By Deborah Rinio
Gwenyth Jones, the Daring Librarian, is a force to be reckoned with. Her style, passion, and sense of humor result in a dynamic presenter with a lot of great tips to share. During the ASTE conference, she presented a workshop for Alaska librarians on ways that librarians can be marketing geniuses. She talked about social media and she presented other technology related ways that all educators can engage their students in future ready concepts. However, there was one thing she said that made me pause. She said to always say “yes.” Of course, she didn’t mean all the time and in every situation in our lives. She meant that when speaking to your administrator you should always frame thing in the positive. On the surface, this sounds like a great idea, but as I thought about it more I asked myself “what about when you can’t say yes because you don’t have the time, resources, or skills?” I asked her this at the conference, and the Daring Librarian say to say “not yet.” I’ll admit I appreciate the positive attitude, but I worry that if we always spin thing in positive ways we will undermine our advocacy efforts. If we don’t tell our principals that we can’t do something and more importantly why, we will never get the resources we need to be transformative and empowering. Let me be clear, I am not criticizing Ms. Jones for having this perspective. We each have our own approaches to different situations. She was condensing her - most likely complex - ideas into a snippet for one slide in a presentation. I’m sure “just say yes” is more complicated than that in her own mind as well. But I feel the need to respond and present an alternative to that concept. What if instead of just saying “yes,” or saying “not yet,” we say “let’s work together to solve this problem and find an alternative solution”? It may not be as catchy, but it creates a space where we are instructional collaborators, where we are working together to problem solve, not doing things for others but with them. Let me give you an example. A few years ago one of the elementary librarians in my building was asked by her principal to teach keyboarding two or three times a week. Keyboarding is a technology standard, but is not connected to libraries in our district. To teach keyboarding would not only mean that she was teaching out of her content area, but also that she would not have sufficient time to shelve, repair books, order materials, and do all the other things that she does outside of instructional time. My suggestion was to ask her principal why he wanted keyboarding taught and find the shared value. It's likely he thought that students need to be able to type quickly and efficiently to be more effectively learners. The librarian probably thought the same thing. The disagreement was with the how, not the what. So, I advised her to bring an alternative plan to him. Instead of teaching additional classes, why not have a laptop cart in the library (she didn't already) and involve more technology-based activities in her classes. Students would get more practice typing through natural organic usage and she would also get technology for her library and not lose important prep time. She wasn’t saying no, but neither was she saying yes; because it’s never as simple as just yes or no, and not yet implies that someday you might be willing to engage in the activity. If it’s something exciting and transformative maybe “not yet” is the way to go; but if it’s something that makes you cringe, that sets your teeth on edge, that makes you question whether your administrator, or teachers, or parents really understand what you do, then try out “let’s work together to solve this problem and find an alternative solution.” It places you in a position of power, it situates you as a problem solver, and it gives you an opportunity to educate others about your role in the school community. By Leigh Horner
As Alaskans, we’re pretty lucky to have the State of Alaska Library pay for us to have access to Brain Pop. Brain Bop is just one of the high quality databases that the State of Alaska purchases through SLED for all Alaskan Libraries. I’ve had teachers ask for our district to purchase Brain Pop and I would jump up waving the login and password and information that we already have it for FREE! However this year at ASTE it was revealed to me that Brain Pop is more than movies and quizzes. Currently when you login to Brain Pop with the state-wide login you can play games, take quizzes, build concept maps...but then you hit a wall. Unfortunately, you can’t save anything and there are many other tools and features that are not available through the single-user state login. To have full-access you need an individual Brain Pop account. Don’t be disappointed, your school district can get your own account for FREE. That’s right it’s still free for Alaskans! There are just a few steps that you need to go through. Have your IT admin or district administrator contact Cassandra Fostick cassandraf@brainpop.com (Cassandra is our Alaskan rep). Your IT admin simply needs to ask to shut off the school IP authentication for Brain Pop. Brain Pop can then set up My BrainPop accounts for all the teachers and students in your school. They will be using Canvas or Google Classroom that’s why it’s important that they have permission from your admin. Once BrainPOP has been activated in your school, you and your teachers can start using all of the features available. Teachers can track students’ work, provide feedback, create custom assignments. Using the full features available, teachers can provide game-based learning for their students and teachers can have playful assessment of their students learning. One example is Make-a-movie. Students and teachers can produce their own Brain Pop style movies using scenes, images and animations from Brain Pop. This easy-to-use movie-making tool (https://www.brainpop.com/make-a-movie/landing/?refer=/make-a-movie/) also allows you to add your own narration and drawings. Finished movies can be submitted to their teachers for feedback. All of this is available to you for free through the State of Alaska’s paid subscription. Brain Pop is so much more than movies, games and quizzes. Educators have access to lesson plans, classroom aids, creative teaching ideas, and resources (https://educators.brainpop.com/). There are interactive games and informative movies that can be used with smartboards. Complete lesson plans and flipcharts are available for educators. Take advantage of this opportunity to have full access to this terrific database. Did I mention that it’s paid for through the State Library and won’t cost your district anything? Using the Green Screen app Do Ink and the and Movie Maker app together
