My Vision of the Future

It's hard to believe that my first course teacher librarian course has come to an end. I have learned a lot and have enjoyed the course.  I have been introduced to new topics and its been a fasicinating journey and I can't wait to use what I can in my practice.  One of those things is our school makerspace.  I have never used it and to my knowledge, nobody else has either.  This is due to the fact that  teachers at my school have not had any professional development on the topic.   I thought it was rather a shame considering the research I found that shows that using makerspaces can encourage the development of  creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication in students. In addition to encouraging growth mindset, reluctant learners and problem solving skills. After learning of the benefits, I was sure that I wanted to use the makerspace with my class.  So, when the final vision project was announced, I thought that it would be a great opportunity for me to learn more about makerspaces myself, and to provide teachers at my school with some information about makerspaces.

My Vision Project: Rationale

My final vision project is a website aimed at teachers at my school along with other teacher librarians who may come across my site. I named my website Diary of an Aspiring Teacher Librarian, a nod to the fact that I am a beginner on the journey to becoming a teacher librarian.  I figure that the name of the website can be changed in the future, as I progress and become more comfortable in my knowledge and role.  One of the key takeaways from this course for me is how important developing relationships with staff is and I wrote about this in an earlier post.  A website will add another layer to my efforts to open lines of communication with staff and demonstrate my knowledge and learning.  In addition, a website will allow teachers to explore on their own time and at their own pace. 

My Website

On my website you will find 4 pages about makerspaces that I designed for those beginning with makerspaces.  The pages cover what makerspaces are, reasons to use them, beginner challenges and suggestions for procedures.  Earlier in the course I read Howard's research that found that teachers who are reluctant to use technology in the classroom do so often because they are not confident that they can trouble shoot if the need arises.  It would follow that anything new and unfamiliar, such as new technology or makerspaces, can create a lot of stress and therefore reluctance to implement.  Kristen Daniels also points out that supporting teachers means that we should differentiate for their various levels of knowledge.

 I took their ideas to heart and tried to remember those ideas when choosing information to include.  For instance: 

1) I tried to provide enough beginning information and maker challenges so that teachers have choice.  Those that may have no knowledge may wish to start with my page on what makerspaces are, while those with some knowledge of makerspaces may want to look over the maker challenges.

2)  I have tried to provide videos whenever possible.  The videos I chose are short, informative and engaging.  Videos are accessible and after teaching all day, I know that I would rather watch a video on a teaching topic rather than read an article.

2) I focused on what I thought would help teachers at my school learn more about makerspaces and support them if they decided to try them in the future.  The makerspace challenges I found, I saved to Padlet and embedded the Padlet into my webpage.  I focused on finding maker challenges that used the reusable materials currently found in our school makerspace and then I added additional challenges that require consumable materials even though currently they are not stocked. 

Struggles

I wrote a blog post previously about my struggles finding a topic that made sense to me in terms of my experience and finding a format I could continue to use as I learned more about topics that interested me.  I also had some struggles with creating my website.  I made my website using Wix after hearing how easy it was to use from several people. I have never used a website builder before. Wix was easy to use and I appreciated the pre-made templates. However, the templates at times change the postion of text or photos without warning and in a way that I did not like, such as providing a narrow window for a video.  This I found frustrating.  I also sometimes did not like all the blank spots that happened while using the templates.   I wasted a lot of time trying to close the gaps, but couldn't figure out how to make it happen in some cases.  

Big gap that I could not close between text and embedded Padlet

 After reading about Padlet, I decided to give it a try.  I only tried the free version which provided me with 3 boards to experiment with.  I created a board for maker projects using reusable materials, a maker projects board using consumable materials and one board for reading cultures.  I like how you can customize it and easily reorder the links you have saved. I attempted to organize the boards somewhat using colours.  I think having more boards would make organization easier, but I am not ready to make that kind of financial obligation at this point.

