The $5 Temporary Green Screen

Annually, our library hosts Maker Days for several days during the holiday season where we promote craft and tech activities in our high school library. We always have a small upcycling/craft section available to students, and by holding maker events, students become more aware of the materials we have in the library. Additionally, students who typically do not come to the library for study hall find their way here and discover that we are more than just books!

Traditionally, I provide materials for upcycling books into beautiful ornaments and gift tags, and I set out card stock and stickers for students to make holiday cards. This year, in an effort to promote the use of technology in the library, I also set up a digital holiday card section that is easy to set up and tear down and most importantly is inexpensive!

For the green screen, I purchased two plastic tablecloths from a local dollar store. I layered them, as I had to hang the tablecloths over our book shelves because we do not have enough wall space. If you have a blank, light-colored wall, you most likely would only need one tablecloth. Note that these are not very durable, but they are inexpensive. If you wish to have a green screen that lasts for many years, I would recommend purchasing a more durable fabric for your screen.

For the app, I purchased Do Ink for just a couple dollars. I chose this app for ease of use - there are other apps for more complicated green screen work, but for simple digital holiday cards, Do Ink works great! Since I only have one screen set up, I really only needed to purchase the app to use on one device.

Do Ink has some great tutorials that you can use with students; however, I wanted some written instructions that I could hand to students as they walked through the door. Here are the instructions I made in Slides. I printed six to a page. I made the instructions fairly general so I would be able to use them anytime, even if it wasn't the holidays.

I created a few holiday card backgrounds and saved them to our iPad photos that students could choose from, or the app has pre-loaded backgrounds that students could use, as well. Most students chose to find their own backgrounds. I recommend using Creative Commons for free, copyright free photos.

At the holidays especially, high school kids are just big little kids - their eyes light up when I tell them that they can take green screen photos in the library and make crafts! And the best part is that when we are done, it will only take a few minutes to tear down our temporary green screen (unlike the craft projects I set out for students...those take quite a while to clean up...). Have a happy holiday break, and happy making!

Nearpod in the Library

On a Friday afternoon, I opened a letter from my school district informing me that I would be the full time high school librarian the following school year. I was elated! I had so many lesson ideas floating around my head to support literacy and critical thinking in our school; however, I had one problem: I would be taking over a library that was ill-equipped to handle contemporary information literacy lessons. Enter the magic of Nearpod to make information literacy lesson dreams come true. Below, you will find my top five uses for Nearpod in the school library!

Nearpod for Presentations 

1. Although these days there is SO MUCH you can do with Nearpod, I started using the program as a way to disseminate instructional slides to students because we didn't (and still don't) have a presentation screen in our library. It was easy enough to upload an existing PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation and then students could view the slides directly on their device! The classroom management aspect was also a bonus. Nearpod shows the presenter when a student is out of the program. Instead of wondering if students are on task and paying attention to the lesson, I can simply say, "Oh, I see that someone is no longer in the presentation. Did you happen to get kicked out?" And as quickly as that, my student is back in the game!

Nearpod for Research: No More Mistyped Links!

2. Never again do I hear the phrase "Ms. K, that link doesn't work," and then proceed to cringe because a student mistyped one character out of seemingly a thousand in a URL. I include just a few slides that demo how to use our library databases or other web-based resources and then include the website immediately after for students to conduct a sample search. My instruction has become so much more effective now that students can immediately practice the skills that they gain during a research lesson. I can easily check for understanding with a follow-up question that requires each student to answer or a Collaborate Board to see what students discovered during their search. Nearpod has transformed the research learning process!

Nearpod for Study Hall Expectations

3. Many of our students use the library space every day for study hall, so it is imperative that they understand library policies and procedures. I used to hand students a piece of paper with expectations listed, they would glance at it, and then throw it away. Now, I do a five minute live Nearpod presentation providing important procedures for library attendance and methods for learning about library closures. I get to show a little bit of my personality by posting goofy photos from my life, and I can include a draw-it slide so that students can upload a photo or draw a picture to let me know something important about them. Getting to know students who come to the library to collaborate with peers or to work independently on a computer can be challenging, but a Nearpod presentation can be one quick way to connect with students. You can always look back on student answers about themselves later on to remind yourself of student names and interests. Plus, I can launch a student-paced lesson for students who are not present during the live lesson.

Nearpod Time to Climb and Reports to Collect Student Growth Data

4. In Pennsylvania, part of our Teacher Evaluation System requires that we collect data to demonstrate student growth (for the Student Learning Objective). Collecting data to display student growth can be a big challenge for many school librarians who do not see the same students every day. I discovered that Nearpod can alleviate some of the data pressure by using the game Time to Climb. Librarians can create a stress-free pre-test with Time to Climb, all while providing students with a preview of what they will learn. The data collected for each student, along with the graphs, make for compelling pieces to demonstrate student growth to a supervising administrator. You can either ask the same questions in a post-test to illustrate growth, or you can score part of the student project. I often just ask the cooperating teacher if I can grade student research notes or citations - whatever part of the project the librarian lessons covered.

Nearpod Library of Information Literacy Lessons

5. Finally, the Nearpod Library has a huge collection of engaging Digital Citizenship and Literacy lessons. Many of the lessons are created in collaboration with the highly regarded Common Sense Media, which creates content that librarians already know and trust. Lessons range from spotting fake news to responsible engagement with social media and how to deal with phishing scams. Lessons are available for kindergarten through high school level, and are searchable by topic, audience level, or even standard. For those librarians who also provide professional development in their district, Nearpod also has an extensive library of "Ready to Run" PD. Or, you can always create your own PD using Nearpod, increasing peer engagement by adding polls, Collaborate Boards, and important weblinks for colleagues to access.

Clearly, I use Nearpod a lot in my library. Whether I need a quick way to get the right online resources into students' hands or I need an engaging way to present new material, Nearpod has been an important tool in my library. Check it out for yourself!