Group items tagged

As is required of all women in their 30s, I am in a book club. At the first meeting of this group, one poor unsuspecting woman mentioned that she had listened to that month's selection instead of reading it. That, the rest of the group decided together, is definitely cheating. Never mind that no one could exactly articulate how or why it was cheating; it just felt like it was, and others would agree. She never substituted the audiobook for the print version again (or, if she did, she never again admitted it). This question - whether or not listening to an audiobook is "cheating" - is one University of Virginia psychologist Daniel Willingham gets fairly often, especially ever since he published a book, in 2015, on the science of reading. (That one was about teaching children to read; he's got another book out next spring about adults and reading.) He is very tired of this question, and so, recently, he wrote a blog post addressing it. (His opening line: "I've been asked this question a lot and I hate it.") If, he argues, you take the question from the perspective of cognitive psychology - that is, the mental processes involved - there is no real difference between listening to a book and reading it. So, according to that understanding of the question: No, audiobooks are not cheating.

"When Sasha Ariel Alston pursued her love for coding, she noticed there were never many girls ― especially girls of color ― pursuing it, too. That's why she decided to write a children's book to encourage girls to learn about coding and STEM fields at an early age.  Alston is a 19-year-old Pace University student getting a major in information systems and a minor in marketing. She spent two years writing Sasha Savvy Loves to Code, a kids' book about a 10-year-old who becomes interested in coding, just like Alston. "The purpose of the book is just to get girls interested in coding and to provide basic coding terms," she said."

"Representation matters: Girls do better on science tests when their textbooks include images of female scientists. And a 2017 survey by Microsoft found that girls in Europe begin to show interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields at 11 years old but lose it at around 15-and a lack of female role models is one reason for the drop in interest. That's why we've created this list of books showing girls and women who are passionate about STEM fields. After asking librarians for recommendations, pulling still more from School Library Journal, and checking best-seller and award lists, we selected picture books, biographies, novels, and memoirs appropriate for kids from kindergarten to 12th grade. These books-most of which were published in 2016-represent a wide range of STEM fields, from marine biology to volcanology to math. "

"May is an important month for teachers. Standardized testing kicks in gear, decisions are being made about next year's budget, and, of course, Teacher Appreciation Week. After ten years in the classroom, I've discovered that the best Teacher Appreciation gifts tend to be free- handwritten notes from students or words of encouragement from veteran teachers. My gift to you is this roundup of advice from voices in every academic discipline, as well as a heavy sprinkling of books about fictional teachers. There are some classics, some hot new titles, and a few books that might push you out of your comfort zone. Whether you are trying to up your game in a certain subject, study theory about different learning styles, or simply read a story about someone else surviving the classroom for a change, you'll find something in this list of 100 must-read books for and about teachers."

"We all want our kids to emulate qualities of bravery, strength, and intellect. Modeling these characteristics for our kids is ideal but books can also help to solidify the lessons we want our kids to learn. In fact, according to the 6th Edition Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report, families seek out books featuring characters who display these traits. "Characters who are 'smart, brave or strong' or 'face a challenge and overcome it' are the most popular among kids and parents," according to the report.  Here are nine books featuring characters who show strength, exhibit bravery, or are incredibly smart."

"Last month our middle school tech class went to Lansing to attend the MACUL ATT Student Showcase. While there, I asked the students to use an iPad to somehow create a project to document what happened on the trip. I gave them a list of suggested apps, but left it open for students to make their own creative choices about the project. Several students used the wonderful Book Creator app to create epub books about the trip. Here are links to two of the books that can be directly downloaded into iBooks on your iPad, iPod, or iPhone. (Note, it will take several minutes for the books to download, then select to open in iBooks.)"

"A couple of weeks ago I wrote about using Little Story Maker to create your own short books on your iPad. After publishing that post a bunch of people asked me to review Book Creator too. Book Creator is not a free app ($4.99 as an individual and less with volume purchasing) but I think that it is well worth the money that I spent on it."

"A showcase of some of the 6 million books already created on Book Creator for iPad and Book Creator for Android."

"Free Books is a great free iPad app that provides you with a huge library of eBooks and audiobooks. It actually contains over 23.000 classic books that are all in public domain. These books span a wide variety of topics and different fields in human history including letters of leaders, the collected works of geniuses, the finest Victorian novels, the plays of Shakespeare, the philosophy of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, the autobiographies of Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Carnegie. It's all here, along with tens of thousands of other books."

