Connecting Families Survey

https://www.commonsense.org/education/connecting-families/share

Final Reflections

  THIS CLASS WAS ABSOLUTELY MY FAVORITE! I learned so much this summer. Actually, I am sitting right now in a technology training my district is offering and I am so ahead of the game than everyone else. I feel so techie!! This workshop is very helpful and useful, BUT this class was way more beneficial. The screencasts throughout the course was great because I am a  visual learner. I really feel that I will have alot to offer my teachers and students. I am so ready to use screencast, the You Tube channels, animatos, and podcasts.
The most easiest assignments to do was the QR codes. I can now attach trailers, videos, or quizzes to my own QR code.
  My library will have two carts of chrome books so my library centers/lessons will be especially cool. Students will be able to walk around and scan QR codes I've made.  The most beneficial technology my students will use will be the comics creator. This will help foster a love for writing , and build  pride for their creation. In addition, reading their classmates's comics will help develop their reading skills too.
 In my opinion, none of the assignments were difficult.  The only problem I had was towards the end when I had to embed my screenr video and my Instagram picture into my blog. It was mostly a technical issue that has been partially solved.( Still solving the Instagram though)

I really enjoyed making my own Facebook page just for Reading. It's starting to get more likes.

So, all in all, this was a very beneficial course and I recommend it to all.

Elementary Library Routines - Edgerton School District

Instagram and Vine

Instagram and Vine

Well, my last two social apps I had the pleasure of getting familiar with is Instagram and Vine. I was pretty familiar with Instagram, but never bother to use it since I am mostly on Facebook. But, it' s a fairly easy and simple app to use. Teachers and Librarians can also find it very useful  in the classroom or library.
Here are some ideas I found on ways to use Instagram in the classroom.

1. Showcase students' work. Snap pictures of students' artwork and other special projects to share on a private Instagram account only accessible to families and others in your school community.
2. Feature a student of the week. Invite students to alternate "taking over" your classroom Instagram account and sharing photos from their daily lives. Then have the featured student share his or her photos with the class.
3. Capture field trip memories. Invite a student volunteer "archivist" to take photos on your field trips or during class parties and share them on your Instagram account.
4. Go on an ABC scavenger hunt. Challenge kids to find print in the world around them—on signs, packaging and in the mail.
5. Document student progress. Snap photos of student's writing at the beginning and end of the year. Order inexpensive prints from sites such as Prinstagr.am to show students how far they have come.

    For more ideas go to:

http://www.weareteachers.com/community/blogs/weareteachersblog/blog-wat/2013/07/22/10-ways-to-use-instagram-in-the-classroom


Here are  two links to my  instagram photos:

  (I can't believe I got all the way to the last project and couldnt' embed my pictures into my blog!)

 The first photo is me starting my first painting. My husband and I took a three hour BYOB painting class. The instructor guided us step by step to paint a beautiful masterpiece, lol!

http://instagram.com/p/rDNbXkgxSB/

This is the finished piece!

http://instagram.com/p/rDUB0VAxc9/



   Vine is a 8 second  video you can make. I had never really heard of it and was curious as to how I could use it in the classroom. Well, after a few assigned readings, I got some neat ideas. Here are the highlights of how teachers/librarians can use Vine.


1. Use Vine videos to teach your students about inference. You can film a few shots of something and then let the students discuss what they think is going on in the video, or what caused the scene.
2. Have students re-create scenes from books they are reading using Vine to showcase their interpretation of the story.
3. Get students excited about an upcoming unit by using Vine to create a unit preview.
4.Help students memorize critical concepts. Vine videos are looped, so they continuously play what you record. This is great to teach things that need to be committed to memory, such as times tables or phonetic concepts.



Below are my Vines of part of my garden. Both plants  started out as a little seedling.

