Reading Graphic Novels

When I was first asked to teach a group of students how to properly read a graphic novel, I wasn't quite sure what to teach them. But as I began to research the topic, I realized that students who have never read a graphic novel or comic book could easily be confused by panels, thought bubbles, or dialog bubbles that do not always follow our traditional straight lines of left to right text. Get Graphic, a website created by the Buffalo and Erie County Public Libraries along with their partners, offered a lot of help on the topic: http://www.getgraphic.org. These fantastic librarians put together an easy-to-follow guide on how to properly read a graphic novel, along with definitions for terms, and examples of pages. I uploaded some of these materials into Nearpod and created interactive activities in which students had to number dialog bubbles to demonstrate their knowledge of how to read a graphic novel page. After the lesson, several students ended up checking out graphic novels from the library, so I was excited to be able to introduce this genre of literature to students. I was especially excited to see how engaged some of the boys in the English classes were in the novels they were reading. Some started side-conversations about funny moments in the text or neat illustrations that they wouldn't normally see in their required reading. I hope I have the opportunity to teach similar lessons to this one in the future, as the students were engaged and excited about what they were reading! Additionally, as someone who rarely reads graphic novels, I learned a lot and was even inspired to read one of the graphic novels I had just purchased for the library.

Students number panels to demonstrate understanding of how to read a graphic novel.

Students answer brief questions about the experience of reading a graphic novel

Communications Lesson on Identifying Fake News

According to a study conducted by Stanford History Education group (2016, November 22), “in open web searches, only nine percent of high school students in an advanced history course were able to see through” the language on a biased website to determine that it was a front for a “D.C. Lobbyist.” College students performed even worse on the same task…

I find this statistic to be appalling and deeply disconcerting - especially because I know how susceptible I am, as an adult, to the deluge of advertisements constantly bombarding my social media feeds (just this morning I bought a pair of Chucks from an Instagram ad that had books all over them...BOOKS! I mean, how could I not?!). But I worry that students may not always know that the ads their friends "like" are trying to sell them something or the article that their favorite celebrity retweets may contain sponsored or blatantly false content. So, our communications teacher graciously allowed me to conduct a lesson with her students on evaluating resources...ie identifying "fake news."

Nearpod is the best format for this lesson, as I was able to control the presentation on

student screens, students could respond to short answer questions analyzing ads and articles, and I was able to provide full color photos and news samples (whereas our copy machines do not provide this option). I could share exemplary student responses to all iPad screens, which sparked discussion and gave students a sense of pride for their thoughtful responses.

Additionally, I incorporated a a two-minute audio clip from the NPR podcast Planet Money, which told the story of one fake news producer. Students then had the opportunity to discuss what his motivation may have been for creating fake news, which was not necessarily what students had anticipated. I was thankful to have the excellent work of the Stanford History Education Group that I could incorporate into the lesson. Their activities with sample student responses were the basis and inspiration for the lesson.

Overall, the lesson was engaging and relevant. Much of the lesson structure I learned from Nearpoders and teachers at the PioNear Summit I attended a couple of weeks ago, so I am very thankful to them for their help in structuring this lesson. Check out the embedded links to resources, as well as the Nearpod presentation below!

Stanford History Education Group. (2016, November 22). Evaluating Information: The cornerstone of civic online reasoning. Retrieved from https://sheg.stanford.edu/upload/V3LessonPlans/Executive%20Summary%2011.21.16.pdf

Perseverance in the Library

At the beginning of November, I received the call that I have feared every year since I started my school library career: as of that moment, library funding was completely cut. To be fair, all "non-emergency" funding was cut in the entire district. According to the new algorithm for determining federal funding, my district would be receiving significantly less than expected. This "moratorium on spending" of course trickled down to each professional in each building. In some ways, I was fortunate that I got the call in November instead of July because I had already purchased a few staples like our online databases and our reading team books. But I was expecting to spend approximately 70% of the library budget sometime before February, which is our usual yearly spending cutoff date. I took a little bit of time beating myself up for not focusing more on purchasing at the beginning of the school year, but there was no point in brooding over something that I had no control over. Instead, I listed my major goals for the year to determine exactly what I needed in order to continue having a successful year for the library. The first goal was to purchase a list of 50 books that were primarily student recommendations. Contrary to popular opinion, fiction reading in my school library has increased this year, and I am absolutely determined to continue this trend. Secondly, a student last year took the initiative to start a student-run book club during lunches after the reading competition concluded in the Spring. They had selected two books, and we would need at least 25 copies of each. Finally, we need funds to attend our annual field trip to the county reading competition. I needed a plan.

