School Librarians and the Power of Blogging

  Blogging in education is still a relatively new topic. More and more people in education are creating blogs and posting ideas, sharing lesson plans, etc. However, blogging actually in school, not related to professional development is still  a relatively new concept. While some schools are trying it, there are still a majority of schools that wouldn't even consider blogging. But blogging is something schools should consider. Blogging is a magnificent way to share thoughts and get responses.

 For example,  as a school librarian I would most create a blog that links to the library website. This blog would be for teachers, faculty, administrators, students, and parents. With this blog I would to post information relative to the library, perhaps there is a new shipment of books just in or the library is hosting an after-school inventor's club. I would also blog about student achievements or events happening in the library as well as any new additions or changes to the library. Now this sounds like something that could be accomplished by sending out a newsletter or an email. This is true, however; one of the best things about blogging is that a blog can get responses and comments and these comments are not just seen by the blogger, but anyone who views the blog. So perhaps I write a blog post about a second grade class who made their own stories using Story bird. Now a parent reading the blog about their child's class may want to comment about how awesome the stories were. Or an administrator reading the blog may comment that the library should have a story week where all students create stories. This is not something that could happen with a newsletter. While some people may have sent an email to the library in response to the newsletter, this email would not have been visible to anyone else but the librarian. With blogs responses can be viewed by all.

                The ability to get a response is one of the reasons why I think blogging should be encouraged not only for librarians, but for students as well. If, as an adult, I can get really excited that someone had viewed my blog, imagine how excited a sixth grader will be to learn that other people are reading what he/she has to say. There is something very empowering about blogging. It gives a person the ability to share their thoughts and opinions, not just with the person they are seated next to, but with hundreds of readers on the Internet. Blogging can give students a voice, and it is also a wonderful way for them to be motivated and feel accomplished. As a future librarian I could see myself having my students create a blog so that they could reflect on and post all of their web 2.0 projects. For example, if a class of sixth graders have just finished making an Animoto video on the Egyptian Gods. I would have each one of them write a short blog post reflecting on the project. How do they think they did? What did they like about the project? What didn't they like? How did they like Animoto? Would they use Animoto again? Students would answer questions like these in a blog post and then link to or embed their project on their blog. Parents or teachers could view the student blogs and make comments. I feel that this is a better reflective process than just writing down one's thoughts in a journal. Now students can interact with other people and perhaps think about their project in a different light.

While student blogs are a great idea, it is important that the platform used to create the blog be a safe environment for students. Librarians should encourage students to create blogs using sites like Edublogs or Kidblogs, where students are safe from spam or unwanted visitors. Student blogs aren't just a way to motivate students, they also fit many of the standards set down by the AASL and the Common Core. Below are just some ways blogging can fit with the standards.

AASL Standards

 2.1.6: Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings.

3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of social and intellectual network of learners.

3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

Digital Storytelling

Its weird to think how much storytelling has affected my life. My parents have told me stories since I was a baby. Oral stories, myths, fairy tales or just books read aloud, stories were a huge part of my childhood. Storytelling allowed my imagination to run wild, there were stories that gained my interest like Rapunzel or Sleeping Beauty , but there were also stories that taught me lessons like my father's self made story of what happens to little girls who do not go to bed (Hint: Santa doesn't come...it was a scary story when I was little).

 Storytelling is why I have become such an avid reader, but storytelling also has had other effects in my life. I realized that stories is how I remember facts. Give me a list of facts about history and I have a hard time remembering them, but connect them with a story then I will remember. Honestly I think this is one of the reasons that storytelling, especially digital storytelling, is going to be really useful in the education field. Stories help students connect to information and they also allow students to engage in their education. Rather than just sitting and listening to a teacher lecture, digital storytelling allows students to use their own voice and compels them to utilize their imagination and creative thinking skills. Digital storytelling allows students to create stories that not only can be presented to their teacher or their classmates, but also posted on the internet and presented to thousands. Suddenly, a student's voice, views and opinions can be shared with others. Now students are not just in the passive role of student, but also educators, as they can educate others through their stories.

In addition, students who are really engaged in something have a tendency to learn more. For example, a special education teacher used digital storytelling in her classroom and saw a vast improvement. The teacher had the students create a digital story utilizing power point and video to tell about their life, focusing on their neighborhood, parents, pets, etc. The teacher stated that before the project students had issues with complete sentences, writing and organizing their thoughts. The story maps that they had to create before filming their project helped them practice their organization skills and in addition, students had to really think about what they were going to say and create a script which helped them practice their writing skills. At the end of the project the teacher claimed the student work had vastly improved and that by sharing their projects with other students they practiced reflection and really worked hard to make edits and polish their work (Banister, Michalski, Hodges, 2005).

Digital storytelling not only allows students to work with technology, but it also allows them to practice writing with the script, visual literacy because students have to decide what images to include, information literacy because the students have to be able to find the information and ethically utilize that information (Boss, 2008). So students are learning multiple skills, while still being engaged in the classroom. Thus, I believe that digital storytelling can be a really effective resource for students. Not only will it help them in education, but these skills will help them in other aspects of their life. I can see students using digital storytelling for everything from a classroom assignment on the Revolutionary War to a student's campaign for class president.

