Librarian Interview: Dubose Middle School

 I was able to reach out to another middle school librarian in my district to interview about the Engage competency and how she uses her library and programming to meet this competency. Jen Mandrell is the librarian at Dubose Middle School, and she was nice enough to speak with me during Thanksgiving break.

Dr. Mandrell said that when it comes to the Engage competency, she tries to meet this with students in a few different ways. One way is through lessons on evaluating digital resources including websites and database entries. She works with classroom teachers during their research assignments to deliver lessons to students on these important skills. Dr. Mandrell also works with her teachers to help them carefully decide on what tools students are using to create products based on their research. There has been a shift away from just PowerPoint presentations or reports to student-created products which are more real-world in nature.

When Dr. Mandrell is working with her students and teachers on research and creating their products, she uses SC DISCUS as her main source of information. She tries to steer teachers and students to DISCUS because of its reliability and the accuracy of the information housed within its databases. She appreciates the ability to find primary sources including audio and visual sources which students can easily access. She also uses sources found via DISCUS to show students the difference between high and low quality sources. Dr. Mandrell will also use eBooks which are part of her library collection to help students as well.

She often collaborates with teachers by helping them curate appropriate sources, creating library lessons for them, and most often co-teaching whenever a research unit is taking place. Dr. Mandrell says spending time with classes so that students hear about best practices from both her and the classroom teacher has been very effective. There are challenges within this competency as breaking students of the habit of "Googling" everything can prove difficult. Students also can become frustrated when searching for very specific information, and it can be hard to convince them to not give up on finding reliable information.

Dr. Mandrell urged me and other school librarians to make sure there is buy-in from teachers before trying to enforce guidelines when it comes to research best practices. She has conversations at the beginning of any research collaboration with her teachers about follow-through when it comes to expectations from students. 

Librarian Interview: Fort Dorchester High School

One of the librarians at Fort Dorchester High School is a former science teacher from my middle school. I was able to sit down with her over Thanksgiving break to speak with her about the Curate competency. Anna Musselman first started by explaining a bit more about her high school community. Fort Dorchester is the most diverse high school in our district. Ms. Musselman said they have a very large Spanish-speaking population, as well as sizeable Vietnamese and Filipino student populations, as well as some Arabic-speaking students. Ms. Musselman wanted to focus on curating her collection and adding books for her students who speak languages other English as their first language.

Ms. Musselman began by reaching out to her ESOL teacher in order to find out what the needs were in terms of languages and reading levels. She asked the ESOL teacher if she would be willing to bring her classes to the library so she could meet with the students about their wants and needs for the library. Students mentioned some books in popular series they would like to have in Spanish. Ms. Musselman has so far expanded her selection of fiction in Spanish from 68 books to 95 this school year. She has also added to her nonfiction section - i.e. a student requested a brief history of the United States in Vietnamese, and she was able to find one to add to her collection.

She has also worked to model curation and the search process to students, involving them in the process of looking at books in Titlewave and searching for reviews. Ms. Musselman and her students use Titlewave and Mackin to find the majority of titles to add to the collection. She has also used some translation software to help make sure she is ordering the right texts and to make sure she understands exactly what a student is asking to be added to the collection.

While she feels she has found some success so far, Ms. Musselman has also run into a few challenges. She said many of the popular series students want to read take a while to release their translations. She is also worried some community members or even teachers may not understand why time and money is necessary in this area in order to curate a collection which serves all students and school community members. Finding appropriate nonfiction is also trickier since Ms. Musselman does not speak a language other than English, but she has had help from students and the ESOL teacher.

Ms. Musselman feels her curation so far has been challenging but a huge learning experience. She hopes people remember librarians are buying and curating for their entire student population, not just one group or one specific student. She is working to curate a collection for the entire population.

Librarian Interview: Ashley Ridge High School

 I was able to spend a day with the librarians at Ashley Ridge High School at the beginning of November. The librarians, Jen Traeger and Lauren Spivey, work together to create a high school library program     which supports all of their students and teachers. I interviewed them about the Collaboration competency because I felt they were the perfect team to speak to this competency.

The level of collaboration visible in their library made the interview exciting and interesting. Ms. Traeger and Ms. Spivey have been working together for several years, and one of the ways they have collaborated with each other and their teachers that they are most proud of is their breakouts built for different content areas. They gained ideas about breakout boxes from attending a session at a SCASL conference one year and have not looked back. Ms. Traeger and Ms. Spivey have worked with history teachers, English teachers, and a culinary arts teacher to create breakout boxes on a variety of topics.

Ms. Traeger has also collaborated with one of the special education teachers at ARHS to do story time every few weeks for her students. Ms. Traeger works with the teacher to select picture books which connect to the content the special education teacher has been covering in class. I was able to visit on a day when story time was taking place, and it was a positive and successful experience!

Both Ms. Traeger and Ms. Spivey have also worked with the teacher cadet program at ARHS to provide materials and books, and Ms. Spivey helps collaborate with students to run a student-led book club during their lunch break. They have also begun collaborating with students and teachers to create student written book reviews to share with the school community.

