An Uplifting Story about the Library of Alexandria - Who Says the Library is Dead

I found this NPR story about the Library of Alexandria, and how it survived the current Egyptian protests and revolution, uplifting for several reasons. First of all, the picture of young protesters holding hands surrounding the building to 'protect' it was beautiful. Secondly, this most historic of libraries is clearly keeping up to date with it's 21st first century services and technology, and so is providing information and technologies to help inform the citizens of Alexandria. And this weekend, coincidentally, it's hosting it's annual conference on Reform in the Arab World!

Read or listen here.

In case you missed it

Here's an interesting NY Times article about the documentary, "Race to Nowhere" and parents' reactions. Apparently, you can only see this film at private screenings. School PTA's, especially those in high-achieving suburban districts, seem to be at the forefront of orchestrating screenings followed by lively discussion. Is this, perhaps, more relevant to our district than "Waiting for Superman"? I'd like to see both. Here's the NY Times review.

What does this mean for us?

I've been trying to plan an inquiry-based research project for my fifth grade classes that incorporates a lot of my current research lessons such as, using databases, creating bibliographies, summarizing, website evaluation, etc. But instead of using themes like Lewis & Clark and the Iditarod, as well as discrete activities each week, I wanted students to choose their own topic and create a product at the end of say, 6 weeks, of step-by-step lessons on these skills.

I also want the students to work in teams of 2-3 students, and Google Presentation would be an ideal product because the skills learned would be directly transferable to Powerpoint, which is a 5th grade technology benchmark. Also, Google Presentation would allow the kind of collaboration that is so necessary and valuable for this kind of learning. So my question is - how does this October announcement that 'Google Apps to be implemented in K-12 schools across New York state' affect us? How soon can we use these great collaborative tools? Anyone have any idea?

Sunday Reading

I'm so happy to have an excuse to sit in my lounge chair in the backyard and read. (There is an upside to the whole empty nest thing!) Today's NY Times Magazine is devoted to Education & Technology. There's a fascinating article on gaming in the classroom, and how it's being used instead of traditional curriculum and textbooks in a NYC public school. Happy reading and enjoy this beautiful Sunday.

What to do with all those weeded books?

So, you may be wondering what to do with those weeded books after leaving them in the faculty room for a week with a 'Free Books' sign.  I came across this design blog post that might answer that question, IF you have a hot-glue gun or two or three and a bit of creativity running through your librarian veins.  I just don't agree with the title.  

Computing in the Couds for Librarians and Teachers

I'm embedding this form for the Saturday workshop participants to fill out.

Here's the link to the spreadsheet which was automatically created by this form.