TLA this year was a lot of fun. For those of you unfamiliar with the
acronym, it stands for Texas Library Association. Every year they hold
an annual conference in a different location, with this year's
festivities being held in our wonderful capital--Austin! For the past five years or so, I have wanted to move to Austin. It is such a freeing place, where people can be what they want, do what they want, and play arcade games that are in still good working order (like I did at Pinballz!). Forgive me for my digression, but I am happy that we were able to spend a little bit of time in this awesome city.
Sure, most of the time was spent at the conference (obviously). I was thankful that I picked some pretty good sessions this year, though I was skeptical at first. Picking what you're going to attend is one of the biggest challenges for me. Sometimes the description is not at all what you thought it would be, but you just have to roll with it, get out your TLA App and find something else!
The first day was good, though nothing explicitly to write home about. Carrie and I attended Bluebonnet 101 which was a crash course on all things Bluebonnet. It would be a great event for beginning librarians or people new to elementary school. We've been doing it for a while now and it seemed not really appropriate for us.
We then ventured out into the world of the Exhibit Hall. It was smaller than last year and definitely the year before that. There were few freebies, which is understandable. We didn't spend much time here before we headed to lunch at Royal Blue Grocery--so happy they are coming to Dallas! Then we went to some other seminars. I went to Dan vs. Dan, which featured Dans Gutman and Yaccarino. It was hilarious! They discussed school visits and their ongoing prank wars. Ah, there's nothing like a good prank.
Then, Carrie and I went to something called App Smashing by a local to Dallas librarian. It was very informative regarding how to use multiple apps to have kids basically create library lessons for others. Its something that we might have to start in the early fall but we might have some really cool lessons by the end of the year. Maybe even our fourth grade leaders would be able to be put in charge!
I went back to the Exhibits and ran into some friends from my PPLS days, also talking with some story tellers and getting cards. Their handy-dandy phone charging station saved my behind! After hanging out there, I went to a Google thing with Carrie but we only stayed a few minutes before heading back to the Exhibits.
The following day was amazing. It was my last in Austin but it was so full of great workshops and stuff I did not mind. Morning sessions included story telling, marketing 101, and more exhibit time. This exhibit time, Carrie and I spoke with a bunch of different vendors and storytellers. Then...the Bluebonnet lunch!
The Bluebonnet lunch this year was much more fun than in years past. Drew Daywalt is probably one of the funniest dudes I've ever seen give a speech and Oliver Jeffers is always charming and nice. So, of course, I went to the autograph line to find out they were giving away 250~ copies of The Day the Crayons Quit and of course they would autograph! I didn't get a picture with them per se, but of me having the book autographed to me and my husband. I then asked Mr. Daywalt his advice for movie making, since he is seasoned in the horror genre, and it was simply to move to LA. I groaned and told him my husband will never like it, and he brainstormed with me a quick minute of what would work best. Mr. Jeffers said just to make as much stuff as possible and get it out there. Mr. Daywalt said if ever we come to LA, look him up and he'd be happy to meet up with me.
WHAT.
How cool is that? Ok, its pretty cool. I'll admit that. I felt like I could conquer the world simply by one person, even though he just met me in a non-Hollywood, non-cinema context, that he believed in me. I don't hear that from my family that often.
It was awesome.
Needless to say I think this TLA was pretty awesome. I learned a lot about brand cohesion, programming tips, and generally gained more knowledge and confidence as a professional person.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Thursday, April 9, 2015
QR Codes: or, our journey into the magical world of web tools
If you've read my blog before, you know I like to consider myself the creative type. My mind is constantly bouncing from place to place, running free and wild, trying to come up with the best or most interesting way of presenting an activity. I don't always succeed, which is fine. The best time for me to do this kind of thinking or planning is when people set up a challenge and you just have to make it work.
There are times when projects are stressful and deadlines move constantly but those leave room for creativity to blossom and it has to!
Two 2nd grade classes wrote book reviews on some picture books Carrie picked out for them. We met with these teachers and discussed how to display the reviews in the library in a creative, technological way. The answer?
QR codes and an app called VoiceThread. The general consensus was to have the kids record themselves reading the book review through VoiceThread and have the picture of the book show up. Then, we would import the VoiceThread URL into my favorite QR code creator, then print the QR codes and stick them on the front of the books.
I wanted to take this a step further. I took a picture of the student holding his or her book as the image that would show up on VT, then had the student record. Instead of simply having the books with the QR codes, I made color copies of the books pretty close to true size. This was done after I put the QR codes on all the books, so there was no need to print and cut out even more. One of my personal goals is to be less wasteful, so if I can also achieve that at work, win-win!
These turned out ADORABLE. Because I recorded with all of the kids, I was able to see them in a different light and get to know them a bit better. This 2nd grade group is pretty awesome. Some of them were very shy about recording their voices, refusing to let anyone hear them at all. Some were quiet, others loud, a few that were very professional in their writing and presentation. I'm so proud of all of them!
After the fake book covers were made, Carrie and I put the books out on the Everybody shelves. Then I made a few signs to designate the space and told people to ask a librarian for an iPad if they want to listen to a review. Sadly, nobody has borrowed one from us to listen. I'm really hoping that will change.
This is where I fail the most: paper cutting. UGH. I tried to make the letters look like a skilled craftsperson made them, but no, it looks like me, a monkey with two left hands and bad depth perception.
There are times when projects are stressful and deadlines move constantly but those leave room for creativity to blossom and it has to!
