Was it something I read?

Never heard of it? It's okay, you aren't the only one. I was introduced to Universal Design for learning through my SHSU assignments and research. Universal Design for Learning is an educational framework providing guidance for educators in designing lesson goals, materials, methods, and assessments to improve learning in the classroom as well as meet the diverse needs of all students. Goals of Universal Design for Learning include: Here is a great informational video to help you gain more understanding of Universal Design for Learning: This concept of teaching reminds me of the SAMR Model  & utilizing the 4Cs . A s part of a cohort of teachers in the Visionary program , our school district has us try to adhere to the SAMR Model and the 4Cs when creating learning experiences for students. I feel that I have touched on some of the same concepts and practices as I would in Universal Design for Learning through those models.  What am I already using/do...

Podcasts can be a great way to share information with students, teachers, parents and anyone in your library or school community. You could do morning announcements, agendas, tips, and tell or share stories. They can be an exit ticket for a lesson given or students could summarize lessons learned and ask questions within. Students can become reports and share what they have learned in any social studies or history assignment. The list goes on and on. First you have to find a good platform to use with your students I tried out three and here is what I found. PodBean PodBean is very user-friendly.   I the past I have mostly used it on my computer. This was the first time I downloaded the app and I have to say the set up wasn’t too difficult.   All you as a user have to do is tap on the microphone within the app and it starts recording.   Sound Effects like music can be added and turned lower or higher anytime during the recording.   You can listen to, r...

Using Cartoons and Comics in the classroom is a great way to engage your students and get them creating. I have always thought that if you teach something then have your students share that information with their peers they are 100 times more likely to remember the information. A comic is a great outlet for teaching or sharing information as well as having students do the same. Graphic novels seem to move through circulation in the library the fastest out of any genre. STUDENTS LOVE THEM! Why not have students create what they like reading. Here are a few sites to get you started on your comic-making journey.  Pixton Here is the comic I created using Pixton The Educator subscription for Pixton is pretty cool if you like Bitmoji then this site is right up your alley. You can create your own avatar and have your students join to create their own avatar to make a class picture something I can not wait to try when I get back in the library. After you create your avatar you ...

YouTube is a great tool for education allowing users to create tutorial videos, share what they know or have learned on a subject and even make videos for fun. A Librarian can create videos to introduce new materials in the library, tutorials on how to access online databases and how to traverse the library as well as videos to promote the library. YouTube gives you the ability to create an account so that you can have your own channel with videos you create, as well as save other channels by subscribing for easy access and updates for new videos. The following are some YouTube channels you should check out as well as some videos I found most helpful to students and some that students would like best. The Norman High School Library Most Helpful to Students With 889 views this video shows students how to access and use the schools EBSCO Host. Video Students would like best This video shows the school’s mascot showing off resources in the library by touring/ using...

Screencasts are a digital platform for recording videos of whatever is on your screen, you talking about what is on your screen and then sharing the video with others. Screencasts are done most often to show others how to do something digitally they may not have known how to do. Rather than reading instructions, doing a screencast can lead a person through visual instructions where the viewer can follow along at the same time making it a great venue for disseminating information.  Screencasts in education: Students can record themselves giving presentations of their digital work. Teachers can give tutorials or instructions for learning.  Mentors or instructional coaches can create self-paced professional development. Allowing teachers to access and learn when    Screencast in the library: Offering PD to teachers on library resources or new tech tools to implement. Helping other librarians with OPAC reports as well as cre...

With an infographic, you can take information and transform it in a way that would be most appealing to the user by using words and visuals together. Using this platform of disseminating information seems easier and more fun to create than just using words alone because an infographic catches the intended viewers' attention and draws their eye to all the information. I had created infographics before using Canva but for this assignment, I tried out three new websites.  Easel.ly was easy to set up an account with. There were blank templates to choose from but not many options for themes. When I tried creating a new infographic,  I quickly realized there were not many options to choose from unless you upgrade to Go Pro. You can add shapes, media, lines, text, graphs/charts, and there is a grid to help keep everything but it was very hard to search for items. The infographic can be downloaded to a PDF and shared, but there was nothing easy about it unless you had the mone...