You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2009.
In order to facilitate students and teachers finding images, audio, and other media files to use in presentations and other projects they’re creating, I’ve added the Creative Commons Search page to the links menu on the left. This search tool leads you to photos and other items for which the creators have voluntarily surrendered some of the rights they would have traditionally enjoyed under copyright protection. Instead, in the interest of sharing their work, they have chosen to allow you to use it without getting their permission – given certain conditions.
There are four components of Creative Commons licensing. All CC licenses require attribution. Beyond that, creators may add any or all of the other three conditions to the CC license for their work:
- Attribution – You must credit the source.
- Share Alike (SA) – If you use a CC item with this designation, you are agreeing to share the work you create under the same CC license.
- Noncommercial (NC) – Your use of the work is limited to noncommercial purposes (like teaching and scholarly research).
- No Derivatives (ND) – You may use the work, but only in its original form. No modifications permitted.
Bring your lunch to the library to learn while you munch. Upcoming Tech Byte topics include the following:
- MLWGS Google Apps & MyJSTOR accounts – Oct. 13, 15, and 27
- Find news articles while you sleep & in languages you’re studying – Oct. 20, 22, and Nov. 3
Are you a student in Mr. Sorrentino’s FIRC class? Here’s the link to the project guide to support your research in answering the question: What was George Washington’s greatest contribution?
Inspired by SMITH Magazine’s six-word memoirs, the MW Library invites students and faculty at MLWGSGIS to Express It in Eight (one word for each letter of our illustrious school acronym): capture the essence of you or your life at this moment – in eight words.
Contest Details for Express It in Eight
- When is the contest? Tuesday, Oct. 13 through Friday, Nov. 13, 2009
- Where do I submit my entry? In the contest entry box on the library circulation desk or online via a Quia survey.
- What could I win? B&N gift cards, Starbucks gift cards, and the chance to have your entry published in an Express It in Eight book celebrating the glorious diversity and creativity of our school community.
- May I enter more than once? Yes! You may enter up to THREE eight-word expressions of you.
- May I enter anonymously? I’m afraid not. Each entry must specify the writer’s name, grade level, and English teacher’s name.
For ideas, peruse the six-word memoirs composed by members of SMITH Magazine’s main and teen sites or browse one of their related books. You get two more words for yours. I’m not sure whether the two extra words will prove beneficial or detrimental to creativity, but we’ll discover this together.
Created in 2006, SMITH Magazine is an online home for storytelling. In 2008, their publication of the book Not Quite What I Planned, a collection of six-word memoirs by writers famous and obscure, spent six weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. Since then, writer Dave Eggers referred to the book as essential memoir reading in a workshop he was teaching about writing memoirs.
The book (and several published since) are the result of a challenge SMITH issued to its readers to tell their story in a six-word memoir. Here are six samples…
- One that might resonate with our field hockey team: “Hockey is not just for boys.”
- Poignant: “I still make coffee for two.”
- From a grade-conscious student: “Still afraid of a B-plus.”
- From Dr. Jane Goodall: “Forest peace, sharing vision, always optimistic.”
- From Deepak Chopra: “Danced in Fields of Infinite Possiblities.”
- For Frost fans: “Still lost on road less traveled.”
If you’re 18 or older, you can enter SMITH Magazine’s current six-word challenge (in collaboration with PBS FRONTLINE’s Digital Nation). There are only TEN days before the deadline!
The challenge? In six words, express how the web and digital technology are changing how you think, work, live, or love. Deadline: October 15, 2009 (next Thursday). A recent related post on the SMITH Teen page, “Googled what he called me. Ouch!” From the SMITH home page, “I wikipedia’d myself. They denied entry.”
The MW Library is also issuing its own SMITH-inspired succinct memoir challenge. From Tuesday, October 13, 2009 through Friday, November 13, 2009, submit a sentence that captures your story about being you at MLWGS or that expresses something unique about MLWGS. Watch for more contest details next week, including the chance to win prizes and be published in a book by MLWGS students.
