Library Media Tech Talk

Complete transparency: my first year back in a school library was a challenge. After five years balancing roles as an Army National Guard Company Commander and a public library administrator, I had forgotten the sheer pace of the K-12 world. I traded administrative meetings for constant foot traffic and a 30-minute lunch crammed somewhere between checkout lines. But as the final weeks of the year arrived and the shelves began to fill back up for summer, I decided to try something new. I wanted to see the year through the lens of a student. How did the library impact them? What would they remember? The best way to find out is to ask! Field Day provided all-day traffic to the school library The Simple Prompt During Field Day, I rolled out a long sheet of bulletin board paper and wrote one simple question: "What will you remember most about the library from this school year?" I left out markers and let the students respond—some signed their names, others stayed anonymous. The f...

As the school year is nearing the last few weeks, things tend to get very busy. Summer is still a ways off, but it is on the horizon. This is a great time to start thinking about how you will end the school year. It is important to search for student feedback so you can get a feel for how the library program served them during the academic year. In this article, I will share two survey templates you can use and/ or edit for your students. One for high school/ middle school and one for elementary. Think about how it will impact students that you are seeking their opinions in a survey. Finally, we will discuss the outcomes and what you can do with them.  My Practice of Using Student Surveys In the past, I have shared reflections about student end-of-year surveys. You can read about one particular instance of that here.  In that example, I shared multiple ways we collected student feedback. We used Google Forms, Padlet, and Flipgrid. I recall Google Forms being my favorite since ...

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...

As the hectic pace of May continues to build, it is easy to get wrapped up in end-of-the-year procedures. During this time teacher librarians everywhere are making lists of overdue items, teaching classes, completing library inventory reports, and more. What if we also used these last few weeks as a time to invite students to give us feedback on how the year went for them in the library? This is exactly what we have done at Lakeside High School for the past few weeks, and the feedback has been informative. We wanted to know how our services impacted the students. We also want to know how students think we can improve. Read on for a brief description of how we have heard their voices. Google Form Survey We decided to create a Google Form to email out to all of the students. We asked only four questions (3 multiple choice and 1 optional short paragraph written answer). The library media center has a warm and inviting climate for the LHS learning community. (Strongly Agree...