Building the Plan

Here's a link to my plan:

Making Makerspaces

Privacy in BC Education

 Reading through "A K–12 Primer for British Columbia Teachers Posting Students’ Work Online", I was struck by the onerous nature of the checks and balances that are required to post student work or information online.  Here are three questions that bubbled out of my reading.

1. According to the American Journal of Epidemiology, social media use is "correlated with self-reported declines in mental and physical health and life satisfaction."  With that in mind, should our schools be promoting or arresting its use? ('Mental Health Dilemma')
2. Does your school have a 'do not publish' list of students?  If so, how is it provided, maintained, and used by staff?
3. Are your school Consent/Permission forms clearly written and simple?

Work Cited:

“The Mental Health Dilemma.” The Social Dilemma, 30 Sept. 2020, www.thesocialdilemma.com/the-dilemma/. 

CC and The Podcasts

 I chose this scenario because Podcasts are a great format for developing organizational, technological, and creative skills.  And they are fun!

Work Cited:

“Using Royalty-Free Loops in GarageBand with Commercial Work.” Apple Support, Apple, 18 Jan. 2017, support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201808. 

Local Public Library Resource

 In the spring, we ask our local public librarian to visit and issue public library cards to our students.

Our school doors close for the summer, but the Revelstoke Branch of the Okanagan Public Library stays open and they have so much to offer in the branch AND online!

Click the image or use the QR Code to find out more:

A Digital Citizenship Campaign

 Here are a few tips to help you keep your wits and gather your wisdom online:

Tracking

Tracking Yourself Online

Privacy and Passwords:

Controlling your online information requires discipline and structure.  Information is the tool that can used against you online, so keeping your information profile smaller online reduces your risk.  Discipline can be related to the restraint required when posting online, and it relates to tracking strong AND different passwords for the accounts we create online.  If a hacker gets one of your passwords, they could have access to your personal, professional, and financial worlds with huge consequences, especially if you only use a single password for all accounts (bad practice!).  I probably track over 75 different account logins and passwords and I need to maintain and service the system that I use to track them. 

Posting Online:

I think that it is generally best to avoid online posting, especially if it risks overshadowing the interactions and engagements that you have in real life.  A highly curated and restrained presence online is the best compliment to your physical self, and it is always good to question your motives for posting.  Sometimes even seemingly altruistic motives for posting could be rooted in a need for attention or the dopamine hit of asserting yourself and feeling righteous.  And be careful with opinions, over time you may come to regret statements or they could look bad if taken out of context.  Why take a troll’s bait?  When it comes to what to post, it is probably best to avoid personal details that could be used against you, anything prideful (what need are you filling when you gloat?), or anything attention-seeking.  

There is no Free Lunch

If you want to protect yourself, read the fine print for the software and applications that you use.  If you don’t want to do that, you should be very wary of the siren’s song of free software. If your game or your service is free you are probably paying with your privacy.

Your Phone is your Life

With the advancing technology and power of our mobile devices, more of our lives reside on these small portable devices.  Phones are our wallets, our family photo albums, our biometric trackers and more.  They hold an immense amount of detail and without safeguarding, we stand to suffer violations of our self, whether personal or financial.

Determining (and Reframing) Problems

Problem #1

More Excel Please

In terms of our lab use, students are comfortable with word processing and presentation software (specifically Word and Powerpoint) because they are used so frequently.  The application that teachers have indicated they would like to use more in their class projects are spreadsheets.

Spreading the Word on Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are wonderful tools that have a wide range of applications, but they require a clear understanding of their basic functions.  Students also require some practice 'programming' cells to process and present information to suit their needs.

As a tool, spreadsheets are also useful in most subject areas and applications can be found for tasks in many projects.  Students can graph the casualties of war, calculate the spread of a virus, or plan a food budget.  That hits Socials, Science, and Foods in a few short seconds and the possibilities are endless.

