Category: Reflecting

I Love My Library

Kim

My Library is a big sunlit space full of possibility and promise – full of students playing, exploring, finding out and testing what they already know. It is an active place: people moving around, checking on how friends are working, sharing ideas, making things, drawing, talking, filming and thinking about what to do next. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt is a IMG_4481place of challenges and of potential, a place to come to and see what new things you can add to what you already know, what new things you can make to show your learning, what new things you can OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAcreate using your imagination and an iPad or cardboard and textas.

 

 

 

 

The space itself is old-fashioned; you would recognize it immediately as a Library from your past. Yet it is also a modern place – new ways of learning, through doing and showing and sharing and thinIMG_4477king; new ways of finding out – through Google and You Tube and Pinterest and Oliver; new ways of sharing – through blogs and websites and weeblies and smores; and new ways to read – IMG_0104through paper books and websites and e-books and apps. So much of what is new is invisible when you are physically in the Library – yet it is there to read and share and comment on and belong to.

IMG_4470Perhaps because you can’t see it you don’t know it’s there. But you belong to the library and you know – you see the blog, you share your thoughts, you look at your photos, you find your friend’s work, you find a book, you click a link, you seaIMG_4820rch a question, you post your video, you watch a You Tube clip, you comment, you interact, you learn. When you belong to your library you know what it does, what it can do and what it might do for you.

IMG_4843Because we belong in my Library – the students who know what they like to do, the students who are at a loose end, the students who want to share their Lego and the students who want to share their minecraft creations, the students who are readers and the students who are learning to read, the students who look at the pictures and the students who are writing and creating stories themseIMG_0092lves. They all belong – there is a place for them all in my Library.IMG_4827

 

We build this library together – when you ask “Do you have…?”. “Can we …?”, “Why don’t we …?”, “How about getting some ….?”, “Are we allowed to …?”, “I need to …” it opens possibilities and allows ideas to flourish and opens up newer ideas and things to find out about. Together we make our own way, making use of what we have, imagining what we might do next and hoping for better and more interesting and more wonderful.IMG_4847

I love my Library and I will miss it.

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Reflect!

Kim # # # #

The Azure Blue Indoor Pool at Hearst Castle

I will be using a Visible Thinking routine called Connect, Extend, Challenge to scaffold my reflection.

CONNECT

How were the ideas and information presented in INF506 connected to what you already knew?

I was able to connect straight into INF506 as I had a working knowledge of many of the web2.0 tools that were mentioned in Modules 1 and 2. I had enjoyed using web2.0 to grow a global network of learners as a classroom teacher and blogger. I used social networks to ask for and receive help, ideas, professional development and support as I learned alongside my students the benefits, responsibilities and joys in establishing global networks for learning.

I have always believed that school and learning is all about relationships, and I could connect with the idea that social networking is all about relationships too – relationships with customers, with colleagues, with information and with services. According to Mott (2012) it’s “the relationships you build, the ideas you share and the purpose and passion you bring” but I still needed to learn how to fully develop these relationships from an Information Professional viewpoint, but I knew that relationships were at the heart of providing essential services on behalf of Belmore South Public School (BSPS) library.

 

EXTEND

What new ideas did you get from INF506 that extended or pushed your thinking in new directions?

The idea that connecting with users was much more than a one way street, that information, opinions, viewpoints and ideas came in as well as went out from the library and its online presence extended my thinking around the use of social media in my library. That together students, staff and school could build a learning place that brings in the combined knowledge and interests of participants as well as sending out new knowledge and interests made me sit up and think carefully about the ways I had been using my library blog. In an attempt to move my established classroom blog to a Library blog, I was simply providing content about what classes had been doing. Schrier (2011) warns against using social media merely to promote content and suggests that establishing trusting relationships with users should be the priority or purpose to using social media.

Schrier goes on to list five principles to use to plan for effective social media use: listening, participation, transparency, policy and planning.  I found these principles to be a useful list to start to think more deeply about the reasons to use social media, the people to connect with, the multiple ways to link authentically with customers, the need for explicit policies and planning for an integrated, thoughtful and focused move into social media use. The simple principles enabled me to start linking the (so far) disparate parts of social media into a useful whole.

My thinking and learning as a social networker was also extended by the many varied examples of libraries already using social media as integral components of their work. In the course modules example after example was given, showing ways in which blogs, wikis, Facebook, podcasting, and Twitter were being used to inform, educate, answer and entertain library users. I found this exciting and at times overwhelming as I realized that social media and social networking, whilst seen as still quite innovative and new in schools, is embraced as the norm outside of school.

