podcasts

The library podcasts that I viewed were varied. Some worked well but one other had sound that was not smooth. But, the idea of audio booktalks is completely new to me. I can see having students make podcasts because they would improve their writing, reading, and oral skills. As librarian, I also could make podcast book reviews that the students could listen to. I can see, in the public library, having news podcasts available to download on their MP3 devices so that patrons could take the news with them and listen when they have time or are walking their dogs. The possibilities are unlimited.

Lesson11

I love YouTube! I have used it many times in my school library to show students video I would not be able to any other way.
As part of exercise #21, I searched under "Elephant Hospital Thailand" because I know that there is only one true elephant hospital, in Lampang, having visited it when I took a UVM course the summer before last. There was one video and I met the doctor in it, so I know it's correct. We cried after seeing some of the injuries from land mines that the elephants received, as well as other sad elephants. If I figure out how this summer, I may post my own that I took there. The sound is poor, but the video is true. There was one elephant that broke our hearts. She was swaying continuously. The Dr. said that she had accidentally killed her baby when she rolled or stepped on it, and she had been swaying for three years! Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94U_FWhyR4Q to view it. There are other videos, including an amazing one that shows one of their baby elephants with his new artificial leg at /www.youtube.com/watch?v=FENeKiO3lAA. They can hardly keep him still! One group of locals tried to burn the hospital out because there is no need for most of the elephants in Thailand, since they don't work them in the forests except in remote areas. There are almost no elephants in the wild in Thailand. It's a real tragedy. There are other videos also.
I showed the students author youtubes and things related to books many times. It brings the stories to life. We read the book Sandy's Circus, about Alexander Calder, and I found a video showing him performing, that otherwise we never could have seen. The students tried making some of the mechanical circus after seeing that video.

Lesson 20

I chose to look at biblio.com, the site where you can buy rare or out of print books. There is a book that I have been looking for, for quite a while, and I wanted to see if it was for sale there. Mousekin's Golden House by Edna Miller was one of my children's favorites. When I worked at the school library in Williamstown, my children were older and wanted to see the book again. Well, it was missing from that library. Then, when I worked in Montpelier, the book had disappeared before I got there, also!
Sure enough, there are many copies, with a wide range of price. It looks very easy to purchase from the site. I also browsed the art book category and found some old classics that I remember from college. That's a site I would go to again.