This was a great year for the Library Media Tech Talk Blog! I created this blog in March 2014. I sincerely hope that my posts have been both interesting and helpful to all educators! As 2016 comes to a close, I want to share our most-read articles of the year.
I have a monthly email newsletter for the subscribers of the Library Media Tech Talk blog. If you are interested in exclusive content not appearing on the blog, be sure to subscribe by submitting your email address! Subscribe here!
Carmen's class posing with Àngels' class and their ofrenda
We had an opportunity to connect with ÀngelsSoriano and her class in Valencia, Spain back in November to share about the Day of the Dead event our Spanish classes had just celebrated. Mrs. Carmen Christner's AP Spanish class and Mr. Fryar's Spanish class had created ofrendas in the library to show and explain to Àngels' students. Our students had the chance to practice speaking Spanish to Àngels' learners. In addition, Àngels' students had the chance to speak in English to our students. Both groups had the benefit of practicing their second languages! The event went so well, Mrs. Christner and Àngelsplanned an additional connection.
How We Set Up The Event
Carmen and Àngels plan their next connection via Skype
I had known Àngels for months via our connection on Twitter. We are also both Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts. I shared a direct message via Twitter with both Àngelsand Carmen so we could all communicate about the possible date. We also connected via Skype to work out the details prior to the event. Carmen and Àngels decided they wanted to try to connect 5 computers simultaneously using Skype. Each of our students would use library laptops with web cameras. The day prior to the event, we had our students connect to each other via Skype to test the technology. Everything worked great! What Happened On the day of the event, we couldn't get any of the student computers to connect to Skype. We connected to Àngels using my computer to keep her updated on our technology problems. After about 15 minutes of troubleshooting, we decided to proceed with the conversation using my computer. After this, everything worked very well! The students read and discussed an informative text together in Spanish. Then they discussed cultural interests in both Spanish and English. I was so excited to have this exchange in the school library.
The YouTube link above is to my Facebook Live broadcast of the event
Teacher Reflection (Carmen Christner)
Wow! What a great experience for my students to be able to connect with another school in a Spanish speaking country to practice their Spanish! It is one thing to be able to practice with classmates who are native English speakers in class, but to be given an opportunity right here in our own school to travel across the globe and meet face to face with students who speak Spanish is such an awesome opportunity for these students. Not only were we able to share academically with projects and texts relevant to our own cultures, but we were able to share about life in general, like sports teams and Christmas carols!
In the future, we are looking forward to many more face to face exchanges in addition to starting a pen pal program & connecting on social media so that our students can start "doing life" with each other! I am SO looking forward to great things!
Àngels'Reflection (ÀngelsSoriano)
Skype: connecting the future
We all know the Skype options within our lives every day, family in another
country, or continent. And this power closer to other people is maximized if we
use this technology in our classrooms.
Students who are learning new languages, connected students who are
separated by an ocean, thanks to Skype can initiate a conversation about
Las Fallas, one of the two cities, traditional party to make them known to their
fellow Americans. And all this, in a just click.
This is the experience that today we have shared with students at Lakeside high
School in the hands of Stony Evans, and the teacher Carmen Christner with
whom we have shared a session of her Spanish class.
My students are always somewhat fearful of speaking in English have explained the
half of the session in English, while his fellow answered them in Spanish. Of this
form, the session has been fluid, to get to the last moments, that all the Group has
finished to the called singing Jingle Bells, a traditional Carol of Christmas.
Our students are the future, and all the learning options they may have will be
bridges which be operationalized to grow as persons, and especially as
apprentices for life.
Àngels reflection in Spanish:
Skype: conectando el Futuro
Todos conocemos las opciones que Skype tiene dentro de nuestras vidas
cotidianas, familiares en otro país, o continente. Y este poder de acercarnos a
otras personas se maximiza si usamos esta tecnología en nuestras clases.
