Thing 12: Final Reflections & What’s Next?

It is so very hard to believe that another school year is quickly coming to a close - sadness is attached to that idea this year for me and my school community because our beloved building is closing it's doors.  Although this is my fourth year of teaching, it seems like it has been very challenging - most of which is associated with the closing.  We are all trying to remain positive for the students and to keep things as normal as possible in the classroom even though we are all panicking at how we will ever pack all of the things we have "collected" over the years!  However, on the positive side, I do have a job next year and I'll be working with students from grades K - 2 as well as the 3 - 5 that I currently teach.

This year with Cool Tools I tried to focus most of my lessons for grades K - 2 because I have not worked with them outside of my student teaching.  I realize that we are in a time period where kids are very technologically savvy at a very young age but due to their age they often do not practice online safety or make smart online choices.  Based on last year's Cool Tools I learned about the great lessons that Common Sense Media offers and was very pleased with the results I saw with my students this year.  My focus was on the Rings of Responsibility for grades 3 - 5 and was thrilled when teachers asked me what it was about because their students were talking about it in the classroom.  Next year I will be bringing in the lessons for the younger grades in addition to expanding on what I did this year.  My colleagues and I have been trying to implement more of this digital literacy/responsibility into our library programs for the past few years in an effort to prepare our kids to be good digital citizens.  I also really liked DQ World because it teaches the kids these skills in a gaming environment which really appeals to the kids.  So many of them appear bored as you are teaching them these skills and I'm sure most do not see how it relates to them but in the gaming world we will be able to reach them.  In my conversations with students a large majority play games and most had experiences with hacking, bullying and inappropriate language.  I was very pleased at the way most of them handled those situations and hope that I was able to teach them some of those skills.  Next year I am planning on having a "test" class or grade level explore that site in more detail and if successful will expand to other grades the following year.

I think that the resource I was most taken with was Choosito because it looks like it would fill in a gap I have with kids searching for things online.  I currently have an administrator that is not comfortable with the students doing Google searches for information/images due to all of the inappropriate material floating around online.  I do agree with this for the younger children and have advocated to the teachers/students to use Webpath Express in Destiny.  However, most still use Google outside of the library classroom.  I have suggested Kidrex as well but the teachers are too used to just Googling it.  One of the features I love about Webpath Express is the ability to save things in a resource list and then easily convert that information into a citation but one of the downfalls is that you often do not get a lot of choices of answers.  When I was exploring Choosito it seemed that for each of the searches I did - either online or in their library, I found a lot of very relevant material.  I also loved the way you can differentiate the reading levels so that you can find material for all of your students to understand on a similar topic.  Due to the fact that I will see 18 classes next year I am going to be recommending this to my department head and new Principal to see if there is funding available to purchase for my building as a test for future years.  Based on what I found as I was "playing" I really think this could be a good product for us to use to teach students how to search online but in a safe environment.

I also explored the Advocacy "Thing" which just happened to the topic at a recent librarian's meeting sponsored by our SLS office.  It is a very relevant topic in today's school environment where clearly we are needed but due to the fact that we are not mandated by the state we are seeing positions eliminated.  In an effort to promote our importance we have to really find ways to advocate for ourselves and our program - we are not just the keeper of the books, we are that plus sooo much more!  I know that for myself this is not an easy task because I don't like to brag about what I can and have done.  I was advised by a mentor to not go barging into department meetings and tell them how great I am and how I am here to make their lives easier but rather to connect with a few willing teachers.  She suggested that by doing a good job with them and having successful results others will learn of this and approach you to work with them.  I have found a lot of success with this plan but it does take time.  Of course this only addresses teachers views of the position, not other stakeholders.  The question then becomes how do you reach them to let them know about the importance of your program.  I have tried newsletters to families in the past and although successful I found them to be time consuming and found I did not always get them out in a timely manner.  As for my Prinicpal, I always tried to keep him in the loop as to what was going on and often he would pop in to see what we were up to.  He has been a strong supporter of libraries and has encouraged me to really push our department to advocate for ourselves because not all administrators see the need for us other than as a place to send kids so that the classroom teacher can have a planning period.  I am excited to work more closely with my new Principal next year to expand on this.  My colleagues and I are hoping to work on advocating with other stakeholders in the upcoming year as well.

As I mentioned above, I really want to develop a new digital literacy program for my students - in the past part of the problem was access to the computer lab.  Fortunately for me, our district is supposed to be purchasing Chrome books for all students - I will either have the laptop cart exclusively in the library or the kids will be bringing their Chrome books with them.  By having technology readily available I think it will be easier to start and complete projects such as digital literacy.  I also feel that this is an area that is growing in importance and we must do something to help our younger generations.  We are seeing an increase in the use of technology and we have to teach the kids to remain safe online as well as make them responsible for what they are choosing to do online.  I will definitely be sharing this information with my colleagues as we continue to plan our curriculum.

As for other professional development projects that I'll be pursuing I am really not sure at this point.  I do plan on registering for Cool Tools next year and I will also be following up on a Research Ambassadors grant that participated in this year with a 3rd grade teacher.  We learned how to use the Library of Congress website and primary/secondary resources to enhance the curriculum.  I would really like to explore more of what the LOC has to offer so that I can use it as a collaboration tool with my new teachers.  In fact, one of the teachers from my building that will also be transferring to my school has agreed to do this Legacy project with me and my partner will work with her new librarian.  We are planning on doing some skyping with one another as well as a penpal project. I am really excited to be able to connect with them on this.

I really appreciate all of the work that you do Polly in putting together this Cool Tools workshop/professional development class.  I enjoy the self paced learning that fits in to my crazy schedule.  As with many of us, there is never enough time in the day to keep up to date on all of the new tools/trends so this is a perfect way for me to do just that.  This year was particularly challenging due to the changes I will be experiencing next year and I found myself procrastinating on many things.  However, having the the freedom to pick and choose which topics are relevant to me allowed me to complete the course.  For each year that I have participated, I have always used something that I learned from the modules and I look forward to the new things I will be able to incorporate in future lessons.

Thanks again and have a great summer!