International Children's Bookfair

While I have been to Europe before I have never been to Italy.  I was thrilled to start traveling again after nearly 15 years of staying stateside.  I had piles of travel journals collecting dust in the corner of my room waiting to be filled.  I had an entire secret Pinterest board devoted to traveling the world.  Then I found my old travel journal.  I cringed as I skimmed the journal and saw the same repeated phrase: "I am not a traveler".  I was crushed.  I must have blocked all of these memories.  I was now scared and regretting my life choices, but I was reminded by my family and coworkers that I was older now and I was a different person.  I could do this.

Cultural Experiences
This is my jam.  I love going to museums,  I love hearing interesting stories about places and things, I love learning about the history of these places as well.  I just really enjoy learning about everything around me.  Did you know that DeKalb Illinois is the birthplace of barbed wire?  And that they have a barbed wire museum?  I did.  Because I went to that museum.

I wanted to hit as many museums as I could while also experiencing as much of the everyday life of Italy as possible.  This was a foolish plan but it kept me busy and entertained.  I also feel like I will now spend the next few weeks if not months researching the places I visited because there was no way to learn everything in one trip.  I took a ton of photos and as many notes as I could during our tours but there is so much more I want to know.  These next few photos- I have questions about all of them- time to hit the library!

I am still amazed by how old everything is in Italy.  Looking at a Bible that was from the 1400's was incredible.

 Seeing streets and buildings that are older than the United States was simply astounding.  As our group wandered the streets we came across a father with his little girl who gave us an impromptu tour of his city.

Random dad who decided to show us around his town.

I joined some of my classmates on a day trip to Venice for our free day and felt like I was in a different world rather than just a different country.  I had never seen a town like this.  The canals were so beautiful.  The six of us piled into a gondola and were treated to a little tour of this remarkable place.  Unfortunately, our gondolier (?) did not speak the best English and our Italian was basically non-existent.  This left me with many questions that have been added to my list for research at a later date.  One of the questions was; "Where are the schools?"  We were shown many churches throughout the collection of islands but never a school.  I am sure my education background is to blame but I was really interested in seeing their schools.

Book Fair
This was beyond what I could have ever imagined.  I was not prepared for the size of this event.  I was warned, but I was still shocked.  Becuase of the size of the fair, I stuck close to my group.  I did not want to get lost but I wanted to see as much as I could.  I don't think I saw much of the fair, but it was not for lack of trying.  I feel like I spent most of the fair as a wallflower.  I just wandered around with wide eyes and a big goofy grin.  I will now share a story of me becoming a little too invested in one book.

Picture it.  The cutest book you have ever seen.  I couldn't look away.  I spent way too long looking this book over and letting the publisher know my feelings.  I wanted this book but sadly this book was not available in the States.  But they were in the market for a U.S. publisher.

 Enter me.  For some reason I took this as a challenge, no a responsibility, to get this book published in the U.S.   You may not know this but my sister works for Sourcebooks, an American publisher.  I made my way to the Sourcebooks booth and sat down with one of their workers.  I let him know about the adorableness of Kiwicorn and how this book needs to be published in America.  I waited for him to write down the title and even made sure to get a verbal agreement for him to speak to this other publisher about this specific title.  Yeah, I'm annoying.  Later on, I returned to the booth to check on Kiwicorn and was greeted with smiles.  Sourcebooks had indeed spoken to them and were "keen" on obtaining the rights to this title!  Information was exchanged and photos were taken, it was very surreal.  When I returned home I emailed the publisher and I am currently waiting to hear if any steps have been taken.  If this book makes it to America, especially if Sourcebooks takes it on, I will probably add it to my resume.  Just kidding... maybe...

A few of us with the famed Kiwicorn and Mr. Meggs from Award Publications Limited

Looking back at the fair, I wish I had gone to more of the breakout sessions.  I was continually distracted by the different booths and the want/need to see everything that I couldn't get myself to step away.  The sessions were also not always what I expected.  One of the sessions I sat in on was listed as a film education but when the session started it was more of how there is no film education in schools.  One of the speakers was listing apps that sounded great but later added that these apps were old and no longer worked on newer phones.  The same speaker listed websites for resources but then pointed out that none of these sites had a thing for film education.  I was confused because I thought the session was on ways to teach film education and it ended up being a session on the lack of film education.

