Books Beyond Borders with Google Plus Hangout

We love connecting with other kiddos in schools in other cities and states. Our sister library is  Central Middle School of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and we had a great time the other day chatting with them about books!
Our friend & my librarian mentee Mrs. Tiffany Whitehead was being filmed for a local news segment about Making a Difference and she wanted to show off our long distance cooperative relationship and cool tech with a Google Plus Hangout! And though the segment says Washington, DC we know we’re Laurel and just part of the DC Metro area! Thanks to Mrs. Krieger for jumping on board with this cutting edge conversation! It was lots of fun!

View the actual segment on the WBRZ Baton Rouge, Louisiana site – you can catch a quick glimpse of our class!
Mr. Wasilewski even Tweeted about our class!


What’s Up with Wattpad?

We also learned from Stephanie about Wattpad – a fan fiction open forum for writers and readers!

Or as Wikipedia says it’s “a writing community in which users are able to post articles, stories, and poems about anything either online or through the Wattpad app. The content includes work by undiscovered and published writers. Users are able to comment and like stories or join groups associated with the website. Around half of the users are U.S. based; most users also come from the U.K., Canada, the Philippines, Australia, and more.[3]”

Let’s look at the Wattpad stats!

  • 85 percent of its traffic and usage comes from mobile devices
  • 25 million unique visitors per month
  • over 1,000 story uploads per day

For more information about this App read: What’s Up With Wattpad? | David Gaughran

Google Hangout TIPS:

• Practice beforehand!

• Make sure your plugins & browsers are updated & use Chrome!

• Sign in early

• Consider recording via YouTube it to embed or view later

• I added clip-on TV Studio lights nearby to improve the camera shot

• Have kids talking sit close to the laptop for better sound quality

• Practice with your kiddos speaking slowly & loudly – consider recording with a flip camera & previewing their performance

2 thoughts on “Books Beyond Borders with Google Plus Hangout

  • June 10, 2014 at 10:23 am
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    Google Hangout looks like a neat resource. I teach in a rural school district and it would be amazing to connect our students with those from another, possibly urban, community. How do you hook up with another school to do this? Any advice? Thank you! Mollie

  • June 10, 2014 at 11:18 am
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    Hi Mollie! Thank you for your comment! I suggest reaching out to our PLN via Twitter! Or through Edmodo 🙂 What grade and subject do you teach? There’s a Twitter chat for every subject under the stars! Cheers!
    ~Gwyneth

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