Alumnos que están aprendiendo nuevos idiomas, conectado estudiantes que
están separados por un océano, gracias a Skype pueden iniciar una
conversación sobre las Fallas, fiesta tradicional de una de las dos ciudades,
para darlas a conocer a sus compañeros Americanos. Y todo ello, en un solo
click.
Esta es la experiencia que hoy hemos compartido con los estudiantes de
Lakeside high School de la mano de Stone Evans, y la docente Carmen McCart
con quien hemos compartido una sesión de su clase de Español.
Mis estudiantes siempre algo temerosos de hablar en inglés han explicado la
mitad de la sesión en inglés, mientras sus compañeros les contestaban en
castellano. De esta forma la sesión ha sido fluida, hasta llegar a los últimos
momentos, que todo el grupo ha terminado la llamada cantando gingles Bells,
un tradicional villancico de navidad.
Nuestros alumnos son el futuro, y todas las opciones de aprendizaje que
puedan tener serán los puentes en los que se sustenten para poder crecer
como personas, y sobre todo como aprendices de la vida.
Student Reflections From The Connections
I really enjoyed getting to Skype with the class in Spain. They were very nice and it was great getting to hear all their names. One of the best parts for me was when the class picked who they thought was their best English speaker, and she spoke to us. It really illustrated how even though we were a little nervous about speaking in Spanish to them, they felt the same about English. It really showed that we could break the language barrier, and have fun while doing it, and that even though some people are halfway around the world, there's no reason why we shouldn't get to connect with them. It was a great experience, and I hope we can all do it again sometime. - Sidra H. It was a fun experience to chat with a class from Spain because it challenged me on speaking Spanish fluently. It's interesting that a class from a different country got the chance to talk to my class via video chat. Technology made communication easier and I'm glad that the library is coming up with creative ways to use it. - Jean-Paul Z. Today's experience with getting to talk to the class in Spain was so much fun and a great way to reach out to other cultures. I loved being able to interact with the students... it was a little nerve-racking at first because they are native Spanish speakers we were talking to. Over time, we warmed up to them... I hope we will have more opportunities to reach out to other cultures. - Mady R. It was interesting to try and understand what they were saying in Spanish and hearing their accents. It was also really cool to relate to them since they were just as nervous to speak English as we were to speak Spanish. I can't wait to be able to do this again! - Kayla B.
Next Steps
Àngels' class in Valencia, Spain on our screen
As a teacher librarian, I was very happy to put my Twitter Personal Learning Network to use by helping connect our learning community to Àngels and her students. It might be intimidating for many to connect with new friends that speak an unfamiliar language or are of an unfamiliar culture. I choose to embrace these differences. There are tools like Skype Translator to assist with such barriers. It is important for our learners to become global citizens as they strive to be future ready. Working through communication challenges and cultural differences now are valuable experiences for them draw upon later in life. I am already connecting with teachers in other countries like Australia, Japan, and Egypt. I hope to connect our world geography classes to some of these countries during the spring semester. This will provide a new dynamic for learning about countries and cultures. Mrs. Christner, Àngels, and I also intend to keep the conversation happening between their classes. As I've stated before, libraries connect people, information, and technology. The school library is a perfect place for students and teachers to connect with new international friends!
I have a monthly email newsletter for the subscribers of the Library Media Tech Talk blog. If you are interested in exclusive content not appearing on the blog, be sure to subscribe by submitting your email address! Subscribe here!
When I began hearing about OER, I started researching about these materials. I discovered that the purpose of OER is to provide educational materials that are open for educators to use freely. They are also meant for teachers to remix as needed. These are mostly openly licensed materials. From a teacher librarian standpoint, this is very exciting. It gives teachers the opportunity to custom curate and share materials for their learners. It also provides teacher librarians a chance to assist teachers by sharing training on OER materials. Teacher librarians can also serve as curators of content. This is an area I am just beginning to learn about. I plan to reflect more about this journey on the blog.
