Webinars are a great way for me to gain information and find out about new products, books, websites, and applications.
For librarians, there are many webinars regarding newly published books. While most are when I’m teaching – 3:00 seems to be a favorite time - I often view the archives of these webinars. When I’m cleaning my office (if you’ve been reading this blog then you’ve seen the pictures!) I’ll put on a webinar and listen while I work.
For librarians, there are many webinars regarding newly published books. While most are when I’m teaching – 3:00 seems to be a favorite time - I often view the archives of these webinars. When I’m cleaning my office (if you’ve been reading this blog then you’ve seen the pictures!) I’ll put on a webinar and listen while I work.
Junior Library Guild and School Library Journal offer many webinars about books, but there are many other sources I check. Our district will approve webinars for our district-required continuing ed, so if teachers are short an hour or two of the 18 required hours I can usually help them find a relevant and interesting webinar.
Quick tip for anyone viewing archived webinars – take a look at the resources folder and print out anything you might want to use to take notes. I’ve found that many of the sites I use for webinars generally have a resource folder with relevant files, links and/or copies of the slides for the presentations.
This week I attended two live events, although only one was a webinar. I tried to use Plickers – paper clickers – last week. If you haven’t heard of them before, they are barcodes that students hold up to indicate their answers to multiple choice questions. The teacher then scans the barcodes with a mobile device, receiving instant feedback on the students’ answers. The scores are also recorded in spreadsheets.
This might not be relevant for most teachers. I may be a technology dinosaur with my need for Plickers, but we are far from a 1:1 school, and it is impossible to sign out enough devices for all of my students.
This might not be relevant for most teachers. I may be a technology dinosaur with my need for Plickers, but we are far from a 1:1 school, and it is impossible to sign out enough devices for all of my students.
I tried out Plickers with a fourth grade class and everything worked fine. So the next day I tried it with another class and I couldn’t get anything to work. The lesson crashed and burned. Just as I was saying to a classroom aide “Thank goodness this wasn’t an observation lesson” in walks the Principal. And instead of having something neat to show him – well, he kindly said that maybe it was just a slow internet problem.
Luckily, I was able to register for a getting started webinar offered twice a week from Plickers. Perfect timing, and it really helped. I can usually figure things out, but for some reason I couldn’t wrap my head around the Plickers class vs question library setup.
Luckily, I was able to register for a getting started webinar offered twice a week from Plickers. Perfect timing, and it really helped. I can usually figure things out, but for some reason I couldn’t wrap my head around the Plickers class vs question library setup.
Attending the webinar gave me a better look at how Plickers is supposed to work, and provided the opportunity to ask questions. The only issue I had with the presentation itself was that the presenter had people using the question box instead of the chat box so none of the attendees could see each others’ intros or questions. But that’s pretty minor. I would definitely attend these ‘getting started’ type webinars again. While I’m sure I would have figured it all out eventually, there’s something about seeing it in action that is really helpful.
I was thinking about how to use a webinar or similar technology with my class, and I believe it would work for the kind of programming I described first – book talks or reviews. A few weeks before school ends the district librarians often do a ‘book tasting’ where students have a chance to look for some good choices for their summer reading lists. It would be really neat if we used a webinar format, including the resource list of books discussed, and the students could hear about the books and make notations on their list. I’m not sure if it would work with students as presenters – we have a lot of students – but each of the librarians could present 4 or 5 books for the students to see.
The second live event I attended this week was Discovery Education’s virtual viewing party on Tuesday. I did not have a class at the time, and I travel to a different school on Tuesdays, so I wasn’t able to find a teacher to lend me a class, but I tuned in anyway. It was a great event – Hero History: Ruby Bridges. The input from the students watching was really wonderful. And so this coming week I’ve signed up for the live streaming event for Read Across America Day.
And luckily, I do have a class of 2nd graders who will be excited to take part!
And luckily, I do have a class of 2nd graders who will be excited to take part!