To have models of practice available as demonstrations to scaffold my learning regarding the uses of social networking within the library  disrupted my current knowledge and forced me to take on board the fact that I still did not have a deep understanding of the principles and processes that a successful librarian2.0 needed. I had been quite comfortable using web2.0 tools and apps in my classroom, but I would definitely need to step up to live up to Librarian2.0!

 

CHALLENGE

What is still challenging or confusing for you to get your mind around? What questions, wonderings or puzzles do you now have?

I realize that I have consistently seen the role of the library and the Teacher Librarian as one of providing services to students; neglecting to focus on the responsibility I have to the staff and school and providing for their needs as well. The challenge for me is to position the library at the centre of the learning that happens at BSPS; to move it from its current irrelevance to that of a partner in the learning and information needs of the school and staff (as well as the students).

I need to meet staff where they are, to demonstrate my knowledge and understanding of social media to make our school library visible and important to the functioning of the school. I need to position myself, in my use of social media and social networks, to be able to become a librarian2.0 to fully support and enhance the learning programmes offered by my school and staff.

This session I have learnt a lot about social media, but I have learnt more about myself as a learner and a social networker and Information Professional. I have some way to go but am confident that I am developing the skills and strategies I need to get there 🙂 .

 

 

References:

Mott, E. (2012). 7 tips to take social to the next level. In iMedia Connection. Retrieved from http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/31346.asp

Schrier, R.A. (2011). Digital librarianship & social media: The digital library as conversation facilitator, D-Lib Magazine, 17(7/8) July/August 2011. Retrieved from http://dlib.org/dlib/july11/schrier/07schrier.html

 

Image: ‘The Azure Blue Indoor Pool at Hearst+Castle‘
The Azure Blue Indoor Pool at Hearst Castle
Found on flickrcc.net
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Evaluate!

Kim # # # #

2584489931_3c1f5ba39e_m

My social networking practices are in the area of professional training and development – I use Twitter and Facebook to connect with and learn from other educators around the world. I continue to build a Personal Learning Network that supports and encourages me, especially in the area of Teacher Librarianship as I am very new to this role. INF506 expanded my understanding of the role social media could play in defining my role as TL (Teacher Librarian), in providing a way to connect and a means to present and share the story of my library and learners. I still have a lot to learn about effectively using social media in the Library, but my current understandings have been heavily impacted by my participation in INF506.

Librarian 2.0 was a concept explained in detail in Module 3 and was one of the most interesting and inspiring parts of the session. A number of important concepts, theories and practices of Library2.0 were introduced in the module and collaboration, conversations, community and creation were shown as the 4c’s of Web2.0. (Hay, Wallis, O’Connell, Crease, 2013). In the blog post “Librarian2.0 Essentials” I was able to identify a number of aspects that really excite me about working with the school community to provide, share and create new learning and knowledge.

Collaborating with current and prospective customers and working with them to provide for their needs and wants is the first step in building a vital community of users, who are willing and able to share conversations around the core business of Library. With the goal of creating together new learning and understandings, the TL 2.0 needs to be ready, willing and able to source information, products and experiences that will enable and enhance the work and recreational needs and wants of the customers (in my case the students and staff).

Much of the essential knowledge, skills and attributes of an information professional in a Web 2.0 world as discussed in my blog post (“Librarian2.0 Essentials”) relate to the critical examination of various social networking tools to meet the information needs of my students. I feel that a TL2.0 must be

  • fearless and courageous – in providing information in the required formats such as blogging to inform and share and wikis to collate information,
  • be a lifelong learner – delivering the best programs and facilities for the community it serves. For example,  by  exploring game based learning and Edmodo,
  • respond positively –  and back up opinions and views with cohesive examples and research of the successful use of social tools and apps to support learning and sharing,
  •  play with change – use it as a chance to experiment and work to take advantage of new tools, apps, services and ways of approaching information collection, curation and communication.

All of these skills and attitudes result in being willing and able to effectively examine the features  and functions of  new tools and apps in order to select the best ones for the many purposes within the school. As an advocate for staff and students in the field of information literacy, I have shown, in my blog post that this is a responsibility of a Librarian2.0.

In my blog post “Participate!” I commented on a number of important new literacy skills that addressed participatory culture and how this could support the informational and collaborative needs of our students. In his paper, Jenkins (2006) puts forward eleven new skills that he recommends to educators to harness the social communities our students are already engaged with in a more educationally explicit manner.

