Infographics

An infographic is a form of displaying information or data using graphics. Infographics are found in many places. For example schools/districts, hospitals, stores, gyms, Internet, magazines, libraries, etc. Remember infographics are a quick form of displaying information, and you may have already seen one without knowing it was an infographic. 

There are many websites on the Internet that you can use to create an infographic. Prior to creating one, I explored several websites. The websites were easy to navigate and use. All offered free templates or you can upgrade (pay a fee) for additional templates. I viewed the following, before selecting one to use. 

• easel.ly
• piktochart.com
• infogr.am

If your a beginner like me, all 3 websites have templates to choose from. (You also have the option to create your own.) After choosing a template, you choose how (select font, colors, shapes, etc.) to present your information. Once your infographics is complete, you can select how to share: online or print.

Personally, I liked both easelly and piktochart the best. Even though, easelly had more free templates versus piktochart. I was undecided on which to use, so I started creating an infographic using both. I would switch between both websites until I decided piktochart was the best choice for displaying the information. I used Social Media and the Workforce data report (Pew Research Center) to create my infographics. 

Here's my infographic I created:

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/14754278-social-media-infographic

I will definitely continue to create and use infographics in my classroom. Several ideas have popped in my mind that I would like to further explore with my students. Since our district is transforming our classrooms into digital classrooms, I will present infographics to our staff and teachers.

Blogs and Blog reader

Blog and Blog reader
A blog consist of journal like entries written by individuals. You will find blogs written by teachers, parents, experts, etc. With so many blogs to follow and read, an individual may need the help of a blog reader. 

What is a blog reader? 
A blog reader or RSS service collects all your favorite blogs, videos, news, and more in a central location. Instead of clicking on each individual blogs several times during the day, you can just click once. When you click on your blog reader, any unread blog posts will be shown. 

After reading about blog readers, I chose to use Feedly. First of all, its free!! There is a fee for additional services. Feedly has a simple layout. (If you're familiar with Edmodo or Pinterest, then Feedly is the one for you.) Its simplicity makes it easy to use and follow. The menu on the left is divided into categories. (Again like Edmodo/Pinterest) As you search for articles, there are additional links to follow at the bottom. Also, there are additional blogs recommended for you. I really loved, that I can create "collections" or group my blogs together! There's a search option to seek for additional or related blogs. In addition, using Feedly to share on social media is possible.

Blogs to follow
Here are some blogs, you may wish to follow. 

1. School Library Journal 
This blog has many features. For an aspiring librarian (like me), this is the blog to follow. I found articles pertaining to book reviews, school library, and technology. This blog will help me stay informed on the current trends for children and teens. 

2. Library displays
I found this blog and loved it! She has great ideas for creating book displays. I can incorporate some of these ideas into my classroom. Also, there are additional website for book displays to search through. Ms. Pearson added book links to books about displays or promoting reading.

3. Mighty little Librarian
As I future librarian, I want to read about other's experiences in the library. In this blog, Ms. Whitehead writes about her every day experiences. creates a recommended book list for her students that she shares. In addition, she shares pictures of her book displays and library decorations. 

4. Wild about fifth
I teach fifth grade and I'm always looking for creative ideas on classroom displays and technology. The first item is a middle school summer list for students to read. Looove it!! There's a freebie tab with links to download or print additional resources. I will begin the school year with iPads and this teacher incorporates a digital center into her lessons. I can't wait to integrate into my classroom!

5. Life in Fifth Grade
If your looking for awesome ideas for Reading activities, this is it!! Her classroom has a 1 to 1 ratio for Chromebooks and she has many websites that she uses in her classroom. One of her students'  favorite (as well as mine) is Go Noodle. Her students also use Animoto (my student did too!). 

6. Teaching Blog Addict
When I first searched for fifth grade blogs, I came across this blog. There are over one hundred links to additional blogs. The majority of the blogs are geared for fifth, but there's a few for fourth and sixth grade. I'm saving this blog just in case.


Tumblr
There are many reasons why a school would use Tumblr. Some used it to promote reading books, authors or book reviews. While others used it to display quotes, library related meme, or links to related blogs/organizations. 

Here's my Tumblr link. 

impossiblepaperdreamland.tumblr.com

Facebook
Facebook is a social media website that allows individuals to create and share posts.
Most people use technology in their every day activities. School district are implementing the integration of technology into their schools and classrooms. Since school district are using social media, its only fair for school libraries to use it as well.


School libraries are using Facebook to promote themselves with the public. I explored several school libraries and they are posting summer reading activities or recognition of individuals or groups. Many of the posts did not have any comments. The few that did, had positive comments.
There are advantages and disadvantages to using Facebook when promoting library.
One advantage is creating the page as public, which helps keep the parents/community informed about school events. Another advantage is promoting community events. On the other hand, there are disadvantages as well. A post may be seen negatively or misunderstood. If the page is public, this means anyone on Facebook can see it and comment. Also, the post can be shared with others without your consent. Before posting students' pictures, the librarian needs to be aware of privacy issues. Last, there may be a risk of hacking.


As a future librarian, I would like to use Facebook to promote my library. I must be vigilant when posting. Also, I would post both in English and Spanish to better serve our community and reach more parents.


Twitter
Twitter is another social media where individuals may tweet (post). Unlike Facebook, most tweets are short in word length.


As I read over ed tech tweets, many are retweets. There are many personal tweets (Bachelorette to basketball game). Also, there are many professional tweets. Gwyneth Jones @GwynethJones tweeted a Middle School Summer Reading List with a QR code. Some tweets are for promoting books being read. Others promote organizations, conferences, journal articles, or social issues.


Twitter is something new to me. I'm still become familiar with it. However, I don't foresee myself using in the future to promote my library.