First, I recalled our local Barnes and Noble store contacting me in the past about facilitating an in-store book fair. I contacted them again, and set up a meeting with the manager to discuss all of the details and to set up the date. We chose a date approximately two weeks before Christmas, which proved to be an effective time to have the fair. We advertised in school, on social media, and to parents and community members. We also brought copies of our donation code with us in case people in the store asked us who we were (we were all wearing our school colors or our reading team t-shirts). With a combination of luck and hard work, we earned over $1,600 in books for our library. I am incredibly thankful to Barnes and Noble for helping us to fill our library with new books, and I feel so lucky to work with such wonderful and motivated students. We had students who offered to stay at Barnes and Noble all day to give our donation code to parents and community members who asked for it, although we had such a great volunteer response that we only needed students to stay for 1-2 hour shifts. It was such a great, uplifting day!

Secondly, to ensure that we had enough funds to purchase books for our student-run book club and to possibly go on a field trip, I wrote several grants. For one grant, I was interviewed at the YALSA Symposium in Pittsburgh. My grant proposal was unfortunately not accepted, although the process was a positive one. For this grant, we were required to be able to speak on how individual conference sessions inspired our grant idea and how we might use what we learned in order to improve our home library. Although my grant idea was not selected, I am still hoping to be able to gain funds at some point to make my idea a reality.

Finally, Wal-Mart came through and granted us $750 to run our student book club this year! I am extremely thankful to our local Wal-Mart store for selecting our proposal. I recommend that other school libraries in need consider looking into grants offered by large and small organizations alike. Many companies are happy to support public education, and this librarian is incredibly thankful to them.

Fierce Reads Field Trip

On October 4, 2016, the Knight Readers had the incredible opportunity to take a field trip to the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. We took a fantastic tour of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, had dinner "dahn-tahn," and ended the evening with a YA author lecture at the Carnegie Lecture Hall attached to the museums. Multiple times I overheard students exclaim, "we need to do this every month!" In fact, I think the students would have been ecstatic just to tour the library, even if we didn't get a chance to geek out hearing from nationally known best-selling authors. Here's a little virtual scrapbook of our trip:

Walking toward the CLP - the Cathedral of Learning looming in the distance

The Knight Readers

CLP - all the knowledge "Free to the People"

Checking out some rare books - one was even from the mid-1400s

Excited for the authors to come on stage!

Caleb Roehrig, Emma Mills, Anna Banks, and Marissa Meyer 

The YA authors who participated in the Fierce Reads Tour were incredibly funny, thoughtful, and inspiring. Most of our students had never met an author before, let alone authors that they have read and admire. The authors graciously autographed tickets and books for us, answered all of our questions, and they even gave us a shout-out on Twitter! About a month later, I also Tweeted Caleb Roehrig to ask about #OwnVoices book suggestions for our Diversity Club, and I am so grateful that he provided so many wonderful authors and book titles to explore further. Finally, I am beyond thankful to RAD Works Here, a local organization that provides funding so that children and families can enjoy the arts for free. Without them, we could not have brought so many students to experience this incredible opportunity. Thank you!