In the future I will add a page on robotics and 3D printers as we have these items as well, but the scope and length of this project did not allow me to explore these items. I had hoped to create some challenges of my own, but I spent much longer building the website than I had anticipated.   I also wanted to use alt text with my photos to make the site more accessible, but this will have to be a future goal as well.  I had lofty goals.

I learned a lot while working through out this course and on this project.  Not only did I learn that creating a website was not as scary as it sounded, I also experimented with a new application, Padlet and collected many useful resources for implementing makerspaces.  In order to create the pages on my website, I had to learn more about makerspaces.  I watched the videos I found and read through the materials I linked to.  I found that information regarding procedures to use in the makerspace hasn't been written about a lot and took some time to find, but I did find a few. Overall, I found that the process of creating the website made me feel more confident in terms of my own use of the makerspace and in offering my assistance and knowledge to those who may want to use the makerspace in my school.

Works Cited:

Daniels, Kristen, director. Empowering the Teacher Technophobe: Kristin Daniels at TEDxBurnsvilleED. YouTube, YouTube, 6 Nov. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=puiNcIFJTCU. 

Howard, S. K. & Mozejko, A. (2015). Teachers: technology, change and resistance. In M. Henderson & G. Romeo (Eds.), Teaching and Digital Technologies: Big Issues and Critical Questions (pp. 307-317). Port Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press.

 Learning Problem Solving and Growth Mindset in a Makerspace. Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, 16 Nov. 2018, www.edutopia.org/video/learning-problem-solving-and-growth-mindset-makerspace. 

Novack, Staci. “CGI.” SpringerReference, doi:10.1007/springerreference_61782. 

Provenzano, Nickolas. “4 Practices for Increasing Student Engagement.” Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation, 25 Apr. 2016, www.edutopia.org/blog/practices-for-increasing-student-engagement-nicholas-provenzano. 

Vongkulluksn, Vanessa W., et al. “Growth Mindset Development in Design-Based Makerspace: a Longitudinal Study.” The Journal of Educational Research, 2021, pp. 1–27., doi:10.1080/00220671.2021.1872473. 

My Final Vision Project and Learner Considerations

Image Credit:  Alexandra A life without animals is not worth living

My final vision project has changed since my last post. Previously I wanted to show staff at my school a presentation made in PowerPoint on what makerspaces are, why they may want to use them with students and some resources that could support staff in getting started. Our makerspace is small with its own dedicated room and is relatively new.  However, as I began working on the presentation Tuesday evening, I just couldn't make it work.

I had 2 problems:  

1) When I began to look for ways to present materials on makerspaces, I realized that a static presentation would not allow for additional information to be added and distributed easily.  This is a problem because makerspaces are relatively new with new research surfacing all the time. Plus the scope of this project would not allow me to go over many of the other materials we have in the makerspace such as looms and the 3D printer. I needed to be able to add information and distribute it to staff more easily.

2) I felt like an imposter.  I am not an expert on makerspaces and this is my first TL course.   I have never used the makerspace myself and, due to being in the BC covid hot spot, I don't feel like I can take my students to a smaller and less structured space.  Therefore, what I know about makerspaces has to come from the experiences of others who have written about them online.

So, at this point I began to rethink my plan:

1)  Instead of a static presentation I decided to create a website, using Wix. I have never built a website or used Wix before so there is bound to be a bit of a learning curve.  I decided to use Wix since I have heard a lot about how easy it is to use.  Also I did a bit of research and found that Wix sites can include embedded items such as Padlet and a blog which are dynamic components.  Pages and information can be added and added to as I learn more or as research is published.  I can still share my project with staff easily.  A link to the website could be shared in our weekly memo or during our virtual staff meetings. 

2)  To feel less like an imposter I thought that I would create a website with the idea that I am a TL starting out on my learning journey.  This will be reflected in the title of my website.  

