Thursday, August 8, 2013

Announcing the DENbrarian Book Selection for August: The Fault in Our Stars


Discovery’s DENbrarians are getting their YA “book on” every month!  Wanna join us?  We’re looking for 10 Media Specialists who would like to select the book for DENbrarian! In October, the lovely and talented Susan Gauthier from Louisiana will be our hostess.  Click here if you’d like to take over for a month!

DENbrarians- get out your Kleenex.  The DENbrarian selection for August is:

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green



Here’s the Book Trailer   ….soon to be a major motion picture!


Summary from Amazon.com: “Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.”
Our Pinterest resource pinboard is ready.  Sign up to be a DENbrarian and you’ll be added soon as a “Pinner” ASAP!  Click here if you’d like to participate in gathering and sharing resources related to each month’s book selection, or  follow our main DENbrarian Pinterest Board which will contain archives of each month’s materials.
———————
Welcome to our book club- EVERYONE is invited! You do NOT have to be a Library Media Specialist to join this group- …you just have to love great Young Adult books!  We began in April with The One and Only Ivan, then we read Wonder in May.  June brought The Apothecary, and now July is The 5th Wave. All books selected will be in the upper elementary to middle grades range and our group will soon move to to online connections, Skyped author visits, virtual discussions, resource sharing, a student project showcase, and hangouts starting soon.

Sandi Dennis- Media and Instructional Technology Specialist- Lead Media Specialist, City Schools of Decatur, Georgia
If you’d like information about the Decatur Book Festival over Labor Day weekend or to volunteer- go here!  It is an amazing celebration of books and authors.

Link to entire post...

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Read, Watch, Interact! Literacy Resources for Grades 5-8



PBS is offering an encore presentation of their wildly popular webinar Read, Watch, Interact! Literacy Resources for Grades 5-8. The webinar will take place on Monday, August 5, 2013 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM (EDT). 
Co-hosted by PBS LearningMedia and AMLE (Association for Middle Level Education), the webinar ...
will focus on adolescent literacy strategies and showcase Common Core-aligned resources from the Inspiring Middle School Literacy Collection.

Register here!  Space is limited so don't hesitate; a previous session of this webinar was oversubscribed. If you receive a message that registration is closed, please email
carolyn_jacobs@wgbh.org to be placed on a waiting list and to receive the recording link. 

Thank you and we look forward to having you join us!

             
Denise Olson
PBS LearningMedia/WGBH Education

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Looking for a virtual book club? Read, Share, Connect with DENbrarians

New DENbrarian YA selection for July will be announced tomorrow! We're going Sci-Fi this month! If you're interested in joining our virtual book club everyone is welcome! 
We're planning author chats, Google Hangouts, and classroom connections starting in September, 2013. Stay connected by signing up on our Google form and we'll send you updates and details...and you'll be added as a collaborator on our Pinterest boards. Even if you just want a great book recommendation each month, please join us!
Happy Reading!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Socrative 101 by Rob Zdrojewski


Rob Zdrojewski from NY is the presenter--  http://www.robztraining.com/ has all the notes and links for this presentation (and others) from #iste2013.

Socrative for Schools Website http://www.socrative.com/schools





Disclaimer: 50 user limit- system made to handle 50 users. This usually is not a problem in a classroom but can be a problem in a larger setting.  
User Testimonial: Demo video from Rob’s classroom
View Rob’s Socrative workshop at Canisius
Overview of features
Teacher Sign Up procedure
Remember, no accounts needed for students
Login Options:
All Users: socrative.com (links at top)
Teachers (shortcut): t.socrative.com
Students (shortcut): m.socrative.com
Two Presentation Modes
On The Fly
Advantages: minimal to no preparation needed
Disadvantages: single questions, anonymous, no results recorded
Multiple choice example (Battle of Alamo slide)
True/False example (TX state capitol?)
Short Answer example, with voting option (favorite app slide)
Quiz Mode
Advantages: multiple questions, capture names, results recorded
Disadvantages: must be prepared in advance
Teacher Paced example (Digital Citizenship) SOC-1445500
Student Paced example (Math Quiz) SOC-1451212
Exit Ticket example (favorite feature slide)
“Space Race” example (Periodic Table)
 Analyzing Results (via email spreadsheet or download)

 Advanced Features- 
-->
Advanced Quiz Options
Select the boxes under the Start Quiz tab to activate these new features
* Randomize Answer Choices
Multiple choice answers will be displayed to students in a random order
* Disable Immediate Student Feedback
Students will not receive feedback when they answer a multiple choice question

New Reporting Options
Don’t want a report?  No problem, just select No Report .
Want to download your report?  Good idea, just select Download Report .
Like to have the report emailed to you? Sounds good, select Email Report .
Not done with the activity yet? Choose Cancel and resume the activity.

