Gaming can make a better world

It's been a while since my last post. I'm very busy with Grad School and substitute teaching. I wanted to take a moment to share this great video and article, though.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/gamifying-student-engagement-matthew-farber

Back to school

That time is fast approaching again. In honor of the word of the week on my website I will be taking an intermission. I won't be updating the blog for a while as I enjoy the end of summer. Before I go I'll leave you with one last tidbit.

Get your bulletin boards ready if you haven't already. Here are a few ideas to get you started or help you finish.
http://www.pinterest.com/cari_young/library-bulletin-boards/

Enjoy the rest of the summer. See you in September.

-the digital librarian.

The future is the past

Amazing Stories Annual 1927, Frank R. Paul Public Domain

I wanted to take the time to share two articles I read recently:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/incredible-health-gadgets-are-straight-out-of-scifi-movies/story-fn5fsgyc-1226818418223
http://www.fortech.ro/scifi-movies-turned-real-10-emerging-technologies/

Both articles were found after I read an article about the future of the internet. I’ve been a lifelong fan of science fiction movies, books, and pulps and much of the reading reminded me of these things. A dystopian future was the first thing that popped into my mind and on page 3 of Digital Life in 2025 touched on that very topic.

My views may be biased, though, as I’ve spent years watching movies and reading the likes of Asimov, Clark, Bradbury and P.K. Dick. I’ve often felt that many of the technology geniuses of today grew up reading the same stories that I did. I have no doubt that the inventor of the first flip phone was a Star Trek fan and was creating his own communicator. Along that line of reasoning many of these very themes have appeared in sci-fi stories and many are mentioned in the articles I linked above.

The future is not here or now it is in the past and the brilliant writers of the 30's-60's who were scoffed for writing pulp novels have proven to be the visionaries who saw the future in what so many felt was just low grade entertainment.

ALA Las Vegas 2014

Sorry for the late post this week. Yours truly flew out to sunny Las Vegas and made the special lady in his life officially Mrs. Media Specialist. In honor of that, this update will be about the 2014 ALA Conference held in Las Vegas just a few weeks ago.

One of the speakers was the one and only Stan Lee talking about comic books.



The ALA Youtube page also has playlist of what you missed and the ALA homepage has the highlights. Stay up to date so you don't miss the next conference.

Summer Reading

Photo is, “Staged shot over my book” and is copyright © 2008 mattdwen and made available under a CC BY-NC 2.

Don't forget to have your kids check out the Jersey City and Bayonne Public Library pages for all the summer events.
http://www.jclibrary.org/programs-exhibits/monthcalendar/2014/07/08
http://www.bayonnelibrary.org/Bay_News.htm

Summer school in Jersey City just ended so, parents, send your kids to the public library with the ALA summer reading list so they can check out a book. They should read at least one more book before school starts up in September.

I hope you're enjoying these beautiful days.

Goodnight Darth Vader

Happy Monday! I hope everybody is enjoying these fleeting days of summer.

As some of you know I'm a pretty big Star Wars geek so I'm excited to share this. The newest book from Jeffrey Brown is dropping tomorrow. Jeffrey Brown has been working on a cute series of Star Wars books about Darth Vader and his children, Luke and Leia, over the past few years. Tomorrow the latest one, Goodnight Darth Vader, is finally available.

Check it out:
Don't forget to check out his earlier books and keep them stocked in the library for your students.
And for those attending San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) this weeked, here's his schedule:

Comic books in curriculum

Here's a neat tutorial how to design comic books in Power Point. I've actually designed a lesson plan similar to this. You can find some of the handouts from my lesson plan on the Forms and Docs page of my website, the digital repository.

The volume is a little low but the content is useful.

 
Innovativeteach. (2010). Making comic books in PowerPoint. Retrieved from http://www.teachertube.com/video/making-comic-books-in-powerpoint-177396

the digital repository.

Don't forget to check out my website for more useful tips and links.

Website banner is an adaptation of the original photo, “library” and is copyright © 2012 garden beth and made available under a CC BY-NC 2.0

Caring for your library books

Here's a great video for teaching your students how to take care of borrowed books. The actors are younger, however, it's made in a way that is entertaining to all ages and it teaches a good lesson.

kestover. (2009). How to take care of library books. Retrieved from http://www.teachertube.com/video/how-to-take-care-of-library-books-121765