Leopards Love First

The motto at our school is Leopards Love First.  Honestly, I feel like the teachers do a really good job of teaching character and teaching our students how to treat each other with respect.  I have indicated before in this blog that when it comes to technology and teaching digital skills such as digital citizenship, I am third with that responsibility behind the Technology Learning Coach and the Technology Related Arts teacher.  The principal has been clear that my role is more literacy and standards-driven as opposed to media-centric or tech-centric, but that is far from being told not to enter that arena.  She is very interested in me leading the charge with research as the two technology staff members really don't do that. Truthfully,  I have not done a lot specifically to address cyberbullying. That said, I do use books to teach an anti-bullying message, but I clearly could do more to extend the conversation to digital bullying.  Here is a link to books that can be used to teach cyberbullying.

Cartoonish frog holding a heart with hashtag #NoHate
Photo from Pixabay

After experiencing this week's materials, I am most taken with the Seven Digital Deadly Sins.  Wow.  This was a powerful demonstration of the ways that being online can lead you astray (Seven Digital Deadly Sins, n.d.).  I am fascinated by the ideas presented, but also by considering the many other ways the sins presented could take different avenues.  For example, the video essay on greed presented a woman who covets more followers or likes, or fans (Seven Digital Deadly Sins, n.d.).  But greed could easily present itself in the cyber world through cyber theft or other crimes like hacking.  I think that is what is so interesting about the video's identified deadly sins - they are all so multi-faceted when considered through the lens of the multi-faceted online world.

A map of the world with overlayed coding and a padlock
Photo from Pixabay

What really surprised me is how a seemingly small and meaningless moment can inspire one cruel child to start the ball rolling toward the crowd-sourcing of bullying in person and in the cyber world (Let’s Fight It Together, 2008).  I wanted to jump into the video and tell the boy what to do.  I wanted to be a classmate who told the bullies to stop. I guess the best I can do is to make sure I am using the resources available to me to encourage the real-life children I work with to be better, to love first.  Here is a great seasonal book that I have used to address bullying.  Just a conversation after a read-aloud favorite can make a difference and allow me to take the conversation to cyberbullying.

Book Cover of The Legend of Spookly, the Square Pumpkin

The Legend of Spookly the Square Pumpkin is by Joe Troiano.  Another great resource in most schools is Epic Books which has curated an antibullying series found here.  Blackout by John Rocco is a book that I would like to use this year to talk about unplugging and spending time away from technology.

Let’s fight it together. (2008, May 3). [Video]. Cyberbullying.org. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://cyberbullying.org/videos

Seven digital deadly sins. (n.d.). National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from http://sins.nfb.ca/

Jobs that Don't Exist - Module 8

 I have admitted before that I started teaching with no computers, early in my career I had one Apple IIe but by the 15th year of my career - about 2005 - we started getting a lot of information about the information age, digital natives, and the idea was first promoted that we were preparing students for jobs that didn't yet exist.  Boy, was that correct!  In 2005 you likely had not heard of the field of Logistics or ever seen a job posting for Social Media Marketing.   But you do now!

Web of connected people
Image from Pixabay

I admit to LOVING social media - as a user.  As a Librarian, I am not sure I should admit this, but there are times when scrolling through TikTok and Instagram has replaced an hour of reading.  As a Library Media Specialist, I think I can get away with that - right?  I think about "checking" my social media.  But I have not been as good at using social media or posting for my work or professional purposes.  I started a page this year and posted exactly three times.  I hoped to use it to connect with parents, but I learned in this week's material, that Twitter is mainly for professional contacts and I have to say my experience bears that out (Green, n.d.).  While I already had the page, I had not previously attached a logo or banner to the page.

Photo of my Twitter page as it existed prior to this lesson.

To add a logo and banner was next so I chose a simple logo of a leopard reading because the leopard is our mascot.  I like color and happy, simple images so the banner is just colorful books.  As I develop the Twitter page further, I may get more sophisticated (using students to create a logo (Wilson, n.d.)).  For now, though I like the happy logo as I like the students to be happy when they are in the library.  That probably sounds so simple, but it is true.  I also tweeted a new tweet tonight featuring the book we are reading this week and announcing that we are having an exciting author visit in 2023!  I tagged the author.  I know I need to utilize tagging more to gain attention and followers.

New logo, new banner, new Bio line, tagged author and tagged school and district.

