Tag Archives: reflection

Books About Women During World War II: A Library Collection Selection Project

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Salutations!

During my INFO 5040: Developing Library Collections during Summer 2023, I was tasked with selecting a non-fiction topic and analyzing what resources should be added to a library, based on what titles were available at two different academic libraries. It was fantastic to work on the book selection process from topic identification to title compilation, with the result being a 40-title list.

Project Topic: Women in World War II

Reason: One of my recent favorite books on the topic of women during World War II is Code Girls: The Untold Story of The American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II by Liza Mundy. The depth of research woven into narrative prose is quite appealing for a non-fiction book, and I have a few other books about the diverse ways women served during the historical period; these books from my personal collection became the foundation for this project. I found the specific Library of Congress (n.d.) Subject Heading for this category of information to be “World War, 1939-1945–Participation, Female” (p. W-255).

Reflection: From combing the internet for title suggestions, I learned to be more open-minded to reviews from unexpected yet valid sources; rather than relying on NoveList alone, I branched out to inventory available online from the bookstore of the National World War II Museum and even took a recommendation from NPR. One aspect I did not consider to be of great importance was the publication dates of the titles I chose. Given I was dealing with history, I assumed the date of publication was not as vitally important as it would be for science and technology titles, so publication dates were not included on my 40-book list. Depending on the topic, I realize publication dates might have more of a bearing on title selection. In a future position involving collection development, I also might need to provide at least an acknowledgement of having read reviews about the titles I select, a fact I discovered when working with NoveList entries that provide access to reviews from publications such as Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and Kirkus as available depending on the title. These compiled reviews might prove useful in supporting a selection decision when submitting title lists to different groups of library constituents.

Goodreads Book List: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/39464934-sarah-hope?shelf=women-in-ww2

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

Reference

Library of Congress. (n.d.). Library of congress subject headings beginning with w [PDF]. https://www.loc.gov/aba/publications/FreeLCSH/W.pdf

Why am I in LIS?

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Salutations!

One of the discussion board prompts for my INFO 5000 Introduction to Information Professions in Fall 2022 asked the question: Why am I in LIS [library and information science]? The answer was massaged from some of what I wrote in my reader autobiography for another class, which has been linked in a previous post. Below is the “readers’ digest” version, if you will.

Out of all the possible occupations/vocations in all the world, I had to walk into library information science [LIS]. Yes, I totally turned that first sentence into a nod to Casablanca, one of my dad’s favorite classic films. As some might remember from reading my introductory post, I chose Clarion’s online MSLIS program because my first master’s program in library media education was not ALA-accredited. Having spent 6 years as an elementary library media specialist, I find I am so much happier, so much more peaceful, and honestly have much better emotional well-being, in my present part-time position at my local public library. 

How I came to be interested in LIS can be traced all the way back to my baby-hood. I jokingly affirm with confidence that Syd Hoff’s character “Danny” discovered a dinosaur in 1958 and an infant librarian in the 1990s. My mom likes to tell the following “Danny” story during family “remember when” gabfests as a humorous “should’ve known she’d be a librarian” kind of tale, shaking her head with a fond smile at me. I’d request Syd Hoff’s Danny and the Dinosaur be read aloud to me by my parents, grandparents, and any of our family and friends who came to visit so much that Mom told me they took to hiding it around the house to get me interested in other stories and activities. Inevitably, Danny and the Dinosaur would resurface to be lovingly read…again. I have a dim recollection of finding it under a cushion of the family room couch or at least I remember that bit of the family tale.

Deep down, even when I couldn’t articulate it, I have always believed God blessed me with my love of books to share with others. He gave me a curiosity about famous people and faraway places, worlds within well-written novels, a thirst for information typically quenched by well-researched answers, and a respect for how books can be little puzzle pieces from bygone times by illuminating tidbits of history. “Librarian” checks those boxes quite well when trying to find an occupation that fits all my interests and talents. After completing this MSLIS, I look forward to all the different positions in different avenues of library and information science that will be available to me in different places all over the country and in some of my favorite international countries.

RLGing,

Sarah Hope

Reflection: nErDCampPA 2021

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Salutations Readers!

