Impactful Integration With Amy

This post is week 7 of 8 in the #8WeeksofSummer Blog Challenge for educators .  I don't know about you, but I always have mixed emotions as we get ready to go back to school.  I am excited about all the potential each new school year brings, but I'm also feeling like summer passed to quickly.  Can you relate?  Throughout this summer I have been searching out my own training through my PLN on Twitter, PD books and other online resources.  I also stumbled upon some new to me blogs and podcasts that I felt like I could really relate to.  One thing all of these resources have in common is that they are focused on one or more of these topics:  how to engage students with high yield strategies a framework that allows students to represent their ideas in multiple ways and to provide students voice and choice in how they express what they know using backward design to choose technology tools after the learning objective has be set innovative teaching methods...

I'm back again looking into some terrific professional development books. I don't know about you, but there are so many books I want to read and just not enough time to get to them all.  So what I usually do is keep a running "To Be Read" (TBR) list and I try to tackle those by purchasing them, borrowing them from the library or a colleague or even listening to them through Audible.  I thought it would be fun to help me gain as much knowledge as I can while narrowing down my reading choices by downloading free samples of PD books from my TBR to my Kindle.  Did you know that in Amazon you can download a free sample of just about any eBook they sell?  This is a great way to see if a book is a good fit for you! Let me also focus this by explaining what I am hoping to gain from reading these professional development excerpts and samples... I'm looking to shift from my role of school librarian to an instructional technology integration specialist.  While I alrea...

I'm always up for great book recommendations, how about you?  When it comes to fiction, I like to go in pretty blind and be surprised by the outcome.  With nonfiction, I'm pickier. I want to have a good idea going into it if it will meet my learning needs.  Today I'll share a few PD books I read during the school year and in future posts I'll share some I've started reading this summer.  There are so many great books to choose from and it was hard to decide what books to prioritize on my reading list (TBR).  So I thought I'd do a series on my first thoughts based on kindle free downloads to get a glimpse inside the titles on my TBR and narrow down which are a best fit for me. I've been adding to my TBR (to be read) list all school year, waiting for summer to come so I'd have some extra time to dedicate to improving my instructional practice.  I don't know about you, but as a high school librarian I am constantly reading to keep up with current trends...