At this moment, I think I need further clarification on how to be clear on the separation of the Twitter account from mine, but I believe it is.  Obviously, I am controlling it on my personal device as of now, but it does have a separate login and password from my personal/professional Twitter account.  As mentioned in Jan Wilson's article, I would like to involve students more in the logo and I need to take more pictures as a rule (Wilson, n.d.).  Just last week as our Battle of the Books team was in the library for our team meeting another teacher said how amazing it was to see so many students giving up their lunch to participate and that I should tweet that out.  I agreed totally, but forgot to take a picture!  I am really going to make an effort this week to follow more accounts and to post and tag!  Follow me @CfkCfkn 

Update 30 minutes later - Michael Rex liked and Retweeted my tweet!  WooHoo!

@mikerexbooks

References

Green, S. L. (n.d.). Harnessing the power of social media to advocate for the school library [Slide show; Google Slides].

Wilson, J. (n.d.). Make your library more visible. School Library Journal.

Loving Disabled Children - Module 7

 I have admitted before on this blog that I am a rookie, but I was not only a rookie librarian when I started in 2021, I was a rookie to the elementary world.  For 33 years prior to this job, I served secondary students and educators.  My new principal at the elementary level, Jessica Agee, responded to my concerns by telling me to just love them - everything else would fall into place.  Isn't that at the center of what we are talking about here?  If we love all of our students, then we will serve all of our students appropriately.  

Heart drawn by a red crayon
Photo from Pixabay

As a teacher librarian, I serve students with visual disabilities.  Frankly, I think (and maybe I am wrong) that we should assume that we have many visually disabled students in the primary grades and that is because I believe that we have undiagnosed visual issues within our younger populations.  My own daughter's eye issues were not uncovered by me, but by her third-grade teacher.  Can you understand how it broke my heart driving my daughter home after she received her first pair of eyeglasses to hear her say "mom, the green on the trees are separate little leaves?"  How long had she thought that trees had an undefined green clump on top?

Cartoon tree with a green canopy.  Individual leaves are not discernalbe
Art from Pixabay

To adapt to my assumptions I always do my read-alouds with the vooks (books on video) pulled up on the screen behind me and I consider that to be serving students who might be in the back of the circle and unable to see the illustrations with clarity.  This becomes especially important as you try to teach the importance of the illustrator, illustrations, the Caldecotts, etc.  You may have to change the area of your library where you do your circle time and read-aloud, but it is well worth it!  Here is an example of a great resource for vooks.  Incidentally, I always mute them so I can be the reader, make them full screen, and go into the settings and slow the video down to 50% or 75% speed so I can point out elements of the illustrations before the image changes to the next page.

At home, I have a beloved niece who has mitochondrial disease.  She has been in a wheelchair since elementary school and she also has significant trouble with her fine motor skills.  She has never been able to read a book since she really cannot turn the pages herself.  Her speech, vision, and posture are all negatively affected by the disease.  One thing about her though, is she hears very well - we all say she has bionic ears and she has a great memory and great interest in the goings-on around her.  She loves being around people and loves being a part of what others are doing or talking about.  This includes the latest books that kids in her school are talking about.

A photo of my niece dressed up for Halloween

Using KidsRead2Kids is a great way to allow your students with various disabilities to access books.  For example, right now Pinocchio is all the rage with the great new film adaptation on Disney Plus.  So if you had a student like my niece who might want to read the book as others are now doing, she could access KidsRead2Kids classics and find a reading of Pinocchio.  

While I embrace the concept of Universal Design, I also embrace the concept of love and common sense as implied by Universal Design principle #3 (Spina, n.d.). For my student with autism and OCD, for example, just having a cushion to sit on is key to making the library accessible to him.  He doesn't like the germs on the floor and won't sit down for the read-aloud without a barrier between him and the floor.  A cushion may not be designed as adaptive technology, but in his case it is.  I do believe that I am not hitting the mark in my collection as identified by the ALA (Library Services for People With Disabilities Policy, 2016b).  My library would not be accessible for students in wheelchairs as my shelves are too close together and my collection does not include enough materials featuring disabled characters.  So, I have some work to do!

References

Library services for people with disabilities policy. (2016, September 22). Association of Specialized, Government & Cooperative Library Agencies (ASGCLA). Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.ala.org/asgcla/resources/libraryservices

Spina, C. (n.d.). How universal design will make your library more inclusive. School Library Journal. Retrieved October 8, 2022, from https://www.slj.com/story/how-universal-design-will-make-your-library-more-inclusive

From First to Last - My Journey with Tech Hardware

Time - 1985, setting - dorm room in Chapel Hill, NC.  

Because I was fortunate to have a dad who loved gadgets and was the epitome of the yet-to-be-named "early adopter," I was the object of envy and curiosity because I had a typewriter that would remember the last 50 or so characters that you had typed. If you knew pretty quickly that you wanted to delete or change something, you could do it without the use of liquid paper!  Aha! 

