LibraryThing interview with Alan Bradley

LibraryThing has an interview with Alan Bradley who wrote The sweetness at the bottom of the pie, and The weed that strings the hangman's bag - both featuring the intrepid 11 year old Flavia de Luce solving crimes and in particular using her passion for chemistry...
http://www.librarything.com/author/bradleyalan/interview

Alan Bradley said " An utterly competent 11 year old female was, in my opinion, long overdue in mystery fiction. I believe that the intelligence of girls is often discounted nowadays, not only by society, but sometimes by the girls themselves. As if it's a sin to be brilliant!"

At the end of the interview is mention of "Legacy Libraries" for Lawrence Durrell and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring books that they were known to have owned...

Marian the Cybrarian

Another post about the power and potential of libraries and librarians
http://chronicle.com/article/Marian-the-Cybrarian/65570/

School Libraries : a position paper from CISSL

School libraries, now more than ever: A position paper of The Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries

The Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL) at Rutgers University holds the belief, substantiated by five decades of research, that school libraries help young people learn.

School libraries are learning laboratories where information, technology, and inquiry come together in a dynamic that resonates with 21st century learners.

School libraries are the school’s physical and virtual learning commons where inquiry, thinking, imagination, discovery, and creativity are central to students’ information-to-knowledge journey, and to their personal, social and cultural growth.

School librarians understand that children of the Millennium generation are consumers and creators in multi-media digital spaces where they download music, games, and movies, create websites, avatars, surveys and videos, and engage in social networking (National School Boards Association, 2007). They know that the world of this young generation is situated at the crossroads of information and communication.

School librarians bring pedagogical order and harmony to a multi-media clutter of information by crafting challenging learning opportunities, in collaboration with classroom teachers and other learning specialists, to help learners use the virtual world, as well as traditional information sources, to prepare for living, working, and life-long learning in the 21st century.

Schools without libraries minimize the opportunities for students to become discriminating users in a diverse information landscape and to develop the intellectual scaffolds for learning deeply through information.

Schools without libraries are at risk of becoming irrelevant.”

http://cissl.scils.rutgers.edu/CISSL_POSITION_PAPER_revised.doc
SOURCE: Stephen's Lighthouse, 13 May 2010

Technology Training Wheels

A good resource to help start using new technology....
Technology Training Wheels : http://technologytrainingwheels.pbworks.com/

One area it talks about is Reading 2.0, with links to a couple of wikis :

http://www.readingtech.wikispaces.com/
by Anita Beaman and Amy Oberts

http://www.techtoolsforreading.wikispaces.com/
by Elizabeth Sessions.

Elizabeth's wiki has a couple of slide show presentations :
http://techtoolsforreading.wikispaces.com/Web+2.0+Tips

• 46 interesting ways to use Wordle in the classroom
• 17 interesting ways (and tips) to use Voicethread in the classroom

which are actually from this website
http://edte.ch/blog/interesting-ways/
which has all sorts of ways to use technology in the classroom and the library...

Ideas for what to do with weeded books

Some fun activities are suggested in this article available from the SCIS Connections newsletter :
eg making bookmarks and place mats, dioramas, book art, etc...

http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/a_new_life_for_weeded_books.html

Improv for a smile at the end of the week...

From Improv Everywhere, here are a couple of Youtube videos which are fun - the first one is library related - Who you gonna call? (at NY Public Library of course)

http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKB7zfopiUA

They've also staged singing in a supermarket fruit aisle, walking 2,000 invisible dogs, and this one at Antwerp train station...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k&NR=1]

Twitter, blogs and Donalyn Miller

An interesting blogger, Donalyn Miller aka "The book whisperer" did a post in April on Twitter and how she uses it to keep in touch with the children's literature world...

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/

"Instant access via Twitter to book reviews, author appearances, and links offers teachers and librarians opportunities for finding books, resources, and like-minded colleagues beyond the walls of our schools, and streamlines the unwieldy process of following blogs and bookmarking review and author websites...."

And she also posted recently about two great blogs she follows which I also really enjoy -
Jen Robinson's Book Page http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/blog/
and Fuse #8 by Elizabeth Bird http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1790000379.html

Family reading interview

From The Reading Zone blog by Sarah, a 6th grade (intermediate school level) Language Arts teacher "who strives to instill a love of reading and writing in her students."