PA School Librarian at the Young Adult Library Association Symposium

In November 2016, I had the opportunity to attend the YALSA Symposium in Pittsburgh, PA. The most fantastic part of the conference was meeting so many fabulously entertaining storytellers. I was introduced to the funny, smart, and lovely Meredith Russo, and I cannot wait to read her book If I was Your Girl. I was also especially geeked out to meet E.K. Johnston (pictured right), author of one of my favorite Westmoreland Interscholastic Reading Competition books from the 2017 list. The Book Blitz was fun but completely insane. Many of the participating authors from the symposium participated in the blitz, where each author had a table with a mesmerizing number of books primed and ready to be signed. If looking for a more low-key moment to hear from the authors, I actually preferred the author panels. No signed books during the panels, but we got to hear what events or moments may have inspired the stories we couldn't wait to share with our patrons. Perhaps my favorite session was the ending keynote starring a few Pittsburgh favorites: Jesse Andrews and Siobhan Vivian. Their hilarious anecdotes were the perfect way to end the conference.

One aspect of the symposium that I had not experienced at a conference before was the opportunity to  "Pitch a Program." This concept provided a thoughtful way to try to incorporate what we learned immediately and have the possibility of earning funds to put our ideas into place. I attended a number of sessions on programs about LGBTQIA+ issues and came up with the idea to do a book club reading of a contemporary YA book with characters or themes that would provide insight into the LGBTQIA+ community. My pitch inspired me to contact author Caleb Roehrig on Twitter to get his take on Own Voices authors that my students could read. I am humbled and thankful for his quick responses, with many wonderful suggestions of authors and books: some of which I am familiar with and others of which I am excited to get to know. Although I was not awarded with funds for my program idea, I am hoping to possibly put this program into place eventually.

Overall, the symposium was fantastically fun and I am so happy that YALSA came to Pittsburgh. As a school librarian, I knew the content would be geared toward the public librarian; however, I still found myself missing the ed tech sessions that I lean toward attending at school library conferences. Some of the very frank conversations on health and sex may not be possible in a school library, but I did walk away with some new concepts to try.

ESSA and School Libraries in Pennsylvania

On a beautiful Fall day, librarians from around the state of Pennsylvania convened at Toftrees Conference Center in State College Pennsylvania to discuss the provisions for librarians in the Every Student Succeeds Act. Lead by Laura Hicks, the Region 2 Director of the American Association of School Librarians board, we reviewed the definition of an effective school library program before exploring the specific federal guidelines and state interpretations of these guidelines. We ended the workshop by discussing ways in which we can apply what we have learned to our own school libraries.

The AASL definition of an effective school library program pulls from two important phrases present in the Every Student Succeeds Act language, including that libraries provide "personalized learning environments" to ensure a"well-rounded" education. Additionally, AASL outlines how the school library program is essential to "college, career and community readiness," including that the library is staffed with a certified school librarian, it has current digital and print resources, and it provides staff development and collaboration opportunities. Furthermore, AASL offers the qualifications that a school librarian should possess, including being "instructional leaders," supporters of multiple literacies (digital and information, among others), and elevators of reading initiatives. More information and precise verbiage can be found on the AASL Position Statements page: http://essa.aasl.org/aasl-position-statements.

Following the definition of an effective program, with the help of video messages from the American Library Association Executive Director of Washington Office Emily Sheketoff, we explored each part of ESSA that pertains to developing and maintaining effective school library programs.

Title I of ESSA ensures that state and local agencies improve basic programs. Ms. Hicks urged us to consider what we are already doing, as school librarians, to improve digital literacy for our students. What can we do to impact student learning? Schools need librarians and access to effective school library programs in order to impact student achievement.

In Title II, ESSA advocates for supporting effective instruction. School librarians often lead their own professional development workshops or in-service day sessions after attending conferences and workshops. Because entire districts benefit from school librarian attendance at conferences and workshops, Title II Part A funds can be used for the librarian to attend professional development opportunities. Additionally, Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (or LEARN), specifies that school librarians can participate in required grant activities. According to Sheketoff, these grants can be used for teachers and school librarians to meet and collaborate on literacy initiatives. Innovative Approaches to Literacy (IAL) specifically states that funds should be used for supporting effective school library programs. Ultimately, school librarians can aide in applying for grants, and they need to research and make sure that the district grant writer is aware of important school grants that can help in enhancing library programs.

