ITHSA Library Newsletter

Have you ever wanted your students to just watch a clip of a movie instead of the whole video? Now you can via Swank's "bookmark" option. Also....lesson plans & search for topics instead of specific movie titles.

How to Bookmark (create a clip) for a Movie

1. Go to Classlink & click on the deep blue folder "For Staff @ Your Library.
2. Click on Swank and click on a movie.
3. Click the "Bookmarks" button and select "Create Bookmark".
4. Select the start and end times of your bookmark. You can use the description box to provide context for the clip.
5. Click "Save" and you will then be presented with the following options:
   1. "Copy Link" to copy and share a link to the bookmark.
   2. "Play" to immediately play the bookmarked clip.
   3. "Close" to close the page.
6. You can manage your bookmarks from the "My Bookmarks" link left sidebar that appears when you are logged in to your instructor account.

How to access Resources: Swank is working to create teaching resources for commonly used videos.If you click on a movie and see a Resource button next to the Bookmark button, then they have created a resource. If you want to only search movies that have a teaching resource, then on the home search page click on Subject and Themes, scroll down the pop up, and put a check mark in the box next to All Available Resources. Here is an example of a Resource sheet.

If you are new to Swank and would like some general directions regarding how to access Swank and play a movie, click here.

I highly recommend Pebble Go as it allows students to research a vast amount of non-fiction topics with just the right amount of text that with an option clicking on words to discover their meaning or even having all the text read to you. It is a suitable source for 1st-3rd grade reading levels.

Another option is Tumblebooks which has hundreds of fiction and non-fiction read-along books (audio & text) along with e-books (in Spanish & English).

Facts4Me is another simple but useful research tool which hits topics usually assigned in 2nd-4thgrade.

We already have access to Encyclopedias at elementary levels through our own classlink Info@YourLibrary folder.

It is the policy of the IT and Library staff to only loan out emergency library Chromebooks to students whose devices are in the IT office for repair.

• The checkout is just for one period.
• Student must have a pass that indicates "CB is needed".
• Student must leave their cell phone or something of value as a guarantee (or we typically do not get them back). We prefer the cell phone (and we make sure it is activated), but we do accept entire backpacks or earbuds/headphones in a pinch.
• We are not supposed to checkout the devices to students who forgot theirs at home.

Special Situations:

• Sometimes a device is broken and the student's family doesn't have money to pay the bill. Those students can approach Scott to be put on a very low payment plan. They don't receive a new/repaired device until it is paid in full, but they will be allowed to check out a library device for a period more regularly over a longer period of time.
• Sometimes the student just forgot their device, but a teacher desperately wants them to take a test etc in class. We want to support you, so if you write "CB for test" or "CB for online project" on the pass, we will check out the device to the student. It just can't happen day after day so that we aren't enabling any irresponsible choices.
• You can send the student to the library to use one of our desktops if you believe they can get the work done without your supervision.