Learner Considerations

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

As I began to explore Wix, I wondered about accessibility.  At a young age my mom was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy and as time went on she had trouble with seeing if the contrast between colours was low or if fonts were too fancy or small.  I was happy to see that Wix had a guide for making sites more accessible and that they automatically enable some features (more information is found here).  As I go about making pages, I will keep in mind some of the items found in the guide such as using clear fonts and using alt text to describe the images I use.  Alt text is needed so that text readers can be used on my website to 'read' images. Being accessible as possible for your audience, I believe, is important.

Colleagues:  

My website will serve the staff at my school.   Teachers at my school have never had professional development on makerspaces, so this is one reason it is not being used. Teachers need information on what makerspaces are, research based reasons on how makerspaces benefit students and some activities.  The activities I include will be low prep and use materials specific to our school's makerspace.  This means the activities will involve blocks of various types, other building materials (lego, kinex, wooden blocks, pattern blocks) and arts and crafts materials found in our art room.  I hope that by including low prep and readily available materials, staff at our school will be more likely to give makerspaces a try.  As I wrote about in an earlier post,  Howard (et al 2015) found that teachers who are reluctant to use technology (perhaps this extends to makerspaces too) in the classroom do so often because they are not confident that they can trouble shoot if the need arises. Building on to this, Kristen Daniels speaks about how differentiating and supporting teachers using technology empowers them.  I hope that the website I create will build some confidence in school staff that while I am still learning about makerspaces, I can offer some support to them if they wish to use the makerspace with students.    

I also think that my website could be helpful to other TLs who are beginning the learning journey, like myself.  My website will be made live and public at then end of this class.

Parents:

This website could be a resource for my school parent community and also in the future when I have my own LLC.  My website will serve as an additional source of information for parents that they can easily be directed to.  There they could learn more about makerspaces.  The school I currently work at holds the traditional model of schooling in high regard.  New ways of teaching and learning, such as project based learning are questioned and I feel like there will be questions regarding the use of makerspaces as an educational tool as well.

Myself: 

This website will also serve me as a virtual record of ideas which can be added to as I continue on my TL journey.  Through creating the website I would be learning more about website building, accessibility, Padlet and makerspaces. 

Summary

The topic of this assigned post was appreciated.  I think that I have a clearer idea of what I will be doing and how I will meet the needs of staff and others who may find my website. While it took me awhile to get going on this project, I am now on my way. I feel like this website will be something that I will keep up with beyond this course.  I would like to add further information regarding makerspaces to provide more choice and options to my staff but I would also like to add further topics in the future as well.

Works Cited

 Daniels, K. (2013, November) Empowering the teacher technophobe. [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puiNcIFJTCU

Howard, Sarah Katherine and Mozejko, Adrian, "Teachers: technology, change and resistance" (2015). Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers. 1830. https://ro.uow.edu.au/sspapers/1830 

Final Vision Project: Design Considerations

Image by Francis Ray

 This week's post about my vision project was a struggle for me. I have written and rewritten this post so many times that I have lost count.  I think I have finally settled on an idea that I will benefit my students, my school community, myself and other teachers.  

Potential Idea/Goal: I will create a presentation about makerspaces that can be shared with my school staff and perhaps beyond.  The makerspace is one area of our school that goes unused most of the time.  I intend to present what makerspaces are along with an annotated list of articles or posts outlining the benefits of using makerspaces, such as growth mindset gains and other resources, such as those on John Spencers YouTube channel or by Brooke Brown.  I will also create several makerspace challenges focused around Canadian landmarks that could be used in June before Canada Day (perhaps with a road trip theme). In my mind, mid to late June is a good time to try things out because you know your class well, assessment is wrapping up and students need engaging tasks to work on in order to hold their focus.  One problem I have thought of is that the challenges I make for the middle grades (which is what I am most familiar with) will not necessarily be of use to the upper grades or early primary.  I am hoping that providing the ideas and editable slides, teacher will be able to modify the challenges to make it work for their students. These makerspace challenges will be focused around blocks, gears and other reusable materials we have in our makerspace.  We currently do not have consumables such as cardboard, duct tape, straws and pipe cleaners stocked in our makerspace.  I think that sticking with what is at hand in our makerspace will encourage teachers to try it out as there would be minimal prep and materials are easy to clean up.