Here is a recent post about an activity she did with her students :

"Last week I decided to add a new assignment to my “Getting to Know Ourselves as Readers” unit in reading workshop. I paged through a few of my resources looking for inspiration. While flipping through Beyond Leveled Books, Second Edition I came across the family reading interview. I took the idea and ran with it!

I adjusted the questions to fit my students/grade level and was very happy with the results. Students were required to interview one member of their family (high school senior or older) about their reading experiences. They asked about the genres they enjoyed, genres they don’t enjoy, how they choose books, and favorite childhood reads. The students were then required to put all the answers into paragraph form, with their own commentary, forming an essay. I was looking forward to reading some interesting interviews when I collected them today...."

Read more http://thereadingzone.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/value-of-a-family-reading-interview/

Check out the Blogroll listed on the left hand side for a wonderful collection of blogs around teaching, reading and children's literature...

UK list of "the best children's books ever"

From The Guardian newspaper, by Lucy Mangan : Best Children's Books Ever

Increasing numbers of children are starting school without having been read to. But which are the books to get them – and keep them – hooked? Lucy Mangan introduces our guide to the best. So whether it's to fight the White Witch or snuggle up with the Moomins, make yourself comfy...

The following – a combination of personal recommendations, enduring classics and currently popular borrowings from school and public libraries – are suggestions and starting points only, of course (and the age ranges attached even more so), but hopefully there will be something, somewhere for everyone.

Best books: 0-2 year-olds

Best books: 2-4 year-olds

Best books: 5-7 year-olds

Best books: 8-12 year-olds

Best books: 12-years-old and over

It refers to a recent survey of teachers which found that over half of them said they were teaching children who had never been read a bedtime story... See article here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/primaryeducation/7652760/Children-missing-out-on-bedtime-stories-say-primary-teachers.html )

Two things :

• I wonder what the story is (no pun intended !) about bedtime reading with the children in your class - how many have bedtime stories each night / most nights ? and who reads it to them ? where do they get their read-aloud bedtime stories from ?
  
• What do you think would be on our list of "the best New Zealand books ever"

Quotes

I use LibraryThing but was checking out Shelfari and Goodreads which look good too...

Goodreads has some neat quotes - on the home page and at this tab http://www.goodreads.com/quotes

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind. Dr. Seuss

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. Albert Einstein

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. Ralph Waldo Emerson

You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. C.S. Lewis

Digital literacy

Digital participation, digital literacy and schools
This article outlines some key issues involved with the teaching of digital literacy in schools. The article is adapted from the British report 'Digital participation, digital literacy, and school subjects: a review of the policies, literature and evidence' published by Futurelab in August 2009.
http://cmslive.curriculum.edu.au/leader/default.asp?id=31055&issueID=12105
SOURCE: APO Weekly Briefing, 6 May 2010


Digital literacy across the curriculum
This handbook is aimed at educational practitioners and school leaders in both primary and secondary schools who are interested in creative and critical uses of technology in the classroom.
Although there is increasing policy and research attention paid to issues related to digital literacy, there is still relatively little information about how to put this into practice in the classroom. There is even less guidance on how teachers might combine a commitment to digital literacy with the needs of their own subject teaching. How can digital literacy be fostered, for example, in a maths or science lesson?
This handbook aims to introduce educational practitioners to the concepts and contexts of digital literacy and to support them in developing their own practice aimed at fostering the components of digital literacy in classroom subject teaching and in real school settings.
The handbook is not a comprehensive ‘how to’ guide; it provides instead a rationale, some possible strategies and some practical examples for schools to draw on. The first section details the reasons teachers should be interested in digital literacy and how it is relevant to their subject teaching. It looks at the increasing role of technology in young people’s cultures, the support they may need to benefit from their engagement with technology and the way in which digital literacy can contribute to the development of subject knowledge. The second section discusses digital literacy in practice and moves through a number of components of digital literacy discussing how these might be fostered in the classroom.
The handbook ends by looking at issues related to continuing professional development for teachers and the ways in which digital literacy can support whole-school initiatives.
It is teachers who are expert in their own school context, in the needs of their students and in the pedagogical techniques required to support learning. This handbook has been informed by the work of fourteen teachers who are interested in how technology is used in classroom teaching and who took part in Futurelab’s digital participation project. Rather than being prescriptive, it aims to provide information, which will help teachers to make the best use of their own expertise to support students’ emerging digital literacy.
http://www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/handbooks/digital_literacy.pdf
SOURCE: Stephen's Lighthouse, 27 April 2010

