Six Ways To Become More Indispensable

Six Ways To Become More Indispensable

It worries me when I hear that some schools in other states are doing away with their school librarians. This is a time when librarians are needed more than ever in schools since we have training in literacy, research skills, and technology. With these skills at our disposal, how can districts simply choose to eliminate these positions? I think there are many reasons; and among these are reduced school budgets and perhaps a perception that librarians only check out books. I want to make my position indispensable so that stakeholders never want to eliminate it. These six steps are simple and can help you change how your position is viewed. It doesn't happen overnight since it is a process. Please, consider making these six steps a part of your daily best practices, even when you may not feel like it. You WILL see a difference over time! I am not perfect at any of these points, but I try very hard to do each of them. Let's examine some practices that have helped me over the years:

1. Be approachable, and have a consistent good attitude.

If you reach out to others and make yourself approachable, people will be drawn to you. It doesn't cost a bit extra to make people feel comfortable by being nice and welcoming.

I have to work at having a good attitude some days. If you choose to have a good attitude and project this to others, it will make your day much better. People are drawn to positive individuals. Strive to be that person in your building.

2. Be dependable. If you say you will do something, do it.

Don't you love it when a colleague tells you they will have something done, and they come through every time? There is nothing like a dependable person that you can count on. The flip side of this is that individual that says they will do something, but they never do. They only provide excuses. These folks generally frustrate everyone. Don't be this person; if you make a commitment, come through every time!

3. Serve others.

Have you ever gone to a restaurant and had great service? What a great feeling it is to be served by a professional waitress/ waiter that goes the extra mile to make sure you are satisfied. A high level of customer service makes us all happy. If you serve others well, word will get out quickly that you take care of people. This is definitely a crucial step in becoming indispensable.

4. Be a lifelong learner. 

One of the reasons I love Twitter is because it is full of educators that are lifelong learners. These people amaze me at how they are constantly looking to learn more so they can impact students in a greater way. Lifelong learners are never satisfied with where they are are. They have a growth mindset that demands going to the next level. They are constantly forming questions and researching answers. A school librarian with this mindset will most likely be a leader in their building! Train your brain to ask questions, and then research the answers. Read education magazines, library journals, and blogs. Learn about the latest technologies. Take part in Twitter education chats. Attend conferences and bring back new ideas to your building. Hangout with other motivated educators. Develop your growth mindset, and thirst for lifelong learning. If you project this passion, you will spread this interest throughout your building and personal learning network! Passionate learning is contagious.

5. Go above and beyond in your job.

If you make a regular practice of going the extra mile in your job and for others, it will get noticed. When my wife and I are out eating in a restaurant, I love it when we get a server that makes sure our food requirements are met. Occasionally, we will get a server that goes over the top with their service. This always makes us feel like the server cares about us and our needs. Don't you love that feeling too? Going above and beyond in a job is a sign of a true professional that loves their work! In school librarianship, this could be a follow up visit or email when we are helping troubleshoot technology. It could be ordering a book that a student or teacher has requested, then tracking them down to make the delivery when it arrives... I love doing this! When you put forth extra effort, it shows people you care about them and love what you do. This type of action draws people into your program. Everyone wants to be served with a high level of professionalism and care!

6. Promote what you do in the school and on social media.

Many educators have told me they don't feel comfortable using social media or they feel like sharing happenings might seem like bragging. If we keep our social media posts positive and student focused, it is certainly not bragging. We should enjoy celebrating strong moments with our friends and colleagues. Social media will allow others to see examples of our best practices and programs. This can change how your audience perceives what you do in the school library! One of my favorite questions to ask to other teacher librarians when they express concern about sharing on social media is, "If you don't tell them, how will they know what you are doing?" Promote, share, email, post, display pictures, blog, make posters, and shout from hallways and the roof if necessary! You never know how your celebrations and stories might draw others to partner with you in the school library. What might happen if we all shared our best practices and pictures from the library on social media? It just might transform the perception of our jobs and empower future school librarians!

Closing Thoughts

I hope these six practices will help you better serve others. There are days when these six steps are easy to fulfill. Then, occasionally, the opposite occurs; and it seems like a long shot to do just one well. School librarians have the potential to impact every teacher, student, and administrator in their buildings. What a great opportunity this is to make a difference in so many lives! Let's encourage each other to be our best for those that need our services!

