Student Blogs... A "Living" Resume?

I decided to work on a Friday when school was out to get caught up on some tasks. We have a CAPS (Career Advising and Planning Services) program at Lakeside High School. I had arranged to have a CAPS visit with a parent and student on this day since I was at work. The purpose of the meeting is to go over the student's course selections for next year and to answer any questions that might come up.

When time permits in CAPS meetings, I love to find out what students career interests might be. The student I met with today is in 9th grade, and she talked about her passion for physical therapy. She and her parent even talked about a possible internship in the coming months. What a great opportunity!

As a teacher librarian, I started this professional blog about a year ago. Since then, I have seen countless blogs online. One particular student blog stands out to me. Marc Guberti is a teenage entrepreneur from New York. I connected with him on Twitter and have been watching how he markets his services, his blog, and his book on social media. I have even had sessions during lunch in the library where I showed students how to create and market a blog on social media. I use Marc Guberti as a model for best practices. Marc was even kind enough to consult with one of our students via email! Check out his blog here.

Fast forward to our CAPS session. The student that has a great interest in physical therapy for a career is a perfect candidate for a blogger! I told her and her mother she should consider starting a blog to keep a journal of all her experiences in the field of physical therapy. She is going to take Lakeside's sports medicine class next year. The activities in this course could easily turn into  3-5 blog entries per week. She could add in any practical experiences with photos, links, and/ or videos. If she did this for a period of four years, she would have an incredible journey recorded and a "living" resume electronically documenting her personal growth. We can all look good on paper; but if a person has concrete evidence in the form of a multimedia blog, they would easily stand out!

Having this blog has helped us have a record of collaborations and activities we conduct in the library. I had never considered the possibilities for students until recently. This could have a huge impact on our students' future opportunities in college and beyond. Teenage entrepreneur Marc Guberti has figured this out! Let's encourage our students to blog!

Click here to read a student submitted article called, Not Just A Room With Books.

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Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

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3D Printing Fun For Valentine's Day

Here is a quick idea for those of you that have 3D Printers! We decided to print 3D figures to give away to students during lunch in both of our library facilities at Lakeside High School on Friday, February 13th. Makerbot's Thingiverse always has cool new 3D project files waiting to be downloaded to print! I found a small stick figure holding a heart that was perfect for a Valentine's Day theme! I sized it down so it could print within a 45 minute period. 

We finally decided to print the figures in white

We were able to have the printer going in the library, so students could see it working each period. The intent was to inspire them to try our makerspace time on Thursdays after school! We want them to learn to use this 21st century tool!

The students loved watching the 3D Printer work!

One of our winners during the lunch drawings!

Our library assistant, Peggy Schaeffer had the idea to color the heart with a pink Sharpie!

The idea was a success, and we have decided to do more programs like this in the coming weeks!

Check out our student led 3D Printer presentation here.

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Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

           misti_bell@lakesidesd.org

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Students "Teach The Teachers" Prezi At Lunch In The Library

We take for granted how savvy most students are with technology. We decided to tap into this skill-set by inviting a few of our students to present technology to teachers during lunch in the library. We decided to call the program "Teach The Teacher" or T3. At our school, many teachers still have students create PowerPoint presentations as a research product. We have been encouraging them to try Prezi for several years now. Some teachers are beginning to use Prezi in the classroom! We thought that this would be an excellent first session for "Teach The Teacher".

Mr. Brooks Lee asks a question about Prezi

I asked two students that are regulars in the library to consider leading this first program. They quickly agreed to present! I had them give me an outline of what they would share. 

We sent out invitations to teachers over email (complete with the banner above designed by Mr. Ray Borel, LHS Library Assistant). We had three teachers attend the session. They all enjoyed the presentation and two of them got excited about trying Prezi in the future for classroom projects!

Riddhi and Zoey discuss Prezi

Consider using students for technology presentations! We look forward to doing more of these in the future. Glogster, iMovie, and Windows Movie Maker would be great candidates for "show and tell" type student led presentations!

Check out our student led 3D printer presentation here.

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Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

           misti_bell@lakesidesd.org

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The Power Of Connecting Our Voices

"Alone we are strong... together we are stronger."

As an educator, I have learned that it is impossible to be an expert in all areas. We must have resources to help us in our weak areas. It is not a sign of weakness to ask others for help or to reach out to those resources. In addition, we should share what works for us with others. I encourage everyone to share your best programming locally at your own school and also at professional conferences! We all have programs that connect well with our learning communities, and we should share these to inspire others! What if we all connected with great teachers on social media and shared our best ideas?

Here is an example of how these concepts can benefit everyone:

During the summer of 2014 my LHS teacher librarian partner (Mrs. Misti Bell) and I had the privilege of presenting at the High Schools That Work conference in Nashville, Tennessee. We presented our most successful common core library collaborations with a team of our own teachers in two separate sessions. It was a wonderful experience that we will never forget. We were able to make contacts with teachers, teacher librarians, and administrators from all over the country! We shared our contact information and this blog, too!

Fast forward to February 2015. I received an email from Mrs. Mindy Nichols, a teacher librarian at Crockett County High School in Alamo, Tennessee. In the email she proceeded to describe how she had held numerous collaborative events in their library during the 2014-2015 school year. Events such as The Great Gatsby and Ad Day (which were modeled after the very events we had shared at the High Schools That Work conference and also on this blog). She also described new events such as Minimalism Day for both Art & Music classes and 1950s Day for U.S. History Classes. After I read her email, I immediately shared their upcoming Day of The Dead program with one of our Spanish teachers. He is already thinking about how we might have a program like this in the fall! Mindy's innovative programs have already impacted our school because she took the time to share it with us! In addition, she has a great blog you should visit here. She has wonderful photos and descriptions of these library collaborative programs!

This is the power of sharing our best programs and lessons with each other! Everyone has great ideas to bring to the table. We can all help each other be our best, so we can impact students in the most effective ways! We should all share our voice with one another!

I really liked Mindy's quote at the end of her email: "I love it when libraries create a spark in their school and then pass on that ember to others." Let's all create a spark and pass the ember on to each other! 

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Contact Us/ Follow Us

Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

           misti_bell@lakesidesd.org

Are you on Twitter?

Follow me : @stony12270

Follow our library (LHS_Library): @LHS_Library1