"Roald Dahl is the author that people would most like their children to read, according to a new survey to find 50 books that children should read by the time they are 16. A survey of 2,000 readers by Sainsbury's to celebrate World Book Day also found that nostalgia reigns supreme, with six in ten parents choosing to read stories to their children that their own parents once read to them. "

So with the caveat that I am only halfway through Mark Bauerline's book The Dumbest Generation, I have some early impressions to throw out there. While I think there is some merit to this side of the debate (much like Keen's Cult of the Amateur) what really bothers me about this book so far is, as the title suggests, this sense that our kids are at fault. Let me put it plainly: our kids are not "dumb" nor is this generation "dumb" simply because they spend a lot of time in front of television screens and computers or because they haven't worked out for themselves how to get smarter using the Read/Write Web.

Free is my favorite price! There are many different ways to score free e-books for iPads. Some books that have a charge in the iBookstore are available for free elsewhere, so check out the sites below before purchasing anything. Chances are the e-books you want to read are also available to borrow at the local library. Simply download the Overdrive Media Console App, register your library card, and start borrowing! Happy hunting!

"Teachers in my "Mapping Media to the Common Core: Part 2″ course this semester (offered through Montana CSPD and the University of Montana) have learned how to create enhanced eBooks on their iPads using the fantastic app, "Book Creator" by Red Jumper. In this post, I'll describe how you can share an eBook created with Book Creator via a free DropBox account and the DropBox app, along with a free KidBlog website and the KidBlog app for iPad. The KidBlog and DropBox apps are free. Book Creator has a free app which allows users to create 1 eBook, the commercial version is $5 and allows unlimited numbers of eBooks to be created. Apple Volume Purchase Plan (VPP) discounts are available for Book Creator."

"There are several ways to use technology to engage students and enhance their literacy skills and one of them is through creating video book trailers. Yes, they are similar to movie trailers we see now on YouTube but they are different in scope. A video book trailer is a concise review of a book created with the help of a variety of digital tools that include : images, text, clips, voiceovers, recordings, and music."

"Digital books are transforming the way students of all ages learn today. The interactive elements of digital books enhance the learning experience, making it far more informative and interesting than before. Many teachers today are embracing this new media and producing some high quality student-made eBooks in their classrooms. One of the most fascinating ways to create an eBook is using a mobile device, particularly, an iPad. StoryKit, Book Writer, and Book Creator are 3 apps my students have used to create some highly interactive, professionally looking eBooks. All three apps are excellent examples of tools that allow students to unleash their creativity and tell their own stories."

"Back in April, my 10 year old daughter (Rachel) shared a Google Document with me which was her fourth completed book, and her longest finished chapter book to date. She titled it, "Mature Little Me." Inspired by Chris Simon, the STEM teacher at Independence Elementary School in Yukon, Oklahoma, from 2011-2013, it's a fourth grade adventure story with some invention/maker flavor. Back in April I didn't set aside the time needed to help with some edits and get it published online for Rachel, both as an eBook and a print-on-demand book via Lulu.com. This evening I spent about 3 hours editing and publishing her book, and learned a BUNCH as a result. I'll attempt to document much of that learning in this post."

"During the month of June, I took a hiatus from blogging so that I could do some fun things and perform professional development. The fun things were: Watching my daughter graduate PreK. Watching her win the "Symphony" award. :) Taking both my girls to great places like the beaches and zoos.   The professional development opportunities included: Finishing my free resource iBook titled Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with One or more iPads! This book is the second in my Help! Series. These free resource iBooks are books for elementary music educators to use to assist them with integrating technology into their classrooms or teaching situations as well as access to numerous lesson plans. My first book was Help! I am an Elementary Music Teacher with a SMART Board! This new book compliments two courses that I am teaching in the next few weeks."

From Richard Byrne Free Technology for teacher, quoted below:Listen and Read - Non-fiction Read Along Activities Listen and Read is a set of 54 non-fiction stories from Scholastic for K-2 students. The stories are feature pictures and short passages of text that students can read on their own or have read to them by each story's narrator. The collection of stories is divided into eight categories: social studies, science, plants and flowers, environmental stories, civics and government, animals, American history, and community. Applications for Education Listen and Read looks to be a great resource for social studies lessons and reading practice in general. At the end of each book there is a short review of the new words that students were introduced to in the book. Students can hear these words pronounced as many times as they like. Listen and Read books worked on my computer and on my Android tablet. Scholastic implies that the books also work on iPads and IWBs"

"Looking for some good summer reading books for your kid? Epic has you covered. It provides a huge library featuring over 20.000 eBooks designed specifically for kids 12 and under. The library also includes audio books, comic books, graphic novels, educational videos, read-to-me, fiction and nonfiction books from leading publishers such as Scholastic, Macmillan, National Geography, and HarperCollins.  Epic is free for elementary teachers and librarians in the US and Canada."