Librarians Being Awesome

Love these old pics of libraries and librarians!  This one is
from 1896.  This site shows what it calls "25 Photos of
Librarians Being Awesome".  Times have changed, but 
libraries are still so valuable.  We just offer information in
some different formats now.  Librarians, well, maybe we
don't exactly look this way anymore, but still the most 
valuable resource in the library!

Sharing Resources

There are so many great resources out there!  Teachers  could spend all of  their time scouring the internet searching for resources to help them do their jobs.  I have to admit, this is a hobby of mine. I love my LiveBinder, where I can save the many great resources I find.  What a difference this is than when I began teaching in 1990 and had file folders with copies of  "stuff".  My LiveBinder contains my treasure trove of "stuff".



 Library Mania

Intellectual Freedom and Censorship

            The primary purpose of the school library is to provide access to information for its students through various media that represent a wide range of ideas and information.  Choosing which media to include in a library’s collection is the job of the school librarian.  Librarians must select age appropriate books based on subject, reading ability, and emotional and social development. Librarians need to be educated to handle their professional and legal responsibilities to protect the intellectual freedom and First Amendment rights of students and young adults.  They must be trained to ensure that students have free access to information and that the selection process for materials abides by the law.  It is not the responsibility of the school librarian to substitute their personal judgment for the readers’ or to impose their own beliefs on students.

                                   

The Library Bill of Rights (by the ALA) states that “material should not be excluded because of origin, background, or views of those contributing to their origin”.  It also claims that “libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues…materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval”.  Another right stated in the bill is that “libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment”.  The ALA claims that students have a “measure” of First Amendment rights and that the governments cannot censor materials unless they are “obscene, contain child pornography, or are harmful to minors”.  Censorship is defined by the ALA as “the suppression of ideas and information that certain persons…find objectionable or dangerous”. 

 

Evaluating Information

        In today's school library, we teach research skills.  But, these skills have certainly changed over the years.  Gone are the days of teaching how to look up a topic in the print encyclopedia and the old fashioned card catalog.  Now, we must teach 21st century literacy skills.  These involve instructing students to use internet resources to find research information.  However, this opens a whole new can of worms....evaluating the trustworthiness of internet websites.
        There a great number of 'spoof' websites out there.  They look legit at first, and to a young student, of course if it's on the internet, it must be true.  These are good for a laugh and even better to teach our students to evaluate sources for reliability, trustworthiness, and purpose.  Direct instruction of these skills is essential!  Just a few of my favs:

1. All About Explorers
2. Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division
3. California’s Velcro Crop Under Challenge
4. Feline Reactions to Bearded Men
5. Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
6. Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie
7. British Stick Insect Foundation
8. The Jackalope Conspiracy
9. Buy Dehydrated Water
10. Republic of Molossia
11. Dog Island
12. 
                                  

Using Video in the Classroom

Digital Storytelling...what a fantastic way to accomplish so many things in the classroom.  It can help students master the multidimensional abilities required of them in the 21st century.  Digital storytelling is using computer based tools to tell stories.  What a change from just paper and pencil! A great article on using these 21st century technology  to teach 21t century literacies in  the classroom is:

 Brown, J., Bryan, J., & Brown, T. (2005). Twenty-first century literacy and technology in K-8 classrooms. Innovate, 1(3).
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.186.5118

These literacies for the 21st century include:

Digital Literacy -the ability to communicate with an ever-expanding community to discuss issues, gather information, and seek help;

Global Literacy -the capacity to read, interpret, respond, and contextualize messages from a global perspective;

Visual Literacy -the ability to understand, produce, and communicate through visual images;

Technology Literacy -the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance;

Information Literacy -the ability to find, evaluate and synthesize information.

Benefits of Using Digital Technology in Our Classrooms

Teachers have so much on their plates already.  They certainly do not need ANOTHER thing to teach.  That is how some teachers view the push to use digital technology in their classrooms.  Some teachers fail to realize the potential that these digital technologies can provide. 


They can empower students by providing opportunities to adjust sizes and use text to speech functions and provide opportunities to engage with the text in a more ways than with traditional paper text.  Motivation and engagement are overwhelming benefits of the use of technology with struggling readers.  Greater engagement equals higher achievement.  Research shows that  experiences with technology can encourage reluctant readers to re-engage in a new and exciting way.  Also important, is the benefit that these technologies play in the development of reading comprehension through voice recordings.  Students that are otherwise disengaged when it comes to reading traditional print books are excited when the reading material is presented in electronic form.  

E-books offer an engaging option for struggling readers, are easy for teachers to implement, and offer opportunities for individual practice for students.  When using e-books, students tend to more naturally investigate words and images.  They can teach students early literacy skills including phonological awareness and vocabulary.  

