Learning along with my Grade 5 students

This school year I am lucky to be learning alongside my 27 talented and enthusiastic Grade 5 students.
We share many interests in common but I suspect my interest
in using technology to enhance our learning is probably the "thing" that is making this year more exciting for all of us!

My past roles as a teacher-librarian and a resource teacher allowed me to work with many dynamic teachers. I am proficient with the use of tech tools and GAFE (Google Apps for Education).
This year I get to implement all of those great ideas that I
have tried with others with my own students.

I have discovered that Grade 5 students learn quickly and we are moving forward in many ways.  We have been learning about ebooks and have learned about the 6 different ways my students can access audio and ebooks to encourage more reading.

We are also developing our maker mindsets by trying out Garage Band and Makey Makey sets to compose musical pieces.

We are also using a flexible seating concept in our class.  Students choose where to sit as we switch subjects and activities.  I am hoping that this will have a positive impact on their ability to collaborate with peers.

I am glad that I chose to return to a classroom teacher role this year so I can facilitate in the learning of my students.  I want them to become reflective learners and to think about how they learn.

Presenting in a Virtual Environment @otffeo

I was asked to co-present an OTF (Ontario Teachers Federation) Connects webinar.  It was quite a learning experience!  I realized that I rely a great deal on the ability to interact with my audience face to face and so presenting online using only audio features and cues stretched my presentation style.  Although I was very familiar with the material and had great confidence in my co-presenter Diana Maliszewski I was forced to step out of my comfort zone with the style of presentation. I needed to consider what and how I delivered the content knowing that people could see a static image.  I also had to remember to monitor the chat feature to communicate which can be a distraction when you are speaking.  Most participants chose to participate through chat and not the microphone  I didn't realize how much I rely on visual cues from my audience to gauge pace and interest when I present in a face-to-face setting.

Our presentation was well organized and facilitated by an expert and we completed the webinar with no technical glitches.  I thought things had gone smoothly and I was glad to see that only one participant had left the session during the 90 minutes.  

Putting What I Learned Into Action @oslacouncil @scdsb_schools

 I had the privilege of participating in the Ontario Library Association SuperConference this year. I attended workshops, co-presented about Assessment Tools for Genius Hour and attended two Annual General meetings for our school library associations. I also met with multiple vendors and authors and book sellers to see the latest resources for school and collected many advanced reading copies for review. Each year I meet and connect with teacher-librarians from across Canada who are as passionate about libraries as I am.  It is an excellent learning and sharing venue.


Over the last few months I have put what I learned into action.
Here are a few examples:

Opportunities to Collaborate
I participated in a joint OSLA and OCULA session where librarians discussed how we might help our students successfully transition from high school to post-secondary studies and it sparked my interest.
I connected with our local Lakehead University and Georgian College librarians and we have begun a partnership with our high school teacher-librarians.  We got to see some examples of first year assignments from a variety of courses so that our students and teachers can learn what is expected.
This has also made me a strong advocate for a board wide approach to developing electronic resources for our students as I know that we need to continue teaching advanced research skills in our schools.

More Makerspace Ideas!
I have made some valuable connections with other teacher-librarians in the Peel and Upper Grand districts who are leaders in their development of makerspaces.  Through Twitter chats, and Google Hangout meetings we are now developing a virtual makerspace for our schools because of these new relationships.
I also learned by attending some workshops over the 3 days that our district is further along the continuum then some other districts.

Equity Resources
I discovered some excellent and relevant books that I have been able to recommend to enhance our equity collections in our schools. I can't wait to share more of them to other teachers in our district.

Gained a provincial perspective

Attending the OLA Conference confirmed what I already knew: My district has many talented teacher-librarian leaders who support students daily to meet their needs. Approximately fifteen colleagues attended the conference as delegates/presenters.  We are lead learners!

School Library Visits #tlchat @oslacouncil #scdsb

I have the privilege as the Teacher-Librarian Resource Teacher to support 101 school libraries in my school district. Many of my teacher-librarian colleagues direct their own professional learning.  Already I have been invited into 23 different elementary and secondary school libraries. Every time I step into a different library learning commons I continue my learning along with the teacher I am supporting.

