Monthly Archives: February 2015

Inquiry Project Post #4: Developing libraries in developing nations

Several years back, I partnered with the local Rotary Club to help start a library in a Nigerian school. I sent out a newsletter to our school community, asking for quality new and used book donations. I also weeded out my library and gave books that were in good condition but no longer used by my students. I had strict guidelines about the type of books included in the donation boxes: no grossly outdated books, no books with violence or war, no ripped or torn books, and no books with culturally confusing content. The students at my school were so excited about the project, they loved the thought of giving their books to help others. Of course, over the years, perceptions have changed about building libraries in developing nations. Do they really want our discards? Do they need actual paper books? Why not just give them each a mobile device and not bother with a brick and mortar structure?

In Deena Dulgerian’s blog post for the Borgen Project, she notes that while American libraries have lost much of their appeal, their usage is only just beginning in developing countries. Libraries are a vital meeting place and safe haven for many in developing countries. A place to check out books, use the computer, meet socially, and receive much needed resources and services. I believe that mobile devices have a place in these libraries. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the leaders in worldwide literacy, and is currently piloting a program in Kenya, using devices in public and community libraries preloaded with relevant information. But for 60% of the world without access to the internet, quality books, caring staff and a safe place to meet and read is a good start.

As a teacher-librarian, continuing to build my collection of e-books, giving students access to the collection from home with Destiny Quest OPAC, and leading the charge for improved technology, upgrades and access in my school, are just some of the ways that I can help students. Many of the mobile devices that they bring to school are of such poor quality, however, that it is difficult to access the information. I think uniformity and quality of devices would lead to smoother lesson plans and increased learning outcomes. The Los Angeles Unified School District is giving 640,000 students ipads this year in an effort to prepare students for life after graduation, where every job will require some level of technological skill. It is quite obvious that we need to copy this initiative in our district!

Inquiry Project Post #3: And you call yourself a Teacher-Librarian??

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In an age where teacher-librarians are disappearing like leftovers in a kitchen of teenagers, we must make ourselves irreplaceable, indispensable, and invaluable. We must be more than “keepers of the books.” We need to be strong leaders, comfortable with technology and web 2.0 tools, ready to instruct and support those on our staff.

In our Inquiry Post #2, I enjoyed reading Lia’s blog, where she talks about her principal hosting weekly “Teacher Talk” sessions before school. It got me thinking about the concept of hosting a book club using our class text, Why School? (Richardson, 2012). We could discuss a chapter/section each week. We could use our Discussion #3 question from this class, for example, as a jumping off point: “After reading ‘Part II: New School’, which practices and ideas could you drop from your current teaching practice, and which would you be interested in exploring?” I think that this would be a non-threatening, non-judgemental, low-key way of connecting with teachers at the level they are at.

A second idea I have is using one of our after-school-collab sessions to demonstrate the features of our new Destiny Quest OPAC. In particular, I would like to show teachers how seamless it is to organize their research projects on Destiny. I couldn’t host it this school year, but I am hoping that by September, I will be more adept at using the OPAC and be confident enough to teach it to staff. Collab is a huge deal in my school, and the Collab team is always looking for ideas. If I let the Collab team know now that I am interested in doing a Destiny session in the fall, it would force me to spend my spare time working out the bugs, learning the program, and getting comfortable teaching it. I know that many teachers would appreciate the instruction and support. Getting them on board will increase its usage and make our educational community even stronger. Here is a sample video that I could begin a Collab session with:

A third way that I can support the staff is to continue to keep Accelerated Reader running in our school. There are several teachers that use the program and need me to support it. There are also many children who love the challenge and rewards it offers. I maintain all aspects of the program and assist students in their online quiz taking, book selection, etc. Tomorrow, I am meeting with a new staff member to show him the basics of the program (login in, password, star reader assessments and so forth).

My philosophy with all aspects of staff development is always, “How can I help?” And my response to staff queries is always “yes” or “I’m not sure about that, but I’ll find out!” Supporting staff ICT needs is always dependent on the quality of technology at any given school. That can make it very frustrating at times, as many in our class have alluded to.

