The Daring Librarian

I was really excited to work with two great ELA cooperating (student) teachers who are from my alma mater, Towson University. Shout out to Jessica Robertson & Debora Chun ! An additional shout out their kind professor who actually had my blog on her "to read & review" list! So, they came to this school already familiar with my blog, how crazy is that? W00t! So, when they expressed a desire for us to work together before they left my school it was trixy finding 2-4 days between PARCC testing and MAP testing to fit them in, but we did!  As I mentioned in my last pos t I first wanted to do a Mystery Skype with an educator in the Dominican Republic because my 7th grade kiddos had just finished reading Before We Were Free . Sadly, after reaching out to, and never hearing back, from all of Mystery Skype educators in the Dominican Republic (Ok, there were only 4!) we had to move on to plan B! or should I say Plan V for Vine!  We tasked the kids to create a persuasive...

I am SO excited about the potential of this new technology from Skype and err [cough] Microsoft. But us Mac people... I guess we'll have to wait a little longer. From Richard Byrne's awesome blog : "Microsoft has made Translator Preview open to anyone who is using Windows 8.1 or a preview edition of Windows 10. Click here to visit the download page for Translator Preview." Here's an example of it in action! OMGosh! I can't wait to try this with my kiddos! I gotta confess, my eyes get suspiciously damp every time I watch this & the look at wonder and astonishment on the faces of the kids! EEP! (Don't judge me! LOL) I joined Mystery Skype & Classroom hoping to connect with a classroom in the Dominican Republic. I was inspired SO much after watching that video above, I thought my 7th grade kiddos who had just finished reading Before We Were Free would get a super kick talking to a classroom in the country where it was set (and in the same...