Readers+Advisory+Study+Group

This is a wiki we will be using as we plan and discuss the Readers Advisory Study Group we will be having this summer starting mid June and probably lasting for six weeks. It will be online. This began from a thread on the ISLMANET listserve. We will be using the outline provided on NoveList to guide us though this group. Please post **Questions and Comments** below and if you'd like to participate, add your name to the list of **Participants** at the bottom of this page. My name is Becky Schaller.
 * INTRODUCTION**

If you have questions or comments, this is the place to ask or comment. On the ISLMANET listserve a couple of people suggested we use NING. I had suggested using Moodle, but am happy to consider NING. I am asking that the discussion be moved from the listserve to this wiki. So please list the pros and cons if you'd like to weigh in.
 * QUESTIONS AND COMMENT ABOUT STUDY GROUP**
 * 1) //Elluminate:// If you are wanting to "engage" in a real-time exchange we could explore ELLUMINATE
 * 2) //NING:// Give us the equivalent of a "closed" facebook format but promotes discussions, blogs, uploading videos, etc. ---
 * 3) //VT:// Voice thread is another option--Barrignton librarian posted her VT on ISLMA. (jcondren)

6/13 (out of chronological order) This is the url for the voice thread posted by Kathy Hempel which is mentioned above. http://voicethread.com/#q.b501851.i2674762 Becky Schaller

I am a member of [|TeacherLibrarianNetwork] which is a[|ning]. I just joined recently but that might be a logical place to use an existing ning. The other options sound good as well. I use VT with students and we have an account here (also new) but I'm game to anything. E. LeBris

Elisabeth, which TeacherLibrarianNetwork are you a member? I'd like to check it out. I did a search and there were several listed. Becky Schaller Becky- It is teacherlibrarian.ning.com I only just started with it so I am still new to all the possibilities there.

Suggestion---very easy for us to start our own NING OR to request the manager of the above site to create a group for us withing Teacher Librarian Network---the only catch is that you will not have administrative rights and there is not charge starting NINGS as edu--with administrative rights for one of us we then can use the "broadcast" feature to send out a reminder, etc... (jcondren)

It sounds like perhaps we're moving toward the idea of using a NING. I've never used one before. Would someone else be willing to manage the technical parts of it? - Becky Schaller

If we were to use a NING, and we were to use one like teacherlibrarian.ning.com, would there be an advantage to tapping into the resources of that community? Perhaps members of that NING would also want to participate. What do you think? Or would the disadvantage of not being able to broadcast outweigh that? - Becky Schaller

5/23/09 I'm also thinking that if we used a NING, then perhaps individuals might want to supplment with ELLUMINATE or VT. We could schedule times when we had a discussion on Elluminate. I'm hesitant to think we'll do the whole study group using a real-time exchange since people's schedules differ so much. But I think it would be fun to use ELLUMINATE occasionally as a supplement to the main discussion. I've never used Voice Thread and I don't really know what that is, but perhaps we could someone integrate that in also. I don't want to get sidetracked from the purpose of learning RA, but I also like the idea of getting an introduction to other technological ideas. Comments? - Becky Schaller

Sounds good!

6/7/09 Since schools are ending around now, I'd like for us to start the online readers' advisory study group soon. Our district gets out on Monday, June 15. (We had three snow days and two flu days.) At that point, I can start figuring out how to set up a Ning. To the best of my knowledge, I've never used one so I would be starting from scratch. If anyone would be willing to set the Ning up for us, then we can start earlier. Let me know if you're interested. It is fine with me if we link up to teacherlibrarian.ning.com. Becky Schaller Hi Becky, My tech. coordinator is awesome. Let me talk to him tomorrow about setting up the Ning. He might be just what we need to get past the start up issues. Elisabeth L. Sounds good, Elisabeth. Let's see what he says. Becky Schaller Hi Becky, I contacted TeacherLibrarianNetwork and she said absolutely use her Ning for our group. She said all I need to do is go to the site and click on Groups and I'll get prompted how to proceed. Do you want me to go ahead and see what happens? I'm not sure if each of us has to join and the ning and then the group or just the group but I'm sure we can figure it out. Let me know what you think. Elisabeth 6/13 Elisabeth, yes please do. Let us know if you have any problems and also when we can proceed. Becky 6/15 Ok I made the group on TeacherLibrarianNing and called it Readers Advisory. I was prompted to give a brief description so I wrote a very short one. Now we need everyone's email so they can be invited. I noticed only one person has their email down below. I will add mine and maybe everyone else can as well. What do you think? I will try to email Vicki now and see if it works. Let me know, Elisabeth 6/15 Elisabeth, thanks for doing this. I just added mine. We may need to put a notice on ISLMANET and suggest that everyone subscribe to the Ning and maybe to this wiki. Then they'll know when to look. Let's see if others add their email addresses. Becky

6/24 If you have not received an invitation to join the Readers Advisory Ning we are using, please let Elisabeth know and make sure she has your email address. She is doing the inviting for us. Becky

If you would like to participate, write your name here: (I'm glad to see people are writing their school and city along with their name. If you'd also say whether you are working at an elementary, middle/jr. high, or high school, that would be helpful for people to know. - or student, public library, etc. I'm seeing some new names I don't recognize, so if you're willing to say how you heard about this group, that would satisfy my curiosity on this subject.) Jina Rappaport - Oak Grove School, Green Oaks, IL 4-8 public school rappaport@ogschool.org Andrea Perrin - Dundee Middle School, Dundee, Illinois andreaperrin2008@gmail.com Elisabeth LeBris - Sears School, Kenilworth, Il (K-8 public school - read about it on Islmanet and the wiki itself) elebris@kenilworth38.org Annette Farmer - Northbrook Junior High, Northbrook, Illinois Judith Stucky Condren - East Leyden High School [|http://www.leyden212.org] Becky Schaller - Liberty Jr. High School, Burbank, IL rebeccaagnesschaller@gmail.com Vicki Hall - Springfield Public Schools, 5 Elementary Libraries, K-5, Springfield, IL (ISLMA_Net and this Wiki) vshall3@yahoo.com Elizabeth Wright - Mather High School (CPS), Chicago, IL edverhage@cps.edu Pat Salvatini - Mark Twain School, Wheeling PK-5 plynnsal@comcast.net Kelly Wood - Fairmount School, Downers Grove, K-6 kwood@dg58.org Anita Beaman, University High School, Illinois State University, Normal, IL (ISLMA-Net) - anitabeaman@gmail.com
 * PARTICIPANTS**

8/29/009 I'm thinking of deleting this page so that the wiki has only relevant information on it.