Many social networking technologies are already being used by students out of school and whilst some of these technologies are not supported yet within schools, the idea of using social media for learning is starting to take hold and apps such as Edmodo, wikis and blogs are seen to be educationally relevant and support the informational, collaborative and safety needs of students, staff and schools.

Investigating some of the social, cultural, educational, ethical, and technical management issues that exist in a socially networked world was another important area of INF506 in which I had a lot to learn. Using the You Tube clip “Did You Know v.4” as a provocative starting point  I was able to use the scenarios it brought up to reflect on the readings I had undertaken in Module 5 in my blog post “Did You Know?”.

A number of interesting points were made by Bryson (2007, p. 125) in regards to information policies that I found to be well supported in this clip. The use of policies can be general or specific and can help to:

  • Solve a recurrent problem
  • Provide guidance in decision making
  • Ensure consistency in approach across the organization
  • Declare an intention or enable a stance to be taken on a contemporary issue
  • Clarify organizational values and intentions
  • Make a commitment
  • Grant rights or entitlements

INF506 has enabled me to reflect on my use of social media and has informed and challenged me to use social media in a deliberate and mindful manner as part of my library 2.0 toolkit.

References:

Bryson, J. (2007). Chapter 10: Policy making. Managing information services: A transformational approach (pp/125-130). Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate e-Book. [ebook]  http://CSUAU.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=429668

Hay, L., Wallis, J., O’Connell, J., Crease, R. (2013). What is Library 2.0? [INF506 Module 3] Retrieved May 30, 2013, from Charles Sturt University website: http://interact.csu.edu.au/portal/site/INF506_201330_W_D/page/ac87941b-5bcb-45fc-80ce-be53a4c930ea

Jenkins, H., Clinton, K., Purushotma, R., Robison, A. J., & Weigel, M. (2006). Confronting the challenges of participatory culture: Media education for the 21st century. Available http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF

Xplanevisualthinking (2009,September 14,). Did You Know v.4[Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

 Image:  “chapter 8 – community building through social+networking”
chapter 8 - community building through social networking
Found on flickrcc.net
Categories: Reflecting, TeacherLibrarian, Web 2.0Leave a comment

Social Networking for Information Professionals – that’s me?

Kim # # #

Personal Definition:

Social networking occurs when groups of people, who share a specific concern or interest, connect with each other to share, compare and collaborate with each to expand knowledge, understanding and learning. A community forms that enriches members through sharing, commenting, helping, feedback, advice and support.

 

Use of Social Network Technologies so far:

I have been using a number of social networking technologies in my role as Primary school teacher since 2006 – most of these technologies stem from the class blog and the resulting connections and collaborations made with other teachers and classes around the world. Social networking technologies have allowed me (and my students) to feel as if we are learning for real purposes and in real or authentic ways.

Social networking has resulted in meeting other teachers and educational professionals from around the world – both in each other’s classrooms and at conferences and in homes. The feelings of being a part of a community, and the responsibilities that entails made the learning that was happening (both for myself professionally and for the students in my classroom) vitally important, meaningful and bigger than just attending school.

Some of the social networking sites I currently use are:

  • Blogs
  • Wikis
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Picassa
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin

It is interesting to note that it is difficult to separate them into work, personal or study groups as they overlap so much.

Now in my second year as a Teacher Librarian I want to learn how to use social networking technologies to:

  •  Expand the opportunities of students across the school – to demonstrate and use social networking technologies to connect with information: experts, peers, an audience and collaborators for their learning.
  • Support teaches in their use of these technologies for personal professional development and classroom use (to flatten walls and connect to the “outside” world).
  • Harness the powers of these technologies to enhance the usefulness and authenticity of the school library in its role of providing information and recreational services to the school.

Expectations of INF506:

I expect to transfer or transform what I know about social networks and social media into a basis for pedagogically sound, innovative and authentic uses in the school library setting.

I expect to see best practice libraries and the uses they have for social media.

I expect to become far more knowledgeable on the legalities and technicalities of using social media and social networks across a whole school setting.

I expect to build a Professional Learning Network of informational professionals who can guide, support and who I can learn alongside of.

I expect to learn and think and collaborate and question and do!

Image: ‘Jump on the social media bandwagon‘ By Matt Hamm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73532212@N00/2945559128


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Looking, seeing, visioning

Kim # #

I am currently procrastinating on an assignment that asks me to articulate a vision for my school library. It is a pretty exciting assignment because I am gathering (far too much) information on what a library can be, what it can provide and how it can position itself as the hub of the school.