Potential Designs: I think that I will create my presentation in Google Slides.  This can be downloaded as a powerpoint or pdf and saved to OneDrive (which is part our districts preferred platform, Office 365) or saved directly to Google Drive.  I know that I will have to make a version where downloaders must create their own copy to prevent editing of the original slides.

Your Turn - Bring on the Advice: What am I missing? Is there a better way to present information on makerspaces? I would appreciate any advice you have to offer.

Reflection on Phase 2 Learning

Image by: John Hain

 

What are your key takeaways, learning and direction after all this exploration?

There has been lots to explore this past four weeks.   While trying to narrow down the new strategies I want to try in my one-day-in-the-future library, I realized that the biggest, most important jobs a TL has is to develop relationships with those using the Library Learning Commons. It seems to be what binds all four topics together for me.  Relationships are the foundation upon which reading culture, ICT professional development and other library programs are built upon. Below I have briefly outlined how relationship building is important to each topic discussed over the past 4 weeks.

Reading Cultures: School libraries should be an inviting, welcoming space.  In order to create such a space the teacher librarian needs to get to know the school community, teachers and students.  TLs are responsible for crafting responsive programming, curating collections, creating useful spaces for patrons and engaging displays. Suzanne Simpson, in her post "Rebuilding: A Foundation Built on Trust", talks about TLs taking on a role during assemblies, which is an idea I had not thought of before.  Seeing the teacher librarian involved in many different school activities contributes to the feel of the library being at the centre of a school community. 

PLNs: PLNs essentially are online relationships built with other teachers with common interests. They are key to ongoing and timely professional development in the 21st Century.  Technology shifts so quickly, keeping up with these changes can be difficult and a PLN can help keep the most relevant and up to date ideas at your fingertips.  Tiffany Nyquist's blog post "Using Twitter to Develop a Personal Learning Network" has many suggestions on how to use Twitter to build an PLN.  I appreciated her perspective as an active user of Twitter. This is one area which I need to grow and will continue to be a focus for me going forward. 

ICT: As I mentioned previously keeping up with technology changes can be difficult and the TL needs to be up to date with their knowledge of ICT so that they may help or support their colleagues.  In order to do this the TL needs to create a safe, supportive atmosphere in which teachers can experiment and learn about technology. Conversations with colleagues go along way in building our knowledge of the teachers we work with and allowing the TL to better know what support each teacher wants or needs.

Developing World Libraries: Libraries are for more than just books and this topic put this idea front and centre for me.  Books and ICT are important but libraries also fulfill other roles crucial to communities.  They are responsive spaces that try to meet the needs of their patrons with the limited resources they may have. 

If you could pick just one topic from Phase 2 that resonated with you, which is it and why?

The one topic that resonated with me the most was Developing World Libraries.  This topic I had an emotional connection to.  I thought about my father's country in a new way that I am not sure I would have if I hadn't taken this course.  This particular topic made me dive deep into Facebook to look at Fijian libraries and aid agencies because there is very little to be found online. This was an eye opener for me. The only information to be found was from Facebook posts.   

What are the new avenues for development in your personal and professional practice?

As I mentioned earlier, I believe developing my PLN is important and area of need in my personal and professional practice. I will continue to work at developing a PLN through Twitter.  My biggest obstacle with Twitter is time - fitting in everything seems to be a struggle for me.

Early in the course I researched about makerspaces.  Partly because I don't use the makerspace in my school and I haven't seen others use it either.   My own reluctance to use the makerspace is due to not understanding its usefulness in learning.  As I have learned more, I think that makerspaces do have a lot to offer to students and teachers.  I was particualily interested when I found Vongkulluksn's (et al. 2021) study that showed that makerspaces could contribute to positive gains in growth mindset.

