google, for research. I go straight to the table of contents or index when looking for something in a print book or e-book. And, when given permission to do so, I share information given to me by the Tech Leaders of Johnston County!

Here is a great FREE resource for middle school and high school students that does NOT require making an account! It's a source of current event articles written for this target audience. Each article also has discussion questions.

To get started, visit: http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/ The website is updated daily with new articles. Student News Daily has weekly features that go beyond normal current events, for example on Wednesdays, they feature an article that is an example of media bias and on Fridays, they have an article featuring an editorial cartoon. Click on any article from the homepage to expand it: At the bottom of each article, there are questions, as well as relevant background information and videos if applicable. The questions for this particular article also include some reading strategies for students since this article has difficult subject matter. I hope you add Student News Daily as a resource for current events and global studies in your classroom.

How to Use E-Books in Instruction

Now that all of our classrooms have interactive whiteboards, and even the media center has an interactive white panel for use by classes visiting the library or during meetings, let's talk about a way to use it beyond Smart Notebook.

Although a few teachers still are limiting themselves to using the boards more as a glorified overhead with bells and whistles (and I know that's due to feeling more familiar with old-school technology and a lack of time to really do that in-depth exploring with the new stuff), one great way to work with your students on the interactive whiteboards is through e-books. We have access to a few thousand non-fiction and several hundred fiction titles on Follett Shelf and our Gale E-books.

First, to access those books:

1.  Follett Shelf: From our school's webpage, go to student life and to library media center. There is a link to the library catalog (often referred to as "Destiny") there. When on Destiny, click on the Catalog tab at the top, and you will see Follett Shelf on the lower left side. A teacher's username and password are both the same: your employee ID#. For students, it is their computer username and password. 
2. Gale E-books: From the library media center website, go to the research zone and the e-books are there. Follow the directions for the username and password listed on the research zone.

Now that you have access to these e-books, we will concentrate on the Follett Shelf books because of the features the "Shelf" offers. These features allow highlighting, note-taking (and these notes can be saved), and book-marking as well as citations for the book and for passages in the book.

This short video shows some of the great features of Follett Shelf E-books and how to use them in instruction. Your interactive whiteboard is perfect for e-books!

"So When Is It Okay..?"

"...to show a movie excerpt?"

"...to make a copy of a magazine article?"

"...to copy something in a research paper?"

"...to use an image/video/article/etc. I found on the Internet?"

One of the roles media coordinators find themselves in is that of "copyright expert" (or copyright police, copyright witch, or just plain "mean person who won't let me copy/show/use stuff"). Why, you might ask? Well, in my county at least, it's a requirement that media coordinators must train staff members every year on compliance with copyright and fair use. Also, in order to help students as digital learners, we work with them on learning how to follow fair use guidelines for their research and writing.

In the first graduate class I took for my Master's degree in Library Science, in fact, copyright took a large part of our class projects and discussions. I don't enjoy telling a teacher that uploading a scanned copy of the entire last three copies of a novel or putting the latest issue of People magazine on his or her website violates copyright. Nor do I enjoy explaining why putting in full-length feature films because it's Friday and there's a sub and the unit test was yesterday is a violation either.

I am not the copyright police.

I don't actually search out violations on websites, and I certainly never stalk the halls looking in classroom doors to see if someone has posted cartoons on bulletin boards. The most questions I get are about movies, and I can't always give teachers the answers they want to hear. But since violating copyright is a fire-able offense here, I will always be honest. That's why I tell my teachers to ask themselves: is it worth losing your job for?

Here are the educational exception rules about showing a movie in the classroom:

First, our county has purchased a license with Discovery Education. If you log in to that site, you can show what's on it. Just preview it first...you don't want any surprises like the guy in the skin-tight skeleton suit that left NOTHING to the imagination one teacher showed her students at one school! Or the Jeff Corwin show where he let fly a few 4-letter words that shocked the first-graders!

Second, our county policy specifically says no Disney Entertainment movies. Period. And if it's policy, you can be fired for violating it. Is showing Frozen worth packing your stuff in a box and turning in your badge? It's not worth it to me!

Third, if the school owns it, you don't have to fill out paperwork to show it, but you still must meet the educational guidelines. If the school doesn't own it, remember to fill out the request to show digital media and have an administrator sign it. This protects YOU if there is a concern over the film being shown.

Fourth, TO MEET FAIR USE, the following must all be met:

1. You have to meet the general education guidelines about ratings that you can see on my website;

2. The movie must be part of your core curriculum. (So a block-buster movie probably won't meet this rule!)

3.  It must be part of your face-to-face teaching by a licensed teacher (NOT BY A SUB!) in a regular teaching environment (NOT ON A BUS!).

4. It cannot be for entertainment, reward, or to kill time until starting the next unit or while you catch up on grading. (THAT INCLUDES ONCE AN EXAM HAS ENDED!)

And please, please remember that I did not write the laws.

Thank you.

What a Start to the Week

This week's start (and the end of last week) has been rather interesting.

To begin, I've been working on the Ruth Toor Grant through AASL for the last two months, and the deadline was February 1. Never one to like to wait until the last moment (in case something goes wrong), I made sure my membership fee was mailed January 7th so my membership would be processed before I needed to submit the application. The check cleared on the 19th.

So why is this important?

Well, as of the 29th, my membership fee and application had been misplaced in the system and I still could not submit the grant! Being rather OCD about last minute things, I was panicky at this point. My narrative was ready. My timeline finished. My budget analyzed to the last penny. My biography (much as I don't like having to write about myself) completed. BUT I COULD NOT SUBMIT! I had been working with some wonderful people at ALA/AASL over the course of seven days before the 29th when, finally, they found the records, processed everything on the afternoon of the 29th, and I could submit! Ahhhh! A sigh of relief? Well, not exactly. I never received confirmation that it successfully uploaded. All weekend I fretted. Did it go through? Was this normal?

Yesterday I decided to call AASL one more time. They pulled Friday's records and discovered that there were no submissions on Friday! Oh no! While being thankful I had called, now I was in full panic mode as I resubmitted. But, the same problem occurred all three times: no confirmation. Another phone call, their IT department on the case, and it turns out a glitch in the system causing all sorts of issues....but my grant finally submitted. Whew!

Then, when I got home, I had an absolutely fabulous message on Facebook: I won!

What did I win? No, not the grant. (Although I hold out hope for that.)

Let me go back in time to 2008. WAAAAAY back then I entered the Y2K8 Authors contest for a free author visit from one of these wonderful authors publishing their first novels. I won and chose a visit by Jody Feldman, whose book The Gollywhopper Games was already a big hit with our students. (Read about it here). Jody has since written the remaining two books in the trilogy as well as a fun book, The Seventh Level, full of puzzles and mysterious clues to solve. I have garlic from her growing in my herb garden (another story for another time), and she has read parts of one of my novels and critiqued it for me.

With a history like that, how could I not enter a book launch contest for a free Skype visit with her even though I'm now at a high school? I entered on behalf of my fabulous friend and fellow Queen of Libraria, Angela West, who is the Media Coordinator Extraordinaire at Riverwood Elementary School. To my great surprise and excitement, I WON! (Which means Angela and her students won!) It really made my day to get to share the news with her last night.

On top of all that, I had two students approach me yesterday with questions regarding careers in Library Science! Yeah!

So with all the emotional ups and downs and it only being Tuesday, I can't wait to see what the rest of the week brings!