In order to promote their use, I should plan short little lessons at each grade level and subject area to show how formulas and cells function.  The examples could tie in with the class projects and reinforce student learning, and students will grow to appreciate the useful nature of spreadsheets.  As students practice with the concepts of organizing, processing, and presenting data, they are also picking up some very useful computational thinking concepts, an ADST bonus!  :)

Problem #2

We Can See but Can't Touch

Another identified area for improvement is the availability and access for our resource kits in programming and technology.  I have some items on display, but not in a 'turn key' way.  Students must ask to have these items brought down from high shelves or from a storage room, but asking may be a hurdle and this can limit engagement.

Power(ed Devices) to the People

I want to provide easy access to these resources so students will sit down to play/work with more abandon.

To this end, I will...

Develop and share accessible technology resource kits that promote computational thinking and encourage play in our library.

Library Possibilities

 We are very lucky at our school to have a new library with plenty of natural light and zones for different activities.

Our work table space transforms easily to accommodate groups large and small, and it is well equipped for audio/visual presentations.  It has a green feature wall with some art, and we can set up a green screen film studio when required.

When I imagine possibilities for our space, I want to make activities, technology, and play more accessible and more visible to students.  For example, our Lego Mindstorm robots are visible, but they are on the top shelf behind our main desk.  This seemed like the natural place for them because they were visible and the location provided security.  However, I think that there is a benefit to sacrificing security to ensure that they are presented in a way to make them accessible and enticing.  Our robots and kits and machines need to be within reach and beside a table so a student can follow a curiosity -or a whim- and start exploring.

I am intrigued by some of the dedicated Makerspaces that I've seen in libraries, and I would like to create a space dedicated to curiosity and exploration so that technology -new and old- is not just something that students see but something that they grab.

Learning Environments

 Here's the floorplan for our library:

I used Google Drawings, one of the applications available with Google Drive.

Makerspace in our School Space

Here's a list of our haves and have nots.  The cameras are seeing the most use these days, followed by the sewing machines.

You'll notice a 3D printer on my 'Maybe' list.  Do you think that 3D printers are worth the cost?  

Makerspace Elements In Place 👍	Makerspace Maybes 🙏
Lego Mindstorms	3D Printer
Sewing Machines	Minecraft for Education
Micro:Bits	A Dedicated Makerspace Work Zone
Raspberry Pi
Old Desktop Computer running Ubuntu and Windows XP (easy to take apart and re-assemble)
Microphones and Headphones
Digital Pianos (2)
Cameras
Green Screen
Tripods
iPads
Laptops
Excel Spreadsheets
Scratch
Swift Playgrounds (Mac/iPad)
GarageBand and Audacity

Design Process and Maker Terms

 For quick reference and reminders, here is my first Iconnote:

ADST in My Library

 Here are some of the ways that we can support ADST curriculum in a range of classes at our high school:

Tech Leader Goals

 

Professional Goals

 

Is it too brief?

Do the word choices fit?

Focused PLN

 

The Microsoft Education Centre is a good fit for my PLN because our district uses the Microsoft platform for all of our communications, our Office applications, and our cloud computing, including OneDrive and Teams.

I have used several video tutorials and online guides, but I like that the Education Centre has teacher related activities and student-centred lesson plans.  This may provide inspiration to my classroom collaborations and the way I can support curriculum.

Looking at the course offerings and tutorials, I was interested in how Minecraft for Education might work.  This application has not been used by our district, but it is part of our licensing and I'd like to build an argument for activating its license and encouraging students to play with this platform.

Creating a Focused PLN

 I must admit that I am not the biggest fan of travelling hours and hours to pro-d conferences in our province unless I am absolutely jazzed about the day's program.

And even though we will have some excellent pro-d opportunities locally, they are rarely tailored to my specific needs as a TL.

As a professional that wants to continue to grow as a teacher and librarian, I've enjoyed my post-graduate university courses as a time to revisit, refine, and reinvigorate my role as the TL at our high school.  These courses have given me the chance to nurture a "sense of camaraderie and connectedness" to other teacher-librarians and they have provided me with many new resources to work with (Cook 117).

