apps | brittlovesbooks

My Final Digital Artifacts:https://www.symbaloo.com/shared/AAAACBe6ZHUAA42AhAK30w==

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfd-uuOzBps&feature=youtu.be

The first link I embedded is a Symbaloo I created, which features, authentic Indigenous digital read alouds and interactive websites, all to support Orange Shirt Day. I thought it was extremely important to support my school and staff for this upcoming fall. Although I know that Indigenous content needs to be taught year round, residential schools and Orange Shirt Day were my focus for this inquiry project. I wanted to create a digital artifact and tool that could be used by staff and students and help to make the difficult and painful subject of Orange Shirt Day a little less overwhelming. The second link I provided is a screen cast of me navigating the Symbaloo and going through some of the resources.

How I started…

I was reading a book,”Genocidal Love” by Bevann Fox, while more news was coming out about children being found in residential schools. I was of course thinking about what I can do this fall to help my staff and students in regards to this news. At first, my inquiry was how can I use digital sources and resources to help support reconciliation? I was a little overwhelmed because there are so many sources out there. I began by creating a curation of digital books that focused on residential schools. They are all mostly picture books but could most definitely be used for ANY age. The books are fantastic and as mentioned before they are all authentic and mostly local, Indigenous books that will be very helpful to support Orange Shirt Day, or any day throughout the year.

So I had a great list of curated books but thought that it needed something more. So then I began curating a list of interactive websites to help support inquiry and the list of books. Now I had all of my resources I wanted to share but I needed a platform to share them. I felt like if I were to email both lists out it would probably just get lost amongst all if the digital files my staff has stored on their computers.

Trying a new App

I was introduced to Symbaloo from a classmate. It seemed like the perfect tool to share all of my digital resources. Some of you may be asking, “what is a Symbaloo?” It is basically is a visual bookmarking tool that makes it simple and fun to organize the best of the web. You have all your favorite websites at your fingertips. With an account you can access your bookmarks from everywhere with any device and share your online resources with others. It is absolutely free to sign up (the paid version is ad-free) here is a link to sign up if you haven’t done so already: https://www.symbaloo.com/signup/start

I have learned throughout this course and program that as a TL it is our job to learn and teach all about new technology. This was my chance to try something new! So I created my Symbaloo mix. It was very user friendly. I even created another theme around digital tools for the classroom. I am very excited about this tool and hope to collaborate with staff in the fall on other themes and topics.

But it still was not quite right….

I still could not shake the feeling that if I emailed my Symbaloo and a hard copy of all the wonderful books and resources I had curated, it still might get lost in the mix. I could imagine that a lot of teachers and staff may have never heard of Symbaloo and the idea of learning about a new app at the beginning of what is sure to be a chaotic school year is crazy. How could I introduce them to these sources and at the same time demo a new app? That is when it was suggested to me to try doing a “Screencast”. At first I was very terrified to try yet another thing I have never done. I do not like hearing my voice in a recording. But, I realized that I need to get over myself and just give it a try.

Screencasting

So my incredibly resourceful teacher emailed out a google slide document that showcased how easy it is to do a screencast.With a few touches of a button I was ready to record. It took me a few tries to get it right. But otherwise it was pretty seamless. I think I really just had to get over my own ego and the thought that this had to be perfect. I came to realize that a lot of digital resources I may create in the future may not be perfect either. But, as long as I am learning, growing, reflecting and serving my school, perfection is not the goal. I think there is a lot of pressure to be perfect because of the permanent nature of our digital footprint. But I will remember to balance it out with realistic expectations. Otherwise, I feel like I could get stuck rewriting and overthinking even the simplest post!

This Course

This course, my colleagues, my teacher and all of the previous blog posts really helped set me in the right direction, when it came to creating my digital artifact. I learned early on in this course the importance of inquiry based and digital learning opportunities. In the book, “Why School?” By Richardson, we see Minecraft as an example where digital learning could provide open ended inquiry learning. This book helped push me towards using digital sources and websites that were interactive. Like the example of Minecraft, I wanted to highlight skills such as: collaborating, self directing inquiry, problem solving, and integrating digital and multi media. In my previous blog posts I wanted to focus on digital resources to support Orange shirt day and this book and discussion with my peers definitely helped propel me there. I was also thinking a lot about collaborating and the need to build strong relationships. I think this led me to creating a Symbaloo because it is highly collaborative in nature. The app also allows the document to be changed and edited at anytime which is so important because information and perspectives are always evolving. I am very grateful for my time with this course and the people in it. I thank everyone for their time, energy and support!

