Library Media Tech Talk

In a previous blog article, I shared about the planning stages of a maker project initiated by two of our 8th-grade social studies teachers. If you haven't read it, you might want to start here.  The first day in the library was spent showing students all of the maker tools we had available in the library. These included  Legos, K'nex, our Makerbot 3D printer, Unity (a 3D game creation tool), Makey-Makey, Green Screen, Oculus Rift devices, and Minecraft. The Instruction The teachers provided the following instructions to their students on Google Classroom (see below or click here for the document ). Maker Collaborative Project Schedule: Wed, Jan 10th: Student Intro Day to Maker options (Library) Fri, Jan 12th: Brainstorming / Research day in class Wed, Jan 24 - Fri 26: Library days to work on Maker component Tues, Feb 6th: Presentation Day Project Guidelines: For this assignment, you will work in a group of 3-4 students to complete a project t...

Recently, I was approached by Brooks Lee, one of our 8th grade Social Studies teachers, about helping him use Makerspace tools in his curriculum. He had attended a session at a professional development meeting, and his eyes had been opened to the possibilities for his students. During his preparation period, we started meeting regularly and discussing how this might look. He shared the idea with his co-worker, April Lawson, and she was also on board to team up with her 8th grade Social Studies classes. A box of K'nex April and Brooks began working out the details with a rubric and timeline. It was decided that they would have the students pick any topic from the 1800s and create an informative presentation using innovation tools of their choice. They requested that the students have a day in the library to show them the possibilities with our various Makerspace tools. We decided to show them the items that would work well with the assignment. These inc...

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...

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...