16 Laptops in the Library

When I started my new Teacher-Librarian job, I sadly discovered that the school has only 7 computers in the library.  This is certainly not up to 21st Century Learning Standards, for it does not allow a class of students to do research work in the library.  Thankfully, working with our district instructional technology people, we were able to get 16 old laptops set up on WiFi in the library.  The two ways I see these working for classes are:

1) While half the class uses the laptops for research, the other half uses library books for research, then they switch; therefore, each student gets his/her own individual time with the laptop.

2) Encourage teachers to let students work in pairs on their research projects.  This allows 2 kids per laptop and encourages teamwork/collaborative learning as well.

I look forward to hearing other ideas from educators on how to utilize the 16 laptops in the media center for student learning.

Video Book Trailer for "Speeding Bullet"

I started a "Book Club" at my middle school's library. We meet once a week. After reading Neil Shusterman's "Speeding Bullet" together, we decided to make a short video book trailer.  However, not  enough people wanted to be in front of the camera.  So, we decided to use action figures and our voices instead.  The kids really seemed to enjoy it.  Only took about an hour to plan, an hour to film, and an hour to edit.  We posted it on YouTube and will link it to the school library site as well.  Some of the kids already told their friends and they have watched it on YouTube and liked it.  Great way to celebrate reading and inform others about books to promote reading.  In the future, I look forward to using it to teach specific aspects of the reading too, such as conflict and theme.

Here is the video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-BVpS03WZw