Inquiry Blog Post #4: The Techy Have's and Haven'ts

For a number of years, mobile devices have been lurking in the background of many of our decisions, debates, and questions around education. More recently, they have shimmied out of the shadows and onto the stage -- not quite centre, more like downstage right -- of our educational focus. As Mobile devices have become a key feature of our society, we must reflect this shift in our learning and teaching practices. Nonetheless, a number of hurdles still seem to pop up in our path. For me, these problems seem to centralize around the issue of access. I find myself wondering...

Who are the educational have and have-nots?
Can we safely lend tablets to our students?
Are we creating a two-tiered system?
What about band-width? Will our school districts support it's tech aims with infrastructure?
In Destiny Catalogue, my eBook platform never seems to work...How can we create a workable eBook lending system?
What are issues around consent and privacy when working with younger children?

.... That's all I've got right now. But I'm sure tomorrow a new issue will find its way across my desk.

Now I risk posturing myself as iPad fearful, whereas I infact jump at the opportunity to integrate technology into my lessons and library. I am excited by the new ways of showing what we know, as well as the opportunities for sharing on a classroom level, a school level, a district level, and a public level.

We are seeing so many incredible things happening in education as technology becomes more widely available.

New voices are being heard. I love this First Nation's People's Project in which bands are sharing movies made of their traditions. Super Cool.

Another incredible story featured on Edutopia, is one of a school in the Austrian Alps. Technology allowed this small school to continue its work. Students are able to connect to a wider world via the Internet. As this article was published in 2008, it is unclear as to whether mobile devices have become a significant feature in the Austrian School. Nonetheless, the concept of a connection to more information and ideas is central and vital.
Organisations such as Room to Read and  Library for All are using technology to deliver literacy in developing nations. Incredible opportunities are being created for students in these schools. Respire School in Haiti was a recipient of the Library for All project. Read their story here. Respire was ready for this technology and seemingly able to integrate it into their program. Very exciting.

At the same time, we truly need to consider the questions I've aired above. As we travel this yet unforgged road into the future, we will find ourselves having to answer questions we can not yet conceive of.

This summer I had the opportunity to volunteer at a school in Honduras. Nueva Esperanza provides childcare and education to children in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, one of the neediest cities in the world. Children who attend Nueva Esperanza, are incredibly poor. Theirs are single-parent families. Without the support of the school, these single mom's (and occasionally fathers) would likely place their children in orphanages.  Nueva Esperanza might benefit from tablets in their school, but the school lacks the resources to pursue such an aim. While staff have cell phones, none can afford Internet connected devices. A primary focus of the school is feeding children and keeping children safe in a neigbourhood with one of the highest crime rates in the world. Where does the finance to setup and support mobile devices factor into this equation? I'm not sure.

Below is a picture taken from a the school in Honduras. I have not included pictures from the school as all my pictures included children and I would like to respect their privacy.

While organisations like Room to Read and Library for All are doing what they can to support international literacy, we would be naive to imagine that most of the world's population is enjoying the level of technological literacy and support that we experience in the first world.

I find myself wondering how Room to Read continues to support its pilot schools after initial start up. I'm curious as to how teacher's in Haiti and Honduras are using these devices when they are available. It is rather exciting that I can explore these ideas in an online community.

I like that we paused to consider this issue. There is so much rich discussion to be had and so many ideas to continue to pursue as our library walls begin their slow collapse...


Video:
http://www.edutopia.org/first-peoples-project-indigenous-technology-video 

Inquiry Blog Post #3: The Lit and Pit of Pro-D

I thought about the topic of Professional Resources on my run this morning. Sloshing through the snow around Elk Lake, I was feeling a little Canadian and a little inspired. The sky was full of clouds and rain and snow. I had on my toque plus three shirts. Life looked pretty closeup and as in focus as a wet West Coast snowflake -- clear and fast and headed somewhere.

When my foot broke through slush to find its way into yet another puddle, books started to seem irrelevant. We need to 'do,' I felt. Development requires immersion.
 
Home and in a giant housecoat, I still feel similarly, today's teachers -- likely any day's teachers -- require authentic experience as part of growth and change. At the same time, with my feet in warm slippers, my hands itch for a book and I must acknowledge that literature remains an important part of Professional Development. It is important that teachers have a number of tools provided for their growth and personal exploration. Furthermore, teachers need to be able to access these tools.

Ultimately, my approach to professional development support, is two fold. The first focus area is literature and the second is participation.

Literature

While crucial to developing new ideas and accessing points of view, Pro-D literature is often difficult to access for the following resources:

1. Clutter- Often, the Teacher Resource of a school library is a neglected shelf. Like a dirty house, it has gathered a generation of dusty articles.  Teachers are hesitant to approach the shelf as they know they're going to have to pick through a bunch of junk to find an item of value.

2. Timeliness- We've all seen it, the 1970's physical education manual with short-shorts basketball players wearing knee-high striped socks. It's 2014... Need I say more?

3. Location- My current Teacher Resource is tucked in a backroom on a shelf so high I need to stand on a chair to reach it. This is not convenient or inviting.

