A Library of my Own...At Last!

So I have finally found a home of my own....

I have accepted a position close to home and will be school librarian in a 5/6 grade middle school with over 800 students.

The first interview I had, I could just feel everything clicking!  It was like I knew exactly what to say and how to answer the administrator's questions....I just knew that we were on the same page.  When the superintendent called back a week later and offered me the job ( saying that she was "excited about me leading her students into 21st Century Learning" :) ), I took it on the spot....and here is why...

The school has never had a MLS librarian and I will be the first one in the district.  Up till know, the staff of the library has been a clerk and an aide.  The collection was weeded for the first time ever just this past fall.  According to the school principle, the clerk has been ordering books that look good.  The library space has never been marketed and it has no programs to speak of.  I don't think there are any policies in place in terms of collections or challenges and classes have never been taught by any librarian ever in the space.  So why is this soooooo exciting?

Well, if you are a librarian, you know, but if you aren't, let me share!

1. This is a huge advocacy opportunity for school librarians within the district!  If I do a good job and show my value, school librarian positions will thrive in my district!  That is exciting!

2. I get to create a program of my own from scratch and make it what I make it without any preconceived notions.  Will it stay forever?  Maybe, maybe not, but I get to figure it out on my own....it is a win/win!

3.  I will get to build a program from start to finish and use just about everything I learned in library school!  While I was in school, I thought, I would probably never use creating a collection policy, or curriculum / collection mapping or arranging new contracts with vendors for databases or determine what kind of hardware would be best for catalog accesses in my space.

Maybe that was naive, but I figured I would be taking over someone else's library and most of this would already be done.  That I wouldn't have the opportunity to have a strong impact from the very beginning.  This is an amazing opportunity to impact student library use and learning right away!  Yay me!

So....  That is where I am starting!  I never had the second interview that I thought I would, so I am meeting with me new Principal this week to get a better idea of where things stand.  Next week I will post some pics of my new space and share more!

Thanks for reading.....Read On!

Where I am now!

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When I first started the MLS program at Dominican, the thought of teaching technology to students was a little frightening.  I thought, “Kids seem to know more than I do…have you seen a seven year old use an Xbox controller or a keyboard to manipulate an online game!  What the heck am I going to be telling THAT kid!”  About two weeks into the program, I knew.  Sure, students can engage in the technology behavior that they know and love, but do they understand when, why and how to really utilize it.  Do they know how to make it work for them in a school setting, how to communicate with it, collaborate with their peers, share important content, create and disseminate?  It is a really exciting time to teach kids technology.  There is just soooo much out there and it is all at their fingertips, literally. 

Where do I stand...

Over the last 6 weeks of this most recent technology course, I have learned some tools that are going to make my life easier in the classroom and some tools that are literally just fun and engaging.  If it helps students better absorb the content that they need to cover, the more the better.  I feel pretty certain that I will be incorporating as much as I can in the library space and I hope that I am the kind of 21^st Century Librarian who is always pushing the envelope to get even more tools in students hands.  I am even more certain that this won’t be my last “Technology and Curriculum” or “Teaching Media Literacy” or “Technology in the Classroom” course.

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Great Moments

When I think about it now, I realize that utilizing technology in education is not just about teaching it, it is about being a partner in it.  Having spent limited time already in the classroom with students and technology, I have already had the fantastic experience of saying to a student, “Did you know you can do it this way?” and showing them something new and having them say back to me, “I didn’t know you could do that. That’s cool.  Did you ever do this?”  And saying back, “I didn’t.  That’s cool, too!  Thanks for showing it to me!”  It was pretty great!

Care and Keeping of your Digital Tattoo

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No matter the age of the online user, I am always amazed at the lack of knowledge around how users share content online and what they choose to make private and public.  I remember when I first started using Facebook and had a public page.  It wasn’t until my husband was looking at the page and commented that anyone can see what I put up on my wall that I reconsidered my settings and decided to close my page to “friends only”.  As a parent, I was instantly aware of the fact that I was offering up information about my children complete with birthdays, school and activities and photos that could identify them on the web.  It was a wake up call. 

The Reality

Like most people who use social media and engage in online content sharing, I still think to myself, “What am I worried about?  It isn’t like someone is going to stalk my kids or take their picture and use it without permission.”  But a little voice inside my head says, “It isn’t impossible.”  I feel like this is the message that we need to put out there to students.  Is it likely that you will not get into the college or university of your choice because of a photo on a wall somewhere on Facebook or Instagram?  What are the chances that the semi-innocent photo you took on the beach last summer will end up on the internet somewhere that you don’t want it too?  Can the content that is online about you be misconstrued?  Is it necessary to educate students about the dangers of not managing their online digital tattoo?  YES.

