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A reflection about one school library faculty's goal of creating a positive learning environment with space that would help students and teachers develop real-world connections and the approach they took to creating it. The ideas for the space included housing the collection, helping students and teachers collaborate, being a hub for learning with a flexible floor plan and supporting newly developing areas in educational technology. The school decided to create a learning commons to move beyond traditional thinking about libraries and respond to what the kids and teachers really needed. The faculty envisioned their environment to be developmentally appropriate for their young students, as well as to foster a sense of creativity, inspiration, and encourage dialogue and a sense of community. The new learning commons library offered more space for stacks, added conference rooms and a lounge area, but the learning commons concept informed more than the library. These design changes increase opportunities to be inspired by student work and performances and create stronger interpersonal connections among students and faculty.

" Which children's do you find moving? The team at Quotery.com has created an infographic called "20 Inspiring Children's Book Quotes." The words come from a variety of titles including Roald Dahl's Matilda, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone. The the full infographic is embedded"

A reflection on the maker scene as it was in the last 12 months in schools and libraries. Wide-ranging and inspiring.

A reflection on the maker scene as it was in the last 12 months in schools and libraries. Wide-ranging and inspiring.

HyperDocs are perfect opportunities to grow teacher librarian/ classroom teacher partnerships. A true extension of what TLs do or should be doing in a hyperlinked information landscape, HyperDocs are all about curation and collaboration, instruction based on engaged inquiry, as well as our mission to inspire learning communities to think, create, share and grow.

HyperDocs are perfect opportunities to grow teacher librarian/ classroom teacher partnerships. A true extension of what TLs do or should be doing in a hyperlinked information landscape, HyperDocs are all about curation and collaboration, instruction based on engaged inquiry, as well as our mission to inspire learning communities to think, create, share and grow.

The Book Review has occasionally in the past, asked young authors about their biggest influences. For their 125th anniversary, they put the question to a new generation. A simple challenge was put to a group of writers under 40: Name the writer or writers who have most influenced your work and explain how. In the past, many of the US-based "authors contacted were just beginning their careers and they later became some of the most widely read and respected artists of their generation." As part of their 125th-anniversary celebration, the same question to writers of today. They are: Megha Majumdar, Tommy Orange, Alyssa Cole, Emma Cline, Yaa Gyasi, Ottessa Moshfegh, Gabriel Bump

"Tool discovery is often a challenge for teachers interested in finding ways to use technology that will change the way they and their students work. With so much going on in the classroom, many teachers don't have the time to test out various apps and find the perfect tool to meet their needs. Luckily, several tech-savvy librarians have been curating the apps their colleagues find useful and sharing the all-stars with one another through personal learning communities (PLC) and edWeb webinars."

"Below is a curated bibliography, mirrored from the University of Minnesota Digital Video Collections Guide, consisting of quality licensed and open digital video collections that has been inspired largely with support from Arizona State University (deg farrely) and some resources culled from various institutions in the LibGuides Community.  This resource is being shared on ALA Connect as an Online Doc with the hope that a community of media interested professionals will contribute further links/descriptions of quality licensed or open digital video collections, and repurposed as they see fit to meet the needs of their constituents.  Attribution is greatly appreciated, but please repurpose regardless."

From the #TLChat Virtual Cafe webinar series: Shelly Terrell & Jake Duncan. Diverse conversation about education and schools from experienced and inspirational educators. You can view, listen/watch the webinar via the link to the recorded Blackboard session.

A collection of items useful for inspiration. They offer royalty-free photos, illustrations, video, audio and Flash® files from $1.

You can find inspirational ideas on the Pinterest site. Listed in this post are a few good Pinterest ideas for teachers: best apps, websites, virtual fieldtrips and classroom ideas.

"Where should you start to build a makerspace? Here at EdSurge, we've rolled up our sleeves, put on our protective goggles, and built a Maker Guide from scratch, just for you.  There are ideas here from the educators and entrepreneurs who think making 24/7, including what is involved with project-based learning and making in the classroom and tried-and-true lessons from the field on starting your makerspace. If you are making on a budget, there ideas for stocking your space with resources from your arts and crafts closet, plus inspiration from educators working to bring makerspaces to low-income and all-girls classrooms."

A reflection on the maker scene as it was in the last 12 months in schools and libraries. Wide-ranging and inspiring.

A tool that allows you to inexpensive inspirational quotation posters.

"This article, reprinted from the June 2014 issue of Teacher Librarian: The Journal for School Library Professionals, is a thoughtful and insightful  examination of the philosophy and pedagogical underpinnings of the maker movement.  The authors' analysis and argument are strong, and the benefits they tout are inspiring."

The post offers a self-assessment survey, created for students and educators, which provides questions that address short- and long-term goals. In doing so, it provides a framework for metacognition (thinking about our thoughts) and helps us each to clarify, reflect on, and prioritize our feelings, actions, and behaviours.

"The most successful makerspaces include tools, materials and resources that inspire and allow for an environment rich with possibilities, allowing all students the opportunity for open-ended exploration.  In addition to tried-and-true favorites such as Spheros, Makey-Makey kits, littleBits, and Legos, there is now such a vast array of makerspace-related products available. As this year draws to a close, we can't help but reflect upon some of our favorite makerspace things. "

"Critically, libraries are evaluated based on traditional metrics, such as loan and membership numbers, capturing only a fraction of the full value they contribute to our individual and collective life. Failure to recognise this by governments and policymakers puts at risk the diverse and nuanced ways libraries might shape Australia's future."

Video that shows you how to create templates in Google Slides. Google Slides is a presentation tool that allows you to create and share presentations for free online. "If you don't want to create your own template from scratch, there are tools out there that can help you out. Slides Carnival offers free basic templates for Google Slides and Powerpoint. They have different template categories to browse through like Simple, Creative, Inspirational, and Formal."

Spezify is a visual search engine. It gives related concepts at the top of the page and then finds images, definitions, quotes, symbols and sites related to the specified search. To limit some of the results you can click on the tools icon and take out some of the social networking sites. NOTE: Some of the search results may include 'M' rated content.