The Scanner SIGLIB Newsletter Volume 5, Number 2
Spring Issue March 2014
FEATURING
Teaching and Learning
ISTE’s Special Interest Group of Media Specialists (SIGMS) has been rebranded to Special Interest Group of Librarians: SIGLIB. SIGLIB provides a community for school library media specialists to gather and learn about technologies that improve the operation and programs of the
school library media center, increase access to information and create a more effective and efficient teaching and learning environment.
In this issue: Message from SIGLIB President
2
Message from SIGLIB PD Chair
4
Digital Citizenship All Year Long Lesley Cano
5
Student Technology Assist Team Chad McGowan, M.Ed
7
Create Your Own Match.com Cathy Jo Nelson
10
Flipping the Elementary 15 Classroom Joanne Koukoulas
Message From SIGLIB President Tiffany Whitehead SIGLIB President
SIGLIB Members;
great new ideas!
After such a cold and snowy winter for so So far this school year, our SIG has many, I know that we are all looking
hosted some wonderful professional
forward to spring and the arrival of
development opportunities, thanks to our
warmer weather (and the final stretch of
talented PD Chair, Elissa Malespina. From
the school year)! I know that you will find
gaming to makerspaces to transmedia
some great
storytelling, we’ve
resources to try
had some valuable
and share in this
webinars already
‘Teaching &
this year. The
Learning’ issue of
archives can be
The Scanner.
viewed on our wiki. Watch the listserv for upcoming professional development
Our SIG is celebrating the spring with
opportunities.
March Madness discussions on Facebook. If you are not a member of our The judging of our SIGLIB Technology SIGLIB Facebook group, make sure to join Innovation Award is currently underway. I and participate in the rich discussions
can’t wait to share with all of you the
and sharing that take place within the
impressive collaborative projects that are
group. This is a great way to connect with taking place in primary and secondary other librarians and discover some
libraries around the country! A special
thanks to our SIGLIB Communications
coming through the listserv as our
Chair, Jenn Hanson, for organizing our
President-Elect, Donna Macdonald,
judging team.
coordinates our SIGLIB Playground. We
hope to see many of you at the It’s also that time of year where
conference this year in Atlanta!
conference planning is really starting to gear up. I’m very excited to share that our It’s an honor to serve all of you this year annual SIGLIB Breakfast and Keynote
as your SIGLIB president. Our great
speaker will be Jennifer LaGarde! We also leadership team makes this a great have an excellent SIGLIB Forum panel
experience for me every step of the way!
lined up with Nikki Robertson, Elissa
Our SIG is successful because of the
Malespina, and Michelle Cooper, who will volunteers that make things happen – talk about marketing your library program. from webinars to idea-sharing through our social media outlets. Please consider Watch for volunteer opportunities
joining us there!
SIGLIB Professional Development Opportunities Elissa Malespina SIGLIB Professional Development Chair Join SIGLIB this week for two exciting
Princeton, NJ, will discuss designing and
professional development opportunities!
creating a Learning Commons.
First up: March Google+ Hangout & Twitter
Check out the SIGLIB wiki for links posted
Chat—The Learning Commons: Inspiration &
fifteen minutes prior to the hangout. If you
Implementation
miss the live event, resources for this and all past webinars will be posted on the wiki.
This Wednesday, March 19th,
You can also follow #siglib on
at 8 p.m. EST | 7:00 CT |
Twitter to participate in the
6:00 MT | 5:00 PT
live chat. Follow @istesiglib anytime to keep up to date!
The Learning Commons at John Witherspoon Middle
Second opportunity: March
School opened in September
Madness
2013. Six months earlier it had been a gymnasium! This
*Images found at ISTE sites
Richard Snyder, teacher
speedy transformation from gym to Learning
librarian from Washington, poses the
Commons took intensive collaborative effort
question "What are your favorite tech tools?"
between supportive administrators, district technology staff, and adventurous teachers
Go to our Facebook page, click ’Like’ and
and students. Walk through the process from participate! Each week a new topic will be
conception to implementation, including the
posted and all commenters will be entered
inspiration taken from other amazing library
into a drawing for a free ISTE book.
facilities and programs around the world. Carolyn Bailey, the Library Media Specialist at One winner each week! John Witherspoon Middle School in
Digital Citizenship All Year Long Lesley Cano Arlington ISD Digital citizenship is one of the most important
practicing digital citizenship skills.
