Tuesday Tips November 27, 2018

TECH TIP:  Saving Documents to Google Drive from Databases

Scott Annand's Biology classes were in doing research for their upcoming paper.  I showed them how to save articles from the databases directly to their personal Google accounts.  This allows them to access these articles at any time, anywhere.  Once it is sent to your Google Drive, a new folder will show up for that database with the article in it.  Any highlighting or notes you've added will be there as well.  A great resource!  Here's how to do it:

BOOK TIP:  Best Books of 2018

The best of lists are starting to pour out.  These are great to look at for creating your own "To Be Read" list, or to find book ideas to give as gift this holiday season.   The Washington Post was the first to come out with their list: 

Washington Post Best Books of 2018

Tuesday Tips November 20, 2018

TECH TIP:  Animaker Animated Video Creator

  Animaker is an online program that creates animated videos.  With the free version, you use the pre-made templates and customize with your text and you can add in additional elements.    This is another great video program that students could use to share their learning.  

Each quarter I do a Quarterly Report that highlights the happenings and statistics from the library.  I use these Quarterly Reports as a way to learn some of these new programs.  Here is my First Quarter Report using Animaker:

BOOK TIP:  The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black

 Our Student Book Club picked their next selection, The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black.  It is a fairy tale of sorts, as a boy wakes up after generations asleep in a glass coffin, only to get up with a young girl and a faerie king.  

Tuesday Tips November 13, 2018

TECH TIP:  Synth Podcast creator

In looking for presentation options for the Alt PE class, I came across Synth. Synth creates 256 second podcasts.  You can easily share them and put them into a group so if you had students doing this, they could play right after each other.  This is available to do on the web or as an app on your phone, so could definitely be something students could do on their own devices.  

BOOK TIP:  Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

This is a novel that is part murder mystery, part love story, part homage to the ecological marshlands of North Carolina.  Kya is the "marsh girl", growing up alone in a shack in the marshes of North Carolina.  No one knows the wonders of the marsh better than her, but when a townsperson dies in questionable circumstances, Kya is the prime suspect.  Slow paced at times, but with incredible writing that paints a picture of these marshlands.