Avatar sitting at a typewriter
Photo from Pixabay

Time - Fall of 1990,  Setting - my science classroom in a rural SC classroom with no air conditioning

I somehow got my hands on a floppy disk from WRAL in Raleigh, NC.  This disc had weather forecasting backgrounds and modules for science students to use in modeling forecasting.  As an 8th-grade science teacher, I inquired as to the availability of this so-called LCD projector and it turned out we had one at our school, but no teacher had ever used it so no one could help me set it up.  I fiddled and fiddled - after all, I had taken computer programming in college (back when you had to go to one lab because no one had a computer of their own and the printer still used the green and white striped paper that had to be threaded onto the printer).  Voila!  I was once again the object of great interest as teacher after teacher lined up in my doorway to see what the new young whippersnapper was doing in her classroom.  

various weather possibilities in clip art fashion
art from Pixabay

1991 - 1994 - Urban middle school classroom

Like a Boss using one Apple IIe with twenty-five students playing Oregan Trail or Where in the World is Carmen San Diego!

1995 - 2022 - School and District Administration

Using computers for office work and presentations

2022 - 2023 - Retired Rookie back in the classroom in Suburban Elementary School

After what I must admit was a grueling first year back in the classroom library full time with a heavy teaching load, I finally agreed to open the library for the summer SOAR program this past summer.  The administrator who was running the program had already ordered books and equipment for us to use so I was the recipient of whatever she had ordered.  The only piece of equipment she had ordered turned out to be a document camera.  When I left the classroom in 1994 I used an overhead projector, so this twist on that idea seemed old, yet also new and intriguing. The document camera may not be the flashiest of the new hardware (hey, I admitted in the title of this post that I was now in last place when it came to mastering the new gizmos), but it has allowed me to do a few important things. 

Last year I became pretty good at using youtube videos of books (vooks?) to project the illustrations while I muted the video and slowed down the speed so I could read to the students.  But there was one type of book I shied away from last year - the books with no words.  After getting that document camera, I used it to project these wordless books so that we can talk as a class about the author/illustrator's purpose and the action in the books.  One of my favorite books from my Children's Materials class with Valerie Byrd Fort was The Red Book and one of my favorite books from Junior Library Guild has been Field Trip to Volcano Island.

 

Book Cover of The Red Book by Barbara Lehman

Book Cover of Field Trip to Volcano Island by John Hare

I am not sure how I could have done a whole class "read aloud" of a wordless book without it - because there really are not a lot of "vooks" of wordless books and if there are any, they move way too fast, not allowing for examination and exploration.  Another genre that I am excited to use the document camera to highlight is the seek and find books - my two new favorites are Spot, the Cat and Spot and Dot which (Kirkus Reviews, 2016) rightly claims "make investigating the wordless spreads both a challenge and a joy."  I must also say that after reading this week's materials, I also feel good about the fact that with the doocument camera to project the books, my students are not exposed as much to the marketing wing of youtube's curation of suggested videos that litter the right-hand side of the video and my students don't have to watch the ads for Grammarly that always seem to come before the "vooks" that I usually use!  Finally, I have used the document camera to study Caldecott Winner illustrations and to project illustrations of books that are not popular and therefore do not have ebooks or "vooks" available.

Book Cover of Spot, the Cat by Henry Cole

Here is a link to the Document Camera I use!

The Technology Learning Model that most applies to me and the document camera is the TIM.  I have seen the RAT before, so I wanted to focus on the model that was new to me and that just frankly both resonated with me and gave me so much information I could latch onto.  The TIM, at least as much as I was able to understand it, is informative rather than judgemental and firmly places me on the entry-level and as a rookie, I am at peace with that.  Do I want to progress along the spectrum?  Absolutely I do.  But as (The Technology Integration Matrix, 2019) describes the entry level, I am simply using the document camera right now to "deliver curriculum content to the students."  As simple as the document camera is, I feel confident that I can move both down and to the right in the very rich spectrum that TIM provides.  I do believe that I am at the  (The Technology Integration Matrix, 2019) referenced "Constructive learning environment" as I am attaching the wordless books to the students' prior language arts and reading learning with content such as setting, characters, action, plot, etc.  The way the TIM model allows you to click "more" in each box and find further descriptive information and the way that the information provided is user-friendly and understandable is what makes this my favorite model (The Technology Integration Matrix, 2019).

References

Kirkus reviews. (2016, January 20). Kirkus. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/henry-cole/spot-the-cat/

The technology integration matrix. (2019). TIM. Retrieved October 2, 2022, from https://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/matrix/

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