10+Professional+Websites


 * 1.** **[|Lesson Planet]**


 * This tool is pretty cool; it has a lot of things if you are just stuck on creating a lesson, it has worksheets, you can double check your standards, and you can create lesson plans to share or if you want to create a newsletter there's a program for that too. It's also great because you can find things by grade level how well the lessons worked for others.


 * This tool would be very helpful in trying to come up with new ideas if something from a previous year didn't work or if I ran out of time to create a worksheet, I could go on here and see if there isn't something already similar to what I may need. Also, since it has a program to create newsletters I could create a library newsletter similar to what Kym did with her Fishback kids.


 * I originally found this on Google when I was working on my Collaborative Lesson Plans project. I was looking for sample lesson plans that had to do with Windows Movie Maker and copyright. Though I didn't use anything I found on this website, I thought it had some great stuff that could be useful in the future.


 * The strengths of this site have mostly to do with the fact that a lot of things that you need for creating a lesson plan are in one place. It's also great that it's possible to share your lesson plans with others who may be struggling for ideas. I don't like that it costs money if you actually join (which you have to do to create lesson plans and newsletters and to have access to worksheets) but it does only cost $39.95 for a year's membership so it isn't outrageously high. However there are a lot of sites out there that are free that can help you build lesson plans so it's not like things can't be found out there but I chose this rather than a free site because I really like the idea of everything being in one place in a peer-reviewed setting. It's also possible to get addicted to finding things on here instead thinking up new ideas but as a tool for when you are just starting as a teacher-librarian it could come in handy to have some tried and true lesson plans.

Education Planet. //Lesson Planet: Search Engine for Teachers//. Education Planet, 1999. Web. 15 April, 2010.


 * 2.** **[|TeacherLibrarianNing]**


 * This is an interesting site that was created for teacher-librarians to have their own community. It gives teacher-librarians an opportunity to share resources post their photos and videos from events, post events, and also create forums about topics that they think need to be discussed. This website is more like a visual LM_Net but I didn't put it with the listserv and discussion group section because it has so many different things that to classify it as a discussion group would not be quite far enough.


 * This site is helpful to me now because it gives me an idea of what other MSs do and allows me the opportunity to see what kind of issues people are running into currently. Also, there are listings for Webinars and upcoming events that may be of interest. In short, this is helpful now because it helps me to network and it will help me in the future to maintain a network.


 * I found this tool in an LM_Net posting sometime in March. I assume it was a part of a posting by Joyce Valenza, the creator of TLN but I don't remember because I couldn't re-find the post when I went to look for it again but I am certain I found in on LM_Net.


 * This tool is very strong as a professional website because it has a lot of things that would help a teacher-librarian like networking, idea sharing, information sharing, upcoming events and possibly event ideas if there are posts about a specific school event. But like most social networking sites, you have to join to fully participate and when you join you have to create some sort of website which isn't an awful thing but if you already have one, it's just another thing to keep updated. I'm also pretty sure that you would not be able to access it in a school because of the social networking aspect of it so unfortunately, it's only an out of school activity. May be allowed for adult access since it is a teaching tool. ​

Valenza, Joyce. //TeacherLibrarianNing//. 2010. Ning. Web. 11 April 2010.


 * 3. [|Bureau of Education & Research]**


 * On the BER website they give you multiple way of fulfilling your professional development hours. They offer classes all of the US and Canada, but if you are unable to attend seminar physically they also offer some CD versions of seminars (including Peggy Sharp's!) which could also be helpful if you didn't catch exactly what was said. There are also video training that can be purchased.


 * This tool will be helpful in the future because not only will I be able to find seminars that are helpful for myself, but I will be able to find helpful programs for the teachers and staff that I work with if they need it.


 * I found this on LM_Net in a posting by Judy Freeman on March 11th.


 * This is a strong resource because it offers a lot of possible ways to get professional development and it is also very easy to navigate. It's also nice because if you have a low budget for this sort of thing you can easily find things that you can drive to. The downside is a lot of things seem pretty expensive to me. For example, if you wanted to buy the audio version of Peggy Sharp's lecture on "What's New in Children's Literature and How to Use it in Your Program: 2009, K-6" it would cost $95.00 for a CD! Perhaps it's worth it but that's still a lot to pay. I agree; their prices have gone up a lot in the last 3 years.

Bureau of Education & Research. //Bureau of Education & Research.// 2010. Bureau of Education & Research. Web. 20 March 2010.


 * 4. [|MDE (Michigan Department of Education)]**


 * Since this is the Department of Education website, it includes many things. It has job postings, requirements to become a school librarian, articles that relate to the field and a nice little feature called "What Does a Teacher-Librarian Really Do?" which is a video informing people of our true purpose in a school setting (it's from California not Michigan).


