Blogging and Avatars


California 2.0 Curriculum Connections

Idea #27: If your school has Anime club, students can create their avatars of themselves and have a Wiki blog to express their thoughts and reading experiences about Graphic Novels they read. I don't know what is the secret of Japanese cartoons and characters, but most of my circulation is happening in that area. Kids are crazy about Manga, The Alchemist and other Graphic Novels. They can even write their own version of the next book. I bet they will gladly share  their drafts with each other.   

 

 

Idea #1: A blog is an excellent forum for discussion of issues. Create one for the next school, local, state, or national election and discuss the issues of the day.

 

Idea #2: A book discussion blog is a library favorite. Start one today and then branch out into other topics such as pro/con topics of interest, student opinion surveys, or campus activity discussions.

 

Idea #2B  I would love to blog about the Sunshine State Books on our school website.  I could include a summary, and interesting elements to get the students' interest peeked about certain books.  I think this would be helpful for parents in choosing books to purchase for their children, as well at teachers, to help with choosing books to read aloud with their students.

 

 

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Idea #3: Have your teachers (or students) create an avatar in a special background. For example, this could be good for student projects such as travel guides (study of other countries and cultures.) A project team could each design their character - for example, web quest team members each represents a different perspective (like a banker, politician, religious leader, lawyer, etc)

 

Idea #4: Send an e-mail to your Legislator about an important bill (such as the SKILLS Act) and include a link to your blog where you have posted more information on the issue, included a picture, such as an image generator with "Support SKILLS ACT S.1699", and shows your avatar. Bottom line - show off your library 2.0 savvy. Here is an example of what you could do-- make it your own:

Senator Feinstein,

Please support the SKILLS Act by co-sponsoring S. 1699.

On Tuesday, June 26th the Strengthening Kids' Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLS) Act was introduced. It is a long-overdue solution to educational inequities throughout the nation and especially California.

 

Way too many of our students who do arrive at our best colleges and universities arrive inadequately prepared to conduct college-level research because they graduated from high schools without assignments or instruction in research and information literacy skills.

 

California school teacher-librarians and their colleagues will cheer when you announce your co-sponsorship of S. 1699. All librarians across the country who are taking the free, online summer course School Library Learning 2.0 will "virtually" cheer for you -- and so will their librarian avatars.

Thank you and best wishes. add your name and your blog url

 

 

Idea #5: Students could create their own blog page and add posts talking about books they have read. They can add tags to their blogs referring to genre, where the book took place, historical eras, etc. Imagine the blog of a high school senior that they started as a freshman!

 

 

Idea #6: As a librarian in an overseas school with many of our kids coming from various countries, I have encouraged our kids to write blogs about their experiences here to share with kids from their home country. They can talk about anything from what a typical day is like to what unusual food they had on their last trip to a remote village. I find that it is good for them to share about not only the differences that they have experienced, but also some of the similarities. It is great for them to write about seeing the latest new movie and helping those left in their home countries to realize that they are not as "left-out" as it may seem at times. By the same token, our kids also can see that they really are having the adventure of a lifetime by living overseas.

 

Idea #7: Students can create an avatar for a character in a book. They would need to explain (on their character's blog?) why the avatar looks as they do.

 

Idea #8: Create a blog for class or grade level - I'm thinking K-2 - to share what they are learning in math. Have students use a digital camera to take pictures of mathematical concepts - numbers they find in the library, shapes they find in the school, numbers of things and post to the blog. Maybe add audio files of students talking about solving mathematical problems. Post word problems and solutions. I like this blogging tool to use with young students: http://classblogmeister.com/

 

Idea #9: Several school librarians from North Carolina have joined you this year. Look at how some of us have used a blog to nominate and discuss best books (we also meet ftf): www.bestbooksdiscussion.blogspot.com Notice how we also used librarything.

 

Idea #10.Create a blog for the school library for the library science/library aide students. The blog could have links to important web resources and list assignments or projects. Students could leave comments to ask questions. I guess this could work with any class.

 

Idea #11. Check out organizational blogs, such as CUE's LME SIG: http://www.cuehub.org/138210825121249530/site/default.asp

 

Idea #12 I see an opportunity to continue our book club beyond the assigned days after school. A blog would be a place for students to add comments about what they read or to respond to other readers' comments about the same book. Starting with an avatar to represent their favorite character and explaining why he/she was dressed a certain way would get them interested in using the computer to continue their discussions. They could come to the library with a book club pass at lunch and have priority to use a computer. A wiki might work as well or better than a blog.