I have an 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!

This might help you understand Twitter education chats and hashtags!

Have you ever asked students why they like the school library? We did, and you can click here to see what happened!

Please Subscribe if you are enjoying this blog. Please, put your email address in the box on the right side of the page. You will receive notifications when I post new blog entries!

Contact Me/ Follow Me

Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

Are you on Twitter?

Follow me : @stony12270

Follow our library (LHS_Library): @LHS_Library1

Six Ways To Build Your PLN Using Twitter

Six Ways To Build Your PLN Using Twitter

Since becoming active on Twitter over the past year and a half, I have noticed some best practices that users with a large following seem to have in common. There are many benefits to having a larger professional personal learning network (PLN). More connections equals more information coming across your Twitter feed. One of the most life changing benefits is that if you follow inspiring and innovative educators, many of them will follow you back. This always leads to powerful idea sharing and sometimes even collaboration! Using Twitter in this way will also allow you to build an audience for your library program (or classroom, niche, etc). This is an asset to your organization, especially if you are sharing your best practices.

Before you can attract followers in your profession, be sure to have a photo of yourself on your Twitter account. In addition, complete your biographical information. It has also been recommended to me (by one of my Twitter mentors) that you also include hashtags that you frequently monitor and a URL for your blog or website. These items make you look authentic to potential followers.

Let's examine some of the methods that tend to draw Twitter users to follow you:

1. Tweet Useful Material.  No one wants to waste their valuable time. Try to only tweet or retweet beneficial material. Give your followers the best worth possible in 140 characters or less. Share great links to videos, blogs, quotes, or websites that are in your niche. If you are helping others, you are reaching the goal!

2. Tweet Inspirational Material. One of the practices that has given me more followers (and retweets) is the sharing of inspirational quotes. Everyone enjoys being inspired, and great quotes are a key way to do this. Refrain from sharing complaints since being negative will not help build value to your followers in most cases. If you see an inspirational tweet you like from someone you follow, share it by retweeting it to your followers.

3. Be Sure To Follow Back. When someone follows you, follow them back if they appear to be a genuine professional in your niche. I avoid Twitter users that seem to be spreading spam or inappropriate material. A quick look at their feed will let you get an indication of their authenticity.

4. Follow People That Have A 1:1 Follower Ratio This shows that they probably interact with their followers. As a rule, I don't follow Twitter users that don't follow (roughly) the same number of people that follow them. There are exceptions to this, of course. If a user is extremely popular, I follow them since celebrities and highly sought after professionals in my niche rarely follow back immediately (or sometimes ever). If they are sharing valuable information that can help me grow, I follow them!

5. Interact With Your Followers.  If you have a follower that tweets something you like, favorite it, retweet it, or quote them. If you read a blog post that is helpful, share it. Be sure to send the author words of encouragement. If someone tweets you with an inquiry, respond to them. Interaction is what social media is all about; embrace it!

6. Participate In Twitter Chats.  I have noticed that many professions are having chat discussions on Twitter. This has been the single most important activity that has helped me find more people to follow in the education profession (niche). It has also allowed me to gain more followers with a common mindset. There are Twitter education chats everyday at nearly every hour somewhere in the world. Go here to open a link showing a schedule of all Twitter Education Chats. This practice has literally changed my professional life. By participating in chats, you will find innovative and inspiring educators all over the world. After a tiring day at work, evening education chats have frequently rekindled my excitement by helping me remember to keep my focus student centered. I have been fatigued and ready for the weekend; but following an inspiring chat, I'm recharged and ready to make a difference for students the next day! The interaction that occurs in a chat is exhilarating! The connections that are made with these inspiring professionals will most certainly help you improve and grow (regardless of the niche).

Final Thoughts

These simple practices will help you find followers and continue building a strong PLN that will constantly recharge your education "batteries". A powerful PLN will keep you up to date on the latest professional development, best practices, education professional development books, apps, devices, and more. It will also give you a network of friends that you can ask for help and/ or professional advice. The benefits to you and your students are infinite. Before long, your interactions on Twitter will impact you and your learning community because you will become an agent of change in your building! Start tweeting, and start growing!