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Having the Talk

So this brings up an interesting question: what kind of discussion do we engage in with students and at what age do we start?  I think that there is a definite need to be candid with as many real world examples as possible and to soften this discussion with remembering the digital responsibility and online etiquette message that students have been engaging in with their librarian and technology teachers since they took their first footsteps onto the internet.  I don’t think it is necessary to scare kids…they need to be apart of the digital and social media world.  It is where they will learn, work and play. I do; however, think that we need to have this conversation, and before they’re fully engaged in it.  Lets not wait till high school or even junior high.  They will make mistakes and they need to know that it is all right if they do and the steps they need to take to minimize potential damage.   Kids are remarkably savvy.  They get it.  If you tell them why it is necessary, they will care.

What I think is a tough part of this issue is the illusion of control.  Once you enter the arena of social media and content sharing, or someone you know does (like friends, family, people from your past, just about anyone you know with a digital camera) you kind of forfeit your control.  You can ask people not to post your picture or tag you, but it isn’t a guarantee.  All you or students can do is be aware and cognizant of what is online about yourself and know that the worst that can happen isn’t likely, just possible.

PLN's on Twitter...Something to Tweet About!

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So, I am not a really big Twitter person.  I have had an account for years and never really utilized it for anything but the occasional view of the few feeds that I began following the day I set it up, but then I took Integrating Technology in Curriculum and then I was really forced to take a second look at it.  I am glad I did.

What is the big deal?

I would like to have a large digital presence.  I believe that it is important being a school library to model digital behavior and collaboration for my students.  To show them the power of the digital age and encourage them to partake in all the opportunity that it affords; however, it is REALLY time consuming.  I suppose that you could just monitor twitter and read what you want and ignore the greater community, but I am a firm believer that you get out of things like this what you put into them.  That being said, if you are going to take from twitter, you are probably not going to get the most out of it.  Which brings me to PLN’s. 

PLN's through Twitter

PLN’s are definitely the most interesting part of twitter.  While you can find PLN’s just about anywhere, from the group that you completed your coursework with in grad school to the teachers that sit together during their lunch, twitter has the capability to connect professionals in the same field from all over the country within the parameters of their interests and that is pretty great!  When exploring options for chatting, I found #iolchat and got the chance to share ideas with them on distance learning and technology.  They were wonderfully friendly, asked me point blank my opinions on the topic of trends with students using tech and their approaches and we had a nice hour-long conversation.  They knew each other pretty well and it was obvious that they have gone to each other when they had questions or issues or needed professional support. At first it can be intimidating jumping in there and joining in, and the conversations can go pretty fast, but after a few minutes you really do get the hang of it.  By the end of the hour we were surprised, just like colleagues may be when their lunch hour is up after an engaging conversation, that it was time to say goodbye till next week.  Fun.

There is still the content!

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All of this is not to downplay the benefits of the content that gets placed on twitter and the retweets that are shared by those following.  One of the larger groups I am following, Edutopia, is really informative.  I am sure that most educators on twitter are following this website/twitter account and I have found some value in just about everything that they put out there.  This article (Comprehensive List of Digital Resources: http://edut.to/TdN4aQ .), was particularly great.  When they say comprehensive, they are not kidding.  There were tons of links on this broken down by category and some I had heard of, but many I had not.  Pretty valuable if you are just learning technology and how to integrate it into curriculum.  

By the way....you can follow me at @DawnMScuderi

Blabberize! Something to blab about!

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http://blabberize.com/

At first glimpse you might think that Blabberize (http://blabberize.com/) is just a fun little tool that will give students a good laugh.  I know because that is what I first thought.  On second glance, I thought, “Kids will love this. How can I use this tool to help them to learn?”  

 

How would I use Blabberize?

 I thought about a project that the second graders have been doing forever.  Each second grader chooses an endangered animal and makes a three slide Powerpoint presentation.  Utilizing Powerpoint is an important skill for presenting content and students should learn how to select pictures and type in content as early as possible; however, how fun would it be to take that Powerpoint content and create a Blabberize at the end of that lesson.  It would certainly engage the second graders and it would mix things up a little bit in the technology department.  I don’t think it is ever a bad idea to change things up and have some fun with technology and that is what I really like about this fun little tool.

That being said, the students already have to research their topic and come up with the basic facts like what they eat, how big the animal gets, what special attributes they may have and some fun fact that not everyone may know.  I really like the idea of taking that and putting it on Blabberize and allowing them to create video to incorporate on their slides.  Maybe they just add it to the end of the presentation as something that the animal they picked may want everyone to know!   This is especially great if you are doing it for Earth Day or for Wildlife Conservation Day (this year it was on December 4^th). 

So here is how it works:

First, you find the content that you want the animal of your choice to say (and there is nothing to say that this has to be an animal…I think this would be fun for the 4^th grade planet’s project too).  Then you save your image, and a full front on image of your animal will work best, then you simple select that image from your file.   