References:

Richardson, W. (2012). Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere. TED Conferences Publishing. (EBOOK)

Inquiry Project Post #2: No, Spencer, ICT stands for “Incredibly Complex & Time-consuming”

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I like Spencer’s blog title, ICT stands for “I Can’t Think” (of one way that PC is better than MAC!). Because I am a hardcore MAC lover and a diehard PC hater, well….just had to let you know that I’m with ya on that one bro! But I digress…back to the task at hand: continuing to develop my skills, pedagogy and professional development in my library and beyond LIBE 477.

Teacher-librarian collaboration: Currently, this is my number one way of developing skills in my topic area of mastering Destiny Quest. Once a month, all the t-ls in my district who have recently made the OPAC switch to Follett’s Destiny Quest, get together for an after school collaboration session. Each month, we examine a new aspect of the program, what is working well for us, what isn’t, etc. This last session, we looked at cataloguing new books in our library. It is very informative and extremely helpful, as most of my “big burning questions” are answered and I go back to my school excited to implement my newest skill acquisitions!

“Professional development”: Love this photo from the National Library of Norway, 1946. What does it have to do with professional development? Not much. But Nicole’s blog really got me thinking about my own professional development and how it is best spent. She says that “after all these days are meant for learning, not just getting work done” (i.e. picture above). My job share partner and I recently booked the second of our bi-annual “professional development” days together in March. It is sooooooo hard to work with a teaching partner that you don’t actually work with! So, twice a year we get together for the day. The first day is in the fall, and we make a trip to Vancouver Kids Books and spend a truckload of money. The second day is in the spring, where we close our library for the day and just plan, problem solve, talk, fix, process and laugh. This year, we are going to focus on how to catalogue. We are going to share what we have learned through trial and error and also through the collaboration sessions we have attended.

Social media: Of course, staying connected through blogs, twitter, pinterest, etc. is a key component of learning, developing skills and expanding one’s horizons. I am going to take some time after the course is done to really examine different blogs and find a couple that spark my interest. The Daring Librarian is a really fun, dynamic blog. It has lots of ICT content, ideas, media literacy and teacher-librarian professional development ideas.

Real professional development: Our school district offers many opportunities for professional development. I have the above “professional development” in quotes because it is more of a self created development, whereas our district has more formal opportunities on the SD33 website, PD Place. I plan to register for more sessions in areas that I need to grow in, chiefly, implementing technology with my students in the library. Although I have done small projects, most of my ICT learning is theoretical, not applied. I really am just beginning in my journey.

Inquiry Project Post #1:Falling in love (with books)

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It is my firm belief that “fostering a reading culture” is my primary responsibility as a teacher-librarian at Watson Elementary school. At my school, all 22 divisions have a booked library time each week. As each class (from preschool to Grade 6) enters the library, they sit at the carpet for story time. I begin engaging them as soon as they sit, handing out reading prizes, talking about how awesome the new public library is down the road, holding up the story I am about to dazzle them with. We connect with the book by reviewing what happened last week (if it’s a chapter book), judge it by the cover, remember other books by that same author, etc. By the time the story begins, the students are expectant and excited. After the story the students are given a chance for “questions, connections or comments,” sometimes with the whole group, sometimes with a partner.

Many years ago, I came across the following from the National Institute for Children’s Health and Development, “It takes 1000 hours of ‘lap time’ for young children to have the readiness skills in place to learn to read” (National Institute, 2013). I can tell when I read a story who has and who hasn’t had lap time. My weekly read alouds are part of reading readiness, building a world view, and showing how books can become lifelong friends. My mantra is, “When you fall in love with books, you’re made a friend for life!”

Other things in my school and practice to foster a reading culture are: continually purchasing new books, Accelerated Reader for those who like the challenge, 250 Nights of Home Reading program, author visits, Ready-Set-Learn event, Young Author Day, Watson Read-a-thon, RTI guided reading groups, Smart Reading, Reading Power, Reading Link Challenge book club, Fast ForWord reading intervention program, Scholastic Book Fairs, Strong Start library time, KinderFair, and much more.

