I'll Fight You For the Library

As most of us know, April is Poetry Month. Welcome to my new favorite poem to share for Poetry Month. I love my PLN (Personal or Professional Learning Network) on Plurk. I discover the most wonderful things when my Plurk buddies share. This YouTube video was shared by my Friend Scottie Miller from Oriental, North Carolina. Like me she is an elementary school librarian. Hope you enjoy this and realize that teachers care about the education of their students!

My 2 Cents on Library Standards.

In my opinion the State of Pennsylvania is not doing school librarians any favors with its new Standards Aligned System (SAS). If the truth be told there is not much that can be done to make sure Pennsylvania students get a good information literacy education and it is not because school librarians are not doing their jobs. It is because the state does not have library standards. Back in 2005 Commonwealth Libraries put forth Pennsylvania Guidelines for School Library Programs and the document is awesome. However these are guidelines and not state standards so they do not get enforced and therefore do not appear in the SAS. I want to use SAS. I believe in it but I want the state to realize that we need to get our students ready for this century and not the last. I want the state to adopt authorized, clear library standards that can be measured with benchmarks and fair assessments and can be part of SAS. Only then will materials and resources be allocated to school libraries (yes, the state has cut library funding again this year). Anything less will mean Pennsylvania students will fall behind the states that are teaching media and information literacy with concrete measurable goals and prescribed instruction and interventions.

Circulate This! Stories from the School Library

This is great! The California School Library Association (CSLA) is always on the cutting edge of learning and promoting the good things in the library profession. Now they have put together, Circulate This! Stories from the School Library, a digital journal promoting school libraries. Click on the link to listen to the audio journal.

According to the CSLA website the stories in the audio journal were collected by Joe McHugh and Connie Williams. Connie Williams is the audio journal’s narrator and Joe McHugh did the audio production. The production sounds as slick as a National Public Radio program complete with music transitions and interludes performed by Martin Simpson and Joe Weed of Gourd Music. Based on the premiss “Strong school libraries build strong students and lifelong learner,” the audio journal seeks to highlight the value of of school libraries. Hopefully it will be the first in a series of looks into the school library. To that end I ask you to take this audio file on a little web journey! Lets see if, as Joyce Valenza has asked, we can make this production, this audio journal of library stories, go viral on the web. I am doing my part by promoting this 27.4mb audio file. Won’t you do the same? Tweet it, share it on Facebook, e-mail it to your teachers, staff, and administration, blog about it, and have your students listen to it in library class. Let’s see if a simple audio file promoting school libraries can make a difference in libraries and library funding. The dividends will be a informed electorate, lifelong learners who will grow into active, knowledgeable, ethical, and empathetic citizens. And it is school librarians that make the difference. At this time when so many in education and in school libraries are loosing their jobs, lets do something that can make a difference. If you do nothing but listen to the audio journal you will make a difference. It will change the way you look at your school librarian and together you can be the change you want to see in your school. I just finished listening and it inspired me to write this blog post. What will it inspire in you? Listen and find out and feel free to share what you learn by adding a comment below.

Be a Change Agent

BE the Change Agent! This was the topic in the TL Virtual Cafe FREE Webinar Tonight! I for one did not go in and add to the slideshare that was created but I think this is very cool and wanted to share.

Field Guide For Change Agents

View more presentations from Rodd Lucier.

So now I am wondering how I can be the change agent in my little corner of the world. All suggestions are welcome.

Students Can Write Dynamic Content Too...