While they work well together, Ms. Traeger and Ms. Spivey feel it can be challenging getting teachers to embrace using the library as another space to challenge students. Teachers often feel overwhelmed and like they lack the time to deviate from their long range plans. They are continually trying to get more teachers to collaborate with them other than the ones who already do.

They both feel collaboration is fun and worth the effort it takes to make it successful. They are glad they've been able to build positive relationships with some of their teachers in order to make these collaborations possible.

Librarian Interview: Beech Hill Elementary School

 This is the first in a series of four posts about interviews I've done with some local school librarians. Each of the librarians spoke with me about one of the six AASL competencies from the national school library standards. I am so lucky to have been able to interview these five librarians. 

My first post is highlighting the work of Jeni Nix at Beech Hill Elementary School in Summerville, SC. Ms. Nix taught 4th grade before becoming a librarian and has served as an officer for SCASL. Ms. Nix was South Carolina's School Librarian of the Year in 2020 and served as my cooperating librarian for my internship this fall. She is a wealth of experience and knowledge!

After spending time with Ms. Nix in her library over the course of 5 school days, I chose to interview her on the Include competency from the AASL standards.

When she spoke on the competency in broad terms, it was clear Ms. Nix still approaches her library planning with the mindset of a teacher. She works to include all students by using a variety of modalities within all of her library lessons. She is extremely cognizant of the differences between a 1st grader and a 4th grader, while also remembering that they are both still children. She uses movement, group discussion, music, and a variety of text genres to support student literacy. 

Ms. Nix also works to include all staff members in library planning and programming. She has strong relationships with teachers across the building. As a member of the leadership team, she is inclusive in her support of school initiatives and thinking about how the library can support these with its unique position. She also works with her teachers to be inclusive of their curriculum and to find new ways to better support the skills and standards they are teaching in their classrooms. All of this is evident when spending time in Ms. Nix's library.

Another way Ms. Nix focuses on the Include competency is by using Titlewise Analyses to analyze the library's collection in terms of diversity. She does a diversity audit at the beginning of each school year to compare the needs of her student population with the materials in her library's collection. She works to be inclusive of all languages, social needs, developmental needs, and cultural needs of her students. This is also where she sees the most challenges in meeting this competency. Ms. Nix noted that with so many challenges to materials and the uptick in talks of book banning, it is challenging as an elementary librarian to meet the needs of her students while also vetting age appropriate resources.

Technology Meets Goldilocks

 This semester has been full of relevant information and content to strengthen and support school librarians in the realm of technology. We've covered everything from digital literacy to student-produced news programs. A common theme which has run throughout the semester is my biggest takeaway:

School librarians must be willing to research, review, and explore in order to make decisions about technology and how it will impact their libraries, students, and staff. We need to work hard to get things just right!

https://gifer.com/en/BbRb

Whether it was looking at games to help students understand fake news, reviewing materials related to cyberbullying, or building out a school library website, I immediately became aware of how technology for the school library, just like technology for the classroom, is in no way a one-size-fits-all situation. Rather, school librarians should be willing to do the work to find technology and resources which are just right for their situations. Essentially, we should be working towards "Goldilocks" solutions.

I'm really excited about all new resources, research, and tools I've been exposed to this semester. The best thing about all of these is how I will be able to begin using many of them right away as I transition into the role of school librarian. This class has given me valuable tools and skills, and I'm excited to employ them. Cheers to everyone else, and good luck as you continue your school library journeys!

https://tenor.com/view/highfive-30rock-tina-fey-self-high-five-gif-14793387

Makerspaces on the Move!

 I was really excited for this week's focus on makerspaces. Currently, my school's library does not have a makerspace, but we have a lot of student interest for starting one. One of the barriers to this is the physical layout of our library - even though our school was built just four years ago, our library is much smaller than it was originally supposed to be. 

That's where a blog post from Scholastic EDU comes in (https://edublog.scholastic.com/). The post was written by Tamika Brown, School Library Journal's School Librarian of the Year for 2017. The blog post pairs up with an episode of the School Librarian's United podcast featuring Brown (https://schoollibrariansunited.libsyn.com/building-bridges-with-a-connected-makerspace). Brown goes into depth about the possibilities using a mobile makerspace can create within a school community. A lot of what she discusses in the podcast episode as well as her blog post really brought me back to Lauren Britton's article from Library Journal on makerspaces being used for creation, not just consumption. 

Brown, 2018

Britton states that "Maker space—or, more specifically, the act of making—encourages and gives people permission to tinker, hack, remake, and perhaps even change society" (2012). In Brown's blog post, she talks about the barriers present when trying to give 100% of the school population access to a makerspace - both the physical space and the experience. Giving her students the opportunity to engage in making, as Britton discusses, is a big part of why she decided to create a mobile makerspace which can meet students and teachers where they are in the building. She does mention that students are less afraid of messing up or failing in the library, as opposed to a classroom, which again matches up with how Britton explains the importance of library based makerspaces. Her enthusiasm for makerspaces is obvious - even in a less than 30 second clip Brown posted to YouTube.

