Although Maker Week got off to a slow start, the concept was successful overall. The most popular maker items were book page ornaments and paper boxes filled with Hershey Kisses. Initially, the promise of chocolate seemed to bring a number of students to the library; however, once the students started to make the boxes, they seemed to genuinely enjoy creating something. Several students even came down the next day requesting to make more boxes (which was fabulous, of course!). Eventually, students started to get creative and made up their own projects - mostly small gifts for friends. This was certainly encouraging and seemed to be in the same spirit as maker spaces.
I think that if we do a something similar in the future we will have Maker Days, as opposed to Maker Week. I was glad to do the whole week my first go around, just because I wasn't sure which projects or materials would be most popular. Now that I have a better idea of what students want to make and what will bring them into the library, I am confident that I could condense the concept into just a couple of days.
I also had to experiment with promotion methods. I had display of maker items outside of the library, there were announcements broadcast over our student news program, I had a blurb added to our daily bulletin, and I sent emails to our study hall teachers. Emailing study hall teachers so that they could remind students of Maker Week and send them to the library seemed to be the most successful promotion. Ultimately, my goal was met: I got students into the library. Many of my maker kids were not our usual customers, so it was great to see some new faces. I also was excited to see some of our new patrons stop in again after their first visit - some students came down for multiple maker days, or they came to the library for study hall or to find books in-between classes. Library promotion might take some work, but it is totally worth it!
As I start to apply for Summer 2015 professional development, I can't help but reflect on some of the PD opportunities that I've had in the past. One of the most influential workshops I have attended was a Google Teacher Academy last December. I read a number of blog posts from Google Certified Teachers before applying to GTAUK, and I found the advice from previous GCTs to be immensely helpful. So, here are just a few tips that helped me to (successfully!) complete my application. Please note: this is just a reflection on my own application process - I hope it can help other GTA hopefuls!
First off, Google Teacher Academy (GTA) is a two day workshop facilitated by Computer Using Educators (CUE). Workshops take place at Google offices around the world, and sessions are presented by master teachers and Google employees. Attendees have the opportunity to present brief demos on the second day, which follows more of a relaxed, "unconference" format. At the end of the conference, attendees are considered Google Certified Teachers.
In my application, I was totally honest. I knew I was not the most tech savvy teacher in the world - heck, I don't even think I am the most tech savvy teacher in my school! But as a library media specialist, I knew that I would have many opportunities to implement the things I would learn at GTA. My district had become a GAfE school a year before I started my application, and I knew our students could be getting so much more out of their Google accounts. I also love learning new things that will make my teaching better, and I hope that came across in my brief essays. So, I tried to elaborate on the ways that I could implement technology and enact change in my school.
With that said, I knew that my video (posted below) would not be the best submission CUE would receive from a GCT hopeful. As a college English major turned tech nut, I had to bank on the fact that my writing skills were better than the average applicant. To see some really impressive video examples, search YouTube - all application videos have to be set to public and posted in YouTube. Although I am sure that the video is an important aspect of the application, and I certainly did put time and thought into mine, I would bet that I spent just as much time on the written portion of the application. There are restrictions on the number of characters an applicant can use per answer, and I made sure not to exceed the maximum. I worked full page responses down to short paragraphs, and I can only think that my concise answers helped my application.
I also focused on my leadership skills and opportunities. I had taught PD in the past, and I knew I would have additional opportunities to teach teachers if I were to attend a GTA. I am also involved in a number of professional organizations, which would provide opportunities to be a conference session presenter.
No matter what happens, keep trying! I am not accepted into every professional development opportunity I apply for, but applying at least gives me a shot! Fascinating professional development opportunities always invigorate me as a teacher. Most importantly, I think that continual professional development keeps our lessons current, meaningful, and engaging for our kids. Good luck!
We are trying something new in our high school library this year. The week before Winter Break, we will hold our first ever Maker Week. Each day, different materials will be available for students to upcycle into holiday gifts for friends or family members. Students will be able to use materials such as discarded books, magazines, card stock, laminate sheets, stickers and more. I am trying to purchase very little to support Maker Week; I would prefer that students use their creativity to make something interesting out of existing materials. They will be encouraged to create unique items; however, there will be samples available in case they need some inspiration. The examples I created ahead of time include a magazine tree, book page ornaments, a small paper box filled with candy, bookmarks and holiday cards. The library secretary created a lovely display outside of the library several weeks before the start of Maker Week in order to foster student interest ahead of time. I also requested an announcement to be read over the student news program, and I provided an ad to be included in the daily bulletin. I am excited about Maker Week, and I am anxious to see what the students create! I'm sure I will post during or after Maker Week to include what I learned throughout the process.
