Opening Doors in the Tech World - Blog post 3 - Module 4

 Calling 4th Grade Teachers!

This is for You......

Partner with your friendly neighborhood school librarian and co-teach life in Colonial America with a literacy/maker space twist!

Book Cover image from "If You Lived in Colonial Times" by Ann McGovern

Let's engage our students in solving problems that children their age faced in colonial days.  Using an approach learned from Novel Engineering, we can use this great informational text to challenge students to engage in the engineering design process and solve problems common in Colonial America (Novel Engineering, 2018).

Problem to Research and Create Solutions - Water Accessibility

clean water to drink

getting water from the source to the crops (Novel Engineering, 2018)

________________________________________

The flier above is an idea based on Novel Engineering which is a great STEM approach to literacy that I learned about from the iTeach Resource Hub blog produced by the Instructional Technologists at Kennesaw State University.  As I looked over this blog, I really was attracted to the entry-level ideas they provided for library media specialists like me - an elementary school librarian who is number three in the technology source line at my school.  I am not the technology specialist at my school as we have an instructional technology specialist and we also have a technology related arts teacher.  The Chromebooks are not sourced out of the library and my library is not set up to be a technology hub.  So how do I find my space in the tech world?  Through research, making, and approaches like the ones discussed in the blogs of the iTeach team at Kennesaw State University!

iTeach blog post topics that I am interested in include student blogging, VR in the classroom, using avatars, making on a budget, creative writing through STEAM, and more!  Another great source for aspiring tech leaders like me who are trying to find my space is the Kentucky Department of Education's Non-Traditional Instruction web resource.  This source has plentiful information like other state technology plans and resources, but in keeping with my theme of approachability, it offers a non-threatening approach through a welcome page that lets you choose your entry point to click and expand the information.  This is a much better technique and uses a tech approach that ironically all those other narratives, and text-based plans about technology seem to forget.

As I seek open doors in the tech landscape at my school, I am going to strongly consider the article by Brenda Boyer.  While I do not see my library becoming a virtual one, I do see leveraging a more prominent online experience for my library.  Boyer's (2016) question is "How would shifting some library services, resources, and instruction to the online environment help you meet these various objectives?"  Boyer (2016) offers other intriguing questions for both the librarian and the library's client or partner base that challenge me and promote ideas to bloom and isn't that the point?  Maybe rather than seeking an open door, I need to find the keys to open the doors myself.

Photo from Pixabay
(key ring with one key highlighted)

References

Boyer, B. (2016). Meet your learners where they are: virtualizing the school library. Internet@Schools, 23(1). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A440057567/AONE?u=nysl_ca_dmvacces&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=73a967ca

Novel Engineering. (2018). Novel Engineering. Retrieved September 15, 2022, from https://www.novelengineering.org/book/if-you-lived-in-colonial-times/                           

Always on a diet! Blog Post #2 Module 3

 I have been on a diet my entire life and now I find out I have to be on a new diet?  Yes!  Prior to this week's classwork, I had honestly never heard of an information diet, but now I understand how important it is.  No dreading this diet.  In an interview with Clay Johnson, NPR (2012) says this diet helps us deal with "the obesity of information that clogs our eyes and our minds and our inboxes."  As an elementary library media specialist, I do need to have a healthy information diet because beyond my purpose as it involves the reading and the sharing of books, lies the importance of being "part of a professional community that encourages sharing information, opinions, and expertise (ALA, 2018)."

Not another diet!

(Man dreading eating another dry rice cake)

Photo from Pixabay

As an elementary library media specialist, my students are as likely to walk in and want to talk about the Yankees vs. the Braves as they are something controversial which is why I really like the 21st Century interdisciplinary themes of Global Awareness; Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy; Civic Literacy; Health Literacy; and Environmental Literacy that P21 incorporates into their 21st Century Student Outcomes (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, 2015).  These themes recognize that even in the day-to-day read-alouds and conversations I have with my students I am addressing important informational sources and topics.  This week, we read a biography called A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz.  We looked at the current range of jaguar habitats and used World Wildlife Federation sources to learn more about the jaguar.  Prompted by a statement from the author in the video linked above, students then wrote about the fact that the efforts to save the jaguar also served mankind.  So, in my library classroom this past week we certainly engaged in Environmental Literacy.  

Copy of Book cover, A Boy and A Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz
(Boy and jaguar look at each other from behind trees)
(Cover art by Catia Chien and published by Clarion Books)

As I progress this year in my efforts to teach research skills to my students, I will once again use the Common Sense Media units.  If you have not used them before they are really helpful to the school librarian and can be found at this link.  But what I have not used before is the "blowing up" the keywords strategy as demonstrated in the video from Krueger Library at Winona State University (Krueger Library at Winona State University, 2016).  I look forward to referring to this video when I teach my students about using keywords.  I only wish the video had used a topic other than one featuring violence because then I think I could have used the video with my upper elementary students instead of just applying what I learned from the video.  