I have pages of quotes and examples of what I want my library to be and this is the reason I am procrastinating – how to meld all of the ideas, suggestions and scenarios into a succinct, cohesive and do-able vision for the next three years.

As a very new TL in training (I still haven’t been in the library for a full year yet or completed my TL course) I am finding it a tad overwhelming trying to sort out and deal with the number of roles the literature expects me to fulfill.

I am beginning to see, however, that this assignment is helping me to pare down these expectations and take hold of the aspects that are important for the students and school community at my school in the next little while. This is a great chance for me to really focus in on the roles and functions that I can best undertake to move us from where we are now.

It doesn’t matter what we should have been doing, where we should have been working, how we should have been learning – we have the power and the ability to move forward confidently in a way that is authentic and purposeful and relevant to US.

This is truly exhilarating and scary as well. Yet, through the structuring and direction of my learning so far, I know that I can do this, I have to do this, it is my responsibility to do this – with the strategies and skills I am developing as I am learning.

Articulating my vision will help to tie up the many stems of my learning: it will enable me to really develop learning experiences around what is important, it will help me to provide learning opportunities for all students and it will  enable me to collect evidence that supports and celebrates the learning occurring throughout the library and school.

If I could just finish this assignment and start putting it all into action …….

 

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/52193570@N04/5774680570

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ETL401 Assignment 2 Reflection Post

Kim # # # # #

My teacher-librarian (TL) learning journey started with me deliberately and defiantly staying exactly where I was! In starting this course I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of information I was processing from the readings, and trying to cope with running the library at my school for the first time ever, that I concluded that the primary and over arching role of the TL was that of a teacher.

I now know, through a Kuhlthau reading that I was doing what George Kelly called “forming new constructs and reconstructing old ones” (Kuhlthau, 2004, p. 17). Having been a classroom teacher for over twenty years I needed to keep the pattern or frame of reference of what I knew when confronted with new experiences. I felt that teaching students and staff, contributing to student outcomes and making a difference in the way teaches taught and students learnt was the role that a TL was expected to play. Ideas and thoughts firmly rooted in my classroom teacher perspective.

Contributing to the Topic 3 Forum on “TL and the Curriculum” I was beginning to look at a bigger picture view of what the TL offered to the staff and students in a school. From planning with staff across the school and for various stage groups of students, through sharing expertise and knowledge of the curriculum K-6, to what I, as the TL, would add to the planning, I was beginning to see that the TL role encompassed more specialized knowledge and skills particularly in the are of information specialist.

The Kuhlthau reading from Module 4: Information Literacy really grabbed my attention, and impacted on my understanding of the role of the TL as information specialist (Kuhlthau, 2004). I had positioned myself in my “What sort of library?” post as aiming for an active, learner-centered library. This reading walked me through constructivist theory, which gave me confidence and background information about learning.

The exploration of information literacy and the various models, processes and definitions opened my eyes to the ways in which the TL worked with information to develop the skills and competencies in students so that learning could take place. The TL role in providing multiple perspectives, formats and types of information to both students and staff was also made clear and reflected on in my Information Literacy and The Constructive Process posts

Reading the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner document really tied up all of the aspects of the TL role neatly for me. In the Topic 4 Forum I shared how this document really positioned the learner at the centre of their learning and demonstrated how learners needed to be very proactive in their own learning.

This document also brought home to me the importance of ethical and moral use of information. Once again it was a case of a reading tying up my ideas neatly, and then enlarging or expanding my thinking and knowledge. The linking of information literacy and technology was made in a Forum 4 posting and I began thinking of how my role of TL was about “enabling [students] to make informed and positive choices in the future, [so that] we are doing what we can to ensure that whatever technologies come our way we and our students have the skills and knowledge to work with them.”

Over the ETL401 course, my knowledge and understandings about the role of the TL have grown and developed along side my knowledge and understandings of the power and pervasiveness of information. Although I am in no way ready to call myself an information specialist, I can see that this is one area that a TL must have deep knowledge and understanding in. In this information age it is necessary to ensure that all students have the skills, strategies and mindsets to be able to critically, competently and confidently navigate with information to make informed decisions. This is one of the most important roles of the TL and the one that has made the most impact on me over the semester.

Reference:

Kuhlthau, C.C. (2004). Learning as a process, in Seeking meaning: A process approach to library and information services, Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.