I have an 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!

Read this if you need help with Twitter hashtags and chats.

Why I'm adding Twitter Analytics to my library statistical reports.

Please Subscribe if you are enjoying this blog. Please, put your email address in the box on the right side of the page. You will receive notifications when I post new blog entries!

Contact Me/ Follow Me

Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

Are you on Twitter?

Follow me : @stony12270

Follow our library (LHS_Library): @LHS_Library1

Why You Should Add Twitter Analytics To Your Library Statistical Reports

Why I Will Include Twitter Analytics To Our Library Statistical Reports

I have been making an effort to be more active on Twitter since the summer of 2014. In that time, the benefit has been a phenomenal growth in my Professional Learning Network (PLN). The largest growth has taken place during the participation in Twitter education chats. It has been wonderful to connect with educators all over the country and world on a consistent basis. The use of Twitter has also driven substantial traffic to this library blog. A blog is an important advocacy tool for libraries since it is a record of our journey. Twitter is also a great advocacy tool because it allows your followers to see snapshots of what you are doing, 140 characters at at time. If you use hashtags that school librarians check frequently, your work will be seen around the country.

A few common school library hashtags:

#tlchat (Teacher Librarian Chat)
#txlchat (Texas Librarian Chat)
#mwlibchat (Midwest Teacher Librarian Chat)
#ndlibchat (North Dakota Librarian Chat)

Why Include Twitter Statistics?

This year I will include my Twitter Analytics to our library end of year report. The reason is simple, it shows a large amount of interaction and outreach. To access your Twitter analytics, visit analytics.twitter.com and sign in with your Twitter account. The tool will show monthly activity and statistics for your Twitter account. Let's take a look at one of the monthly reports:

A Screenshot from Twitter Analytics

Twitter Analytics reports my activity for November 2015 in this portion of the page. This report reveals the most viewed and mentioned Tweets for the month. You can also see how many Tweets were sent from my account over that 30 day period. The part of the report that will be of interest to library stakeholders is the "Tweet Impressions". This is how many times Tweets are seen. For November, the Tweets in my account were seen 80,300 times! That is a powerful advocacy tool statistic! I plan to add these statistics up over the course of the school year and share that in the final report at the end of the year. Administrators need to know the impact of our social media activities. This shows the impact of how you are telling the story of your library program and your school to the world! If your analytics aren't high at the beginning of your Twitter experience, that is fine. You should consider reporting any impressions! The more active you are on Twitter, the higher your Tweet impressions will be. Sharing these statistics over time will show growth. Administrators and other stakeholders want to see effective use of social media, and this is a great way to share the impact your library program is making outside of the school walls.

Final Thoughts

School librarians should also consider including any other measurable social media statistics into their reports for administrators. I will be adding our number of Facebook posts and our library blog statistics to the final report. Anything that shows the evidence of reaching out to tell about library services and stories is powerful. It gives stakeholders a return on their investment! Remember, if we never tell them, how will they know? What you do for your learning community is important... share it!

Check out some thoughts on annual reporting (and an example) here! 

New to Twitter? Read Part 1 of an article for newbies here.

Please Subscribe if you are enjoying this blog. Please, put your email address in the box on the right side of the page. You will receive notifications when I post new blog entries!

Contact Me/ Follow Me

Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

Are you on Twitter?

Follow me : @stony12270

Follow our library (LHS_Library): @LHS_Library1

An Hour of Code Awakens the Library in Grades K-6

This year I have invited my wife Cindy Evans, a library media specialist at Park Magnet School / Hot Springs Intermediate School, to share some of her best library practices at the K-6th grade levels. Her first installment will describe the recent coding activity in separate sessions for grades K-2, 3-4, and 5-6.

An Hour of Code Awakens the Library in Grades K-6

My first experimentation with coding was at a local educational technology training.  The training began with a discussion of the importance of coding in school computer science programs because of the projected need for skilled professionals in this career field. There was a representative from code.org to share resources to use for coding instruction in the classroom.  The training participants received an instructor handbook called Code Studio Lesson Plans for Courses One, Two, and Three. These courses were developed mainly for elementary students, but they are in the process of creating courses for secondary students.