On July 15, 2021, I was thrilled to attend the 2021 nErDCampPA, the second that’s happened in my new home state of Pennsylvania. I attended the 2020 nErDCampCT in Connecticut and sort of (unfortunately) seemingly forgot having attended or anything I learned that day, since I never did blog about it and only recently rediscovered my notes in Google Keep.

I don’t want that to happen with all that I learned at this year’s nErDCampPA, so here’s some highlights.

  • Pennsylvania’s Young Reader’s Choice Award
    (Psst…. click the above title for the website.)
    Students can vote if they’ve read at least 3 nominated titles. It sounds much more “real-world” for kiddos to vote on titles other PA kiddos are reading than the “Mock Caldecott” I tried last year, at the urging of my library team, since we’ve been team-planning from Spring 2020 through Spring 2021. The Caldecott award is kind of abstract. Voting in schools and public libraries happen in March. Depending on the building, a librarian might be able to use Title 1 & Title 3 money for purchasing PYRCA titles.
  • Pairing STEM Books with Hands-On Activities
    I got to meet some fantastic authors/illustrators of picture books; they discussed their current and upcoming books and shared links to their social media accounts and resource websites. I’ve curated the links here on this Pinterest board.
  • Where Did You Get Your Information? Research in Picture Books
    Author Annette  Whipple shared an acronym to help with choosing sources. We’ve probably all heard these aspects in another order that is commonly considered a “swear” word that I don’t like encouraging kiddos to use. Instead, she chooses to reorder the letters so the acronym is CARP (which is a type of fish) for Current, Authority, Relevant, Purpose in source evaluation.
  • How to Keep Writing When Life Conspires Against You
    Use the “Pomodoro method” as a way to keep yourself on a timer track when working.
  • Q&A for Educators Interested in Writing & Publishing Books
    Advice from  Kim Ventrella: [Even if your book seems like a common topic or concept,] the unique thing that you will bring to the process is your experience and voice, and that doesn’t need to be copyrighted 😉 Everything has been done in some form. The important thing is your unique twist and perspective, and how you execute it.
    Advice from  Saadia Faruqi: “Short story writing, magazine writing etc. can be a very good way to get practice not only in the writing process but also get used to rejection! If you keep getting rejections on one particular manuscript, it’s time to retire it (for the time being) and work on something else. Read what you want to write.”
    Advice from  Samantha M. Clark: “Don’t judge your manuscript by a published book. Just keep going.”

Overall, it was a wonderful day to help me build vision as a pre-published author of #kidlit! Hope you’ve enjoyed my highlights from the 2021 nErDCampPA.

Happy RLGing! Ms. Tyler

LME 590 Practicum Week 3

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Hello Everyone,

This has ended up being a week of only outside hours, since school was not in session Monday for observance of Dr. King’s birthday or Friday due to snow.

My preparation for the “Genre Detectives” and “Genre Bingo” student activities has been going well.  I have written lesson plans for the “Genre Detectives” lessons for fourth grade students following the template provided by the AASL in the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. To be used with students during the “Genre Detectives” lessons, I have created a PowerPoint presentation which details the basic characteristics of nine genres, a “Genre Investigation, sheet which students will complete during the two-lesson unit, and have made posters to place throughout the library media center which asks students to scan QR codes with mini iPads so they can learn the genres of example books. I am yet to make the QR codes themselves, although I have typed the text to which will be displayed once they are scanned, since I am unsure which code can be scanned by the QR reader the library media specialist has installed on the devices students will be using. For the “Genre Bingo” activity for third through fifth grade students, I have completed the bingo sheet they will be using to document the titles they read. Below is a pictorial representation I made of the nine genres with which students will be working. I have not decided yet how, or if, students will use this image. It perhaps only solidified my understanding of the identified genres.

