Ms. Nichols Reads

As an overall statement, I thoroughly enjoyed this class. Additionally, I feel that I am taking away a tremendous amount of knowledge that I can use in both the classroom and library setting. Digital technology has always been a bit scary for me, but this semester, I sucked it up, practiced and played around with the tools, and now I'm hooked. I actually do enjoy this "stuff" and can definitely see how it makes student engagement higher.  To begin with, the tools that I was most excited to learn were both the comic creator and the qr codes. I think the comic creator would be great for both teachers and students. Students can read fun little comics created by the teacher or librarian, and teachers can assign students to projects using the comic creator. Likewise, the qr code is something I will be using in the classroom come this fall. Because digital learning is likely, qr codes will help me post information for students to access. It is also a great way to cut down on pa...

The Universal Design For Learning, or UDL, is a way for improving and optimizing learning and teaching. By using these standards, educators and librarians, alike, are able to have a guideline to follow to improve their practice. Below I have listed how the UDL can be applied to my classroom and teaching style.  The Guidelines Currently Being Used Language and Symbols (2) Because I'm currently an English teacher, I feel that this guideline is a given. Nearly everyday we are covering some kind of component of this guideline. We don't necessarily "support decoding of mathematical notation", however we do a lot of "clarification of vocabulary" and "illustration through multiple media". One proponent that I support is the idea of taking ownership of one's learning. As such, in order to clarify vocabulary, I have students use a dictionary to look of the definition of a word they don't know, and explain that word to a partner using their own words...

Podcasts are a great way for librarians to get information out to students and teachers. There are so many different ways a librarian can use podcasts and an unlimited amount of topics that podcasts can feature. Podcasts can easily be shared via email or posted on websites, and can be a great way to get others interested or aware of certain things. Below are three different podcast sites that I researched to decide which site I liked the most. Following that is a link to a podcast about the process of weeding that my group discussed.  Buzzsprout This was the first site I played around with to see if I could record a podcast on it. It is a free source, but requires a log in. I didn't think it was as user friendly as the other two sources listed below. Also, it seems that in order to save the recorded podcast, it will automatically be saved in a platform such as ITunes or Spotify , instead of the ability to simply save to your desktop.  PodBean My group and I were...

Fotojet     https://www.fotojet.com/features/misc/photo-comic.html This comic creator is very user friendly. There are many options to create a comic strip, including pre-made templates, the ability to upload your own images, and different fonts to use. Because there are so many more options than the other two sites, it creates a more professional looking comic strip, however it is also very overwhelming to use. I would not suggest letting students use this particular tool over the others simply because there are too many choices to choose from. Pixton  ( https://edu.pixton.com/educators ) This tool requires a registration before you can use it. There is a free teacher account that you can use, but with this account there are only a limited amount of backgrounds and graphics. Students might enjoy this comic creator more than the others because it allows for animation and sound effects. If you are willing to spend the money, you can purchase more backgroun...

YouTube YouTube is a great resource to use not just in subsidizing your teaching, but it also adds to the library atmosphere. YouTube has many videos in the style of book trailers that will grab the reader's attention. Some videos are more for entertainment purposes, while others are meant to inform or instruct. Below are few different YouTube pages that are guaranteed to add to your library.  The NHS Library ( https :// www . youtube .com/user/ TheNHSLibrary /videos ) Students Would enjoy this video for it's entertaining read alouds. This video would be helpful for students to learn how to use CQ Research The Unquiet Library ( https :// www . youtube .com/user/ theunquietlibrary /videos ) This video is entertaining for students, simply due to the fact that it is of a performance that happened in the library. This video is more helpful for students to learn how to find images in Wikimedia Pikesville HS Library ( https :// www . youtube .com/use...

   Today we are going to be talking about screen casts . This is a great tool to have in your back pocket, to virtually show how a specific tool or website is to be used. Screen casts  can be especially helpful right now when virtual learning is becoming a more integral part of school with the pandemic currently taking place.    I used the web tool Screencast-o-matic to create a video to help students navigate the online library tools for students. I specifically focus on how to use the library online catalog. Screencast-o-matic was a very easy tool to use. It was a free application and very user friendly. Before settling, I went on to explore two other screen cast  tools to decide which one I personally enjoyed the most.    Jing  is another screen cast  program that can be used to create videos that help with online learning. Jing is a program that requires you to download, before being able to use. I downloaded it on my personal ...

   Just as the title suggests, infographics are simply images with statics and numbers thrown in. It is generally something that someone can read by just glancing at. Infographics are a good way of informing the public or getting your point across about a certain topic. When creating your own infographic , there are many programs available online to help. For the purpose of this post, I will be comparing three different websites; Easelly , Piktochart , and Infogram , to see which (in my opinion) is easiest and most user friendly with creating an infographic .    All three programs that I played around with to create an inforgraphic required me to create an account. As such, I don't anticipate much Spam mail coming from these sites, however that is a subject for another day. Let's see how each one of these programs stacked up. Easelly ( http://www.easel.ly/ ) This site is terrific because it already has created infographics where one can go in and change the...