This Vine Video is my okra plant. I bought it when it was about 3 inches tall.  Its almost as tall as me now. (Mommy so proud :)) We have given 3 people a handful of okra already and it's still producing.

https://t.co/NhaAy4Ilvk
— Stephanie Williams C (@mrsscaesar) July 29, 2014

 My cucumber plant is a much bigger "vine" than it was two weeks ago. It has flowers and is climbling its way up the trellis. I can't wait until I get my delicious cucumbers. Yummy!

https://t.co/SpnGwjAGII
— Stephanie Williams C (@mrsscaesar) July 29, 2014

Screencast

Screencast

I always wondered how people were able to video themselves on doing something on the internet. Now, I know how. This assignment was so interesting. I went to two websites to make a video of myself teaching students how create a blog. ( Screencastomatic.com and Screenr.com) Unfortunately, Screenr gave me the blues the first few times I used it due to Java. I tried it on my desktop and my tablet. I even tried it in both Explorer and Chrome. One of my classmates sent me a message to adjust the security settings and it finally worked!

 Screencastomatic was quite simple to use once I downloaded the software. It was incredible easy and simple to use.  

So needless to say, Screencast-o-matic is my top choice.

Here's the video tutorial of explaining how to set up their first blog.

After a few adjustments, I got Screenr to work! Here's me explaining how to get to Tumblebook Books on my district's site.

Cartoons and Comics

Do your students love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series? Do you think they would want to make their own book or comic strip? Well, because of this next assignment, I just learned how to make COOL comics!!!  And the staff and my students will absolutely love these 3 awesome sites. 

   The first one is ToonDoo at Toodoo.com. It was very simple and easy to make the following cartoon. After a free and simple sign-up registration, you are on your way to make a comic strip, a comic book, customizable characters, or some doodle artwork. You can publish your comic and make it private or you can make it public for any and all to see. If you like, you can read other member's comics too. 
 This site has some decent choice for characters or you can upload a picture of yourself and it would try to match it. From noses, mouth, skin color, body size, to hair. It's full of choices for your character. The backgrounds to choose from is extensive too. Lots of choices. Then you can clone your box, flip it,shrink it, enlarge it, add color, etc. Kids will have so much fun with these options.

Here's mine:

By slw012070 | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

     The next comic strip site is Makebeliefscomix at makebeliefscomix.com.
This site doesn't require any registration. You can pick from preselected characters and use their options and scenes to make your comic. There aren't as many customizable characters and options as toondoo, so you have to be creative with what they do have.
A word of caution here, be sure you email it to yourself because if not, it will not save. I had to do my cartoon twice because I just assume it would save it when I clicked the button create a new comix.

http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/?comix_id=163887186C1344847




The last comic strip maker is Pixton at www.pixton.com. This one requires registration, but it is free. Teachers can get a free account, but you have to prove you're a teacher by using your school's email. This site has lots of options, just not as much as ToonDoo,  They have a lot of pre-drawn character choices that can be customized by color, body size, hair, facial expressions or eye shapes. They  have props and setting choices too.  Each frame can be duplicated and copied, the body movements are preset, but movable,and  word bubbles are adjustable too. What I really like is that you can see other teacher's comics by grade-level or  by subject area You can set up your classroom and post  assignments using the comic app too. I like this one a lot! Here's my comic I made to resemble me and my library.


http://Pixton.com/ic:6da3acge

Comic Master  and Chogger are other great websites for making cartoons as well. Go to comic master.com or to chogger.com to see just how easy to make your very own comics.


   After careful consideration, I would recommend ToonDoo to my students, and Pixton to my teachers.


     Also, part of my assignment was to research some ways to use comics in the classroom/library.  I found some amazing and creative ways to use these comic makers. You can have kids practice their new vocabulary words. My ESL students can practice conversational skills.  Teachers can also introduce students to creative writing or use the characters to create comic strips that comment on local or national politics. My gifted students can create a dramatic play and have it performed in the library.  Fourth  and seventh graders can be given a writing prompts to respond to in the form of comics. This would take the boring out of writing.  For more ideas, go to:

 http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/How-to-Play/Educators/
or http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/01/26-ways-to-use-comics-in-classroom-and.html#.U9W9yeNdWYU

    I see cartoons and comics as a way of making writing fun and bringing out our children's creativity!!!!

A Pew Report on Library Engagement

A Mining Pew Report

From Distant Admirers To Library Lovers- and Beyond.