  I will have to spend some time exploring resources such as those from Renovated Learning, World  of Learning and John Spencer's website and YouTube channel. I hope to use our makerspace for some design challenges this Spring.  I think that getting teachers to use the makerspace comes down to knowing what is possible and offering some support along the way.  I believe that I will continue on this path for my final vision project.

Conclusion

 I have learned a lot over the past month.  Not only are libraries about books, they are also serve communities as meeting places, support and communication hubs.  I have only scratched the surface of the ICT I feel I should know about as a TL.  Hopefully the continued effort to develop a PLN will help me learn as I go and keep me up to date with new educational technology and ideas as they emerge. 

Works Cited:

Vanessa W. Vongkulluksn, Ananya M. Matewos & Gale M. Sinatra (2021) Growth mindset development in design-based makerspace: a longitudinal study, The Journal of Educational Research, DOI: 10.1080/00220671.2021.1872473. 

Bula! Fijian Libraries

Map from World Maps

World libraries is a fascinating topic.  I began with a general google search and read about book boats and other types of bookmobiles and even little libraries. Fiji is a place that I feel a connection to since my father was Fijian.  Fiji is well known as a tourist destination but it is also a developing country. 

I wondered about how Fijians accessed books, libraries and technology.  All I know about Fiji comes from stories I've been told and from what I have read, as I have never been to Fiji myself.

Fijians struggle with: 1) remoteness (Fiji has 333 islands, 110 are inhabited)   2) Decades of political unrest.  3) Cyclones - Fiji experiences 2-3 cyclones per year that cause severe flooding, evacuations and power outages. 4) Poverty - The instability in Fiji means there is poverty (32%) and an overall lack of funding and infrastructure, with remote and rural areas receiving fewer resources than the main islands of Fiji. In addition,  Humanitarian Response reports that just over half of Fijians in rural areas have access to electricity while no number was reported for the remote areas of Fiji.

How Libraries Support Patrons In Fiji

I had a hard time finding information on the libraries of Fiji.  I was most successful in finding information on the libraries on the main island of Viti Levu, where 75% of Fiji's population resides.  I was not able to find any libraries on the other 109 islands where the other 25% of Fiji's population live. Perhaps because of the remoteness and smaller populations, these islands do not have libraries beyond those found in schools.  I was able to collect some information on remote Fiji from aid organizations that have published about their experiences in these areas.

The libraries on Viti Levu do not have dedicated websites but they do have Facebook pages (Nausori Town Council Library, Western Regional Library) with only one library with a website (Suva City Library).  Looking through various photos from Facebook pages and the Suva City Library website,  I was able to make a few observations about how the libraries on Viti Levu support their patrons:

1) Displays to Inform

Looking through the Facebook photos I found that libraries created displays for to inform, much like we do here. Diwali, Breast Cancer Awareness and origami for Valentines Day were all opportunities librarians took to engage their patrons with curated displays.

2) Community Meeting Place

Libraries in Fiji, like here, are meeting places. Retires gather to read and learn.  Students gather at libraries to study.  

Photos: Nausori Town Council Library, located on Viti Levu,

3) Accept Donations

Book Donations

With some more searching I found that the libraries in Fiji are often stocked with books that have been donated (Fiji Book Drive).  This is how the libraries of Viti Levu are stocked as well as the school libraries in Fiji.  

While I don't think these libraries want our weeded out collection of books, I do think they need books. Poverty and remoteness work to make getting any books into the hands of people very difficult.   Pacific Outreach reports that delivering books to Kavadu Island was a struggle.  Kavadu Island can only be reached by speed boat.  Once on the island, mountainous jungle terrain must be travelled across in order to deliver books to school libraries.  Cheryl MacDonald, reports that new books are hard to come by in Fiji and that technology is non-existent in school libraries.  Many school libraries have books that are very out of date or in poor condition.  Donation is one way to go to get more books. She suggests sending books directly to schools based on a wish list made by those who need books the most.  The wish list could be housed on Amazon.  