These courses have provided a framework for my learning and they've also given me a sense of the importance of Professional Learning Networks (PLN).  A PLN allows me to connect with other teacher-librarians online and I can curate my content and connections to both resources and other professionals.

I am hesitant to use some social media platforms (specifically Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest), but I have found blogs and Twitter (to some extent) to be use catalysts for a growth mindset and reflective practice.  Twitter caters to quick insights and ideas and subscribing to a TL's blog (e.g. "The Adventures of Library Girl") tends to deliver a more thoughtful wisdom.

Work Cited:

Cook, Rebecca J., Jones-Bromenshenkel et al. “Online Professional Learning Networks: A Viable Solution to the Professional Development Dilemma.” Journal of Special Education Technology, vol. 32, no. 2, June 2017, pp. 109–118.

ADST: Thoughts on a Design Thinking Mindset.

 Sandra Avrill's video "ADST Design Thinking K-9" reminds us that when it comes to ADST, the sum is richer than its parts.  Rather than rely on compartmentalizing concepts like 'digital literacy' or 'power technology' and teaching them in modules, teachers (and students) can achieve more by finding cross-curricular approaches to ADST curriculum.

The teachers at King Middle School in Portland, Maine took this approach when they asked their students to 'design a device that captures natural energy and transforms it into something useful.'  This grade-wide project involved several curricular areas (Socials, Science, English, ADST) and students conducted research, experimentation, collaboration, and troubleshooting, all elements of a design thinking mindset.

At our school, we started to create cross-curricular cohorts with our Grade 8's and 9's.  This has presented opportunities for more ambitious projects that the library is able to support.  The structure of this has also allowed teachers to meet more regularly and this is a key for setting students up for 'design thinking' success.

Supporting Teachers with SAMR and TPACK

 I struggled with ways to approach this assignment, but decided to find three subject areas that I could apply the SAMR model that might be part of future collaborations with teachers.  

My SAMR flowchart tries to show a progression from some standard classroom activities and I'd expect, teachers to feel supported as they select any part of an activity's development?  What other transformational (or augmented or modified) activities have you explored using technology?

For the TPACK side, I chose to focus on my verbs and state some of the actions I would take to support teachers as they learn and work with me in the library.  Are there any verbs that you were drawn to?  Are there any that you would add?

TPACK

 Here's a Venn diagram to show how creating Ghostly Podcasts for Halloween would meet curricular competencies and how this project could be viewed through a TPACK lens.

Questions for Technology Tools

 The questions I've created link to the SAMR model for technology and my graphic builds on the first slide I created (see previous post) using PowerPoint.

I stuck with PowerPoint because Sandra, our course instructor, reminded us that online applications like Canva compromise FOIPPA guidelines for students in BC and this begs a sixth question: Am I in compliance with BC's FOIPPA guidelines for students?

Another reason I stuck with PowerPoint was to stay familiar with the new design possibilities and tools available in this program as it evolves from year to year.

SAMR in the Library

 

Teachers work to enhance learning in the classroom everyday, and technology has played a significant role in the ways that teachers reimagine and redefine lesson plans and learning outcomes.  Within the classroom, however, there may be limitations (spatial, technological, financial) to the ways a teacher can modify or transform learning.  

Libraries are shared spaces with shared resources and as such, they have the ability to partner with classroom teachers to enhance and transform learning opportunities for students.  Not every classroom can afford (or house) a green screen setup, tripods, cameras, lighting stands, 3D printers, sound recording equipment, computer labs, or robotics kits.  This complement of technology also requires space and support to use it properly.

As a central and common resource for teachers, libraries can provide technology and opportunities that can redefine the ways students learn in (and around) their classroom.  The SAMR model is an effective tool to reflect on the ways students are learning, and it helps us explore new and creative ways to transform the learning opportunities for students and teachers.

Welcome to my Library Log Blog!

 Hello One and All!

Thanks for visiting my humble digital abode.  This site will be a catalogue of thoughts, resources, projects, and the processing of my library experiences.  I welcome your feedback and contributions to this journey as I share my insights into learning commons that should be anything but common.

-jw