I came across this blog post by accident while following another Twitter post. It is from Ralph Jean-Paul a marketing blogger who is trying to get more visitors and subscribers to his site so he can turn them into customers, but I think the message can be translated to the classroom no matter what subject we are teaching. Jean-Paul calls for dynamic content and really isn’t that what we want from our students when we ask them to write? Check out Jean-Paul’s blog for his explanations of the following, here’s my take on what he says:
Be Unique- Jean-Paul says not to just share common information but to personalize your writing. In this day and age when teachers worry about plagiarism this is good information. We should ask our students to share their stories, not just spit back the information they have gathered from other sources.
Write for Humans- I know you are going to say... well duh... and Jean-Paul’s reasoning here is blog specific... he says write for humans and not Google. Write so you get human attention and not so the aggregators at Google will pick up your blog and make it a top hit. But in educational terms this is where we can tell students not to use the same words over and over again. Librarians can teach about key words and how if I wanted to learn more about the topic you are writing about why would I want to read or listen to what you have to say!
Be Interesting- Jean-Paul says: “Using captivating and exciting descriptive language will help your readers stay interested in your writing.” And really isn’t that what we are trying to teach our young charges? He suggests using stories, examples, and humor to keep readers engaged. How can we do this in the classroom? How about instead of an audience of one (the teacher), your students had an audience of thousands or millions? How would that change their writing? Even if it is not through technology your students can write well for a real audience. Why not add a comments and compliments page to their next written assignment, or when students are giving a presentation have the other students write comments and compliments as they are listening?
Commit to Quality- Jean-Paul suggests that readers will know and forget your blog if your topic is not “well researched and organized,” if there are too many grammar and spelling mistakes. Here is our library lesson in a nutshell! Research, Research, Research! But after students research they need to read the volumes that they find. If students do not know enough about their topics they will plagiarize. You can not write from your own knowledge unless you first gain that knowledge.
Have a Call to Action- Jean-Paul asks “What do you want your visitors to do once they have read your post?” He says to emphasize the desired action “somewhere in the beginning, middle, and conclusion of your post.” Here is the perfect opening for an inquiry based project. We do not want our students to simply spit back researched information. We want them to ask why and to expect a reply. We want them to make their readers want to do something after reading or listening to their report. For this reasons teachers need to start our projects with the end in mind. What is the action we want to come out of the project? Why are we having our students do a project in the first place? If we ask for a state or country report should the report not reflect a desire to visit that state or country? A call to action on the part of the reader will do away with those dull facts and figure reports. Ralph Jean-Paul has several blogs, none that I have read have dull facts and figures, most are dynamic in content. That's how I want my students to write!

How do you get your students to write dynamic content? Let us know by leaving a comment.

The genius of Apple

http://www.flickr.com/photos/syl2m/ / CC BY 2.0

Why come out with an iPod nano with video? Sounds like such a trivial addition to the product but with that single move Apple could be re-positioning itself in the world of education in a monumental way. I didn’t think of it at first, I thought was “what a waste of an announcement, that it was just a ploy to get Steve Jobs out there in front of people again.” But then I started talking to teachers, librarians, and instructional technology integrators in my school district and I began to see a totally different picture of the iPod nano. First, teachers have long seen the benefits of video in the classroom and on field trips. Traditionally that meant lugging the district or school video camera and let’s face it, even the little school video cameras are big. If your district is more forward thinking you may have one of the new smaller video cameras such as a Flip Video, the RCA Small Wonder or similar small video cameras. However, my district will not allow such video devices because of the proprietary software they require. The videos will not download properly without the software embedded in the camera, which our district blocks teachers from downloading and renders the device useless. Now enter the librarians (and music teachers) who already have convinced the tech gods to allow them to have iTunes. The precedent has been set, iTunes is allowed on district computers for music teachers to download songs and for librarians to borrow and download public library audio books. The interface used by the iPod nano is iTunes. Problem solved. And, will librarians have a use for video? As Sarah Palin has said more than once, “you bettcha”! The library catalogs in our district allow for students to create their own video and audio reviews of books and embed them right into the record of the book so others can see and hear it when they search the catalog. What a great way for students to leave their mark on their school by recommending books to their friends. What a great way to get other kids to read, with recommendations from their peers. Can you tell I am excited? Lastly, instructional technology integrators in our districts are very down in the mouth these days since there is little money in the technology budget. Think of the cost savings this little iPod nano with video will give school districts. They will need to buy only one device instead of the two they traditionally buy. One device that is similar in price to either of the other two devices they now buy… a two for one deal sounds good in my mind. One device that now does the work of two, brilliant. Apple had their thinking caps on for this one folks, it just may be a way for them to break back into the education market which at least in the case of my district has gone to the PC side exclusively. What about your district? PC or Apple? Can you see uses for this new iPod nano? Please comment below. I am looking forward to your thoughts and the dialogue.