Digitization, e-books and children's literacy

The Kids Are Alright! Why Digitization and E-books are Good for Literacy by Kristen McLean, executive director of the Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC)

http://publishingperspectives.com/?p=14607

Kate De Goldi recommending 3 novels

Here is Kate De Goldi's conversation with Kim Hill about three new young adult fiction titles :
When you reach me by Rebecca Stead (an absolute favourite, as mentioned previously in this blog)
I've not yet read these two - waiting for them to come to National Library CS collection, but Kate highly recommends them...
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews

sat-20100417-1145-Childrens_Books_with_Kate_De_Goldi-048.mp3

A library in your pocket

A blog post by Meredith Farkas in American Libraries about the potential for library customers to use cellphones to access information...

http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/columns/practice/library-your-pocket

"With the mainstreaming of mobile devices, libraries can no longer ignore this important trend. By mobilizing our library resources and services, we make ourselves accessible to patrons wherever they are, from a device that fits in their pocket."

Reading Online IRA

Here is the index for Reading Online, the electronic journal of the International Reading Association - range of full text articles and links...
http://www.readingonline.org/index/index_index.asp

Here is an article I found interesting, talking about how we define
"being a reader" :
"A Puzzle To the Rest of Us": Who Is a "Reader" Anyway?
A Reprint From the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy by Bronwyn T. Williams

Comic books comic strip from Unshelved

Gene Ambaum and Bill Barnes of Unshelved fame did a great comic strip about falling in love with comics - lots of people asked for a copy so they have kindly made a printable version available for private use only...

http://www.unshelved.com/2010-5-12/Printing_Last_Weeks_Strip?utm_source=Overdue+Media&utm_campaign=e740345d43-UA-127250-5&utm_medium=email

Top 10 sci fi / fantasy books for youth 2010

Here is a short list of the best of sci fi / fantasy for youth, 2010
by Ian Chipman at Booklist Online.

"Many of the titles found in this year’s crop of the best science fiction and fantasy books, all reviewed in Booklist in the past 12 months, return to familiar worlds, while a strong number of newcomers help prove that this always-popular set of genres remains one of the most vital in youth literature."

http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=4184118

Things that keep us up at night

Joyce Valenza and Doug Johnson have written an inspiring and challenging article : Things that keep us up at night , originally published in School Library Journal, and reprinted in the latest SCIS Connections newsletter

http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/things_that_keep_us_up_at_night.html

It opens "The library, as we once knew it, may no longer be relevant. School librarians, as we once knew them, may no longer be relevant. And, yet, this is undoubtedly the most exciting time in history to be a librarian..."

Here are a couple of extracts :

Economic shifts

We face a major change in the economic rationale for libraries. Libraries were created under an economic model where it was more cost-effective to buy something (a book, a video, a magazine) and share it than to buy a copy for everyone. And for centuries this model has given libraries their value. But for the first time in history, we are moving from a time of information scarcity to one of information abundance. Can we define why libraries are necessary when information is ubiquitous, more scalable, far more convenient, and often 'free' online?

Libraries need to change from places where we just get stuff to places where we make stuff, do stuff and share stuff. Our libraries should not be grocery stores. We need to use the groceries, to open the boxes, pour the milk, mix the batter, make a mess (see Joyce Kasman Valenza's 'Library as Domestic Metaphor', NeverEndingSearch blog www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/90032209.html). We need production space. We need to serve up our creations in presentation or story space. We need to inspire masterpieces of all sorts, and we need to guide members of our communities through new library metaphors.

Missing the potential of reading 2.0

Are we moving fast enough to embrace shifts in how and what people read? In what reading is? Are we promoting traditional books in ways that reach young readers where they live and play? What do literature circles look like when we add powerful new tools for discussion? Can we promote new titles and award winners and involve students and teachers in sharing and celebrating favourite reads in new, media-rich ways? How can we successfully integrate new book formats - Playaways, e-books, audiobooks, interactive web books - into our programs? Are we making the connection between increased voluntary free reading and increased performance on reading test scores emphatically enough?

Are we preparing our libraries to serve a post-literate society (See Doug Johnson's 'Libraries for a Post-Literate Society' in Multimedia & Internet@Schools, July/August 2009, reprinted in Connections Issue 72), one in which people can read but prefer to meet their information, communication and recreational needs in formats other than print? How do we begin to understand that literacy is no longer restricted to print? Learners must be able to construct and deconstruct messages in a multitude of media. They need to read, interpret and create all types of writing and scripting: YouTube video, Tweets, blog posts, digital stories.