Banister, S., Hodges, D., & Michalski, P. (2005). Digital storytelling in the middle childhood special education classroom: A teacher ’ s story of adaptations. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 1(4), Retrieved from http://www.bgsu.edu/downloads/edhd/file78632.pdf

 Boss, S. (2008, March 4). Digital storytelling: Helping students find their voice. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-storytelling-helping-students-find-their-voice

Connecting School to Real Life: How Librarians can Help

Connecting School to Real Life: My technology in education class had us watch this really inspiring video on connecting school to the real world. Though she didn't exactly mention school librarians in the video. I think they play a big role in connecting school to the real world. (Take a look at the video below before reading the rest of this).


I have to say that I really agree with her that we need to make school more about connecting to the real world. Too often school is just: go to class and memorize facts that will show up on the state test. But the topics we learn in school should help us connect to our talents and interests in our real lives. I think this is totally and completely possible and I believe that this is happening in more and more schools. One of the things that really struck me about this video was her description of the student who really loved to take videos about buses. That this kid made videos and pictures and was really talented, but he was not being taught in school how to put that talent on the internet and he was not being taught in school how to make a website or start a blog or somehow put his talent out there. And I was listening to that thinking, well that's what school librarians should be doing.

 One of the awesome things about librarians is that they are able to connect to all the students in the school, they don't just see a particular class of students and they see the same students year after year, so in most cases the librarian really has a chance to learn about her student's interests and goals in life. I see librarians as the people who can show students and faculty how to get information, create information, share information, etc. This is not just for getting something for the class book report, this is working with students who want to research something or work on something that is outside the classroom. I, as a librarian, want to be able to teach my students how to blog, or how to create a video or how to post a review. I would most likely teach these techniques in relation to a project that is being done with the classroom teacher. However, I want students who are interested in blogging about their life to feel free to come to visit me in the library, not only to get books on student bloggers, but to ask my advice and help with setting up a blog. I would like to be able to be that person who can help a student realize his or her goals or interests and I feel that librarians do just that. When I do reader's advisory interviews one of the first things I ask is what are your interests, what do you like to watch on TV, what jobs do you think are cool, etc. I feel that librarians are in the perfect position of learning student's interests and thus,they can help work with the teachers to connect that student's interest with what they are learning in school. For example, say as a librarian I know that I have several students who really like to blog. They are really interested in telling stories and have been running their own blog for a few years now. I might suggest to the English teacher who is having students keep a reading journal, that perhaps the teacher might want to give their students a choice of keeping a reading journal or blogging about what they are reading.

 Now the one thing I did not agree with in this video was that the only way to connect students to the real world is to get rid of standards. On the contrary, I think that standards are the way that we can measure students' work to ensure that they are all understanding the basic information we want them to understand. While I think that students should have personal learning goals and I think that students should try to understand how what they are learning is going to effect them in real life, I don't think we need to get rid of standards to do that. Over the summer I took 618: Information Policy. In this class we had to do look at public sector information (data collected by the government). My group choose to look at public sector information and how it related to education. We found that the government collected a great deal of information; everything from satellite information to information about currents in the ocean and all of that information was available for the public to see and use. Websites like NOAA and NASA took the scientific data that they collected and often posted it on their websites along with sample lesson plans of how teachers can use this information. For example, there might be a lesson plan about students using NASA data to see if there is a relationship between water vapor and temperature of clouds. This has students using actual real world knowledge to help them understand topics they are learning about in class. Perhaps this may make students more interested in studying science or technology when they go to college.

 There are plenty of ways for teachers to connect what is being learned in school to the real world, this will add relevance to students lives and will allow students to see why what they are learning is important. However, that does not mean we should get rid of standards. We should still strive to get students to reach standards, just not by making them memorize facts. Now I understand this is difficult with state testing, but I don't think it is impossible. And I believe that librarians can help provide technology, websites and books that can help teachers connect their subject areas to the real world.

Jennifer Hemmings-Jones: Making a Difference as a Librarian

A 30 second video describing how I plan to make a difference in my students' lives.

Technology and the Librarian

"Its like Facebook only for teachers" This was what someone told me last Wednesday, I have to say I was a little doubtful, but when I actually started using the website I was surprisingly pleased. I'm talking, of course, of Edmodo. Some of you may have heard of it, or some of you may be like me who always seems to hear things after it has become a big thing. At any rate, it is fantastic! This is a completely free website that is basically Facebook for teachers. Your account is laid out very similar to face book, it allows you to collaborate with other teachers, and more importantly have a virtual connection to your students. Here is how it works, you create an account (again for free!) then you can make your page, add your picture, list the classes you teach, etc. Edmodo allows you to create assignments, polls or even quizzes on your account. For example, you can post a video you want the students to watch and make it an assignment. This means that students will have to view the video by the date you specify. Edmodo keeps track of how many students viewed the video, it allows them to make comments and it will send you an email letting you know what students participated and which did not. There are a lot more features to Edmodo and I encourage you to log on and check it out!