When I reflect on how the concepts of information literacy, technology, and digital media intersect, I reflect back to 1998 when I was part of building a magnet program in my district that was entirely focused on information literacy.  We wanted to teach the children how to find the truth in what was - at that time - an overwhelming amount of information at the hands and eyes and ears of Americans.  My district was not at that time a one-to-one district nor did we have that many devices in the classrooms, but we acquired laptop carts for this program which would enable the students in the program to each use a laptop at the same time (pretty advanced in the 90s!).  Today, that magnet program that started as the "Info-Link" program, has been rebranded as CavPlex and is entirely focused on how information literacy and technology are used to create digital media.  I think the journey represents how information literacy and technology combine to allow for digital media - we can only be thankful for programs like this that seek to graduate students who will be responsible journalists and responsible broadcasters.

References:

ALA. (2018, December 5). Me, a librarian?  Education & Careers. Retrieved September 10, 2022, from           https://www.ala.org/educationcareers/careers/librarycareerssite/mealibrarian

Krueger Library at Winona State University. (2016, August 19). Selecting & using keywords [Video].

      You Tube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6kit2Mt_4w

NPR. (2012, January 14). Is it time for you to go on an "information diet"? NPR.org.  Retireved 

      September 10, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/2012/01/14/145101748/is-it-time-for-you-to-go-on-

      an-information-diet

Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2015, May). Framework for 21st century learning. P21. 

      http://www.P21.org

 The name of my blog is The Retired Rookie.  What I am retired from is teaching - what I am a rookie at is being a library media specialist.  So, after a year of occasional attempts to understand the AASL National School Library Standards, my SLIS 761 course finally prompted me to actually study the document and come to a better understanding of the framework and the classroom application of the standards.  Upon my first examination of the ISTE standards, I immediately found these standards to be approachable and much easier to understand than the AASL standards.  Now I feel like I have a working knowledge of both documents.

As I mentioned, I come to the field of library media from the field of teaching - a journey shared by many in the school library field.  That said, I found the article "School Librarians Level Up" by Jennifer Freedman and Alice Robinson very relatable as they presented the AASL standards through a process teachers are familiar with called "unpacking the standards" (Freedman and Robinson, 2019).

Unpacking!
(picture of box with objects)
Picture from Pixabay

Freedman and Robinson helped me to see that in the AASL standards for Librarians, the Shared Foundations and the Domains serve to focus my attention, but the Key Commitments and the Learner and Librarian Competencies are where the action is (Freedman & Robinson, 2019).  I really like the word commitment that the AASL uses because as teacher librarians we are truly committed to our actions in the classroom making a difference in the lives of our students (American Association of School Librarians, 2018b).

It takes a bit of an effort to comprehend the AASL standards and the ISTE Crosswalk because the focus for the Learner, the School Librarian and the School Library all demand thought and processing while the ISTE standards feel more easily applied to teacher action (American Association of School Librarians, 2018a).  Even when you go to the ISTE standards web page, you can select your area of focus and read just from the perspective you are seeking (International Society for Technology in Education, 2000).

What I think a maker space should be.
(large warehouse-like area with many tools)
Photo from Pixabay 

As a school librarian without a maker space, I feel stressed by standards that include making, but I can settle in with standards that call for tinkering (American Association of School Librarians, 2018a).  I really like the ISTE interpretation of problem-solving as a computational thinking model and one that can be done without a full maker space, while at the same time I acknowledge that the AASL standards do indicate that the School Library can function as a virtual space at the same time it functions as a physical space (American Association of School Librarians, 2018a).  One goal I have for this year is to begin novel engineering and let students begin to tinker based on their interpretations of the books we read.  To do so, I will have to familiarize myself with what the AASL calls the cycle of design while I am already familiar with the ISTE-referenced design process (American Association of School Librarians, 2018a).  What I am unsure of is how far tinkering goes toward the full making process or can you tinker with no end goal in mind?  Freedman and Robinson referred to an activity in their pursuit of School Librarian V.B.2  (American Association of School Librarians, 2018a) that seems to walk the line between tinkering and making (Freedman & Robinson, 2019) and really challenges my perception of what I can accomplish in my space.

What tinkering and making could look like in my library.
(students pulling random objects out of a plastic bin)
photo from Pixabay

In the Domain, Grow, I really like the AASL reference to scaffolding, being open-minded, and fostering learning environments, but I see equally encouraging words in the ISTE standards - words like understanding, respect, and fostering a culture (American Association of School Librarians, 2018a).  I see the Learner and the School Librarian in the AASL standards represented in the learner and leader in the ISTE standards, but I just love the idea of the School Library as a functioning partner in the AASL standards (American Association of School Librarians, 2018a).  The ISTE standards broaden the idea of the learner into other roles such as the citizen, the collaborator, the designer, the computational thinker, and the creative communicator (International Society for Technology in Education, 2000).  

Finally, I take comfort in both sets of standards using the word "collaborate" frequently (American Association of School Librarians, 2018a).  After all, we will only grow as we continue to collaborate with others.  I need to further my collaboration with teachers, with the technology specialists, and even grow as a facilitator so my relationship with my students can become less instructional (at the appropriate times) and more collaborative.
 

The Retired Rookie

References:

American Association of School Librarians. (2018a). National school library standards crosswalk.              American Library Association.

American Association of School Librarians.  (2018b). National school library standards for learners,        school librarians, and school libraries.  ALA.

Freedman, J., & Robinson, A.A. (2019).  School librarians level up!  Knowledge Quest, 47(5), 12-15

International Society for Technology in Education (2000). The ISTE standards.  https://www.Iste.org/        Iste-Standards.  Retrieved September 2, 2022, from https://www.iste.oorg/iste-standards