Image from Stampington & Company/Artful Blogging

Did you know that there was a magazine called Artful Blogging?

I tend to work with teachers and students on word-based blogs, or blogs with links to podcasts/videocasts. Maybe it’s my own bias that I love writing. But I am getting more and more intrigued about how we can use images to tell stories, especially for our students with difficulties with reading and writing.

Has anyone worked with teachers on photo- or image-based blogging? Art teachers? Drafting teachers?

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If you are an ALA member, watch your email in-box and remember to vote! School librarians make up a large percentage of ALA membership, so when we vote, we directly impact the organization.  It only takes a few minutes and is worth your time!

Image: American Library Association (www.ala.org)

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Image: Publisher’s Weekly/Roaring Brook Press

What do you do when you’re a book publisher, have a hot pop-up book you need to promote, but only have two mock-up copies? Make a video of it! Roaring Brook Press’ ABC3E (by Marion Bataille) won’t come out until October, but this YouTube video

From Publisher’s Weekly, March 27:

Necessity, ingenuity and enthusiasm were the catalysts behind the clip crafted by Roaring Brook’s associate marketing manager, Colleen AF Venable. “We created the video for the sales people at Macmillan since we only had two copies of the mock-up and nothing to leave behind with accounts,” she explained. “I made the video using a super-cheap camera and a super-free model—myself. We used my coworker Nancy Mercado’s desk and borrowed an old convention banner from our friends at Bedford/St. Martin’s down the hall. Kat Kopit, Neal Porter’s assistant, helped me tape a light bulb to a door, and we filmed me flipping through the book a few times.”

What was intended as a simple silent video for reps received a Hollywood-style makeover when Venable got “a little carried away” with what she admits became a pet project. “I sped it up, removed some frames to make it look a bit more old-fashioned, and put it to one of my favorite songs [“Roll On” by the 1930s trio The Boswell Sisters],” she says. As a result, viewers see a catchy blend of yesteryear flavor and very modern design as Venable’s hands showcase the intricate paper engineering on each page against a plain background.

I love how this project demonstrates the importance of teaching kids how to problem-solve when they are confronted with limits.

My students love making pop-up books, either their own or using templates from pop-up master Robert Sabuda’s Web site. We make cards at holiday-time by folding cardstock in half and cutting one line perpendicular to the fold and one angled so that when opened, the pop-up shape is a pentagon … or a gingerbread house … or a dreidel … or Santa’s hat … or the child’s house … or something else.

Now I’m thinking … how can we combine video and pop-ups to help tell new stories, especially with students who struggle with writing?

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