By Leigh Horner Have you considered using a green screen in the Library? I’ve been using a green screen and the Do Ink app for a couple of years now. We started using the green screen and the Do Ink app to make book Bytes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrYz7bVeuXg. I’ve also collaborated with the 4th grade class to make short videos using Do Ink and it’s really fun and easy to use (https://www.schooltube.com/video/dc3fddb7f859444db843/Frog%20Girl%20by%20Paul%20Owen%20Lewis ). It never occurred to me to incorporate the Book Creator app until Charlotte Records, the 2nd/3rd grade teacher from Hydaburg School District presented at ASTE. Do Ink is a simple app to use with the green screen and bringing the completed videos into Book Creator is brilliant! By using these two apps together, our students will have a higher quality finished product. You can use the writing process of Writer’s Workshop and then easily film using these two interactive apps to make e-books. Blaire Anderson from Craig Elementary School has made award winning e-books that she entered into the idida contest http://ididacontest.org/index.cfm/1,162,0,37,html/About ASTE . Blaire Anderson has information on Book Creator and Do Ink available for you from her Google Slide presentation https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1FAnkk8QkiAgEtUPZ9Ut-BQx3Bjb132Jnf2L7X713SPg/edit#slide=id.g322021e154_1_269 . Blaire & Charlotee have inspired me to work with students to create something for the next iDida contest. Maybe we can make award winning videos or ebooks, too. By Karina Reyes
Selection is a way of censorship. During the presentation called Walking the Line Between Selection and Censorship with Teen and Children’s Librarians, the discussion panel shared how they dealt with censorship not just from the public but from themselves. Many of the librarians in the panel are aware that they are essentially censoring when they choose not to put a particular text in their collection. Ann Morgester admitted that she struggles with this especially when it comes to series. Do you keep the entire series when you realize that the subsequent books in the series begin to be inappropriate for the age group that your library caters to? She chose to not keep any of the series and directed student patrons to the public library. The public library has slightly different censorship issues than the school libraries because they carry materials for all age groups. They have to be careful that adult-level materials are not inadvertently shelved next to children’s literature. And within the children’s section, they have to also consider that a pre-school, elementary, middle school, and young adult books are not intermingling. As Elizabeth Nicolai mentioned, “sometimes Caillou is next to something for a ten-year old,” and this could cause some distressed parent to protest that their pre-schooler has access to inappropriate material. Sometimes censorship happens on a purely personal level. One librarian, Suzanne Metcalfe, found herself emotionally traumatized “by a figure of a child carrying a dead baby on her hands…I then censored it.” It’s a tough call, she admits. Was she affected by baby- hormones as a new mother at the time? The session left me with more questions to ponder: how do I judge graphic novels? Does an author’s misdeeds affect whether the library carries his/her books in their collection? How do I separate the artist from their artistic work? Censorship is a multi-layered issue that deserves daily visits. One thing I will always ask myself now: who is this work going to serve? If it could be one of my students then I will add/keep it in my collection. Censorship has its place but I will select or de-select materials based on a multi-layer, multi-question, metacognitive manner. By Karina Reyes
What does it mean to be a literary citizen? It’s a concept I haven’t truly explored until Brendan Kiely mentioned it in his presentation. Social engagement and social responsibility can be fostered in young adult literature. Writing and reading books that foster this is the first step to responsible literary citizenship. And by this measure, his books are meant to promote literary citizenship. And if books can be the vehicle for social change, then Kiely’s novel, All American Boys, written in collaboration with Jason Reynolds, charges forth with painful eloquence that should make its readers pay attention. Kiely’s presentation on Literary Citizenship gave me a new lens in which to evaluate the books that I include in my high school collection. “I care about literature and how it affects our young folks…we have these books that can help us think about issues today,” Kiely said. I echo his sentiments and appreciate that many books are now being written that speak to the difficult issues faced by our students. Kiely also reminded us to ask how a character “deconstruct(s) your normal.” What does a character do that makes us think about what we perceive to be normal and yet may be far from it for that character or vice versa? In the novel, the characters are responding to a “cultural moment,” something in our current society that tends to be so difficult to discuss such as racism. Brendan Kiely wants us to use books as a safe way to start a conversation and the conversation always starts with listening. He admits there will be many uncomfortable moments and as he said in his earlier speech, “[i]t is easier to talk about race in a historical context, but if I can’t get uncomfortable now and keep talking about how I’m part of that system (oppressive racism) and not just a bystander around it…then that’s part of the perpetuating of injustice.” Instead he recommends that we sit still and listen. Such is the power that literature with a social message can have: the ability to make readers better citizens by giving them the power to understand, to empathize, and to listen to difficult truths. On a prescient turn of events, All American Boys was chosen as the battle of the books selection for the 2018-2019 school year. http://www.brendankiely.com/all-american-boys-1/ http://www.brendankiely.com/about-2/ We should all use this as a starting point to becoming better literary citizens. By Sheila Degener
