Getting There

A professor at out large university requested some information from me over the holidays. My quick replies are here:

1. How receptive is your school to the way you approach technology and learning?
It has been slow to catch on. Many faculty are reluctant to move into a true technology environment (meaning that they are using the tools for more than simply electronic pencil and paper activities). We have mostly teachers who went through college using the card catalog in their libraries and taking notes on index cards. I believe the thought may be that it worked for them then and must work for their students now. I do not believe that teachers deliberately want their students to continue doing things the “traditional” way, but just do not think about what is “traditional” to students in the 21st century who grew up with technology. It is still a new and confusing tool to teachers who graduated in the mid 90s and before. Of course there are those who are early adopters and have embraced how the tools make their work and their students’ work, easier. However, other than with researching information topics, I am still seeing true integration of meaningful technology use elusive in our curriculum. By “true technology integration,” I mean using the tools to obtain and show results in a way that cannot be accomplished without the technology, including broadening the curriculum to embrace theglobal society. We do not see much of that. I speak all over the country to groups of librarians and teachers, and see that my school is not alone in the struggle with truly integrating technology in the curriculum. For a variety of reasons, many schools still lag in true technology integration. Also, we need to revisit and rewrite curriculum to this effect. With that said, we also know when teaching and learning are best done the “old” way, such as reading from a book. There is a time and place for pencil and paper, too!

2. How receptive are the students?Oh, very receptive. Technology is a matter of course with kids. It is the way they do business. There are those students who are used to our traditional way of work, as that is how they learned in elementary and middle school and are comfortable with it. When asked last year to compare a technology based biology assignment with lecture/reading/test, 95% of the freshman class overwhelmingly and insightfully preferred it, stating that they would remember the material better, as they learned it collaboratively and through a variety of sources, instead of their teacher delivering it in a lecture that they would soon forget.

3. What are the advantages to building “integrated assignments” online?  Is it working?
Oh, yes, the integrated assignments are extremely successful. We now use wiki technology to plan and deliver the assignment to the students, as the teachers and I can collaborate online and build our own parts of the assignment (see http://library.sasaustin.org/integratedAssignments.php). Students have “one stop shopping” for all aspects of the assignment. I introduce the assignment alongside the teachers and teach the information and communications technology skills portion to the students. The students have the online assignment to revisit and review, as well as get the specifics of the assignment. We can attache rubrics and other evaluation documents so that to demystify the expectations of the assignment. Nothing is left to chance, even if a kid was overwhelmed in class or just spaced out.

In many cases, I host virtual office hours during evenings and weekends so that kids can IM or email me with information needs. I also grade my part (usually the notes, resources, and bibliography) so that I can see where I need to continue teaching the next time I have the students. I may see them in biology, then history and English. I have a broad picture of their ICT skills need, where as the classroom teacher cannot possibly keep up with what their students have had in other classes. So the integration and collaboration work to bring the best minds together for the benefit of the students.

For a preconference workshop I presented in Iowa, I created a wiki that helps students (and teachers/librarians) identify tools that can help in the various steps of the information search process, no matter which process model the student is using. It only contains a fraction of the available tools, as I didn’t even include software programs that students and school may have installed on their computers. Let’s all contribute to this wiki and identify those useful tools for working through the information search process.

http://isptools.pbwiki.com/FrontPage

How are you making your library website participatory? I am having trouble deciding on how to make the pages ones that act as a magnet–drawing kids back on a regular basis to see what is new. How can students add value? Through blogs? Wikis? Do you have your library on Facebook? Joyce Valenza comes the closest that I have seen with her many wonderful wikis for students, librarians, and teachers.  Please share your strategies and tools.

Whew! Three weeks into school and like all of us I still have undone items on my “to do” list from the second week (the first week was spent in a camp in the hill country with our freshman class). Like most of us, I have taught or helped in 30 classes in the last two weeks. Thinking and acting on my new responsibilities as Chair of 1-12 Instructional Technology and Library Services? Well, I have collected a few technology scope and sequence documents, visited our new tech coordinator and librarian, and organized a  place for our department to meet next week.  I am hoping that once I get the beginning of the year administrative items of the library checked off, then I can devote more attention to the Chair’s role. How do those of you who have the double responsibility of campus level librarian and technology chair handle the added responsibilities?

