Library Media Tech Talk

I am excited to be joined by Mrs. Elizabeth Hutchinson, Head of Schools' Library Service on the island of Guernsey. She and Mrs. Angela Etheredge (teacher at St. Anne's School on the island of Alderney) share their perspectives as we discuss how this wonderful activity took place in February 2016. Mr. Brooks Lee (social studies teacher at Lakeside High School) also shares his reflections. Introduction Mr. Stony Evans I was delighted to receive a Tweet from Mrs. Elizabeth Hutchinson on a Saturday morning just a few weeks ago. She had read the blog post about our first MysterySkype and had sent a few comments to me. I happened to notice that Elizabeth was located on the island of Guernsey, which is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel! We have been seeking a way to connect our students to a school in another country so I asked Elizabeth if we might be able to try a Mystery Skype or Mystery Hangout. We discovered there was a six hour difference betwe...

A Student Led Sway On Digital Learning Day Cambryn takes the lead with Sway! I love to see our learners take the stage to share their knowledge with teachers and peers. We are always looking for opportunities for students to present sessions and lead book clubs in the school library. While visiting a TL Virtual Cafe session this week, I was reminded about February 17th being Digital Learning Day. My mind raced... what could we do that would be innovative for our learners? I remembered that Cambryn, one of our 8th graders at Lakeside High School, was learning about Microsoft Sway. (Sway is one of the cool presentation tools included in Office 365/ Office Online.) I have noticed that Cambryn is outgoing and comfortable in front of his peers; and he is also a natural leader. I wondered if he might agree to present what he had learned during our 8th and 9th grade lunch period in the library. I was so excited when he agreed to take me up on this offer!  What We Presented ...

How 6 Picture Frames Made A Difference In The School Library Our two Lakeside High School library assistants, Mrs. Peggy Schaeffer and Mr. Ray Borel, have been posting photos of faculty, students, and administration as part of library services for many years. We have always noticed that people seem to enjoy looking at photos of people in our school. Peggy enjoys using Photoshop to edit pictures that she will frequently turn into promotional posters. Ray likes to use PowerPoint to make his picture edits when he is preparing announcement slides to go out on our many digital screens in the building. An example of PowerPoint slides used in school announcements One of Peggy's posters done with Photoshop We brought these practices full circle during the week we prepared to open our newly renovated library facility. LHS library media specialist, Mrs. Misti Bell, had the idea to purchase large frames to display photos of students in the library. We all decid...

The Flexible School Library: Creating A 21st Century Space For Our Learners Our school administration approached me about exploring the idea of updating our existing library spaces three years ago. We brainstormed the issue for months and even considered adding on to our high school library by overtaking an attached courtyard. We soon scrapped this plan since it was going to be a high cost to our district. After examining our former junior high library facility (which is still a part of our 8th -12th grade high school complex), we noticed that the space could be expanded to include an outside entryway, abandoned office space, and teachers' lounge to create a much larger space. We began the process of planning how the renovated areas could look and function. We knew the spaces would have to be large enough to hold over 12,000 print materials with room to grow. Our learning community would also need flexible areas that would allow collaboration events with their classes. There ar...