You add a mouth and maneuver it over the mouth of the animal remembering that it will open from the bottom.  Then, finally, you record your audio.  While you are recording, you can even see the mouth open and close so you know how it will look when it is done.  

 If you like what you see, you click ok and it is automatically saved to your created gallery, if not you can edit from there.  It really is very easy and should be absolutely no problem for a second grader on up.

On the right, you will find two examples.  The first one was done by Nicholas, a second grader, all on his own! 

The next one is mine.   Hope you enjoy them and have fun learning something new!

QR Codes….A Librarians Best Friend!

What is a QR Code?

  

A QR code is a machine-readable code consisting of an array of black and white squares, typically used for storing URLs or other information for reading by the camera on a smartphone. 

So a lot of librarians use QR codes in their stacks to help generate interest in books that students may not know about or may not think they could be interested in, but there are other ways that teacher-librarians can utilize QR codes to teach and engage students and to step things up in an old boring lesson

 What can you use a QR code for?

Any content, video, photos, text, audio, can be converted to a QR code.  Want to have a interactive museum project?  Have students put up their work and then explain it via QR code?  Want to host a 3^rd grade treasure hunt to teach genres or Dewey?  You can use QR codes for that.  There are so many applications and for older students you can teach them the technology and let them decide how they want to utilize it in presentations or for testing their own understanding.  Content converters are free and easy to use and students can download a reader right onto their iPod or iPad or smartphone. 

How would I use this technology?

In thinking about how I would use this technology, I couldn’t help but think about teaching students the parts of a particular story.  In the sixth grade classes in my district, students are reading “The Giver”.   What makes this story so good to use with QR codes is that it has a very easy story arc.  There are very prominent examples of exposition, rising action, obvious climax, falling action and a quick resolution.   

 Making a note of some of the better examples from the story, I put them in a text into the QR Generator (http://www.qrstuff.com/) and created an easy template for students to attach the physical print outs of the QR codes to, by story part.  After a refresher on the parts of the story, students would scan their set of 15 codes and put them in order on their template.  They have a summary of the plot, have gotten to refresh their memories about story parts and used some technology in the process.  Below is an example of my son completing the assignment. 

Good or bad?

I think that most librarians are smart to use QR codes the way they do.  I love when I walk into a school library and see the codes taped right to the shelf under a series or a book with a great trailer.  I have even seen librarians use them for summer reading lists and in their book displays as bookmarks.  This is just one more way to step things up!

 

Vialogue: Invite Discussion, Check for Understanding and Engage your Students!

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When looking at technology to incorporate into curriculum, especially for school librarians, a great place to start can be the American Association of School Librarians Best of the Year: Website list.  Every year the AASL puts out their favorite new or updated Apps and websites for teachers and librarians.  As I was considering some the picks from year and last, I decided to try a relatively unknown collaborative website that incorporates video and allows for discussion called Vialogue (https://vialogues.com/).

 

 

Why is it good?

With so many schools going to 1:1 technology or allowing for technology with BYOD, I think it is even easier for students to discuss and contribute.  What I really like about options like Vialogue is it enables students, even those not comfortable raising their hand in class, to join in the discussion and can allow teachers to better know all their students and gauge their understanding.   

Once the moderator (teacher) has downloaded a video, they can add “multiple choice”, “check all that apply” questions or even short answer through the comments section at various points of the video for students to answer.  Likewise, students can comment on the video at any point and as they do, the comment is attached to that portion of video.  This is really a nice feature for teachers to begin or contribute to the discussion. 

 

How would I use this technology?

For the sake of this blog, I have chosen to use Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as the topic and the 1968 Zeffirelli movie as my video.  For the audience, I was thinking 9^th graders, as this is a typical time for students to be exposed to Shakespeare.  Vialogue would fulfill two important elements of studying Shakespeare:  watching it, as opposed to simply reading and being able to interpret the language for better understanding.  Students would read the scene and then comment and answer sample questions while watching the Vialogue. 

 The discussion on the the comments section of the Vialogue, would allow the teacher to focus on certain elements in class for greater understanding.  Further applications could be found in a history class, this could be used to show actual footage of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech or, in science, footage of a tornado touching down along with the instructor’s comments on how it begins and continues.  There are really are all kinds of instructional content that could be opened for comment by using this tool that I am kind of surprised it hasn’t taken off a little bit more.

 

How would students use Vialogue?

Vialogue allows for the instructor to create a group that would be private.  Students would create an account, which is free, and log in with their created user name and password.  The instructor would include the user names on the create page of the Vialogue and then students would have access and could comment, but no one outside the group would have access.  The site does stress that this is not for children under 10.  I would highly recommend it for middle school and up.