In her blog post (https://edublog.scholastic.com/post/creating-mobile-classroom-makerspace-library-program), Brown goes through five important things to think about when creating a makerspace - especially a mobile one. She discusses funding, voice and choice, organization, scheduling, and vendors/wishlist. I love how a big part of these sections is related to library advocacy and how she uses social media to make sure community stakeholders are aware of how the mobile makerspaces are being used and what a difference they are making with students. The way she has thought through each component and use of the mobile makerspaces shows care and a deep understanding of how makerspaces support teachers and students. Much of her advice is also supported in the Makerspace Playbook School Edition from Make (https://makered.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Makerspace-Playbook-Feb-2013.pdf).

Recognizing how to create a mobile space which can become a pop-up makerspace in a classroom and help to replicate a library experience is something to be investigated further, especially if your physical library space does not have a ton of flexibility, like mine. I do recommend also listening to the podcast episode to hear Brown talk more about how she uses her mobile makerspaces. It and her blog post made me feel like makerspaces can be a lot more approachable with the right plan of action.

If you are interested in the idea of a mobile makerspace, Tamiko Brown has also worked with Follett to create and curate collections of mobile makerspace kits: https://www.titlewave.com/main/makerspace.

https://www.titlewave.com/main/makerspace

References:

Britton, L. (2012, October 1). The makings of maker spaces, part 1: Space for creation, not just consumption. The Digital Shift. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/10/public-services/the-makings-of-maker-spaces-part-1-space-for-creation-not-just-consumption/

Brown, T. (2018, February 1). Creating a mobile classroom makerspace library program | EDU. Scholastic EDU. Retrieved March 27, 2022, from https://edublog.scholastic.com/post/creating-mobile-classroom-makerspace-library-program

Brown, T. [Tamiko Brown]. (2018, March 3). Makerspace = student innovation [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQrDwu7O8M8

Harmon, A. (Host). (2020, January 26). Building bridges with a connected makerspace (No. 58) [Audio 

             podcast episode]. In School Librarians United. https://schoollibrariansunited.libsyn.com/building-

            bridges-with-a-connected-makerspace

Maker Media. (2013). Makerspace playbook: School edition (Spring ed.). Maker Media. https://makered.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Makerspace-Playbook-Feb-2013.pdf

Cyberbullying: Making Sure the Kids are Alright

 This week's topic is one that is obviously important, but can be easy for teachers and schools to just pay lip-service to. Based on this week's readings and resources, in particular Faucher, Cassidy, and Jackson's article, The Seven Deadly Digital Sins, and the material found on Shippensburg University's website, cyberbullying is something which is almost continually present in society and yet does not receive much focus in school curriculum.

At any of the middle school's I've worked at, cyberbully and other forms of bullying receive special attention maybe once per year. School counselors will deliver lessons infrequently to students, and there is usually an "anti-bullying day" at some point. Students and staff wear t-shirts and might sign pledges, but these actions do not become imbedded as part of the day-to-day culture of the school. They last about as long as the gif I've included below.

Do we embed cyberbullying awareness for longer than the loop on this gif?

According to Faucher, Cassidy, and Jackson, we should be looking at cyberbullying and traditional bullying not as separate but overlapping entities. Cyberbullying is often a continuation of traditional bullying when students are not on campus or adults are not at their workplace. According to Cassidy et al., more than a third of students reported being victims of cyberbullying and almost that number reported being the perpetrators. I have a suspicion that these numbers have either increased since the study was done in 2012 and/or are underreported by those involved. As shown in the first video featured cyberbullying.org, the cyberbullying was happening for quite some time before adults were involved. The student, Joe, was even asked by a teacher if everything was alright. It took more time after the teacher approached Joe before he reached out to his mother.

In order to both educate and create a space where students both feel comfortable coming forward and understand the seriousness of cyberbullying's impacts, educators need to incorporate digital citizenship into all levels and areas of instruction. No more quick school counselor lessons as a one-off, no more once a year pledges, but a true embrace of instruction and community building.

Digital Citizenship Curriculum

I really like the curriculum found on Common Sense Media. I have used several of their lessons before, and I appreciate that they involve videos, graphic organizers, and full lessons for those who are not as comfortable developing their own. I think these provide a great starting point for a staff looking to develop a school-wide curriculum.

Full lessons are available by grade level, as well as quicker mini-lessons which could be used to start discussions or at the beginning of classes. The site also includes games to practice decision making related to digital citizenship for grades 3-5 and 6-8. For grades 6-8, the game is called Digital Compass and is set up like a choose your own adventure game.

Start Page for Digital Compass Game

If a school sat down with its leadership team, they could use the content provided on Common Sense Media to develop a school-wide plan for discussing digital citizenship. I think cyberbullying should not be treated as a stand-alone issue, but it should be taught in connection with all of the other skills students need to safely navigate the 21st century.