4. Cost- Usually, what we're looking for isn't there. The book, text, video, whatever that we want costs fifty dollars. We forget about it.

I don't think these issues exist in every school. BUT in the last three years I have worked in four different libraries. Each suffered from at least three of these maladies.

As Web 2.0 aficionados, we know that many of these problems can be surmounted. Last year I had the distasteful pleasure of weeding and reorganising a Teacher Resource section.  First I rolled up my sleeves and tossed all the 1970's Phys Ed literature along with other outdated texts. Next, I restructured the shelf. A couple teachers had complained to me, 'you can never find what you're looking for. Why are the same-subject resources never together?' Indeed, why not? I wondered. So with Dewey as my guide, I reassigned numbers to match books to subject areas. I then applied labels so that teachers could quickly see where to find math or science or counselling  resources.

Simple.

Super Effective.

People started checking stuff out.

Wow.

Of course, Pro-D literature is not limited to print resources. As we are learning in this course, a whole world of resources lives on the web. In fact, in my last post, I list some of the resources I found helpful in regards to my own professional development. Different teachers will be interested in different sites. As a teacher librarian, my role is to provide access and opportunity for staff to find these resources. Options might include a staff resources page on the school library website, a list of resources in a staff access folder, or a Wiki for staff use and sharing. In my school, likely an online list housed on our website would be the simplest way for teachers to access information. In my experience, teachers are far more likely to use resources that are easily accessible.

Participation

In addition to literature, hands-on experience is crucial to teachers' development. Our district seems to enjoy a number of school-based Pro-D days. Here presents an opportunity to provide workshops hosted by members of our staff who are engaged in interesting learning initiatives, other members of our district who have stories and resources  to share, or educators and specialists from other districts.

Similarly, teachers have much to share in terms of providing tools and dialogue to their colleagues. A place to share discussions and conversation is coveted in schools. We often complain that we haven't the time or space to collaborate. The teacher librarian might provide a virtual version of this space through a Ning or Wiki. For example, this Ning focuses on the Project Based Learning.

Finally, allowing my library door to literately and figuratively always be open has allowed for some of the richest sharing and staff discussion opportunities. While I settle in at my new school, I look forward to forming the strong bonds that I have shared with teachers wherever I find myself.

Inquiry Blog Post #2: Aaron Raises the Bar

Sigh. Aaron challenges us. Again.

Honestly, I find this week's challenge a little daunting. Aaron's query implies change, lasting change. It implies that after I x the UBC Blackboard screen shut and mouse on toward my ACTUAL library life, that I'm ACTUALLY going to have to implement my learning; and that I am, in fact, going to continue to follow the paths this course has started me on in order to see what lies beyond. Yikes. Talk about hair raising.

My first thought is of an email I opened, scanned, then shuffled to a folder, telling myself I'd think about it later. At the same time, I was busy inventing excuses and reasons why I could not respond to this email, which was in fact a invitation from our Learning Initiatives Team to take part in some workshops, after school workshops, mind you, aimed at providing instruction for teachers around using specific applications on iPads in the classroom. One was, 'How to Make a eBook.'

Wait, this is totally my kind of thing! The angel on my left said.

Yawn, tired and busy, bag it, said the guy with the pitchfork hovering over my right ear.

Yawn equals Yum -- like a big gooey brownie, pure pleasure in the moment, nothing but heartburn after.

I'm a dedicated resister of the Yawn. And still I filed the email. But as I write this post, I'm thinking I'll pause, check the dates on those workshops, and choose one to take part in. I can't do everything, but I can do something. So take that, pitchfork-wielding red-suited naysayer!

Anyways, decisions aside, my district is lucky to have a Learning Inititatives Team which organizes awesome opportunities for us teacher folk to exchange ideas, talk about stuff we're jazzed on, and pick up some tips from the Learning Initiatives Wizards-- all of whom wear heels and pull shiny suitcases on wheels. 

Opportunities such as these are available through my district. I need to attend these events in order to learn new things around technology. It's easy to read an offer such as the one described above only to say to myself, eBook app? Just figure it out yourself. Easy peasy.

In reality, if I am to implement a new program or idea, I need to invest in said program idea. I need to take part, grapple, talk, laugh, complain, learn something unexpected, and THEN implement the new program or idea in my teaching. Which is exactly what I was hoping to do next week at Tapestry, where I planned to attend none other than instructor Aaron Mueller's workshop! But alas, the workshop has been cancelled, so I must look elsewhere to develop myself professionally.

Now another nifty place to find new ideas and stay connected is the Internet. I'm planning to start 'following' the herd a little more. Starting with the BCTLA Ning and the BCTLA Google Group. I've also stumbled across a few sites that I'm happy to peruse for new ideas, these include (gasp) Facebook, specifically the New York State Reading Association because they have shiny ideas.

In reality, the more I troll through articles and ideas online, the more sites I save to my delicious account, and the more links I find as I skip from link to link to link.

To check out some of the places I've been mousing, have a peek at my links on Delicious, a very nice little site on which one can save links and never lose them again (in theory). 

