Podcasts

 Podcasts are a wonderful tool for promotion of the library program and a great avenue for students to express their learning and develop passions. As a librarian, I could do interviews with staff and students and publish them weekly for the school community to listen to. Like this podcast episode I made with a future student at our school: my daughter, Ellie. Librarians could also create a podcast about events and weekly library programming. Students could create podcasts to review books they’ve read recently. They could even record a weekly book club discussion. A lively debate about different books and topics that could be researched using library resources would be interesting too. There are many ways to use podcasts in and for the library.  

The first podcasting website I visited was Buzzsprout. This site was easy to use. The directions were very clear. I created my podcast and uploaded my first episode. I felt that it was very similar to Podbean, which I have used before. If you have a paid account, you can add dynamics and magic mastering to fix the sound dynamics on your podcast. The free account allows you to record 2 hours of content and it provides you a website for your podcast. The one thing I would wish for is the ability to record your podcast directly on the site. All in all, I really like the features that the free account provides.    

The second site that I looked at was Anchor by Spotify. This site will let you record a podcast directly into it. Like, Buzzsprout, you have the option to monetize your podcast. I really like that even on the free account, you can add music to your podcast. You can also feature listener voices and add music for transitions. All of those extras will make the podcast sound very professional. This is an excellent option if you want to create a podcast for free. 

The last website that I visited was Blubrry. This site is connected to WordPress and it asks you during setup if you want to create a WordPress webpage to host your podcast. Blubrry has listener statistics. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a free option to publish your podcast or create your show.  

My choice for creating a podcast for my library is Buzzsprout. I’ve already created one and uploaded my first episode. I was able to load this site on my work computer, unlike Anchor. However, as I get more experienced with podcasting, I would strongly consider moving over to Anchor, since there is no limit to the number of hours that can be recorded on the free account.  

Cartoons and Comics

 Fotojet 

Fotojet has many options to create your own comic. It was easy to set up an account and equally easy to figure out how to begin. The website has a variety of templates to help you get started. The options for designing your comic include photos that can be used as backgrounds or characters, colored backgrounds, a large assortment of clipart that includes emojis and call-outs, and many text options with different fonts. It was very easy to save my work and download my comic in the end. I would definitely use this with my elementary school students.  

 

Pixton 

Pixton was difficult to use. I didn’t immediately know how to get started. I clicked around a few places until I found something to start with. There are a lot of options for templates and the backgrounds and characters are cute a kid-friendly. However, I wouldn’t use this with my elementary students due to it not being intuitive. It was also frustrating to try and retrieve a copy of my comic without paying for an account.  

 

Make Beliefs Comix 

Make Beliefs Comix had great story ideas and templates. There were many design options and I found it easy enough to navigate. This is a site that I would use with my students and I would recommend to teachers as well. There are great writing suggestions for everyone to use. I didn't have any trouble saving my work and there were many options to retrieve my finished comic.  

 

I plan to share my blog post with the teachers at my school. I also plan to include some ideas for how teachers can use comics and cartoons in their classrooms. I’d like them to look at the sites themselves to determine which ones best suit their students.  

Videos and QR codes in the Library

 Videos and QR codes in the Library 

 

YouTube:  

The Unquiet Library 

Most helpful: Tutorial Video for Tillery:  PowerPoint "How To" Basics 

I would use this video to introduce PowerPoint to my 4th grade students.  

 

Most liked: "Make  Your Mother Proud":  Check Out a Kindle @ The Unquiet Library 

I would use this video as an introduction to e-books and e-readers. Then I would have students share their favorite ones. 

 

Pikesville High School Library 

Most helpful: Animosity 

I would use this video to show students how easily they could record their own story.  

 

Most liked: AVID Pimp My Binder 2012 

I would use this video to give students an idea of how they could create a unique version of their favorite television show.  

 

Animoto: 

 

From Scholastic: “The big bad wolf has spent ten years in pig prison for the destruction of the three little pigs, and he has quite a story to tell that just might prove his innocence! 

Alexander T. Wolf writes his own account of this infamous meeting, and insists that he was railroaded in the classic fairytale. After all, it was only an innocent sneeze (he had a bad cold), and all he wanted was to borrow a cup of sugar from one of the pigs. Why is he now the bad guy? 

Smith's colorful and humorous illustrations put an interesting spin on the comical text. An engaging read for young readers. Teachers and parents will get a kick out of it too!” 

I made a book trailer for The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Sczieska. Scan the QR code below to view it. 

 

 

QR codes: 

Some fun ideas for how to use QR codes in the classroom are creating and using reflection question cubes. Students can roll the dice (cubes) and scan the QR code that lands on the top to view their question. Another idea is to use QR codes to as a part of a library scavenger hunt, posting clues around the library.  

I plan to use QR codes to post book trailers on displays around the library. Students can go up to a display of say Dr. Seuss and scan the QR code that is there. It will pull up a book trailer of a Dr. Seuss book we have in our catalog.