I don’t think many people in history can say they witnessed a total cultural change in one lifetime like we have with the ICT revolution.  It has become a “dominant and pervasive part of modern life” as stated in the Linked World.  For me, I have found that I am so used to being online with my smart phone.  When I do not have my phone, I feel like I am missing something.  However, I have an inkling that the people who witnessed the cultural change brought about by the Gutenberg revolution probably experienced some of the elation and fear we have with the ICT revolution.  For example, I admit that I get easily easily swept away in my excitement for the newest app, but then I also become overly protective about my online presence when I hear about the lastest misuse of the Twitter splashed all over the internet.  Like with anything in life, I have found it important to find balance between these two extremes.

Especially with my school library blog, I feel the need to find a balance.  As indicated by the Canada Census 2010:

• in 2010, 8 out of 10 Canadian households (79%) had access to the Internet. Over one-half of connected households used more than one type of device to go online

Therefore, even though I have not personally had contact with my new school’s community, I know then most of them have some knowledge about the internet.  However, since they do not have many ICT devices in their school, they might not have seen ICT resources in an educational setting.  With this understanding, I think I have to make the vision for the school library blog clear so that they understand how ICT fits into the school setting.  As we have discussed in class, it can easily become all about the technology and less about the theory about how we use the technology.  Furthermore, I think I will build up my blog slowly so that I can evaluate how the school community is reacting to this new form of communication.  Since taking this course, I feel so inspired to include so many ideas on to my blog.  However, in my vision to promote literacy in the school, an open ended question, like “What is Your Favourite Book?” could be a question that anyone in the school community will be able to answer.  From my principal, I also learned that many parents and students like to visit the library before and after school, this will be a good time to interact with them and share my blog.  Like my understanding of ICT through this course, I think my blog will evolve with me as I learn to become a teacher-librarian in the 21st century.

Before this class, I had never even heard of the term “reading culture?”  I knew that the new school I was going to suffered from low  circulation and was just beginning to get some ICT devices this year.  To me, I had always thought that promoting reading was an inherent part of being a teacher-librarian.  Every student benefitted from reading more right? Thus, it never occurred to me to really analyze the school’s reading culture and shape my library program to meet its needs.

My vision for my new school so far has been to promote reading through technology.  This could be in the form of having students talk about their favourite authors on the library blog to using iPads to create book reviews in the form of podcasts.  To me, it sounded like a good plan, but after learning about reading cultures, I began to really think about my school and how my vision might realistically work out.  First of all, my school is going to obtain a set of new technological devices (i.e., iPads and laptops) that they never had before.  Nowadays, even though many students are familiar with using tablets, they have had little opportunity to use these devices in an educational setting.  Would the initial excitement from seeing all this technology in the school overshadow the fact that their value as an educational resource?  How much exposure to ICT have they had in the school using their desktop computer lab and SMART board?  Moreover, have they had much access to ICT at home?  This last point is important because I was hoping the parents will access my blog and students will also be able to make contributions to the blog at home.  Ultimately, all the answers to these type of questions will influence my blog of the ICT resources I use.

Another aspect I have to consider when talking about reading culture, are the types of materials the school community enjoys reading.  I have found through my experiences as a teacher-librarian to never assume that some books being popular in one school will have the same effect on students in another school.  For example, the Rainbow Magic series was really popular with late primary students at my other school, but the interest in them at my previous school was almost non-existant.  Unfortunately, I had purchased a few of these books at the beginning of the school year assuming the late primary students at the school would enjoy them as well.  In my initial vision for my school blog, I had considered writing some book reviews about new and popular fiction.  However, I am now thinking about also writing some books reviews reflecting the trends in reading at the school.  I feel like there are many other areas to consider when talking about reading culture in a school; I have only hit the tip of the iceberg. Even though it may be difficult, it will be rewarding to truly engage with my school community.

Before the summative and the 10 Minutes of Fame presentations, I really did not know what to expect.  I definitely did not expect to learn as much as I thought I would.  I came away from the presentations feeling inspired, more aware of all the aspects of being a teacher-librarian, and amazed at the depth, knowledge, and passion my fellow classmates have for this job. Moreover, I felt really excited to apply all that I have learned in my new position in September.

It was really difficult to focus on one topic for this week’s assignment as I wanted to learn more about everything. However, I really connected with Amy’s presentation where she said that her learning process so far felt like she was “drinking from a fire hydrant.”  I really loved that quote because it really encapsulated that feeling of having the passion to want to be that ideal teacher-librarian, but feeling it is always a bit out of reach. Furthermore, usually as the only teacher-librarian at a school, this feeling is even greater because your day to day experience in your job is quite isolating.  It has been really feel great to be able to touch base with so many other teacher-librarians about what they are doing and to feel a sense of community.  Before this course, I was reluctant to have a social presence, probably prompted by the media’s constant delivery of news story about the “scary” aspects of putting yourself out there on the internet.  However, I think I have changed my mind in realizing that it can be a powerful resource, “a safety net” almost, where I can talk about my concerns, develop professionally, and as Will Richardson indicated in his book “Why School?”, it is “the duty of teachers.”