Because of time constraints and the other standards that I have to teach in library media, I cannot take the students through each of the courses.  I began with providing them with the basic concepts just to give them a taste of coding. This happened during the Hour of Code week (December 7-13, 2015) when people from all ages around the world were encouraged to try at least one hour of coding within this designated week.

Grades K-2

Some of the lessons are "unplugged" activities in which no devices are used.  This is what I chose to begin using with the younger students in Grades K-2. I ended up combining the first two lessons in Course One. I began the lesson by teaching these students what an "algorithm" is.  Even young students need to hear the correct terminology.  They can handle these big words because they are like sponges at this age as they soak up and remember things much better than most adults do. The first activity introduced them to how to give directions for movement using arm signals to show left / right and up / down. Since young students have a hard time understanding left and right, they just called the direction "across" while the participants went across following the direction that the arm was pointing.

Once the students seemed to understand the directional movement symbols of the arms, we moved on to Lesson Two. In each lesson, I modified them using different materials than the suggested ones listed in the lessons. In Lesson Two, I told the students they were going to use the arm direction symbols to "program" another person to follow a maze to reach an object. I have carpet squares that the students typically sit on during our reading or instructional time. (You can see them in the photos.) For this lesson, the carpet squares were used to create a grid on the floor.  Some of the squares were turned the wrong way to show blank squares. The purpose of the blank squares was to create obstacles for them to avoid when going through the maze. (The numbers on the squares had nothing to do with the activity.) Completion of the maze was successful when the students made it to the carpet square where a Pete the Cat toy was sitting. Two students at a time participated in the activity.  One student was the "Controller" giving the directions.  The other student was the "Machine" receiving the input and following the directions of the "Controller". The "Controller" would decide the square where the "Machine" would begin and would place Pete the Cat on the square where the maze would end.  The "Machine" would follow the arm directions of the "Controller" until they found Pete the Cat. To make it more difficult and to make the students think more, they had to begin finding the shortest amount of steps that it would take to reach Pete the Cat from the starting point. I could see the "Controller" and the observing students thinking through the process and counting the squares silently to find the shortest path.

Grades 3-4

Since grades 3-4 have one to one iPads, I decided to let them do the Hour of Code activities on code.org. I began by showing them how to find the website.  We did one activity together on the Promethean Board to demonstrate how they would manipulate the coding activities.  Then I allowed them to explore the different activities on their own. They were so quiet and focused, you could have heard a pin drop!

As they progressed to harder puzzles, it even got difficult for me.  When I was unable to assist them,  another student was able to guide them through the process. The thrill of coding begin to spread when the students left the library.  When I had a sibling from another student arrive the next day, he was so excited and said, "My sister told me what we are doing in the library.  We are coding!  She showed me how to do it at home last night."  It is exhilarating to see students learning and sharing their new knowledge with others.


Grades 5-6

I don't have scheduled class times for grades 5-6.  For this reason, I shared the code.org resources with the teachers during a professional development, and they implemented it in their classrooms during the Hour of Code week. Some of the math teachers have been teaching coding to their students since this school year began.

Final Thoughts

It was intimidating for me to attempt teaching coding to my students, but I took the risk.  I went into it knowing that it was a learning process for us all and that I would probably learn more from the students than they would learn from me. If I had not attempted these coding lessons, I would have never discovered the excitement that these students showed me.  Most importantly, I planted a seed that will help them to continue growing in their knowledge of this skill which is an important part of their future. I encourage you to awaken student learning in your library through the power of coding.




This is how we hosted "Hour of Code" in our 8-12 library.

How my wife became Super Librarian!


Have you been wanting to try #Mysteryskype? Go here to see how we did it in the library for the first time!

Follow Cindy on Twitter: @CindyRookEvans

Cindy's email: evansc@hssd.net

Please Subscribe if you are enjoying this blog. Please, put your email address in the box on the right side of the page. You will receive notifications when I post new blog entries!

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

May The Code Be With You In The Library

May The Code Be With You In The Library

We were so excited to try the "Hour of Code" sponsored by Code.org! I learned about this event through many conversations with educators on Twitter. We had also learned about Code.org at a local education cooperative program. We decided to host the event in the library during lunch from December 7-11. During the previous week, we had student and teacher guests from Hanamaki, Japan (Hot Springs' sister city). We decided to give a preview of our "Hour of Code" programming by inviting our friends from Japan to attend.



