Tuesday Tips November 29, 2016

TECH TIP:  My Simple Show Explainer Video Creator

Each quarter, instead of grades, I put together a Quarterly Report on activity and statistics in the library.  I use these Quarterly Reports as a way to learn new tech tools.  For this First Quarter Report, I used MySimpleShow, which is an online program that produces animated explainer videos.  It was very easy to use and could be a great project with students.  You select the type of video you want to produce (Explain a medical disease, a biological process, an historical event, a mathematical concept, etc.) and then you write the script into the pre-organizing story board.  Based on your text, options for line drawn images are given.  Select what you want and then you can do your own recording or use the computer generated voices to read your script.  Hit Publish and you're done!  

Here is my video for the 1st Quarter of the Library (lots of fun stats in there :)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB4XLyTlO74

BOOK TIP:  Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The Student Book Club is back!  Our first selection is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.  Set in 2033, most people spend their time in a virtual world, OASIS.  The founder of OASIS left his fortune to the winner of a game full of challenges in this virtual world.  A neat twist is that the founder grew up in the 1980's and was obsessed with that time period, so the "game" has tons of references to 80's pop culture and video games.  If you like sci fi with a twist of fantastical gaming, then you'll enjoy this fast paced read.  Has been well reviewed by the book club members thus far!

Tuesday Tips November 22, 2016

TECH TIP:  Snow Day Calculator

We all know about the Greylock Snow Day blog, but have you used the online Snow Day Calculator?  It's a fun way to dream about a possible snow day :) You enter in your zip code and a few other details about the school, and then hit Calculate.  It returns a percentage chance of a snow day.  Sunday night, it had us at 70% chance of a snow day.  

BOOK TIP: Read!

My book tip for this week is to enjoy the time away this week and read!  I'd love to hear what you read. 

Tuesday Tips November 15, 2016

TECH TIP:  Google Trends: Thanksgiving

Google Trends is where Google tracks the top searches of Google users.  Much of this data they then turn into charts, graphs and other cool visualizations.   This data could be useful in classes.  

This week, it is all about Thanksgiving trends.  Traveling for the holiday?  Here are the best and worst times to do that according to Google:

Here's the most popular ways to cook your turkey by region: 

And the most searched Thanksgiving recipes on Google:  

Lastly, where does your favorite pie land by region?:

BOOK TIP:  The Dead Student by John Katzenbach

A traditional style murder mystery.  Timothy, aka "Moth", find his uncle dead in his office due to an apparent suicide.  Moth knows that his uncle would never commit suicide.  Thus begins his search for the truth and leads him further into danger.  

Tuesday Tips November 1, 2016

TECH TIP:  TechBoomers

Have no idea what Snapchat is?  Or want to know how to use Instagram?  Then TechBoomers will help you out.  TechBoomers offers free "courses" on how to use popular websites.  The courses are broken down into small tutorials.  A good option for personal Professional Development.

BOOK TIP:  The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

In this alternative history, Colson Whitehead has the underground railroad as a real railroad, traveling in man-made tunnels beneath the ground.  The story focuses on Cora, a young slave escaping to freedom in the north on this underground railroad.  Along the way, though, she faces many obstacles and meets unique characters.  A story of perseverance and survival.