Thing 22:  Teaching & Learning with Primary Resources

I am so glad I decided to learn a bit more about primary resources for teaching and learning!!  Sometimes we librarians think we know all the best sites - such as the Library of Congress and various databases that provide some primary resources, however, I now have some really good sources to share with the teachers at my school.  

First off, I was fascinated to see the real "Green Book" used by African Americans during the Jim Crow years - our students study and write papers about this time period every year.  By coincidence, there is a very popular movie showing titled "Green Book" that I am going out to see tonight & I had no idea why the movie had that title until now.  Wow - I am learning something important that I can share at school and it will be incredibly useful and interesting to share this primary resource supported by the New York Public Library.  

I also enjoyed reading the article by Hayley Glatter in the Atlantic magazine about using primary resources in the classroom to teach about current events - which are so relevant to the students at our school.  Specifically, teaching about the Black Lives Matter Movement.  Most textbooks are too out-of-date to discuss current events or to compare the past to things that are shaping our world today.  Primary source documents, such as current news articles, can provide information in an objective format allowing students to form their own critical evaluation of the information.  I love the quote in the article that stated "No one reads a textbook as an adult, - What do you read? You read the newspapers, magazines, and (Social Studies is) basically based on news." In addition, Common Core Learning Standards demand the use of more primary sources in education.  Note:  I realize news articles are not all primary sources...just the articles that describe the event as it happens on the day or time period in which it happens.

Some new sources that I came across were compliments of Larry Ferlazzo, an educator and prolific author of educational materials.  His fantastic compilation of websites for topics covered in the high school classroom were awesome!!  I especially liked his Websites of the Day and Best of the Week Websites.  I found some unique sites that I have never seen before.  I bookmarked his main website and will be passing Larry's website on to the teachers at my school.

The new apps by the Library of Congress were fun to play around with;  Engaging Congress and Eagle Eye both seem like resources that can be used for our high school social studies classes.  I really liked the Engaging Congress app, although it may be a little challenging for secondary students.  The trivia questions are presented a little like the online game Kahoot - which is well-loved by students.  I thought the video stories were fun with cartoon images explaining historical events and users can answer questions interactively by moving the correct responses into place.  I would recommend this app to anyone interested in learning more about the U.S. Government.

Eagle Eye was a user-friendly interactive game where the user can sort primary source images into the correct area or put primary sources in the correct order.  To do this, the user needs to take a closer look to get the correct answers. It is in this way the user learns about the source as he/she is sorting through.  This seems like a middle school activity, but it can still be great for getting high school students to take a closer look at primary source documents.  Teachers can create an account and do more, such as create individualized lessons.  Video instruction is included with tips and other suggestions that teachers may need to use this site.

Lastly, I took a good look at NY Heritage and the Digital Public Library of America.  I was aware of both sources and determined that I definitely needed to add DPLA to my library webpage for the primary source sets which were quite impressive!  NY Heritage was limited as I did not find what I was looking for by doing a search and if I had a hard time finding a specific image or related document, then the students would not find it either.  Compared to DPLA, it is not user-friendly, nor does it have enough collections of interest for the high school.  

Thing 24:  Google Drawings

Since our school is fully integrated with Google educational tools and uses Chromebooks, I thought I should see how Google Drawings could be used in the classroom or for personal use.  Glad I did as I liked the many options for creating visual graphics.

Teachers and students could find many ways to utilize the graphic organizer templates in the Google Drawings Resources posted by Eric Curts.  The training video explains how these templates can be used for a wide variety of subjects from the life cycle of insects to writing and word exercises. Math teachers could make use of Google Drawings with whatever shapes they want students to accurately measure (a video is dedicated just for math).  Mind mapping could also be used with this tool.  Students may prefer to show what they have learned by creating a graphic organizer to demonstrate their knowledge instead of writing an essay.  Students can also organize their research and writing by using them.  This free tool also allows the collaborative sharing of the templates.  It is also easy to insert pictures, links, videos, etc.

