EDUCATING THE EDUCATOR

I was once told that because I had not completed my 'after degree' course of study, that any extra courses were considered superfluous and had lost their credit value after eight years.
WAIT, WHAT???

I am not certain that this is the case, any longer, however, at the time (20 years ago), I argued vehemently that, just as my original Bachelor of Education retained its validity, any coursework that I had undertaken post degree was also valid, due to the continuous professional development that I had participated in.
Living in a rural location, I had less opportunity to register for university courses that those in urban areas. I also started to raise my family, and had taken four maternity leaves, returning to teach in my original field of study after each short break…and they were short in those days! I argued that my participation in annual provincial specialty association conventions, and regional workshops showed commitment to furthering my studies in that field. I also explained that there was a strong local professional learning community in my area which met regularly to share new ideas and learnings. I won my argument, and had my credits re-instated. These points are still legitimate, today.
If I could manage this type of professional connectivity and strength of purpose in the 90’s, when my distance education relied on Canada Post, just imagine the possibilities in 2018! So, what will I do to maintain this exploration and development? I intend to follow the same guidelines that I so confidently presented in the past:
• Participate in my Provincial Specialty Associations: BCTLA, and BCTEA offer conference, online learning, and summer institutes. Websites include links to blogs, and twitter feeds.
• Attend regional workshops: work with regional TL’s to ascertain if we might apply for a chapter grant for development of workshop and sharing opportunities in the Okanagan. For example, BCTLA tweeted information about an interior-based summer institute https://twitter.com/bctla/status/999812996380610561 .
• Local professional learning community: Plan for annual development and sharing meetings for district TL’s. Many of us are new to the position, and need the input from those who are veterans. New blood (especially those who are currently taking TLOC or other TL courses), bring new learnings and inspiration to those who may need a fresh view or spark to their professional development.
In 2012, University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science published a document (slides) outlining how teacher librarians can be teacher leaders in the Professional Learning Communities model which I found useful. http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/conferencesandevents/ecollab/resources/ecollab_plc_slides.pdf
WORKS CITED:
Martine, L. Wait, What? iMovie (May 2018)
https://twitter.com/bctla?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbctla.ca%2F (May 24, 2018)
Hughes-Hassell, S., Dupree, D., and Brasfield, A. Making the Most of Professional Learning Communities. KQ Webinar (December 2012)

BORROW IT, READ IT, LOVE IT!

Fostering a reading culture in our learning commons is a fundamental goal of our entire staff. I have primarily focused on developing collaborative programming and technology exposure for our first year of transition from a basic, book-exchange style library to a learning commons. Expanding the vision of what ‘reading’ can be is a challenge which crosses all of these goals. Students are now using iPads and laptops to read for research purposes as well as reading skill development. They are also accessing our recently expanded graphic novel section.
In “Five ways to Step up your Advocacy Game”, Bates shares some excellent ideas which I have been working towards implementing in our learning commons:
• “Change the library environment
• Harness the power of social media
• Send out monthly newsletter
• Harness new and interesting ways to share the successes
• Nothing is more loud and clear than your approach.” (Bates, 2017)
Here are a few steps that we have taken:
     o The learning commons desperately needed a face-lift, so a learning commons leadership team (CLA, 2014) was struck, and we developed a basic action plan. This has resulted in administration and district staff agreeing to improve flooring and shelving issues. Traffic changes improved the welcoming feel of the learning commons. Faded posters were replaced by simple quotes from children’s literature.
     o A monthly report is given at teacher meetings, and a newsletter is currently being developed by a Grade Seven class.
     o In order to entice participation in our book fairs this year, I used social media to run contests with books as prizes. (See my entry for the pet selfie contest.)

     o Monthly rewards have been started for top clients, cross-referenced with Accelerated Reading participation. These successes were shared in recognition assemblies.
     o Finally, our atmosphere has been improved with calm lighting, plants, blue swags over skylights, quiet music, and wide open doors.
“Children may learn to read in a classroom, but they learn to love reading in a library media center. Free, voluntary reading is the foundation of language education.” (Krashen, 1993.) Students have access to the learning commons for a large portion of the day, and are encouraged to choose books of their own interest first. Teachers help students choose accelerated reading books at their current reading level as well, in order to build confidence and fluency.
“The first marketing method is word of mouth. The librarian has to create an atmosphere of acceptance and fun in the library. Students need to feel accepted no matter their academic level and they need to feel that the library is a fun place to be. Once students start talking about the positive experiences they have in the library, reluctant students will utilize the library as well.” (Burkman, 2004) Hoping to spark interest in a variety of materials or subject areas, student helpers assist with the creation of small seasonal or thematic displays. Series sets, and author collections have been brought to a central location in order to help students find what interests them more easily. Kinex and Lego building kits are available for use in the learning commons during inclement weather. Sphero’s have also been introduced in a mini-lesson format.