skills a school librarian can teach with students becoming digitally connected at increasingly
There are many other ways school librarians can
younger ages. School librarians play an integral
promote digital citizenship throughout the year,
role in teaching digital citizenship
including:
due to increased technology
integration in the library and limited
lessons year round so students feel
resources of time and training for
comfortable using technology and
classroom teachers.
accessing the internet. This is
Integrate technology into library
especially important if students don’t have While it can be tempting to think of digital
internet access at home.
citizenship as a one-time library lesson at the beginning of the school year, it is more effective
Give students plenty of opportunities
to integrate digital citizenship
throughout the year to
into library lessons all year long
collaborate digitally. Digital
as a part of what is already
citizenship, like other skills, gets
being taught. Integrating digital
better with practice.
citizenship into the curriculum also ensures the lesson is more
Don’t scare students into
meaningful for students.
being good digital citizens. Instead, show students the positive aspects
A great way to incorporate digital citizenship into
of digital citizenship.
a variety of lessons is to utilize a social learning platform, such as Edmodo or Kidblog. These provide students with multiple opportunities to digitally collaborate with peers while
Identify students who may need extra guidance with digital citizenship. Provide sessions for parents on how they can help
students be good digital citizens at home. When librarians integrate digital citizenship
Be a good role model. Students notice
into library lessons and activities, students
when teachers don’t practice what they
will be immersed in a culture of digital
preach. Provide professional
citizenship. A strong presence of digital
development for teachers so they
citizenship all year long increases the
become good
possibility that
role models
students,
and are
regardless of
empowered to
grade level, will
teach digital citizenship.
make positive digital citizenship choices.
Avoid being judgmental. You may not
Resources:
agree with a student’s use of social media (especially younger ones), but view Common Sense Media it as an opportunity to have a discussion
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/
about good digital citizenship.
Get Net Wise http://getnetwise.org/
Allow students to feel comfortable
iKeepSafe
sharing their digital citizenship
http://www.ikeepsafe.org/
experiences, both positive and negative.
Stay Safe Online http://staysafeonline.org/
Add digital citizenship resources and information to library websites, newsletters and blogs.
Sponsor an event or contest where students create videos or presentations on digital citizenship and present them to students, faculty, and parents.
Student Technology Assist Team Chad McGowan, M.Ed. Ashland High School
The Student Technology Assist Team (STAT) is a
while fulfilling other teaching duties. The students
new model for the classic student-run helpdesk.
in the course have a range of technological skills
This course was developed at Ashland High
from relative newbies to experienced veterans.
School based on inspiration from Burlington High The common element is that participating School. STAT
students are able to
provides an
self-motivate.
authentic and
Because there are
effective computer
only fifteen slots
science education to
available for this
our students and a
course, the teachers,
service to our high
administration, and
school community.
the guidance
In this small course,
department work
students use intrinsic motivation, peers, and the
together to identify the students who might best
Internet to learn the skills needed to be effective
fit this honors program.
technology troubleshooters. Through this course, students are also developing leadership and
There are three key goals for the students who
presentation skills, and a deep introduction to
enter STAT:
computer programming.
They will learn how to troubleshoot a wide range of technology issues
The STAT course is spread out over five periods
of our seven-period rotation. Each period, two or three students are present in the class and ready to help troubleshoot issues the moment a ticket comes into the helpdesk. The teacher serves in a true ‘guide on the side’ model Images supplied by author.
They will develop foundational skills and an appreciation of programming
They will develop confidence as leaders and presenters through writing and presenting to audiences throughout the year
What helps this course stand out from
students to help them meet their goals.
other student helpdesk programs is the independent project. Instead of solely focusing
The skills students develop in the independent
on incoming helpdesk tickets, which could be
project entrusts our children to motivate
submitted hours apart, the students are
themselves to learn. By opening the door and
independently engaged in studying a computer
getting out of the way, the teacher cultivates an
programming language of their choice. At first,
educational space reflective of best practices for
this might appear to be a risky venture
independent learning. The students turn to the
considering the lack of student prior knowledge
teacher as only one of many resources in the
and the range of languages
room, and may be just as
available. Yet, it works. In
likely to rely on the Internet,
the first few weeks of the
peers, and books. It is up to
course, students engage in
the teacher to create this
exploring computer
dynamic and have the
programming and the
confidence to understand
various languages they can
that it is okay not to know
access. Slowly, over the first
everything.
month, with teacher guidance and the input of
their peers, each student chooses a topic of
To conclude the course, the students make
interest and discusses with the teacher how and public presentations. The goal is to have each why they plan to pursue this field of study.
student practice the art of presenting, while also demonstrating an understanding of the gains
It is important to note the teacher does not need they have made in the course. The students are to be an expert in any of the topics the students
excited about their own learning and want to
choose to study. Instead, the teacher explains to share the experience with others. Invited to
students that they are responsible for their
attend are parents, members of the school
learning and discovery. The teacher is
committee, local parent groups, and staff from
responsible for helping to set goals, maintaining the district. The students present for ten minutes a functional learning environment, providing appropriate resources, and working with
each and then answer questions.
