The Most Popular Posts of the School Year

Some of you are already on school vacation, (I have 13 days left..) so I wanted to share with you the top posts from the blog from September 2011-May 2012.  They are in order of popularity.

39 Sites for Using iPad in the Classroom

Why Not Use Political Cartoons in Your Teaching? Here are 15 Places to Find Them

Do Your Students Know How to Cite a Tweet?

60 Sites for Digital Storytelling Tools and Information

10 Resources for Book Report Templates

All About QR Codes for Your Classroom: Here are 44 Sites to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Teaching the Gifted and Talented: 33 Websites Where You Can Find Good Resources

School Newspaper Advisers: 17 Websites for Student Photographers

The most popular page was Teacher-Librarians.

THANK YOU to everyone who has chosen to follow A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet.
Want to subscribe? Click here.
You can also follow me on Twitter.

All About QR Codes in Your Classroom: Here Are 44 Sites to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

My school does not allow students to use cell phones in the classroom. I don't agree with this policy, but rules are rules. However, assigning homework outside the classroom will allow your kids to learn a new way to use their smartphones, since texting seems to be the only thing they love to do. In June 2011, I did a post explaining QR Codes. With this post, I have put together a large listing which includes lesson ideas, QR apps for smartphones and QR code generators. Best part of all? The resources are free. The ideas are free. And if your school allows cell phones in the classroom, you'll be able to liven up your lessons!  5 Unique Uses for QR Codes- from Mashable15 Creative QR Codes- graphic design teachers take note! 40 Interesting Ways to Use QR Codes in the Classroom

45 Interesting Ways to Use QR Codes to  Support Learning - great slide presentation by Tom Barrett

101 Uses for Quick Response (QR) Codes

Giant QR Codes in the Classroom

Hot QR Codes in the Classroom- super blog post by the Daring Librarian 

How to Customize QR Codes with Your Brand's Identity

How to Use QR Codes in Student Projects- from SimpleK12

Instructions for a QR Code Book Report

Make Your Own QR Code Scavenger Hunt- from Kelly Tenkely's iLearn Technology blog

Mystery Math QR Code Scanning- for first graders 

The Periodic Table of Elements with QR Codes

QR Code Classroom Implementation Guide- excellent resource from Vicki Davis, the Cool Cat Teacher

QR Code Comic Tutorial- excellent design by the Daring Librarian

QR Code Uses in Libraries- nice long listing for teacher-librarians!

QR Codes: Applications in Libraries

View more PowerPoint from cawa

QR Codes in the Classroom and the Library, too!

View more presentations from gwyneth jones

QR Codes in Education- LiveBinder written by Steven Anderson

QR Codes in Education- explained with Glogster

QR Codes Explained by Common Craft- video

QR Codes and How to Use Them- Prezi by William King

QR Codes in the Classroom- interview with Wyoming science teacher London Jenks, about how he uses QR codes in his classroom

QR Codes: Lessons and Resources- for grades 7-12

QR Codes LiveBinder

QR Literature Quests- 14-slide presentation

TagMyDoc- "TagMyDoc allows you to apply a tag on a document which can be scanned and retrieved as a virtual copy."

Tell a Story with QR Codes- interesting blog post

Top 5 Creative Ways to Use QR Codes

Using QR Codes to Expand the Reading Experience

APPS FOR CELL PHONES
NeoReader- for iPhones

Quick Scan Pro for iPhone- scans barcodes and QR codes

QR Barcode Scanner for Android

QR Code Readers- huge listing of smartphones; choose your phone and the site matches you with a QR reader

QR Droid- rated 5 out of 5 stars

QR Reader for iPhone 

QR Scanner- iPhone

QR CODE GENERATORS
Kaywa- choose content type, content, size

QR Treasure Hunt Generator- in four easy steps

QR Voice- when your code is scanned, a recorded audio message plays

QRpedia- paste any Wikipedia URL in the box and a QR code will be created for you

SnapMaze QR Code Generator and QR Code Reader- choose your content and the color of your code; very simple

Snap.vu- free QR code generator, short URL  and tracking service

Twelve Ideas for Teaching with QR Codes- by Andrew Miller; on Edutopia's site

Why You Should Get to Know LiveBinders: Here Are 33 Examples For School Librarians (and Other Tech Geeks)

If you've never seen a LiveBinder, let me introduce you to them. LiveBinders are your 3-ring binders for the web. Think of them as resource links in a virtual binder. LiveBinders is offered for free and allows you to add as many tabs as you like to your binder. The following are mainly for my fellow teacher-librarians and media specialists, but there are several that many of you tech geeks should love. NOTE: This post will also be added to the page for Teacher-Librarians and Media Specialists.

All About Creative Commons and Copyright

Apps for Teachers and Students

Digital Citizenship Resources- all ages covered

Digital Curation for School Librarians and Other Tech Types

Digital Storytelling

Do You Read Me? - resources for elementary/middle school teachers

eBooks and Libraries

Edcamp: Do it Yourself Professional Development

Edmodo- Extending Learning Beyond the Classroom

An Educator's Guide to Twitter 

Evaluating a Web Site

Focus on the Future-Connecting Books and the 20th Century Reader

Free Stock Images

Google+ For Educators 

Google Forms-More Than Just Multiple Choice 

GoogleDocs

Infographics for Librarians, Educators and Other Cool Geeks

iPads in Content Areas

iPads in Schools

Just Say No to PowerPoint 

Library Toolkit- everything for the school librarian

Professional Organizations for School Librarians and Media Specialists

QR Codes in Education

Reference

Research Skills for History and Science Fair Projects

School Librarians and the Common Core Standards

Staying Safe Online

Technology Integration and 21st Century Learning

Technology Integration Resources

A "Top Ten" Teacher's Guide to Being a Cyber Hero- Web 2.0 tools

Web 2.0 Elementary Resource Kit

Web Quest Information

Write On! for Kids

Yes, There's Now an App For This Blog!

If you have an iPhone, you can download the app for my blog: http://itunes.apple.com/my/app/bloapp/id436962200?mt=8 and by snapping the QR code on the upper right column of this blog you can add this blog to the app.
This was made possible by Bloapp, which allowed me to create my own app! With my Photoshop knowledge, I was able to create my own header and logo which were the exact dimensions needed. Very cool, wouldn't you say?

Explaining QR Codes

I'm sure you've noticed these boxes and wondered what they were. I'm quite confident that most of the teachers in my school do not know about them. QR stands for Quick Response, and is made up of black modules in a square shape on a white background.Actually, you could call it a 3D bar code.  The encoded text in the square can represent a web address or text. Camera phones (with a QR app) or QR readers can read the encoded message. If you can scan the QR code I have on this page, it will lead you to my website, A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet, where you will find teacher resources by grade level. QR codes are used for many applications, whether it's in an advertisement in the newspaper or on someone's business card. Believe it or not, there are many ways to use QR codes in education. Here's a great presentation put together by Steven Anderson which offers many suggestions by other teachers how they use QR codes in the classroom. I'm sure your students will love the idea of using their smartphone in the classroom; that is, of course, if cell phones are allowed in the classroom.

Related: Here's a great site to create a QR code (for free) and put it on a tee shirt , hat, mug and more.
QR Code Generator