I should have done more research before heading to the fair. This is not a fair to just show up to.  You need to have a game plan. If I am lucky enough to ever attend this fair again I hope to be settled in a job when I go.  I want to know what I am looking for and what information I want to bring back to my school or library.


TRAVEL
I will stick with my previous statements about not being a traveler.  I really dislike planes, trains, and even to a point automobiles.  It didn't help that I was on my own when I made my way to Italy.  I should have coordinated with others and traveled with someone.  I didn't like being stuck on a plane for 8 hours, I didn't like having to go from a long plane ride to a long train ride, I didn't like trying to figure out to hail a taxi when I couldn't speak the language.  In summary- I simply don't travel well.  I did love being in a new place, I just didn't like traveling to that new place.  Teleportation needs to be invented, I want Harry Potter like traveling; Apparition, Floo Networks, Vanishing Cabinets, and Porkeys.

But I did love where we stayed.  Our little place was lovely and just the right size.  The breakfast area was bright and warm, never overcrowded.  I usually struggle to sleep in a new place but I felt at home pretty quick here.  At first, I was a little concerned that it would feel too cramped but I loved it, I loved my roommate, I loved my classmates (they were so helpful and caring) and I loved the area.  It was easy to walk to many different places which was helpful but it never felt like a big scary city.  If I ever had the chance to move to Italy, I could see myself living in Bologna.


Overall experience
The good definitely outweighs the bad.  I am glad I went and I have great memories.  I was even open to the idea of a 5-year reunion with the people on this trip.  I would be willing to repeat this trip in 5 years.  I learned a lot and while this first trip was a little overwhelming, and I feel like I could accomplish so much more now that I know what to expect.  Hopefully, it will not be another 15 years before I bust out my passport again.

The last dinner was a heart shaped pizza!

Instructional Project

Our last group project!

I think we were a little overwhelmed at the amount of work we had to finish in our last week of classes and because of this we wanted to make sure we had a topic in place before we left class the week before.  We threw out a few ideas but one group member had a well-developed idea in place that sounded useful for both a public or even possibly a school library.  We were going to teach parents about a game their child is most likely playing already.  This would be a good introduction to or continuation of digital citizenship or parents as well.

This lesson plan was difficult, for me at least, because of the short amount of time as well as the distance between us.  Literal distance, we had to plan everything online and work around each other's schedules.    This was frustrating at times as some group members were working days while others were working nights and some even were out of town (it is summer) We were able to get things done but it was very different from what I am used to seeing.  Usually, I would see teachers working during their plan periods or lunches daily as they co-taught.  It was just odd to send emails and then have to wait hours for a response or even the other way around.  The ability to plan together while not in the same room is amazing but also frustrating because you are not all online at the same time.  I think I would have to have a little bit of a schedule (lesson objectives need to be done by this date) if I were to try plan something like this again.

Once we started the lesson plan things were easier and it was nice to bounce ideas off each other.  The use of google docs made collaboration a breeze as group members could edit and comment on the same document.

We were a little worried about having the class (parents) play the games.  I really shouldn't have worried, they seemed to have a lot of fun.  It was fun to see that problem-solving skills being used even with the adults.  Everyone wants to know how to do something or what will happen if they do something.

I wish we would have timed out our lesson more.  I wanted to look more into the safety aspects and the design aspects for parents.  I wish I would have had made little video tutorials or screenshots to show games with and without the different parental controls.  I think it would have helped for parents to see how chatting with "friends" can help with problem-solving and social skills in general but how chatting openly without any privacy setting in place can get a little intense.  I feel like this was the most general introduction. I wish we would have timed ourselves and made sure we really covered the important things.

Snagit

Oh, this was stressful, but not for the reasons you might think.  I wasn't stressed about the tool I was using(at least not too much), I was stressed about recording myself.  This leads me to believe that it may be awhile before I would take on the flipped classroom.  Every time I started to record my voice an annoying little guy named Toby would start to bark or my mind would go blank and I would forget what I was saying.  I didn't put in as much pre-work as I did with the other videos and I am sure that had a lot to do with my issues.