 

Idea #13 I can see this format being very useful in lieu of the independent reading logs our teachers currently use. Each child could blog at assigned times or around assigned questions about their current reading. Adding avatars would be such a fun way for the them to demonstrate an understanding of a character or characters in the book. Using a wiki would be an ideal way of facilating group participation, but I think using a blog might be the way to go for individual work, like independent reading. Blog postings could also be springboards to class discussions or extended writing assignments.

 

Idea #14 I'm collaborating this year with a teacher who set her professional goal to begin a student book discussion blog. I had created one for a summer reading program a few years ago and offered to work with her. We deleted old posts by other students, they came in for instruction in using WordPress, created user accounts, and began to blog about the books they're reading. You can visit Rockin' Reads to see what's happening. These are sixth grade students. I have invited other teachers to have their students add book reviews as well but so far it's been limited to the one class. I hope that it will continue to grow and expand over the coming years.

 

Idea #15 A blog would be a good way of communicating progress on a project. I just talked with my principal about developing a "name sake" day celebration for our school. It was named after a woman, and over the years, new students have no idea who she was. As this idea develops, teachers and students could participate through the blog. We could even have a school wiki with a page or entry for the name sake and for each club, sports team, etc.

 

Idea #16  In Missouri, we have an award given by vote of Missouri high school students.  It's called the Gateway Readers' Award.  To allow students to blog about the 15 nominees throughout the school year, until voting time in March, I created a Gateway Readers Award Blog.  This has been a great way for students to share their reviews and other book thoughts all across the state.

 

Idea #17 In Texas we have the Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List of twenty new titles each year. This reading program is for grades 3 - 6. I like the sound of Bluebonnet blog, on which students could create commercials for their favorites on the annual list. While I would prefer to keep the posts positive, it is also interesting to ask students which title they least enjoyed. But, they must be prepared to explain exactly why the book did not appeal to them.

 

Idea #18  Since taking web 2.0 over a year ago I have found many uses for blogs and wikis. To encourge our many reluctant readers to enjoy reading I started thinking about using graphic novels/comics/manga for elementary students. I found as much information as I could find and put it all on Krakkk! Krash! Bwoing! for my use and the use of teachers and fellow elementary librarians. This blog is a beginners guide. I am still learning.

 

Idea #19  My district is sensitive to using actual student photographs on the website.  Having students create an avatar to post with their creative responses to literature will give them a new interesting and exciting way to respond to literature and to see the way other students view themselves as well. 

 

Idea #20 I am trying to teach my students not to place their pictures online.  Showing them how to create an Avatar give them a chance to have a representation of themselves online.

 

Idea #21 At our school ,we began a One Faculty One Book program. Because we each read at our own rate, the participants finish at different times. Often it is hard to recall details by the time we meet as a group to discuss the book (we meet at the end of the school year and at the end of the summer). A wiki for participants would allow more teachers/staff to participate even if they couldn't attend the final get-together. It would also be a way to demonstrate to our students that how teachers read and discuss books. I loved the idea mentioned above of spooning the 23 things out to the teachers, particularly the one Faculty One Book participants as they are often the innovative teachers.

 

Idea #22  Ask students to create an avatar for a character or characters in a book, a person in history, a famous mathematician, etc.  Students can add speech bubbles to have the avatar "say" a famous quote or some notes that are particularly important. 

 

Idea #23  Use the avatar for letterhead, bookmarks, website images.  Students can create letterhead for themselves or for a character, famous person, etc.

 

Idea #24  Show students an avatar and ask them what they can tell about that person by how they look.  Good way to dovetail into a "can't judge a book by its cover" conversation.

 

Idea #25  Instead of Faculty READ posters, create posters of students and faculty with their avatars!

 

Idea #26 Students (and teachers, and teacher librarians) add useful reference sites to a Wiki that has subject-specific sections.

 

Idea #27 We are teaching our students not to put their first and last name out on the web. We are also encouraging the students not to use their real picture or identity on the the social networking pages. The Avatar is a great way to express the type of person you are. Change the clothes, hair and background daily.

 

 

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