 A culture of reading continues to grow in our re-styled learning commons. Increased use by staff and students is a bonus! Surely, if you borrow it, and read it, you will come to love it!!!

RESOURCES CITED:

• Krashen, Stephen. The Power of Reading; Libraries Unlimited (1993) 
• Burkman, A.A practical approach to marketing the school library. Library Media Connection, 23(3), 42-43.) (2004).
• Bates, Five Ways to Step up Your Advocacy Game, (2017), retrieved from: http://naomibates.blogspot.ca/2017/09/five-ways-to-step-up-your-adovcacy-game.html
• Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada. CLA Voices for School Libraries Network and CLA School Libraries Advisory Committee, p. 22. (2014). 
• Slogan adapted from Ebay, “Buy it. Sell it. Love it.” 
• Photo credit: Pixabay, copyright free.

Are you ready to dive in?

Literature Research and Data Collection:

I have found it very difficult to find focus this week. My research has left me treading water, and struggling to keep my head above water! Despite my difficulties, I have found many journal articles and some books which will help with my future exploration. Judging each find critically was the toughest part for me. My criteria for choosing a resource morphed from general keyword associations, to more specific, and immediately useful resources. I have always believed that professional development, coursework or workshop attendance was deemed worthwhile if I was able to glean at least one concept or lesson idea that was immediately useful to me, my students or other staff members. ‘Gold level’ sessions provided a wish list of apps, lessons, web games or projects that I wished to try. My Wish List is a bit overwhelming at this point, and needs some organization and categorizing to be most useful. The keywords or phrases that I hope to discover more about are:

• personal learning networks 
• teaching media arts 
• inquiry-based projects for collaboration 
• collaborative publishing 
• digital literacy 
• coding 

Personal learning networks article research threw me into teacher, and college student networking. Great information to be found here, however, not the elementary student focus I was hoping for. Researching the teaching of media arts proved equally distracting and led me to fine arts articles on music and art (also very interesting to me), but not the focus I was intending. I have done some previous coursework on inquiry-based projects for collaboration, and have lists (previously referenced) that are awaiting time and organizing in order to put into practice.

The last three keywords in my initial blog post ended up becoming my focus for this post. Hoping to find successful lessons and tools for elementary students to work collaboratively online to create documents or projects to represent their understanding, I found the following article, "Implementing a digital reading and writing workshop model for cntent literacy instruction in an urban elementary (K-8) school", by Ciampa (2016).

This article helped me in several ways. Ciampa outlines a workshop model which is a great professional development idea potentially useful for my staff in future curriculum development teacher meetings. However, what I want to look into more fully is the personal comments and results included in the ‘Evaluating the Technology Professional Development Workshop: Did It Make a Difference?’ section of the article (p. 9). Each participating teacher wrote a brief description of the technology, both hardware and software or apps used, and their evaluation of success. As the teacher librarian, I am collaborating with all grade levels, so this article provides many ideas for me to share with teachers and try with our students.

A second article, "Creating Digital Authors", by Zoch, Langston-DeMott, and Adams-Budde (2014) also interested me. I am hoping to spend more time investigating, describes the development of collaborative publishing in a writer’s camp format. This is particularly interesting for me as a ‘Read and Tech’ summer program instructor.

"The building blocks of digital media literacy: sociomaterial participation and the production of media knowedge" by Dezuanni (2005), led me to view digital media literacy in a new way, giving a basic framework, and spurring me to unpack this concept more fully in my mind.

Finally, while listening to the following Ted Talk with Mitch Resnick, the creator of the Scratch (a programming language and online community for learning about coding), an idea for the summer ‘Read and Tech’ course which I will be teaching began to form.
https://www.ted.com/talks/mitch_resnick_let_s_teach_kids_to_code#t-985068
Mitch’s inspirational talk sparked the idea for an inquiry project for my students to plan, create and deliver a mini-lesson for their classmates using coding. I hope to incorporate some of the websites shared in the article “10 Great Resources for Teaching Programming and Coding to Primary School Students.” ICT blog post, linked below.
http://www.ourict.co.uk/primary-school-coding-apps/
Now that I have some goals for further research on topics which interest me, I am eager to dive into the virtual information pool, and start swimming!