Te reo graphic novel from Huia featuring John Pohe, WWII pilot...

Hautipua Rererangi
This fantastic brand new book in "graphic novel" format tells the story of John Porokoru Pohe, a World War II pilot from Taihape who was captured and held prisoner at Stalag Luft III where he was part of the attempt to escape by digging tunnels ( "The Great Escape"). Although he and others did escape, John Pohe was one of the escapees who was recaptured and shot...

Here is the link to the Down the back of the chair website about ordering it :
http://thechair.minedu.govt.nz/servlet/Srv.Ecos_Signon?CN=12587&UC=MOEVIEW&AC=A877804567019987

And you can read more here about John Pohe at the Auckland Museum website :

http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/18989.detail

The book is published by Huia, and was written by Julian Arahanga, translated by Hareruia Aperahama, and illustrated by Andrew Burdan.

Judy Freeman

Judy Freeman writes for the wonderful ReadKiddoRead website http://www.readkiddoread.com/home

Here are a couple of her lists - Almost Can't-Miss Sure Shot Books...for Girls http://readkiddoread.ning.com/profiles/blogs/almost-cantmiss-sure-shot-1

Almost Can’t-Miss Sure Shot Books…for Boys
http://readkiddoread.ning.com/profiles/blogs/almost-cantmiss-sure-shot

Some lesson plans based on great books :
http://readkiddoread.ning.com/page/lesson-plans

and here is her list of 68 spectacular author and illustrator websites - http://readkiddoread.ning.com/page/68-spectacular-author-and

"When we finish wending our way through one of these sites, we should feel as if we've gotten to know that author or illustrator a bit as a person. I love a website with personality and passion. As with a good book, a good website should Surprise, it should Startle, and it should Satisfy (AKA The 3 Freeman S's)."

Disasters unit Year 5/6

Here is a post from LM_NET by Barbara Braxton, a teacher librarian in Australia, which is a collation of ideas / approaches to the perennial “disasters” unit :

1. Be a government official making a public service announcement
2. A first person narrative about it-- from the point of view of the disaster? Eg: "I was born when the continental plates at longitude ____ and latitude ___ shifted, and hot magma burst out of the old quiet volcano know as_______. I poured out for _____ destroying _______ for ____days and nights." or "Like other tornadoes, I came about quickly during a spring storm in (place) on (date). I destroyed everything in my path including ________ for a distance of _____."
3. Present their info in a graphic organizer
4. Create a class wiki
5. Use photos and text in a program like photostory to tell the story of the disaster form a human onlooker who was spared its destruction
6. Write a newscast that tells about it and podcast or video it
7. Write a song or a poem about it
8. Send out a Twitter stream (in sections of 140 characters only) of what was happening as if they were a victim of the disaster
9. Student decides on the disaster, then reports on it from the point of view of an object or other life form. eg a tree in the path of lava flow or ash fall from a volcano. "Tree" describes setting before event, maybe hears rumbling (still going with volcano), feels some bumps, noise of eruption, heat, etc
10. Be scientists and predict where the next one will occur, due to the facts?
11. Have half the class think of it from the victim/survivor's point of view, and half from the rescue community/scientific community. Maybe have a timeline, and give them what is happening around them, and then figure out the causes and consequences
12. Take a 'Decisions, Decisions' approach where everyone needs some common background information. Then they have a role to assume in a disaster and make their case for their fair share of the resources available. Maybe arranging for services for evacuees, dealing with wildlife and pets affected, saving/repairing infrastructure, etc. Wrap up with some kind of evaluation.
13. Prepare a power point as if they are the teacher teaching a class to their peers about a natural disaster
14. What about looking at it from the standpoint of a questions of essential need? So you might ask, "what do people need to survive" then ask "how does this disaster change the status quo and how do you think they will act/react?"
15. Try introducing topic through personal disaster/advice column style. Break students into groups of 3 and I suggest you give them a personal disaster "letter" from a "reader" that they need to reply to with helpful advice. Left on their own, they might get a bit carried away. Disasters for 5/6 grades: "reached into my pocket 3rd hour and discovered my cell phone I forgot to leave at home...what to do?" Ask about, I'm sure you'll find ones more specific to your local. Give a rubric and require sources for response, even if only made up. "As recommended by the principal"... After this, introduce natural disasters...how they affect natural world, animals, planet, and people personally. Have them right an "advice" column response on how to deal with the situation with real sources. Again, a rubric but one more specific & demanding
16. What about writing from the relief worker's perspective? As a first time volunteer for the Red Cross or World Health Organization. You know, the workers who dish up food and hand out water.
17. How about having them write is in the first person. Or as their pet. Suggested points ( you can simplify or expand according to abilities of grade levels) -What the disaster was -When it occurred -Who they are –Their family makeup -Their house/apartment before and after -The people (agencies) who helped them -What has changed in their life (new house, new city, people missing from their family, loss of friends,etc)
18. Take a sort of "CSI/forensics" approach to it? The kids could come in after the disaster, research some of the causes, and the reasons why there was so much loss of life/property. If you get some that are really advanced, they could even research ways to prevent disasters of that sort in the future.
19. What about a time traveller to a N disaster in the past 100 years – the usual 5 W questions, but also comparing it to a similar (different) in this C.
20. Students report on a disaster in an imaginary or given location (a Tsunami striking Sydney, an blizzard blanketing a location in Tasmania)- they would have to detail how it affected the people and geography of the area, using what they know about disasters at a higher level
21. Students could write as if they themselves (or their own families) were the victims of the disaster. They can then explore what their own reactions would be and thus have more personal investment in their researching and writing.
22. Create a newsletter about being prepared http://librarianscorner.net/disaster_newsletter.htm