Library Sponsored Project

Another idea I have is related to creating more empathy among students. I think the more we can develop empathy, the more a student will pause before clicking send on a post or text which cyberbullies another. This idea is inspired by the project created by Brandon Stanton. In 2010, Stanton started a photography project where he wanted to document 10,000 New Yorkers. This project morphed into something much more and has grown from an Instagram account into a website and several books.

Humans of New York Website Banner

All of the individuals and stories featured on Stanton's feed and website are not necessarily appropriate for all ages of students, but I believe there are stories present which would be appropriate for grades 6 and up, and possibly upper elementary depending on the student population.

Through these photo-essays, Stanton helps his readers see each person as just that - another person with struggles, triumphs, and human feelings. What is extraordinary about each of the people featured is that their stories are ordinary as well. The photographs and captions help to remind us of the universal truth that all people are facing their own struggles, and that all people have some gift to share with or give to others.

As school librarians, we will have the ability to interact with every student and staff member at our schools. How amazing would it be to use our platforms to share about the humans present within our buildings? Certainly not everyone would be interested in participating - some people and students are very private, and that should be respected. However, for those willing to share, using the library as a posting space and organizer for their real-life stories could be an amazing way to remind the school community of the extraordinary ordinary present. This could build student and staff empathy and combined with authentic, frequent digital citizenship lessons could encourage students to reexamine their actions or become "upstanders" when they witness any type of bullying taking place. 

References:

Childnet International. (2008, May 3). Let’s fight it together [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dubA2vhIlrg

Common Sense Media. (2022, February 10). Digital compass for educator. Common Sense Education. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-compass

Faucher, C., Cassidy, W., & Jackson, M. (2015). From the sandbox to the inbox: Comparing the acts, impacts, and solutions of bullying in k-12, higher education, and the workplace. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 3(6). https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v3i6.1033

Stanton, B. (n.d.). humansofnewyork. Humans of New York. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://www.humansofnewyork.com/about

Stephens, R. (2020, December 4). How adolescents cope with digital stress - the journalist's resource. The Journalist’s Resource. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://journalistsresource.org/health/adolescents-cope-digital-stress/

School Library Social Media: I Did It for the Gram

 I was really excited to see this week's blog topic - I am definitely one of those people who has a love of social media, and I have I have found it useful in so many areas of my life! I understand the negative effects, but for me it has been instrumental in building my PLN, curating new ideas, and finding the best 30 minute meal recipes.

Which Social Media Platform?

Dr. Green's presentation and this week's readings confirmed what I already suspected, which is that I want to use Instagram as the social media platform for my future middle school library. Jensen's article makes the important point of students not using or gaining anything from having to use a social media platform they don't already connect with. My middle grades students (and their parents) both still use Instagram the most out of the four social media platforms we were able to choose from. TikTok is certainly starting to take over for videos, but students are still using Instagram for pictures and will connect with posts on it much more than they would on Facebook or Twitter.

Finsta for Now

I am currently a classroom teacher and will be transitioning into the role of school librarian next school year. Unfortunately, I can't apply to our district public media office for permission to use Instagram to promote the school library until then. Instead, I have created a fake school which has the same mascot and school colors as my current school. This way, I might be able to transfer over images and posts I create which are still relevant. My hypothetical school is RH Middle School (RHMS), and their mascot is the knight. I created a Finsta (fake instagram) for this school and currently have two posts.

I used Canva to make my profile image and both of my current posts. I already use Canva with my students and for creating classroom content, and I find the program both fun and easy to use. I have started with two posts to highlight the newest list of South Carolina Junior Book Awards (SCJBA) Nominees. Each year a board of librarians, teachers, and students nominates twenty middle grades books for this award. School libraries encourage students to read at least three books of the twenty, and then students are able to vote for their favorite. These votes go towards helping to select the overall winner, which is announced at SCASL's annual conference.

RHMS Instagram Profile

Post #1

Post #1

For post #2 I tried out Canva's animation abilities to create a short video post for my account, and I am really happy with how it turned out and how quickly I was able to create it. The video post is below:

How Will Instagram Be Used?

My Instagram account will be used in three different ways to support what is happening within the school library: instruction and collaboration, communication, advocacy.

Instruction & Collaboration

I would love to create posts which highlight what students are learning and creating related to literacy and inquiry. I would post photos of students at work and finished products of the things they create using library lessons and resources. Partnering with classroom teachers would also be key to this area. I would also make short videos reminding students about topics related to digital literacy and digital citizenship.

Communication

I would use Instagram to post about and promote library programming such as book clubs, makerspace activities, new additions, other reader's advisory related information. Humans, and especially tweens and teens, are very visually focused, so posting images of amazing new book covers, digital flyers for programming, etc. would be really helpful for communicating with students and their adults.

