More Websites from OCTELA

http://flocabulary.com/ = "Flocabulary produces educational hip-hop music and engaging curricular materials to teach academic content for grades 3-12. The programs are proven to raise scores on state reading tests and are currently being used in over 10,000 schools nationwide."

http://www.schooltube.com/ = "...teachers and students share videos online."

http://www.teachertube.com/ = online videos and other resources for educators

http://rockhall.com/education/resources/lesson-plans/ = Lesson plans from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

http://namle.net/ = National Association for Media Literacy Education

Science Through Stories PowerPoint (Story Version)

I'm a little disappointed that only a slide "shot" (not the animation) is captured. You'll see that this creates some cluttered slides ... What I do like is that Slideshare publicizes the notes for each slide, which is especially important when comparing the story version with the report version.

Science Through Stories (Story Version)

View more presentations from Hayley McEwing.

"Beyond Google: Newest Tools for 21st Century Skills"

presented by my former high school English teacher Colleen Ruggieri, now a teacher at Canfield High School.

http://americanrhetoric.com/ = listen to famous speeches
http://artpad.art.com/gallery/ = paint on a digital canvas. Watch a video of your creative process.
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ = free open source software for recording and editing sounds
http://bubbl.us/ = online brainstorming
http://engrade.com/ = course management system
http://fwfr.com/ = four word film reviews
http://gabcast.com/ = embed a flash audio player into your personal or corporate website/blog and communicate with your friends/family/colleagues/customers (some fees involved)
http://howjsay.com/ = talking dictionary
http://jingproject.com/ = share screen shots and videos of onscreen action
http://librivox.org/ = free online audiobooks
http://piclits.com/compose_dragdrop.aspx = inspired picture writing
http://pocketmod.com/ = fold a piece of paper to store information
http://poets.org/ = see Ohio poets under the poetry map feature
http://tinyurl.com/ = make long URL’s more usable
http://voicethread.com/#home = record audio to an image
http://www.60secondrecap.com/ = 60 second video clips summarize literature
http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/ = mosaic maker
http://www.corndancer.com/tunes/tunes_main.html = incorporate music with literature
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/ = photos and clips of historical events
http://www.glogster.com/ = online bulletin board
http://www.gotbrainy.com/ = picture and video dictionary
http://www.imagechef.com/ = make art with words
http://www.lumosity.com/ = brain building games
http://www.playlist.com/ = create free playlists
http://www.pow-pak.com/powpak.html = free web-design, blogging, and podcasting program created for educators by an educator
http://www.primopdf.com/index.aspx = free PDF creator
http://www.rhapsody.com/welcome.html = listen to songs, create playlists (after free trial subscription is required)
http://www.shmoop.com/ = literature learning guides
http://www.smithmag.net/ = 6 word memoirs
http://www.smithteens.com/ = 6 word memoirs for a teen audience
http://www.studystack.com/ = find, create, and print flashcards
http://www.surveymonkey.com/ = can use for pre-assessment of student’s knowledge
http://www.webook.com/ = see 911 writers block for ideas
http://www.wordle.net/ = generates word clouds
http://www.xtranormal.com/ = make a movie
https://www.schoology.com/home.php = course management system

OCTELA Conference Notes

7:30 Arrived at conference location. Checked-in and viewed vendors. Discovered the Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science, and Reading whose goal is to correlate resources to the Ohio Academic Content Standards ... (hmmm) ... Set up for my presentation.

8:35 Morning announcements and presentation by author Cinda Chima.

Chima is putting out a fourth book in the Seven Realms series and two more books in her Heir series.

In her tips for writers, she referred to the ten rules of fiction.

10:00 Gave my presentation called "Science Through Stories" for PreK to second grade educators.

"Educators will be connected to literature that has been correlated to the Ohio Department of Education’s academic content standards, particularly the early learning/primary, science content standards. Sharing correlated literature using story reading and storytelling techniques (plus extension ideas) will be demonstrated. Science and storytelling resources (books and websites) also provided."

Overall, my presentation went well. While I had a small audience of three people, they were supportive and attentive. One was a young Kindergarten teacher, one was a seasoned second grade teacher, and the third was an individual who has worked in several areas including the Ohio Resource Center. The small audience allowed for conversation on "best practices."