4) ICT

While Fiji has good internet and mobile service on the main islands of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, smaller islands have spotty or no service at all.  There seems to be a lack of information regarding mobile devices on these islands.  

a) Computers and Internet

As noted earlier, information on libraries in Fiji is almost non-existent and some of my information has come from library Facebook pages like this photo of children surrounding a computer at the Nausori Public Library.  

Nausori Public Library, 2019

This photograph reminded me of a 2012 Ted Talk by Sugata Mitra. Collaboration, interest and encouragement are a magical combination. In the Hole in the Wall Experiment, Mitra has shown that kids can teach themselves when they collaborate to learn a topic of interest with some encouragement.  What was interesting is that they didn't just consume, Mitra found that kids even created their own music - they became creators, too. One device with internet access can change children's lives. Unfortunately, computers or other devices are not accessible in many areas of Fiji.  

Mitra's TedTalk is well worth a watch if you have not had a chance.

So then, what about children in places, such as remote Fiji, where there is no internet, no devices and at times, no electricity? SolarSPELL may help.

b) SolarSPELL

 Only about half the population of Fiji has an internet connection which means that half are probably not using devices, mobile or otherwise.   Arizona State University has developed a solar powered, digital library called SolarSPELL. SolarSPELLs are digital libraries that need no electricity (solar powered), holds many books, articles and videos and mimic surfing the internet and using websites. Users develop some information literacy skills that they could otherwise not, if it were not for access to the SolarSPELL.

 Arizona State University has provided many remote schools in Fiji with their digital library.  They returned later and found that the libraries were well used by teachers and students. While the SolarSPELL is a good start, the information on it is curated by people who are not using the device themselves. What impact that has on users is not known. Also, because the device is not connected to the internet it may not offer the most up to date information.  However, it is small and portable, necessary attributes for cyclone prone areas where quick evacuation must occur.  It's a lot easier to carry a SolarSPELL than a box of books. They also provide a more democratic access to information.  All remote schools who receive the SolarSPELL will have the same resources available to them. 

Photo from SolarSPELL

Summary

Fiji is a developing country still working towards political stability and providing the infrastructure to support libraries and mobile devices.  As a result, there are few libraries and those that exist, lack resources.  Despite this, they work with what they have to provide programs to patrons.  My research into libraries yielded few results.  I am guessing that this is because of the limited internet and lack of computers at schools, where most libraries seem to be housed on most of the islands of Fiji.   Fiji is dependent on outside help to get books and technology to remote and rural areas where libraries only exist in schools and as a nation, they rely largely on the weeded books from other countries. Hopefully with continuing political stability further infrastructure can be put in place to support those in remote and rural areas.

Supporting Teacher's ICT Curriculum and Pedagogy

How can teacher-librarians support teachers ICT curriculum and pedagogy?  Currently, I am in the classroom and I have not yet had the opportunity to act as a teacher librarian so I have not thought much about how I will support teachers. However, the best practices we use with students, should also be used when teachers are the students.  Like the classroom, I would first start with building relationships, followed by building opportunities to learn.

Photo by Harish Sharma

Build Relationships

   Teachers need to view a teacher librarian as approachable, knowledgeable and willing to help.  For staff to see this a relationship needs to be fostered.

 Photo by Alexandra

There are lots of ideas out there on how to build relationships between colleagues - eat in the lunch room, make rounds to see what is going on in the building, but my favourite was something I experienced.  I once had a vice principal who kept chocolate in her office.  If you had a bad day you could go and help yourself.  If she was there then you probably had a conversation and left feeling better (plus you still got chocolate) but even if you didn't you knew she cared - she left you chocolate after all.  Carolee Walker talks about how being the 'candy lady' brings people to her that she wouldn't normally interact with and that socializing at work is good for you.  I suspect you will find a box of candy behind the desk in my library one day.