Teacher Librarian Reflection
I had a long conversation about OER with Follett Learning Sales Consultant, Molly O'Sullivan (@FollettMolly). She shared about how these resources are searchable in Follett Destiny. Since we use Atriuum for our library management system, I began searching for other OER database portals. OER Commons was the first one I discovered. At first glance, I was very impressed with the interface on OER Commons. The site allows the user to create a free account (for building lesson plans and resources). It also empowers the user to search for OER materials from grades K-12 and up through higher education. After a few basic searches, I knew I had to get this into the hands of our faculty!
Our library is the hub of our school with multitudes of students and teachers traveling to and fro. It is difficult to get the ear of teachers in the library when things are constantly busy. I have decided I can no longer wait for them to come see me since they simply don't have time. This is one reason it is crucial to understand that we must leave the confines of the library to find them whenever possible. Opportunities to share are waiting for us each day.
One of our social studies teachers, Mr. Brooks Lee, happened to be walking down the hall in front of the library one morning. I was able to catch him and visit for a few moments. We talked about his new class set of Chromebooks and his progress in graduate school. It wasn't long before I had a chance to talk about OER. I told him this could be a solution to creating personalized digital lessons and activities utilizing his Chromebook cart. He was very interested, so I took a few minutes to show him OER Commons.
The YouTube link above features Mr. Lee discussing OER Commons & Google Groups
A few days later, I followed up with him. He had already discovered web resources via OER Commons to go along with an upcoming discussion in his class. He was very excited about this content, and he invited me to come to his class. I offered to broadcast the lesson on Facebook Live. I knew this was an opportunity to share with our teachers what a digital lesson could look like. (Many teachers I serve are my friends on Facebook.) He also wanted to demonstrate how he is using Google Groups in the classroom for digital discussion through writing responses. Many teachers have questions about how lessons will look in the future since our district is gradually moving into a 1:1 device configuration. They need answers now, and this is one way I have chosen to help them. Mr. Lee was excited to allow me to interview him on Facebook Live! Please, consider watching these video clips from that Facebook posts that are located on this blog page.
Mr. Lee's Reflection
With our school making plans to transition to 1:1, a big question for many teachers is how to best use technology in the classroom. I have been looking at several resources, and when Mr. Evans recently introduced me to OER Commons I began to see how it could be extremely useful. At first glance, I noticed that there are search features for every subject and every grade level.
Students utilize Google Groups to respond to classmates
In my 8th grade Social Studies classes we are currently reading the historical fiction novel “Jefferson’s Sons,” about the children that Jefferson likely fathered with one of his slaves, Sally Hemmings. I did a quick search for “Thomas Jefferson Slavery” on OER Commons and immediately found several useful resources that I could use right away to support our reading and foster further discussions and connections. Using Google Groups, I had my students read one of the OER resources about Jefferson’s Ideology, then post their thoughts about how the article compared to what they were reading in the novel, or if they found anything that surprised them in the article. A few days later, I had students go back to Google Groups and read their fellow classmate’s responses, then verbally brag on classmates and tell what they thought was interesting about their post. This led to some really great discussions during that session.
Next, I had students go back to the OER article and use some of the related links on the side of the page to go Monticello.org and try to find people, places, or events that are featured in the novel. It felt like a treasure hunt as students excitedly began calling out things like “It talks about Eston Hemmings!” or “Here’s some stuff on Mulberry Row!” Several students found a digital tour of the Great House and the plantation grounds, which was a big hit. All of this was made easy by the articles and links at oercommons.org.
Mr. Lee and his class demonstrate the use of OER tools and Google Groups in the link above
One last thing. OER has a digital lesson plan builder that I have begun playing with. Using this you can easily create multiple tasks for students, upload supporting images, and include links to the resources needed for the lesson. It’s easy to use and looks great from the student’s end. You can also publish any lessons that you create so that other teachers can search and use them. I’m currently using the tool to make a lesson that will end with a Socratic Seminar on The Legacy of Thomas Jefferson.
