Saturday, October 31, 2009

Week 8 On-Line Productivity Tools, and LibraryThing

#18: I use Google Docs often and like the convenience of having a tab opened on my desktop to something I need to write a little at a time. Google Docs is also used by some of our science teachers as a tool for assignments. I like showing this to students in beginning research classes when I show them Google Advance Search. Google has so much depth. Part of the reason I use a blog for my classes is to show students all the things they can do with Google after they open an account. My ancient PC in my son's room has Open Office on it and he creates all his middle school projects on it.

#19: I love, love, love LibraryThing and have had an account for a while. My Term Paper 3.5 LibraryThing includes books we use in our library for this lesson currently and some I thought would be useful for slightly younger students. http://www.librarything.com/catalog/loudlibrarian01. I enjoy using this tool so much. We have started a book discussion group in our library and use it for specific genres for the club. I know some very anal librarians who use LibraryThing to catalog their home collections. I'm not that bad - yet.

3 comments:

  1. I love your idea of using LibraryThing to serve as a book discussion club. I have been wanting to offer a book club for kids and teens for our public library for quite some time, but with such busy schedules, I didn't think it would be possible. However, instead of actually requiring a meeting, I may simply use LibraryThing as our hub. Thanks for being the catalyst!

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  2. nice that you model Google docs for students so that they feel like they're more on the same level

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  3. Ivy, I also make it a point to showcase Google's advance search features. SO very important for teens to fluent at this skill.

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