ISTE Parties: Tweetups Rule!

So I just came home from the awesome ISTE Affiliate reception with my friend Brenda Anderson and her hubby...all the states represented baby! Maryland's own Dr. Judy Tomelden was there! I met a lot of awesome people..being on the ISTE board has been amazing and it's only been 3 days!

I met the cool (and HOT!) guys from CUE...typical Cali guys - so good looking one was a hot ginger and another one looked like Nate Berkus ...Oh and thanks über cute & cool Mike Lawrence of CUE my other new board memberfor extra tickets! [wink]

I met some AWEsome chicks from Wisconsin...newly elected affiliate executive board member (and adorable & smart Media Specialist!) Annette Smith and her Media Specialist friends!

I also sat at the international table with ISTE Executive Committee At-large Member & International Representative from Australia Ralph Leonard and a lovely educator from England ...who asked me where all the parties are at ISTE and of course...there are a lot!... though lately i'm such a party-pooper liking to be back in my room by 9pm...but hey! IF you're more hardcore than me and WANTED to party at ISTE the best two parties are TWEETUPS!

the official ISTE Tweetup at Bubba Gumps Tuesday night 6-8

WHERE: Bubba Gump's (walking distance from the convention center)
1437 California Street, Denver CO (303) 623-4867
WHY: To have fun, unwind, and connect face-2-face with twitter friends!
FREE STUFF: We'll be having raffles/door prizes...and a special chance to win a FLIP CAM!

and Tweet-Up Under the Stars #ISTE10 -- Denver:

Connect with fellow ISTE attendees and kick off a great conference at The Tavern Rooftop in Downtown Denver, which boasts one of the top 10 rooftops in the West (Sunset Magazine). Enjoy complimentary drinks and appetizers as well as games, prizes, and give-aways. Must be there to win! Free gift for all -- while quantities last. Register below!

Sponsored by CompassLearning (@CompassLearning).

WHEN: Monday, June 28, 2010
5:00-7:00 pm

WHERE: The Tavern Downtown
1949 Market Street, Denver, CO 80202
1-303-299-0100

CompassLearning will be running shuttles from the Convention Center (by the big blue bear off 14th St.) to The Tavern.

Have fun people! I'll be at Bubba Gumps for sure!

The Power of the PLN:Kindred Tech Spirits

ISTE/TIE Leadership Bootcamp 2010

View more presentations from elemenous.

I met Lucy Gray last night at the TIE/ISTE Leadership Bootcamp and she was just lovely!...and seeing this preso above it's like meeting another kindred tech spirit. (like our Geek Tribe family!) Must to give her a Geek Tribe ribbon! Now...i'll shut up and encourage you to scroll through that slideshare again....and then suggest that you send it to someone back at home who couldn't be at #lbc10, #ISTE10 or #ALA10.

I'm gonna be singing this same song at the sold out ISTE10 SIGMS Learning Tools Smackdown Tuesday 10am - our topic Network Building with IMCguy Chad Lehman. You can get a sneak peek 0n our wikipage and the visual imagery of our smack here!

i'm also thinking that this McCloud guy is a kindred spirit, too!

See all the great thoughts and tweets from his Leadership Bootcam session and some of my thoughts, too:
ScottElias "Schools use a prohibition approach instead of a DUI approach." True story. /by @mcleod #lbc10

bengrey I have to wonder what % of the 1% of online safety issues could be resolved by giving kids access and teaching them to use it. #lbc10

gwynethjones @bengrey the kids who are "at-risk" on the interwebs are kids who are already "at-risk" - let's Empower & teach Awareness not safety #lbc10
snbeach #lbc10 @McLeod Not trusting teachers with the Internet undermines trust.

budtheteacher Scott @mcleod's question - "Are you treating technology differently than other disciplinary issues?" (We shouldn't be.) #lbc10

gwynethjones When districts apply "lazy unthinking filtering" rather than thoughtful selective filtering they're NOT TEACHING our kids to think! #lbc10

bkolani who will teach our kids to be _empowered user_, not just safe, appropriate, responsible user? #lbc10

all about this amazing talk!
Breakout Session Presenter:Dr. Scott McLeod, Associate Professor and Director, CASTLE, Iowa State University

Session Title: Are your policies getting in the way of your progress?