There are a few new teacher-librarians who are trying to "learn the ropes" and adapt their skill set to their new role.  I am lucky to be able to support them when they have technical or programming questions.  As I support them I get a chance to relive the excitement as they realize that they will teach all students in all grades.  It is the busiest classroom in any school!

For the experienced teacher-librarians, they realize that they are lead learners and so they push me to keep up to date on reading engagement strategies, Google Apps for Education (GAFE) updates and how it all fits into out provincial document called Together for Learning and the national guide called Leading Learning.

The most popular reason that I have been invited into a school this month has been to assist in the implementation of maker spaces.  Many teacher-librarians believe that the library learning commons is the perfect place to introduce the maker movement to students, parents and staff. I completely agree!  The maker movement is multi-disciplinary by nature that emphasizes collaboration both of which the teacher-librarian has expertise.

Having a space where students and teachers can collaborate, create and tinker is an authentic way to improve problem solving skills, learn deeply and practice the growth mindset approach to learning.
It is really exciting to help transform traditional libraries to library learning commons to support student learning.  All stakeholders are excited to begin and have managed to eek out some way to demonstrate the maker movement in their school.

 In all my school library visits the topics are varied but the goal is the same.  They all want to collaborate more effectively with students and colleagues. For some that is through the establishment of a maker culture and/or developing a relevant collection for inquiry teaching models or encouraging the love of reading through special programming.

I am excited to continue my visits and to connect those with similar goals into meaningful professional learning networks.

Teacher-Librarians are Essential-Here'swhy... @oslacouncil @ONLibraryAssoc @CLA_web

As the Resource Teacher for  the Simcoe County District School Board, my job is to support the Teacher-Librarians in our 104 schools.  

Teacher-Librarians do more than purchase, read and shelve books. With careful consideration, they compile a collection of relevant and appropriate resources whether in digital or paper formats for students and teachers. They co-teach, co-plan and co-assess with their colleagues to create realistic and meaningful learning opportunities for students in all grades and in all subject areas. Teacher-Librarians lead all learners in their schools as they gain expertise in new initiatives and new technological practices.

In my 23 years of teaching, 13 of them have been as the Teacher-Librarian of an elementary school.  The style and format of reading has changed over time but the love of reading has never diminished.  Students and teachers still explore ideas, ask questions, imagine, discover and create.

Here are the most important ways that I think Teacher-Librarians help students:

Love of Reading

More students reported that they enjoyed reading if they had a full time qualified Teacher-Librarian in their school. Teacher-Librarians are also able to help students find "just the right book" by determining a student's interest.  Students read more when they are given choice. Teacher-Librarians participate in reading programs such as Forest of Reading and Battle of the Books to bring excitement and reading engagement to their readers. One of the best ways Teacher-Librarians encourage enthusiastic readers is to put excellent reading resources into the hands of classroom teachers for their read-alouds.

Collaborators

Teacher-Librarians teach in their classroom called the library or the Learning Commons.  It is the hub of the school, connecting students, teachers and concepts. At the core of any search for information, any new idea, you will find Teacher-Librarians.

They are the "go-to person" when all learners in the school adopt new technological practices and he/she ensures that staff and students use the new tools to enhance or accelerate learning.

Teacher-Librarians are lead learners in their schools.  They teach students of all grades, in all subjects and they are key to helping classroom teachers to integrate teaching and new technologies. Many initiatives, such as learning, through inquiry requires a variety of resources and collaboration among teachers. Teacher-Librarian is the in-school support for the development of critical thinking skills and digital citizenship concepts.

Well Being

Teacher-Librarians take pride in creating safe and welcoming places for students of all ages with the thoughtful and inclusive selection of resources and materials in the Learning Commons.  It doesn't matter if it is your first year in school or your graduating year, the Teacher-Librarian is one of the trusted adults in your school who knows you by name. Teacher-Librarians build a relationship with students and staff over many years.  In elementary school it is possible to know the Teacher-Librarian for ten years!

