'Twas the Night Before Techmas 2016 edition

For the past two years, I've created an infographic showing some great webtools for the classroom. So, if you have time and want to try out new tools, try these!  Click on the icons to take you to the sites listed.
And if you missed the last two here are the links:
Techmas 2014 edition           Techmas 2015 edition

75+ STEM Inspired Young Adult Books in 9 Categories

Recently, there had been a discussion about STEM/STEAM related YA books, which prompted this blog post. I chose the categories first and then searched for books I've read as well as some I haven't and categorized them to what I thought the book best suited. Some of them, of course, could possibly go into more than one category but alas! I had to choose but one. And interestingly enough, I didn't know I had read so many science related books! This was especially surprising as science isn't my forte at all! So here's a link to the Mindomo infographic I created. If you use the arrows at the bottom, it'll zoom into each one better :)   https://www.mindomo.com/mindmap/a8f462216179467b97e02f857f50c749

If you know of any others I may have missed (or even categories) please comment and share with everyone because I'm SURE I've missed something STEM-MY

22 Web Sites for Educators: five different categories for digital projects and classroom interaction

The Borden Murders by Sarah Miller

2016, Random House

On August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden was having a typical morning.  She got out her handkerchiefs to iron, and went out the the barn to find some fishing leads for her pole.  But when she got back, chaos reigned...

Her father and step-mother had been brutally murdered, their faces hacked to pieces.

She was only gone 10-15 minutes.  How could this have happened?  Right away the police were called and the investigation into one of the most famous murders began to proceed.  But what makes this murder and subsequent trial one of the most (in)famous trials in American history is the big whodunit?

At the time, it was HIGHLY irregular for a woman, especially a woman of society and wealth, to be put on trial for something as heinous as murder by an axe, but all evidence pointed to poor Lizzie.  She was under house arrest, then taken to jail for months until the trial began in Fall River, Massachusetts.  Who did it?  Was it truly Lizzie or someone else?  Will the real murdered be captured for the town could rest easy or not?

I absolutely LOVE narrative non-fiction, and Sarah Miller doesn't disappoint with her book.  Not only does the reader feel like they're reading a novel, but she also leaves an air of mystery throughout, nudging the reader to the end to see if anything happened, new evidence was found, and who was ultimately responsible for the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Borden.  Miller provides the reader with historical excerpts from newspapers and trial transcripts as well as eyewitness testimony from not only the day the murder happened, but all the interaction that happened between Lizzie Borden and themselves.  Miller takes one of America's most intriguing events and creates a big picture that at the same time dispels rumors most people think from then until today.  This is an excellent collection to any collection.  Recommended JH/HS.

Infographic of Narrative Non-Fiction

Infographic: Using Google Research to Create MLA Citations for Online Sources

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/8727344-google-research-for-mla-citations#.VilB1GmC-cQ.twitter

Infographic: Recommended YA Books with Book Trailers

Using a website called Mindomo (makes some great infographics and mind maps!) I made an infographic of what recommendations for YA novels.  There are 13 genres represented and comes with book trailers when available.

Genrefication Infographic Spring 2015

I recently sent out a survey about genrefication, and here are the results from over 600 respondents. The link for this is at: https://magic.piktochart.com/output/5927045-genre-survey-spring-2015

Reading Challenge 2015

When I started thinking about a personal reading challenge, I began to think about those books I kind of shy away from or don't read as much.  Once I started thinking about this, I decided to make a list and my 2015 reading challenge was born.  Here's the list that will not only challenge me to read, but also stretch my reading comfort level.  
Plus, hey...it's fun :)  

Twelve Days of Tech-Mas

Five Steps to Responsibly Search for Images for Digital Projects

Click here for the downloadable pdf file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-wHb5Nsjhy0NTJXVnMycDMzeVk/view?usp=sharing

Content Curation -TCEA 2014 Presentation

The permalink is: https://magic.piktochart.com/output/1217729-content-curation#/pikto-block-4

Twinkle Tech! Four webtools that can transform the paperless classroom!

I was introduced to many of these sites via PLNs and colleagues and was intrigued with the possibilities and potential they had. These are one to definitely keep in mind as solid educational webtools! Includes a description and suggested curriculum tie-ins.

Infographic: Digital Literacy in the 21st Century Classroom and Library

Infographic: How to Create a Book Trailer

I looked at all of the presentations I've done or articles I've written, and condensed them into an easy to read infographic that tells it all simply and visually. This will also be in my presentation at Tech Day for the Southern California Inland Library System in May 2013. The static link is: https://magic.piktochart.com/output/9a1b311b-fc4a-4fca-aa6d-a61b4d7ad843

Infographic: Fiction Meets Non-Fiction

Infographic can be viewed online at: https://magic.piktochart.com/output/3922de45-655d-48dc-844e-1ba2ba5da348#.URme2PI3tiw

Infographics take the "hurt" out of a report!

I've seen some very VERY nice infographics, and they are coming onto the forefront of creating and disseminating information.  I tried using Visual.ly, but just couldn't make it work and then fell in love with Piktochart....

So, I decided to take my State of the Library Report, a six page document you can find at this link (if you're so inclined to read the six pages)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-wHb5Nsjhy0WjhnSG5oT3dOZmM/edit?pli=1

and transformed it into this infographic, which has all the same information but in a more visual format.  (If you want to zoom in, you'll have to save it...I'm still trying to figure that out)
Love it!!