 Teachers need to stay current with the most recent digital advances and determine how to implement them into their curriculum.  Technology should not drive the curriculum nor determine its content.  However, technology should be integrated at every available opportunity in order to prepare our students for the 21st century. 

Everything Google

                                     
       Technology is taking over. It's everywhere.  Today's 21st century students are digital natives who have lived their whole lives immersed in technology.  This means that teachers must find ways to use technology to reach their students.  Our students have grown up in the digital age, with its quickly changing innovative technologies.  This has created a digital divide between our students and their non-digital native teachers.  Teachers sometimes struggle to find ways to adapt and develop curriculum to meet the needs of their students.  


This need is what led to the Google application suite.  Google has created a vast array of tools that can be used by teachers (like myself) who did not grow up with this technology, to enhance their curriculum, reach their students and help prepare them for the 21st century.  These tools are innovative and powerful and (maybe most importantly), easy to use.  And, very important to mention, Google provides this suite of tools free to schools!  Tools such as Google Presentation, Google Voice, Google Talk, Google Site, Google Forms, Google Docs, just to name a few.  Google is making to easy for teachers to breach the digital divide.  We just have to be willing to embrace it.

Great sources for information on Google Apps:

Adams, Devon Christopher. The Clearing House82.2 (Nov/Dec 2008): 96-100.

Fredrick, Kathy. School Library Monthly29.6 (Mar 2013): 23-25.

Infographics

Infographics are representations of data using information graphics and visual representations. They are everywhere on the web today.  Our society, with its decreasing attention spans, seem to drawn to these eye-catching, bright messages containing small, but relevant, pieces of information.  Infographics are usually easy to read, straight to the point, and usually contain interesting factual information.  Since people remember 10% of what they hear, 20% of what they read and a whopping 80% of what they see, the impact of infographics can be huge.  Teachers certainly need to master using this media in their instruction in the classroom and teach their students how to create their own infographics to represent information.
                                  
When students create infographics in the classroom, they are using information, visual, and technology literacies.  This can be created as a formative or summative assessment.  In creating infographics, students are conducting research which is information literacy, working on the layout for optimal appeal of the infographic which is visual literacy,  presenting it to an audience which is media literacy, and using the technology tools to create it which is digital literacy.  In the process, the students are demonstrating their mastery of the content that has been taught.

This is an excellent link to a site "A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet" and a ton of information on infographics:

 

http://mediaspecialistsguide.blogspot.com/p/infographics.html#.T83jPr8zm80

Toot Your Own Horn

The school media center has so much to offer students and staff.  Resources found here can truly help improve student performance.  Research study after research study have proven that schools with media centers and qualified media coordinators have better test scores than those that do not.  However, many times the deep well of resources available in the library are just not known by its stakeholders.  This means that a major job of the school media coordinator is to be an advocate for their library, to publicize its merit and offerings.  In fact, the AASL standards for media coordinators requires us to be able to articulate the role and relationship of the school library program's impact on student academic achievement within the context of current educational initiatives.   We must be able to utilize evidence-based practice and information from education and library research, and communicate ways in which the library program can enhance school improvement efforts.  We must  advocate for strong school library programs by designing and leading professional development opportunities that clearly articulate the impact of a school library program's resources, services and programming on student academic achievement. According to Hand (2008), "Constant advocacy for integration of library and information resources in classroom plans must remain a core focus for all of us school library professionals” (p. 27). Morris (2004) emphasized "the best way to reach teachers is to give them the personalized attention and professional concern that will aid them in preparing, organizing, and presenting instructional programs...providing the collaborative support that will help them to become better teachers” (p. 127).

In essence, we must "toot our own horn".  We must be vocal advocates and strong leaders in our schools.  We, as media coordinators have so much to offer, we should not keep it to ourselves. 

Hand, D. (2008). What can teacher-librarians do to promote their work and the                school    library media program? Keep everyone in the loop: Constant                           advocacy. Teacher Librarian, 36 (2), 26-7.

Morris, B. J. (2004). Administering the school library media center. Westport, CT:

              Libraries Unlimited.

The First Beginnings...

Well, I'm trying to get into the 21st century, slowly but surely, with technology.  I've created my first blog...all by myself!  I have contributed to another blog, but it was already set up by another media coordinator that I use to work with. I shouldn't mention that it is getting late and I've been working on creating this off and on all day.  There are a lot of options (too many sometimes) to choose from when setting up a blog.  I am sure it is what "digital natives" are use to.... many options, but sometimes it can be a little overwhelming.  I look forward to experimenting and adding meaningful content as this blog develops.