How We Conducted the Preview To The Hour of Code Session

The preview event worked very well! One of our students explained how to use the Code.org puzzle sessions. We decided to start with the Star Wars themed activities since Star Wars Episode VII was about to arrive in theaters. Both our students and the visitors were very interested in the coding puzzles! A few of their adult chaperones even participated with us! As an added bonus, one of our student leaders brought her MiP robot to demonstrate. We also brought out our library Spheros for students to try. The preview was a success!

Our Hour Of Code Sessions December 7-11

We invited students in grades 8-12 to come to the library during lunch for "Hour of Code" during the entire week of December 7-11. During the first sessions, we had student leaders show the basics of solving the coding puzzles. Students participated by working at their own pace on the Code.org site. It was great to see them interested in coding! We held prize drawings each day for students that participated. As an added bonus, we had Arkansas school technology infusion expert, Mr. Harry Dickens, drop in to visit one of our sessions!

We were encouraged by student engagement!

What Happened Next

Later in the week, students experimented with the Minecraft portion of the site. A few of them even moved over to MIT's Scratch site to begin the process of coding a new video game! Perhaps, they should be encouraged to start working in teams to create larger projects like this. Imagine the 21st Century skills they would be learning! We have plans of having "Genius Hour" sessions in the library during the upcoming second semester. This type of team oriented Makerspace/ Coding activity would be perfect for our learners. It is so exciting to think about the gaming and programming ideas small teams of students might develop. There are so many possibilities for this since the library is a research haven for all questions and problems our students will encounter.

Things To Consider

I don't know much about coding. The only programming experiences in my arsenal go back to the 1980s with BASIC (Remember the old Texas Instruments TI-99/4A computer?) If you are wanting to try activities like this, it isn't necessary to have a great deal of knowledge. Students will be encouraged if you make the resources and time available to them. We have found that there are always students who are willing to take the lead and show what they know. Some of our library staff participated with students in the coding sessions. Imagine the impact that it might have had if other adults had participated. Perhaps, we can explore this in future sessions. The key is having a willingness to experiment and to cultivate that desire to the learning community. We never know how many aspiring engineers and programmers are just waiting to be encouraged.

Failure Doesn't Happen

Another consideration is to push aside the fear of failure. There is really no such thing as failure in a Makerspace or coding/ programming environment since it seems best to embrace the obstacles and figure them out together. It's about experimenting, learning, and problem solving! Recently, I had a terrible time trying to replace a leaking component in the valve of our shower faucet at home. The situation became very tense when I couldn't get the pieces to come apart to repair. I had almost given up on this DIY plumbing project (I was ready to pick up the "Bat-Phone" and call a real plumber.) when I remembered to check my Internet sources. Would you believe there were numerous discussion boards and YouTube videos that showed me solutions to the problem? In my frustration, I had forgotten the most powerful tools available to me! We should encourage our students to use these same resources to research the problems that arise. The solutions are there; we just have to find them. Patience is key.

Ideas And Next Steps

Now that we have hosted this event, there are many possible ways to improve it for the future. What if we invited a professional programmer to come talk about their work in the industry next time? This could be a Skype session or face to face. We have recent alumni  that have started degree programs in this area of study. How powerful would it be to have some of them visit to discuss what they have learned since graduating from high school? We had two alumni speak to our students about college expectations last year, and it was a great success!

For our next installment my wife, Cindy Evans, will share how she introduced coding concepts in her K-6 library! Until then... The Code Will Be With You... Always. Pass it on to your learners!

Check out our top 5 blog posts of 2015!

How my wife hosted "Hour of Code" in her K-6 Library!

How we made a collaborative YouTube library commercial.

Please Subscribe if you are enjoying this blog. Please, put your email address in the box on the right side of the page. You will receive notifications when I post new blog entries!

Contact Me/ Follow Me

Email: stony_evans@lakesidesd.org

Are you on Twitter?

Follow me : @stony12270

Follow our library (LHS_Library): @LHS_Library1