The first time we did this the students
STAT has had an impact throughout the
were impressive. They spoke eloquently about
school. Teachers are able to continue with
their projects, and demonstrated the amazing
work and lessons as designed due to the
growth they had achieved. One student, Mario, speed of our response. The district IT explained how he was using the programming
department has more time to manage more
to support his own small business. Another
complex tasks. The student participants in
student, Stephanie, explained how she had
STAT gain new found confidence in working
very little experience
with technology
with computer
and in interacting
science prior to the
with teachers.
course and now felt confident enough to
This course is
consider pursuing it
designed in such a
in college. Each
way that it could
student had a story
be run by teachers
to tell.
with various
Giving these
experiences.
presentations led to
Those with a
additional
commitment to
opportunities for the class. Once the
student learning, a touch of computer know-
community saw the impact of this program
how, and belief in the value of independence
through the student presentations, they
will be ready to guide a similar course of
wanted us to share with more people. Local
students at the middle or high school level.
access cable did a segment on our course and the school committee asked STAT to present at Chad McGowan, M.Ed. is a high school
their televised monthly meeting.
computer arts teacher and technology integration specialist. If you have questions,
After several independent student projects,
please feel free to email him at
dozens of blog entries, and over 150 helpdesk cmcgowan@ashland.k12.ma.us. You can also requests completed this year alone, it is clear that this program is ready to continue.
view the class blog at www.ashlandtech.org.
Create Your Own ‘Match.com’ for Students and Books: Resources for matching your students to books Cathy Jo Nelson Dorman High School n Roebuck, SC
What should I read next?
Always looking for new ideas
A natural part of being a high-school librarian is
I read, with a great deal of interest, a blog post
being able to match books to students when
by a fellow Alabama high-school librarian Nikki
they come asking. All of us feel adequate in
D. Robertson about a “book-shopping” activity
making recommendations when it comes to
she worked on with a class or two in her school.
students who read the middle-of-the-road
popular young adult (YA) books.
I had heard of book shopping before but hadn’t really given it a lot of thought. Book shopping
I have been called the “techie” librarian, which
involves creating profiles of students by
is a nice way to say I’m not necessarily the one
collecting data regarding their interests,
who could help readers looking for books. I took selecting three or more titles related to those the hint — beef up on your YA lit skills and be
interests, and then allowing them to choose, or
able to talk the talk; walk the walk.
shop, from the titles you have selected. When I saw some pictures Nikki had shared, I was
In recent years, I have increased my reading and hooked. Robertson works in a high school focused on noticing readers and their
similar in size to mine (we have 2,400 students
interests. It has helped. More students are
in grades 10-12). This helped me to decide to
approaching me and asking for help in finding a give this activity a try. book. Collaboration They now say things such as, “I loved that last
With my collaborating teacher, I worked out a
book you suggested, so help me find another” or basic schedule and plan: “That book was so awesome; please tell me there is a sequel.” Self-esteem restored!
A day in class for students to complete a profile on index cards; two days to use their profiles to match three book choices for
*Images supplied by author
each student
digitally created content (book trailer or
Book checkout day
book poster) added to Destiny Quest
Two to three weeks to read
A day to visit class to talk about creating Monumental Order! reviews, using Destiny Quest; image
After hammering down a timeline of
citations in MLA Format; and Animoto or calendar dates, my collaborating teacher
PosterMyWall as
gave blank index
book trailer or
cards to the students.
book poster
On the index cards,
project
students provided
A day for students
the following
to visit the library
information:
to word process,
Name:
and get their book
Last book read:
reviews into their
Favorite book(s):
book’s record in
Favorite Movie(s):
Destiny Quest
Favorite TV show(s):
A day for students
Favorite Video game
to visit the library
(s):
to search for and cite images they plan
Hobbies and interests:
to use in a book trailer or book poster
A day for students to visit the library to
Yes, we profiled them
build either a book trailer or a book
I received the index cards during first block
poster
the next morning. That gave two days to
Two to three days for students to visit
match a few book choices to each student
the library in small groups to finish,
based on his or her profile.