Here is a link to my previous post which also contains my digital artifact and how to use it:https://blogs.ubc.ca/brittlovesbooks/2021/08/07/__trashed/

Best

Brittany

References:

Clarke, B. (n.d.). Orange Shirt Symbaloo. Retrieved August 7, 2021, from https://youtu.be/AoLmJi8YId8

Fox, B. (2020). Genocidal love: A life after residential school. Regina, Saskatchewan: University of Regina Press.

McNee, D. L. (n.d.). Tech4Learning: Making Thinking Visible with Apple Technology[Google Slides].

Richardson, Will. Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) . TED Conferences. Kindle Edition.

How Our LLC Program Fosters Reading Culture

I just got hired as a TL in a middle school library for the fall. So I am still unsure of how my new workspace will function. Therefore, I will be using examples from what I know of my new job as well as, my previous jobs, working as a resource teacher and a grade 3/4 teacher (both in an elementary school) as well as my experience from working online during the pandemic. Fostering a reading culture in the school (and home) is one of the most important elements of any LLC program. As I am thinking about how or what I have done in the past to foster a love for reading, I am also questioning what worked and trying to find new ways to go about this.

Read ins

My TL partner has informed me that we will do one activity called a “Read-in”. This is something the school has done in the past but was on hold last year due to Covid. The students come in and choose a book and a place to read. They are given a snack (and this is a big deal!). The students love it and are extremely engaged.

Social media/blogs

Some of the current ways that our LLC promotes reading culture is through the school’s blog and twitter feeds. When students are familiarized with the collection, facilities and digital tools, the more confident and comfortable students become with accessing library services. Our school has a twitter account and a blog. These were the lifelines (as my partner described them) during the pandemic. They were very helpful in keeping the students and staff up to date and engaged when the actual physical space could not be used. The blog is constantly being updated with information about new books, contests and news. This is something I hope to get more comfortable with in the fall.

Apps!

During the pandemic I was teaching from home. I signed all of my students up with Epic, a free reading app. There I was able to keep track of how much my students were reading. But I was also able to send recommendations and get my students to record themselves reading. The kids recorded themselves reading once every term. They were so excited to ‘hear’ how much their reading improved. Also, they were equally excited by the amount of books available to them. I have also used other programs like Raz kids in the past. I feel like both programs are amazing for boosting skills, confidence and the love of reading.

Celebrating!

( Photo from my grade two class)

During Literacy week at one elementary school I worked at, all of the teachers would come together and collaborate on fun activities for literacy week. Every day a picture book would be read over the PA system. The kids would be so excited to listen to different teachers and staff read them a book collectively as a school. Every class would decorate their classroom doors based on a favourite book for a contest and loads of other really fun ways to celebrate reading. The teachers would also put on a readers theatre performance in front of the school during the assembly. There are so many fun ways to celebrate reading and the love of it. I also find when the adults show love and enthusiasm it rubs off on the kids!

Displays and book selection

(Pride book display at my future learning commons)

This may not be a groundbreaking idea but I find that most kids these days are highly visual. By using eye grabbing book displays and blog posts we can really pique their interest in books they may not normally choose for themselves. I think it is equally if not more important to constantly be updating the books in the library to make sure that they are diverse and all of my children, their families and their identities are mirrored in the collection. While I was doing research I came across a paper that echoes what I am saying , “ Our school libraries should reflect our common values of equity, diversity, and cultural identity as well as best approaches in the educational and library professions” ( Brown, 2017).

The Future

It can get a little overwhelming out there when you start to look at all of the ways learning commons can foster a love for reading. I think that I still have a lot to learn in my new role as a TL. I am always learning new ways to be better at my job and ways I can serve the kids. I did find this blog https://www.weareteachers.com/build-reading-culture/ I want to try and use some of these suggestions in my upcoming school year. Particularly, the march madness book battle!

I also want to get more comfortable with blogging and social media posts around my school library. I am still a little trepidatious because I tend to over analyze things and also compare myself to others. My plan is to follow a lot of different TL’s on social media and through blogging and hopefully I can become more confident in my blogging abilities!

References:

Brown, J. (2017). Equity and Social Justice in The Library Learning Commons. In Canadian School Libraries Research Archive.

Inc., E. C. (n.d.). Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic. Retrieved from https://www.getepic.com/

Kids. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.raz-kids.com/

Lindsay Barrett on March 19, 2. .. (2021, May 11). 25 Ways to Build Your School’s Reading Culture. Retrieved July 20, 2021, from https://www.weareteachers.com/build-reading-culture/

Philpot, Chelsey. “How to Create a Culture of Reading – AASL 2013.” School Library Journal. WordPress, 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Oct. 2016.

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Vision of the Future Reflection