I was excited to watch the video that Curts posted on creating greeting cards.  I have done it in Microsoft Publisher and this is similar in the way it functions, except maybe a little easier.  You just copy the template and begin to put in your own wording and pictures.  The Research option helps you find a good image which can be dragged and dropped into the template.  Users can choose from up to 700 different fonts too.  You need to flip the message/images for the top half when you are done, but that is really easy with the rotate or flip vertically tab.  I will definitely be coming back to this Google Drawing tool in the future.  Check out my card with the link below.  I tried to insert it as a picture but it was not working.  It might be because I saved it as a pdf instead of a jpg.

Greeting Card with Google Drawing Tool

Another way the I can use this tool at school will be for creating pathfinders, brochures, newsletters, and posters.  The posters can be interactive with any multimedia resource that you would like to incorporate.  Infographics may be great as tutorials for technology instruction or as a way to share information in a simplified graphic.  Visual learners will appreciate the many ways that the Drawing tool can create and share information.

Lastly, I have opened a free account with The Noun Project to get some really great icons to use in school publications and signage.  This is the most diverse collection of royalty-free icons (over a million to choose from). You can even change the color and size.  'Love the simple reading and library icons.  Check it out below:

Thing 14: Bitmoji Fun

Bitmoji Fun

In an effort to break the stereotype of a boring old conservative librarian, I thought I should try creating a Bitmoji for myself.  Also, I use emoji's often in my text messages (and sometimes emails), so why not expand on the cute visuals with my communication, right?

I like the way the Daring Librarian has used them to enhance her signage in the library with her themed Bitmoji's.  If I were working at the elementary level, some of this signage could be helpful to students that are not yet reading or have learning disabilities.  When I worked in a special education classroom, we had picture exchange cards that our students could use to indicate what they wanted - very helpful for kids that were not talking or reading.  They also had PEC schedules so they knew ahead of time what activity was coming next.  If the teachers had a cartoon image of themselves, the students could know even more about what was going to happen that day and with whom. This may not sound like a big deal, but to children with autism, it can mean the difference between a calm understanding child or one who will become extremely distraught if the sequence of events is not what he/she expected.

So, I will use my new Bitmoji image with some of the signs that use in my library, my library newsletter, and on my updated bookmarks that I use for usernames and passwords to the district databases.  The Back to School Bookmarks by Tiffany Whitehead were inspiring with the Bitmoji images and QR code.  I am definitely excited to add my Bitmoji image to the library webpage as well - it could use a few nerdy cartoon images of me with books or promoting library services.

Unfortunately, I cannot download the Chrome Extension for Bitmoji on my school laptop so I will have to use it from my home computer or my iPad.  I had no trouble using it on my phone - seems like it is meant for this device.  Anyway, it will be fun to use these images of myself to relay a message to friends.  If I can get it to work with my Remind App for the book club, that will be great, but it wasn't going through when I experimented just now (could not search for the image I needed).  I don't like having to login everytime I want to use Bitmoji - that will definitely prevent me from using it on a regular basis (much easier to use with text messages).

I realize that Snapchat is connected to Bitmoji and it looked like there were some very fun (silly) ways to use Bitmoji with photos.  I especially liked the Booksnaps and would like to experiment with that - as a librarian, this is a graphic way to highlight parts of the text that you want to share.  I would need to connect with students on Snapchat first.  Right now I have no "friends" on the service to send a "snap" to.  I have never been comfortable taking selfies & it seems like that is part of the fun here.  I probably sound as old as I am right now (in my 50's)!!

I used my phone to create my image in Bitmoji - quite easy and surprisingly specific with every facial feature. Here are a few Bitmoji's with my image.  I think they look like a slightly younger & prettier version of myself, but I am okay with that 😉  The glasses were PERFECT.  If you wanted a Bitmoji to make you look like an older person, you may not find a good representation offered.