All posts by Angie

School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Recommended Apps: Content Creation: Flipgrid

Last summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

 

Website 

The app Flipgrid is an extremely useful platform for video discussion, storytelling, or performance. “There’s virtually no learning curve and teachers control the visibility of the videos.  Teachers post topics in grids and students respond in video of prescribed lengths under three minutes. Responses now include transcripts and individual responses have their own hyperlinks and may be embedded. Flipgrid is now free for teachers and allows them to create one grid with unlimited questions and unlimited responses.”

Level: All
Platform: iOS | Android
Cost: FREE

This review of Flipgrid from Common Sense Education has pros and cons as well as some lesson and activity ideas. This review of the app from Ed Tech Roundup goes through how the app works along with helpful commentary.

Take a look at this quick video overview to see how Flipgrid works in the classroom: 

Communication

Learning About Library Associations: Association of Architecture School Librarians

Library science is an enormous field, home to every interest you could imagine! This means that there are many organizations out there for you to join, in order to connect with other people who share your professional interests.

So even if you work alone in your library, there are other people out there doing work similar to yours! Each week we will highlight a different library association for you to learn more about, and depending on your work, potentially join! You can also check out our page dedicated to Library Associations.

This week we’ll learn about the Association of Architecture School Librarians (AASL). This organization was established in 1979 in order to “advocate for architectural librarianship, build community for members, and foster professional growth through mentoring, partnership, and collaboration.”

Membership to this association is “open to any person or institution interested in the advancement of academic architectural librarianship and architecture education.”

On AASL’s website, you can explore a number of resources. Stay up-to-date with industry news by reading the ACSA news columns or subscribe to their listserv. Apply for a travel or service award. Check out the education and training available from AASL’s Professional Development Committee.

Take a look at the plans for AASL’s upcoming annual conference in Denver, taking place in March. This year’s theme is Identity Imperative, which means the conference “will explore the roles we construct as information professionals associated with architecture and its related fields. We seek to understand ourselves as members of the information profession, members of AASL, and participants of our local communities of practice, education, and cultural institutions. ”

Interested in learning more about becoming a member of AASL? Find more info on their membership page.

 

Books

Book Suggestions: La Belle Sauvage (Book of Dust #1)

We love to read books, and to talk about books. Check out our entire series here! Need more book chatting and suggestions in your life? Listen to our Books and Beverages podcast!

La Belle Sauvage (Book of Dust #1) by Philip Pullman

I haven’t technically started this book yet because I’m just about finished rereading the original series. This series has always been a favorite, and returning to the world(s) of daemons, witches, gyptians, smart and determined kids and Arctic adventuring has been so fun! I’m so excited to see what this prequel has in store!

“Eleven-year-old Malcolm Polstead and his dæmon, Asta, live with his parents at the Trout Inn near Oxford. Across the River Thames (which Malcolm navigates often using his beloved canoe, a boat by the name of La Belle Sauvage) is the Godstow Priory where the nuns live. Malcolm learns they have a guest with them, a baby by the name of Lyra Belacqua”

And if you need to do some rereading of your own, or if you have yet to discover this awesome series, here are the books that make up His Dark Materials:

School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Recommended App: Humanities and Arts: ChineseSkill

Last summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

The app ChineseSkill makes this hard-to-learn language fun and less intimidating. The app is game-based, so users can complete lessons while playing against the computer or friends. Users are able to practice speaking Chinese into the app, which will offer feedback on pronunciation, and there are multiple tests throughout lessons to help cement words and concepts. The app is very comprehensive and covers speaking, reading, and writing.

Level: Kindergarten +
Platform: iOS | Android
Cost: FREE

Check out this review of the app from All Language Resources that includes links to additional resources for more advanced Chinese language study. This article from Startup Living China (scroll down to find the section on ChineseSkill) gives an overview of how to use the app as well as a list of pro/cons. You can check out other resources for learning about China on their page, too!

Watch this short video to get an idea of how the app works:

Books, CMLE

January books for our online book groups!

Happy 2018! We hope you were able to enjoy time with friends and family over the holiday season, and are ready to jump back into the exciting library world! We have new books in our Goodreads online book groups that we hope will inspire and support you in your work at your library. Is there a professional development or library-related fiction book that you’d like to read this year? Please comment with your suggestions!

For our group CMLE Librarian Professionals, we will be inspired to create positive change in the workplace and the world  when we  read Ellen Pao’s Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change.

“Ellen K. Pao’s Reset is a rallying cry–the story of a whistleblower who aims to empower everyone struggling to be heard, in Silicon Valley and beyond. In her book, Pao shines a light on troubling issues that plague today’s workplace and lays out practical, inspiring, and achievable goals for a better future.”

 

For our group CMLE Librarians Enjoying Books we will be exploring the mysterious fantasy of The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins.

“A missing God.
A library with the secrets to the universe. 
A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.
Populated by an unforgettable cast of characters and propelled by a plot that will shock you again and again, The Library at Mount Char is at once horrifying and hilarious, mind-blowingly alien and heartbreakingly human, sweepingly visionary and nail-bitingly thrilling—and signals the arrival of a major new voice in fantasy.”

We hope you find these books useful and enjoyable as you begin 2018! Thanks for reading with us!