Digital Nation

Patty Lopez and I were lucky enough to attend the 'Celebration of Teaching and Learning' last month. I love that conference because there's so much to choose from, so many great speakers and attendees that it generates such positive energy and excitement. Our biggest challenge was deciding what workshops and panel discussions to attend. We split up several times and got together to compare notes afterwards. Patty reported that the panel discussion by the makers of the PBS documentary Digital Nation was fascinating as they showed parts of the documentary and discussed the questions of how the digital age is affecting brain function and development.

I was bummed that I didn't get to attend so I searched for the video online and of course, it's there, as well as online discussions on the themes presented. You can watch the hour and a half video in segments, like I did, while preparing dinner or whenever you have a few minutes. It really is worthwhile, since we, 'digital immigrants', are teaching 'digital natives' every day, and it's important to try to understand what that means, in terms of the way they think and learn. For better or worse, the digital age is here to stay. We must strive to understand its effect on our students and children, in order to teach them better.

Wow - guess who has a secret longing to be a librarian!

I knew this was a cool profession. He even talks about the Dewey Decimal System!


Read all about it here.

Biblioburro - The Library Donkey

If you haven't seen this video, check out Luis Soriano from La Gloria, Colombia, as he brings books to children on his donkey. The second video shows the progress he's made with donations from the first video. The power of Web 2.0!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuTswmx9TQU

Gotta Keep Reading

Since the embedded youtube video, below, is blocked at school, here's the teachertube version.


Gotta Keep Reading

Happy National Library Week!

I've been sharing this video with classes as part of a 'Just Right Book' lesson this last week. You've probably seen it going around the internet. Apparently it was on Oprah...


There's also a copy of this on Teachertube.com, for those days when youtube is blocked. I put a link to the teachertube video on our Destiny homepage.

Did You Know 4.0

Take a look at this latest "Shift Happens" video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

What I'm Reading Now

Thanks, Carolyn, for the spring break read, This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save us All, by Marilyn Johnson. As usual, I'm very much behind my planned goal of finishing the book by the time we get back to school tomorrow. But I'm at the chapter entitled 'The Blog People' which documents the prolific creation of blogs by a new generation of tech-savvy, irreverant librarians. And it seemed an appropriate time to practice blogging and inserting a book cover!

Some of the blog titles that Marylin mentions and which I'm definitely going to check out (just based on the fun name):

Miss Information

The Obnoxious Librarian from Hades

Free Range Librarian

Librarian's Rant

Info Babe

Wow, I'm feeling really boring with this name - should have been a little more creative?