Thing 15: Collaboration

I find the collaboration between media specialist and teacher to be just about the most satisfying thing I do. It's really what it's all about - the classroom teacher's set of skills combined with the perspective of the library media specialist and the resources of the media center.
Last week I attended a BER workshop called "Using Innovative Technology Projects to Strengthen Content Area Learning." Kathy Audette also attended, so it was very helpful for me to have her input as a classroom teacher as to what was valuable and usable. Kathy and I have collaborated on lessons in the past, and I always feel that it allows me to see math taught in a way that makes it interesting for all of the students.

Things 6, 7, and 8 - RPC

These "Things" that have to do with the Research Project Calculator contain a wealth of information. I've spent time over the last few weeks going through the features, the research process, and the dribbling lessons. I love the fact that these resources are available to us.
I've used the assignment calculator with many classes, and students find it to be a valuable tool. So far, however, it's been mostly used for keeping things on track, and not so much for delving into the stages of the research process. As we become more sophisticated with the level of research, I think that teachers and students will come to realize what's here and how they can use it.

Thing 14 - Reliable Online Resources

The reliable online resources that our school district provides are really excellent. I use every chance I get to teach the students about them. When a class comes in to the library media center, I do a little homework ahead of time and find the databases that will help them to find what they need. That way they can experience success, and will be encouraged to try again.
Probably the most effective thing that I do regarding the online resources is to have the ninth grade advisories come to the computer lab, one class at a time, and work through some exercises. The first half has the students read descriptions of five databases and find which ones are being described. The second half is a lesson that I adapted from one of Linda Wise's, having the students do an advanced search on Grolier Online. It's amazing that such a little bit of familiarity gives them the confidence to use the resources on their own.
Still, in spite of all of my best efforts, students' first inclination is often to go to Google or Wikipedia. My response is that I love those resources, too, but that for the purpose of scholarly research, they can do much better. And gradually they seem to be coming around.

A LMS in Every School

Last week I spent a day at the state legislature. It was Library Legislative Day and it was my first time to attend. The purpose for being there was to meet with senators and representatives throughout the day, and then to lend support at the Senate hearing for a bill requiring every school in Minnesota to have a licensed media specialist on staff. The bill was voted down, in spite of excellent testimony on its behalf, so it was of course disappointing. There's still hope that the House hearing will have a more positive outcome.
In the week since, I've thought a lot about the experience and about the process of ideas becoming reality through the passage of laws. I've also wondered about the chances of this bill passing. So I was very interested to read Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog this morning, in which he quoted Roger Sween. Mr. Sween had much to say on the issue, and it resonated with me, particularly the part about it taking "at least ten years of incessant trying" before Minnesota enacted the requirement for public library service. I hate to think that it will take ten years, but I suppose we were optimistic to think that it might have happened the first time through! I highly recommend this posting to anyone who's interested in the subject. You'll find it at http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/ under the posting "Roger Sween on school libraries".

Frontline - Growing Up Online

Thanks to Leslie's heads-up, I watched the TPT Frontline program, "Growing Up Online", last evening. It was fascinating. It was an open, honest look at teenagers' use of social networking sites, both at school and at home.
From the school point of view, it's evident that there are teachers who are eager to embrace new technologies and feel that we need to meet the students where they are; we need to be entertainers or we won't keep their interest or attention. But there are also teachers who are "dinosaurs" who feel that students still need to have slower, quieter time to carve out answers and think things through. I suppose that most of us are somewhere in the middle and that subject matter makes a difference, as does access to technology.
From the parent point of view, the producers interviewed several families who had different approaches to their children's internet use. The mother who was the PTO president and who monitored her children's every move on the computer, even asking them for their passwords, alienated them to the point of damaging their relationships. The parents who learned of their daughter's secret on-line life as a goth glamor girl ended up working with her, supporting her, and having some good communication. And the parents who were completely oblivious to the fact that their son was being bullied online, made the discovery after his suicide.
The message from the program was that it's a different world from the one in which most of us grew up, and we had better learn to deal with it. It's much more useful and productive to have open access and communication; the internet isn't going away, and our kids are going to continue to socialize online. The more we can be involved, in guiding, directing, and teaching, the better. But we also can't smother.
I plan to set up a display at parent-teacher conferences tomorrow, and I'll have this program running on my laptop. It's available for viewing at www.pbs.org, and in addition to the actual program there are expanded interviews and other resources for teachers and parents. I recommend checking it out.

Thing 32: Wikis

Creating a wiki at our Metronet meeting yesterday was a great exercise, and great fun. It's so easy to see applications for staff use and for classroom work. At one point, when we were stealing the lock from another group, it was almost like a game! I could well imagine a computer lab full of students working on a class wiki - which would be relevant for not only their class but for future classes. The collaborative, ongoing nature of a wiki is far different from a paper written by one student for an audience of one teacher.

Google Docs - again

Yesterday I had so much fun presenting Google Documents to English classes. Because my intern, Karen, was here to mind the shop, I was free to leave the library and go to the classes of one of our Metronet participants from last year. What made it fun was that the students were raptly attentive, and their responses were along the lines of "Ohh," and "Wow!" and "I want to do that!" It's the fact that they can see a real-life, important, pertinent application.
This morning one of the girls ran up to me in the hallway and said, "I'm a Google Documents success story!" And isn't that what it's all about?