Toby

Snagit was simple to use in capturing screenshots. I only did the free trial and I am trying to decide if it is worth paying the fee to keep using it.  It was pretty simple and I don't feel that I even tapped into a fraction of what I can do with this.  I have a feeling I don't really know what I was doing.  I saw that you could take screenshots and add arrows but I thought you would be able to take all of those images and videos to make one big presentation.  I was not able to figure out how to combine all of my files.

With this image, I thought it would be helpful to have an arrow pointing to Encyclopedia Britannica so that the students wouldn't be confused and click on Britannica Image Quest.

I was a little frustrated because I had made a good number of images and little videos that I assumed I could combine to make a movie.  I wonder if I should have just used these files with iMovie?  Is that what you are supposed to do?  I really thought it would end up similar to iMovie, I am not sure why I was expecting this.  I think next time I would do just that, take all the images and videos I want to and drop them into iMovie.  I think I would have better results.

It's a bit comical that I spent a good amount of time becoming annoyed with my work only to come up with a much better plan as I reflect upon what I did- reflection is important kids!  Well, add this to the list of tech tools I need to spend more time with.  I wish I had taken this course either in the Spring or at the start of the summer so that I could have had a few weeks to look over all of these tools.  I hope I have time during the school year to continue learning about all of these new tools.

In the end, I was pleased with my video.  I would not use this in the classroom but it was a good start.  I would write out a better script and make sure to touch base on more of the tools available with in Britannica next time.


I showed the video to my mom and she was amazed that I didn't say "um" more often.   Thanks mom!

Pathfinder

I really wanted to take the easy way out on this assignment and use a tool that I had used for a past assignment.  I was originally thinking Pearltrees because it was already set up and I knew I liked the feel and look.  But I knew it would be in my best interest to try as many new tools as possible so I went with Lesson Paths.  I wasn't sure how this would work because I didn't like the idea of a set path.  I did not have a set order in which I needed users to access my resources so I didn't want to force them to not only have to follow my path but also have to repeatedly go through the path each time they wanted to review a page.  My fears were washed away when I saw the little side bar that allowed users to jump between and even preview steps.  This little extra really made this tool for me.  I would not have continued on if one had to go through each and every step each and every time.

I mainly used the "write an article" section because I felt it allowed the most freedom.  I was able to add links, photos, and text to one page.  I did have some issues with the photos though.  I was not able to figure out how to change the size of the image or how to change the placement.  Some of the images are in the middle and some are to the left, I could not figure out how this happened.

I luckily looked over the settings before I finished and saw that there was a box to check if you wanted to keep others from having access to edit your path.  I am not sure why someone would open their Pathfinder to this.  What would be the point of letting anyone come along and change your work?  I can understand letting certain people you choose to have editing rights but not all.  I decided against giving all of the internet free access to edit my work.  I could see bad things happening in a middle school if the students found they could change your work.

Here is my Pathfinder:
For the love of books.

http://www.lessonpaths.com/learn/i/for-the-love-of-books/book-sites

I made the audience adult but I got the idea from some of my students who are really fast readers.  I would spend an entire lunch period with them finding 6 or 7 books only to find out they read them all by the next week and I just couldn't keep up with their demands.  They needed more resources to seek our new reads beyond me and these sites sounded nice.  I think I might do a little more research and find sites directed more to Young Adult or Middle Grade for my students.  I am looking at fun sites like Epic Reads for them.

Digital Storytelling

I looked at iMovie once before and was almost immediately overwhelmed by the look of it and quickly gave up.  I was so nervous when I found out I had to try again.  I was thankful for the quick overview we were given and thankful that my group had put in a good deal of "pre-work" before the start of class.  I am not sure how well this would have gone if we were starting from scratch.  I think the group setting helped me to simply dive in both because I had a little cheering squad behind me but also because I had anxious team members who wanted their turn to get their part done behind me.