genres

To aid in my understanding of reading comprehension strategies, so I can effectively offer possible resources to teachers about this topic, I have been reading the book 7 Keys to Comprehension by Susan Zimmerman and Chryse Hutchins. This week, I sent the email to the first grade teachers explaining my desire to ascertain what resources, if any, I can offer them concerning teaching reading comprehension strategies and to alert the library media specialist of any upcoming research projects in which students will be visiting the library media center. The results of the survey indicated that booklists would be useful for inferencing, questioning, and making mental images, as well as notifying me of the first grade animal research project. I will tell the library media specialist of the upcoming first grade animal research project and am in the process as creating the requested booklists. Each booklist takes approximately two hours to complete; I compile lists of picture books from three different sources on the particular reading comprehension strategy, delete any duplicated titles, and search the library media center’s OPAC to see which titles are in the collection. Currently, I am in the process of cross-referencing each strategy’s list because books can often be used to model various strategies. Since the survey was administered to first grade teachers, I am making the list of picture books appropriate for kindergarten through second grade students, the lists are useful to more teachers in the building. I hope to have these lists available to the teachers to a link to a Google Drive folder, which can be put into the library media center newsletter for February.

I have also conducted some preliminary planning for a “Read Across America Day” bulletin board in front of the library media center.  I currently have two matching ideas, which I plan to discuss with the library media specialist. One idea is to match the silhouette of the Dr. Seuss book character with his or her name, while the other is to match quotes with the books. A combination of these two might be appropriate to perhaps use as a raffle for some small literacy-related prize.

Enthusiastically,

Ms. Tyler

LME 590 Practicum Week 2

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Hello Everyone,

My third day of Practicum, Monday, January 11, 2016, was the first day with regularly scheduled classes of students. The library media center functions on a color week rotation schedule, so the same students come for five consecutive days of library time and then do not return for a month, unless it is during a Friday Check-Out day, if it is determined by the classroom teachers to be necessary. Today, kindergarten through fifth grade, with the exception of fourth grade had library time for approximately fifty-minute sessions. During each session, students returned and checked-out books, listened to the library media specialist read a chapter of their grade-level’s current read-aloud book, and worked on the computers in the library media center on the school’s Mavis Beacon typing program for fifth and third graders and the “Between the Lions” PBS website for kindergarten through second. While students checked-in their books, I monitored their use of the Check-In station and helped students find new books, conducting readers’ advisory as needed. During read-aloud and computer time, I monitored student behavior; when students were not in the library media center, I weeded the 570-599 sections and discussed with the library media specialist making a help sheet on searching the OPAC, since we discovered Friday that it can be searched with either Lexile level or AR level as “narrowers” to the search criteria or as criteria by themselves. After school, I removed some 500s from the OPAC.

My fourth day of Practicum, Friday, January 15, 2016, was the first day I was responsible for Friday afternoon Check-Out time. With recent changes in staff responsibilities, the individual in charge of the computer lab, so the library media center could have open Check-Out all day, has been requested by the principal to conduct more tutoring sessions rather than Friday afternoon computer classes. Since the library media specialist is now responsible for the Friday afternoon computer classes, there would be no open check-out time for students, regardless of if she conducted those classes in the computer lab portion of the library media center or the separate computer lab down the hall. On my first Practicum day, the individuals involved were notified of this change, and the library media specialist and I discussed the possibility that I become responsible for Friday afternoon Check-Out times. During this time, I conduct readers’ advisory with students, monitor the Check-In and Check-Out stations, and shelved recent returns. About fifty students came to check-out in the afternoon in two classes or as individuals, who would have been unable to do so if the library media center was closed or had computer students. By taking on this responsibility, I have chosen to maintain student access to the library media center, especially since some students would not check-out for a month at a time if it were not for the weekly Fridays. When students were not in the library media center, I removed the rest of the 500s from the OPAC and weeded the 600s and some 700s. The library media specialist and I discussed that the 700s-900s would be all right with their current holdings, since the order to Follett needs to be placed next week. I will continue weeding the dreadfully old items, those from the 1970s and 1980s in the “missing” Dewey classifications, yet they will not be heavily represented in this upcoming order.