Wordle of Obama's Speech to School Children

President Obama is speaking to school children on what is the first day of school for many tomorrow. His remarks have been posted and while they seem quite genuine, he will not be speaking to the children in my school district. Not live anyway. Our assistant superintendent sent an e-mail to staff last week insisting that the speech be previewed before it is shared with students. My principal went one step further and said it should not be shared with elementary students in our building. Why is this so controversial? I offered to have the speech on in the library for whoever wanted to watch it but that is not going to happen now. Some high school students in the mid west are quietly protesting their school district’s decision to keep them from watching the president. They are simply taking their laptops outside at noon and will return to class when the speech is over. I am proud of them for exercising their rights. This is America and with Constitution Day coming up next week we should be celebrating Free Speech, not squelching it. Of course this is a militant radical librarian talking and not a classroom teacher. Maybe it would be considered political posturing if a teacher forced his/her class to listen to a speech. But in the library it is free speech for all and all opinions are welcome. Here is a Wordle of the president’s speech that someone in my PLN on Plurk created. Enjoy!

Librarians Are Vital to Education

I have been following this link to Kelly's Curriculum Corner and I am getting angry at administrators who think they can get away with an aide in the library 3 days a week and sharing librarians among several schools. Kelly's Curriculum Corner: Libraries as the Hub of School Improvement.
Librarians are vital to education. I agree that librarians share unique perspectives about the curriculum. Why won't anyone listen? It is getting frustrating too that some librarians refuse to change. Refuse to acknowledge that our jobs are changing. If librarians are not into technology then they may loose their jobs. But, our students need us to help them wade through the jungle that is the Internet. If librarians are willing to use technology tools they are vital to the development of the 21st Century learners they teach. Information and Media literacy are important things for students to learn and if they are not learning them in the library where are they learning them?

Twitter and PA House Bill 363

I read a blogpost on edublogs the other day from Jen e-Blogger got me thinking. Are any students that you know using Twitter? I have been in a conversation on Twitter about this very subject with lthumann an educator from New Jersey. I use Twitter as part of my Personal Learning Network (PLN) (this post comes from another one of the people I follow on Twitter), and though I have not experienced anything like Jen with a 13 year-old, I am wondering now if students use Twitter? My initial gut feeling is that in Pennsylvania and New Jersey more affluent students are using cell phone texts and instant messaging since Twitter is often blocked in schools. In fact, lthumann (or Lisa Thumann) posted a very interesting article on her blog: Thumann Resources.

In fact in Pennsylvania, the picture on Lisa’s blog may become a reality if Pennsylvania House Bill 363 passes.
Here is the heart of the legislation and what will take the heart out of students and librarians: “The possession by students of telephone paging devices, commonly referred to as beepers, cellular telephones and portable electronic devices that record or play audio or video material shall be prohibited on school grounds, at school sponsored activities and on buses or other vehicles provided by the school district.”

As an elementary librarian I loan out such audio playing devices to students preloaded with audio books. This new legislation would make me a criminal. What is the Pennsylvania Legislature thinking? Why are we going backwards instead of teaching students how to use the devices safely and appropriately? Students live in the 21st Century where such devices are common place, but if this bill passes, the minute they walk onto the school bus and into the school building they will be transported back to the 19th Century.

