You do not have to sign up with us to use and benefit from the library resources.  Students use and love Google and Wikipedia, but there is so much more out there!  It is important for students understand the importance of using more than one source and to learn how to use credible and complete sources such as our databases.

Students struggle with:

• Effective search strategies/techniques
• Creating interesting/logical/effective powerpoints
• Correctly paraphrasing
• Creating works cited pages

Students LOVE our new LibGuides! These allow us to create a webpage to organize all the resources you need for topics and/or projects you are covering in your classroom.  We can post your handouts, videos, widgets (search box), and links for students to easily access from school or home!  We then send you the link to post on your website and we can post on the library webpage.

We can:

• Come to your classroom to talk to students – we accommodate your schedule and timeframe
• Provide a link to a libguide.  You tell us what information to include and we’ll post all the resources your students will need.

Contact us if you are interested in finding out more.

Working with Amanda Davis, they took an existing lesson and integrated Global Issues.  Amanda created a libguide for the students including handouts, note-taking guides, and links to the databases.

“Describe an ecological problem, propose solutions (education to promote a solution), write a slogan, make a poster, and name the organization.”

At the end of the project, Carolyn replied to Amanda that these final projects are the best she has seen with this project yet.

See more examples here…

Ninth grade students in all social studies classes have set up iGoogle pages.  They can add:

Þ Teacher calendars (if RSS feed available)

Þ Resource widgets (search boxes to credible sources)

Þ Current Events

Þ Personalized themes and other gadgets

Þ Calendar

Þ Task/To-Do Widget

iGoogle is a great tool to organize and locate important information.  No longer are students interested in visiting a bunch of different websites to find one piece of information.  Students prefer technology customized to fit their needs.  iGoogle allows students to customize their needs and integrate teacher calendars, library resources, and other organizational tools.

To see a list of available widgets so far, click here for the libguide page.

Want to know how students can add your teacher calendar?

See Stacey’s Video:  How to set up your calendar so students can add to their iGoogle pages

How can students add the calendar?

Katie Bonnema, Special Education, asked her senior  students if they planned on going to college next year.  Every student said yes.  She proactively organized a small research paper for her senior students focusing on skills that would be beneficial at the college level.  She worked with the librarians to create a research assignment that would be individualized for each student.  Not only did this prepare the students for the upcoming CAIV Senior Research Paper, but they are more prepared for the next level.

Examples:

Culture & Food of China http://libguides.bvwlmc.com/culinary_arts

Systems/Utopia http://libguides.bvwlmc.com/utopia

AP U.S. History http://libguides.bvwlmc.com/orlowski

For more libguides that the librarians created, go to libguides.bvwlmc.com.  Please send us an email or stop by to let us know if you would like a libguide created for your classes.

April Burkhardt, Joe Geist, Kim Lilley, Jared Zuckerman

Aaron Anderson and Josh Koerkenmeir

Thank you for bringing in your students for library orientation and iGoogle set up!

As promised last month, let’s discuss how Twitter is being used by educators.  (Click here for “What is Twitter?”) 

Ideas from a variety of sources (see resources below).

1.  Use to summarize topic/content viewpoint,
2.  Tweet dialogue between characters of a novel or historical figures.
3.  Use twitterpoll to collect viewpoints.
4.  Share announcements to your students and parents.
5.  Communicate/follow experts.
6.  Monitor where students are in their learning by tweeting a question/answer.
7.  Combine with Google Earth to receive updates on various regions.
8.  Share resources – send hyperlinks.
9.  Twitter as storytelling.
10.  Professional Development – add to your network/followers creating a strong professional learning network.

For more information:
Laura Walker’s, Nine Great Reasons Teachers Should Use Twitter
21 Ways Teachers are using Twitter and Twitter Reading List

What would be the best way to start using Twitter? 
Begin by creating an account and follow someone in your content area or an educational organization. 
Examples of professional twitter accounts-
http://twitter.com/Britannica
http://twitter.com/voicethread
http://twitter.com/dwarlick
http://twitter.com/pbslearningnow
http://twitter.com/ASCD

How is the library using twitter?
Currently, the BVW library has a twitter account that connects to our web page.  As we update twitter, our web page will show the new post. It is a neat way to make announcements to classes or provide quick links to students while they are working in the library.

Want to quickly set up an online discussion with students?  Try Shout’em. Similar to Twitter or an online chat room, students can create online discussions monitored by you.   Jenny Johnson recently had her students use Shout’em as an online class discussion of thesis statements.  The following links show the discussion between her students in Block 1 and Block 3 classes.

http://bvwjohnson1.shoutem.com/

http://bvwjohnson3.shoutem.com/

For more information about Shout’Em – 15 Minute Guide to Microblogging in Education