Word of the Day

For all of you that are sick of the most overused and over hyped idea in education- NCLB I’d like to propose a new term, and I hope it catches on and spreads like wildfire.

The new hot term is going to be pedagogical automaticity.

I want it to become big because its something that effective teachers possess. I want it to catch on because it’s something that all of us in the field should be striving towards. And I want it to catch because its such a freakin cool word to use in a conversation. Go ahead and say it.

See what I mean?

SLJ’s New Site

Have you been to School Library Journal’s newly designed site? If you haven’t, I suggest you check it out. SLJ online has undergone a major facelift, and I can honestly say that the site is more useful for those in the field. I’ve gone from never checking their site at all to visiting it on a daily basis.

They’ve moved content around, overhauled the navigation and layout, and have added a couple of new features that have me addicted. Take for example their new blogs/talkback/podcasts feature. Four bloggers (Chris Harris, Diane Chen, Amy Bowlann & Brian Kenney) regularly make posts that connect teacher librarians to new ideas and new tools that help with instruction and keep you on the bleeding edge.

Not only does SLJ post all of their reviews online but they have a “pick of the day” feature which serves as a mini-review for a newly released K-12 books. Many of their picks have ended up on my order list over the last few months.

So if you’re trying to wade through the Internet sludge and determine which resources and web tools are valuable enough to grab a few seconds of your time, put School Library Journal’s website high on your list.

OpenOffice.org for schools

I recently came across this blog post on OpenOffice and its suggested placement in schools. After reading it, I agree with the author. Can anyone give me a good reason why we are throwing thousands of dollars to have Microsoft Office installed on school machines when all we really need is word processing, simple presentation and simple spreadsheet software? If the focus is on student learning rather than the technology itself, who cares if it is barebones?