Lost Library Book

You might think he would have more on his mind.  You might think going to the inauguration, or walking on the pre-game Super Bowl field would have gone to his head.  But no, do you know what was on the mind of the hero pilot who brought his jetliner down into the Hudson River?  A lost library book that also found its way to the Hudson in the cargo-hold of the plane.  That’s right, US Airways pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger got in touch with his local library because the library book he borrowed via Inter-Library Loan (ILL) went down with the ship.  He asked for the overdue fines to be waved and for an extension but library officials went a step further.  Not only did the library forgive his overdue fines, they dropped the lost book fine and are now dedicating the replacement book to him.  Check out the article from the Philadelphia Inquirer.  As a librarian I plan to tell this story to my students because I am as impressed as the librarians where he borrowed the book at his sense of responsibility and hope my students are impressed too.   Oh by the way, the subject of the book borrowed was professional ethics.  Nice.

Week 6, #15

I totally agree with Rick Anderson from the University of Nevada who says we need to be putting more of our limited resources into digital collections.  The students in my elementary school are more motivated to look for information on the Web than to finding that same information in a book.  I want to create lifelong learners and wonder if students will even be using books, as we know them, in the future.  We need to prepare our students for the future.  And I agree that I want my student patrons to be able to access library material from home. And while I also agree we need to become more user-centric and make searching easier, I must disagree with Anderson’s contention that “if our services can’t be used without training, then it’s the services that need to be fixed—not our patrons.”  I am sure he is talking about adult patrons of his university libraries so I will excuse him.  K-12 students on the other hand, need training in using library databases, proper Internet and database search techniques, and using the various digital mediums available to them. It is up to school librarians to give students the paddles they need to navigate digital waters. In Anderson’s analogical terms, it is up to school librarians to make this happen one student-one little oar-at a time.

Michael Stephens’s article, “Into a new world of librarianship,” reads like a 21^st Century librarian’s mission statement.  At least it reads like the mission statement of a librarian trying to prepare students for the future.  I agree that school librarians need to embrace Web 2.0 tools and teach their students which tools are worthwhile for education.  Students need to be exposed to Web 2.0 tools in the classroom so that they know how to interact with such tools on their own.  I love that Stephens puts the users needs first and calls for the librarian to nurture “a living, breathing technology plan.”  I love that Stephens gets Librarians who embrace Web 2.0.

In school libraries Web 2.0 means we are blurring the lines between librarianship and technology integration.  Librarians must be technology leaders in their schools.  Library 2.0 means we need to teach our students digital library skills as well the ethical use of located information.  Library 2.0 may mean our print collections become supplementary to out digital collections in the future but instead of being afraid and burying our heads in the sand we need to become informed, educate ourselves in the new technology and lead the way.  Librarians need to be the one building bridges across the digital divide, and modeling what good digital citizenship looks like for our students and colleagues.  

The Cellist of the Library

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2009/01/cellist-of-schoolyard.html

If you are like me some of the stresses of teaching every day, budget freezes, preparing a budget and book order for a new library, and being on 2 strategic planning committees for which you must actually produce something, and learning about RtI so you can support teachers with data and more, can take a toll on what you are doing in the classroom or library. Of maybe it is just your perception of what you are doing in the classroom. For 3 years I had fun, fun, fun! I hated snow-days that took me away from my library and my kids. This year with all the extras on my plate I was loosing my fun, I was loosing my joy; then I read Coolcatteacher Vicki Davis’s blog post about “The Cellist of the Sarajevo.” (Please follow the link to the left and go read it now; it will inspire you as it did me). Vicki dubbed her post “The Cellist of the Schoolyard.” And, it makes a lot of sense. The classroom/library is my first priority, I am in this for the kids, my library may be the last place they can find fun (read hope) in school. Nothing against wonderful teachers but with all the stress of testing on them the library needs to be fun. As I commented on Vicki’s blog, the greatest among us is the servant of all, the one who brings joy, hope, and fulfillment to others. I had almost forgotten why I became a librarian. I needed this reminder to live above the noise and be the music. I need to be the cellist of the library (not literally because they would run away screaming). In order to create lifelong learners, I need to give hope, make learning fun, and be a servant with a smile again. After all, librarians are the ultimate search-engine!

More Free Open Source Sites...