Barbara Braxton, Teacher Librarian, COOMA NSW barbara.288@bigpond.com
Together, we learn from each other

Bronte action figures

Not a lot of blogging going on at the moment - busy working on the new National Library Services to Schools website... but just thought I'd share this for a bit of light relief...

YouTube video by Phil Lord and Chris Miller : "This was a fake commercial we made in 1998 for a series of educational shorts about action figures based on historical figures. Its educational value was somewhat suspect. It was never aired."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NKXNThJ610&feature=player_embedded

Thanks Sandra for the link.

EPIC

Good news about EPIC !
The Ministry of Education has renewed their funding of EPIC until 2011.
Now is a good time to promote EPIC in your school / to your students and staff if they are not currently using this useful collection of databases...

Contact SLANZA or National Library if you have any questions about how to use EPIC...

By following this link on EPIC website http://epic.org.nz/the-databases/all-databases you can find out more information and access user guides about each of the databases.

A poem a day...

A poem a day for American high schools
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/

From the website :

Welcome to Poetry 180
Poetry can and should be an important part of our daily lives. Poems can inspire and make us think about what it means to be a member of the human race. By just spending a few minutes reading a poem each day, new worlds can be revealed.

Poetry 180 is designed to make it easy for students to hear or read a poem on each of the 180 days of the school year. I have selected the poems you will find here with high school students in mind. They are intended to be listened to, and I suggest that all members of the school community be included as readers. A great time for the readings would be following the end of daily announcements over the public address system.

Listening to poetry can encourage students and other learners to become members of the circle of readers for whom poetry is a vital source of pleasure. I hope Poetry 180 becomes an important and enriching part of the school day.

Billy Collins
Former Poet Laureate of the United States

School library websites - effective practice

A great collaborative resource for inspiration...

School Library Websites: Examples of Effective Practice
http://schoollibrarywebsites.wikispaces.com/

With
Elementary Examples
Middle School Examples
High School Examples

on aspects of practice :
Reports
Book and Reading Promotion
Digital Storytelling
Inquiry/Information Fluency Instruction
Pathfinders
Digital Citizenship
Presentations
Building Tools
SchoolLibraryBloggers
SchoolLibraryTweeters
Knowledge Building Centers

Virtual visit to US high school library at lunchtime

You can pop into Casa Grande High School Library (California) at lunchtime for a 20 second virtual visit
http://www.flickr.com/photos/msannakoval/4149450809/in/set-72157610808172408/

Here is their website with new books on Shelfari, blog, campaigns... http://www.bighouselibrary.com

On the blog, the Librarian, Anna Koval, has posted a list of the top 40 fiction books to circulate at the big house library in the last month.... need a new good book? try one of these! :)

big house library fiction checkouts for february 2010p.s. the idea for this post came from the always-inspiring ms. buffy hamilton @ the unquiet library - have a look at creekside georgia's top 25! :)

I've done a post about The Unquiet Library blog before - well worth checking out http://theunquietlibrary.wordpress.com/ It was a nominee for Edublogs 2009 Best Library / Librarian Blog and has all sorts of links and activities and student participation...