 * This is a helpful website because it's the state's website; it's useful for staying informed not only in my field but seeing what others are doing and what sort of budget the state is proposing for the next year.


 * I found this tool when I was searching for Michigan education standards in the beginning of the semester.


 * It's a strong tool because it is informative not only for librarians but also for the public and it has a lot of information on it. I know it's not a perfect website but it has a lot of the information I would expect to find on a state-funded website, although some of it may take a little bit of searching.

State of Michigan. //MDE-School Librarians.// 2010. State of Michigan. Web. 17 March 2010.


 * 5. [|PBS Teachers]**


 * There is a lot to this tool; it has classroom resources, professional development tools, and a forum area. Seeing as how it's an affiliate of PBS it's a free product and it looks very helpful.


 * This will be helpful in the future because it has a lot to offer without having to pay for it like you do with Lesson Planet. Since PBS is a reputable source it's easy to be able to trust what you find on there.


 * I found this tool on LM_Net in a post by Debbie Abilock on March 10th.


 * It is a strong tool because it is easy to use and makes it easy to identify what the posted classroom resources are (such as lesson plans, offline activities, etc.). It's also nice because it is broken into age group and then subject. However, I found it disappointing that they did not include sections of PBS shows on the website for visual classroom help there are some posts from the discussion boards that have places to look at video clips though so it's not too bad. They do have a portion where you can buy movies but it's sort of difficult to find it.

PBS. //PBS Teachers.// 2010. PBS, 2010. Web. 19 April 2010.


 * 6. [|Michigan Online Resources for Educators]**


 * This tool has several databases not only that students could use but also teachers. It also has job postings and discussion boards.


 * This tool would be helpful with teaching students how to use databases. But mostly, it's for educators and there are a lot of great resources for finding information that would be helpful for teaching or getting a job.


 * I found this website when I was looking on the Michigan Department of Education website.


 * It is a strong resource because it has a lot of information but I also think it has too much. When I was looking at this source I was rather confused as to what I should use it as which is why I labeled it as both a professional source and something to use with students.

Library of Michigan. //M.O.R.E.// State of Michigan. Web. 14 April 2010.


 * 7.**[| **Midwest Collaborative for Library Services**]


 * This site has a lot of communication tools like wikis and blogs. There are also announcements and conferences.


 * This will help keep me connected a larger community but not too large considering it's only for the Midwest.


 * I found this tool while looking for many Michigan-related things.


 * This site has a lot of information; I especially like that it features the Evergreen blog in which Michigan librarians recount how their open source project is going.

Midwest Collaborative for Library Services, 2005-2010. Web. 19 April 2010.


 * 8. [|Big Noodle Books]**


 * I wanted to be sure I included this tool because I have been wondering what the high school equivalent for book fairs would be and this sort of answered my question. It's basically an amazon.com answer for a school book fair.


 * I think it will be helpful if I end up in a school with older kids because I personally never had a book fair in high school and wished I did. Since this book fair doesn't disrupt classes I'm sure that it will be considered appropriate for high schoolers.


 * I found this in an LM_Net posting by Michelle Levy from March 17th.


 * It's strong because it looks like it will be easy to use and some of the profits still go to the school however, I didn't see anywhere where it said how much would go to the school and because it's not right in your face like a normal book fair people may forget about it.

Levy, Michelle. "TAR: Big Noodle Books (online book fair)" //LM_Net.// Syracuse University. Web. 20 March 2010.


 * 9. [|AVerMedia]**


 * This site has many reviews about various teacher presentation materials.


 * I think it would be helpful to use this if some equipment needed to be upgraded, this should have some reviews on if the item is any good or not.


 * I found this on LM_Net in a posting by Donna Van Cleve on March 12th.


 * It has a lot of product reviews but I really wish they would review more than just presentation equipment.

Van Cleve, Donna. "HIT: Use for Non-HD Televisions" //LM_Net.// Syracuse University. Web. 20 March 2010.


 * 10.** **[|Libraries Unlimited]**


 * This is a book site purely devoted to textbook and professional books.


 * This is a helpful tool because it shows books by series and subjects so if all I needed was a book about collection development and not a whole series of books about learning through folklore, I could easily sort out what I wanted from books that might have hindered my search on other sites.


 * I found this in an LM_Net posting from Judy Freeman from March 11th.


 * It has a lot of books but there aren't any reviews or descriptions that I saw so it's only semi-helpful.

Freeman, Judy. "GEN: Judy Freeman" //LM_Net.// Syracuse University. Web. 14 March 2010.