A Typology of Public Library Engagement in America

       The next Pew Report I read is about the different types of people of who visit the Library and how they use the library services available to them. The public library continues to add new technologies and services, with the goal of providing patrons resources in whatever form they prefer. Many libraries have also expanded into community centers, serving as unique gathering places in the city. Today, they offer many events and services, and are experimenting with providing the next generation of “expensive and scarce” resources, from 3-D printers to recording studios. I love my local library. The Barbara Bush Branch Library offers all types of computer classes to the residents, ebook checkout, and mobile apps. They offer new titles with author alerts on your mobile.
        Work by the Pew Research Center has shown that print books are still central to Americans’ library use, just as they remain central in Americans’ overall reading habits. In fact, though more Americans than ever are reading e-books (28% of adults ages 18 and older, as of January 2014), few have abandoned print entirely; just 4% of readers read e-books exclusively. Still, many Americans say they would be interested in exploring a range of technological services at public libraries, from personalized reading recommendations and online “Ask a Librarian” services to media kiosks and mobile apps. This report accurately describes my local library. Harris county and the Houston Public library both have the “Ask the Librarian” feature, ebook collections, mobile apps, and digital databases.
          Since I am going to be a school library, this report of how the public libraries’ changing role in Americans’ lives and communities is something I need to be aware of.  The focus of this report is the creation of a new typology of Americans’ engagement with public libraries, which sheds light on broader issues around the relationship between technology, libraries, and information resources in the United States. What I found interesting was how this report put most Americans into different categories.  Respondents were sorted into groups based on a cluster analysis of factors such as the importance of public libraries in their lives; how they use libraries; and how they view the role.

 The four main groups were High Engagements, Medium Engagements, Low Engagements, and the Non-Engagements. Each group is then sub-divided into two categories.

     The first group is the group I believe I fit in. The High Engagement group has library lovers and information omnivores. My children and I are Information ominvores.
      The library lovers (10% of the American population) frequent personal use of public libraries, along with high levels of household library use. This group includes many parents, students, and job seekers; members tend to be younger, with higher levels of education. This group’s members are disproportionately younger than the general population.   (66% read a book daily). Though they are heavy library users and generally prefer to borrow books instead of purchasing them, More than other groups, they like to learn new things and enjoy tracking down information. They are also active socially and engaged with community events, and rate their communities highly. They are also heavy internet users, and are particularly engaged with mobile: 72% go online via mobile devices. Once I am retired, I may fit into this category. But I consider myself to an information omnivore.
   The Information omnivores (20% of the American population) have the highest rates of technology use, as well as the highest levels of education, employment, and household income. 90% go online every day, and 81% use social media. Almost half (46%) have a tablet computer, the highest proportion of any group, and 68% own a smart phone. They have high levels of personal and household library use, but their visits to library are less frequent than Library Lovers. They rank just below Library Lovers in their consumption of books—they read an average of 17 books in the previous 12 months—and are more likely to buy their books than borrow them. I wholeheartedly agree,  I do prefer to buy my books and visit Barnes and Nobles often. Half-Priced Books gets our business as well. My youngest daughter will ask for books for her birthday and my oldest daughter has quite a collection of romance novels.

     The next category is the Medium Engagement group. They have a solid center group and a print traditionalist group. This group reminds me of my children.
      The solid center group (30% of the American population) rank high among the groups in appreciating their communities: 84% would describe their communities as “good” or “excellent.” In their attendance of various community activities, those in the Solid Center are not quite as involved as the high engagement groups, but they are fairly active: They read books at the same frequency as the U.S. populations. They are one of the least likely groups to use library websites: only 5% used a library website in the past year, and only 26% have ever used one.
     The print traditionalist group has access to technology at roughly the same rates as the general population, but they use technology less than other higher engagement groups. 80% say libraries are important because they promote literacy; 75% say libraries play an important role because they give everyone a chance to succeed; and 73% say libraries improve the quality of life in the community.

