OZTL_NET

"the new curation tools present an exciting new genre of search tool, a tool for scanning the real-time environment, as well as opportunities for evaluating quality and relevance in emerging information landscapes."

"A primary school teacher sharing resources, practical ideas and thoughts on blogging, global collaboration and technology integration."

A not-to-be missed resource from Joyce Valenza.

'Since 1982, Banned Books Week has rallied librarians, booksellers, authors, publishers, teachers, and readers of all types to celebrate and defend the freedom to read. As we commemorate 30 years of Banned Books Week and enter our 31st year of protecting readers' rights, ALA is pleased to unveil this timeline of significant banned and challenged books.'

'Beginnings are important. They are your fishing lure, your bling, your spider's web, your black hole from which there is no return until series end. It is what a new reader will judge you on, an editor will judge you on, an agent will judge you on. Frankly anyone who can read, and is looking at your book will judge you on it. No pressure.'

"While we've witnessed many effective approaches to incorporating iPads successfully in the classroom, we're struck by the common mistakes many schools are making with iPads, mistakes that are in some cases crippling the success of these initiatives"

The goal of Maker Librarian is to serve as the primary resource for librarians who want to learn about makers, hackerspaces, the participatory library and everything in between. Over the coming weeks and months you'll find; Daily updates on the latest technologies, maker news and what librarians and libraries are up to Interviews with the movers and shakers in the maker and hacker movement Discussion of the difficult ethical and legal issues that libraries will have to face as technologies, like 3D printers, become readily available A wiki for librarians to gather the best of training materials and classes for their programs

The purpose of this Words Toolkit is to help you expand your vocabulary and improve your expression. Convey ideas clearly and fully, and use logic, creativity and imagination in a powerful way with well-chosen words. You may write in detail or in a concise fashion. Who is your audience? Choose words that be understood by your intended readers.

"Google Docs is such an incredible tool for college students, offering collaboration, portability, ease of use, and widespread acceptance. But there are so many options, both hidden and obvious, that there's a good chance you're not using Google Docs to its fullest capability."

" "We are excited to be able to provide this resource to schools across New York State, and believe it is the most accurate tool available for evaluating school librarians," stated NYLA Executive Director Jeremy Johannesen. The "School Librarian Evaluation Rubric" can be found online on the SED website at: http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/teachers-leaders/practicerubrics/Docs/nyla-rubric.pdf The new evaluation instrument is aligned with Charlotte Danielson's Enhancing Professional Practice, the NYS School Library Program Evaluation Rubric tool, and goals of the Common Core Standards to increase rigor, relevance, and college and career readiness."

"Common examples of uses include: demonstrations of contextual images; images with clickable parts (an image map) that link to further information e.g. Google maps; video recordings of teaching sessions; to produce media-enhanced feedback; and recordings of special events such as guest lecturers. A useful guide to the range of uses of digital media to support teaching learning is provided by the JISC-funded Digital Artefacts for Learner Engagement (DiAL-e) Framework. "

The SAMR model has been around for a while, but I think it is time for a revisit. Most of us have been working with some element or other of 1 to 1 access, but has our pedagogy - the way we use the technology to teach in our classes - changed or shifted in that time?

"As a school leader who recently sold my community on the importance of moving to a one-to-one environment where every student has access to a web-based device, I believe strongly that our students will be more literate than students in other schools who do not have access to web-enabled devices. A look at the world outside of our schools and the technological resources being accessed in so many professions that allow people to work "smarter" is a clear indication of the track that our students need to be on in order to be able to function in the "real world." The biggest stumbling block in schools even if we can get the devices is the proficiency level of the adults in the building in utilizing the technology resources effectively. This is not meant to be an indictment of educators, but it is a critical question that we all have to look at, assess, and then move forward. Technological tools/resources can assist educators in some of our biggest undertakings (i.e. common core standards integration, teacher evaluation, providing relevant professional development, etc.). However, because so many educators in schools are not comfortable with the most modern literacy skills we are not able to make better progress."