I have to say that this is just another example of all the excellent technology available to the use at schools. Students can use Animoto to create a video about their favorite scientist. GoAnimate can be used in English classrooms to have students recreate scenes for Romeo and Juliet. Dipity allows you to create interactive timelines that can make any historical event interesting! There are hundreds and thousands of these sites and more everyday that allows teachers to give a new spin to typical school work. Students are now able to present their information in creative and unique ways. Not only is this leading to more students being motivated and interested in school, it is also teaching students technology skills, which is incredibly important in today's world.

I learned about all of these sites from librarians. I think our profession calls for us to constantly be learning and finding knew websites or technology that will help our students learn better. Librarians are one of the only teachers who literally teach every student in the school. We also are one of the only teachers who work and collaborate with almost every teacher in the school. We are in a perfect position to suggest these new technologies and help embed them in the classroom. So make a list of some of the cool new technology you have found and next time you are at a staff meeting or are working with a classroom teacher, show them. Explain how this can help motivate students and might make a lesson plan more interesting. You never know, it may lead to more teachers wanting to work with you.


http://www.edmodo.com/

Sharing is Caring so why do I hate it?

I think I have talked about this before, but I wanted to bring this up again because it seems to be a trend with school libraries. Recently I read an article from the huffingtonpost that discussed how for this current school year Washington DC cut up to 58 librarians from schools with 300 kids or under. The article goes on to say that parents were outraged and that a lot of people are fighting to get this drastic cut overturned.

 However, Washington DC isn't alone. All across the country school districts with tight budgets are making cut backs. Common Core and school testing created a demand for the school librarian, however; school districts just can't seem to afford all of us. So what do they do? They decide to put a sharing system in place. In other words, libraries have more than one librarian. Now at first this sounds awesome, but what it actually means is that you could have a librarian who works at two different schools. So on Monday you have one librarian, a different librarian for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and another different librarian for Friday. And this just leads to confusion. Not only is it hard to share a library with another librarian, but it is also difficult to keep track of your students and teachers. Imagine having to keep track of two different sets of teachers, two different sets of school rules, two different sets of students. Collaboration is very hard in these types of situations. If you work in one library for four days of the week and then another library for the last day it is really hard to establish a collaboration with teachers in that second library. Thus, students in that second library do not get the same instruction experience. It is also hard to create a rapport with students. If you only see the students one day a week it may be hard to remember names or other types of information that you would know if you saw them on a more regular basis. It gets kind of daunting.

 Furthermore, communication always seems to get messed up in situations like these. A teacher tells the Monday librarian something, but the Tuesday Librarian has absolutely no idea about this and thus the teacher has to explain things all over again. Situations like these also lead to questions like, who orders the books? How do you organize the library if each librarian has different ideas?  It also leads to confusion when you are trying to get a book on  loan from another school library. If the school library has two librarians who do you email?

Granted, though this system is highly confusing I am happy that there is a system like this rather than just taking the library away from schools period. There are ways to make the system less confusion. First COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION. Leave notes when you leave for the other librarians, have a school email for the library that way you don't have to deal with the who do you contact issue. Though this might not be the best solution, librarians are making it work, but it does lead me to wonder will this become the permanent situation of the future or will we go back to having a librarian dedicated to just one school?

LaJoie, E. (2012, Aug 14). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/14/dc-schools-librarians_n_1753871.html

Need to bake an Elmo cake, no need to go to the store, just borrow one from the library

Sorry for those of you who read this that it took me so long to post again. Alas winter break likes to cast a spell over students in which they are unable to do anything productive. However, now is the start of a new semester and I am starting all new classes. The usual title of this blog post is from something I learned in IST 613. The class, which is on planning, marketing and assessing programs in libraries called for us to create a group and then pick a project to work on. The project my group picked was bakeware in libraries. At first I thought this was the a crazy idea, libraries that circulate bakeware? How would they clean them, who would use them, why would people go to the library to take out bakeware? All of these questions made me slightly skeptical about the project. However, upon doing research I found out that this wasn't something out of the ordinary, but, in fact, a practice that many libraries across the country currently do.

For many libraries it starts with a donation. Typically there is a member of the community who has a lot of cake pans (most of the libraries I found that circulate bakeware circulate mainly specialty cake pans). This member doesn't need the cake pans anymore so she simply donates them to the library. These are pans that are shaped like Elmo, Dora the Explorer, a Christmas Tree or even a heart for Valentine's day. These cake pans are relatively expensive and are typically only used once by the person who buys them. After all how many times are you going to bake a Dora the Explorer cake? When the libraries started circulating them people were ecstatic at the idea that they could take out these cake pans and use them. Libraries, especially ones with young mothers who brought their kids to story time, saw a dramatic need in their communities to have this type of material.

To top it off libraries aren't only circulating cake pans, there are libraries that circulate seeds, musical instruments, tools, etc. I think that people are so used to libraries circulating books, that many people don't even realize that libraries are there to serve the community and if the community really needs tools that can be loaned out, that is something a library can do.

My question is how receptive are communities of this idea? I know that some communities greatly embrace these non-traditional circulating items, but do many people take advantage of this service? How can a library convince their members that the library isn't only about circulating books?