Library Media Tech Talk

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 pra...

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 ...

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...

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 secon...

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 participa...