The Busy Librarian

Fanboy alert.

Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen.

I’m kinda keen on the books (and company) of Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, author of Hampire and other delightful picture books for children.

Since meeting Sudipta at our state library conference some five or so years ago we’ve been fast friends and enjoyed sharing a cynical sense of humor, a passion for do-gooding, and a love of really awesome books and awesome people. My wife adores her. My son regularly requests her “pig books” and is now old enough to know her by name and face. And with each time she has visited our library she has earned a whole new legion of fans. Miss Sudipta knows how to leave her mark.

Which is why I thought it apropos to share a giveaway recently advertised via the Nerdy Chicks Rule blog.

Along with the cover reveal of her newest picture book, entitled Duck Duck Moose and illustrated by Noah Z. Jones, of Fish Hooks and Stuff fame, Sudipta is giving away a 45-minute Virtual Visit in which she’ll tell her audience all about how Duck Duck Moose came to be, a story I’ve been lucky enough to see unfold.

You can enter multiple times to win, but you’ll need to visit Nerdy Chicks Rule to find out how. Entries will be accepted until Monday, May 27th and the winner will be announced on May 29th.

Sudipta’s visits are always memorable and always has something new in the works to show us. Don’t miss out on this opportunity for your students!

And while you’re at it, here’s a starter kit of books by Sudipta you should request from your local book store:

1. Hampire! - Duck’s bedtime appetite is enough to send him on a moonlit journey through the farm to the farmer’s refrigerator, but Duck isn’t the only one out at night on the hunt for a midnight snack

2. Chicks Run Wild - When Momma hen puts her chicks to bed, outs the lights, and closes the door, do those chicks fall fast asleep? No way! Those chicks run wild!

3. Pirate Princess - Why grow up to be a princess when you could lead a pirate’s life?

4. The Hog Prince - To whom do we owe true love’s kiss?

5. The Mine-O-Saur - Nobody likes a friend who never shares.



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The second annual School Library Month Shelf Challenge has concluded and though I was left with an intimidating stack of unread books, I also received a lot of great feedback from the participants.

And thanks to the suggestions of pals Shannon Miller, who created some stunning Hobbit infographics with her students in December using PictoChart, and Kathy Schrock, who keynoted our annual MASL conference last October and who is a constant source of inspiration, I created my very own infographic to sum up the success of our second annual Shelf Challenge!

I used easel.ly (pronounce like easily), which is a free web tool still in beta and so SO cool. Clean interface. Nice templates. Easy to use, save, edit, and share. Definitely a tool I look forward to using often in the future.

If you read with the Shelf Challenge this year, thanks for being part of something BIG! It was awesome to have your support and to see you supporting one another. I look forward to joining again next year.

If you’re new to the Shelf Challenge, we’d love to have you on board for next year. It’s a great opportunity to get to know your collection a little better, from gems to dreads.

View the infographic via easel.ly’s webpage by clicking here or scroll down and enjoy!
easel.ly

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Deceptively simple gameplay. Excellent replayability.

This is still one of my favorite trophies and certainly one that could inspire awesome kid-created dot trophies!

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Mother of three. Mother of me.

Today I’m devoting this space to mom. Specifically, my mom. And how her influence helped shape who I am today.

Celebrating turning 6 with a birthday party at McDonalds. Mom doesn’t miss the opportunity to influence a future librarian.

Mom, in light of recent accolades I’m reminded of the perhaps cliche act of mom shout-outs captured on film whenever a team wins the Superbowl, a young man wins an Academy award, or a child takes the stage at a spring concert. It’s the “Hi, Mom!”, the “I love you, Mom!”, or, even, the “first off, I want to thank my mother… the most important person in my life” that come to mind.

I wonder if you know that several people at work have seen your Facebook posts, forwarding a recent news article, singing your maternal pride and love for me. They say, “I can tell she’s really proud of you.” I smile every time.

You taught me to be honest with others and to be kind to the people I meet. You taught me to take pride in what I accomplish and to be thankful for the gifts I’m given. You provided for me whenever you could and helped me to understand not to ask for things out of want. You and dad gave me the tools to create success, allowed me the room to make mistakes, and provided opportunities to demonstrate responsibility.

Me at 3.