Two 2nd grade classes wrote book reviews on some picture books Carrie picked out for them. We met with these teachers and discussed how to display the reviews in the library in a creative, technological way. The answer?
QR codes and an app called VoiceThread. The general consensus was to have the kids record themselves reading the book review through VoiceThread and have the picture of the book show up. Then, we would import the VoiceThread URL into my favorite QR code creator, then print the QR codes and stick them on the front of the books.
I wanted to take this a step further. I took a picture of the student holding his or her book as the image that would show up on VT, then had the student record. Instead of simply having the books with the QR codes, I made color copies of the books pretty close to true size. This was done after I put the QR codes on all the books, so there was no need to print and cut out even more. One of my personal goals is to be less wasteful, so if I can also achieve that at work, win-win!
These turned out ADORABLE. Because I recorded with all of the kids, I was able to see them in a different light and get to know them a bit better. This 2nd grade group is pretty awesome. Some of them were very shy about recording their voices, refusing to let anyone hear them at all. Some were quiet, others loud, a few that were very professional in their writing and presentation. I'm so proud of all of them!
After the fake book covers were made, Carrie and I put the books out on the Everybody shelves. Then I made a few signs to designate the space and told people to ask a librarian for an iPad if they want to listen to a review. Sadly, nobody has borrowed one from us to listen. I'm really hoping that will change.
This is where I fail the most: paper cutting. UGH. I tried to make the letters look like a skilled craftsperson made them, but no, it looks like me, a monkey with two left hands and bad depth perception.
These signs were better, but the handwriting looks like my mom's and not the cool, hip thing I was going for. Whatever.
I think the project was a success and am hopeful the entire 2nd grade will want to participate next year!
I think that I shall never see/A poem as lovely as our poetree
We've been busier the past several weeks simply getting ready for this month than we have in a while, I think. There have been lots of fun and unique things we've been able to do. Let me start with our poetry month planning!
Back before spring break, Carrie and I started planning Poetry Month and what exactly we were wanting to do. One thing was for sure--we needed to be as punny as possible and create a poetree. A poetree is basically a paper tree, either three dimensional or not, where kiddos can hang up poems they made or teachers can hang up famous poems.
Thankfully we have some very creative and flexible parent volunteers who were able to take our crazy idea and make it so. Here they are building the tree:
We never thought we would run out of wall space after our redesign so quickly. I'm happy we have pictures and color on every single wall, including our new "wall of fame" as I've been starting to call it. Anyway, here's the finished tree + some really cute kid poetry from our fabulous students.
I made the cloud banner up top to let people know why on Earth we have a tree in the library, and was going to make a kite with the most famous tree poem ever on it. There has been very little free time for me to do this so the wall is as kite-less as it ever was. Still looks pretty darn good to me, though. If the font on the clouds looks familiar, its a dupe of Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham font, which can be downloaded at my favorite website dafont.com. A lot of times I will try to copy the font by hand, which does not always turn out so well. I need to take a hand lettering class this summer!
Since its Poetry Month, the kids have been working on different types of poems. Shape poetry has been fun for 1st and 2nd grade and Kinder and Pre-K have had fun with sensory poems. The best part is they're really being good about not eating the candy or taking the smencils.
Black out poems are challenging and force kids to think outside of the box. Our 3rd and 4th graders are currently working on those, with passages from Harry Potter and Whatever After. We tried to pick things they might already know about but that has good vocabulary. They also can use the newspaper if they prefer, though it is far more time consuming.
It's been a lot of fun. I was reading somewhere that you shouldn't necessarily save all your poetry for April. Exposing kids to a variety of literature, including a variety of poetry, early on is important to their development of being a reader and a creative thinker. Maybe we can incorporate more poetry into regular lessons next year, but for our schedule, Poetry Month it is.
Back before spring break, Carrie and I started planning Poetry Month and what exactly we were wanting to do. One thing was for sure--we needed to be as punny as possible and create a poetree. A poetree is basically a paper tree, either three dimensional or not, where kiddos can hang up poems they made or teachers can hang up famous poems.
Thankfully we have some very creative and flexible parent volunteers who were able to take our crazy idea and make it so. Here they are building the tree:
We never thought we would run out of wall space after our redesign so quickly. I'm happy we have pictures and color on every single wall, including our new "wall of fame" as I've been starting to call it. Anyway, here's the finished tree + some really cute kid poetry from our fabulous students.
I made the cloud banner up top to let people know why on Earth we have a tree in the library, and was going to make a kite with the most famous tree poem ever on it. There has been very little free time for me to do this so the wall is as kite-less as it ever was. Still looks pretty darn good to me, though. If the font on the clouds looks familiar, its a dupe of Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham font, which can be downloaded at my favorite website dafont.com. A lot of times I will try to copy the font by hand, which does not always turn out so well. I need to take a hand lettering class this summer!
Since its Poetry Month, the kids have been working on different types of poems. Shape poetry has been fun for 1st and 2nd grade and Kinder and Pre-K have had fun with sensory poems. The best part is they're really being good about not eating the candy or taking the smencils.
Black out poems are challenging and force kids to think outside of the box. Our 3rd and 4th graders are currently working on those, with passages from Harry Potter and Whatever After. We tried to pick things they might already know about but that has good vocabulary. They also can use the newspaper if they prefer, though it is far more time consuming.
It's been a lot of fun. I was reading somewhere that you shouldn't necessarily save all your poetry for April. Exposing kids to a variety of literature, including a variety of poetry, early on is important to their development of being a reader and a creative thinker. Maybe we can incorporate more poetry into regular lessons next year, but for our schedule, Poetry Month it is.
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