How do you library?

So, as the year gets into full swing and I am designing my lessons, one questions keeps echoing in my mind; how much time should I focus on basic library skills? In this era of Library Media, fewer than 1/4 of my standards support these skills – knowledge of the sections of the library, using the OPAC, text features, library procedures, understanding the difference between nonfiction and fiction, how the Dewey Decimal System works, and literature genres, just to name a few. In most curriculum maps I have seen, these items are taught, reinforced, and allegedly ‘mastered’ within the first few weeks and then aren’t looked at again until the next school year.

The reason this question keeps surfacing is I’m curious: am I doing my students a disservice by not properly teaching and reinforcing this throughout the year? I mean, we have a lot of standards to focus on and while some of these basic skills are supported in other areas, many do not and are instead considered ‘ongoing standards’. However, I am not necessarily retesting these skills throughout the year. I am nearing the end of my focus on library skills and ready to jump into new exciting STEAM projects and worry is creeping into my mind that I am not doing my job as a media specialist.

How often should I be refreshing students on these skills? Should I have mini-lessons throughout the year to spot check that students are keeping these skills sharpened? This last week, my lesson ended up being a skills check via Kahoot and I was shocked at how little had been retained already from the previous several weeks. How can I possibly feel that this has been a mastered subject?

I will admit, I have been trying a different approach in my lessons this year. I have been trying a more ‘self discovery’ method of teaching in which I provide tasks for students to complete by problem solving . Providing them with information that they have to apply. For example, when discussing parts of the book, after a self-guided introductory lesson on the iPads, students worked in teams to assemble a book from scratch with no guidance. All they had was the information they learned from the intro and discussion with each other.

The students have enjoyed the hands-on approach to things because I’m not ‘talking at them’ quite as much but I am concerned they are missing relevant pieces. In the ‘Build-a-Book’ lesson I referenced, very few of the end products looked the way they were supposed to. So, while fun, was it as effective as it should have been? I do think that the Kahoot skills check did provide me the opportunity to highlight the important information they may have missed but shouldn’t the actual lessons be providing that and not a follow up?

I am excited for the next chapter and phase in my year since I will be delving into STEAM for the first time, but I don’t want to fail my students on the basics. I want to balance everything and provide a thorough but not exhaustive education. So, as I end this post, I want to invite your opinions on the topic. How often do you teach and review these skills. How important do you feel they are in the grand scheme of things?

 

Library Go!!

I can’t wait to share with you my awesome library orientation lesson. This might have been the best thing I have ever come up with and I don’t know that this is an exaggeration.

After seeing the instantaneous success of Pokemon Go!, I wanted to capitalize on that popularity and find a way to incorporate it into my library orientation. I started doing a little thinking and I remembered attending the AAIM 2015 conference and being introduced to a little app called Aurasma and the world of Augmented Reality. At the time, I thought “well isn’t that neat, but how will I ever be able to use it?”. Hello surfaced memory!

So, I started drafting my plan. I wanted to tag objects and sections in the library and overlay them with videos. I wanted to cover fiction, nonfiction, using shelfmarkers, how to find a ‘just right’ book, how to use the Follett Destiny app to check=in and out books, and, of course, an introduction video about the brand new Greenland Pirate librarian – me!

At first, I planned to use videos that I knew where readily available online. I found videos for everything except the how-to video and my introduction and started trying to upload the videos into the Aurasma studio. After watching through the videos a few times I realized the project was beginning to feel impersonal and disjointed. So, instead, I  started fresh and recorded myself. I recorded myself walking through our library and detailing how our fiction and nonfiction sections were arranged, I created my video tutorial on using the iPads for check-out procedures, and used Animoto and a voiceover app to make my intro.

So, once again, I logged into the Aurasma studio and followed the instructions to make my Auras. I created two and then gave them a test run. Nothing. Happened. It wouldn’t trigger. I researched the problem. I tried every trick I could find. Still nada. I was truly freaking out at this point. I wanted this to work so badly. I could see it beautifully in my mind but it was starting to become a huge headache.

Even though everything suggested that the Aurasma studio would be my best option, I gave it a shot on my iPad. I took a deep breath, prayed a small prayer, and gave it a test run. Voila! I had liftoff!

I quickly got to work uploading the videos via my device. And then my first class arrived for my orientation week (which was actually the second week of school). My students loved Library Go! They couldn’t get enough of it. They loved trying to find the videos and enjoyed the method of learning.

I started the week out using Kahoot! to do a check on learning but I found that I was having to cut the playing of Library Go too short and student weren’t being able to finish all the videos. I scrapped that and instead did a quick overview of each video. It wasn’t perfect, but it gave the students more time to participate in the lesson and left a positive experience with my new students and at the end of the day, you just can’t beat that!

 

Setting Sail!

Tomorrow morning I set sail on my journey of being a Greenland Pirate. I have prepared my ship and set a course for a year full of technology and STEAM projects. I am, in my shy way, beginning to get to know the teachers in my school. I am greatly looking forward to getting to work with them! But tomorrow is the real challenge.

The days prior to raising my sails, the water has been a little on the choppy side. After much struggle and tons of contemplation, I prepared an interactive ‘Library Go’ game for my students during the first week that would have them exploring the library and watching videos whenever images I had uploaded to Augment were triggered. Things were working beautifully. With five days to go, I jumped on Amazon and ordered 30 sets of earbuds on Amazon Prime so that students wouldn’t be distracted by 20 other videos playing at the same time. I love Amazon Prime. I mean, who doesn’t adore free 2 shipping. Friday afternoon, since I hadn’t received a shipping update, I checked my account. My headphones were scheduled to arrive on Monday…the 22nd. A week after I was intending to use them!

Furious did not even come close to describing how I felt in that moment. What was I going to do? Three days before classes, I had nothing planned. Every negative thought I have had about my teaching career suddenly exploded in my brain and my mind was so clogged that I couldn’t focus on finding a new path. So I did the only thing I could do. I did nothing. Not a thing. I walked away from the situation and threw my attention on cleaning my house and went to the gym.

It was at the gym that it started to come together. While I focused on form, breathing, and tempo of my sets, a memory started to squirm its way forward. A few months ago, I attended a technology specialist session at the Dawson Co-op and we were looking at different ways to incorporate basic coding skills into lessons. One of the  projects we looked at included creating a double-sided ‘About me’ postcard. While playing with the builder, I commented to one of my colleagues how neat these would be as library cards.

*Insert light bulb above my head*

Here it was. The plan I needed. we will design our own library cards using Haiku Deck. The younger students will be taught step-by-step with lots of modeling while the older students will be given more freedom. They will take selfies on the iPads and build a library card that reflects their interests and preferences.

There is no problem that can’t be resolved or overcome. Clarity comes when your mind is at peace. There are many motivational quotes I could post but the point of them all is simply this…do not give up! Keep going. Find a new path. It is not the end! So, onward I go. A new plan, a new path, and waters (aka nerves) that are much calmer.

Tomorrow will be my day.