Next Steps
OER will help change the role of the teacher librarian. In order to speed up that shift, perhaps we should inform our teachers and administrators about these resources and begin modeling them. I encourage everyone to write about what you discover. Consider sharing your journey on social media. Through this sharing, we will all benefit from our combined experiences. Invite administrators to class lessons that use OER materials and demonstrate your role as a teacher librarian in assisting teachers. My Facebook Live videos (you can view on this page) were watched by several of our administrators. Imagine how this impacted their understanding of my role as a teacher librarian. This is only the beginning of the journey. I hope you will join me in this Future Ready endeavor to help empower teachers with OER materials!
I have a monthly email newsletter for the subscribers of the Library Media Tech Talk blog. If you are interested in exclusive content not appearing on the blog, be sure to subscribe by submitting your email address! Subscribe here!
I have enjoyed connecting our students to other schools this fall. Recently, we have been encouraging our students to connect to distant places for the purposes of reading to younger students, Mystery Skype, and student-led innovation presentations. We have also held several collaborative events in the school library. I want to use this space to talk about two of my favorite Future Ready Library components from the fall semester of 2016.
Build Instructional Partnerships
There are so many opportunities to build instructional partnerships in the school library. School libraries have numerous resources and physical space for a multitude of possibilities. They also have information professionals that are able to assist teachers in building immersive programming to deepen student learning. Several times per semester, we work to assist our teachers in grades 8-12 to bring their classroom novels to life in the library. The following are just two examples of such programming. A Thousand Splendid Suns Mrs. Judy Morton, 12th Grade English teacher, approached us about a collaboration based on Hosseini's, A Thousand Splendid Suns, at the first of the year. We were very excited about this possibility because she wanted her AP Literature learners to prepare immersive content about life in Afghanistan for her other classes to experience. The two-day program was a great success! Her AP classes did a wonderful job of presenting the life and culture of Afghanistan during the program. I am hoping one of the students that participated in the event will team up with me to write a future blog article about the collaboration. I think it will be interesting to learn about the impact of the event from a student perspective.
Students taught about Afghan clothing at this library station
All of the student presenters wrote reflections about their projects. These are a few of their writings that stood out to me:
The students we taught learned more about the culture as well as the war and laws in Afghanistan. For example, before the war, women were allowed to express themselves with different styles of color and clothing pieces; however, with Sharia law partially dealing with women's rights, the government limited women to what they could wear out of the house. The most valuable thing about our project was that we were very involved with teaching the students about the different types of clothing. People volunteered to let us put hijabs on their heads so they could get a feel for what some of the Afghan children had to wear... - Erica H.
These students presented about Afghan literature
The most valuable part of this project was becoming a teacher, which forced our group to know our information like the back of our hand. It was interesting to watch my group mates get more comfortable as the day went on as I also tried to do. It was awesome seeing our group stand together and lead the lesson. The project also allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and speak confidently... - Caleb D.
I'm so glad that this student-led event was transformative for all involved. I hope that Mrs. Morton will collaborate with us again in the library.
Fearless
I recently wrote about the Fearless collaboration we presented to students this year. This 8th-grade collaborative program (based on Fearless by Eric Blehm) has been a success since we started it in 2012. The book is based on the life of Navy SEAL and Arkansan, Adam Brown. This year we decided to have the event close to Veteran's Day which allowed us to use that as a powerful theme to better connect the content to local civic services. One of the most important changes we made this year was inviting local military (Army National Guard), law enforcement, and emergency service personnel to attend and show their vehicles on the last day of the three-day program. This seemed to connect with many students.
The vehicles on display were a big hit with students
After the program, I interviewed students on video if they gave me permission to do so. One student said, "I never would have thought about thanking a soldier or firefighter or a police officer if it weren't for this program... It opened my eyes." (See the video of his comment in the YouTube link below) The program was transformative for this learner. I wonder how many other students were impacted this way? We are so glad the library could be a part of this experience for our learning community!
Lead Beyond the Library
I love helping create an environment of innovation and collaboration in the school library. In addition, I like to knock down the school walls by connecting students and teachers to distant places. If you have a webcam and Twitter available, you can connect your learning community virtually anywhere! By choosing to do this, you will model what a connected classroom can look like. Teachers will want this for their own classrooms! We have connected more than ever this fall. I want to share some of the most powerful moments of the fall Skype adventures for our learners.