Session Description: Many school organizations say that they want to make technology-related progress for staff and students. Closer examination of their internal policies and decision-making reveals, however, that their actions often conflict with their rhetoric. In this session we will discuss some of the policy-related disconnects between technology integration / implementation efforts and administrative practice.

Other great tweets:

cnorris10 "Practice professional generosity and it will come back to you." #lbc10
budtheteacher "Goal of education is to create a citizenry." (Not a workforce.) - @chrislehmann #lbc10

bkolani School is not preparation for real life. It IS real life. @chrislehmann #lbc10

ISTE is such a wonderful place to have your world rocked by great ideas...mind opened by challenging thoughts....and meeting face to face people you've admired, learned from, and connected with only on the intarwebs!

ISTE Advocacy for Education: Opportunities in Denver!

Advocacy in Education is so important..now more than ever. ISTE10 Denver has many opportunities to involve yourself for advocating for our customers....the KIDS!
Wanna know how?
The following is from Hilary Goldmann, ISTE’s Director of Government Affairs:

"Once again we have a dynamic line-up of advocacy activities at ISTE2010!! Thanks to all of you for your ideas, help, advice, support, guidance etc… Below is the line-up.

• ETAN Booth - Raffle prize is an interactive white board donated by SMART, Technologies. Michelle and Barack Obama will make a cardboard appearance again.

• Send a video letter to Congress – We will have flip cameras at the Advocacy Lounge and a script so attendees can send a video email to Congress.

• YouTube ISTE Advocacy Channel – We now have an ISTE Advocacy YouTube Channel! We will post video letters to Congress here and stream them at the Advocacy Lounge.

• Collecting success stories at the Advocacy Lounge Wiki

• Senators Bennet and Udall staff will visit ISTE 2010 for a tour of CO student showcases, exhibit hall and meeting with CO leaders.

• ABC’s of Advocacy – Sunday, 1-5, Hyatt Regency Centennial Ballroom. Thanks to Intel, Corp. and Apple Inc. for their generous support. We have room if you want to attend.

• Concurrent session, 6/28 11:00 CCC 301 – “The Obama Administration and the Future of Ed Tech”

So while you're in Denver..stop by and make a difference. YOUR voice needs to be heard and we can only shine a light on our future if we kindle it today! You are that spark!

Read Hilary's ISTE blog fo



Photo credit: advocacy graphic inspired by a photo by williamhartz
Hilart Goldmann photo from ISTE Blogre information.

ISTE SIGMS - Wild, Wild, Steampunk West: A Goldmine of Information!

If you're an educator in Second Life you can experience the 21st Century Library Media Center Playground also on the grid! Can't get to Denver but want to experience the 21st Century Playground? A duplicate and decidedly different set of kiosks have been created in Second Life to mirror those set up in Denver!

The informational kiosk topics are:

• Libraries in Second Life
  
• Whiteboards
• Virtual Bldg
• Glogster
• Wikis
• Twitter
• Mobile Tech
• Digital Storytelling

This year's theme is the Wild, Wild Steampunk West: the Victorian Denver Goldrush of Information featuring an in-world games and panning for gold!! Created by master builder Miss Eleanor Anderton (Linda Dougherty - RL) and Capt. Red Llewellyn (yours truly!) this build brings together the romance of the steam era and the modernity and Science! of the 21st Century!
When you visit, be sure to pick up your free gifts on the oceanfront patio! The souvenir ISTE SIGMS top hat that i created for this event and the beautiful ISTE SIGMS custom created garden clock by Miss Eleanor Anderton!

Visit the playground during ISTE 2010 in Second Life at http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/43/203/22 or come by and visit the real world version in Denver!

To learn more about all of the exciting SIGMS Events at ISTE10 visit our wiki

For a slideshow of some of the highlights of this Second Life build, pray see below.

Join Our Geek Tribe for ALA10 & ISTE10

As promised, we have FREE Geek Tribe graphics for you! My buddies Diane Cordell, Joyce Valenza, and I have designed a special badge that you can print out in colour or black & white so that you can join our Geek Tribe family and REPRESENT at the #ISTE10 Denver or #ALA10 DC Conference!! Since we're split up between the two competing conferences we want to show our Ed Tech solidarity by flaunting our sign!

(front)

(back)
Are you more of an Ed Tech educator? Why not take a badge for your blog?!

