Back to School Special: Open Mic Edition

For the last five years at the #TLChat Virtual Cafe we've offered a FREE webinar to help librarians and teachers of all subjects and levels get ready for the next school year. This casual discussion generates ideas on how to build school allies, support new teachers, & become indispensable to administration & staff at the beginning of EVERY school year. I'm joined in this conversation by amazing, librarians, friends, and moderators Tiffany Whitehead and Jennifer LaGarde......and hopefully YOU! W00t!



Join in! Sept 8th, 2014 - 8pm EST
Participant Link
Back to School Special Wikipage
I Want YOU to Grab the Mic!
This year we've flipped the script and are inviting YOU to step up to the mic and share your ideas, tips, tricks, and cool ways to get excited, energized, and to supercharge the library program or classroom throughout the school year.

How to do it? 
Easy! Just add a slide! Visit our shared and open to edit Google presentation - check out the directions, our example slides, and go to the end of the preso and find or add a blank slide and add your ideas!

What to share? 
Decorating hints, tech tips, new ways to use old standby's, reading promotions, words of advice, PLN building strategies, lesson ideas, how you help new teachers, and ways you connect with your parents and the community. Anything that you think could help someone else make the year go easier!

Be a Sharing Super Hero!
I know it's sorta scary to put yourself out there and share an idea! We all feel that way from time to
time! But let me try and convince you that this year should be your year of shameless sharing!

So many times we are reluctant to share what we create because we're afraid of either looking like a show off, we think what we created may not be "good enough," or we're afraid of critique.

Consider shameless sharing as not shining a spotlight on you, but sharing the cool things going on with your kiddos with their parents and your community! Also consider that there are lots of new teachers and teacher librarians out there who are hungrily looking for ideas & examples!  I get emails all the time asking advice on how to get by that first year of teaching. One of the things I suggest is going back to check out the archives of this BTSN series.

So make this year the year that you GIVE and then GIVE some more! Embrace Creative Commons, Flickr, Slideshare, Wikis, & Twitter - build your PLN and share your AWEsome stuff!

My Gift to You!
Never one to give advice that I wouldn't follow...I created a simple PPT presentation template for my teachers (& FREE to you!) to use on back to school night which you can DOWNLOAD for FREE from either Slideshare or on my wikipage. Download it, modify for your school, and give it to your teachers as a template to modify & personalize to mix up their presos for back to school night.  Save them time & aggravation AND be a superhero!  Go NOW and SHARE Your Great ideas with us!  Please? Pretty, pretty, please? Like, after 5 years of doing this, we need you!  Thanks dear reader!


It goes without saying, that any spam slides or slides from vendors & not real teachers or teacher librarians will be removed forthwith.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Makerspace for Little or Nothing

Image
Makerspace for Little or Nothing You don't have to spend thousands of dollars to start a Makerspace area. You don't have to have a designated room or rip out bookcases. You can even have a Makerspace on a cart! When we have testing in our Library, I put all our Makerspace stuff on an AV cart and roll it into our server room.  This post evolved from a previous post called Makerspace Starter Kit Updated where I had some of these idea, but I felt that it deserved it's own expanded post. You can take baby steps into the Maker Movement.  I've been saying that for 7 years or so....long before I blogged about it, I tried it out. Yeah, sometimes I try things on the sly to see if they are blogworthy for you! Now....having said that..... WARNING: Controversial Opinion Ahead.  I'm not 100% sold, even after 7 years of talking about the Maker Movement, that it's something that's here to stay and not just a fad. Even though I've (without knowing it!)
Keep reading

Makerspace Starter Kit Updated

Image
Three years ago I shared my Makerspace Starter Kit with you or what I was buying to boost our Makerspace area using four empty Library study carrels that no longer held desktop Macs.  That post has consistently been one of the most viewed posts every week for years and years - with more than 83 THOUSAND views, gee whiz! (Crazy, right?) So, I thought maybe it was time to update it!*  Since then, I've had some major Makerspace successes and a couple dismal (and expensive) Makerspace failures!  So, here's the latest for ya'll with the good, the bad, and the bloody awful! Our MHMS Makerspace How it works: Kids can come in before the 1st period late bell rings, during lunch, or when they've finished their work in class to explore, craft, and create in the Library Media Center. It's not a "class" or an organized offering. It's a free form optional offering of constructivist learning and creativity! It's not as big as some and it hasn't tak
Keep reading

Curating the Happy for Your Future Self

Image
Teacher Tip #112 Teacher Self-Care:  Create a Happy Folder In my School Library Media office desk I had a manilla folder where I carefully tucked all the hand written notes from kiddos & parents to read on a rainy day. I also SHAMELESSLY would first tape them to my office door (let the other teachers internally writhe with envy!)  Nah, really just to keep me motivated and also show the kiddos I appreciated their heartfelt little notes!  But.....before I tucked it away tenderly or taped it to my door, I took a picture of it and uploaded it to Flickr. A digital Happy Folder that pays back dividends of warm fuzzies and motivations for your future self.  Because, let's not kid ourselves, being an educator right now is HARD.  Start this habit NOW.  Don't be like me and wait 10 or 15 years. OK, some of that was because cell phones and digital cameras weren't as handy and as ubiquitous back then. But do your future self a favor, there will be days when you will need it.  Make
Keep reading