Forward thinking in school librarianship...

*This post was written by Meg Brooke, Supervisor of School Librarians for Jefferson County. 

Twenty three years ago I interviewed for a library position in the system where I was moving my family. In preparing for the interview, I got my interview outfit ready (Ok…hate to say it, but this was my first thought!). I knew that I needed to get my mind and interview skills ready, and so I prepped by doing lots of reading on what was new in library theory as well as  in technology, and I talked to several practicing librarian friends. The CD-ROM was just starting to be used, and I memorized what the letters stood for and learned about information that was available on the CD-ROMS. I had a MacIntosh computer that I could use at home, and I felt prepared. But, whoa, Nellie! 

Dr. Robert Mitchell, superintendent of the system at the time, interviewed me, and I was amazed!!! This was 1990, and Dr. Mitchell was envisioning students being able to access our school library from their homes. Wow!  My finite mind could never have dreamed that big…everyone having a computer at home and being able to retrieve information from our school library…. but I’m thankful that others have minds to be able to see what possibilities lie ahead. 

Remember: computers were just appearing in schools around that time, and the library where I was hired to work had no computers….ZERO.  It took a few decades to get there, but his vision did become reality. (a side note…..Dr. Mitchell was a hero to me in several ways, but I’d love to add that he left the system a year after I was there and started the first daycare in the area that had cameras so that parents could log in and see what their children were doing whenever they had a chance to do that. A real forward thinker!)

Dreams of what our libraries will become must move from the ideas that many were taught and have practiced, too, if we are to move toward the vision of the library that our students will need.  In Harland’s The Learning Commons: Seven Simple Steps to Transform Your Library, we are given some questions to ask ourselves as we think about the future of our particular library. 

Ponder these:

• ·         Does your school need a library when most information can be accessed in the classroom using the Internet? (This is a question that we need to be able to answer!!!)
• ·         What is it that your library offers to your users in addition to accessing information?
• ·         Are you doing it well?  Could you do it better?
• ·         How can you increase and improve services?
• ·         Could you make a shift in your service?

We’ve heard the term libraries without walls, and we’re there. Dr. Mitchell got it right!  Our students can access Atriuum, Nettrekker, the AVL, and many ebooks outside of the school library. One leadership session at the upcoming AASL conference and one that was recently presented in a webinar entitled A Library in your Pocket is a reality NOW!  

High schools are without walls, providing online courses for students via ACCESS now. Our buildings are seeing changes as methods of teaching are moving toward more technology, and our library spaces will need to follow suit as well.  No longer are we just protecting what we have…our books, our AV, our equipment, but we are morphing into being the promoters of how to use what we have so that our students and teachers can easily access and use that information. 

This is just a smidgen of food for thought that you’ll find in The Learning Commons by Pamela Harland.  I hope you’ll check it out if you’re interested in moving your library forward into one that will meet your students’ needs.  

Be the “Dr. Mitchell” in the lives around you!

Christmas came to us in October!

*This post was written by our sweet and fearless leader, Meg Brooke! :)

Christmas came to us in October! J  There were some funds left in the account that we were approved to spend, and so I ordered these books for our professional development.  It does not look like we will be moving downstairs, and so I will keep these in my office upstairs.  I know that there is little time for much extra, but hopefully some of these references will be something that some or one of you needs to give that extra “umph” to take your library or you as a librarian to that next level!  Our students deserve this!

If you’re interested in any of these, let me know and I’ll send it by the PONY.  I plan to do some quick “reviews” of these in the future, too, to hopefully pique your interest.

These are the books:

I get pumped just reading the titles!  But the real worth is what’s inside………

TITLE	AUTHOR
School Libraries Matter: Views from the Research	Mirah Dow, ed
Growing Schools: Librarians as Professional Developers	Debbie Abilock, Kristin Fontichiaro, and Violet Harada, editors
Literacy: A Way Out for At-Risk Youth	Jennifer Sweeney
Get Those Guys Reading: Fiction and Series Books that Boys Will Love	Kathleen Baxter and Marcia Kochel
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program and the School Library: Inquiry-based Education	Anthony Tilke
The Library Catalogue as a Social Space: Promoting Patron Driven Collections, online Communities, and Enhanced Reference and Readers’ Services	Laura Tarulli
Copyright Catechism II: Practical Answers to Everyday School Dilemmas	Carol Simpson
iPads in the Library: Using Tablet Technology to Enhance Programs for All Ages	Joel A. Nichols
Travel the Globe: Story times, Activities, and Crafts for Children	Desiree Webber, Dee Ann Corn, Elaine Harrod, et al
Book Clubbing:  Successful Book Clubs ..	Carol Littlejohn
Reference Skills for the School Librarian	Ann M. Riedling, Loretta Shake, Cynthia Houston
Integrating Young Adult Literature through the Common Core Standards	Rachel Wadham and Jonathan Ostenson
The Learning Commons: 7 Simple Steps to Transform Your Library	Pamela C. Harland
Seven Steps to an Award-winning School Library Program	Ann M. Martin
A Guided Inquiry Approach to High School Research	Randell K. Schmidt
Guided Inquiry Design: a Framework for Inquiry in Your School	Carol C. Kuhlthau, Leslie K. Maniotes, and Ann K. Caspari

School Libraries in Finland

Finland is the new global standard for education, and teachers from every major country in the world are flocking there to observe how they do things. Major elements in the Finnish system that differ from America's educational model include delayed school start age, how early and often students are tested, avoidance of merit pay for teachers, the amount of job-embedded professional development time teachers are provided weekly, the honorable status of teachers within the Finnish society, and the limited number of students in each classroom.

Naturally, as librarians our curiosity is inclined to wonder about the role of school libraries in Finland. Though it is rumored that school libraries do not exist in Finland, this is not true. There is a major reliance upon the public library system, and a strong tie to school libraries strengthens the programs of each.

Below are a few resources including valuable information about the vitally essential school library programs in what is currently recognized as the strongest educational model in the world:

School Library Association in Finland

Observations about School Libraries in Finland from an American school librarian

Finland's Library Network

What aspirations do the Finnish librarians provide for our own instructional practices?

Podcasting is not LAME

Hi!
I would love for my basic skills class to do a pod cast.  We are practicing open-ended ARMT items, and I think it would be beneficial if they could read their answers aloud and hear it back (so they can hear the flow or lack thereof).  I’m embarrassed to say that I have no idea how to do a pod cast.  Would you have time anytime this week during 1^st period to teach my students?  I will be in there to learn as well.  I figured it may take one day of learning and one day to say it here and have them listen back to what they read.  I thought I’d let them fill out a little evaluation on how their answers sounded.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Lesli

...And here is where collaboration begins! E-mails such as the one above are music to my ears. For the last few years, I have been inviting teachers to podcast with me. It can take a while. Sometimes teachers are not ready to use the technology or they don't see a need for it...yet. Offering short workshops or demonstrations will resonate with teachers, though, and soon the e-mail will come!

Thanks to school librarian Valissa Burnham, Hueytown Middle, and The Alabama Educational Technology workshop on podcasting that I attended five years ago, I have the tools to podcast. I should also add Lisa Boyd, Jefferson County (retired) technology guru, to that list. I must admit - it took a village.

Here is what is needed to get started:

A download called Audacity and an MP3 Encoder called LAME. These files should be saved on your computer and you should know where they are (you can always search for them, if you forget).

This 7th grader is on her way to podcasting!

Many tutorials on podcasting can be found with a quick Google search, but I have my favorites for ease of use.

Podcasting can be used for numerous projects, but this particular one was used to record open-ended questions that students had written in preparation for ARMT testing.

So, podcasting is not lame. It's a great way to support teachers in preparing their students for testing and lends a bit of levity to the days ahead. Tomorrow we will add music to their words.

Breaking Britannica News

So it appears that after 244 years of printing volumes, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print. 

It is interesting to see what students' reactions will be to this. I can only imagine very few cases where patrons actually prefer print reference resources these days...especially the nature of encyclopedias and the number of databases available through the Alabama Virtual Library.

Still, it's most certainly the end of an era!

Reading Fiction Whole

Here is a very interesting article about why students should be reading works of fiction in their entirety.

http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2012/02/29/02sacks.h05.html?tkn=STCF%2FyeVI3jIHRbbLeuS8sEm9AdS7JL0waE%2F&cmp=clp-sb-teacher