As a whole, the OCTELA Conference seems to draw more middle school and high school teachers than those from an elementary or university setting, which contributed to the low attendance.

11:05 Attended "Community in the Classroom: The Ultimate 21st Century Skill" by outgoing OCTELA President Karla Hieatt Bisig from Wilmington High School.

After my own presentation and research on the importance of engaging emotional intelligence in education, it was awesome to see this idea of intrapersonal learning expanded and used successfully in an educational setting.

12:00-1:45 Keynote Luncheon with announcements, presentation of awards, and speech by author Sharon Flake.

I must read The Skin I'm In.

2:00 Attended "Beyond Google: Newest Tools for 21st Century Skills" which was presented by my former high school English teacher Colleen Ruggieri, now a teacher at Canfield High School.

Her passion and enthusiam were tangible and envigorating. However, this presentation brought to mind the stereotype that younger people naturally know more about technology. I thought, "I am at least ten years younger than this individual who just introduced me to thirty new and useful websites. Where have I been?" Apparently, the answer is that I've been at conferences to learn about them! :P

3:00 Attended "Multimedia Minilessons: 'But did the Authors Say It Was a Symbol?'" by Angie Beumer Johnson and Maria Workman from Wright State University.

The premise is that the use of media in educational settings helps individuals transfer knowledge and understanding to text and literary devices.

4:00-4:15 Finished gathering and loading my presentation materials.

Science Through Stories (Ready?)

My Powerpoint and five bibliographies/webliographies for Saturday's OCTELA presentation are complete and are posted to my professional wiki: http://hayleymcewing.pbworks.com/

Now comes the biggest challenge ... After another trial run last night and receiving some honest feedback from another individual, I acknowledged what I knew subconsciously.

I have to "practice what I preach" and present the information in an entertaining way ... through stories! Isn't that what I learned in November? Now, I need to practice what I've learned ... and learned again ...

Visit My Professional Wiki

I already have a private wiki that I use to back up my professional documents as I work on them. As mentioned in an earlier post, I have now decided to take this resource a step further.

After researching and playing around with some wikis other than the familiar pbworks, I've decided to stay with this provider. I have created another account under my first and last name that will be used to upload and present the final copies of my storytime handouts as well as any PowerPoint slide shows and accompanying handouts that I may use during various presentations. Among the first uploads are some of those for my "Science Through Stories" presentation for OCTELA at the end of this month.

Take a look: http://hayleymcewing.pbworks.com/

Along these same lines, in a few months I hope to explore the Ohio Ready to Read Wiki and perhaps contribute some storytime handouts there, too.

Emotions and Cognition

Though slightly more busy than may be ideal, I feel that all is well. I have ideas and thoughts that are converging and are yielding exciting “new” concepts that I have yet to explore more fully.

Idea 1: From a recommendation by Emerging Leader presenter Maureen Sullivan, I’ve started to listen to the audio version of Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman.

Idea 2: I’ve also been preparing for my “Science Through Stories” presentation for OCTELA on March 27. As I began to explan the importance of story sharing as a mode for learning, I came across the following quotes:

“Stories differ from other narratives (arguments, scientific reports, articles) in that they orient our feelings and attitudes about the story content.” Mallan quoted in Haven, Kendall and MaryGay Ducey. Crash Course in Storytelling. (98)

“Story aids memory because it puts information into a meaningful context, to which other information can be ‘attached.’” From Norfolk, Sherry, Jane Stenson, and Diane Williams. The Storytelling Classroom: Applications Across the Curriculum.

What I initially assumed were two separate paths of learning have now found a crucial overlap. While Primal Leadership is awakening my mind to the importance and pervasiveness of emotional intelligence in organizational interactions, I am also seeing the crossover of the importance of "affective education" or using emotions to guide learning.

While this is not a totally new concept, I feel as if my mind had a personal "Eureeka!" moment.

I look forward to following this path as I finish forming my presentation.

Science Through Stories

Great news! My presentation proposal called "Science Through Stories" for the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (OCTELA ) was accepted.

