Doug Johnson posted his "top 72" list of school library thought leaders (or list of 72-people-I-can-think-of-at-the-moment), and I weighed in at number 38, though since I come before Joyce Valenza, there is no way I think that order means anything. I mean, I have an ego the size of the LOC, but come on, I have some grasp on reality and the general level of my influence!
Thus, while I am honored and flattered even to be mentioned in the same post as the great Joyce, Buffy and others, I see it as a call-to-action, something to endeavor to live up to, rather than an indication of my actual significance.
Since the Big Move, my posts (and thinking) have been somewhat perfunctory--mostly because my waking thoughts tend to be consumed with homesickness, to be honest. So much for the grand adventurer! However, if I may mix my metaphors, Doug's post served as a wake-up call, reminded me I have a serious job to do for the school, that I really do want to build this blog into something, if not cutting edge, at least heading in that direction, and I better stop wallowing in my self-pity and get cracking!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
If you Build It, They Will Come....
...but it takes a lot of work.
I had a shocker the other day when a teacher brought a group of students in to search for a specific type of information. I offered to give them a quick lesson on ways to find the information more easily, and the teacher turned me down, because s/he though they should figure it out for themselves. I must say, I was surprised into a (for me) unusual silence.
I'd been at my previous school long enough, and embedded myself deeply enough into the program, that I'd forgotten I had to train the faculty as much (or more) as I had to train the students. When faculty are not used to having an LMS to rely upon, they learn to do for themselves, and may even resist offers of assistance because
1) their system works
2) they don't realize it could work better
3) they hold a mistaken belief that students (aka digital natives) intuitively understand how to work online, and
4) quite honestly, they have limited knowledge of what is actually available for use
When facing these teachers, I have to squelch my own gut instincts (usually less than tactful), bite my tongue and take the longer view, realizing I can't convert everyone in a day. This post is my "plan of attack" brainstorm for the first semester.
1) Quick, weekly tech workshops for faculty. I'm keeping these very simple at first, as it's all too easy to feel overwhelmed with options. First up, a tried-and-true lesson on search skills, followed by lessons on Google Sites for classroom websites, VoiceThread, ToonDoo, wikis and collaboration. I created a sign up sheet with the Forms in Google Docs, and general feedback has been very positive. I tried for a good mixture of fun and functional.
2) Our school is IB, which builds in extensive, individual research projects in 10th and 12th grades (more or less). I will meet with the two coordinators for this next week, get their ideas on where the current program needs work, then offer some suggestions for building a solid culture of research. I'll blog more about this early next week; I'm going to put together a plan this weekend. As I work with the students, it will trickle into their classes, as they grow to expect tools and methods to be available to them, and as they learn the skills themselves.
3) Focus on specific teachers, build a collaborative rapport with them and help them (and their students) be successful. Word of mouth is always one of the best forms of advocacy, and nothing promotes the media center's general "indispensability" than playing an integral role in a successful lesson. Of course this means finding teachers who are open to trying something new--look for teachers who are new to the school or to teaching, as they are less engrained into a pattern and their "usual" way of doing things. Hang out in the staff room during lunch to hear what people are doing. I planted some of my best seeds here, as people talked about what was going on in their classrooms, or what units they were planning.
4) Watch your attitude. This is my biggest problem---it's all too easy for me to come across as a know-it-all tech evangelist here to show you a new and better way, and woe to any who resist! "What do you mean you don't want to use the library, you neanderthal??" Modesty is everything, and remember the ALA mantra: Lead from the middle. I tell both teachers and students "My job is to make your job easier" and try to keep that in the front of all I do, with the full awareness that I have huge gaps in my own knowledge, and much to learn myself. A certain humility makes you more approachable, and compassionate. I always treasured the comment from a teacher that "you teach like you're one of us." Well, I am......we are.
5) Not that any of us need more committees, but.... Start a library committee; in fact, start two. I haven't done this before, but this year I will initiate a formal advisory board consisting of representatives from each division (primary, middle, secondary), a parent and two students (middle, secondary). I will also have a more informal student advisory group, both for ideas on making the library more user friendly, as well as for advocacy among students.
I had a shocker the other day when a teacher brought a group of students in to search for a specific type of information. I offered to give them a quick lesson on ways to find the information more easily, and the teacher turned me down, because s/he though they should figure it out for themselves. I must say, I was surprised into a (for me) unusual silence.
I'd been at my previous school long enough, and embedded myself deeply enough into the program, that I'd forgotten I had to train the faculty as much (or more) as I had to train the students. When faculty are not used to having an LMS to rely upon, they learn to do for themselves, and may even resist offers of assistance because
1) their system works
2) they don't realize it could work better
3) they hold a mistaken belief that students (aka digital natives) intuitively understand how to work online, and
4) quite honestly, they have limited knowledge of what is actually available for use
When facing these teachers, I have to squelch my own gut instincts (usually less than tactful), bite my tongue and take the longer view, realizing I can't convert everyone in a day. This post is my "plan of attack" brainstorm for the first semester.
1) Quick, weekly tech workshops for faculty. I'm keeping these very simple at first, as it's all too easy to feel overwhelmed with options. First up, a tried-and-true lesson on search skills, followed by lessons on Google Sites for classroom websites, VoiceThread, ToonDoo, wikis and collaboration. I created a sign up sheet with the Forms in Google Docs, and general feedback has been very positive. I tried for a good mixture of fun and functional.