I was also grateful for the "happy accidents" that we had while making our movie.  We learned how to make a sound clip fade out when one team member tried to move a clip but ended up adjusting the sound instead.  I never thought I would be so excited to hear something so simple.    There were a few other things that my group members did that I would never have thought to do, like use video and then speed up that video to make it look awesome.  I was shocked to see how quickly we made this video.  I know we only made a 3-minute video and it took us 2 hours but it went by so quickly. It was not a stressed out 2 hours, it was a fun exploration of all the amazing tools we found. I could not believe it was so easy to "drag and drop" photos, videos, music, sound effects.   I can see how one could get lost down the rabbit hole pretty quick but as long as I am not stressed while doing it, I consider it a success.

I had a plan for a lesson on book trailers a few years back using iMovie and scraped it when I couldn't figure out how to use iMovie but I am thinking that it might be time to pull that lesson plan back out.  I do like that there are other resources that can be used (Animoto, Wevideo, StupeFlix) and I am glad that I am pretty confident on most of these because of these assignments.

I do remember telling the teacher librarian at my school that she should make a video of her library orientation so that she didn't have to do it 18 times in one week.  We had always said we would but never did and now it is looking more like we could do this.  We might just pull it off this year.  I also like that we could put the video on our website for students and/or parents to refer to it when needed.

Book Trailers

I had a lot of fun with this assignment.  I did not use my voice or video but I hope to try those features out someday.  I remember watching book trailers and thinking it would be awesome to make one but I always felt too shy to put my voice or my image (photo or video) to use.  I had a lot of fun with the different themes, photos, and music for my trailer. I was worried that this was going to be way over my head and I was going to be at a complete loss the entire time but it was surprisingly easy to start.  I know I have a lot more to explore but I am excited to try out more, it is not an "I need to look this over more" type of thing, but an "I really want to see what else I can do." type of thing.


First video: https://animoto.com/play/O35Ya1JxJ4SjMwqs1L8acg

The first tool I used was Animoto and this one was incredibly simple to use.  It was so easy to just upload some photos and I was happy with the music already picked for the video, it really was so simple.  I do wish that there was a way to add more text.  I couldn't find anything more than the little title and subtitle page.  Maybe there was a way but I didn't find it.


Second video:https://www.wevideo.com/view/957390242

Using wevideo was a little trickier.  I had some trouble getting things into place and I think that had more to do with my laptop than anything.  I wonder if it would have been easier if I had a mouse to use? Everything just seemed to take more time than when I was using Animoto.  I did feel a lot more professional when using this one. I am not sure why but I think the professional feel might have kept me working on this one.

I think students would need a little extra help getting started but soon after they would enjoy themselves and really feel like they could be making the next big blockbuster movie of the summer.


I hope to use some of these tools in the future either by me making videos for the library or by using them in lessons for the students to make some book trailers.  I am looking forward to exploring more using these tools.  

Creating a Flyer

For the first half of this assignment, I used the program Pages on my MacBook Air.  Learning from my annoyance during the brochure project I started with a blank page.  I also enlisted the help of my talented sister.  She drew an adorable owl reading a book.

My sister made this cute little guy

I couldn't resist this little guy for my flyer.  I added some text and tried to add a border to make the image stand out a little more.  My problem with this was the fact that I wasn't able to change the color of the art work.   I remember reading in our text book about using color to create contrast and playing around with text.  I had the hardest time giving up the centered alignment, I don't think I actually did in the end.  I had fun playing around with different fonts and themes but in the end, I ended up with a pretty simple flyer.

For the second part of the assignment, I used Smore.com.  I chose this site because of the analytics.  I think having that sort of data would be helpful in my career.  I would like to know how many people I am reaching.  I only used the free account and I think this might have been a poor decision.  Just about everything I wanted to do was only available with a paid account.

Here is the link
https://www.smore.com/d805s

I wasn't able to figure out how to embed the flyer into my blog.  I tried a few different ways and nothing worked.  I hope the link works.

I felt this one ended up being pretty simple in design but I did love that I could add so many little extras like the map, RSVP, photos, forms, and more.  It was clean and simple to use.  I think I will give the paid account a try at some point.  Right now I am a little too poor.

I also tried Canva just for the fun of it.  I had some fun with this one as well.  I thought the templates were very pretty and easy to plug in my information.  Since this wasn't really part of the assignment, I didn't feel bad about using a template.

I am a little overwhelmed at what I can do but I look forward to creating many awesome flyers this coming school year.