Week 3 Reading Reflection

My mentor teacher has just signed-up for Twitter and is now following Joyce Valenza.  Everyday she tells me something extremely informative and pertinent to our day-to-day duties and activities in the school media center that Ms. Valenza has just tweeted.  So- I've decided to go ALL "Valenza" on this week's readings so that I have something to contribute to the conversation.  A high school teacher-librarian, Joyce Valenza was also the techlife@school columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer for ten years, providing tips for students, teachers, and librarians on using techno-gadgets, information literacy skills, and Web 2.0 tools. (Source: http://joyce-valenza.wikispaces.com/Who+Is+Joyce+Valenza%3F).

These articles, in my view, all tie together.  As a teacher-librarian I can help teachers create a flipped classroom, through the creation of a virtual library that uses social media to get the instruction to students.  In Valenza's article "The Flipping Librarian", she suggests that the teacher-librarian is perfectly poised to guide teachers in the quest to "flip" their classroom instruction.  As the article describes, a flipped classroom allows for active learning in the classroom- NOT just a lecture.  The lecture is assigned by teacher to be watched by students outside of class time, and what would be considered traditional "homework" is tackled during class time.  A flipped classroom allows for differentiation- faster learners may only need to review the "lecture" once, but slower learners can review the "lecture" again and again as needed.  Because students have more background knowledge of the lesson an increase in discussion promotes more collaborative and hands-on learning in the classroom where students can apply knowledge learned and not just be presented with it.  Proof of the success of the flipped classroom is collected through an ongoing survey by "Flipped Learning Network"- advantages include: improved job satisfaction for teachers, improved student test scores, and improved student attitudes.  I have discussed the flipped classroom model in my blog before, but I did not realize how valuable a resource a Media Specialist could be in presenting, assisting, and promoting the flipped model in schools.  The teacher-librarian can introduce the practice to teachers, help teachers learn how to create their own instructional content (screencasts anyone?), and act as a content curator to allow ease of access (now and in the future) to teacher created content and resultant student work.  I am hopeful that I can help with this endeavor.  I know that for some learners, hands-on help in the classroom with knowledge building would help students overcome major hurdles in their learning curves.


Despite its "age" Valenza's article, "6 Ways: K-12 LIBRARIANS CAN TEACH SOCIAL MEDIA" s spot on its description of the "new" teacher-librarian as the chief information officer of the school.  Valenza points out that major shifts in the landscape of communication and information make this "the best time in history to be a teacher-librarian".  I totally agree, there are so many exciting products, tools, and services to share everyday with teachers and students- and it is my job to make sure that everyone in my building (through my instruction and my virtual library) will be able to "effectively interact with information and leverage it to create and share and make a difference in the community and beyond".  It is a tall order to keep up with all that is new and shiny, but the most important thing to convey to my learners (as digital citizens) is that they should never stop learning and sharing with others what they have learned.

Everyone thinks that they already know the best way to search the Internet, but that can NEVER be the case, because the Internet changes everyday.  The job for the teacher-librarian is to be the "guide" for navigating the Internet- and when the teacher-librarian cannot be there than "The Virtual Library" as Valenza describes should be there in the teacher-librarian's stead.  An effective virtual library can direct new learners to new knowledge while helping expert learners discover their own pathways to new knowledge.  What are virtual libraries?  They are simply pathfinders (designed by the teacher-librarian for specific learner communities) that are accessible through the library's home page allowing for independent instruction, as well as assistive instruction.  I have worked with a few "Virtual Libraries" and have found some more effective than others.  There are problems with maintaining a virtual library.  The first issue is that it takes time to create and maintain an effective site- time that most teacher-librarians do not have.  Secondly, access to resources is constantly changing as free resources come and go- or become sponsored by inappropriate ads, and districts stop paying for valuable resources like online encyclopedias.  This situation is frustrating, but it should not deter the teacher-librarian from making every effort to maintain a virtual library that can provide its learners with quality resources.

Info- Lit Articles chosen:

Valenza, Joyce Kasman. "The Flipping Librarian." Teacher Librarian 40.2 (2012): 22-5. ProQuest Research Library; ProQuest Technology Collection. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Valenza, Joyce Kasman. "The Virtual Library." Educational Leadership 63.4 (2006): 54-59. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Valenza, Joyce. "6 Ways: K-12 LIBRARIANS CAN TEACH SOCIAL MEDIA." Tech & Learning 30.3 (2009): 30,30,32,34,36.ProQuest Research Library; ProQuest Technology Collection. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Week 2 Class Reflection

Class, Class, Classidy, Class...

Coincidentally, I went to a Professional Development day for Ann Arbor Public School teachers today and the main focus of the morning was effective instruction- not only in the classroom, but promoting consistent methods techniques throughout a school building.  This morning's session was a course wrap-up for everything we have discussed in SI 643 so far. The speaker spoke of growth (flexible) mindsets vs. fixed mindsets, experts and novices (inclusive of students and teachers), and effective instructional design.