During planning period, the library media specialist and I discussed my further planning on “Genre Detectives,” what to do with the weeded books, and my intent to collaborate with classroom teachers regarding reading comprehension. My further plans for genre detectives involve two different activities. For fourth grade students during library time, I will discuss with them nine different genres (realistic fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, traditional literature, informational, biography, and poetry) and their characteristics, from which students will be asked to generate working definitions of the literature categories. Then, they will apply their knowledge of genres to find examples in the library media center. I will scaffold this process for students by planting one identified example of each genre in the library media center with a scan-able QR code which student teams will have to find and add to their lists of examples. As a reading promotion activity for students in third through fifth grade, students can choose to participate in “Genre Bingo,” in which they complete a bingo sheet of books read from different genres. After a student has read a book he or she will mark the title on his or her bingo sheet and tell the library media specialist or myself some clues as to why the title fits the particular genre. Once a student has spelled the word “genre” horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, he or she will be rewarded with a small magnifying glass in keeping with the genre detectives theme. Students may fill the sheets and earn books if they wish to continue. To model enjoyment of personal leisure reading, the library media specialist and I will both complete the “Genre Bingo” sheets with the students. All of my research on what to do with the weeded books did not yield anything in our state, so shipping the books is required if the library media specialist chooses to donate to SCARCE, an organization in Illinois which takes books to give to under-resourced schools. I am going to email the organization and see if we could ship boxes and will also contact our state library department to see if they have suggestions of recycling companies or places where we could donate the books. Several of my suggestions of what to do with the book jackets the library media specialist thought useful, such as bookmarks and puzzles. The library media specialist approved of my intent to collaborate with classroom teachers regarding reading comprehension through data collection of what resources/assistance I could offer. In the Google Forms survey, which will be administered to first grade teachers, I will be asking teachers which, if any, of the following would be helpful: book lists to use with students which require specific reading comprehension strategies, professional resources on teaching reading comprehension, or have me to come guest-teach one of the specific strategies. I will also ask of their students have upcoming research projects that require visiting the school library media center. This data will help the library media specialist and me pull resources and perhaps alert the local public children’s librarian of upcoming projects so student information needs can be maximally met.

Enthusiastically,

Ms. Tyler

LME 590 Practicum Week 1

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Hello Everyone,

I am so excited to be in my Practicum semester for my Library Media Education program! The next few months’ posts will be my reflections of each week’s experiences.

The first day of my Practicum, Monday, January 4, 2016, was a Teacher Planning Day for the district, when means I was able to observe the library media specialist at my placement elementary school during a whole-faculty meeting and a Writing Program Review meeting of which the library media specialist is the committee chair. During the faculty meeting, I noticed she asked the opinions of the other Special Area teachers about what their team’s goal would be for the rest of the semester before using one of her own goals as standing for the group’s thoughts. Consensus was reached about the goal of integrating more writing activities across all Special Areas. During the Writing Program Review meeting, the library media specialist discussed the current work underway of uploading evidence to the district’s SharePoint online file storage by each grade-level teacher on the committee to represent the school’s writing work. Hearing the difficulty one teacher was having of uploading documents, the principal stepped in to show the entire faculty an alternative method to uploading. During lunch, the library media specialist and I discussed the need to weed the non-fiction collection so we could order new materials with an extra six thousand dollars the library media center was receiving from the principal. The library media specialist stated that science and math books need to be updated in the collection, since last year’s standardized test scores were low in those areas for the school as a whole. She also mentioned that most of the collection of non-fiction titles were moved from the old building into the new one, so they were mostly likely decades too old, suggesting I use the publication date of 1995 and older as my rule of thumb. While generally discussing the portfolio requirement of LME 590, we decided I could satisfy AASL Standard 2.2 “Reading promotion: Candidates use a variety of strategies to promote leisure reading and model personal enjoyment of reading in order to promote habits of creative expression and lifelong reading” by creating an promotional activity for the categorization of books into genres to be implemented with the fourth and/or fifth grade classes. I spent the afternoon weeding the 000s and the 100s sections using the acronym MUSTIE as a guide, which stands for Misleading, Useless, Superseded, Trivial, Irrelevant, and Elsewhere. After weeding, I removed the 000s and 100s from the library media center’s Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC) within the Destiny library management system.