Advocacy

I firmly believe students should be allowed to self-select books from the library to read. I would use Instagram to advocate for the benefits of reading a variety of genres, included graphic novels which some teachers and parents still view as being lesser than other genres. I would also advocate for a censorship-free space and students' first amendment rights by posting information during Banned Books Week, Read Across America Week, and throughout the year to promote the library's responsibility to serve all students who access the space. Lastly, I would advocate for students' ability to use the library space for tinkering, collaborating, and creating as part of my programming. I would highlight how the library is a space for more than just books or reading, and how it benefits the school as a whole when students are learning how to collaborate, inquire, and create.

References:

Jensen, L. J. (2019). Integrating social media into online education. Library Technology Reports, 55(4), 27–30.

Wetta, M. (2016). Instagram now: Engage young users with the image-based social media tool. School Library Journal, February, 30–32.

Checking Out Tech: Reader Mode Activated

 Making sure all students have the ability to access content and class materials is of utmost importance. It is personal for me because of a few friends and family members who experience a range of accessibility issues. I was excited to do some exploring this week to find a tool which would be applicable to disabled students and show people how easy it is to make education more inclusive for everyone!

 After some digging and exploring, I am choosing to share about a Chrome extension instead of a specific program or other tool. 

There are a few reasons I've chosen an extension:

1. Most schools use Chrome as their browser of choice even if the district is not a Google district (I know my district uses Chrome even though we are a Microsoft for EDU district).
2. Chrome extensions are usually free or at least have free versions a person could use before deciding to pay for a higher level extension.
3. Chrome extensions are easy to add to Chrome, and easy to use while completing web navigation.

The Chrome extension is called Reader Mode and can be found here: https://readermode.io/ Their site provides the link to the extension in the Chrome Webstore, as well as a comparison between the Free, Pro, and Premium versions of the extension.

This extension provides a one click way to take a cluttered webpage and turn it into just the text and images which should be the focus of the page. The extension allows the user to change the font, size, spacing, background color, and other options to make the information more accessible. This extension also includes a text-to-speech feature with speed control.

Here is an example of an NPR article in its normal mode:

Here is that same NPR article after Reader Mode has been activated:

One more example using and especially cluttered local news site:

The obvious use for this extension would be for students, faculty, and staff who are visually impaired. My middle school students spend a lot of time doing research across the internet, so when they are not in a database like Gale, this extension would allow any students who are visually impaired to get rid of the clutter on sites and even use text-to-speech if necessary. However, this extension could also benefit students with dyslexia, students with ADD or ADHD, or students who have sensory issues and feel overwhelmed by the ads and sidebars of the average website.

Some districts allow students to add extensions to Chrome themselves, while others push through these additions from their technology support teams. If that is the case, I think sending a brief explanation, as well as the link to Reader Mode's website would be enough to convince most educational technology offices to add this extension to student devices.

Checking Out Tech: Want to Go On a Quest?

 Your Quest, Should You Choose to Accept It

My school has a set of Oculus Quest VR headsets a former Instructional Technology Coach was able to procure for us through a grant. The sad thing is, no one uses them! Perhaps people are intimidated, worried about students breaking them, or have simply forgotten they are there - hiding in the dark of the AV room. The quest today is to learn more about the Oculus Quest and how it could easily be used to take your students on quests of their own.

Source: https://tenor.com/view/onward-quest-brothers-adventure-lets-go-gif-17695113

What is the Oculus Quest?

The Oculus Quest is a VR headset which allows the user to experience a variety of virtual reality situations, simulations, and games. The Quest is an all-in-one unit which does not need a cellphone or computer in order to operate. There are even some apps which, once installed, do not need an internet connection to run. The Quest consists of the headset and two hand-held controllers. The battery is easily charged via USB cable. The only drawback to classroom usage is the space needed to safely use the Quest. Users set up a virtual Guardian, which is basically an area free of obstacles or other people. Ideally, teachers would only have a few student users at a time and they would have a space free of desks, chairs, etc. for students to set up their Guardians. An unused lab, gym, cafeteria, or black box would be the best possible locations within the school building.

Oculus Quest

Quest Uses Based on the RAT Model

RAT stands for Replacement, Augmentation, and Transformation and can be used to plan and assess the implementation of technology within the classroom. Below are some instructional uses for the Oculus Quest based on this model.

Replacement

To be honest, with the level of technology used in any VR headset, it is almost difficult to just use the headset as replacement for a typical, non-digital lesson or activity within the classroom. However, some potential ideas involving using the Quest to allow students to view videos related to content which they would normally view as a whole class. Using YouTube's VR app, you can view videos hosted on YouTube. 

Amplification

This next level of implementation is where things get fun. There are a wide variety of apps and experiences available on the Quest which can amplify experiences in a variety of content areas. The sky is truly the limit (along with your app purchasing budget). One more obvious example is to use the Quest to take VR field trips. Content creators such as National Geographic, Atlas Obscura and the Smithsonian all have apps available to take users all over the world. Students can explore museums, landmarks, and natural wonders in VR from wherever your classroom is located. Because of the VR nature of these experiences, students are immersed in the location in a way far above watching a video or exploring the location on something like Google Earth. There are also apps created by individual entities - students can explore the Anne Frank House Museum in Amsterdam, the International Space Station, or even Chernobyl - all in VR from the classroom. 

