Martindale's Musings

  Hello Friends! I have taken a break from this blog this summer to spend time with my 2 kids and husband. Quarantine was/is hard. Some days I do really well & some days, we take everything one step at a time. I have been able to work in my campus office and get some items set up for my contract start.  As of now, I am scheduled to help teachers and collaborate with them for lessons that they are teaching virtually. Some librarians are being pulled to work with homerooms as the campus may be short teachers.  We shall see what I am asked to do once the semester gets rolling.  My library will not be open to allow for student circulation.  It makes me sad for the students, but I really understand the precautions that our district is taking.  I am enrolled in 2 grad school courses for the semester, so you'll be able to see some of what I do in those courses as the semester gets rolling. What about you, what are you up to this Fall?

I absolutely loved taking this class. I was already comfortable with technology and tried to incorporate it into my library lessons weekly; but this course allowed me to take it a step further. It allowed me to view and use some of the programs and apps in ways I had not before, I also really liked being able to see the ways that other students/my peers used both the same apps/technology I’ve used but differently, and the way they found new apps/technology to complete tasks in similar ways. I enjoyed reading about the ways that they made an app complete a similar task, but  much more efficiently than what I had found.  I am the type of learner that learns best by “doing,” and this class really allowed me to do that.  One fellow classmate shared about “Fotojet Online Graphic Designer” on their “Comics & Cartoons” blog and I liked that they shared about an app similar to ones I used, but this one had different options. I think that sharing in discussion boards and bl...

Universal Design for Learning “The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. ( http://udlguidelines.cast.org/ )”  The tool is a chart that has different means with guidelines and goals for learning. I like the web version of the chart as it is interactive and will take the viewer to pages that give more details and great examples.  A couple of things from the UDL chart that I already do and feel comfortable with are: Means of Representation, Access Guideline 1 Perception. Interact with flexible content that doesn't depend on a single sense like sight, hearing, movement, or touch. When I create lessons I make sure that I have different tasks or ways for students to “receive” the information I share. I understand that there are different types of learners in my campus and work to ensure ...

Libraries & Librarians Have you ever heard anyone says that having a library and a librarian is pointless? Listen in to my podcast to hear some info on why libraries and librarians are important. 

Podcasting is a great way to listen to a variety of things and also share about things you know.  Podcasts are not only radio show topics, but also include cooking, crafting, podcasts for dog lovers, devotionals, edtech, educational, and yes, even podcasts for those who enjoy Pokemon. If there is something that interests you, there is most likely a podcast for you to listen to.  Librarians and teachers can use podcasts for simple things such as book talks, but they can also be used for someone who is being interviewed for their thoughts about a book, and can be used for book club discussions. Instructional materials for the library can also be recorded in the form of a podcast.  The possibilities are truly only limited as you wish for them to be.   Here are a couple of good reasons to using podcasts in school:      ~Flexibility-podcasts are open 24/7 & on different devices      ~Most peo...

As the popularity of Graphic Novels rises, we as media specialist librarians should use the format of comics to our advantage.  Students already are drawn to them (no pun intended) and using comics, avatars, and graphic novel styles to present information is bound to get their attention. I used several sites and apps to create some that I thought would be helpful for me in my library.  Here are some questions I was able to answer about each. 1. Pixton Evaluation of the site Google Sign-in Teachers can create classes and students can join in class. Not a huge variety of backgrounds on the free version. Were the comics easy to create?  Had to learn their set up, but it was not bad. Could change facial expressions of the characters. Can change poses of each character individually “Words” are easy to add, can choose from different formats-speech, shout, whisper, thought Easy to save?  Can download, print, or share. D...