      The next group is the Low Engagement group. They represent 18% of the American population. Their three subgroups is the Not for Me, the Young and Restless, and Rooted and Roadblocked. This is the group in which I would put my husband. He would be in the Not for Me subgroup.
     The Not for Me group is 4% of the American population. Few in this group are heavy book readers: 31% read did not read any books last year, and as a group they read a median of 3 books in that time. They also have somewhat lower levels of internet adoption and use, and are more likely than other groups to report having difficulty getting information about such things as politics and current events, community activities, health information, and career opportunities.
     The Young and Restless group is relatively small; this group contains a higher proportion of young people than most other groups, most of them relatively new to their communities. They are a relatively large share of students, or are looking for jobs. It is a much more racially diverse group than most of the others. This is a group heavily involved with technology, especially mobile devices: 82% access the internet with a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet and 68% own smartphones. Fully 86% of the internet users among them use social networking sites and 27% use Twitter, higher rates than most other groups. When it comes to reading, they are fairly typical: Young and Restless members read an average of 11 books in the past 12 months.
     The last subgroup in the Low Engagement group is the Rooted and Roadblocked. They are the oldest group in the typology, with a large share of retirees and a small share of parents with minor children.
The Rooted and Roadblocked are longtime residents of their communities, but less engaged with certain community activities—about half (52%) don’t regularly take part in any of the community activities we asked about. They have lower proportions of internet users (74%), home broadband adopters (58%), smartphone owners (40%), and social media users. They were also less likely to feel comfortable with technology-related tasks we asked about, and some 28% did not read a book in the past 12 months.
 
    The last group the Pew reports on is the Non-Engagement group. This is where I reluctantly put my parents. Because their parents didn’t allow them to go to school in rural Louisiana in the 1930’s, they aren’t literate. If they could read they would be in a higher group, but because they can’t read, they would have to fit in the Distant Admirers group. They have never personally used a public library.  Two of my siblings would fit in the other subgroup. They rarely if ever have visited and benefited from the library. The two subgroups are the Distant Admirers and the Off the Grid.
    The Distant Admirers (10% of the American population) contains the highest proportion of rural, Southern, or white respondents. It is similar to Solid Center in many measures, except that its members tend to live farther away from libraries. They also have positive views about libraries’ roles in communities. Their technology profile is notably below the national benchmark, and few are heavy book readers. They are much less likely than most other groups to read the news regularly, to feel they can find information on key subjects, and to say they like to learn new things.
    The Off the Grid (4% of the American population) are disconnected in many ways—not only from libraries, but also from their neighbors and communities, from technology, and from information sources. Many do not regularly read books or stay current with the news, and their technology profile is the lowest among the groups. Only 56% use the internet, and just 33% have smartphones. Half read no books in the previous 12 months, and just a quarter (25%) say they read books daily

   This 131-page report was the result of a poll of 6,224 people ages 16 and older living in the United States. It was very enlightening. As I was reading it, I was putting my family and myself into the various groups. Although I believe some of the groups can overlap some, but for the most part, it was on target. I believe all Americans, especially children and teens, would benefit greatly if they were to take advantages of the services their local libraries provide. Libraries have come so far in technology and had it been available when I was a teen, I would have increase my visits from monthly to weekly. I am proud of my and my children’s typology engagement in the High Engagement group. And I hope to bring my campus into that High engagement by highlighting the fun and interesting activities our local library has to offer.

Rainie, L., Purcell, K., Zickuhr, K., (2014 March 13), From Distant Admirers To Library Lovers- and Beyond, Pew Internet Research Project

http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/03/13/library-engagement-typology/


