The Daring Librarian

(A version of this post was published in NEA Today Magazine - 5 Super Geeky Tips -So honored to have been invited to write again for them! But here you get one tip extra!) Booya! As I mentioned in my last blog post 5 Ways to Reflect, & Not Regret, Teaching OR... Summer Thoughts for Fall Success , one of the BEST things about being a teacher is that every year is a do-over! This post will provide some easy tips and examples of how up your ed tech game and get ready for a super new school year. Don’t feel pressured to do all 6 - just pick one for this year! If that works out for you, try another and go on from there.  1. Get Cloudy    Goodbye flash drives and external drives - the future of data storage and hosting is in the cloud. At first, I was skeptical of the cloud (and a little scared) but 5 years later and using it every day - I’m convinced! Most school systems have some version of Google Apps for Education (GAfE), available for teachers; I recomm...

I am SO excited about the potential of this new technology from Skype and err [cough] Microsoft. But us Mac people... I guess we'll have to wait a little longer. From Richard Byrne's awesome blog : "Microsoft has made Translator Preview open to anyone who is using Windows 8.1 or a preview edition of Windows 10. Click here to visit the download page for Translator Preview." Here's an example of it in action! OMGosh! I can't wait to try this with my kiddos! I gotta confess, my eyes get suspiciously damp every time I watch this & the look at wonder and astonishment on the faces of the kids! EEP! (Don't judge me! LOL) I joined Mystery Skype & Classroom hoping to connect with a classroom in the Dominican Republic. I was inspired SO much after watching that video above, I thought my 7th grade kiddos who had just finished reading Before We Were Free would get a super kick talking to a classroom in the country where it was set (and in the same...

Education Trends-A-Go-Go It's SO easy to get overwhelmed with all the new education tech and trends going on in the world. 1:1 Flipping Future Ready Makerspace Genius Hour Common Core Mobile Learning Design Thinking Google Classroom Brain Based Learning Project Based Learning Learning Management Systems Transformative Brain Based Learning Spaces Sheesh....I could go on! It's EXHAUSTING! Ed Tech Relationship Anxiety Then....there's all the new technology that you have to get, use, and master! Don't have an unlimited budget or a super generous PTA? OK, now you have to get funding from a place like Donor's Choose . (Which is totally, doable! But does take a wee bit of effort) Once it was Smart Boards now it's Tablets and 3D printers. Then what? What happens when you run out of money to buy the supplies? OMGosh, again. Exhausting! Take a Deep Breath, It's OK! But I'm here to tell you...It's OK. You don't have to t...

In 2007 i blogged about the first Did You Know by Karl Fisch for my parents, teachers & community... because when i saw it (the first one) it rocked my world! back then it was MySpace that could have been the 8th largest company....Facebook wasn't even invented yet...nor Twitter!...we're still not there in the school system (at least not mine) using social networks FOR us rather than being AGAINST us! i SO admire Web 2.0 savvy school librarians like Buffy Hamilton...her Unquiet Library blog & webpage epitomizes how we should use Social Networks FOR us! Her blog (see all the red blobs!?) gets an average of 300 visitors.... A DAY. Buffy is teaching kids that they need to be ETHICAL and AWARE of what they do on the intarwebs ...what their digital footprint is and what kind of footprint they're leaving....how people will go back and see the doofy stuff they post now 5, 10, 15 and 20 years from now. her High School library has a Facebook Page with 277 fans and a ...