Videos and QR Codes in the Library

I viewed YouTube videos from the following school libraries: The Norman High School Library, The Unquiet Library, Pikesville High School Library, and BBMS Media Center.

I was looking for videos that would be helpful for students. 

One of my 8^th grade ESL classes watched the videos for Norman High School.  Even though there were many tutorial videos, such as How to Access, Use, and Share Google documents, my students thought the one which shared library information was the most useful.  Maybe this is because they will be entering high school next year and will need to know information such as this to survive the beginning of school.  
This is also the video they liked the most.

Another of my classes watched some of the videos from The Unquiet Library.  There were several video tutorials related to Creative Commons Licensing of images and Advanced Flickr search which were useful to me and would certainly benefit students.   
My students thought they would like the student-created Greek Mythology videos best, though one of them was hard to hear and often too dark to see clearly.  Another was filmed at Target with much background noise.  (I critically noticed that the students were all reading from scripts.)  The one they liked the best, however, was student-created The Importance of Choice for Igniting Student Passion.   A young woman tells about her photograph project to show the effects PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

A very helpful video from the Pikeville High School Library collection was about course advisement.  It served to help students ascertain that they were meeting all of their graduation requirements.   
Students will probably like watching The Panther’s Library Shakes the best because it’s silly.  
 I personally enjoyed the reflection of student Ye Jin. 

After watching BBMS Media’s Channel, I wished I had shown all these to my students, but we ran out of time.  The 8^th grade slideshow would be enjoyed by the students at that school, but since we don’t know them, it was just okay.  At our school, we make an 8^th grade movie at the end of each school year, but don’t post it on YouTube.  The Overdue Book videos were GREAT!!!  And so creative.  My personal favorite was  Twilight Overdue,
  
but my students really liked One Direction.  (I wonder why?)   
Probably the most helpful would be the MLA Citation Review.  It’s easy to forget the exact order and punctuation required if you haven’t done citations lately.

When I have a library I will have students create some Overdue Book videos like the students did at BBMS.  Maybe we will have a competition, with the top ones posted on our school page.  Though the tutorials are a bit boring to watch, they are helpful, especially for those who are visual learners.  I will make a video of Everything You Need to Know About the Library, as Norman High School did.  I would like to include book trailers, both professional and ones that I make using Animoto.

I made my first book trailer today.  I chose the book Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, not so much because I loved the book, but because I thought it might be fun to portray it and incite interest in teen girls. 

The fifty contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras.  But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.  What’s a beauty queen to do?  Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program – or wrestle snakes to the ground?  Get a perfect tan – or learn to run wild?  And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?  Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness.  Your tour guide?  None other than Libba Bray, the hilarious, sensational, Printz Award-winning author of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Going Bovine.  The result is a novel that will make you laugh, make you think, and make you never see beauty the same way again.

After writing a short script, I spent a lot of time looking for photos to use.  I used Google Images, finding ones that were labeled for reuse under Usage Rights.  I chose a beach background under the category of travel in Animoto, since the story takes place on a deserted tropical island.  The background music portrays the stressful situation the girls find themselves in...especially when sexy pirates show up and they haven’t been able to shave their legs for weeks.  Scan the QR Code to view the trailer. 

In my library I will use QR Codes to link to book trailers, author interviews, and book reviews.  I found some good ideas on Pinterest and created a QR Code board.  There is information for parents to scan as well as lists of DVDs, magazines, and much more.

Follow Ruthanne Cassidy's board QR Codes in the Library on Pinterest.