Page count 187

Mining Pew Report

Social Media and Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Adults

I read the article titled, "Social Media and Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Adults".
The article gave some interesting facts about how teens, young adults, and older adults are getting online and using social media. More so than ever for older adults, the Internet is a central and an indispensable element in the lives of American teens and young adults.
I know personally, most of my family and co-workers are heavily invested into the worlde of the Internet.  Before taking this class, I had not thought of keeping a blog, but now I see many benefits of blogging. Also, the Pew report explains how both teen and adult use of social networking sites has risen significantly.
Facebook is currently the most commonly used online social network among adults. I definitely agree with that statement. My husband and I are on Facebook at least twice a day. Among adult profile owners, Facebook is currently the social network of choice.  I was surprised to learn that teens are not using Twitter in large numbers. While teens are bigger users of almost all other online applications, Twitter is an exception.
Wireless internet use is especially high among young adults, and the laptop has replaced the desktop as the computer of choice among those under thirty. I personally prefer laptops because I can use it while I’m in bed, in the kitchen, or on the go. I have a teen and a young adult in the house, and wireless connection is the best way to go. It’s needed for our Wii and Playstation, especially for our service to Netflix.
For families with teens, home broadband adoption grows.  The Pew report states that 63% of teens go online every day!! I would have to disagree with that statement. I believe that number is much higher. Cell phones, gaming devices, kindles, and computers all have access to the Internet.  Teens are enthusiastic consumers of gaming devices both wired and portable. Fully 80% of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 have a game console like a Wii, an Xbox or a PlayStation. While younger and older teens are equally likely to have a game console, boys are more likely than girls to have one. Adults 30 and older are much less likely to own a game console than teens or young adults. The report continues with facts like white online adults are more likely than Hispanic adults to be daily internet users, and the frequency of an adult’s internet use is positively correlated with both educational attainment and household income. I agree that you need the income to buy the tools you need to get on the Internet. Cell phones, desktops, and laptops can be expensive. Nearly four in five teens (79%) have an iPod or other mp3 player. Ownership of music players cuts across most demographic and age groups, with all groups just about as likely to own an mp3 player as another. The exceptions to this are parent’s educational attainment and family income. Unsurprisingly, as family income and education rises, so does the likelihood of a teen owning an mp3 player or iPod.  Young adults & teens are more likely to have an mp3 player than other adults.  No surprise there, I usually just store my music on my phone or listen to the radio.   Overall the computer remains the most popular way for teens to go online, with 93% of teens with a desktop or a laptop computer to go online. But other more portable technologies are also now providing new paths to the Internet like the PS4. Xbox or Wii. Men, and adults with high income and education levels are the most likely to access the internet wirelessly.
Use of virtual worlds is more common among teens than among adults. My daughter plays Our World and Poptropica, virtual world games, at home a lot. Also, the study shows how posting comments online (such as on a news group, website, blog or photo site) has become somewhat more common among adults over the last two years. Not surprisingly is that girls are more likely than boys to look online for sensitive health information.  Moreover, the study concludes that nearly half (48%) of online teens buy things online like books, clothing or music, a practice that has been steadily increasing! As for as getting news online, older teens are more likely to visit sites for news or political information; 68% of online teens ages 14"17 visited online news sites, while just about half (49%) of 12 and 13 year olds said the same. There are no gender differences in whether teens visit online news sites. White teens and teens from families with higher income and education levels are more likely to report visiting sites for online news or political information.

   This study polled over 800 teens and their parents, and the results lets us know how we are using the internet and social media. I’m sure if they were to do the study in 2014, the results would change some. New apps and social networking sites have been invented since then and teens’ habits are always changing.

Lenhart, A., Purcell, K., Smith, A., Sicker, K., (2010 February 10), Social Media and Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Adults. Pew Research Internet Project.

http://www.pewinternet.org/2010/02/03/social-media-and-young-adults/

Page count 56/150

Online Book Communities

Online Book Communities.......

For my next assignment, I had to create FOUR online book community profiles and again, I learned something new and loved it. These websites were something I did not know was available to me.  I discovered:
www.goodreads.com
www.booklikes.com
www.librarything.com
www.shelfari.com
www.biblionasium.com

   These sites will allow you to digitally shelve all of the books you've read, currently reading, or books you want to read. With a few clicks you can see all of the books(with exact bookcover) you have read. You can also categorize your books however you like, (some books may fit more than one category). Most will give you recommendations and reviews as well.

I made screen casts to show you how simple and easy it is to get started.


Goodreads
 Now, I've been to goodreads before to get book reviews and summaries. But I didnt realize that I could keep a digital bookshelf. I really like Goodreads. The site was really easy to navigate. The number one thing I love about this site is that I was able to pull all of the books I had ever bought on amazon. It pulled up books I had forgotten all about, from at least 12 years ago or more. Nice!

Here's an example of how you can put the book in categories. All of the books I typed in came up,but what was annoying was that this big white box popped up whenever you add a book. You have to click  in the box before it goes away. Annoying!

Another thing I like is that the summary of your books on your bookshelf is taken from Amazon.

The yellow checkmark is where you are able to instantly access all of your purchases from Amazon.

Here's a sample of my categories on my bookshelf.

 This is my profile on Goodreads!

Library Thing


   LibraryThing was not as simple to navigate through, but it has some of the same components as Goodreads. The homepage has announcement, your book shelf, local events in the area, tags, and a lot of links.