One idea I had to get to know teachers better is to ask them to fill out a survey.  The survey would be aimed at discovering what they know, what they want to know, what they have tried in the past that worked or what didn't work for them. This way I would know what tools, technology or resources I could curate to meet their needs. Also, a survey that is followed up on by the teacher librarian, gives teachers a voice.  I could tailor any professional development I plan I would develop towards what teachers are curious about.  Therefore making the professional development relevant and timely.

 Provide Choice In Learning - It's Motivating

Providing students with choice has proven to motivate learning.  Judy Willis, a former teacher turned neurologist, explains that the brain chemical dopamine promotes intrinsic motivation.  Dopamine provides a rush when we've achieved a goal and is linked to intrinsic motivation.  Dopamine is produced when people are given choice.  

Some ideas involving choice I thought were interesting:

1) Teacher Tech Playground.  

Monique Flickinger had an interesting article that talked about having a Teacher Tech Playground where teachers have the opportunity to play around with various technology.  It seems like a low stress, fun and supportive environment in which to learn something new.  Also, teachers would have choice as to what technology they would like to try out with some support from their colleagues or the teacher librarian if they choose.

2) Pathways 

From my own experience, being able to play around with technology or ideas on my own time is something that I look for in PD.  One of the most effective PD I've attended happened this past summer, where we learnt about Teams, our district's preferred digital platform.  The day consisted of an online presentation followed by digital handouts.  We were given a 'pathway' or a series of links to videos and other resources to help us discover more about the various applications available to teachers through Teams.  The remainder of the time that day, I was able to explore many videos and try many of the applications out.  I feel like having the time to explore on my own allowed me to learn more deeply about the applications and how they could be useful in my classroom.   One of the reasons that maybe this pathway resonates with me could relate back to my exploration of growth mindset.  Pathways track your progress and as O'Rouke (2016) found in her study, progress tracking is motivating.  I could see developing pathways in other areas to support teachers' learning.

A photograph of the pathway created by Michel Gagnon.  Each icon or button is a link leading to resources.

3) Book Clubs

Book clubs featuring professional books, have been successful at my current school.  Often teachers meet at lunch or after school for an informal chat about the section of the book they had agreed to read.  Given covid isn't going anywhere fast, an online book club for teachers may be a good alternative.  Cheryl Boes describes how an online book club can be advantageous for those who have busy schedules.  She suggests having moderator for the book club who posts questions about the reading in a blog post that teachers can respond to through the comment section.  

Differentiation and Mentorship Are For Teachers, Too

Differentiantion is not only for students.  Teachers benefit as well.  The pathway discussed above is one example of differentiation.  A teacher could start anywhere along that path depending on their experience.  

In the video below, Kristen Daniels points out in this video that by differentiating and providing choice and support for teachers using technology empowers them to affect their school community and beyond. 

Howard (et al 2015) found that teachers who are reluctant to use technology in the classroom do so often because they are not confident that they can trouble shoot if the need arises.  A teacher librarian may be able to work alongside the teacher providing assistance. As Dweck (2014) has found students (or teachers) with a growth mindset realize that if they stick with something and get mentorship when need it, they will learn and grow.  

Your Turn

Supporting teachers I feel requires teachers librarians to firstly develop relationships with those teachers.  Only once the relationships are formed will a teacher librarian know the needs of staff.  Providing inservice opportunities is important and best practices tell us people learn best when they have choice, opportunities to talk and reflect as well as, receive mentorship and support at their level.

How do you support your staff?  What methods have you tried that have been successful?

Works Cited

Howard, Sarah Katherine and Mozejko, Adrian, "Teachers: technology, change and resistance" (2015). Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers. 1830.
https://ro.uow.edu.au/sspapers/1830

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Learning is a Journey

Gerd Altmann

This week I am looking at my own skills, learning and my PLN. I'll look at where I am now, where I hope to go during my time in LIBE 477 and beyond.

What is a PLN?

