The Teaching Shift

Education has been through quite a lot lately but I feel like we are finally turning a corner in the right direction. As a librarian I'm seeing the growth in popularity of Maker Spaces, technology as a productivity tool, and a push towards using logic and common sense to solve problems.
   Maker Spaces are popping up in both public and school libraries across the country either as "special events" or "all the time" activities.   Either way, they are helping kids explore, problem solve and create.  They are learning how to make circuits out of Playdoh, learning to build more than a preconceived object out of Legos, they are practicing fine motor skills, and engineering concepts with 3D pens (harder then they look)and printers.  The best part of it is that there is no "wrong answer".  Only an opportunity to try it a different way to see what works.  This is not a product of "kids can't fail" education but a "let me keep trying till I can do it" education and I love it.
      Technology has made leap and bounds in my school district with the addition of Google Apps for Education(GAFE).  Students and teachers are using technology on a daily basis. The best part is that it isn't just to say we are using technology. It has become a way of life. Teachers are finding it easier to grade papers that were shared through Google Drive/classroom.  The students are held accountable for their work since teachers and parents can see what and when work has been done on a document.  Students are collaboratively working in ways that were never possible, across classrooms, across schools, and even further.  We use Chromebooks that are a more affordable technology that works seamlessly with GAFE and doesn't waste valuable instruction time booting up and crashing.  As a staff we communicate through GAFE which means I can work on something in the evenings when it is easier for  me and my coworker can work after school, yet we are collaborating.  GAFE has been a game changer for us.
    Lastly, and my current addiction has been real life problems and logic working its way into instruction.  Problem Based Learning has taken the traditional project and turned into a more meaningful and appropriate activity.  Students are no longer just regurgitating content back in a pretty format.  They are figuring out what they need to know to solve the problem, finding resources to help solve the problem  and then sharing their ideas.  Many times they even get to put their solutions into practice.  Instead of creating a generation of "this is what you could do", we are creating a generation of this is "what I am doing".  I also have recently began playing around with a  Breakout EDU kit.   Children use content to solve logic puzzles that help to unlock various types of locks, such as word locks, directional locks, and traditional combination locks, all in a specific time frame.  This brings out a student's natural sense of competition and encourages teamwork.  The students have loved it so far  and it is so open ended it could be used for any content as an instructional tool or assessment. It is so rare to find an instructional tool that will work in an English class, just as well as it does in a Math class. If you haven't looked into Breakout EDU yet, I highly recommend it.
   You know what I like best about all of this? It is that in all of these activities students are actively involved.  They are not passively being told content they are discovering content on their own, which we have always known increases learning.  There are so many ways to mix it up and vary these activities that I feel like these tools can be used for quite some time without getting old, of course until the next great idea comes along.

Gifts for Readers

So every reader loves receiving books and, of course, gift cards to a book store(especially local) but sometimes that pile of books on our night stand is more than enough.  Here are a list of ideas for book lovers that aren't actually books.

Gone Reading: mugs, puzzles, reading lights, posters, etc... mainly geared at the classics

Out of print- tshirsts and other items with covers of classic titles.  Cute shirts for a little one on your list too.

Dodoburd list of gifts for Book lovers and avid readers

DFTBA (Don't Forget To Be Awesome) shop

Harry Potter Shop (Warner Bros.)

Percy Jackson on Etsy

Reorganizing the School Library

So after some thought and research, I decided to reorganize my fiction section into genre's.  I know the main argument against this, is that it isn't using Dewey and students wouldn't know how to use other libraries.  However, I'm not sure I buy that. The students are still going to either browse the books on the shelf or look up a title in the catalog and then find it on the shelf.  This is no different then putting picture books, juvenile books, and young adults all in a different section as most general libraries do.
   The process took a little over a year.  First I decided on the genre's.  I choose to do just 8 different genre's so that my sections were decent sizes.  The genre's I use are: Realistic, Sports, Mystery, Horror/Paranormal, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, and Adventure.   I then created my system for marking books. I decided to use an abreviation for each genre, print it on small labels and place them on the existing spine label above the current spine label, So it read  FAN FIC RIO.  I then spent about a year working my way through the library, labeling books. I started with books I knew well, I labeled as they came through the circulation desk, and then eventually just worked myself around the library shelf by shelf.
     This was a great process all by itself because it made me look at each book. Some I weeded but generally I just was able to get to know my collection better. After I had labeled all the books, I waited a little while till it got closer to the end of the year. I then took one shelf at a time and added the genre into each book's record.  My thought was that if a student was looking for a book in the catalog I would just tell them ignore the genre until I had actually moved the books.  It took about 2 weeks too get all the books changed in the system.  I then used Volunteer Spot and signed up parent volunteers for morning and afternoon shifts.  We physically moved the 5,000+ book fiction section  and reorganized it by genre in 3 days.  The overall process, although it was a little drawn out, I felt minimized the disruption to the library and the students.
   VERDICT:  So now it is 1 month and 1/2 into the school year and I love it.  The students are finding books easier. Books that had never been checked out, are being checked out.  Students are also discussing the genre's and trying to decide if they agree with the genre I chose.  I am tracking my circulation statistics this year so I am hoping to see them rise but unfortunately there are always other factors that effect circulation, so we'll see.
    WHAT I'D DO DIFFERENTLY:   I would have used the clear color labels to color code the sections instead of adding the additional abbreviation. I feel like this would have been easier and not as messy on the book spine. It also would have allowed me to quickly see if a book was misshelved. 
   

Summer Reading

After a long cold winter summer is finally just around the corner. Encouraging summer reading can be more difficult for some than others. However, it is essential to continue to fight the good fight. Consider these fun family activities centered on reading.

• Book-themed nights- After reading a book, plan to see the movie based of it or have a meal around it. For example, The Giver by Lois Lowery and The Maze Runner by James Dashner are coming to the movies soon.

• Listen to an Audio Book while driving or flying to your vacation destination. Audiobooks can now be downloaded through FCPS’s Axis360 or the public library.

• Let your child pick out a book that you have to read too and discuss the themes of the book and why it appeals to young adults

• Pick a theme and have everyone in the family read a book on that theme. This could be done with nonfiction and fiction.

• Check out graphic novels. If you haven’t tried a graphic novel yet, you should. There are some great graphic novels for young adults that are not your typical “comic book”. Try Smile by Raina Telegemeier or Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol.

There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found the right book.

—Frank Serafini

Foreign Language project

Profile Penalty

Check out this video produced by Netsmartz on what to think about when creating your profile on social media sites.

Spring Book Fair