The link to import books from Goodreads or Amazon did not work for me. I'm not sure if it was because of  a problem with my laptop, but I couldn't get my list with ease like I did at Goodreads.

Here are the links to add new books to your shelf, join groups, talk in a discussion forum with others, and something that I like is the Talk link. This link will have different meetups, meetings, and activities in your area.
 This is my bookshelf on Library Thing currently.

Shelfari

  Shelfari is an easy and simple site to use. There are onlly four tabs with links to click on. Below you will see my initial bookshelf with yellow arrows on the number of books I'm reading and the books I've read.

The bookshelf has three main tabs booklovers can use.  I've circled them in yellow below. The friends tab is a place you can connect with friends through facebook or twitter and see what they're reading. The activity tab will let you make comments about the books you've read or planning on reading.

This site has an easy import of books from Amazon or LinkedIN. Below is a picture of some of my past Amazon purchases and an easy column to check if I have read it, planning to read it, reading it now, or if it was my favorite.

 I like the Book Activity tab which contains booklists and recommendation. The reviews and ratings will give you a good indication of which books to read.  The green checkmarks are their categories for recommendations

BookLikes

   Booklikes was another good site to store your book titles. It was more geared towards incoporating your bookshelf into your blog or reading other blogs. 
This is my bookshelf on this site. I have started my three categories below on the left. 

I logged in through my Facebook account so it imported my picture.  You type books you want to add where I have it circled below. And like the others, you can say if you've read it, currently reading, or plan to read it. It added one of my books that I am currently reading below on the right, by the yellow checkmark.

If you want to invite your Facebook friends, that option is very clearly given to you.

The green arrows are your options to write text, quotes, photos you can add, videos you add, and url you can add to your blog.

What I do NOT like about this site is the ad in the middle of the page. I guess this is how they pay for the site.

You can also see the beginning of a person's blog it is recommending me to read since I am a newbie here. 

BiblioNasium


 This site is very kid friendly. I liked it. Though it wont let you put adult books. I believe my students would love to use this. It eye-friendly and brightly colored.
My profile is below:

The recommendation tab is a really nice feature too!

___________________________________________________________________________

So drumroll please..........My favorite online book community is  Shelfari!!
  This site will be the one that I use on a regular basis and the one that I will recommend to staff and students. It was easy to navigate, simple to use, the import was quick and easy, and there weren't any ads to bother you each time you logged in. The book recommendations and booklist is invaluable when you are searching for your next good read. Parents will find that this too is a good tool to build a love for literacy in the home.
     

Podcast in Education

   This next assignment on podcasting is something I have used before in my classroom. Podcasting is like having your own online radio show. You can record yourself and/or your students reading, singing, talking, or discussing literature and post it online for others to hear. I have used other teacher's podcasts several times when I needed books read aloud. Students would listen to the read-aloud of a novel or book while in a workstations. I didn't need to purchase or record it myself. It was already available for use. I did a little researching and googling and found more uses of podcasting.  One is  having students record their own stories. This would be very motivating and exciting.  Once students hear their stories aloud, they can begin to revise and edit it to make it better. Once published to sound cloud, their recordings can be heard by friends and families. Having students, librarians, or teachers create podcasts, we can have a huge library of audio books for download, free of charge.  Another fun idea is to have your students create a talk show discussing research, interviews, and book reviews. The entire school can hear their production on the announcements. Podcasting is a great avenue for auditory learners. My ESL learners can benefit by listening to podcasts and creating podcasts as well. Publishing a readers theatre performance would encourage my average or below readers to practice their lines repeatedly since they know it is going to be publish and available for others to hear. If I can get them to practice their repeated readings, then their fluency will improve. And speaking of fluency, when students take their monthly fluency assessment where they read for one minute, parents/students would be able to hear exactly what they sound like and improve upon their fluency and prosody.  I really like the podcasting idea that students can  interview relatives about their life histories, and then combine the audio interview with family photos in a video project.
For more ideas go to: 

 http://edtechteacher.org/tools/multimedia/podcasting/

   I made  podcast of myself reading the book, "My Pet Book" by Bob Staake.  My plan is to have my students listen to the audio version of this book, then they will read it to a friend, and  finally read it independently.