My second day of Practicum, Friday, January 8, 2016, was the first day with students in the library media center. In this elementary library media center, Fridays are Check-Out days without any of the regularly-scheduled classes on their fixed library schedule. Since the fourth grade and fifth grade teachers are departmentalized, two times during the day, one class of each grade occupied the library media center to check out books at the same time. During these times, I was able to conduct numerous readers’ advisory sessions, helping students find books of interest in both the fiction and non-fiction sections. I also had to help several students understand that the Lexile level of a book had nothing to do with it being in a certain place in the non-fiction section and had to refer students to a chart in the library media center where Lexile levels were compared to Accelerated Reader (AR) level ranges. It was difficult to see and hear the fourth/fifth grade reading teacher approve the students’ choice of books based on their approved Lexile level ranges. At first, some students I had helped were pleased with the books I had suggested and helped them find without checking the Lexile level or AR level, only to have their choices rejected by their classroom teacher. The library media specialist and I later discussed that there was nothing that could be done in that situation, since the classroom teacher was in the library media center for the entire check-out session. The situation looks to me to be an infringement on students’ right to choose freely books for independent reading from the library media center; I am not sure what steps can be taken by the library media specialist towards helping the teachers modify their practices in regards to independent reading when they involve limiting students’ reading options to certain color or number ranges without focusing on their readings interests and a breadth of genres and authors. When students were not in the library media center, I shelved the recently returned items and weeded the 200s, the 300s up to the 360 section, and the 500s up to the 570 section. Only the 200s were removed from the OPAC today. The below picture shows the Destiny screen where I scanned book barcodes to update the number of copies of the particular titles.

wk1

I jumped from the middle of the 300s to the 500s since the library media specialist announced  there is only two thousand dollars left of her budget if we purchased all the titles currently in her Titlewave shopping cart. With the science and math test scores for the school needing improvement, I felt it more importance to weed the 500s than the rest of the 300s and the 400s at this time. After weeding the 600s through 900s, I will return to the 300s and 400s.

During a portion of time without students, the library media specialist and I discussed my preliminary plans for the genre activity. So far, I have decided to create an introductory video to list the different genres and show book covers of titles belonging to the identified genres. Then, the students, as detectives possibly with sticker badges or magnifying classes, will comb the library for “clues” I have pre-planted in different sections. The clues will be defining characteristics of the genres, and student teams will have to determine which characteristics describe which genres. Teams will then share to the class the findings of their investigations. To help students become excited about the prospect of being genre detectives, I want to dress up as Sherlock Holmes and play a bit of the theme song to “The Pink Panther” as engagement for the activity. After hearing my preliminary plans, the library media specialist heartily approved of my ideas and mentioned we might be able to get small magnifying glasses from Oriental Trading or at least have bookmarks for the students with magnifying glasses on them.

Enthusiastically,

Ms. Tyler

Reference

Bishop, K.(2013). The collection program in schools: Concepts and practices. (5th ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Action research as a useful tool in improving student achievement

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Hello Everyone,

In one of my graduate classes this semester, we are focusing on implementing action research.

Action research can be a useful tool in improving student achievement is several ways. It helps teachers focus on an issue of need in their classrooms or interactions with students, so the data collected and reflections made are highly relevant to the population studied and subsequently inform daily practice. When teachers collaborate across disciplines in action research, opportunities are available for students to engage with content in different and deeper ways; for example, when a classroom teacher and a library media specialist collaborate in an inquiry unit on animal research, students are using skills in both settings, assisting with transfer, and using various sources, gaining exposure to different formats. By documenting and reflecting on the experience, the teacher and library media specialist will have multiple layers of evidence on the project’s success, which will improve the achievement of the students in that classroom. When the research-practitioners share their results, student improvement of students in other classroom will improve as colleagues implement similar projects. Action research can also help improve student achievement by helping students become reflective learners who self-monitor their progress and self-assess their products. In the world of library media education, action research can be useful in improving student achievement as a means for the library media specialist to document the impact the library media center has on students’ self-efficacy and test scores, which can corroborate the inclusion of the library media program in a school.

There is validity in the action research process on two main levels. First, action research provides individual teachers with an opportunity to join the ranks of reflective, professional practitioners, such as “members of the Teachers Network Leadership Institute,” who “have been conducting action research studies for a decade” (Rust & Clark, n.d., p. 15); it also aids the voice of teachers to be heard, since numerous action research projects have been published and are “influencing education policymakers at local, state, and national levels” (Rust & Clark, p. 15). Secondly, there is validity within the process itself of accurate and useful data being collected through various tools, a sort of check-and-balance known as “triangulation.” Triangulation is the “using multiple independent sources of data to answer one’s questions,” which “can help a single researcher compare and contrast what is being seen through a variety of lenses” (Sagor, 2000, para. 10); triangulation is typically achieved by using “at least three sources…of data” (Ferrance, 2000, p. 11).