This fifty minute presentation was inspired by the workshop I participated in for the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County's Headstart teachers last February.

Here is a summary:

"Educators will be connected to literature that has been correlated to the Ohio Department of Education’s academic content standards, particularly the early learning/primary, science content standards. Sharing correlated literature using story reading and storytelling techniques (plus extension ideas) will be demonstrated. Science and storytelling resources (books and websites) also provided."

These correlations will also be posted to the Institute for Library and Information Literacy Education (ILILE) website with the support of one of my former Kent State University mentors, Michelle Baldini.

I am also thinking of creating a professional wiki that will make such presentation handouts electronically accessible (save paper) and eventually, share and showcase my library program handouts.

November Is New

This is a busy first week for a new month ...

This week's activities:

1. I have started my part-time position.

2. I have filled out paperwork to see if I am eligible for partial unemployment.

3. I have programs every day, up to 4 in one day!

4. I have started outreach programs from the Austintown branch.

5. The individuals selected to attend the Bill Morris Seminar will be contacted.

6. I will give a presentation on storytelling techniques and focus on kinds of stories for the preschool audience.

7. I need to think about the trips I want to take in 2010 and request the appropriate days off.


Thoughts on these activities:

1. Part-time for a short term may be a gift, but it is intimidating for the long term.

2. Check. (double entendre?)

3. Now that the week has started, I feel fine with this load. I am prepared. A fellow children's librarian's wisdom echoes in my head and reminds me that the librarian herself needs to have fun ...

4. Outreach went well today. I am becoming a better communicator but still have room to grow.

5. *fingers crossed*

6. Preparing for Friday's presentation is also preparing me for my potential presentation in March concerning learning (science) through storytelling. Not only have I found other resources that are passionate about this same idea, it has also given me the opportunity to re-discover the art of storytelling and set higher goals for myself.

[Hooray for an early birthday gift from mother ... membership in the National Storytelling Network!]

7. Now that I am on an ALSC Committee, I will need to attend Mid-Winter and Annual. I won't know if I will be able to do the OCTELA presentation until January ... On a personal note, I need to visit my relatives in Finland with my mother while she can still connect me to them.

Keeping Busy

Overall, I can report good news (both professional and personal) from the last three weeks.

Here it is in chronological order:

Working with my EMIE Bulletin contact, I have an approved topic to write about and submit -- probably for the first issue of 2010.

While developing ideas for the OCTELA presentation proposal, I contacted a former Kent State University professor and discovered that I may have the opportunity to post my early learning science content standard alignment project on the ILILE website.

I submitted an application for the opportunity to be part of the Association for Library Services to Children's (ALSC) Bill Morris Seminar.

I emailed another contact I made at ALA's Mid-Winter Conference and submitted a committee volunteer form for ALSC.

I still have a job in the library serving children, but it will be changed to a part-time position at another location. This gives me the opportunity to work with different co-workers, to experience programming in a different community, and to fully welcome my new niece when she arrives in December!

Focus

Trying to get back on track with my project group, I finally posted our February 17 meeting notes to our wiki project page.

I think we have the right ideas and are covering a decent amount of ground with the following tasks. Now I just need to devote some individual time to my pieces of the puzzle:

Creating ready-to-use library programs involving CSK books (Hayley)
I am thinking that I will create a program for each of the following audiences: four and five year olds, families, grades K-3, and grades 4-6.

Creating bibliographies pertinent to each month (Hayley, Marissa, and Lana)
I will look at Chase's Calendar of Events, the themes I personally use each month, and the themes requested by teachers here at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County in order to align different CSK books to each month.

Creating a contact list of organizations and institutions who will be interested in receiving the above information/toolkit (Hayley)
After Sarah, sends her survey, I will have some listservs, but I plan to spend most of my time collecting the information from organizations I already know about as well as (e.g.) talking to some of the college professors across the street at Youngstown State University to find other appropriate organizations.

Just the other day over lunch, a professor reminded me of a potential interested organization in the Ohio Council of Teachers of Language Arts. Now that I am writing this, I wonder if there is a similiar organization in each state ... and this type of organization is only contacting (some) English Language Arts teachers ...

I have not yet begun to work!