Well, I did it. I practiced what I preach. My good friend, colleague, and former principal, Marla McGhee, and I often present to school library groups on our book The Principal’s Guide to a Powerful Library Media Program (Linworth, 2005–2nd edition in the works!). One keynote focuses on the 5 things you want a new principal to know about your program. We built the talk on our own experiences and a survey of Texas school librarians via the state email list. My school has a new Head who graciously met with me on his second week on the job, allowing me to talk about my program. During out chat, I was able to talk to him about 4 of the 5 items on our “list” and he promised his full support.

1. “The most important part of my job is my instructional and collaborative role.”
2. “I am knowledgeable about curriculum and the 21st century learner.”
3. “An effective LMP impacts every student and faculty member.”
4. “The library program is critical to literacy.”

We discussed each point in detail. I think he was somewhat surprised with the amount of teaching I do. His own experiences with library media specialists seem to be in a supportive role–one of providing a variety of resources. Yes, that is one of our important roles, but it didn’t make the short list (unless you include it under number 3 above). My request of him was not for money and additional space, but to advocate for teachers to work with me as often as possible. Of course, I want to work with all teachers, which is not happening. I also encouraged him to help me get teachers to realize that 21st century skills belong in all areas of the curriculum and are not a “technology” thing. He is a great listener and promises to do whatever he can. The year looks good!

Oh, by the way… he will find out on his own, the 5th item on our list, “Some aspects of my job may be done behind the scenes.” I didn’t think that was something I wanted to say the first time I met him. I am not sure why–it just didn’t seem to fit at the time.

Can the Big6 still help your students keep up with their information needs in a 2.0 digital world? In the world of Web and libraries 2.0, is the Big6 still viable? How have you integrated Web 2.0 tools into the Big6? Are you using blogs and wikis as part of the search process leading up to the final (Big6 1-4) product? Are you having students use these tools to present their results and evaluate their process (Big6 5 and 6)?

In discussions on LM_NET, I haven’t heard much about using an information search process with students. I am interested in how you are using, or why you are not using, the Big6 as a framework for students to interact with information and communications technology skills in a 2.0 environment. Here are the Big6 steps in case you need a review.

I found a website dedicated to teaching teens about intellectual property. answers questions about intellectual property and offers a 4 unit curriculum containing sixteen relevant activities. Typically high school librarians do not have this many sessions with students to teach this very important concept. In addition, teachers are often unwilling, due to the vast content they must cover, to give up their class periods for us to work with the students. How can we teach this concept in the short amount of time we have without sounding preachy through lecture? Ideas?

I continue to learn from Joyce Valenza and Carolyn Foote, two prolific and informative bloggers. Joyce’s blog “The Never Ending Search” and Carolyn’s blog “Not So Distant Future” should be on your RSS aggregator so you don’t miss a word they post. Here we are at the NECC ‘08 conference convincing Barbara Jordan to start a blog.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong. How can teachers keep current if they do not read in their disciplines? I rely so heavily on my professional associations, lists, and by following blogs of those whose opinions I respect, that I cannot even imagine doing my job without them. Many teachers are still instructing using the same old methodologies under which they learned in high school and college, while not reaching a huge percentage of their students. Nor do they see the need to integrate 21st century skills and literacies into their content. How do school librarians promote the joining of professional associations (for the opportunities of conferences and journals), email lists, RSS to blogs of notable educators/writers in the content areas, and other means of professional learning? I believe this is the key to changing the traditional mindset of many faculty in our secondary schools. But, how do we get teachers, when they are just trying to get papers graded and deal with the plethora of demands in the classroom, to sign up when professional associations cost $$ (even if they are tax deductible), and lists and blogs take time to read? How are you promoting professional reading and association participation among your faculty?

Just coming down from the NECC conference. Feeling overwhelmed and motivated. I always go into conferences thinking that I know a lot and come out realizing that I am not quite there. Rock star school librarians such as Joyce Valenza, Carolyn Foote, Diane Cordell, Anita Beaman, and others can inspire me to go further. Joyce Valenza, who I am proud to call a colleague, “gets it” and she knows how to inspire and motivate others to “get it.” I have so much more to do and so many great ideas to implement. I began by putting the “add this” button on my library website so that our kids can add it to their spaces. Yep, I am just getting there.