Skype-a-Thon
Last week I reflected on our participation in Microsoft's Skype-a-Thon activity. This was significant because our learners had the opportunity to connect with professionals from the Microsoft Corporation and the Department of State in Washington D.C. Planning such events takes a lot of time and preparation for our students to participate, but it is worth it. One of our students, Krystyna, had the opportunity to interact with both Microsoft employees over the two-day Skype-a-Thon event. She was able to ask Robyn Hrivnatz (Marketing and Education Programs Manager, US Education at Microsoft) questions about getting a job with the giant technology company. Following the interactions, Krystyna's thinking was changed, she realized she could possibly someday work for Microsoft. Through connecting and inquiry, Krystyna was changed forever. Learning from Robyn helped her envision a new possible future. This is the power of connecting with others, and it is why I want to connect our library to new friends frequently! I'm hoping Krystyna will write a reflection for me to publish on the blog so we can learn more about this through her own voice. She said she would, so I am hopeful (and I hope you are too)!
Future Connections Through Twitter and the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert community, I'm able to connect with more distant educators. Recently I connected with Mio (@mibra_mio), an English teacher in Japan. She emailed me a video her students had created of daily life and clubs at her school. I have been showing it to our lunch crowds at school. If students have questions about what they see, I Tweet the questions (either in text or video clip form) to Mio. She is going to have her students respond back! I can't wait to see what they say.
I was so excited to meet Soheir in Egypt via Skype!
I also had a Skype session with Soheir (@sou_2022). She is a science teacher in Alexandria, Egypt. It was very exciting to talk to her about potential connections next semester as our 9th-grade civics classes transition to geography! We have lots to look forward to in the coming months. I've already been talking to several of our faculty, and they are very interested in connecting with Soheir and her students.
Leading beyond the library can happen much easier when school librarians have good relationships with teachers. Most of the faculty at our school are open to trying new things with us in the library. I believe that helping teachers connect outside of our state and country is a worthy activity. It helps our students become global citizens! Conclusion
As I reflect on these two Future Ready components (Build Instructional Partnerships and Lead Beyond the Library), I realize that they have the potential to enhance the lives of students and teachers. Our library collaborations with teachers have helped deepen the learning of our students each year we have presented them. I also reflect back to Krystyna, the 10th-grade student that visited with Microsoft employees via Skype. She now knows it is possible that she could work for a company like Microsoft someday. That connection may have transformed her life and given her new goals!
I have a monthly email newsletter for the subscribers of the Library Media Tech Talk blog. If you are interested in exclusive content not appearing on the blog, be sure to subscribe by submitting your email address! Subscribe here!
I was selected as a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert in the fall of 2015. Shortly after receiving that honor, I learned about the global Skype-a-Thon event. This activity encourages educators to connect their classrooms to get as many virtual miles as possible over the two day period. During the Skype-a-Thon in 2015, we participated in a few Mystery Skype activities. It was a lot of fun for our learning community, and I knew I wanted to try to participate again in 2016.
Test Skype connection (& selfie) with Robyn Hrivnatz
Planning
We wanted to use the Skype-a-Thon event to give our learners an opportunity to connect with professionals outside of Arkansas during our lunch periods. There are typically 50-70 students in the library during lunch periods, so it is a perfect time to have programs like this. I began emailing colleagues to see who might be available to connect with our students. It didn't take long for a schedule to develop.
Anne Menotti, U.S. Department of State
Anne Skyped with us from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms
Anne works at the Diplomatic Reception Rooms for the U.S. Department of State. I collaborated with her previously during the first year of the Arkansas Declaration of Learning program in 2015. This program encourages participants to select art and objects to create powerful collaborative lessons for students. (I plan to write more about this experience on the blog in the future.)