Download the original size or a variety of sizes of these graphics for yourself by visiting our Geek Tribe Design Gallery!

Or, if you want to buy Geek Tribe SWAG (buttons or stickers!) and help support the Teacher Librarian Ning visit our Geek Tribe Zazzle Store!

Also look for Diane, Joyce or myself at ISTE10 and ALA10 as we will have a VERY LIMITED Amount of special geek tribe membership cards AND Badge Ribbons! Just say the magic words "I Geek the Geek Tribe" and we'll know that you've read this and are one of us!

Connect your #ISTE10 and #ALA10 Experience!
Our own Geek Tribe member Buffy J. Hamilton created a combined this Net Vibes page so that you can get feeds from both exciting conferences! SWEET!~


Resources & Credits:
If you use our graphics on your website, please do us the courtesy of linking back to the Teacher Librarian Ning , TL Virtual Cafe, or this blog. Most all of my graphics are Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share-Alike - BUT if i find you using them to sell T-Shirts, coffee mugs or some other SWAG that doesn't benefit our group i will "hunt you down and skin and wear you like last year's Versace!" - Dina Manzo RHONJ

Librarians Go Lady Ga Ga over Ghostbusters

after a long day making phone call after phone call to the homes and parents of all the kids that still have out Library Media books (87!!) i needed a little video fun!.....so from the YouTubes... Created by Sarah Wachter and featuring "students and faculty from the University of Washington's Information School get their groove on".....ALSO featuring our own Mike Eisenberg! And because librarians are brilliant at giving credit where credit is due... please see all the resources & cool creds are at the bottom of this post.

ImprovEverywhere at the New York Public Libary


and from ImprovEverywhere...they share their "latest mission, we brought the movie Ghostbusters to life in the reading room of The New York Public Library at 42 Street. The 1984 movie begins with a scene in the very same room, so we figured it was time for the Ghostbusters to make an encore appearance."


Oh and i just uploaded the Justin Bieber has Overdue Books! Blabberize to the YouTubes! Whoohoo! Hopefully the Bieber fever fans find it and help Justin bring his books back!
Feel free to TAKE, Embed & USE!



----
Resources and Credits:


Directed, edited, and produced by Sarah Wachter.
Lyrics by Sarah Wachter.
Lyrics available here: http://www.athenasbanquet.net/2010/05...
More info available here: http://www.athenasbanquet.net/2010/05...
Now captioned for the Deaf and hearing impaired.

Vocals and sound editing by Laura Mielenhausen.

The iSchool is my school: http://ischool.uw.edu/

Students, faculty, and staff who appear in this video:

Lisa Fusco
Nancy Gershenfeld
Audrey Barbakoff
Amelia Herring
Emily Keller
Allyson Carlyle
Bob Boiko
Alex Walker
Nancy Pearl
Rachel Woodbrook
Grace Whiteaker
Trent Hill
Joe Tennis
Andrea Gough
Jenny Dolton
Laura Mielenhausen
Sarah Wachter
Mike Eisenberg
Cadi Sauve
Morgan McCullough
Robin Chin Roemer
Cris Mesling
Eric Grob

Antelopes courtesy of
- http://www.fws.gov/
- http://www.mccullagh.org/
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/perpetua...

Captain Kirk TM & © 2001 Paramount Pictures
Poker Face © 2009 Interscope Records
Poker Face (Karaoke Version) © 2009 Big Eye Music

Get more info on the Big 6 at http://www.big6.com/

This video is covered under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license. For additional information, click here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

Bookfellas: Bring Back Your Books - Or Else!

I hope you don't have any overdue books!
Or the Bookfellas may just visit and
give a gentle reminder ...

This video is an oldie but goodie...all students appearing in this video have since graduated from high school! Yeah...this is how we rock the iMovie OLD SCHOOL STYLE!~ See? We had the situation before the Jersey shore was even an idea in some MTV programmers dream!
Feel FREE to embed or link to!

And this is just a joke, really! ...We really don't have our own hit squad of dark suited, guitar case carrying, tough guys playing cards in the Library Media Center just waiting to go hunt down kids who have one of 221 overdue books.....and then gets misty eyed when one comes back on it's own...






anymore.

ps. the kid who was carried in was the little brother of Maddy McFaddums (middle kid) and it was HIS IDEA! LOL


bookfellas, books return, end of year, goodfellas, jersey shore, library media, mhms media

Justin Bieber Has Overdue Books

Whoda thunk it! Justin Bieber has a very important public service announcement to tell you abooot! (he's from Canada..they say aboot!) With a special guest! Please don't be "THAT GUY" and bring back your library media books!

