The Daring Librarian

Ain't it grand? Freedom of speech, blogs... opinions? The ability to mouth off & share? Buckle up dear readers, this is a wordy one...I'm gonna opine! Whether one person or one thousand reads it - I think very fact that we can publish to the WORLD freely our thoughts & ideas without license or permission... THAT my dear friends is a true definition of Web 2.0h,  the read write web. And I reckon, THIS is what we should be celebrating not hating on the nomination & voting process of Edublog Awards OR #Eddies12 ! I've gotta say being recognized for what ya do feels grand. It would be a load of BS to say otherwise, right? And though being included as a finalist after being nominated by your peers is heady stuff - it's the very fact that WE CAN EFFIN WRITE whatever the hell heck we want to write is the real winner. For a matter of fact the Edublogs is quite democratic & anyone, anywhere in the world can nominate any blog! It's not an American aw...

Hi! My name is Gwyneth and I'm NOT much of a gamer. Oh, it feels kinda good to admit that! I mean, as much of a geek grrl as I've always been I know I *should* be a gamer but alas, epic fail. Not many games have held my attention for too long. Sure, like everyone else I played & aced Angry Birds as soon it came out but I was more of a fan of the plush birdies than getting 3 stars on every level. I grew bored fast. Though I did see the possibility for teaching math, science, and other subjects with the game using Chrome Apps . I PWNED Plants Vs. Zombies! The other game I was drawn to was Plants vs. Zombies, which I will shamelessly brag I am an expert in beating! ( PLANTS Vs. ZOMBIES Game Tips at end of this post! ) Imagine my surprise when I saw this.... Cyberbully Zombies Attack! The popularity of PvsZ was not lost on the the people of Net Smartz Teens (sponsored by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children) Cyberbully zombies are attacking...

Mirrored & adapted from my MHMS Daring School Library Blog Keep Reading: Summer Reading for Kids, Librarians, & GAMERS! I love loaning my adorable kids (my students) over to my local public library for the summer. We're A+ partners and they love my kids, too! Of course not as much as *I* do but pretty close! We just had a representative from our Howard County Savage Branch Library come out to talk to our 6th graders - I set her up in our MHTV Studio & videotaped it (yes, w/a VHS! Our distribution center is still analog) We did the first show LIVE, with a presentation of the HoCo Summer Reading game and 2 booktalks with my 2 amazing media helpers Desiree & Chyna! And then we put the tape into the distribution center so that the English Teachers could call up & start the video at any time to show their classes! Every year I promote to our kids the Summer Reading Lists to the kids in several way. What is cool is that the lists are created collaboratively between...

Wii Learning: Engaging Students through Gaming Technology Monday January 9th - 8pm EST with Matthew C. Winner and Meghan Hearn Moderated by my friends & mentees the amazing Library Girl -Jennifer LaGarde & Mighty Little Librarian Tiff The Nintendo Wii is a powerful tool for engaging your students and supporting math instruction. No need to be a gamer to score big points here. Learn the In's and Out's and experience lessons aligned with CCSC standards in Mathematics . Session Wikipage Participant Link Follow Matthew on Twitter and visit his blog, The Busy Librarian

I am so glad that our ISTE affiliate changed its name from MICCA, which stood for the "Maryland Instructional Computers Coordinators Association to MSET - the Maryland Society for Educational Technology because though it was easier to say MICCA it really did NOT reflect the new 21st century technology shifts or leave room for new innovation. Every year for the past fourteen years I've presented and attended the MICCA conference and it's part of what has made me who i am as a technology educator. Because we've had the opportunity in Maryland to see people like Will Richardson, Kathy Shrock, Hal Davidson, and of course my personal hero...Joyce Valenza and to LEARN cool new cutting edge things and get our minds blown and we only had to drive to Baltimore to do it. It was here that i first heard about Second Life, Wiki's, and web 2.0 tools. And got inspired to dive in and try those new things in my own world. So...in the same year that formerly NECC or the National Ed...