She agreed to connect with us and share about her job in Washington, D.C. Our students really enjoyed learning about the many American art pieces and objects in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms. She even showed our learners the very desk where the Treaty of Paris was signed! Anne offered to connect with us again at a later date so we can invite some of our history classes to attend. This is a future opportunity I am very excited about!
Students listen to Anne talk about the Diplomatic Reception Rooms
Anthony Salcito, Vice President of Worldwide Education at Microsoft
About a month before the Skype-a-Thon, I received an email from Marketing and Education Programs Manager, US Education at Microsoft, Robyn Hrivnatz. She asked me if I would be interested in having our students Skype with Anthony Salcito, Vice President of Worldwide Education at Microsoft, during the Skype-a-Thon. I was very excited to say yes! Anthony stays up for 24 consecutive hours each year to connect with schools all over the world during the Skype-a-Thon event. Since the organizers offered to allow our students to showcase their work, we decided to invite the students who had recently presented to an education cooperative that had visited us to learn about innovation spaces.
Jared shows off his Minecraft creation
Krystyna shows off her robots
The EAST team presents their 3D printing technology
Robyn Hrivnatz, Marketing and Education Programs Manager, US Education at Microsoft
Robyn on the screen of the Microsoft Surface Pro 4
I had met Robyn in person this past summer while attending the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert US Forum in Denver, Colorado. I was intrigued to learn that she had previously been an educator before moving into her current position at Microsoft. I knew a Skype session with her would be inspiring to our learners, especially if she shared her career path to Microsoft. She was actually my first contact to request a session for the Skype-a-Thon. Robyn replied back quickly that she could do the session with us. We were so excited!
On the day of the event, Robyn shared how her career journey started as a public school educator to approximately 30 students that attended the session. She discussed how building relationships, connections, and growth mindset had helped her move forward in each new opportunity eventually leading to her current job at Microsoft. This truly inspired our learners. In fact, one student, Krystyna, asked Robyn how to go about applying for a job at Microsoft. Krystyna was still talking about the interaction with Robyn two days later. I have encouraged her to write an article for this blog to share about how this connection changed her thinking. (Hopefully, she will take me up on this!)
Robyn speaking to our library lunch crowd
A student asking Robyn questions
Student Reflections I asked our learners to reflect on their experiences after the Skype-a-Thon. These were the responses they shared with me:
"Being able to converse so normally with someone so important was truly inspirational. It's good to know that hard work can get you anywhere in life." - Nathan E. "I really did enjoy calling him, because he works at Microsoft! We all got to show our achievements to him, and how it will impact the world. I had an awesome time." - Jordan L. "Today I had an amazing opportunity to present, via Skype, with an employee from Microsoft. I presented my robots and got amazing feedback from him. I also got to ask him about new products that were innovative and got information on the Microsoft OneNote and the Hololens (my favorite thing since sliced bread), which he had sitting by. I am very excited for future events like this and I am anxious to find out other ways to talk about robots with others from around the world. We can expand our horizons and dream big thanks to Skype and an open library staff at Lakeside! Thank you for making my voice heard." - Krystyna V. Next Steps I don't think any of us will ever know the full impact of these three experiences on our learners. Each Skype session was unique and very different from any previous sessions we have attempted from the school library. My biggest takeaway is that I need to take bigger risks to get connections for our learning community. These sessions gave me confidence that our learners are ready to communicate and learn from anyone (or any organization) in the world. As I reflect back to the nervousness we all experienced (students included) as we discussed connecting with important personnel from the U.S. Department of State and Microsoft Corporation, I now realize that this uneasiness is normal. These two days caused us all to grow outside of our comfort zones.
American businessman and writer, Max DePree, stated that "In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be, by remaining what we are." I will work harder to make our students' voices heard. I will also continue to seek out new connections and learning opportunities for our learners at Lakeside High School. As I've written many times before, I can't wait to see what happens next!
I have a monthly email newsletter for the subscribers of the Library Media Tech Talk blog. If you are interested in exclusive content not appearing on the blog, be sure to subscribe by submitting your email address! Subscribe here!