There are endless ways in which the Teacher-Librarians support their students. The key is the connection the Teacher-Librarians offers - to the student, to explore his interests, to challenge her thinking, and to support growth and development in all the players involved in your child’s education.

Digital Citizenship and Parent Engagement @scdsb_schools @cmvsocialmedia

I have been part of a collaborative effort to bring Chris Vollum to speak about Digital Citizenship with students and parents as part of a Parent Engagement grant. He was an engaging speaker with many practical ideas and examples too help students and parents to leverage digital formats effectively.  We hoped that this presentation will be a start to getting parents more connected with their children's online presence.  I learned a lot by being part of the committee. The committee consisted of two instructional resource teachers, a special education consultant and the school district's communications team.

The first thing I learned about our school district is that they have an amazing communication team who is professional and willing to help us connect positively with our community. The media professionals at my school board run the twitter feed update other social media formats and help us to produce a single brand for our district.  They updated their internet safety and digital citizenship link on the parent portal because they were part of this project.  As a result we now have up to date information created for parents and for future parent meetings around digital citizenship.

The second thing I learned was that I enjoyed connecting students to authentic tasks.  I had the chance to network with students and teachers in two high schools and they helped to promote the event. Although many of the students did not attend the speaker's presentation our discussions were useful to them as they asked great questions.
Here are some of their questions:
How do I buy my own domain?
How might I improve on my footprint?
What's the best social media format for me if I want to go into sales?
I enjoyed interacting with students and I felt that they had many great ideas to share.

Finally I am still puzzled as to how to truly engage parents.
We used word of mouth, Syneregyse voice mail calls, posters, face-to-face presentations by students and several links on Twitter and Facebook and the board website to promote the event.  We created a Google Hangout link on YouTube so parents could watch the presentation from home.  Based on the analytics, very few chose to do so.

It was disappointing that we had a low turn out given the time, effort and funds that were spent to attract parents to the session. The quality of Chris Vollum's presentation was excellent.

I still have the following questions:
How do we support parents when we don't see a large participation rate?
Parents need to make sure that their child is the same online as offline.  They don't need to be tech experts; they do need to insist on good character.  Teens' online life is their real life and it will follow them good or bad where ever they hope to go.
How can we make sure parents are getting the message we send them?
What social media model should we use to get our messages out??

I know this question has baffled many.  I don't think it is because parents don't want to know but they aren't aware of the support that is available.  I wish I could find a way to make more meaningful connections with parents to develop a stronger partnership about their children's learning.

My version of Stop pretending.... #makeschooldifferent @lowenESST

Thanks to Lousie Owen @lowenESST  I have accepted the Stop pretending.... #makeschooldifferent challenge

Here are my five statements to consider around learning and teaching:

1. Only the kids need to learn-

No matter what you know there's always more to discover about anything and everything.  If your class has more questions about the topic at the end of a teaching block then when you started that is a sign of success.

2.You can effectively teach a whole class by yourself- 

Good teaching requires a strong positive relationship with your colleagues and your students. Every one needs support from a teaching partner, Teacher-librarian and/or a Special Education teacher. Asking for support is a sign of strength not weakness. Transparency and trust are required.

3. All students can read the same novel at the same time- 

Just because you have a straight grade assignment it does not mean that the students are learning at the same rate. Learners learn when they are ready which isn't always on a predictable schedule.

4. Being a great talker makes you a great teacher-

Some of my favourite teachers were witty and engaging but I think my best teachers were great listeners. Talking less means that the students learn more and the more I listen the more I can help with the just in time support.

5. Expect great collaboration skills from your students when you don't collaborate yourself-

 If teachers don't collaborate then kids won't. We have to collaborate with peers so students see it in action and learn by example. They need to see that a collaborative effort like co-teaching requires patience, time and clear communication skills.  It's often a messy but rewarding process.  Successful collaboration draws the best out of all co-learners.

These are just some of the pretending we do in schools.  Sometimes we stay in a learning plateau because of the structures in place like age grouping that encourages the status quo. This year I have noticed that students and teachers who have adopted the growth mindset concept and have begun to use the Google Apps for Education programs are seeing learning in a collaborative environment as a beneficial and enriching experience.