 

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A beginning …

Kim # # #

Why Teacher Librarian?

Why now?

I have had the opportunity, over the last few years, to have been given the gift of freedom in my work in my classroom as a primary school teacher. I have been actively encouraged and allowed to think, to read, to find out, to imagine, to play, to try new ways and even to fail.

This translated into working with amazing, and varied, groups of students and creating wonderfully authentic learning opportunities for us all. I have had the chance to see first hand the effects of engaging students meaningfully in their learning, of working alongside them as they take up the reins of their own learning and move off into the wonderful world of wondering.

I have seen how this works in one classroom, but beyond my classroom is a group of passionate, dedicated and enthusiastic teachers who are achieving amazing learning in their classrooms as well. This sort of student centred learning should not be kept in single classrooms – it should be shared across classes and grades and stages and teachers.

So I see my moving to the Library as a chance to move  my own personal learning, the learning of the students, and learning with my fabulous colleagues forward and outwards from  learners in single classrooms to learners across the school.

I know I will continue to keep on

  • reading
  • thinking
  • playing
  • making
  • wondering
  • questioning and
  • trying new ways of learning …

…….. this time from the centre of the school, the heart of the school – the Library.

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Reality is Broken?

Kim # # # #

reality-is-broken

Currently reading Jane McGonigal‘s book Reality is Broken: Why Games Make us Better and How They Can Change the World and am amazed at how it mirrors the work I have been doing recently in Assessment for Learning.

Areas of commonality for both games and assessment for learning are:

Control – gamer/student is at the centre of the experience

Rules – gamer/student operates in a system where there are rules to follow/obey

Goals – gamer/student needs clear goals and actionable steps to reach those goals/targets

Feedback – positive feedback mirrors back to gamer/student what they’ve accomplished and is both qualitative and quantitative

Visible results – gamer/student needs & wants to see results directly, immediately and as vividly as possible

Is this why the Assessment for Learning work has resonated so strongly with me?

Or

Is this why games based learning has held my attention for so long as the way forward?

Probably Obviously a combination of both!

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A WOO-HOO MOMENT!

Kim

209662750_826d454af2_m

I have felt like I have been slugging it out for the past 6 weeks or so – desperately trying to get back into school mode and working with my class again after being away for a couple of weeks of long-service leave at the end of last term.

Re-connecting with my class was crucial as we had a number of students added to my group and so we had to get to know each other and sort the social and academic groupings all over again.

It’s been hard work: time and thought consuming, problematic and frustrating all at once.

There’s been social issues, behaviour issues, routines issues, learning issues, attitude issues and friendship issues – tears, tantrums and tirades!!!!

But …..

Just when you think “that’s it!” – “I’m over all this” – a moment happens …..

A spark is ignited, fanned by some positivity and fuelled by some camaraderie and I think, maybe, we’re off……..

Onwards and upwards!

Let’s go AllStars – light the way!

 

Image: ‘Light it up …‘ 
www.flickr.com/photos/25047883@N00/209662750
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G’Day to a Good Day!

Kim #

Here is a “lost” blog post that I wrote after taking part in a full day Tim Rylands workshop (last month in Kent, UK)

An outline of the workshop is available on Tim’s site, here, and the combined thoughts and reactions of the day can also be found, here, written by Gail and myself.

The day really sparked my thinking – especially in regards to the framework I am piecing together ­- using computer games creatively to enhance and encourage student writing.

Two ideas that I keep coming back to are giving students

1.    permission to wonder

and

2.    permission to play.

 

Permission to wonder, to  share your thinking, to brainstorm, to develop creative ideas, silly ideas, the freedom to pose possibilities and run with them.

Too often this step is non-existent in the writing we do in our classrooms, in our haste to get to the written text, the conventions and the punctuation we dismiss this gathering and sorting of ideas – thus depriving our students of a wealth of interesting and exciting possibilities that they can choose to use in their writing.

Giving students the permission to play also supports student language acquisition by making the collection of ideas, words, phrases and sentences

·      physical,

·      active,

·      kineastheic,

·      REAL.

This activity and movement, I‘ve noticed, is vital in my school and class setting, so I was interested to see Tim employing techniques and strategies that got the students moving.

The students gained much from physically linking movement with words – I wonder if this could be connected to “muscle memory” that dancers use????

Thanks Tim for a fantastic day – you are still sparking my thinking and learning – even from this distance. Amazing 🙂

 

 

Categories: Articulating, Creating, Ideas, Reflecting1 Comment