The Daring Librarian

  I really should name this post "What I did during Covid" Which, in short, was a LOT OF Geek Squad Tech help to my kids, families, teachers, & staff. I created content to help my kids to connect, lots of tech troubleshooting tips, held numerous LIVE Tech-Help-Desk sessions, and hosted #MediaBreaks. Media Breaks are Virtual Lunch Bunches, read alongs, contests, & community bonding experiences.  It was really important to find ways for kids to feel connected to our school and to each other.  That is a herculean task. To help kids feel like they're a part of something when they're sitting in their houses wearing flannel pants. OR was that just me? So, here's some stuff I did - hopefully you will find it helpful!  Since we are going to still have 400+ kids learning virtually for the rest of the school year keeping kids feeling connected and tech tips are going to be important.  .....and yeah, I'm exhausted. Aren't you? See my Instagram for more ideas...

I've been Tweeting about this idea for a few weeks now, promising to post about it,  but I've been just a wee bit busy with the start of school this year. (This year? Every year! LOL)  Oh, and this is NOT an apology for not posting!  I've always said about blogging, and went into greater detail in 11 Reflective Blogging Tips & Ideas - post when you can and never apologize. Real life and family is important, blogs can wait. But you're important, too - so let's get going! Aww, aren't my students adorable? OK!  I wanted to engage my kiddos with a new kind of QR Code scavenger hunt involving, of course, PokémonGo! First, I took pictures of 10 different locations around our Library Media Center, then using a Photoshop template I super-imposed 10  Pokémon (some VERY RARE!) as if they were crouching, hiding, or sleeping there, and then created a QR code using Google URL Shortener that linked to that photo on Flickr that they would scan and "captu...

I updated & improved my QR Code Quest Scavenger Hunt lesson I previously blogged about this year & used it again with my AWEsome ESOL kids & 6th graders. I wanted to share those changes with you because it seems as if you like QR codes! Of my top 5 most viewed blog posts 3 have to do with QR codes (and yes, you know I'm barmy for 'em!) In fact, the first posting about this lesson has had, as of today, 17+K hits! WOWIE! Improved worksheet and graphic clues! I found that I needed to make the scavenger hunt questions simpler & the clues more graphic. (click photo at left to see a larger size) In doing so, I also had the chance to (finally!) make an avatar for my long time (20 years!) long suffering angel of an assistant Mrs. Black! After I created it on Go!Animate Character Creator (Comic World) I then Photoshopped it adding the University of Maryland Terps logo onto her cute red t-shirt because she's a U of M alum & a super fan! This lesson I'...

( UPDATE : This is the original post about this mobile media digital discovery lesson but I've also updated it recently in Part Deux ! Pls. check it out! :-) I remixed this awesome scavenger hunt originally created by Joyce Valenza and added a QR Code Twist! I re-worked some of the questions for a lesson with my adorable ESOL kids (we have 35 right now in our ESOL program & one cute be-freckled girl just came yesterday & speaks no English at all but she LOVED scanning the codes when I handed her my Droid Fascinate!) The rest of the kids have varying degrees of English proficiency but still will benefit from a few visual clues. So the scavenger hunt questions are intentionally simply & clearly worded combined with pics I created as QR Code Hints. You can also use this lesson for special needs classes, Library Media orientation, or even re-mix the questions, QR Codes, & hints for just about ANY subject area! To create the hints I used a combination of Photoshop, Fli...