As my son, your grandson, approaches his 3rd birthday I have become reflective even more so on my role in his life and my influence on who he will become. I image you did the same countless times over as you watched me grow. So allow me to close by saying I’m sorry I caused you so much worry. There were some very late nights and some very sketchy parts of town. And, although I was always in the company of my friends, I always follow up stories of playing clubs in Baltimore with how blind teenagers must be to the danger of the situations they put themselves in. Thankfully for me, things never got too real. And those nights that you were still waiting up even though you knew where I was and who I was with and how late I’d be getting home… it still mattered to me that you waited and that you worried. The years working at my school have caused me to regularly consider the home lives of my students. I sometimes wonder if they have someone waiting up and worrying over them. Sometimes I know the answer to that question and it makes me sad.

So, thank you for worrying over me. For loving me. For helping me to love my students and care for them in a way that reflects the morals on which I was raised.
I love you, Mom. Happy Mother’s Day.

- Matthew

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Happy Teacher Appreciation Week. I hope your taking time to feel the love.

And if you’re out there, Mrs. Boyer, thanks for teaching me love and tolerance during every day in when I was in Kindergarten and most impressionable. There are still times when I pick up a banana and wonder if maybe, just maybe Mr. Bananaman is on the other end of the line waiting for my phone call to bring me a delicious treat.

And if you read this, Mrs. Senn, know that I still think about that time I took the three plastic beads when I was in Mrs. Pagano’s art class and then, later, you caught me fidgeting with them in my desk. You made me walk back to Mrs. Pagano’s room, hand them back, and apologize in front of her entire class. That set me on a path of honesty for life.

And though our paths might never cross again, thank you, Mrs. Walls, for the countless hours I now understand you must have expended in preparing such memorable, messy, creative projects with us. I can still picture the jungle amusement park I designed in Special Activities with you in second grade, the sprouts we grew in mason jars, and the speech I gave about the Olympics. You cared about each of us so sincerely and the investments you made in our future are abundant.

“There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.”  - Robert Frost

I’m thankful to have had teachers who knew when to support and when to step back, when to be strict and when to show love, when to instruct and when to inspire. 

Thank you for your hand in who I am today.

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Introduction:


Caption: Aaron Smith (@theArtGuy) opens our ceremony.

Dearly beloved friends, relatives, and faithful servants of the cosmic slide sorter,

We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of one of our dearest and most beloved presentation tools. I’m speaking, of course, of our friend, PowerPoint, whose lively slide transitions and memorable .ppt file extensions will not soon be forgotten. 

It is my understanding that a number of your have taken time to craft a eulogy which you would like to share with us today. Who would like to go first? Ah, yes. SlideRocket.

1. SlideRocket



SlideRocket (now ClearSlide) is an easy first step away from the traditional slide show presentation. It’s free to use, it’s interface is clean, and the presentations can be accessed from anywhere online. While cloud hosting may be a quality each of the guests today share, SlideRocket has a few very useful qualities which make it unique. Users can add images to slides from home files or by accessing Flickr. Keeping in line with acceptable use, SlideRocket only allows users to access those Flickr images located under Creative Commons. Images are also cited within the slide. This becomes a great teachable moment when using the tool with students. A second feature which comes in handy is the ability to save entire slides to a slide library. This allows users to reuse slides in other/future presentations. But what’s nice about this is that all iterations of the slide are connected. Make a change to a slide from the slide library in presentation #1 and it automatically updates the slide in any other presentation it occurs. Excellent for keeping contact information or links up-to-date.

And now I believe Prezi has something to say.

2. Prezi
Prezi is the dynamic presentation tool. Like directing a camera over a giant poster of your entire presentation, Prezi’s ability to imitate scale and movement is unmatched. New features such as the 3-D background, a huge variety of templates, and the ability to collaborate demonstrate just how hard the people behind Prezi are working to ensure the tool is constantly innovative and keeping up with the needs of its users. I often tell colleagues that though Prezi is by far the most time-consuming of my recommended presentation tools, it’s also unparalleled in it’s ability to capture an artistic vision.

Would anyone else like to share? Yes, PowToon. You can go next. No need to wave your hands so enthusiastically. 

3. PowToon


PowToon is difficult to describe until you see it. Because the tool is fully animated, it’s hard not to see it as just a movie of sorts. PowToon does animations very, very well, and their ready-to-use templates for almost any presentation style make creating a piece of cake. Every is drag-and-drop and there are a wide variety of animations and font styles to differentiate from one presentation to the next. But here the real success lies in directing the film. PowToon works on default 10-second scenes that can be lengthened as needed. But inside the scene you time when items appear and disappear from on screen. Placing stoppers also allows users to halt the flow of the video altogether (picture this as the moment before hitting forward on a slide show). A free account allows users to create up to 5 minutes of video, but I haven’t come anywhere near this any of the times I’ve worked with the tool. Remember, you time the film and indicate when to stop on a scene for effect or for your audience to read. This does not count against your 5 minutes. It’s the tool I’ve spent the least time with, but it’s certainly one I know I’ll use a lot in the future.