With the impacts of Covid and the sheer cost of out-of-state field trips, these VR field trip possibilities augment what a teacher could normally present from the classroom with readings, pictures, videos, and maps. 

VR Field Trip Apps

Another example of using VR to amplify student experiences is by using one of the language learning apps. Students are able to hear, see, and then speak a variety of languages in a VR environment. This is basically like DuoLingo placed in a more real world setting with more immediate and realistic feedback.

Transformation

The real power of a VR headset like the Oculus Quest comes in the ability to completely transform student experiences through a variety of VR simulation apps. These simulations are applicable to a variety of content areas from science (human body simulation which allows students to cut through skin tissue or dissect a human heart) to physical education (students can play and participate in a variety of sports i.e. table tennis or even practice physical agility and rhythm through apps like Beat Saber) to communications and business in apps which simulate speech giving or working in the food and beverage industry.

Because of the immersive experiences these apps can provide, student experiences are transformed into something as close to reality as possible without the difficulties setting up a real-world simulation would create. Students from upper elementary and onward can have transformative experiences across a wide range of subject areas. 

For a better visual idea of some of the potential experiences available through the Oculus Quest, check out the YouTube video below:

Quest Difficulties

Many teachers who have not experienced VR for themselves may feel intimidated or exhausted just thinking about introducing these to students and working through the potential technical difficulties which could occur. However, if your school has been able to find funding to purchase any VR headset, it is well worth the time and effort to get these onto the heads of your students. Paid apps do present another funding expense, but many of the educational apps are free or $5.00 and under. The experiences these apps allow is well worth the time and expense.

To help with ideas and difficulties, I will link a few sites and blog posts below which I have found valuable during my VR exploration.

Oculus Education Experiences - This is Oculus' curated app section with apps geared toward a variety of educational content areas.

EdTech Magazine Article - This article is not specifically about the Oculus Quest, but presents information on the use of VR/AR within classrooms and how these devices to help students from critical thinking to soft skills.

Oculus VR for Good - Oculus' site which has a variety of blog-style posts about the uses of VR in education and stories behind specifics apps.

ISTE AR & VR in the Classroom - This article from ISTE discusses the use of AR and VR in the classroom with a linked video on using AR with autistic students. A list of links to many different AR and VR resources is included after the brief article.

I hope you find these ideas and resources helpful! VR does have a bit of a learning curve, but the I think the time and energy invested is well worth it when teachers and students see the variety of experiences and resources made available through this technology.

References:

BMF Show [BMFVR]. (2020, March 26). Oculus quest educational games | learning in VR [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uot5AAAcVIk

Hughes, J. E. (2019, December 9). R.A.T. model. Dr. Joan E. Hughes | TechEdges | Technology Integration Research. Retrieved February 13, 2022, from https://techedges.org/r-a-t-model/

Checking Out Tech: Google Arts & Culture Experiments

 After talking standards and information literacy the past two weeks, let's jump into looking at a tech tool that gives us an opportunity to connect many of these pieces together!

I currently work at a school of the arts which serves students who are gifted in a variety of artistic areas. Each student has a core art which is the main reason for their attendance, and they treat these courses just as seriously as their academic courses. Our fine arts teachers are always searching for new ways to incorporate both technology and higher level thinking into their arts-based instruction. Ideally, the school librarian would be a support to them just as much as to the academic teachers within our building. 

Post of Inspiration

Image source: http://education-forum.ca/2018/11/20/www-cultofpedagogy-com/

I often check in on the Cult of Pedagogy site to see if there is a post which is of interest or a podcast episode which connects to something I want or need to know more about. One of the recent posts was one of the posts popular on tech related sites which basically list several new tech tools with a brief write up about each one. Sometimes these posts are helpful, and sometimes they feel like the same "best of" round up which can be found on many other sites. 

6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2022

Knowing my fine arts teachers are extremely open to integrating more technology and collaboration into their curriculum, the second entry on the post caught my eye. It is about a newer area of Google called Experiments, and there is an entire subsection devoted to Google's Arts & Culture Lab. This is a space where coders can submit different experiments in programming for the public to access. There is certainly a lot to explore within Experiments, even after visiting the Arts & Culture subsection, but I found two Experiments which have a lot of potential for fine arts teachers to incorporate into their classrooms.

Calling All Fine Arts Teachers!

Have you been looking for an easy and approachable way to incorporate more technology into your classes? Are you also a fan of experimenting with arts, music, and collaboration? If so, I have two potential experiments for you to introduce to your class. Both take minimal prep, no extra logins, and will have your students learning and collaborating about the amazing experiences art and music bring us. Keep reading to check out this tech!

Experiment #1 - Puzzle Party

This experiment, found here: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/puzzle-party takes Google's Arts & Culture catalog and transforms the works into collaborative jigsaw puzzles. Users can decide on the complexity of puzzle via the number of pieces and then invite an unlimited number of users to collaborate in solving. 