Educators are building networks, called PLN's, to help each other learn and share resources.  It seems like the main benefit of building a PLN is that these connections between educators are useful for professional development.  PLN's help keep you up to date with new technologies and ideas. This video gives a good overview of what a PLN is.

Common Sense Media

Where I Am Now

Currently, I am in the classroom teaching grade 4.  At the moment my PLN is mostly face to face and I've only dipped a toe into digital PLN's.  On my own, I have persued professional development in the form of: 1)  Blogs   2) professional books recommended by other teachers. 3) School Book Clubs  4) Conferences and Workshops 5) Conversations and sharing with colleagues.

Where I Am Heading

It’s easier than ever to personalize your own professional development.  There are so many educators around the world who have similar interests and who are sharing their experiences and resources online. As I think about this course and beyond, I realize that there is just too much to know.  As a teacher librarian I think that knowing what is available for teachers in your school is important, but so is knowing where to find the information you need when you don't know the answer to their questions.  The latter seems to be where  a PLN comes in.  I would like to stretch my professional self in 3 areas: Skill Development, Building My PLN, Using My PLN.

1) Skill Development: Makerspaces and Twitter

 A. Makerspaces 

I am interested in Makerspaces since our school has a small room which has been turned into a basic makerspace and few teachers are using it (me included).  Makerspaces are proven to have positive effects on growth mindset (Vongkulluksn et al. 2021)  which has been a focus in my classroom this year.  I have found John Spencers website and Youtube channel to be an excellent resource on how to get a makerspace going and the pedagogy behind them. He states that makerspaces have many benefits for students living and working in the 21st century and should be part of every classroom.

B. Twitter

I am also interested in learning more about Twitter.  I am not comfortable with Twitter yet and need to spend some time learning about it. Many sources (such as this post from CommonSense Media) consider Twitter an excellent way to connect teachers with other teachers all over the world.

Sylvia Duckworth

Also, Nochumson (2018) found in their study that twitter was effective in teacher professional development.  I found a beginners guide to Twitter to help get me started.

When I first began this blog post, I considered Twitter as a way to connect with educators and find ideas and resources.  I had a consumer mindset.  However, as Alec Courous points out in this video on how to use twitter effectively in education, Twitter isn't just for finding ideas, but for developing them too.

2) Growing My PLN

My current digital PLN is limited - I am a consumer not a creator or communicator, but I am hoping to work towards that.  Some steps that I would like to take are:

A.  Build My Twitter Feed

Edublogs has a good list of educators to follow on Twitter.  The list is midway in the post. 

B.  Add to Feedly 

Since beginning this course I have found and followed additional blogs that I have found while looking for information on my current interests.  Makerspaces are a current interest of mine so I have added John Spencer's blog and YouTube channel.  I recently found the Daring Librarian blog as well.  I found a long list of teacher librarian blogs from Teach Thought to pursue, further diversifying my feed.

C. Share and Create

So while I follow and read lots of posts and articles, I am mostly a consumer within my digital PLN.  I hope to move on and create content and communicate within my PLN.  I made my first steps by sharing my reading progress log which incorporates ideas from growth mindset as well as commenting on some colleagues blogs recently.

3) Using My PLN

If I hope to maintain the PLN that I am currently building,  I think I have to use it.  I need to ask for recommendations on Twitter, retweet, reply, share and comment.  Also, comment on the blog posts that resonate with me. The goal is to make using my PLN a habit so that it becomes part of my routine. 

Your Turn

How can I further build my PLN?  Do you have blogs or educators you can recommend for me to follow?

Works Cited:

Talia C. Nochumson (2020) Elementary schoolteachers’ use of Twitter: exploring the implications of learning through online social media, Professional Development in Education,46:2, 306-323, DOI: 10.1080/19415257.2019.1585382

Vanessa W. Vongkulluksn, Ananya M. Matewos & Gale M. Sinatra (2021) Growth mindset development in design-based makerspace: a longitudinal study, The Journal of Educational Research, DOI: 10.1080/00220671.2021.1872473.