Back to School Special: Open Mic Edition

For the last five years at the #TLChat Virtual Cafe we've offered a FREE webinar to help librarians and teachers of all subjects and levels get ready for the next school year. This casual discussion generates ideas on how to build school allies, support new teachers, & become indispensable to administration & staff at the beginning of EVERY school year. I'm joined in this conversation by amazing, librarians, friends, and moderators Tiffany Whitehead and Jennifer LaGarde......and hopefully YOU! W00t!

Join in! Sept 8th, 2014 - 8pm EST
Participant Link
Back to School Special Wikipage

I Want YOU to Grab the Mic!
This year we've flipped the script and are inviting YOU to step up to the mic and share your ideas, tips, tricks, and cool ways to get excited, energized, and to supercharge the library program or classroom throughout the school year.

How to do it? 
Easy! Just add a slide! Visit our shared and open to edit Google presentation - check out the directions, our example slides, and go to the end of the preso and find or add a blank slide and add your ideas!

What to share? 
Decorating hints, tech tips, new ways to use old standby's, reading promotions, words of advice, PLN building strategies, lesson ideas, how you help new teachers, and ways you connect with your parents and the community. Anything that you think could help someone else make the year go easier!

Be a Sharing Super Hero!
I know it's sorta scary to put yourself out there and share an idea! We all feel that way from time to

time! But let me try and convince you that this year should be your year of shameless sharing!

So many times we are reluctant to share what we create because we're afraid of either looking like a show off, we think what we created may not be "good enough," or we're afraid of critique.

Consider shameless sharing as not shining a spotlight on you, but sharing the cool things going on with your kiddos with their parents and your community! Also consider that there are lots of new teachers and teacher librarians out there who are hungrily looking for ideas & examples!  I get emails all the time asking advice on how to get by that first year of teaching. One of the things I suggest is going back to check out the archives of this BTSN series.

So make this year the year that you GIVE and then GIVE some more! Embrace Creative Commons, Flickr, Slideshare, Wikis, & Twitter - build your PLN and share your AWEsome stuff!

My Gift to You!
Never one to give advice that I wouldn't follow...I created a simple PPT presentation template for my teachers (& FREE to you!) to use on back to school night which you can DOWNLOAD for FREE from either Slideshare or on my wikipage. Download it, modify for your school, and give it to your teachers as a template to modify & personalize to mix up their presos for back to school night.  Save them time & aggravation AND be a superhero!  Go NOW and SHARE Your Great ideas with us!  Please? Pretty, pretty, please? Like, after 5 years of doing this, we need you!  Thanks dear reader!

It goes without saying, that any spam slides or slides from vendors & not real teachers or teacher librarians will be removed forthwith.