TeachingBooks.net – I just starting using this website for my paired text teacher’s guide in LIBS 642. It is actually an online database used to search for both children’s and young adult literature. In the library, students would be able to search for books by title, series, author, reading level; or they can enter the title of a book they enjoyed and it will pull similar titles. As a librarian, TeachingBooks.net is a resource for connecting with specific types of students (ELs and gifted); by subject (STEM, World languages, social studies); and there are also connections to vocabulary, diverse literature, and an author’s purpose. I think this would be a valuable resource for any librarian and could really be an asset when it comes to lesson and activity planning. https://www.teachingbooks.net/
World 101 – The site divides the world into 6 regions and each region has 6 topics you can explore like modern history, people and society, and economics. As far as uses in the library, each subsection has a teaching resources tab where you can find discussion topics and suggested reading lists. There is a lot of interesting info, facts, and knowledge available in World 101 which is presented succinctly using both text and visuals such as maps. There is also a suggested infographic to have students create. I think this tool will be very useful for staying current as well as inspiring us as librarians to maintain a multi-cultural perspective with both literature and our students. https://world101.cfr.org/rotw/overview
The Incredibly True Adventures of an EdTech Trailblazer (Blog) – I really enjoyed reading Nikki’s most recent blog, which is the speech she gave as the closing keynote speaker at the Kansas Association of School Librarians’ summer institute (virtually of course). She discusses the importance of the impact school librarians have on student learning and achievement. She describes the “new normal” that school librarians must both adapt to and embrace. She has some good examples of how school librarians can show their value through data driven, yet visually appealing reports. There are many interesting library related links, an archive of her previous blogs, as well as technology related links and ideas. http://www.nikkidrobertson.com/
I started following several blogs after I took LIBS 608 last spring. We worked on the “resources” section of our portfolio which is when I realized that reading blogs about hands-on, current, real-life librarian experiences has a lot of value. There are many bloggers out there and it takes some time and patience, but I think if we are able to find several blogs we can relate to, learn from, and keep going back to it will help us stay current and inspire us to do all we can for our students. I think compiling a list of blogs also helps us remember there are many of us in the same situation and that we are dealing with like issues…what a great way to learn from others since, unlike classroom teachers, we won’t typically be working directly with other librarians.
References:
American Society of School Librarians. (2020). Best digital tools for teaching and learning. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/awards/best
Council on Foreign Relations. (2020). World 101. Retrieved from https://world101.cfr.org/rotw/overview
Robertson, N. (2020). The Incredibly New Adventures of an EdTech Trailblazer [blog]. Retrieved from http://www.nikkidrobertson.com/2020/
TeachingBooks. (2020). Teaching books website. https://www.teachingbooks.net/
August 4, 2020 at 8:44 pm
Hi Kate,
I was drawn to some of the same website tools and blog as you! Good choices! I really like the teachingbooks.net website too – especially the author recordings. When introducing a new book to students, how cool is it that you can also play them the author talking about themselves – and many of them go over how to pronounce their names or the origins of their names. I feel like that extra audio layer may help students to remember authors’ names and connect them more to a book when they actually get to hear the author speaking.
– Julie
August 5, 2020 at 5:03 pm
I also really enjoyed perusing The Incredibly True Tales Of An EdTech Trailblazer blog! School librarians can make such a big impact on students and provide a calm, safe environment for students. It is important as future librarians that we express to teachers and admin that we can be so much more than the place where students go to check out books.
August 5, 2020 at 8:20 pm
I had not focused on World 101 or that it was from the Council on Foreign Relations, a site I use all the time in my HNs comparative government class. I will be using this site constantly this year (never mind when I become a librarian!).
August 5, 2020 at 9:16 pm
Your chosen blog looks very interesting. I am going to have o check it out more.
August 6, 2020 at 6:50 pm
One of the things I like about blogs is that you can set up subscription to get an email whenever there’s a new post. So, we just get emails when there’s something new to read. I’ve also found that a lot of the more prominent bloggers are also cultivating a presence on Twitter, and sometimes Youtube as well. I created a Twitter account for my librarian self, and follow library interests from there. That way it’s separate from the one I use for my classroom.