My main takeaway from the seminar this morning, was also the same guiding principle I took from this week's lecture- finding a way to present consistency to my students through establishing classroom (or learning) norms that promote student achievement.  As we found through our exploration of Google Reader screencast tutorials- there is no standard and no consistency for what instructors consider necessary to inform learners.  I think part of this comes from the teacher not understanding who they are teaching- especially in a screencast just uploaded to YouTube in hopes that someone might find it.  The information presented can be what the teacher thinks the students should learn and not what the students want to learn.  The teacher also does not know what knowledge the learner already possesses.

This is where knowing your learner and the ADDIE cycle comes into play.  My hope as a school librarian is to implement the ADDIE cycle so that my lessons are focused on the learners' needs.  In past coursework, I have learned that this is referred to as "Backward Design".  Before deciding what you WANT to teach, you have determine what your learners need to be able to accomplish and THEN design the lesson accordingly.  Though the ADDIE cycle is a continuum, I plan to start planning my lessons with the "ASSESS NEEDS" and  "ANALYZE LEARNERS" components before I "IDENTIFY CONTENT" for my lesson.  Initially these steps will be the most difficult for me to complete, but hopefully, as I gain knowledge of my students these steps will become easier to accomplish.

Week 2 Reading Reflection

If we build it...

I have Jing somewhere… hanging out on my computer, but I haven’t seen that yellow dot in a while.  I should go look for it.  I downloaded it after hearing some SLM’s from last year talking about it, but I never used it- and really was never quite sure what it did.  Technology is amazing if you know how to use it!  Oh yeah, that is the whole point of the week’s readings.  Griffis’ article reminded me how much I enjoy learning from screencast tutorials.  I find it extremely helpful when a U of M librarian sends me a captured screenshot in an “Ask A Librarian” chat, but I personally feel that they are not for everyone.  Right away I think of how much trouble my elderly parents would have following a webinar with multiple screencast images.  When I try to explain something to them I can move my little cursor around like crazy, but usually end up just pointing my finger at the screen.  I’m finding this happens a lot (for some students more than others) in the classroom as well.  I can repeat until I’m blue in face, “Look at the big screen… see where the ‘magic hand’ is?”, but until I physically point with my finger on a confused student’s individual monitor, her eyes focused only on where she is, she has no concept of the place I am referring to.  Every learner is different- and before we create a screencast tutorial, we should be knowledgeable of the intended audience, and focus the instruction (speed, visual attributes, style, content, etc.) to their specific needs.

What first struck me in the Yelinek reading was the comment about explicit versus implicit learning of software.  Again, I think the age of the learner plays a huge part in the instructional librarian’s approached to teaching.  Younger students have no problem diving into a lesson about a topic that utilizes a piece of unknown software as a means to create a product responding to the larger theme, what is important is to continue this implicit learning with the software in order to develop a further understanding of it.  The article brings up the critical problem of being able to provide differential learning experiences in one tutorial- this is the same problem experienced in the classroom.  How can one lesson cater to both the novice and the expert?  What prior knowledge does one learner bring to a lesson that other learners do not possess and how does the teacher (or instructional method) accommodate varying levels of expertise?  The answer in this article was simple- chunking: provide individual lessons that add up to create the whole lesson.  Learners can then decide which parts of the tutorial they need to learn and which they can pass over.  Lessons become short, self-contained modules that can be taken in any order (or even not at all).  In thinking about how this method could be used in the classroom, I can see developing “chunking” centers- and allowing students to join in on lessons based on what they need to learn and moving on to another “chunking” center when they become competent in the task.    This might be a successful way to introduce new software into the curriculum without loosing leaners along the way- either because they can’t keep up or have lost interest because they already know how to use it.

In the Johnston study, a literature review found that a face-face learning session with an instructional librarian increases student retention, but an online learning scenario also has its benefits- 24-hour availability and online access to materials.  Again, I think the preferred learning style depends on the learners, available resources, and time.  The study proposes that a combination of these instructional methods is the most effective.  This would give the students the ability to ask questions of a real person (somewhere) while moving along at their own pace.  The greatest benefit of an online tutorial is that it can provide greater access to more learners, which may result in formally reluctant learners coming to the source of the tutorial for personal assistance.  If we build it (and they find it worthwhile and want to learn more about it) they will come.

The One Shot Workshop reading is a great resource for planning and designing effective instructional workshops with purpose and intent for learning. I found the breakdowns of the four different types of workshop designs (individual, individual w/sounding board, with a partner, or as part of a team) especially helpful, because I can never expect to create every lesson plan on my own and this resource gives me ideas, suggestions, and methods to make collaborative lesson planning more effective.  I think the UMSI staff that creates the SI 501 groups must have read the "Building the Team" section.

Readings

“Building Pathfinders with Free Screen Capture Tools”

by Patrick Griffis

“Is an Online Learning Module and Effective Way to Develop Information Literacy Skills?”

by Nicole Johnston

“Creating the One-Shot Library Workshop: A Step-By-Step Guide”

by Jerilyn R. Veldof

http://books.google.com/books?id=5iTc-j-FfhUC&lpg=PP1&ots=9kpElO1Da5&dq=google+books+one+shot+workshop&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

“Captivate MenuBuilder: Creating an Online Tutorial for Teaching Software”

by Kathryn Yelinek, et al

Week 1 Class Reflection

A library without books?  Melvil could have dealt with it.

