Library Media Tech Talk

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...

A few years ago, one of our English teachers (Mrs. Jennifer Garner) approached me about having her students lead a learning activity based on The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. This was one of the first student-led collaborations that we attempted in the library. I was delighted when Mrs. Garner approached me about having the program again this school year. In this article, she joins me in describing how her students held this program in the library. Description of the Program (Mrs. Jennifer Garner, English Teacher, Lakeside High School) Students present a video about the history of the Internet Students in my senior-level English 12 Transitions class read The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, as a part of the curriculum designed by the Southern Regional Education Board’s College Ready course. Working with this text prepares students for college-level work as they gain skills in reading and writing claims ...

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...

Introduction Back in the fall of 2016, my friend Tracey Wong asked me to present a session with her at the Computers in Libraries Conference in Washington, D.C. Tracey is a school librarian in New York. I was very excited about this opportunity since I had never attended an out of state library conference. This was a chance to attend a national library/ technology conference and share our best practices! Preparation Tracey had her session, "Game Design as a Catalyst for Learning", accepted by the conference. We both applied for the Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert (MIEExpert) travel program and were accepted. ( Read this earlier blog article I wrote about being an MIEExpert if you want to know more .) With the travel program, Microsoft would send us to the conference and provide for our travel and room accommodations. Now we were ready to start creating our content. Brainstorming Content Both of us had cool tools we wanted to share. Tracey had been using V...