Title IV, Part A discusses Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, otherwise known as Block Grants. ESSA essentially authorizes school librarians to learn about technology, as librarians offer "access to personalized, rigorous learning experiences supported by technology." Therefore, librarians should be afforded the opportunities to update technology skills and provide technology for their students.

The session ended with discussion on how to apply all of these elements to our own libraries. We were encouraged to develop short speeches that could quickly and spontaneously help others see the importance of school libraries and librarians.

Allison Burrel, President of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association, also directed us to take a look at the new ESSA recommendations developed for the state of Pennsylvania specifically: http://www.education.pa.gov/Documents/About%20PDE/ESSA/October%2018,%202016/AIR%20Report%20PA%20ESSA%2010%2014%2016.pdf. Further information about the Every Student Succeeds Act can be found on the PA Department of Education website: http://www.education.pa.gov/Pages/Every-Student-Succeeds-Act.aspx#tab-1.  A compilation of resources and advocacy tools can be found on the ESSA and School Libraries website: http://essa.aasl.org.

Ultimately, librarians must stay abreast of new legislation that provides effective school library provisions. We can remain hopeful that the federal government, state, and local agencies recognize the importance of school libraries to student achievement. But we must still continue to advocate for all that school libraries can do to support digital and print literacy, technology skills, teacher professional development, and overall school culture. Our students depend on it.

Work Cited
American Association of School Librarians. Connecting ESSA to School Librarians. 25 Oct. 2016.

Virtual Field Trips

In the summer of 2016, I was very fortunate to attend the Google Geo Teachers Institute in Mountain View California. I actually took a brief break from driving down the CA coast for my honeymoon (shout out to my new hubby for hanging out in Palo Alto while I was at Google!) in order to attend. And the side trip to Google headquarters was well worth it. I was especially excited to meet British educator, explorer and photographer, Jamie Buchanan-Dunlo of Digital Explorer. Among other impressive pursuits, his work is used by Google Expeditions to create meaningful virtual field trips for students. A long-time tech hero of mine, Jerome Berg, also spoke and presented a session on his project Google Lit. Trips. As a former English teacher, Berg's ideas influenced the way that I approached literature then, and continue to inspire my approach to literature now.

When I came back to school at the end of August, I was excited to share the things that I learned while at the Google headquarters. Through a series of fortunate events, a number of teachers and administrators came to visit the library early on in the year and had the opportunity to test out the Google Cardboard that I received while at Google. It probably helped that I lured them in with chocolate, caffeine, and the promise of a virtual beach vacation (if only for a few moments!). I was fortunate to receive 35 VR viewers through funds received as part of a STEM grant (thank you, Mr. Kotch!), and I was able to put them right to good use.

Through collaboration with several Spanish teachers, I have been taking our students on virtual field trips for a few years; however, our students had never been on a trip like this one before! In an informal poll, I discovered that none of our approximately 120 Spanish III students had ever used a VR viewer before, so this was a pretty unique and exciting experience for them.

We started our trip with what was formerly called the Google Cultural Institute, now labeled Google Arts and Culture. I like students to explore locations curated for their cultural significance. Then, students learned how to use the VR viewers with Google Street View and Google Cardboard apps. They were asked to download these free apps to their smartphones ahead of time, if permitted. Not every student could download the apps, which we had anticipated, so students were able to share or use the few iPhone/iPod devices that we brought with us. And this was the result:

Both the Spanish teacher and I received overwhelmingly positive feedback from students on their experiences with their virtual field trip. In the past, students seemed to learn something from the VFT activity, but we had never received such enthusiasm before use of the VR viewers.

One of my biggest goals as a school librarian is to provide cultural experiences whenever possible. Part of our district's mission statement requires that we grow students into "productive and responsible citizens of an ever-changing global society." I hope that the tiny taste of the world that I can provide for our students might inspire them to explore further in real life.

If you would like to modify my lesson materials for your classes, they are accessible here.

Virtual Spanish Trip by Katherine Kauffman Roth is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Update: Below is some student feedback from the lesson.