Saturday, August 29, 2015

Tweets from Leaders in Educational Technology

Tweets from Leaders in Educational Technology
       Buffy J. Hamilton, @buffyjhamilton, tweeted about an article entitled, “The Library Transforms to Learning Commons.” This particular tweet caught my attention, because our school district just built three new elementary schools with a design very different from traditional schools. These new schools have grade level pods with very little classroom space. The walls are glass and open up to a central workspace that is shared by all the classes in that grade level. Everything is moveable, changeable, and adaptable for the classroom. These new school do not have a traditional library space as well. The schools books are housed close to the grade level pods and organized by reading levels. Basically, kindergarten and first grade books are together, second grade and third grade books are together and so on. Therefore, when I came across this post I was interested to see the new, initiative ideas for learning areas within a library setting. The idea of four very different environments within a library is spot on, especially in a high school or college level campus. Students need space to be isolated and fully focused. There should be space for groups to work; spaces within the library for collaboration. The floor plan was a great visual to help me see how this could play out in a large public library or college.
      My question is how can we do this for elementary? What about elementary libraries on a fixed learning schedule? Should elementary libraries stick to the traditional fixed schedule to allow students to learn library basics switching to a flexible schedule with setups suggested in this article? Our job as library media specialist is to empower our students with the ability to discover information; research and learn through various forms of media. We can’t expect them to figure this all on their own. I believe that in the lower levels of education, such as elementary, students need the guidance of a fixed schedule to learn how to use the tools of the library. Once they have the basics, then using a flexible schedule with a library commons area such as the ones mention in the article would be ideal. Middle school and high school students should be able to start the exploration of self-learning in this style with support from a knowledgeable media specialist. When they reach college, they will be fully prepared to research, study, and utilized the twenty first century libraries full of technology.

     Kathy Schrock, @kthyschrock, had several tweets about apps that I didn’t know existed. One such tweet was about app smashing. I had never heard of that before. It was interesting. The one that really caught my attention was about a free app called TeleStory. My daughter loves to record herself a pretend that she is making her own movie. We also record a “Morning Show” at our school for morning announcements. We use a green screen to help do this. I am always looking for more ways to add to this or make it easier. This particular app would be for fun or a quick video report. The kids really love to play with it. It adds funny hair styles, glasses, mic, etc…on to the video. It can be edited and shared as well.

     Linda W. Braun, @lbraun2000, tweeted an article on Minecraft. This caught my attention, because Minecraft has been a topic of discussion in my household for several years. I could not understand how with all the gaming technology available to today’s youth that this with almost Atari like graphics could be popular. This article was about a summer program called Connected Camps. They had a summer camp “Summer of Minecraft.” This camp was different from most, because even when campers went home they were still involved in camp activities. Children age 9-13 learned about coding in program language and game design. The creators of this camp say the true value of Minecraft is the friendships that are made and the limitless possibilities to learn through the game. It was an interest take on a video game and yet another way to reach the tech savvy children of today.

      Tony Vincent, @tonyvincent, posted a tweet with a link to his youtube video for finding free pictures for project. This is valuable information to help teachers and students to find pictures for free that will not violate any copyright laws. It was very informative. I highly recommend following him on twitter and subscribing to his youtube channel.

      Gwyneth Jones, @gwynethJones, retweeted a really interesting way to personalize newsletters that you send home to the parents of your students. http://www.alicekeeler.com/teachertech/2015/08/17/create-personalized-teacher-newsletters-for-each-student/ Alice Keeler said the reason most parents don’t read the newsletter you send home is because it is not about their child. I think this resource is a useful one that I will be sharing with the teachers at my school. She also has several blogs that would be interesting to follow.
      The final technology tweeter that I looked at this evening is Jim Lerman, @jimelerman. He uses a site called Scoop it for the majority of his tweets. One such article is titled “20 Ways to Learn with Technology.” Each one of the twenty ideas in the graphic are linked to a video, prezi, or other information to help a teacher incorporate these new ideas into their classroom. *While looking into these people’s twitter pages, I found myself retweeting, sending out emails to faculty on my campus and adding things to my school libraries Facebook page. I could literally spend hours exploring each person’s twitter pages and the attached links.
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Friday, August 28, 2015

To Facebook or Not to Facebook Your School Library

As a media specialist and an educator, I strive to get information out to my students, the parents of the students, the faculty and the community.  With technology always changing, it is becoming increasingly more important to look at what is now available.  Interactions on Facebook and twitter are now considered “the norm” in today’s society.  Many schools are turning to this forum to get the word out about school activities and daily business. So, should libraries start using these as well?  Would it benefit me and my school to have a library Facebook page?

The best way to find out the answer to any question is through research.  I spent the evening browsing through several Facebook school library pages.  I simply typed “school library” in the search bar and scrolled down through the list until I found different levels of school libraries.

Of the three pages I visited this evening, they had a decent amount of “likes.”  The Montclair High School Library page had 707 likes, 1,276 have been there, but no comments on any of their posts.  The page appears to have approximately one post per month with the exception of the summer.  It includes pictures of the library, articles, and memes about libraries.  This page didn’t seem to be used to it fullest.  It seemed to be there just to be there.  There was no interaction with parents or students, and very little information about upcoming literary events or events in the library.  As an avid Facebook user, I would probably look at it once, like it if I went to the school, but then never go back to the page. 

The second page I visited was for Brewer Community School Library.  This page has far less likes at 291 and only 36 have been there. It did include in its information a link to the book finder program that it uses in the library.  This page was very active with posts.  Every couple of weeks or so, a post is placed on the page.  These posts consisted of updates to what’s going on in the library, book award winners, and articles on young adult literature. My favorite thing about this Facebook page is that the librarian also used it to put book recommendations for her students to read during the summer.  I was very impressed with the organization of the page and how the library was using this outlet to reach people.  The down side to this page is that there were very little comments from users.

The last Facebook library page I perused was the page for Ann Richards School Library.  In the information on the left hand side, it included a link to the school library page. This page was also very active in its posts.  The librarian used it to request volunteers for the public library.  She posted a link to the school’s master calendar.  There were many literature/library based Facebook articles shared on the page along with favorite inspiration quotes.  The page shared pictures of the students recent trip to Washington D.C. Like the Brewer Community School page, this page is utilized very well to get information out to the public. 

After looking through these pages, I realize that there are advantages and disadvantages to maintaining a Facebook page for a school library.  The disadvantages are that it is one more item that will take time to maintain.  It will often have very little comments from visitors, which makes one wonder if anyone is even looking at the page.  Another disadvantage is the possibility of the page being misused by an administrator or a student.  However, I believe the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.  It is a forum to reach students and parents.  Many parents at an elementary school do not even know the librarian at their child’s school.  This will put a face to the person on campus that works hard to improve reading skills, literacy, and the love of reading into the children.  It’s another way to get the information out there to everyone about the wonderful things going on in the library, in the wonderful world of print, and events occurring on campus as well. Middle school and high schools can really connect with students who actually have a Facebook page.  The students may not pay attention during announcements or to notes that go home, but they will pay attention to things a librarian posts in the “Facebook world.”

I really enjoyed the page from Brewster Community School.  I have decided that I will start my own Facebook page for my newly appointed position.  It will be pretty plain at first, but I will add pictures of events from book fairs, Texas Bluebonnet book battles, book reviews, and of course what is going on at our campus.  Ultimately, I am a media specialist.  I will use as many forums and media that I can to reach students, parents, staff, and the community I live and work.  Reading is important.  The library is important.

Ireland Elementary School Library Facebook page




















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