Thank you for being so patient, PhotoPeach. I understand you’d like to go next?

4. PhotoPeach

So Long, Powerpoint (4 of 6) on PhotoPeach

PhotoPeach can work like Animoto in that you can use it to create beautiful, engaging photo slideshows to share with friends and family. But the feature that sets PhotoPeach aside is that it also gives users the ability to create an in-show quiz. By setting up multiple choice questions within the presentation, users can engage their audience in a unique way that can be used to test comprehension or, simply, to entertain. PhotoPeach also connects with a library of free-to-use music that adds a hint of personalization to the final product.

It appears our own social media maven, Projeqt, is ready to share a couple choice words.

5. Projeqt


I am most excited to use Projeqt to its full potential. Projeqt does a couple of really unique things that are both creative and unique, make it seem like the ultra cool big sister of the presentation tools. Using a stack of slides, users can organize content into stacks and stacks within stacks, creating a presentation experience that feels much more like exploring than lecture. The tool also connects with a wide array of social media tools, allowing users to display live Twitter feeds, run Spotify playlists, reference Flickr images, key into Google maps, and a wealth of other tools that instantly become as meaningful and relevant to your presentation as needed. What’s more, these links are all live-fed, so they update in real time. A Projeqt presentation returned to in a week (or even an hour) may not be exactly the same as the one shared at a conference. To me, this feels as if Projeqt is inviting me to tell a story using my social media tools. And this is challenging because I’ve never before been asked (or been able) to do so. Seeing what the Projeqt community has created is a constant source of inspiration.

And, lastly, we will turn over the podium to Google Drive for some closing remarks.

6. Google Drive

Google Drive offers up some powerful opportunities to collaborate. It’s presentation interface is identical, though simplified, to PowerPoint and through sharing customization, it’s possible for a group of students to develop an entire presentation in tandem. One of the handiest features is the real-time archive of changes to the document, making it possible to recover deleted material through restoring a previous revision. I’ve left this particular Drive presentation as a public share, allowing anyone with the link to edit. I’d like to invite you to open the doc and add some closing words, too. Consider what thoughts you have for our late friend and add yours to the growing list of others on the final presentation slides.

And with that, we say our final goodbyes to PowerPoint, who served us all well for a good number of years and who now my rest easy knowing we’ve got friends to support us and take care of our every presentation need.

You are invited to light refreshments and punch in the lobby immediately following the service.

Sincerely,

The Busy Librarian Funeral Home Staff

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Dear Maryland Librarians,  (fast forward to the bottom if this isn’t you )

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I have begun the process of letting go, saying goodbye.

Our new mascot, as voted on by our students,  will be revealed (hence the “?”) in early August.

This August I will leave Longfellow to open Ducketts Lane Elementary, our county’s newest school. As expected, the transition is bittersweet. The opportunity to open a new school, work from the ground up to develop the collection, and start anew as one of an energetic and talented staff is something I may never have a chance to do again. As the school’s library media specialist I will, once again, have the chance to develop a strong library program (this time with the help of a part time media specialist) and support and engage with an entirely new school community. It will truly be something wonderful.

This will be an awesome adventure.

But this move is not without drawbacks. After six years at Longfellow, I now leave the very
environment that supported and cultivated those talents and innovations that awarded me the consideration for placement at the new school. It is hard not to feel like I’m walking out of the lives of my students, especially those who have come to rely on me as a stable force in the school building. I struggle not to think that I’m abandoning them, like so many others in their lives have done already.

This is all, of course, because I love my students.

I will leave. And they will be fine.

Will there be tears? Yes.

Will it be difficult at first? Of course.

But, in the meantime, I’d like to make sure the transition happens as smoothly as possible. This is where you will be able to help me, my fellow PLN.

What lesson/activity ideas can you share for helping students welcome your replacement?

I’d like to do something really sweet that can be as much a celebration of our experiences over the past six years as it can be a welcome to the library’s newest TL. Program highlights? Favorite lessons? Coolest projects? What can we share or do to keep the focus on the positive? What have you done… or what has been done for you?

I would love for you to share in the comments below.

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