tweak, modify, or get additional help in small groups
Using the suggestions of my intern and a co
Final day for class presentations. By the -librarian, I began using our Destiny Quest, presentation day, I will have their *Image supplied by author from her Flickr stream
the website GoodReads, and Ebscohost’s
Novelist Plus to match books to students’ student based on his or her profile. shared profiles. Pulling and Packaging I started during the school day, but the business I printed our resource list and engaged my two of the library: classes, drop-ins, and the usual
first-block student workers with a monumental
lunch and after-school visitors interrupted me.
task. They had to pull all the listed books, then
So, that evening at home I was busily matching
use my really messy, crazy notes to make stacks
students to books, making first a written list,
of books.
student by student, and at the same time making a resource list in Destiny.
mentioned resources did not fit those few students who had different interests or didn’t meet a standard type of book, I worked even harder, turning to
Wikipedia to learn about favorite movies and video games listed.
Image by Cathy Jo Nelson ;available on her flickr stream
When the above-
It took the entire evening but I
At first some stacks had five and six books, but I reviewed both the index cards and book stacks, and narrowed the selection to three books per student. My student workers doublewrapped each set with its index card using rubber bands. I printed cute name tags, and we tied the books with a ribbon and a tag. It took one more 90-minute block
finalized my resource list in Destiny! I was
and a student helper to finish “wrapping” the
determined to return to school the next day
sets and preparing them for the class. They
ready to pull the books as I didn’t want to
were so cute! I was determined that the
postpone the students’ opportunity to have
appearance of the books be attractive with the
personalized selections.
special touch of a ribbon/bow, as I felt it would
I was able to find at least three books for each
show my students that I really cared about
matching their interests to books.
account for both, which meant students could create videos longer than 30-seconds, and at
Class Visit
PosterMywall, students used the class
Because we had a full house in the library, I
project, keeping all the posters in one place.
decided to haul the personalized sets to my
The Animoto videos and PMW posters were
collaborating teacher’s class. In the class I
downloaded and then stored in my
introduced our upcoming project in detail,
GoogleApps Drive school account. These were
shared some examples of student book
shared so that I could put an accessible link
trailers and posters, and then presented each in the book’s Destiny record. student his or her personally selected
The final products
book stack.
Follow these links to samples of the records;
The response was
read the review and
tremendous. After using
scroll down to find links
my laptop to checkout
to trailers or posters:
their chosen books, I shared the books that were some of my
My own examples for the class: Shiver
personal favorites with students.
Student Example - The Fault in Our Stars by John Green by C. Burgess (book poster)
I returned to the library and was immediately
surprised by about five students who came to trade their originally checked-out books with
Student Example - You by Charles Benoit by S. Morrow (book trailer)
those I had quickly book-talked.
Student Example - Caught Up in the Drama by ReShonda Tate Billingsley by R. Mallory (book trailer)
Next Phase … The class spent three full days in the library
Student Example - King of the Screwups by K.L. Going by B. Still (book poster)
writing reviews and creating their book trailers using Animoto or book posters using
My students used Destiny Quest to add their
PosterMyWall (PMW). I have an educator
reviews and ratings. I edited records to add
*Images taken from Destiny Quest website
links to their poster or trailer. The
About the Author:
students’ work has enhanced the record of the
Cathy Jo Nelson is a teacher librarian at Dorman
book in Destiny and, hopefully, will make other
High School of Spartanburg School District 6
students want to read them because of the
located in Roebuck, SC. She is a 28-year-
trailer or poster.
veteran educator who is active in local, state, and national organizations. She currently serves
We are in the midst of doing this same project
as the Regional Director for the South Carolina
with a different class , and it was nice to be able Association of School Librarians and as a to show them what will be done with their work.
committee member for AASL’s Best Websites for
The students are equally excited to know their
Teaching and Learning.
work is featured for a worldwide audience. Best of all, I think some students have decided that
Nelson authors her own blog at http://
once again, they like to read!
blog.cathyjonelson.com and can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/
(A slideshow of pics from this post can be found cathyjonelson and Twitter https://twitter.com/ here. The individual pictures are here.)
cathyjo where she networks with other teacher librarians.
