Week 14: Revisiting the Top 10 Things Every Library Teacher Should Know About Technology

My reflections on my initial list are in pink.

1. Even with the growth of technology in the classroom, nothing replaces (or compares to) a teacher passionate about the subject s/he teaches. Students need your wisdom and experience to help guide them as 21st century learners. My wisdom comes from staying on top of the ever evolving changes in technology. If I remain current and well-versed in the tools I want my students to use, they are more likely to use them and understand how they can be used well.

2. Navigating a new app or Social Media tool is easier than you think. If it were too complicated, a company would not produce it because it wouldn't make money. You are savvier than you think when it comes to technology! This is a mantra (albeit a long one) that I remind myself of daily. I also find that now that I'm teaching technology, I find myself saying this to both students and teachers I am helping. 

3. You are not expected to be an expert on any one piece of technology-- ask for help, especially from teachers who you feel use technology supremely well! Yes, yes, yes. I was very intimidated to facilitate Hour of Code at my school. I had the chance to observe the IT in my building run an Hour of Code. She also gave me some great suggestions to prepare myself for running an HOC. I'm feeling confident and excited to facilitate HOC my school in the coming weeks. 

4. Join communities online to get support and to learn about how you can implement technology in the classroom. I'm now a part of MSLA and I'm already finding it so helpful. I love the idea of having connections to LTs across the Commonwealth. 

5. Do not fear change. The unfolding changes in technology offer new possibilities to make your teaching more dynamic and your classroom more innovative. Words to live by. It can be scary, but knowing that I am creating a network of people who can help me is huge.

6. Share your experiences with technology with peers. Encouraging others to explore technology can create opportunities for colleagues to learn and explore together. This is so important. Encouraging staff who are more hesitant to use technology, or a new tool, has been really rewarding.

7. Be flexible. You may feel like you've mastered your favorite digital tools or strategies for teaching with technology, but there are always new tools being created, and new ways to approach technology as the field unfolds. I still feel overwhelmed by the arrival of more and more tools, but reminding myself that I don't need to be the master of every tool (or even be proficient in each tool) is huge.

8. Don't get too caught up in all of the "bells and whistles" of a particular piece of technology. Make sure your students are using that technology as a vehicle for their learning and to create new knowledge. I've really kept this in mind the past semester. 

9. Use technology as a new way to communicate with parents is relatively easy but offers a big impact. When parents get a regular peek into your classroom to see the excellence occurring, you are not only communicating with parents, but you are cultivating advocates that can support and defend education and educational policies. I've created newsletters for my principal and supervisor, yet I can be sharing these newsletters with the community at large. Good reminder for me!

10. Learning new technologies is a humbling experience and a great opportunity for teachers to empathize with our students on their educational journey. I feel this daily. Recalling how I scared I was to even use the OPAC at my school back in September has given me the opportunity to be extra patient with students, teachers and parents who are using Destiny.

Week 13: OPAC

Like I mentioned in a post from the discussion board this week, I truly hadn't thought much about the OPAC used in my district. I am not that fond of it, but I had no idea there were so many options out there! Don't get me wrong, Destiny is a good OPAC. I find the assortment of searching options very useful (power search, visual search, etc.). I especially love all of the specificity options with the power search (including date of publishing, award winning, and interest level).

My biggest beef with it is the bibliographic records. The call number is not pronounced enough and I also don't like the way they communicate if an item is available ("0 of 1 available", etc.), that just feels too confusing for younger patrons. I also find the interface dated. It doesn't breathe excitement, the books don't jump off the screen, begging to be borrowed. Having some control of the settings (background design, widget options, etc.) would certainly freshen things up.

I'm still so new to this profession, which is both exciting and humbling. Admittedly, I would default to a key word search when helping one of my students find a book. After learning more about cataloging in general and OPACs, I'm finding that I'm become more well-versed in Destiny's search features, which I'm really grateful for!

Week 12: Cataloging Part Two

I had a really hard time connecting with Catalog It! So much information to process! My big takeaway is first, gratitude that Follett's Destiny does the cataloging for me. However, I do appreciate having the opportunity to go behind the scenes and understand how cataloging works. I found myself thinking about the ways I search for books in my catalog, or the way I've been helping my students, and have realized that by tweaking the subject information I'm in search of I can get to the source I'm looking for faster.

While my library does have some periodicals, they never hold up long enough for them to be properly cataloged. I've tried using magazine covers, but found them to be cumbersome and kids weren't drawn to borrowing them. However, if I move to a middle school or high school one day, it was interesting to understand how to catalog periodicals.

Looking ahead to the future, I was excited to be introduced to BIBFRAME. Granted, it will probably be a long time coming before I have the opportunity to use it, but I appreciated getting a brief understanding of how it works and how it can better serve patrons and librarians. I am interested in hearing how BIBFRAME will impact school library cataloging systems in the years to come.

