Library Media Tech Talk

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...

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was an exciting experience for many reasons. It was my first time to travel out of state to deliver a keynote and also my first visit to Iowa. In this blog article, I want to reflect on the experience and the excitement I witnessed that was generated in a room full of 58 Iowa teacher librarians. During the fall of 2017, my friend and colleague, Lynn Kleinmeyer (@THLibrariZen), began telling me about a full day of professional development she was planning. Lynn is a Digital Learning Consultant at Grant Wood Area Education Agency in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She wanted the experience to motivate local teacher librarians to utilize the Future Ready Librarian Framework and also be stronger advocates for their programs. When she asked me to consider traveling to Iowa to deliver a keynote and breakout sessions, I quickly accepted! It is always an honor to visit another state to share best practices and learn together. Lynn and ...

It is always exciting to return from a break and begin a new semester. One of the things I always try to do when I return is to create a list of goals for myself and the library program. To illustrate this, I want to share my current goals. Making such goals helps me keep myself in focus for those I serve. Goals for this Semester Read and preview more books : I struggle to keep up with new YA fiction titles. One of the things that Kaitlyn Price (the co-librarian I work with here at Lakeside) and I have done each month is making a priority to handle each new book that comes in the library. We started a Google Doc to record the title and brief information about each title. This gives us a resource we can share with students and teachers. It also makes us review each title as they come into our collection. With all the activities going on in the library, it is so easy to get behind on this task. By doing this since fall, we have been able to book talk to students much more ...

This is a list of my top 5 most read blog articles of 2017 on Library Media Tech Talk: 3 Ways to Shatter The School Librarian Stereotype Our First Book Tasting Event 3 Things I've Learned About Breakout EDU Keeping Work Neat With Google Keep What Can A Library Be? Thank you for a great year. More content coming in 2018! My table of contents for the blog is here! I have a monthly email newsletter for the subscribers of the Library Media Tech Talk blog. If you are interested in exclusive content not appearing on the blog, be sure to subscribe by submitting your email address!  Subscribe here! Contact Me/ Follow Me Email:  stony_evans@lakesidesd.org Are you on Twitter? Follow me : @stony12270

I've been thinking about how our school library program is different from the programs I experienced as a student. I've also been wondering how many other programs are moving away from the traditional "old school" library stereotype of yesteryear. How many movies have you seen where librarians are portrayed as people whose main mission seems to be stamping books and shushing patrons? How can we change this perception? I wonder how many school librarians are moving out of their comfort zones for students but aren't telling anyone about it. What might happen if these teacher librarians told their stories?  I'll share three methods that could change everything if we adopt them. 1. Embrace and Practice the Future Ready Librarians Framework I've written about this previously , and I still think the Future Ready Librarians Framework is a key component to librarians/ libraries staying relevant. (I'm also beginning to dig into the new AASL Standards- m...

One of the most important parts of the teacher librarian's job is to engage students with literature. Recently, I have been thinking about a teacher that made an important literacy connection with me while I was still in high school. At that time in my life, I didn't realize how crucial professional relationships are for teachers and students. But now, so many years later, I understand the impact relationships can have on reading. To illustrate this, I will share a story from my 10th grade year. A Step Into the Past Mr. Gerald Cox was my biology teacher when I was in high school. He was also my bus driver when I was in elementary school. His daughter and I were classmates all through school at Bismarck Public Schools in Bismarck, Arkansas. Mr. Cox also served as one of my taekwondo instructors while I was in high school. Several years later after high school, I worked with him when I took my first job as a band director at Bismarck Middle School. By th...

I have written several times in the past about how connecting has made a difference in my practice and development as a teacher librarian. If you haven't read about my Skype in the Classroom adventures, you might want to check out this article . This school year, Kaitlyn Price (co-librarian) and I have made it a priority to visit teachers in our building during their prep periods. We typically will ask them how things are going and also check to see how their classroom technology is working for them. We have found that this typically leads to opportunities to inform teachers about new technology tools and/ or library resources. Sometimes we discover that teachers might want to collaborate with us through these visits. Recently, I visited Mrs. Mary French (8th-grade science) during her prep period. I was able to check on her technology and have some time to listen to her tell me about things she was doing in her classroom. I told her about Skype in the Classroom and that I wou...