Wow... just heard about this wonderful new site for finding and uploading music. Jamendo is open source. Their tagline says: "On Jamendo artists allow anyone to download and share their music. It's free, legal and unlimited." It's nice to have a leagal source for music when creating videos with children. Some of the pictures from the album art on the site are not for elementary school students, so make sure if you are having them use these materials that you download the music for them to use.

Another site that touches a librarian's heart is webcitation. Have you ever had a student cite a website only to have that website not come up or give you an error message when you tried to check the source? Well, webcitation can solve all that. I have just signed up but have not used the site yet. Bacically it works by adding a bookmarklet to your citation page instead of just a URL. The bookmarklet will lead you back to the actual page, as it looked, on the date the student accessed the page. Now there will be no more padding of citations, students will actually have had to use the site... or will at least have to visit the site to have the proper bookmarklet.

Social networking can make you smile…

Lately in my district and in my graduate class we’ve been looking and talking about social networking. I can’t think of social networking as only MySpace and Facebook. I consider video conferencing a viable social networking experience. My students have benefited from 2 video conferences with published authors so far this year. But video conferencing is so much more than that, it is social networking at its finest. Besides, video conferencing with friends can make you smile more than anything posted on YouTube! On the day after Thanksgiving I was signed on to iChat on my Mac, hoping to start up an Instant Messenging chat session with my sister-in-law. PC users often Instant Message, Mac users videoconference! At the same time I was signing on to iChat, on the big island of Hawaii my friend Barbara (one of the reason’s I’m a librarian… she was my children’s very techy elementary school librarian back in the early 90's) was signing onto her Mac iChat. She invited me into a video chat. We talked for over an hour about our families, her computer upgrade, and how long it has been since we have seen each other… it has been 10 years since we visited her when she lived on Oahu. It has been even longer since we all lived in the same area, yet, because of email, cell phones, and video conferencing; we have kept in touch and have remained friends. Social networking through technology is the difference that is keeping us connected with people we have not seen for a long time. I have seen this happen over and over again. Because of the Internet and blogging, I am back in touch with friends who are missionaries in Germany. I did a simple Google search for my friend Shelly and I found her on the very first hit. The reason I found her so easily was because of her blog! We now email each other and I am sure we will get in tough by cell phone when they get back to the states later this month. There are some people who touch your life and you don’t want to let them go. Thanks to Social Networking over the Internet, I don’t have to!

Information Literacy-Preaching to the Choir Again

There are many ways to define Information Literacy. Why do librarians care about this so much? Check out the video on this site: http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/298/04/Information_Literacy_Video.avi.

With so much information out there that is wrong... it is up to school librarians to help students and teachers alike to find and use appropriate information wisely!



The future of lifelong learners is in the hands of their elementary school librarians!

Catching the Library Wave

More and more librarians are breaking out of the “shhhhhh” mold. As the medium changes librarians have to change. If we don’t we will loose out to the very things our students are embracing. Technology and all it’s trimmings is like an unopened present, waiting for librarians not to just unwrap it but to act like the child in the commercial who gets just the gift he or she wants! Get excited, technology is not the end of libraries; it is the beginning of a new world of librarianship. I am not a traditional librarian, I was a journalist first and research is in my veins. I enjoyed raising my children, only my stay-at-home playground was in Europe, lots of things to see, read, and learn about. I was still researching, just doing it through personal, primary sources. I was starting to think I was the only librarian who had to wait for the technology to catch up before I became one, but now in Ohio I see a kindred spirit. No, I was not a California surfer like Allan Pollchik, unless you count bus tours to Paris, and surfing the Internet. Pollchick like myself entered the library profession as a second or third career. He and I were always librarians; we just had to wait for the field of librarianship to catch up to us, to catch our wave!

Digital Divide or Wing Fitting?