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

This wonderful, poetic story is a 2009 Newbery Honor Book - and is one that may divide opinion- I wasn't sure when I started to read it, but was won over as all the threads drew together. I wonder if it would be a good read aloud ?You'd have to read it first and see what you think. It is a beautiful, complicated, sad, unusual story about a dog, a mother cat and her kittens set in the Louisana swamplands in the present and the past... It is a story of threat, darkness, loss, danger and cruelty but also of bravery, friendship, love, sacrifice...

Here is the author's website http://www.kathiappelt.com/ where you can hear the author read a chapter to get a feel for the writing, and also read some reviews (and each review leads you to a great site in itself too !)

From Elizabeth Bird at Fuse #8 :
Appelt in her debut novel has somehow managed to write a book that I've been describing to people as (and this is true) Watership Down meets The Incredible Journey meets Holes meets The Mouse And His Child. If that doesn't make any sense to you it is because you have never read a book quite like this. Bound to be one of those books that people either hate or love, I'm inclined to like it very very much. But that doesn't mean it isn't weird, man. Really freaky deaky weird.

Red Riding Hood - animation

A 21st century telling of the Red Riding Hood story - I wonder if this is a sort of illustration of the "augmented reality" highlighted in the Horizon report mentioned in the previous post !

http://books4hotties.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/digi-red-riding-hood/

2010 Horizon Report : K-12

The Horizon Report series... identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within education around the globe.

This volume, the 2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition, examines emerging technologies for their potential impact on and use in teaching, learning, and creative expression within the environment of pre-college education.

http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2010-Horizon-Report-K12.pdf

This report identifies key trends, critical challenges and technologies to watch...

• On the near-term horizon — that is, within the next 12 months — cloud computing and collaborative environments.
• The second adoption horizon is set two to three years out, where we will begin to see widespread adoptions of two well-established technologies: game-based learning and mobiles.
• On the far-term horizon, set at four to five years away from widespread adoption, are augmented reality and flexible displays. Neither of these two technologies is commonly found in school settings, but the high level of interest and the tremendous amounts of research in both areas indicate that they are worth following closely.
  

NZ Science blogs

This is the address for a NZ network of science blogs http://sciblogs.co.nz/

From the website : Sciblogs is the biggest blog network of scientists in New Zealand, an online forum for discussion of everything from clinical health to climate change. Our Scibloggers are either practising scientists or have been writing on science-related issues for some time.
Categories :

• Science
• Agriculture
• Technology
• Health and Medicine
• Environment and Ecology
• Science and Society

Sciblogs was created by Science Media "Our aim is to promote accurate, bias-free reporting on science and technology by helping the media work more closely with the scientific community."

I just watched a video of Stephen Hawking on the likelihood of life beyond earth and followed some interesting links to New Scientist etc...

Technology in education

A post from the blog EdTechTrek about a US high school integrating technology into learning - taking real data and analysing it, using relevant information and problems to engage students...
http://ransomtech.edublogs.org/2010/02/10/engaging-learners/

Twitter for librarians

Here is a guide to using Twitter in a library setting - the article was written in 2008 - an eternity ago in terms of ICT - but there are some good suggestions for the novice Tweeter and links to articles and guides for more information / background...
http://www.collegeathome.com/blog/2008/05/27/twitter-for-librarians-the-ultimate-guide/

Probably the best way to find out about it is just to go to Twitter and give it a go
http://twitter.com/ There is so much drivel there, but so much good stuff too ! Find someone interesting to follow and see who they are following to get into an interesting circle and amazing links...
I'm following Joyce Valenza, Ross Todd, and locally Bridget Schaumann and Catherine Lee but haven't quite got into tweeting yet myself :(

Learning about the library

Primary / intermediate school teachers and librarians might find these library lesson plans useful as a starting point for planning some focus activities during library visits :
http://hanover.k12.va.us/instruction/media/LessonPlanBook.htm

Learning about the library and its resources is always more effective when taught in the context of authentic, current research needs rather than working through a set of arbitrary lessons on particular aspects, but these outlines might be helpful in structuring activities or suggesting resources / approaches...

Reading aloud - why, how, what etc

From the Literacy Connections website "promoting literacy skills and a love of reading" here is a useful collection of articles and resources about reading aloud http://www.literacyconnections.com/ReadingAloud.php

and you might like to check out the reading comprehension page too...
http://www.literacyconnections.com/ComprehensionHome