2) Our school is IB, which builds in extensive, individual research projects in 10th and 12th grades (more or less). I will meet with the two coordinators for this next week, get their ideas on where the current program needs work, then offer some suggestions for building a solid culture of research. I'll blog more about this early next week; I'm going to put together a plan this weekend. As I work with the students, it will trickle into their classes, as they grow to expect tools and methods to be available to them, and as they learn the skills themselves.
3) Focus on specific teachers, build a collaborative rapport with them and help them (and their students) be successful. Word of mouth is always one of the best forms of advocacy, and nothing promotes the media center's general "indispensability" than playing an integral role in a successful lesson. Of course this means finding teachers who are open to trying something new--look for teachers who are new to the school or to teaching, as they are less engrained into a pattern and their "usual" way of doing things. Hang out in the staff room during lunch to hear what people are doing. I planted some of my best seeds here, as people talked about what was going on in their classrooms, or what units they were planning.
4) Watch your attitude. This is my biggest problem---it's all too easy for me to come across as a know-it-all tech evangelist here to show you a new and better way, and woe to any who resist! "What do you mean you don't want to use the library, you neanderthal??" Modesty is everything, and remember the ALA mantra: Lead from the middle. I tell both teachers and students "My job is to make your job easier" and try to keep that in the front of all I do, with the full awareness that I have huge gaps in my own knowledge, and much to learn myself. A certain humility makes you more approachable, and compassionate. I always treasured the comment from a teacher that "you teach like you're one of us." Well, I am......we are.
5) Not that any of us need more committees, but.... Start a library committee; in fact, start two. I haven't done this before, but this year I will initiate a formal advisory board consisting of representatives from each division (primary, middle, secondary), a parent and two students (middle, secondary). I will also have a more informal student advisory group, both for ideas on making the library more user friendly, as well as for advocacy among students.
SmileBox: Free Teachers' Toolbox
SmileBox, a fun photo/scrapbooking service, is accepting applications for the Teachers' Toolbox program. Similar to Glogster in that SmileBox allows users to add photos, text and videos onto an editable background, SmileBox avoids some of Glogster's online problems because it's a downloadable program that works on your hard drive. So, no worries about inappropriate content posted by other users.According to their announcement, "Our premium service gives you unlimited access to more than 900 Smilebox designs. You can also choose from hundreds of music options or add your own music, email and blog your creations full screen without ads, burn a DVD, and print any page at school, home or at a local retail store. We add new designs each week to keep you supplied with fresh ideas for every holiday, season and special event."
Friday, August 27, 2010
Shakespeare, Visualized
Your English teachers will love this as a very concrete way of talking about language and diction in Shakespeare's plays.As part of his B.A. thesis, Stephen Thiel charted the language in Shakespeare's plays in various ways: by character, by soliloquies, by scene, etc.
BioDiversity
An excellent film from the Vancouver Film School. Of 80,000 edible plants, humans only use about 30 to make up most of the calories in our diet, and only 14 animal species. Kind of scary to think what would happen to us should something wipe out any of those. Good fodder (no pun intended!) for class discussions.
Biodiversity - Vancouver Film School from Vancouver Film School on Vimeo.
Biodiversity - Vancouver Film School from Vancouver Film School on Vimeo.
Free Lesson On Gulf Oil Disaster
The excellent Choices program out of Brown University is offering this free lesson on the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill.
Using political cartoons and articles from CNN, Al-Jazeera and other news agencies, the one-day lesson plan includes a handout on analyzing cartoons, along with a Power Point presentation to guide students in considering "issues raised by the 2010 oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico including impact, accountability, U.S. oil dependency, and energy policy."
Using political cartoons and articles from CNN, Al-Jazeera and other news agencies, the one-day lesson plan includes a handout on analyzing cartoons, along with a Power Point presentation to guide students in considering "issues raised by the 2010 oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico including impact, accountability, U.S. oil dependency, and energy policy."
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Google Launches Real Time Search Engine
Yesterday/today (this international date line thing is really confusing me!) Google launched a dedicated real-time search engine, for an up-to-the-nanosecond look at news, events and reactions.
I'm a bit torn on real-time searches, since the bulk of it consists of tweets and Facebook posts; most people aren't that insightful in 140 characters. Nevertheless, they do have their place in following events and both the media and popular responses to those events.
What makes the search engine different from the embedded feeds Google launched last fall in its regular search engine are the tools you can use to refine your search.
First, you can sort by location. This is great for garnering non-U.S. reactions and opinions. A search of Iraq troops, limited to Beirut produced 3 tweets (the low number is interesting--it might be a time-difference thing between Mongolia and the Middle East). One was a re-tweet of a CNN post and the other a comment on the "anti-Muslim hysteria sweeping the United States" as a possible sign of impending US attack on Iraq. Certainly fodder for discussion in any issues or policy oriented class.
You can also limit searches to news, images, video, books, etc. One especially neat feature, if you click on the "more" button, is the ability to follow threaded discussions.
Here's the official Google "how to."
I'm a bit torn on real-time searches, since the bulk of it consists of tweets and Facebook posts; most people aren't that insightful in 140 characters. Nevertheless, they do have their place in following events and both the media and popular responses to those events.
What makes the search engine different from the embedded feeds Google launched last fall in its regular search engine are the tools you can use to refine your search.
You can also limit searches to news, images, video, books, etc. One especially neat feature, if you click on the "more" button, is the ability to follow threaded discussions.
Here's the official Google "how to."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)