Library Media Tech Talk

As I'm preparing to start another school year, I've been reflecting on all the conference sessions and inspirational speakers I've heard over the past several weeks. These sessions have made me think about teachers I've had in the past and what made them stand out. It has also been good to think back to things I could have done better in my education career. Whether you are a teacher, teacher librarian, or an administrator, you can still have a huge impact in the entire school learning community. I want to share three things that should be a focus for all of us each and every day we encounter students. Enthusiasm is Contagious Some of my favorite educators are always enthusiastic about their work. I have worked with principals, superintendents, and teachers that love what they do. You don't have to ask them; it shows in their daily approach to work and life. These people usually draw others to them naturally. They have the gift of making everyone feel special ...

Do you ever stop and think about what the school library can be for your learning community? It is easy to get caught up in the daily activities and forget about the endless possibilities that exist for our learners. As I prepare to begin my tenth year as a school librarian, I've been thinking about how the library spaces and resources can transform our students' lives. I would like to share some recent happenings that have illustrated this to me. A Safe Place We loved seeing new students discover the library! Recently we hosted an 8th grade school wide orientation. It was a busy day of meeting countless new students. As these young people arrived at the high school as new 8th graders for the first time, I thought about how intimidating this transition must be for them. It was also easy to see which students were new to our district since they were usually standing by themselves. How uncomfortable this must be for new students. I enjoyed seeking these studen...

Back in the spring, the Lakeside High School Principal, Mr. Darin Landry, shared an app with me he used constantly with his staff. The app is called Google Keep. I had never heard of it before in my experiences with Google tools. It looked fascinating to me, but I decided to table learning about the app until summer 2017. Overview of the App I never forgot about the app, and this summer I have done exactly what I planned to do by getting acquainted with the tool! I used it first by downloading the free app to my iPhone. I signed in with my school Google Gmail account and immediately starting creating to-do notes for practice. I found it easy to create notes of summer tasks that need to be accomplished each week. It was also simple to label the lists by week for easy reference. After I spent several days with the app, I was ready to share the notes with Kaitlyn Price (@Kait_Price11), co-librarian with me at Lakeside High School. Sharing was as easy as selecting the collabor...

I just got back from attending the ISTE conference in San Antonio, Texas. It had been eight years since I attended an ISTE conference, and I had forgotten how massive of a gathering it is. My friend and colleague, Tracey Wong (@TraceyCarayol), had put in for us to present at the conference, and we were so excited to have another chance to speak together. We were also very fortunate to have the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Travel Program (MIEExpert) approve to send us to the conference since our session was accepted! Huge Conference Words can't describe how large of a conference ISTE has grown to be. We were told that approximately 21,000 were in attendance at the event. I enjoyed how many options there were for sessions. They offered breakout sessions, poster sessions, technology playgrounds, and the largest expo exhibits area I have ever experienced in my life. There was so much to do and see that I was constantly overwhelmed. For the remainder of the article, I wa...

Before the end of school, I was super excited to get an email from an Arkansas Educational Cooperative in our state. They wanted to know if I was available to present a summer session on Skype, Makerspaces, and other library leadership topics to teacher librarians in the area served by the cooperative. I was thrilled and nervous at the same time since it would be a six-hour session. I have presented breakout sessions at conferences and even a few keynotes, but never a full day facilitating professional learning. I remember looking at the calendar and programming a date during my summer vacation time. Then came the fun part: planning the event. I asked my wife Cindy (@CindyRookEvans) to join me on this trip. She is also a teacher librarian at the K-6 level, and I knew that she could share some powerful stories for those attending from elementary schools. We brainstormed and decided to share about our many library collaboration programs, Mystery Skype and Skype Field Trips, Maker...

I've been preparing for a full day session on makerspaces and library innovations. Since spring, I've been collecting books for our students that have additional questions about our maker tools. These are some of the books I'm going to add to our library and share with participants in my upcoming sessions. I'm also sharing books that my wife, Cindy Evans (@CindyRookEvans), has recently purchased for her elementary learners. Be sure to add your recommendations to the comments below! High School Level Chopra, A. (2015). SketchUp 2014 For Dummies . John Wiley & Sons. Drumm, B. (2016). Make: 3D printing projects: Toys, tools, tools, and contraptions to print and build yourself . San Francisco: Maker Media. Graves, C., & Graves, A. (2017). The big book of makerspace projects: Inspiring makers to experiment , create, and learn . New York: McGraw Hill Education. Jelley, C., Bolder, J., & Marsh, R. (2016). Minecraft: Medieval fortress: Exploded builds...

A few years ago, one of our English teachers (Mrs. Jennifer Garner) approached me about having her students lead a learning activity based on The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. This was one of the first student-led collaborations that we attempted in the library. I was delighted when Mrs. Garner approached me about having the program again this school year. In this article, she joins me in describing how her students held this program in the library. Description of the Program (Mrs. Jennifer Garner, English Teacher, Lakeside High School) Students present a video about the history of the Internet Students in my senior-level English 12 Transitions class read The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, as a part of the curriculum designed by the Southern Regional Education Board’s College Ready course. Working with this text prepares students for college-level work as they gain skills in reading and writing claims ...