Also on my blog reading roll today was “from now on: the education technology journal”. I have been struggling with the terms digital natives and digital newcomers or immigrants. I first heard this term back in 2005 during my library certification classes. I thought it was great at the time buy I have been feeling like the metaphor has been a little overextended of late. I could not put a finger on my uneasiness and then I read Jamie McKenzie’s article: “Digital Nativism
 Digital Delusions 
and Digital Deprivation.” Jamie is the editor of “from now on,” he’s been around education and technology for a while and he hits my frustration, the proverbial nail, right on the head. And I am not even talking about McKenzie’s tirade about video game learning. I think there is something to be said for such learning and we in education are differentiating instruction so much that there may be that group of students that will respond to video game learning, so why not try it? The part that I am especially concerned about is the isolation of children, which McKenzie uses to caption his picture.

“Childhood is shifting inside. Some fear the consequences of sensory deprivation over the long haul with excessive exposure to things digital. A Digital Waste Land is a poor substitute for the rich flavors, smells and touches of the real world. Leading psychologists have signaled their concern in reports like Fool's Gold. FaceBook, MySpace and Second Life are poor substitutes for face to face communities and the playground.”

I for one am the biggest proponent of using the technology we have in the classroom but I do not want it to isolate children. While I still promote technology, I do not want students sitting in front of a computer 24/7 with no human contact. And, if that human contact only comes at school with a teacher, then that is where children should be, in school with a physical, real person guiding them in their use of technology.

Mix this with David Warlick’s new pondering on his 2cents worth blog and we may have a real gem. Warlick likens teaching with Web 2.0 to giving students wings. There is a physical teacher or librarian there guiding them on their journey yet, they are then no longer navigating in a 2D world, adding wings gives a 3D quality to learning. He says we need to prepare our charges for an unpredictable future. He gives a sort of formula for this new learning, “I found this information in this way. This is how I decided that it was valuable. I mixed it with this other information to add this value.” I say “sort of formula” because I do not want to pretend that learning can be boiled down to any one formula. Our learners are diverse and it is my responsibility as a teacher/librarian to help students find the right size and balance for their wings so they can soar with eagles!

The Ning I love...

SKILLS Act

A blog Woo-Hoo to Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) who on June 26th introduced the Strengthening Kids’ Interest in Learning and Libraries (SKILLs) Act. As a librarian, I applaud their actions and as a citizen, I will be contacting my own Senators and Representative in Washington asking them to add their name to the Senate Bill (S. 1699) and the House Bill (H.R. 2864). Please contact your Representative and Senators and do the same. Among other things the SKILLS Act believes every school library should have at least one highly qualified librarian/library media specialist and it provides funds so those highly qualified librarians can purchase appropriate books and other materials for their libraries. What a novel idea, providing funding for libraries! My tongue is in my cheek because studies prove that libraries work. It was Walter Cronkite who once said, "Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation. "

If you want more information on the SKILLS Act, check out The American Library Association’s Issues and Advocacy Page: http://www.capwiz.com/ala/issues/alert/?alertid=9951101.
Don’t forget to contact your Senators and Congressmen!

Hollywood Librarian

The image of librarians has not often been kind, flattering, or pretty. One person, Ann Seidl, is trying to change that… she wrote and directed "Hollywood Librarian," a look at librarians through film.



"Hollywood Librarian" made it's debut in front of 5,000 librarians at the American Library Association's meeting in Washington, DC this week. Check out this article from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2007/06/23/AR2007062301378.html.

I must admit that one of my favorite movies is mentioned in the article. But in the movie, "Desk Set," I guess I never thought of Katharine Hepburn as a librarian. Of course she and the other women in the department, including a young Joan Blondell, were gathers of information, they were the researchers with the background information. But librarians? There was no “shushing” in “Desk Set,” no one going around telling others to be quiet. It was a new look for librarians, a Hollywood glamorization!

Either they knew the answer when someone called for information or they could find the information, using books, in a jiffy. They were heroes! Yet, the women feared they were going to become obsolete because of the new computer system being installed in the department. Hey, that sounds familiar. How long have librarians been concerned that they were becoming obsolete? Well, since “Desk Set” came out in 1957, it looks like librarians have been becoming a thing of the past for about 50 years. Since I just became a librarian 2 years ago, after working as a journalist and then raising a family, here's hoping that I can continue to teach children the joys of the library both physically and virtually for a long time to come.
:-)