After this reflection on my learning, I decided I wanted to focus on building my social presence as the topic I choose for this course.  Last year, I started a school library blog, with the thought that “this is what a 21st century teacher-librarian” would do.  I have come to the conclusion from that experience that having the intention to create a blog, and really having a goal with the direction it will take, are two completely different things.  It was a good learning experience, but I ended up just throwing a bunch of things on my blog which I thought would be fun and helpful for the students.  I also think that having a goal in mind will keep me focused when I work on my blog and will keep me more motivated to work on it.

From my personal experiences with running my blog, listening to Michelle Bertrand’s presentation on her blog, and reading articles online about blogs, my goal for my blog is to promote a sense of community between all members of the school, including staff, students, and parents.  Being a new teacher at my school, I think this blog, as Janie Cowan stated in her article “Diary of a Blog”, I want to “initiate the conversation between myself and the school community.”  Furthermore, a specific goal will be to promote information literacy and reading in our school as per discussion with the principal in my new school.  To accomplish these goals, I have some preliminary thoughts.  I really related to Michelle’s presentation about how she needed a more systematic way for commenting on her blog.  I just assumed that our school community would comment and contribute to my blog because it was so interesting and appealing, well at least to myself.  However, that was definitely not the case.  After realizing that I not only had to be a part of my school community, but the professional teacher-librarians community as well, I have begun, for the first time, looking at other school library blogs, Pinterest, following other teacher-librarian’s on Twitter for inspiration.  Some ideas I have so far include asking a simple question on my blog, like “What is Your Favourite Book?”, blogging consistently, and highlighting a patron’s favourite books.  The ideas are endless.  I can’t wait to start!

Resources

Cowan, Janie. “Diary Of A Blog: Listening To Kids In An Elementary School Library.” Teacher Librarian 35.5 (2008): 20-26. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 July 2013.

Creighton, Peggy Milam. “Make Your Practice Public.” Library Media Connection 31.3 (2012): 32-35. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 July 2013.

Top Fifty School Library Blogs

This comic I created using Comic Life really illustrates the realities of teaching information literacy at my school last year.  I found that students are eager to learn how to use new ICT tools.  However, even if we have gone through several lessons with regards to different aspects of information literacy, they more then often will resort back to old habits. For me, it has been somewhat frustrating repeating the same thing over and over again even though I know it is worth it for them.  Reflecting about these experiences right now, I am beginning to think I really have to research some better options that will allow these ideas to “stick” easier it their heads.  Moreover, I really think digital literacy has to start right when they enter school when things are fresh.  I find, once an intermediate student is cognitively utilizing the same skill sets to complete a task over a few years, they often find it easier to resort to their old ways without even thinking about it.  Additionally, many of them have picked up some bad habits from using the internet at home without any guidance from an adult.  For example, Wikipedia is often the top hit in a google search so many of students are not even aware that there are other choices available to them.

After reading Will Richardson’s “Why School?”, I felt like I had just been through a whirlwind.  I felt a mixture of feelings, from disheartenment to excitement.  Disheartened because I felt like my cognitive “connected self” was so disconnected from the reality of my “connected self” in my everyday life.  At this point in my professional career, I thought that I was making some leeway into becoming the teacher-librarian of my dreams: “I teach my students how to learn through discovery!”  However, after reading the book, I realized that in some areas, I was still a long ways off.

Oprah Winfrey talks about “aha moments” on her show.  In the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, an aha moment is defined as “a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension.”  I had many “aha moments” when I read this book.  It made me feel like this journey into digital learning and teaching will continue to be, like the author indicated, “overwhelming, distracting, nonsensical, and at times frightening.”  However, ultimately, it also encouraged me as well, to become the teacher-librarian who will be the hub of student learning.

I decided that a good way to organize this blog post is according to the two quotes that made me go “aha”.

“let’s deliver the old curriculum through new tools”

Will Richardson used this quote to describe the current situation of many schools today with regards to digital learning.  Before reading this book, I really thought I was doing a decent job of supporting digital learning in my school.  I had collaborated with many of the teachers on projects using digital tools, like Prezi, Glogster, and  Book Creator.  Also,I taught some of teachers in the school to use the interactive white board.  After reading this quote, suddenly the rose coloured glasses were off.  All the buzz generated from teaching the students and staff to use these new tools really overshadowed the fact that I really didn’t teach them any new skills with regards to digital learning.  The Glogster presentations were beautiful, but yet at the end of the day, they were just digitalized versions of posters.  The students were still using the traditional research methods to get to that point.  There was no passion, critical thinking, or discovery.  Well, maybe passion for creating more elaborate Glogster posters maybe.

“We have to start discovering it with them.”

This whole concept of “discovery” was really difficult for me to grasp in the beginning.   Traditionally, teachers are supposed to have more knowledge than their students.  I remember it was difficult in the beginning to tell students in my school when using a new digital resource that I simply did not know the answer.  Often, more than not, the student will “discover” the answer or I will be able to find the answer for them later on.  It took getting used because it became a collaborate learning process.  For me, I am still getting used to this new relationship between teachers and students.  I assume that it will continue to be like a “tug of war”; similar to that of when a parent decides that their teenage son is ready to go the mall with his friends.  Like the parent, a teacher will be able to determine if their student will be ready for his or her next step in digital learning.

I have a feeling these two quotes will stay with me, my connected self, when I start planning for my role as teacher-librarian in my new school.