Best Library / Librarian Blog 2013 - Edublog Awards

I have had an interest in the Kennedy Assassination since eighth grade, when I wrote a research paper on it. This monumental event has captivated the world and has remained a mystery to those of us who believe that a conspiracy was involved. Friday, November 22, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's death.

On November 4, I was part of a very special day in Iowa. To make it even more special, I spent it with five of the most amazing young people I have ever met. We were all part of the last event in the afternoon of the Summit.

Disclaimer: The views expressed on these pages are mine alone and not those of my employer. I also reserve the right to misspell words, make wild generalizations, have unfounded opinions, and be snarky. Snarky is not a crime. Just in case.

by Joyce Valenza

Share your nominations with the world! Nominations are open until December 1, 2013.

Second graders came in during the afternoon and I scrapped my lesson plans and jumped in with them! I think they could sense how excited I was about sharing this with them, and of course their excitement rose. After introducing the concept of computer programming and sharing with them that I know very little about the subject, we watched the introduction video.

Back when I wrote my first post on this topic, I ended it with a healthy dose of gratitude. At the time, I was grateful that libraries were being talked about at all and that so many in my tribe were lending their voices to the chorus.

More pics from this month HERE I was only in The Library @HHS this month 11 days. November was a crazy month filled with conference presentations that I had committed to long before I started working here. I am thankful that my new school was supportive of these commitments, although I felt bad that I was missing so much time at the school.

Jumping into GamesMOOC gear for the second half of the Summer session, I found a smorgasbord of ideas, examples, games, and worlds. We discussed the use of avatars, explored other game-related MOOCs, visited the GamesMOOC Minecraft server, and shared games that might be useful in education.

Welcome to the RBE Library November Math Stats Challenge! I am sooooo excited about this RBE Library Program! After creating these Read full article "

The Edublog Awards are here and it represents a decade of celebrating educational blogs. Why are the awards important? Because in the days when we used to have to fight to have blogs even allowed in our schools, Edublogs was there, encouraging us to write.

Those of you familiar with my work over the years know I am a passionate advocate for poetry. Thanks to a life-changing course I took with Dr. JoBeth Allen at the University of Georgia during Spring Semester 2003, my world changed, and so did my outlook on the importance of poetry in the classroom, libraries, and life.

Nominations for the 2013 Edublogs Educational Blogging Awards have now opened. You have till Sunday 1 December to nominate your favourite educational blogs in any or all of the following categories. So go nominate your favorite blogs, twitterers, community sites, videos, podcasts and more...

As a connected educator, with so many resources available, I find that I must choose the tools that best fits my needs. This is a short list of my favorite tools that I use regularly . Symbaloo - As teachers ask for suggestions, I send them the Symbaloo with some awesome Web.

In the second post in our series on advocacy in school libraries, regular Bright Ideas contributor Catherine Hainstock shares strategies for building influence with colleagues. The degree of influence a Teacher Librarian feels they have will depend on individual circumstances, but...

This weekend I spent 24 hours creating a story with some colleagues and friends for Vermont's first Storyhack. What's a Storyhack you ask? The local weekly Newspaper 7 Days describes it like this: "The "hack" in the group's name is a tip of the hat to the "hackathon," a competitive event in which computer programmers are given a short window of time in which to collaboratively develop a software solution to a specific problem.

Is it really possible to be a fan and practice critical literacy? "Connect the Pop" shows that it's not only possible, but also vital, necessary... even fun. This is what happens when reading knows no boundaries. A School Library Journal blog by Peter Gutierrez.

Why do academics blog? It's not for public outreach, research shows (The Guardian Higher Education Network) The link above is to an article on a fascinating, small-scale study on academic blogging. The authors, Pat Thomson and Inger Mewburn, analyzed 100 academic blogs to get a feel for the landscape and to determine the bloggers' motivations.

Reviews from a children's book enthusiast