Flipping the Elementary Library with GoogleApps for Research Joanne Koukoulas School Library Media Specialist Port Washington Schools
How it began
research. Whether the links I provided
For the first time, students in my
them sent them to a video, database,
elementary school library have been
eBook or other digital resource, they
utilizing Google Apps for research
needed to decide where they could find
projects. Initially, students were very
the best information for their needs. I
excited about using a new form of
was able to leave comments remotely,
technology, but had to overcome the
and help direct any students who found
initial obstacles of learning how to log
locating information challenging. This
on and get to their Google Drives. Then
commenting feature was a wonderful
they began learning how to view, create,
way to make differentiated instruction
and share documents. Next came the integration transparent and effective. of Big6 research strategies. Soon students were taking the plunge and The key to flipping the library classroom was
independently locating information. Their sense
creating
of
resource lists
independence
for each project.
helped harness
Students were
their thirst for
able to go to the
finding
resource lists
information to
for their project,
fit their
use Big6
individual and
strategies to
group needs.
select the best sources, and extract relevant information digitally to optimize their
Image found at: http://www.miscositas.com/flipped.html
When I was approached by several of my students who wanted to continue working on
their research at home, I was absolutely
Students began collaborating naturally, helping
ecstatic; flipping the library classroom was
each other complete tasks as a team and
natural for them. Many times during library
promote the common goal of the project
research, students asked for
outcome. Some of the students
their usernames and
who were initially telling me
passwords so they could
they were “not so great at using
continue working at home ;
technology,” pleasantly
some already memorized them!
surprised themselves and were very eager to learn how to use
Fostering Collaboration and
more features in Google Apps.
Independence
They enjoyed looking for
Students were highly motivated
pictures to include in their work
and engaged to work in groups
and easily learned the ideology
to co-write documents and
of creating a works cited
presentations during their
section of their presentations
research. They liked being able
from school and home.
to decide how they would present the information
using the rubric I had given them. They
Once students completed their
were controlling their outcomes and
projects, it was time to integrate the
when it came to reviewing and
knowledge they obtained to get a better
evaluating their work, they were not
understanding as to why animal
just thinking about completing tasks,
adaptations are key factors to their
but went back to check if they had
survival in their habitat/ecosystem.
followed the rubric to the best of their
They utilized Google Forms to gather
ability. If they had a question they were the ones
and summarize key similarities and differences
who came to me asking, “Could you come and
among the animals they chose to study.
see my animal project?” thus fostering independence.
It’s been uphill from the start and the students are now able to research, be creative and
*Images supplied by author
continue learning at home too. They are
Studies at the Palmer School of Library and
active participants in constructing new
Information Science, Brookville, New York.
knowledge and I have the opportunity to
Her current research interests include
facilitate instruction using the CCLS with
elementary student’s research strategies
technology integration in a new way!
with technology focus. You can find her:
A bit about Joanne
jkoukoulas@gmail.com
Joanne Koukoulas is a school library media South Salem Virtual Library specialist in South Salem Elementary
Twitter Joanne Koukoulas
School, Port
Animals of North America
Washington, New York.
www.flippedlearning.org
She is also a doctoral
www.flippedclassroom.org
student of Information
NOTE OF CAUTION Free online tools are also accessed by people who may post inappropriate things. Please make sure you are comfortable with the content of any site you plan to use with students. SIGLIB Newsletter Committee
Image by suzievesper on Flickr.com
Find us on-line: sigms.iste.wikispaces.net/
Do you have something to share? Would you like to write an article for the newsletter?
SIGLIB Newsletter Committee
Shelley Friesen Katie Kotynski Larnette Snow Mary Carole Strother Jacqueline Liesch Elaine Lawrence
Enter your proposal in the Google form: http://goo.gl/rdC4m
Only accepted proposals will be contacted. Submit as many proposals as you wish, but be prepared to write them all!
Next Edition:
Email SIGMS newsletter: sigms.newsletter@gmail.com
Pre-Conference Issue: June 2014 Professional Development
SIGLIB Executive Committee Members Tiffany Whitehead President Teacher-Librarian Central Middle School Greenwell Springs, LA librariantiff@gmail.com Donna MacDonald President-Elect Teacher Librarian Orchard School South Burlington, VT Jennifer Hanson Communications Chair Primary Source Brighton, MA jennhanson9@gmail.com
Elissa Malespina Professional Development Chair School Librarian South Orange, NJ emalespina@gmail.com Maureen Sanders Brunner Past-President Instructor and Doctoral Student Pike High School New Augusta, IN maureenbrunner@me.com