Document Updates (Google Tip)

Now that students are fully in the swing of using Google Docs and sharing, collaborating, moving and shaking the world...easy for them, not so much for us...there is one important feature that Google Docs is lacking.  But an easy workaround makes it not so important.

In Google Spreadsheets, there is an option to receive/send email notifications of updates on any Google spreadsheet.  Docs does not have that feature.  To be honest, I am not sure why.  I find it to be an awesomely cool way to receive updates on Docs other than having to go to Google Drive and look at the last modified date or the revision history.

Easy Workaround:

• Students update their document in Google Docs
• Automatically saves.
• Make sure you, as the teacher/collaborator, are listed under their sharing permissions
• When they are ready to share their update, they go to File--Email Collaborators
• Type a short email message.  It is also possible to include the update in the email.
• All collaborators receive the notification and/or update via email.

This is a real quick and efficient way (and time-saver for you) to receive notifications of updates/changes/revisions.

Where Did the Smurfs Go?

My kids and I are pretty toon-savvy.  They watch a wide variety of shows on Cartoon Network, Nick, PBS and the myriad of other toon stations out there.

Regular Show is one of those guilty pleasures for me...although perhaps a little too "tweener" for my kids yet.  I think so many of today's cartoons are written so intelligently with subtle humor, contemporary insights and a great sense of where we, as a society, have come from.  They don't rely on the fall-down, push-off-a-cliff humor of cartoons from my youth (Yosemite Sam, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry).  

In fact, I refuse to let my kids watch cartoons with which I grew up.  Too violent.

One of my favorite episodes (which I caught yesterday again) is called "Butt Dial."  Below is a wee snippet.  I particularly love the "guardian council" for today's voicemails.  Entirely nerd humor.

Google Play (Google Tip of the Week)

We all know how cool the Apple App Store is by this point.  Easy to use, easy to search,...and for the most part, the good apps are either free or $0.99.

Google recently (last summer-ish) relaunched its app store in the form of Google Play.  With roughly 45% of smartphone users owning an android phone (iPhones are around 27%) and with android tablets making a dent in tablet market, Google finally decided to invest its considerable talents and resources in designing a user-friendly store.

Same apps, different format.  Nice experience.  Movies, books, music, apps and more.

I just recently bought my son a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (7 inch) for his birthday.  He will be 9.  As much as I love my iPad and use it as my main means of media consumption, I bought the Samsung for my son for a number of reasons:

• Price...$179 vs $329 for the iPad mini...great deal for a tablet.
• Customization...Android devices are much less restricted by software and "whatever" Apple is selling.
• Expandable memory
• File formats...much easier to watch, read, enjoy multiple formats for books, videos and documents
• Apps...Google Play and the Apple Store have the same number of apps available
• Challenge...for my tech-savvy soon-to-be 9 year old, I love the challenge that android devices provides.  He might not excel at reading, but he overachieves in technology.

Check out the Google Play store. 

Lights! Camera! Stop. Action. Movies.

With the holiday season quickly upon us...starts right after Labor Day now...we have the opportunity to watch the classics of our generation.  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town and others.

What ever happened to the art of stop-action movies?

I think our modern-day desire for real-time action, high-def computer graphics and reliance on technology has made stop-action truly a lost art form.  Even my own kid's favorite, Bob the Builder, has gone computer-enhanced!

Stop-Action (SA) movies can be a wonderful (as in fun and educational), high level, creative (think top-level Bloom's Taxonomy) digital storytelling project within your classroom.  SA can be as easy or as challenging as you make it and be used in so many unique and interesting ways.

Movies can also be made using a variety of handy (and available) tools.

• iPads...iMotion HD is incredibly easy to use for all ages.  

• Document Cameras for 3D (like Rudoph) or 2D movies like Common Craft videos

• Digital cameras and photography

• Video Software for project editing, adding music and narration, timing...Windows Movie Maker, iMovie (computer or iPad version), Photostory,  Videolicious...

Awesome Stop-Action Movie Made By Students:

If you are currently making movies in class, I would LOVE to hear about it and share success stories.

What Students Won't Tell You (But Every Librarian Knows)

Vampires are extinct, staked out.  Wizards and sorcerers gone in a blink of wispy smoke.

Whew!  Back to reality.

But...

According to popular reading lists and surveys by School Library Journal and other reviews sources,  Zombacolypse and distopian futures are the "new black."  Thankfully, brooding, moody, hulky vampires are "been-there, done-that."

I am an addict to new young adult literature.  Over the last decade or so, young adult authors have moved from the staple classic formula for YA Lit (i.e. Hatchet, Walter Dean Myers, etc...) to an edgier, realistic, gritty world that speaks volumes to the tween and teen psyche.  

YA literature, in particular, pushes the envelope of societal and educational norms.  Just as technology is changing the way we operate on fundamental levels, YA lit is changing the way we communicate and how we view our contemporary world.  It is ripping off the "rose-colored" innocence of authors like Paulsen, George, Peck and other Newbery-award winning authors and replacing them with what I can only call "ripping the bandaid-off" authors--tough, straightforward, and graphic.

Hot Topics:

Dystopian...a community or society that is undesirable, dyfunctional or frightening that often includes dehumanization, totalitarianism and an environmental disaster or cataclysm.  What's not to love.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Shipbreaker by Paolo Baciogalupi

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

Zombies...the new supernatural creature of choice

Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

Pride Prejudice and Zombies

Steampunk...retro-futuristic society that involve a combination of steam-powered technology, magic, and 19th Century social norms.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Have fun checking these out...I certainly am!