A video created for MHMS students but anyone is welcome to embed or use! (the KIDS Made me do it! - and funny...none of them (unusually!) wanted to do his voice!?) What!? LOL
Feel free to TAKE, Embed & USE! Also feel free to take The YouTubes Version

photo credits:
Maclean’s Interview: Justin Bieber - The R & B sensation talks about Usher and Justin Timberlake, his mom and his fans, and what his swagger coach teaches him...

And to quote about that Swagger....which had me ROFLMAO

"Q: It’s been reported that you have a “swagger” coach. Can you explain to me what is that?
A: It’s pretty simple, it’s basically a swagger coach, he kind of teaches me, he helps me just stay swaggerific. I don’t know.

Q: What is it to be swaggerific?
A: You don’t know? I mean, it swaggers. It’s confidence, it’s style, I don’t know how else to put it. It’s swagger. It’s a word."

Music Credit: 14 seconds from iTunes

Vampires Don't Have Overdue Books! But Mary Sues, Do!

Edward knows the importance of keeping an intact library....as we all know, throughout the years he has been an avid reader...thus he urges Bela to be responsible and bring back those books. (partial re-post from my MHMS Media Blog for my kids - but with bonus snarky extras!)

Now...i've ranted before (my SL Blog in '08) how annoying and MarySue I think Bela is...sorry hon....but here's the whining clumsy little thing who still can't quite get the hang of returning those Library Media Books!


....but for those who haven't met Mary Sue let me re-post that for you here!


It was a hot August 24, '08 ...and i was at the pub with two of my most beloved gorgeous/ smart/amazingly erudite/and perceptive English teacher friends - Leila & Alice...and we were all brainstorming and talking about FAN FICTION... & how to use it as a force of good with her advanced HS English students...using Blogs, Ning's and Wiki's Oh my! and how the kids could choose a character and write either a journal (like the Very Secret Diaries of LotR! Hint: read Legolas first!)...on a wiki as that character...or create a Ning page with each student having a Ning page as the character and then they would write back and forth IC and come up with alternate events, etc... that they would expand upon (still hashing this out..as a librarian and a ed tech specialist i see the potential for this as well as for collaborative writing using my Wiki's...any suggestions made as comments are VERY welcome!)

.....anyway, the topic of Mary Sues came up and my friend Alice taught us all about what and who she is!... don't know what a Mary Sue is?... watch my dear below....Oh and yeah...she told us BELLA from Twilight - CLASSIC Mary Sue! WTH!?



According to Alice, Mary Sue the concept originated in 1974! with a Star Trek FF parody - and there is a homo-erotic twist to it that somehow seems to come out in FF. Starting of course with Kirk/Spock

and ending with Harry/Ron as seen here in a HILARIOUS clip from the Soup!


MarySues happen a LOT in HPFF! (Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

and yes...i'm starting to agree with my adorable panhellenic brilliant/adorable/gorgeous/ learned young friend Alice... and think Bella in Twilight is a Mary Sue!

Gosh Darn! ....well, at least she's clumsy! Oh wait, that's another Fan Fic Mary Sue trope! DOH!

In related news:
The Harvard Lampoon sees the fodder for fun....and has created...Nightlight!
From 109d
"The humorists at the Harvard Lampoon are taking aim at klutzy girls and sparkly vampires with their novel-length Twilight parody Nightlight. Expect a vain, vampire-obsessed narrator, unnecessary adjectives, and a computer geek who simply can't be bothered with girls."

But there are plenty of parodies of Meyer's writing style, such as when Belle describes being "unconditionally, irrevocably, impenetrably, heterogeneously, gynecologically, and disreputably" kissed by Edwart, and the scene when we first meet the supposed vampire boy - a quote from the book"

"It was then that I saw him. He was sitting at a table all by himself, not even eating. He had an entire tray of baked potatoes in front of him and still he did not touch a single one. How could a human have his pick of baked potatoes and resist them all? Even odder, he hadn't noticed me, Belle Goose, future Academy Award winner.
A computer sat before him on the table. He stared intently at the screen, narrowing his eyes into slits and concentrating those slits on the screen as if the only thing that mattered to him was physically dominating that screen. He was muscular, like a man who could pin you up against the wall as easily as a poster, yet lean, like a man who would rather cradle you in his arms. He had reddish, blonde-brown hair that was groomed heterosexually. He looked older than the other boys in the room - maybe not as old as God or my father, but certainly a viable replacement. Imagine if you took every woman's idea of a hot guy and averaged it out into one man. This was that man."