Enthusiastically,

Ms. Tyler

References

Ferrance, E. (2000). Themes in education: Action research [PDF]. Providence, RI: Brown University. Retrieved from http://www.brown.edu/academics/education-alliance/sites/brown.edu.academics.education-alliance/files/publications/act_research.pdf

Sagor, R. (2000). What is action research? In Guiding School Improvement with Action Research (Chapter 1). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/100047/chapters/What-Is-Action-Research%C2%A2.aspx

Rust, F. & Clark, C. (n.d.). How to do action research in your classroom: Lessons from the Teachers Network Leadership Institute [PDF]. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/Action_Research_Booklet.pdf

“Big6: More Relevant and Important Than Ever!” Webinar Reflection

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Hello Everyone,

I recently viewed the edWeb.net “Big6: More Relevant and Important Than Ever!” webinar by Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz. It was truly fantastic to see these two gentlemen present on their information problem-solving processes, as I have previously researched the Big6 and the Super3. A presentation I co-authored and presented for one of my graduate classes and a resource sheet I made to accompany the presentation can be found on Google Drive, accessible through the side bar icon.

These two models provide students opportunities to practice “high-level thinking skills, innovative skills, and collaborative teamwork” (American Association of School Libraries [AASL], 2009a, p. 8), while aiding in their internalization of “adaptability,” the ability to take “initiative,” “creativity,” “self-direction,” and “flexibility” (AASL, 2009b, p. 13-14). These skills and dispositions, facilitated through projects and assessments that require students to engage in the Big6/Super3 processes, prepare students for the demands of the twenty-first century.

The webinar provided me with two main pieces of information about the Big6/Super3 processes that help solidify in my mind the importance to use them in a classroom or a library media center. For example, the two processes:

  • provide teachers and students with a common vocabulary to discuss meta-cognition; and
  • do not require all the students to do exactly the same thing in the same way at the same time.

I found it particularly important that the processes allow for students to work with individuality and flexibility, which made me think of how their use can facilitate students working within Gardner’s multiple intelligences and different learning styles (See this article from Vanderbilt University’s Center for Teaching for more information on learning styles). In the webinar, Mike Eisenberg even mentioned in a comment that the Big6 works with all learning styles, confirming my reaction.

Along with examples of how the Big6 can be used within the context of mathematics, Mike Eisenberg also showed how several examples of current technology can be used in each of the six stages. Below is his chart to show technology is context:

tech in context

Overall, the webinar reinforced the view that the Big6/Super3 are timeless and universal and are vital to students’ success in work, school, and life as they function in the twenty-first century.

Enthusiastically,

Ms. Tyler

References

American Association of School Libraries [AASL]. (2009a). Empowering learners: Guidelines for school library programs. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

American Association of School Libraries [AASL]. (2009b). Standards for the 21st-century learner in action. Chicago, IL: American Library Association.

“RU Ready 2 Trust ‘em?” Webinar Reflection

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Hello Everyone,

Back in September, for one of my Fall 2015 Library Media Education graduate classes, I viewed a fantastic webinar related to Digital Citizenship and thought I would share my reflection.

The webinar I viewed was titled “RU Ready 2 Trust ‘em? Why Access is Essential to Developing Citizenship Among Millennials” by Michelle Luhtala, the head librarian at New Canaan High School in Connecticut. It was exciting to participate in one of her online presentations, since I had just read the article “Teach Kids To Be Their Own Internet Filters” on the blog “Mind Shift: How We Will Learn;” it details New Canaann’s view “student mobile devices are … considered learning tools” which “works because of a culture of trust and responsibility the school has developed” (Schwartz, 2013, ¶ 7).