Works cited:

• Ciampa, K. (2016). Implementing a digital reading and writing workshop model for content literacy instruction in an urban elementary (K–8) school. The Reading Teacher, 70(3), 295-306. doi:10.1002/trtr.1514
• Zoch, M., Langston-DeMott, B., and Adams-Budde, M., Phi Delta Kappan (October 2014). Creating digital authors.Vol 96, Issue 3, pp. 32 – 37, Retreived from: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0031721714557450 
• Michael Dezuanni (2015) The building blocks of digital media literacy: sociomaterial participation and the production of media knowledge, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 47:3, 416-439, DOI: 10.1080/00220272.2014.966152 
• Resnick, M. (2012, November). Let's Teach Kids to Code. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/mitch_resnick_let_s_teach_kids_to_code#t-985068
• ICT. (June, 2016). 10 Great Resources for Teaching Programming and Coding to Primary School Students. Retrieved from: http://www.ourict.co.uk/primary-school-coding-apps/

image credit: Pixabay

Pinball machine world

As I am nearing the end of my first year as a Teacher Librarian, I can look back and see that there are many things that I’d like to improve upon. Categorizing and organizing these points for improvement (or issues) will help me with goal setting for professional development in Year 2 and in my coursework!
Facility: We are gently transitioning our library into a learning commons structure, so some facelifts which will help to set the tone for the space, and allow it to be more user friendly are planned. A Learning Commons Leadership Team has been struck to develop a model for our transition period. We feel this transition will progress over the next 3 – 5 years as funding becomes available. We are focussed on developing a vision for the space and have begun researching furniture and design features we see as a valuable first step for our project. Incorporating newly acquired technologies into this plan is ongoing.
Collection Management: I have taken this first year to determine the lack in our collection both fiction and non-fiction areas. I have experimented with inventive display/storage in order to entice readers with genre, series or author groupings. We have taken recommendations for new print purchases, digital resources and construction kits. We are not really leaning toward Makerspace, but now have materials which can be signed out or used in the learning commons which encourage imaginative construction skills. I am developing a monthly weeding/culling process, and hope to streamline our collection this spring.
Collaborative Process: Not only is this my first year as a Teacher Librarian, but this is the first time that we have scheduled collaborative blocks that teachers can sign up for (using Google calendar). This year, we set weekly collaboration times for Kindergarten, Grade 6 and 7 classes. The reasoning behind this fixed weekly block, was to expose the Kindergarten students to the learning commons space, and to encourage regular book sign out practice. For the upper intermediate grades, it was determined that these classes would be using the digital resources, available in the learning commons, intensively for research and presentation purposes. Many of these resources are new to both staff and students, so a plan to collaborate on these projects was deemed a priority.
ADST Curriculum: Using the expertise of the principal in the area of coding, we have begun the exploration of activities and programs which expose students to these processes, and develops their skills. Many staff members are new to this curriculum as am I, therefore we are using this opportunity to explore as students might!
GOAL SETTING: Plans for improvement (keywords)

• Facility: Purchase and installation of hardware and furniture will aid with wider use of digital resources and development of personal learning networks (Smartboard, Chromebook stations, iPad stations). 
• Collection Management: Improved access to maker kits, tools and materials to design and create. Addition of apps or website access for use with media arts instruction. Collaborative 
• Process: More collaborative blocks open to all classes (better time slots for primary). Creation of a collection of curriculum based examples of inquiry-based projects (including more ideas for primary students). Working out the issues that arise with collaborative publishing. 
• ADST Curriculum: Provide resources for teaching staff, and collaborate for instruction of digital literacy and internet safety. Develop lesson plans to incorporate media arts into other curriculum areas. Create a comprehensive list of resources for teachers to use in teaching computational thinking, (Coding) 

There are so many areas of the curriculum that can be supported or enhanced by the digital resources available in and through the learning commons, that my mind is constantly racing with ideas and applications! At times, I feel like I am a pinball in fantastic machine filled with flashing lights, spinners and paddles. Every so often I drop into a little hole, and the machine starts to go crazy, dinging madly and racking up thousands of points. Other times my journey ends suddenly, slipping right down the middle of the path with no hits or rebounds. I have to remind myself that the ball always travels back to the launcher for another shot at the game!

Welcome to my blog! This is my first attempt at blogging. I am eager to learn more about the digital world of the learning commons. Working as a teacher librarian for the first time, and doing coursework for the Teacher Librarian Diploma this year has been both a challenge and an exciting opportunity. I have shared some of what I've learned with my students and my staff and feel that I've just scratched the surface! I hope to discover new digital resources and delve deeper into what I have just discovered. I will post the progress of my learning journey here. I hope that you will find something of interest.