I really like this article by Pam Allyn entitled, Ten Actions for Creating a Reading Culture (Allyn, 2012). In it, she lists simple, yet effective ways to build a reading culture. Most of these things, good librarians are already doing, but Pam tells how to boost the culture even more. Here is a suggestion, “Ask students to describe times when reading felt good to them, what they were reading at the time, and why it felt good” (Allyn, 2012). I LOVE this. So many things in life that are positive and successful are connected to a good feeling. It reminds me of a teacher saying I heard once, that students won’t remember what you taught them, but they will remember how you made them feel.

In my school district, it is rare to have an elementary school library open 100%. Watson is one of those schools. The children at my school have access to books continually. Or, as Donalyn Miller says, kids experience a “book flood” (Miller, 2012). Students LOVE coming to the library and they know that they can at any time throughout the day. There is no pressure or judgement, just encouragement, a wide variety of books and a librarian there to support and guide them. A culture of reading can’t help but flourish if these things are in place.

References

Allyn, P. (2012). Taming the Wild Text. Educational Leadership, 69 (6). Retrieved from: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar12/vol69/num06/Taming-the-Wild-Text.aspx

Miller, D. (2012). The Book Whisperer. Education Week Teacher. Retrieved from: http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/2012/03/share_a_story_shape_a_future_c.html

National Institute for Children’s Health and Development. (2013). Retrieved from: portalsso.vansd.org/…/1000%20HOURS%20OF%20LAP.doc

Reading Review #3

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Resource #1: Destiny Quest Follett Community

I went back into my school’s Destiny Quest home page and clicked on the Follett Community link. I clicked on the groups button on the task bar and scrolled down to see what would pertain to my learning situation. Because I am not an internet addict and don’t like wasting time surfing when I could be playing tennis, making food for three ravenous teenagers or reading a novel, I decided to go to the suggested most popular group: destiny library manager users. I expected the chat in this group to be way over my head, but as I scrolled down, the member questions were very basic, such as, “Is there a way to remove the pop up transaction blocked for overdue items?” and “I can’t figure out how to generate a lost books list.”

As soon as I read the questions posted, I knew that this resource was EXACTLY what I needed in my quest to master my new OPAC. I clicked on join group and then went back to examine more questions. About ten seconds later, I received notices from John and Sue asking to confirm my “relationship connection” with them. My next step with this resource is to get my partner teacher an account and logged in. That way, we can both post questions, create a “relationship connection” and hopefully learn together online. Right now, we both have way more questions than answers, so this would be a good basic teaching resource for us to share.

Resource #2: Pinterest

After typing in the words Follett Destiny Quest my screen was filled with pins on every possible aspect of Destiny Quest. One pin told me that I MUST download the Destiny Quest app on every device in my school. I was curious as to why I needed to do that and what benefit it would have to my school community. As I am running out of time for this assignment and am already far exceeding my 300 word count, I created a new board called Destiny Quest with the app pin in it to examine more in depth in the next couple of weeks.

Resource #3: Twitter

I entered the Follett Destiny Quest search words that I have been using on all my sites and again was directed to the Destiny Quest app. I decided to look at it on the web, and it listed a bunch of features that enhanced the online catalogue. One feature was making ebooks easier to sign out and return early. Confession time: I actually purchased ebooks for my school over a year ago, before I had switched over from Alexandria to Follett. After trying unsuccessfully for a month to help students download the books onto their devices, I gave up. I really do want to get ebooks going again and it seems like the app might be just the thing to make it easier for my students (and myself!).

Summary

Although there is an absence of literature pertaining to my topic, there are lots of other resources available. I also want to explore some blogs, as mentioned in Reading Review #2, but didn’t get a chance to do so this week. My key learning and takeaway from this week’s assignment was that in order to be successful, I need to spend much more TIME on a variety of online resources, connecting with others using Destiny Quest. My ultimate goal is that it will benefit my student’s educational experiences.