Why do people keep asking me what will happen to libraries when they don’t have books?  Books will never actually disappear; just their need physical space on the shelf will change.  As long as society has the desire to disseminate information, libraries as a place (or if you must) a concept will exist.  The relevancy of libraries remains intact.  It is the library’s goal to provide information and instruction to its patrons.  These services can be adapted into many forms.  As Kristin pointed out with her example of the “drawer library” in Minnesota the Wall Street Journal charges that “New Library Technologies Dispense With Librarians”, I disagree.  If a community is forced to close an existing library facility with a “drawer library”, then yes, this new technology is taking the place of many librarians face-to-face contact with patrons.  BUT someone still needs to maintain the catalog… design and upkeep the library’s digital interface… maintain and improve the collection… retrieve and shelve books from a library facility somewhere… and deliver and collect books from the drawer facility.  All of these duties (some by library clerks) are necessary to maintain even a drawer library.  I believe that new technologies are not dispensing with librarians per say, but they ARE eliminating important connections between libraries and their patrons.  THAT is a problem.

This is where Melvil enters the fray.

Online catalogs may preclude the need for a large percentage of patron/librarian interactions, but library instruction is still an important component of a library’s mission and should not be forgotten in the up swell of emotion in response to the possibility of eBooks eliminating beloved print books from the shelves.  According to Kristin’s lecture, Melvil Dewey exposed that libraries should serve as resources for continuing education.   That is where I think the future of libraries is- as the increasing amount of library instruction job postings reveal.

NPR reported this week on a library without books in Texas  and yes, it is eerily similar to an Apple store, but I say, “What’s wrong with that?”  Apple stores are certainly a consumer analyst’s dream, but they are not just a facility to buy the latest iProduct- they are dripping with “instructional librarians”!  Ever talk with a Genius?  I have, and I must say I always feel better about my abilities to interface with my iProducts afterwards.  Can’t the library do this for its patrons?  Why not?  Many of the most-loved libraries do provide needed instructional services, suggested by and heavily attended by their patrons.  Melvil would be proud.

Librarians need to re-invent themselves as teachers to maintain the all-important face-to-face contact with patrons.  This instructional contact does not always have to be through personal contact though, it also occurs through webinars and podcasts.  Just like an Apple Genius, a librarian should be that font of information that patrons go to when they need help, when they want to learn more, and when they want to share knowledge with a community of learners.  I’m not worried about libraries without books… libraries have so many resources to offer- WE just have to offer them or somebody else will.  Just don’t make me wear that ugly shirt- I look horrible in royal blue;)

Week 1 Reading Reflection

The Goal is NOT to Cram for the Exam

I am most intrique by the idea of formative assessments.  My elementary and secondary schooling experience was a while ago, but I DO remember the end-of-the-week, end-of-the-unit, end-of-the-semester, and end-of-the-year summative assessments.  My grades were reported based on these summative assessments that I only studied for on the night before the test, trying frantically to remember everything thing I learned- only to be immediately forgotten the moment I filled in the last bubble with my #2 pencil.  I suppose my daily homework assignments were formative assessments, but these assignments to be done at home were useless to me if I did not understand the content presented to me in class.  My homework might have been checked and graded, but it was rarely reviewed to assist me with concepts I might not have understood... and the next time I saw the information was usually on the summative assessment.  

Today my children's teachers are starting to "flip" lessons in the upper grades.  The student's "homework" is to watch a recorded lesson at home (sometime it is the teacher, but usually it is a YouTube video) and then class time is spent working on what once was considered "homework".  More common in math classes, this technique allows students and teachers to work through problems together, giving every student the opportunity to master the lesson in class with assistance from the teacher, as well as classmates.  What once was homework is now a formative assessment.  I like this idea.

Formative assessments are easily adapted to library instruction.  A lesson plan can be built around the in-class creation of a product.  The effective instructional librarian doesn't just stand in front of the class lecturing on how to create a short video in iMovie, but instead models how to create such a project as participants follow along- each creating their own video.  Experts can assist novices- no one is on their own.  By the end of this hands-on learning experience each student, by completing the task, has provided the teacher with an individual formative assessment and students have more likely mastered the content of the lesson.  This scenario works well in a school library where the Media Specialist can build on past lessons to create a larger product which encourages mastery of a subject/program, can work with the same group of students to understand each student's prior knowledge, and can develop a community of learners that is comfortable asking questions and sharing ideas.

I should have my mother read the ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians (2010), then she might start to understand that my intent is NOT to be like the school librarian at the elementary school that she taught at for 30 years.  Every time I mention something that I am doing in class or in my student teaching she states, "My school librarian never did that."  Though the librarian at my mother's old school was a lovely lady, after my volunteering experience of weeding old books off the shelves of my own children's school libraries throughout the years, I've developed a theory that "old school" librarians didn't have any time to actually teach because they had to spend all of their time painting the Dewey Decimal call numbers on the spines of books... with very tiny brushes.