MEMOlist serve is full of ideas

Media Specialists subscribe to several listserves, locally and nationally. Sometimes, they bog you down with WAY too many email posts. You can narrow your search area to include just high school, for instance. Here is one of the latest hits from MEMOlist (Minnesota) that I found interesting and passed it on to the staff @ Central HS. Check out the link at the bottom of this post to see great video clips available in all subjects areas.
From Leslie, the Media Specialist

From eSchoolNews "Tools for Schools" for 11/21/07:
Tue, Nov 20, 2007
Public television station WGBH opens its vault to educators
Educators who want to engage their students and add sizzle to their lessons by using video clips and interview transcripts can turn to "Open Vault," a new web site launched by Boston-based public television station WGBH. The site features video clips and interviews from WGBH programming created between 1968 and 1993, including clips of Muhammad Ali discussing his refusal to fight in Vietnam, African American students arriving at school during Boston's court-ordered desegregation, and Robert McNamara reading from a letter sent by Nikita Khrushchev to President Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Open Vault includes more than 500 streaming video clips and more than 1,000 interview transcripts in all. Users can search by keyword or browse by topic (arts, business, education, humanities, Massachusetts, science and technology, and social science) and can view data alphabetically by person and by series. In addition, resource management tools allow educators to annotate and tag records, create topical lists, and send information to students for further study or classroom discussion.
http://openvault.wgbh.org

Thankful for many things

'Tis the season to be thankful. My assistant is flying on his way right now to visit his daughter studying abroad in Israel. While I'm happy for him and his family to spend quality time together, I certainly hope he returns home safely with many happy memories. With that said, hopefully, all of you will have an enjoyable time with loved ones over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Leslie E., being introspective today

More uses for LCD projectors

Added to the uses I have incorporated with the LDC projector, this week brought two more requests from teachers.

1. The special ed. department came in to use the projector to show the class together how to write a response to their reaction to a short story using proper sentence structure. The teacher opened "Appleworks" and began writing their ideas and had the class help her state it with complete sentences, using a topic sentence and proper grammar and punctuation. They could all see it at once with the LCD projector.
2. The Latin teacher also teaches at Hamline University and is privy to a beautiful Latin power point his students could view. Then, they had a follow up to it by use of a clever "Jeopardy" game. The LCD projector was a fabulous way to experience it.

Here is an idea that we can share other interesting ways the LCD projector can be put to good use. My only stipulation is that they must use the LCD projector in the Media Center. We are collaborating ways I can assist the process when the ideas come forth, as well.

Circle of Support group @ Central

While the MILP group was learning about new items at the November meeting, I was @ Central teaching the new teachers Library "stuff" to assist them. Our group is called "Circle of Support." We have experienced teachers and new ones together, working as a team. My lesson utilized the LCD projector and hands-on resources. The teachers were exposed to the following topics.

• The online learning resources subscriptions from spps, elm and Central
• How to do research using keywords, boolean, truncation, wild cards, etc.
• Difference between search engines and databases and even meta search engines like clusty.com
• How to do a "smart google search" (five steps listed previously in another blog)
• Why we need to get on board with Urban Planet websites
• What are directories, invisible web searchable sites and invisible web databases (from robertlackie.com (permission from Rider University)

My next project is to add to the Research process to assist teachers to grasp the twelve steps from the University of MN on how to help students edit their work in a scholarly manner ( ie common mistakes). I will send the link in my next blog.

What a nice concept to collaborate with colleagues! Ah, to have more time....

What a good day!

Some days prove to be fabulous! Today is one of them! Let me count the ways.

• The architects came to discuss the new arrangement in the Media Center to have a real, dedicated computer lab built this summer. Actually, it will be TWO labs of 25 with a moveable wall in between them. The textbooks, library collection, tables, etc. will all need to be moved June 1. This means the library will be closed all summer. It has been a three year process of pushing for a lab and now we'll have two! Just in time for the Science tests to be administered on line. LCD projectors will be installed in the ceilings, as well. Ah, what fun to be included in the twenty-first century!
• Three classes (from the world language department) came in to have a lesson on acquisition of art from Mexico and Spain. They were so excited that I used my LCD projector to show the class paintings from artists and then they could go into the small lab and see the paintings for themselves. It's fun to see pleasure on the faces of students.
• Then, the English teachers came in with students doing Mythology comparison reports. When they saw the tab in ABC-CLIO containing information on Ancient Civilizations, one student said he was glad he didn't have to dig through Google anymore. WE HAVE ARRIVED! He may said it for my benefit, but....oh, well......