Kehinde Wiley's Portrait of President Obama in Puzzle Party

Each puzzle's work of art is linked to information about the history of the work of art, artist, medium, and current location. While students could certainly just used this as a brain break or activity as they finish other work, a fine arts teacher could also use this as a collaborative activity within a study about a specific piece, artist, or movement. Students would easily have access to an activity where they have to closely read a piece of art in order to put the jigsaw together. They also have access to reliable and accurate information about the artwork through Google Arts & Culture - including interacting with the artwork in AR and exploring the work's time period.

Source: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/kgGqONkp0JVsCA

Ultimately, a teacher could plan a collaborative research assignment solely based on a piece of art students choose to put together in Puzzle Party. As a side note, if anyone wants to collaborate to put Obama's official portrait back together, you can join me here: https://g.co/arts/afHzsrCKqhz47g2a9

Experiment #2 - Assisted Melody

This experiment can be found here: https://experiments.withgoogle.com/assisted-melody and introduces students to the distinct musical styles and a brief history of three classical composers (Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven). Students view information about the composer and then place notes on a staff to compose their own melody. Once they are done, they can click the "Harmonize" button and the code works to create a full harmony with the student-composed melody. Students can then play the harmony in a few different modern instruments and share it with others. 

A music, piano, strings, or band teacher could incorporate this Experiment to teach musical history, melody, harmony, and show students in a fun way how the instrument playing a piece affects its sound. Students could also collaborate to create a melody or work off of a 4-5 note stem the teacher gives them to see how many different melodies can be created. 

Here is my attempt - please don't judge me, I love music, but I have not taken piano since senior year of high school! 

Ann's Melodic Attempt 

Wrapping Up the Check Out

I hope you have the time to explore these two Experiments or any of the others offered through Google's site. These could certainly show teachers and students that code and coding can be used in a variety of ways - even to help us better understand arts and culture!

References:

Gonzalez, J. (2022, January 18). 6 ed tech tools to try in 2022. Cult of Pedagogy. Retrieved February 2, 2022, from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/edtech2022/

Knowing is Half the Battle

 If you are a child of the 80s or early 90s, you might remember the famous G.I Joe line, "Now you know. And knowing is half the battle." 

After taking in all of this week's resources, I think for our 21st century students, knowing is really only a quarter of the battle. Gone are the days when it was "easy" to decide if the information you were accessing was accurate. The trade off we've made with having massive amounts of information at our fingertips is that we have to sift and sort through potential rubbish in order to get to the information of real value.

As the use and availability of technology has grown at an exponential rate, so too has the importance of developing information literacy skills with our students. Looking over the P21 Frameworks and explanations, I started thinking about how society and even educators' understanding of the word literacy needs to shift. In example, my school is planning a literacy night for February but the only teachers participating and leading the activities are the ELA teachers. It is going to coincide with our book fair, and the idea of "literacy" only mattering or connecting with the English content area is what this event is portraying. While the Oxford English Dictionary's first definition of literacy is "the ability to read and write," I think we need to bring more attention to the second definition, "competence or knowledge in a specified area." Students in the 21st century must have competence or knowledge in many areas and without the ability to parse through what information is worth knowing, true literacy cannot be achieved.

The ideas surrounding how to teach and expose students to fake news, living in a post-truth world, fact checking, and their own information diets was helpful and overwhelming at the same time. I think one of the best starting tips was from Joyce Valenza's School Library Journal article, "Truth, truthiness, and triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a post-truth world." Valenza mentions some teachers' usage of "hoaky hoax sites" to teach about assessing online information and its validity. I was one of those teachers who used to use these sites to help my students begin to think about how to parse through the information they're accessing online. I'm sure most people have seen the site on the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus (https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/), and this is just one example of what Valenza is referencing. 

Before analyzing the P21 Frameworks, listening to The Liturgists podcast, and reading Valenza's article, I probably wouldn't have felt bad about defending the use of these "hoaky hoax sites." They're funny, and they help create a dialogue. However, if we are going to help students approach information literacy and fact checking seriously, with the intent of producing more literate and intelligent citizens who will help create a safer, more equitable world, we need to use sites, lessons, and activities which match the importance and seriousness of these goals. 

We also need to model our own attempts at information literacy and what type of information diet we, as school librarians, have. I tend to stick to mainstream news sources i.e. NPR for the majority of my national and international news. I use social media to gain information as well, but I have tried to work carefully and diligently to follow a variety of people who are experts in their fields and who are in the habit of backing up any information they share with the original source or study. This has taken time and effort on my part, and I think we need to model this for students. Finding and deciding what to believe takes effort!

Showing students how to use Common Sense Media for information on the books or movies they want to access has been really helpful, as have their Digital Literacy Lessons - many of which we have used as a grade level at my school. Introducing students to games like Facticious or sites like University of California Santa Barbara's Center for Information Technology and Society and their analysis of fact checkers are places to start. I really like the chart the CITS made regarding the most popular fact checkers:

Image source: https://www.cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/protecting-ourselves-fact

Modeling academic research and everyday news browsing should also be parts of this process. These could include reminding students to check multiple sources to back up information for both research projects and news about celebrities and encouraging students to use search engines like Duck Duck Go or Qwant instead of Google to avoid getting stuck in echo-chamber like environments because of algorithms. 