In celebration of Movember, a movement in which men grow mustaches to draw awareness to men's health issues, I decided to do a fun book display. This originally was a Pinterest find several years ago, but I had never found the right moment to put it together. Movember seemed like a perfect excuse to put mustaches on everything! My favorite cover is the one of Marley with a mustache.
I had the opportunity to introduce To Kill a Mockingbird to a group a freshmen today. Influenced by a Teaching with Primary Sources workshop I took in the Summer of 2014 at Waynesburg University, I decided to check into some photographic primary sources that reflect the South in the 1930s. The Library of Congress has a whole unit posted on To Kill a Mockingbird, but I wanted to craft one, isolated historical lesson. I was able to use the photograph collections posted in the LoC unit, which saved me a lot of time. I started the lesson with a review of primary and secondary sources. After defining the terms and reviewing some examples, we had a discussion on how a source can be both a primary and a secondary source at the same time! After discussing primary and secondary sources, students participated in a "Zoom In" activity to practice photograph analysis. Using the prompts on the LoC's Primary Source Analysis Tool, students were able to observe, reflect and question each piece of the photograph that I unveiled. After analyzing the photograph together, students had the opportunity to analyze a photograph independently, writing down their observations, reflections and questions. Students were sitting at tables with a group, and after a short period of time, they could discuss amongst themselves what all of their photos might have in common, how they were different, and how they might reflect some of the themes in To Kill a Mockingbird. To conclude, students were asked to hypothesize what some of the themes may be in the novel based on today's primary source activities. I have attached a link to my lesson plan, which includes materials for the lesson. I was excited to use the resources that I had learned about at TPS, and I look forward to executing more lessons using the Library of Congress digital collection.
Librarians tend to make a lot of displays, even at the secondary level! I like to document the displays that I've done in part so that I could recreate them in the future, but also so that I can demonstrate the book promotions that I've tried.
Some of the most elaborate displays I create annually for our high school library are for Banned Books Week. I email teachers and ask if they would like me to teach a lesson to their students on censorship or on book banning. This usually results in teaching lessons to several classes during Banned Books week. Often, one or two teachers will email later in the year about teaching a censorship lesson that fits into a unit that they are working on, citing my BBW email.
One year, I created a display outside of the library doors, and I covered the display case with papers that very crudely said "censored." When I removed the papers on the first day of Banned Books Week, information about banned books was revealed.
Have fun with Banned Books Week! Teenagers tend to be fascinated and surprised by the books included on the banned books lists published by ALA, and they love to talk about censorship.
PA School Librarians have been discussing SLOs on our listerv for some time now. Through our online conversations, I learned that Westmoreland County offers a step-by-step guide to writing SLOs. The Model Curriculum also provides some excellent language that could transfer well into SLOs. These resources could be helpful for all PA educators, not just teacher librarians!
The Westmoreland County Association of School Librarians was very
fortunate to have Dr. Mary Kay Biagini from the University of Pittsburgh
walk us through the Model Curriculum on Tuesday, October 21 at Greater
Latrobe High School. I had actually attended the training once before at
AIU3, but there is so much information to absorb that I appreciated the
opportunity to participate a second time.
As my school district
continues to become immersed in Understanding by Design and Formative
Assessment, the unit plans provided in the Model Curriculum are
invaluable for lesson creation. Although the language is a little bit
different than the lesson plan format that we use, all of the components
are there. I annotated one of the unit plans to make it easier to
convert into the FA format we use (to the right is p.1):
The entire Model Curriculum can be found on the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA) website under Professional Development.
In
addition to our discussion on the Model Curriculum, a number of
librarians expressed their concern over the new Teacher Effectiveness
system that is starting to be implemented in Pennsylvania schools.
Librarians fall into a unique category where some schools may consider
their librarians to be "teaching professionals" and others "non-teaching
professionals." Of course, "non-teaching professional" is a bit of a
misnomer - even those librarians with flexible schedules teach students.
For definitions, rating forms and additional information, see the
information published on the PA Department of Education website. PSLA has also compiled an example framework, Guiding Questions and a Tip Sheet, which can be accessed here. As Dr. Biagini mentioned at the WCASL meeting, the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) created a webinar on the evaluation of Non-Teaching Professionals. If you happen to fall into this category, it may be worth a watch.
Although
I am still learning how to implement all of these materials myself, I
am certainly happy to discuss any of these items with other PA
librarians. While we have a lot of hurdles to overcome as school library
media specialists in PA, luckily we are equipped with the tools to be
successful.