Parody is such human nature...you like something, it gets blown up, you tear it down and make fun of it...Next "bring your book back" blabberize - by request of my 8th graders...Justin Bieber!

Credits & Resources:
the first movie was created by the talented husband & wife PSA duo...Mr. and Mrs. Mike Hobson Media Specialist, Oakland Mills MS

the second movie was created using Blabberize by Ms. Jones -

Mini Moo Cards Arrive! WOW!

The Daring Librarian: New Moo Mini Cards with RED felt card giver!

As a newly elected member to the Board of Directors of ISTE i felt it was important to have a serious and professional business card to hand out at the Denver ISTE conference so that people could get to know me.. and feel my swagger!

New Moo Cards Arrive! \\FTW!// & W00t!

Photoshopped & Posterized @ 6 --- is the Photohop filter of POSTERIZE cliche? Is it the "curl page" of today?

Saturday the 29th of May i ordered (and blogged about) my Mini Moo cards online....and WOW! They're here! Let's count up those days...shall we? 10 days!!....I must say that's effing brilliant!

This is an inspiration blog!

5 FREE & Fun Digital Photo Sites

Irony of ironies...I've been working on a photo fun blog posting for a while now....so consider this a wee tasty appetizer until November. There are so many yummy things to share you'll get your fill and be inspired to give it a dab hand!

Now all these sites and more can also be found on my Sqworl Group: Digital Photo Fun

Inspired by my fav Squidoo Geek dagsmith - here's my fav Top 5 FREE & Fun Digital Photo Sites to satisfy you for now.

1. Deefunia: is Funky fresh and fun to use for blogging! "it's an online image editing tool that gives users a fun filled experience. Users can upload any photos and just wait to see the wonder it does. Any photo, though photos of people work best, can be placed in any number of unique photo layouts - both fun and embarrassing." The above pic is from my favourite template, then i Photoshopped it adding a posterize filter and created a less obtrusive deefunia.com cred on the bottom. Here's a widget for you to try it out! Try Deefunia out right on this page!

1. On the black widget below, click on Previous and/or Next till you find a template you like
2. Click on the image
3. Select Browse
4. Select an image file from your PC
5. Viola - you have your first Deefunia Photo!
CLICK HERE to learn more about Deefunia including Tips and Tutorials below.


2. Photofunia is an "online image editing tool that gives users a fun filled experience. Users can upload any photos and just wait to see the wonder it does. The most amazing thing is how it identifies the face automatically in the photo. You need some clear photo shots - passport or school photo style works best." An example of an animated gif created by Photofunia is at top with the TV's! Here's an example using a pic of my pretty fav auntie Lynn on our family cruise last year. She likes kitty's, too!

3. Picnik: If you have Flickr you automatically have Picnik...now just purchased by Google so it must rock! Dag says "if you want a robust tool that does a lot of different editing, then Picnik is your tool. It makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart's content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames. It's fast, easy, and best of all it is a web based tool so you have no software to download." -- UPDATE: Sadly-- Gone baby gone!



4. Cut My Pic! The Free online image resize, cut, crop, round corners ... A fun, free, online web tool that quickly enables you to resize, cut, crop, add rounded corners and a drop shadow to your image, picture or photo!


5. Glitterfy
Now I have to say in RL i like me some bling...to wear. I have issues with sparkly things...it's ok i'm in a 3 step program created by Tiffany. It's all good. And though animated gifs for websites went out with my old school Angelfire webpages i just can't resist Glitterfy!
Simply Upload your photo to Glitterfy and pick your glitter! If you really want to glitter your photos than try Blingee or Imikimi.


As a reminder, all these cool sites and more can also be found on my Sqworl Group: Digital Photo Fun and stay tuned for our TL Virtual Cafe Webinar in November!




Resources:
Big thanks to DagSmith for his great lenses on Squidoo!!