And then of course there are those yummy places we like to go for good ideas or a quick brainstorm, such as Pintrest. I love the visuals on Pintrest and I do declare that there is nary a better place to find bulletin board ideas. (My personal favourite of years gone by being "Here's My Number, Read Me Maybe. That said, the New York State Reading Association posted a tres fun little video remixing that song. Here is is:

)

A toe tapper, for sure.

Of course, people are always crucial to my development as a teacher, as well. I love paying attention to what other teachers are doing... I also love getting involved in groups that bring us together as learners/teachers. The teacher librarians in my district meet regularly to discuss what's up in our libraries. Often, I'm inspired to try on a new concept after one such meeting. Last year, when I put together a Human Library for my school, I was inspired and supported by another teacher librarian in my district, who was hosting his third human library that year. The idea was not my own. At all. I was given loads of support and directives from my fellow TL. Nonetheless, I tweaked the template to match my style and my school.

Finally, I plan to keep reading. At one such TL meeting as mentioned above, several Web and Tech books were brought to the table and several people shared out on books that were full of great ideas. I quickly jotted down the titles as I always do. Now all I have to do is find that piece of paper...Remember what I tagged that site under in Delicious...Find some teachers to connect with in my new school who are doing 'cool stuff'... And my professional development will be well underway.

Inquiry Blog Post #1: Let Them Read Books!

I suppose the whole book thing has been popular for awhile now, which makes our jobs as TLs pretty easy. Really, reading promotion is basically a cakewalk. The way I see it, one simply  needs to troll around for a handful of good ideas and then start implementing one or two. Thank goodness for the Internet.

One of the most helpful resources I've used over the years is Saskatchewan School Library's "50 Ways to Love Your Library." It's super. Herein lies a giant list of ideas, which are bound to get your creative juices pumping. I for one, am a firm believer in getting in and getting dirty in your library. When the feathers settle, no matter what you've done exactly, the kids are going to be pumped, the teachers are going to be pumped, and the parents are going to be pumped because things are happening. Really, that's all it takes. A little passion and a lot of follow through.

Aaron's zombie movie serves as a prime example. The movie is not perfect. Instead, it's awesome because it has heart and shows character, and we and the students who view it know that Aaron had to organise a bunch of teenagers into zombie formation for the shooting of this film. Awesome.

I created a similarly zany video (kudos to Leah, who is in this course, in the Bears Group (Go Bears!) in fact, and was the star of this video last year). Before Halloween, Leah and I and a couple other teachers from our school shot a video in the library. We chose the form of a newscast. Leah, as Russian correspondent, Helga, brought the viewers past the police tape, into the scene to view a body (Grade 7 teacher, Mark) dead in a library aisle. The clip ended with a desperate plea from the principal for students to solve this mystery. The video aired on morning announcements. Students came into the library at breaks and lunch to witness a crime scene and to receive clues as to who did it, with what, and to whom.

They were so into it.

Does this promote reading in the library? Pwphhh (sound of disgust)! Of course! The killer was a character (Willy Wonka) and the deceased was too (Peetah). Beyond that, our library was becoming a place of excitement. A place where things happened. A place where the lines between real and imagination blurred; more than one grade six student stopped me in the hall to enquire as to whether or not someone has ACTUALLY died in the library. Meanie that I am, I just looked frazzled and said, I need your help, come at lunch. 

Books are not boring. We need to tell and show the people!

Sadly, I no longer have a copy of the video and so cannot post it. What I can show you, is a video I made of my team competing in our district-wide middle school Battle of the Books. Hugely promotional. Hugely fun. (students signed off for the sharing of this video, btw.)

Bring in authors! And if you can connect the author event to another event or piece of learning, even better. Last year I ran a reading competition around Seven the Series, and then brought in Ted Stauton for an author talk. (Ok. Not easy. I ended up arranging Ted Stauton and Richard Scrimnger's Island itineraries, complete with transportation via teacher librarians, just to get them out here.) This was really fun. The kids were foaming at the collective mouth to get at any copy of Seven the Series.

They were reading!

Access opportunities like ArtsStarts and bring in an author to do writing workshops. I was privileged to work with Robin Stevenson on such a project this fall. In this case, the kids were reading and writing. Robin brought friends. I gave writing prompts and they wrote along with the kids and shared their work over the PA (along with the kids).

Another fun event, introduced to me by a colleague, is the Human Library. I was able to throw one of these together last year, and my goodness, it was so rewarding. Now, this isn't specifically a reading event. Rather, we do a lot of talking. But I think this is a good place to point out that our reading cultures should stretch beyond print to embrace many types of literacies. The more we can open up our libraries, the further we can reach.

All this said, it seems for every idea I'm able to follow through on, there's about ten that I don't squeeze in. We can't do everything. As TLs, we all have different gifts and intuitions. I'm realising what works for me in my library, is going to look different than what's happening one school over. Whatever. As long as things are happening. We need to create a buzz. Our libraries need to be the hive of the school. The flow of students and books and resources and ideas can be fast and furious as long as we're willing to let them.

Images from:
Flickr, Creative Commons
http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofvictoria_collections/7114730409/sizes/n/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofvictoria_collections/6968649976/sizes/l/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofvictoria_collections/6968650522/sizes/l/