The Daring Librarian

This is What a Daring Librarian Looks Like at Swordpoint! I have an unabashed library girl crush on fellow redhead and Library Journal Mover & Shaker & all around amazing human being, Bobbi Newman - Librarian by Day ....So when she gives me an early head's up on something she's starting up (and it's not a lot of work and a bucket full of fun!) I'm of course immediately on board and want to share it with you, dear reader! I've been preaching for years that Librarians need to embrace their inner AWEsome, their inner Rock Star, their inner Gaga, Jagger, or Minaj ! Ever embracing my mentor Joyce Valenza's charge from last year I think librarians (of ALL types!) need to be FIERCE and part of that is showing how librarians are divergent, different, and yes...daring! From Bobbi's outstanding blog: "As the ultimate compliment to Library Day in the Life we bring you This is What a Librarian Looks Like ! What : a site to go beyond the bun and chall...

We had an exciting day a few Friday's ago when we used Google+ to hang out with the 2nd grade gifted inclusion kids at Ms. Mensing's class from Sonoran Sky Elementary in Scottsdale, Arizona! Whew! That's a mouthful! But these kids were AWEsome! I taught a brief lesson on QR Codes in the Classroom (and Library!) all about where QR Codes came from, how they are different than regular bar codes, and how they are being used all over the world to transmit information like Text Messages, Video, and URL Web links via Mobile Media! QR Codes in the Elementary Classroom View more presentations from gwyneth jones Say What!? Audio QR Codes! After that my 6th graders in Ms. Torsani's Math class held up to the camera special QR Voice audio codes & written messages they composed for the kids! QR Code Voice is a really cool new resource! You just type in a short message (100 Characters) and click and Voila! You get a QR Code that when scanned reads out in a robotic voic...

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'm usually not one for new year's resolutions. If I decide to do something the calendar doesn't matter & I've blown too many good resolutions to believe an arbitrary day will make a diff. BUT...there are a few things that are easily done & feels great for a SUPER GEEKY SAFE ....errm Aware! New Year. (There is no *safe* on the Interwebs, only Aware!) (click above for a larger size or download PDF it here ) 1. Change your passwords. Yes, ALL of them. According to CNN Tech an 8 digit password can be hacked in 2 hours but a 12 character password would take 17 years. Use this handy NEW! Comic Tutorial to create a really super new password for every website....don't worry, there's a trick! Oh and in the small print I said 3 important things - Change your passwords twice a year, have a different password for Facebook that you don't use for ANYwhere else because FB's security is notoriously craptastic (and the bank, too), and as a disclaimer - I...

View more documents from gwyneth jones Does it ever seem that when your students go into the computer lab to compose & to write they've forgotten EVERYTHING they ever learned about formatting their MS Word documents? You get docs with wonky space bar spacing, 18pt comic sans (ick!), left justified headings, and strangely double spaced pages! Eeep! I know, right? I see proof of this working with my teachers, walking through the lab, and when kids come to me in the library to print out their work in the mornings & it's an assortment of crazy ill-spaced, scary fonted, and oddly sized docs, docx, and rtfs! JONESing for a Rescue! Yeah, I went there. So, one of my awesome new (to MHMS) teachers Mr. Justin Jones (no relation) came up with a comic tutorial for this! And after a little collaboration & tweaking we'd like to share it with you! We've created both a colour version for those of you who have unlimited colour printing (yeah, not us! LOL) and Black...

You know how most people say about awards "It's enough just to be nominated?" Well, I think most people are fibbing! Sure, it's TOTALLY true that it's a distinct honor to be nominated! Especially for a crowdsourced award like the International Edublogs Award! I also gotta argue with the (mis)quote from the cinematic oeuvre Blazing Saddles "We don't need no stinkin badges" - because yes, YES we do! Oooh shiny shiny! Maybe it's because I was kicked out of the girl scouts for talking too much in 5th grade - I just can't help but love the monetarily free but oh so personally rewarding little square .jpeg badges that shows that my contemporaries & colleagues feel that we and what we're doing matter! So yeah, WOW! I can't help but be psyched that I was nominated for Best Librarian/Library blog ! That's totally mind-blowing, humbling, and a true honor! And sure - I could be all "I don't care if we win" but that would...