The 4 hour book repair class taught by Anya Kean was excellent. She covered the history of bindings, the different types of bindings, how to clean books as well as book block repair. Her class was full of tips. For example, if your book has bed bugs, don’t use toxic sprays instead put it in the oven for 2 to 3 hours at 120 degrees. If the pages are dirty, use absorene and when one side of the sponge is dirty, just cut it off. You can also clean pages with a professional drafting dry cleaning pad. She recommended using alcohol if someone wrote on a book with a sharpie. Lighter fluid will absorb the adhesive off the tape and then you can easily take it off. If you have glue residue on a book, use sandpaper. To dry a book, put it in front of a fan to dry it out completely. When covering a book, she recommended a very durable KAPCO cover on the book and using hinge tape in the inside to keep the book together. Finally she showed people how to make wheat paste out of zen shofu and water. Once done, she added the home made wheat paste to Kozo to repair tears in books. One of the simplest tips she gave was the bent page tip where you put a touch of water on the bent page and just watch it unbend it self as the fibers expand. Over all, an excellent class, full of tips for those who need to repair books. From shishkabob sticks to an Opla box cutter - I now have a shopping list of items I need to purchase to try out my new book repair skills. submitted by: Sheila Degener
Databases by Alaskans was taught by Katie Fearer. She took us to the following web page: http://godort.libguides.com/alaskadbs. This web page has a lot of resources for teachers teaching science or social studies in Alaska. For example, science teachers could go to the Alaska Energy Data Inventory to see where the current energy projects are in Alaska. You can also go to the Volcano Observatory report, the Alaska Earthquake information Center or the Alaska Geologic Data Index to research volcanoes, earthquakes or geology. The Alaska and Polar Periodical Index has journals, magazines and newsletters relating to Alaska and the Earth’s polar regions. You could also go to the Spills Database Online Query and search statewide oil and hazardous substance spills. There is also the Well Log Tracking system if you want to search for wells across Alaska and water quality reports and septic tracking systems are also available. Social studies teachers could try The Alaska Open Data Portal to get information about the State of Alaska’s budget, Alaska Newspapers index to read Alaskan newspapers from the 1900’s on, the Alaska State Legislature Folio Infobase to search their database about laws, statues, bill and executive order. You can also visit the Alaska Public Offices Commission Reports Search and find campaign and financial disclosure for Alaska State Government officials. You can also search Alaska Census data and Alaska Local and Regional Information (occupations, unemployment rate, population estimates, rental information, etc). For teachers looking for current primary source type information about Alaska, this is a great place to start. Repackaging the Daunting Research Project: Ideas from AASL 2017
By Laura Guest How many of your students jump up and down yelling “Yippie” when you tell them they are going to write a research paper? Would many of them have a different reaction if you reworded it from ‘write a research paper’ to ‘create a nonfiction book’? After attending Innovative Activities for Teaching Nonfiction Reading and Writing by author Melissa Stewart, I realized a research paper IS a non-fiction book! We often teach text features such as a table of contents, glossary, index, and labels on a photograph or diagram to our youngest students (I start in kindergarten). My first graders practice identifying images of each of the above, they answer questions after looking at each of the above and write labels on a diagram. One of Melissa’s suggestions was to read a picture book a day and have students draw an image from the book and label it to demonstrate their understanding. So simple; it is something I can add to my lesson plans instantly. In the past, I have had my first graders read two books about an animal, take notes and merge the information to create one page in a class animal book. Their paragraph is below an illustration of their animal. This year I will add a map of the world so they can color and label where their animals lives. I will have students in my sixth grade classes locate copyright free images for the first graders to use for labeling the parts of their animal. In order for students to authentically practice the text features, I will have them create a glossary entry using a word from their page. They will use a marker to trace over the word; creating a bolded word. They will group their animals into categories and help name the chapters such as hoofed animals, animals of the sea etc. Third grade CCSS include “3.RI.5 Use text features and search tools to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently” as well as “3.W.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.” This would be the perfect place to collaborate with the classroom teacher to change the research project from a paper to a nonfiction book. Students can access books and electronic information for note taking during library and learn about proper citations. After the “paper” is written in class, it can be broken into chapters. Students can create illustrations, maps, diagrams to further explain their text and then create the table of contents, a glossary and an index! I think this change will help it to be a more memorable assignment and a more permanent part of the student. |
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