Reorder your questions when Editing a Quiz
When editing a quiz in Socrative, you can now change the order of the questions, delete unwanted questions, and add new questions.  To change the order, simply press the up or down arrow at the end of the question block.  Your questions will move accordingly.  It’s that simple.  Don’t forget to Save your changes!

Grey Out Short Answers responses
If you’re using the Short Answer feature and don’t want students to see all of the class generated responses, then click on the X at the end of the row, and it will grey out that selection.  
- See more at: http://www.socrative.com/garden/?p=774#sthash.VyUrOFO8.dpuf

 
Advanced Quiz Options
Select the boxes under the Start Quiz tab to activate these new features
* Randomize Answer Choices
Multiple choice answers will be displayed to students in a random order
* Disable Immediate Student Feedback
Students will not receive feedback when they answer a multiple choice question

New Reporting Options

Don’t want a report?  No problem, just select No Report .
Want to download your report?  Good idea, just select Download Report .
Like to have the report emailed to you? Sounds good, select Email Report .
Not done with the activity yet? Choose Cancel and resume the activity.


Reorder your questions when Editing a Quiz
When editing a quiz in Socrative, you can now change the order of the questions, delete unwanted questions, and add new questions.  To change the order, simply press the up or down arrow at the end of the question block.  Your questions will move accordingly.  It’s that simple.  Don’t forget to Save your changes!

Grey Out Short Answers responses

If you’re using the Short Answer feature and don’t want students to see all of the class generated responses, then click on the X at the end of the row, and it will grey out that selection.  This way you can narrow down student responses or remove unsavory comments.  Then press Vote and only the full colored responses will be eligible.
- See more at: http://www.socrative.com/garden/?p=774#sthash.VyUrOFO8.dpu
Advanced Quiz Options
Select the boxes under the Start Quiz tab to activate these new features
* Randomize Answer Choices
Multiple choice answers will be displayed to students in a random order
* Disable Immediate Student Feedback
Students will not receive feedback when they answer a multiple choice question

New Reporting Options

Don’t want a report?  No problem, just select No Report .
Want to download your report?  Good idea, just select Download Report .
Like to have the report emailed to you? Sounds good, select Email Report .
Not done with the activity yet? Choose Cancel and resume the activity.


Reorder your questions when Editing a Quiz
When editing a quiz in Socrative, you can now change the order of the questions, delete unwanted questions, and add new questions.  To change the order, simply press the up or down arrow at the end of the question block.  Your questions will move accordingly.  It’s that simple.  Don’t forget to Save your changes!

Grey Out Short Answers responses

If you’re using the Short Answer feature and don’t want students to see all of the class generated responses, then click on the X at the end of the row, and it will grey out that selection.  This way you can narrow down student responses or remove unsavory comments.  Then press Vote and only the full colored responses will be eligible.
- See more at: http://www.socrative.com/garden/?p=774#sthash.VyUrOFO8.dpuf
Advanced Quiz Options
Select the boxes under the Start Quiz tab to activate these new features
* Randomize Answer Choices
Multiple choice answers will be displayed to students in a random order
* Disable Immediate Student Feedback
Students will not receive feedback when they answer a multiple choice question

New Reporting Options

Don’t want a report?  No problem, just select No Report .
Want to download your report?  Good idea, just select Download Report .
Like to have the report emailed to you? Sounds good, select Email Report .
Not done with the activity yet? Choose Cancel and resume the activity.


Reorder your questions when Editing a Quiz
When editing a quiz in Socrative, you can now change the order of the questions, delete unwanted questions, and add new questions.  To change the order, simply press the up or down arrow at the end of the question block.  Your questions will move accordingly.  It’s that simple.  Don’t forget to Save your changes!

Grey Out Short Answers responses

If you’re using the Short Answer feature and don’t want students to see all of the class generated responses, then click on the X at the end of the row, and it will grey out that selection.  This way you can narrow down student responses or remove unsavory comments.  Then press Vote and only the full colored responses will be eligible.
- See more at: http://www.socrative.com/garden/?p=774#sthash.VyUrOFO8.dpuf
Customizing your room number
Sharing quizzes
Importing quizzes via excel templates
Integration with Edmodo apps
 Closing Quiz SOC-1446273

Your Digital Tattoo #iste2013



Monday, June 24, 2013

Pinterest Link-a-Rama: Great Educational Boards to Follow from #iste2013

Sandi Dennis
Livebinder with Pinterest Resources:

Pinterest Link-a-Rama:
 



Curriculum/PD/Teaching & Learning

Language Arts/Literacy


Math



Social Studies

Science



Art

Music

Physical Education

Special Education

Counselor


Kindergarten/Primary

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade


Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

Sixth Grade

Classroom/School Ideas

iPads/iPods

TechnologyBlogs/Wikis /Websites

Interactive Whiteboards


Assessment










By Janet Corder and Joan Gore- presenters
tinyurl.com/j2shelf is the site of the presenters' binders