“RU Ready 2 Trust ‘em?” was very informative and dealt with various topics, including the characteristics of millennials, how 21st century skills empower students to become independent learners, online resources that can be used with students, and statistics which show that students are growing up as digital natives. One of the points, Ms. Luhtala discussed was myths about millennials. She stated that millennials are often perceived negatively, yet that is most likely due to an incorrect lens. Rather than seeing millennials as “coddled” and “narcissistic” with one lens, adults can use another lens and seem them as “resourceful” and “transparent,” respectively. Ms. Luhtala referenced Chelsea Clinton’s article “Four Myths About Millennials They’re All about Money and Mobile Phones, Right? Wrong,” which I would like to examine. Ms. Luhtala advocates that teachers, library media specialists, and administrators need to trust students with eighteen different complex tasks. The one task which really stood out to me from the list is that we need to trust students to: reflect. Ms. Luhtala said that trusting students to reflect means giving them time. Students need time to grapple with concepts or tasks, time to be messy and work on something. She also discussed how the library media center at New Canaan has a Google voice number, where students can call or text in questions. Since the beginning of this school year, they have interacted with students using over two hundred text messages, most of which happen outside of school hours.

Two resources Ms. Luhtala discussed for engaging millennials that I found particularly intriguing were PowToon and ReciteThis. PowToon lets users create five-minute animated videos for free and can be implemented into the classroom in several ways. I did a little research on this tool and found an informative YouTube video that shows five ways PowToon can be used in the classroom. I also looked into ReciteThis, which is advertised to turn quotes into masterpieces, which can be downloaded, emailed, linked, and shared via social networking sites. Using a quotation from educator and writer Mary Ellen Chase, which I found on the website for the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), I created this image:

MEC

If you would like to view the archived “RU Ready 2 Trust ‘em?” webinar, please visit edWeb.net and create a free account to access the PowerPoint presentation with the audio recording, additional resources, and the chat log.

Enthusiastically,

Ms. Tyler

Reference

Schwartz, K. (2013). Teach kids to be their own internet filters. Mind shift: How we will learn. Retrieved from: http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/10/04/teach-kids-to-be-their-own-filter/

#KyLChat on Twitter: School Libraries in the 21st Century

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Hello Everyone,

Last night, I participated in my second Twitter chat!

Compared to my first chat, two aspects of participation were easier, and one was slightly more difficult. I found it easier during this second time to filter out the side conversations happening while participants were answering the moderator’s questions; I even joined one side conversation with some LME classmates attending the chat. We tweeted about needing more space for our personal book collections and the necessity of staying current with technology. I was also more at ease with using abbreviations, symbols, and fragments in my tweets, even using “ts” for teachers and “ss” for students to conserve characters. Through a moderator’s tweet before the chat, I thought I had found a picture of the questions which were going to be asked. During my first Twitter chat, it had helped me not be pressured by the time constraints to have answered pre-typed and ready to post. I was able to focus more on seeing others’ responses than on my writing. This time, however, the moderator did not use all of the questions previously generated. Since I had not seen some of the questions beforehand, it was slightly more difficult to gather information from the tweets of everyone else because I had to process and respond to new questions.

Personally, I felt the topic of the chat, “School Libraries in the 21st Century,” was very appropriate considering my recent introduction to the historical background of public and school libraries. Questions covered the gamut from “what should we keep from the 20th century” to “how could you create an environment of exploration in your space.” Participants were also able to voice what they would change tomorrow about their libraries if they could; one person responded to that question that she would have dry erase table tops, while another expressed longing to have an assistant so she was no chained to checkout. Following a side conversation, I learned that some teachers and library media specialists have their students engage in “spine poetry,” where students pull books from the shelves and use the titles on the spines to write poems. One participant, in response to “what evidence do you see of a community center in your space,” mentioned a posse of students from different grade levels sharing books with each other in the mornings. Another said the library media center has a coding club and is a Minecraft hangout. Following another side conversation about student self-checkout, I saw one colleague support another who was apprehensive about trying such a system with her students. The encourager suggested trying the system with one grade and having a student monitor oversee the process; she continued with the thought-provoking statement: “so what if a mistake is made? Libns make mistakes too.” It was wonderful to “see” the camaraderie between professionals as colleagues; the interaction I watched makes me appreciate technology as a tool for professional learning communities.

Hooray for the vast amount of information available through technology, such as Twitter! I am looking forward to my next chat.

Enthusiastically,

Ms. Tyler