Finally, I love what John Green discusses in his Crash Course video on Fact Checking. We need to encourage students to be critical, curious, and skeptical of the information they hear and see while explaining the dangers of becoming cynical and assuming all information is false (10:17 into the video).

 

We can only do this by continuing to help them analyze their own information diets and the biases we all have and need to recognize in the information we come across daily. A challenge, but a challenge I think we are all up to!

References:

CrashCourse. (2019, January 15). The facts about fact checking: Crash course navigating digital information #2 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZsaA0w_0z0

Protecting ourselves from fake news: Fact-Checkers and their. (n.d.). UCSB CITS. Retrieved January 29, 2022, from https://www.cits.ucsb.edu/fake-news/protecting-ourselves-fact

Valenza, J. (2017, December 20). Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a “post-truth” world. School Library Journal. Retrieved January 29, 2022, from https://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2016/11/26/truth-truthiness-triangulation-and-the-librarian-way-a-news-literacy-toolkit-for-a-post-truth-world/

Stop, Collaborate, and Listen: How the AASL and ISTE Standards Work Together

 If you are already living in the world of education, standards and their frameworks are nothing new. Each content area and level uses these to guide and plan instruction. However, many educators are not aware of the important standards which also exist to help guide the relationship between school librarians, school libraries, and learners. Before reading the May/June 2019 issue of Knowledge Quest, I know I was not familiar with these standards, but I was familiar with the ISTE standards. Having this familiarity, I really enjoyed and connected with the article "Collaborating to Communicate: Librarian Reading Groups and Understanding Standards" by Courtney L. Lewis. The way in which she discusses librarian reading groups, and how they have worked together to unpack and create a strong plan for implementing these new standards was insightful and helpful as a soon-to-be school librarian. The way she focuses on the strength found in collaboration reminded me of the way the AASL standards and ISTE standards can collaborate with each other, and just as importantly, the way in which school librarians must collaborate with all learners and stakeholders to best implement both of these sets of standards.

Overall, I feel there are more similarities than differences between the AASL and ISTE standards. I think a large part of this is probably due to the AASL standards being reorganized and using updated language in comparison to the standards which were in place before. In one of the Explainer Videos, they mentioned updating the band language so that it was aligned more closely with the inquiry method, which is a currently a large part of the expectations for learners.

For example, here is a brief screen recording of the AASL and ISTE Crosswalk which better demonstrates how these standards collaborate with one another (please excuse the background noise - my daughter's school is currently virtual):

All of this to say, when looking through, standard by standard and band by band, the similarities and connections between these two sets of standards are not difficult to identify or imagine working in a real school library space. Yes, there are certainly differences, and necessarily so. The ISTE standards were created to provide a more intentional guide for how students, educators, and leaders are using and implementing technology. Is technology being used to empower students? Are students and educators better able to create and collaborate because of technology? To me, these are the questions the ISTE standards bring focus to. The AASL standards connect to these questions, but using a different lens. The school library is a space which does use and implement technology, but is is also a space which supports learners in other ways. Not every AASL standard has an ISTE counterpart because the school library, librarians, and learners use technology as just a piece of how they are developing into 21st century learners and leaders. 

Now, back to this idea of collaboration and its importance. Not all educators or educational leaders may understand the collaborative nature between these sets of standards right way. It is necessary moving forward for school librarians to take on a leadership role within their schools to promote education about these standards and to promote collaboration between all school stakeholders. In some areas, the school library is still seen as a room with books, and the school librarians is not utilized by educators or learners to the fullest extent. Both the AASL and ISTE standards make it clear that without collaboration between all members, the high expectations set forth cannot be reached. 

In my final thought, I think a great place to start this conversation about collaboration (both between these standards and all stakeholders) is to remind educators of the additional roles and supports school librarians now play. One of the easiest ways to start this is centered around the inquiry method. Inquiry is applicable to all levels and content areas, and most importantly it is fun! Below is a graphic created by Trevor Mackenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt about how school librarians can support inquiry. I will also provide the link to the entire article by Trevor Mackenzie in my references section for anyone who is interested in reading it - I think it would make a great conversation and collaboration starter to share with other educators.

References:

American Association of School Librarians. (2021, March 9). Crosswalks. National School Library Standards. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from https://standards.aasl.org/project/crosswalks/

Lewis, C. L. (2019). Collaborating to communicate: School librarian reading groups and understanding standards. Knowledge Quest, 47(5), 36–43.

Mackenzie, T. (2019, April 22). How your Teacher-Librarian can be an ally when teaching with inquiry. KQED. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/53417/how-your-teacher-librarian-can-be-an-ally-when-teaching-with-inquiry

Welcome to Checking Out Tech!

Over the course of this semester I will be using this blog to explore and elaborate on ways in which technology is being used and implemented in a school library setting. Check back soon for my first post!