Week 11: Cataloging

While I did struggle with the assigned reading this week, I did take away a lot of important information and certainly have a better understanding of how cataloging in general works.

Having the opportunity to expand my knowledge of Dewey was really helpful and frankly, I find his classification system fascinating and brilliant. While I don't believe students need to know what each 10 main classes of the DDC are, I do think it's helpful that the understand that there is a system, why there is a system, and how to access the system. I also really appreciated understanding why folk and fairy tales were classified as 384.2 as well as why poetry and graphic novels are in non-fiction as well. I like the flexibility that is accepted for school librarians to organize the remaining types of fiction in their own departments. Personally, I like having graphic novels remain in the non-fiction area because while students are browsing, they may discover other books in the 700s (or nearby classes) that they would not have found otherwise.

I was unfamiliar with the Metis and Bookstore models until reading Catalog It!. I like the idea of organizing a library in the 26 designated categories, because this can be a way to introduce students to more non-fiction during browsing. With that said, I don't feel confident pioneering a new organizational program at my library since I'm still new to the field and position.

The challenging part of the week was understanding the MARC records. I had a hard time understanding all of the components of a MARC, but I do respect the system. The vendors I purchase from create the MARCs for me, but it is important to understand how a title is classified. I definitely haven't hit mastery with this yet.

All in all, for an organizational lover like myself, this was great reading to tackle and I enjoyed learning more about the inner workings of cataloging.

And let's not forget the Top 5 Tools...

Creation tools are now a must for me. I particularly love: VoiceThread because you can use it for high or low tech type projects. Prezi is such a dynamic and powerful way to communicate with an audience (albeit more challenging to learn and navigate with elementary students, at least those in the lower grades).

Animoto is very kid-enticing and can certainly get a student more excited about a project than if the student had to produce an essay or poster. Tumblr is my new go to for images and inspiration. My goal is to connect a private school blog to it. Finally, I love podcasts. The 10 minute formats of ones like #edchat offer an easy way for teachers to stay abreast of trends. I do also love how students can create their own podcasts to share their knowledge.

Week 10: Teaching the teachers

For this week's assignment, I chose the option of creating a PD for teachers who wanted to learn about Social Bookmarking. The idea for this came about in a very organic way. About 6 weeks ago a teacher came to me to get some good research websites. I noticed the teacher jotting down each URL and when I asked if the teacher used Social Bookmarking, the teacher had no idea what I was talking about. Cut to the teacher's lounge during a lunch break a few days later. I casually inquired about Social Bookmarking and none of the teachers in the room had heard of it. I'd made a mental note to create an overview presentation but hadn't gotten around to creating it until last week.

As much as teachers (myself included) focus so much of our energies helping our students learn new tools, I find that we don't give ourselves the support we need to discover new ways of doing things. I decided to use Prezi since it's a more exciting and dynamic way of presenting information. I also wanted to explain what Social Bookmarking is without being too preachy or heavy handed. I also included YouTube basic tutorials so I wouldn't be standing in front of the crowd talking for the entire time.

Following this mini-PD, I would survey teachers to see which platform they were interested in learning more about. Then I would hold mini intro workshops on Symbaloo, Diigo and/or De.li.cious.

Week 9: Tech-Infused Unit Plan(s)

The big challenge for me this week was figuring out which app or tool would fit most appropriately with the lessons I was creating. I found that a "one size fits all" was certainly not the case as I brainstormed potential projects and/or exercises students could use to demonstrate their learning and to create new knowledge on a topic. In other words, I couldn't just choose an app, such as VoiceThread, and plunk it into the lesson. Not that that is my style, but what I'm trying to say is that each app or tool offers its own set of opportunities for student exploration. If I felt that retelling was important to students, using VoiceThread or Animoto would be helpful. If I wanted my students to connect with other students during the research process, or just after completion, Padlet would be a better fit.

Having had the chance to speak with my AT was so valuable, because now I have some very useful tools that I can offer all of my students to help them as they process information. I also like that I created a strong variety in the types of resources students could use to help them process what they were learning and to share their new knowledge in a purposeful way.

One area I do need to learn more about is helping my ELL students. I couldn't help but think a lot of my assignments would be difficult for them if they didn't have an aide with them. I know there are translation apps, but I wonder if that would slow down the learning process?

I was very intentional with the units I created. Since it's November (aka National Picture Book month) I'm planning on using the essence of these lessons with my students. I also am making good connections with the 2nd grade teachers and I like the idea of educating myself on the China mini-unit they teach in January. By doing so, I can reach out to them confidently in December and share some ideas I have to help support the learning in their respective classrooms.