Learning 2.011 Reflection

September 8-10, I attended the Learning 2.011 Conference hosted by Shanghai Community International School just outside of Shanghai, China.  This conference had been on my radar for nearly a year and a half prior, having heard about it as other international educators signed up for the 2010 conference, tweeted their way through the actual conference, and then followed up with blog responses to the entire thing.  I knew then that I really wanted to make an effort to attend this year.

The conference was set-up was quite unlike anything I had experienced before.  There were the regular keynote address (which were far from ordinary).  There were a plethora of workshops on nearly any technology concept that you could imagine.  There were the traditional breaks with some good food.  But then, unlike other conferences I’ve attended, there were cohorts and unconference sessions.

LIBRARY+TECHNOLOGY COHORT

This cohort gave me the opportunity to meet and dialogue with a number of other teacher-librarians in Asia.  As a group, we decided to focus on 4 aspects of school librarianship:

• Personal Learning Networks
• E-Books in Libraries
• The Library Program
• Workshop Tool & Book Recommendation Swap

Out of these discussions, I came away with some of these insights, hopes, and ideas for my library:

• PLNs – I joined SILCAsia, a yahoo! listserv serving school librarians throughout Asia.  While it is not an incredibly active group (a post every week or so), it is obviously being closely monitored.  I put out a plea a week ago for examples of Curricular Request Forms and within 24 hours, I had three responses with some great ideas.  There was one shared Google Doc, one school website-hosted form, and one Google Form.  I will likely be creating a modified version of the Google Form to use in my library.
• Ebooks – I’ve been thinking a lot about how to start getting ebooks into my library.  I still don’t have a definite answer but I have a much better idea about what I would like to see on whatever device we decide upon.  One idea that came up was purchasing non-fiction in a digital form.  This makes even more sense with how much weeding we’re currently doing in our non-fiction section.  Digital content has the potential to be updated whereas our hardcopies are stuck in their publication year.
• Ebooks – Wheelers is definitely a possibility as an ebook provider for us here in the Philippines.  I like that they are not married to a certain device but can work on Apple products, Android devices, and a variety of other e-readers.
• Library Program – Databases were a big topic of conversation.  They are so expensive and many of us wonder whether we are actually getting enough use out of them.  One librarian talked about a 300% increase in the use of databases when she started running reports, individually working with teachers, encouraging teachers to require a variety of resources, and then supporting teachers when they came into the library.  This is already a method that I’m using but I know that I could see improvement if I was able to spend more time teaching the databases to the teachers prior to their needing it in class.
• Library Program – I also came away with a desire to increase our online presence in the library.  We will likely be creating a Library Homepage for our library computers before next school year.  I’d also like to develop a Facebook Fan Page for the library to get the word out about new books and new initiatives in the library.
• Tool Swap – Wow!  Joyce Valenza’s LibGuides are a work of art.  The word-use of the librarian as a curator is a bit new to me but I’m completely on-board with the concept.  I doubt that we will use LibGuides simply because of the expense, but we also looked at scoop.it, a free option.

KEYNOTES

The keynotes at this conference were among the most engaging that I’ve heard.  Nearly every presenter used technology but in a way that was supportive and did not distract from the overall message.  Each presenter was also facing an audience armed with devices.  Nearly conference attendee had a laptop, tablet, or smartphone powered up.  Some were taking notes on Google Docs, some were tweeting, and others were conducting a back-channel chat.

Kevin Honeycutt started us out on the evening of the first day of the conference challenging us with two phrases that I have been playing around with in my head since September 8:

• L2L2L – Learn to Love to Learn: How many of my students love the learning process? How am I encouraging or facilitating this love for learning?  Do my assignments promote that love for leanring or do they encourage students to simply tick the boxes?
• “You are as good as how fast you can learn, unlearn, and relearn.” – This is a powerful statement in how we approach technology (or perhaps anything) in education.  Flexibility and a desire to continue to learn is absolutely necessary for the world we live in.

Jabiz Raisdana treated me to my very first live Pecha-Kucha presentation.  To introduce us to part of his Personal Learning Network, he spent 20 seconds on each of his 20 slides.  Although slightly out of breath at the end of his presentation, he told us the story of his learning transformation in the last 3 years and the people who have been a part of that process.  One very cool aspect of his presentation was his slides.  He didn’t spend any time searching for images or creating them.  He asked those 20 individuals to take a picture of themselves with a picture of him in the photo.  Some of them green-screened their photos into wild destinations.  Some held up a picture of Jabiz to a webcam and took the photo.  Some “hid” him in the photo.

WORKSHOPS AND UNCONFERENCE SESSIONS

Throughout the course of the three days, along with the keynote and cohort sessions, I attended 7 workshops and unconference sessions.  The topics were broad but have already been so helpful to my teaching.  One of the most helpful sessions was titled as a workshop but definitely felt more like a dialogue.

Jabiz Raisdana (Pecha-Kucha guy) facilitated a conversation about design and how it does indeed matter.  We talked about everything from color wheels to the rule of thirds to fonts and then spent a lot of time on Creative Commons work.  It was incredibly insightful and I’ve used much from that session as I collaborated with our Grade 7 English teacher on autobiography projects.  Some fun CC resources that I learned about were:

• MultiColr Search Lab – search for CC images based on your choice of a color palette.
• TinEye – reverse image search.
• Blue Mountains Flickr – interesting images from Flickr based on keywords.
• CompFight – Another nifty Flickr search tool.

One of the unconferences that I attended was on the idea of a Flipped Classroom.  I had heard the concept a couple of times through blogs and such before I got to the conference but I wanted to ask some questions and dialogue with those who are actually doing it.  I had a fascinating conversation with a science teacher from another international school here in Manila who is experimenting with the flipped model this year.  Rather than hearing a presentation, I asked questions and tried some of the tools that he’s working with.

CONCLUSIONS

Although I wish that I had written this reflection while things were still fresh in my mind, I’m finding as I’ve gone through my notes that I’ve already implemented a number of things that I took away from the conference.  Those were the things that were immediately helpful.  I’m also re-discovering things that I’d like to work on implementing in the future in my library setting.  (I even shot off the fun CC tools to a couple of people in the middle of writing this!)  Definitely some good things to keep in mind as I continue to L2L2L.

A line drawing of success…

This is definitely something that I’ll be sharing with my students!

Setting my yearly goals…

We’re nearly two months into our new school year and a mere week away from the end of the first quarter…and I’ve finally just met with my principal to determine my professional goals for this year.  My timing is impeccable.  To be honest, if I had met before today, I’m not sure that I could have rationally thought through the areas that I want to focus on for professional growth for this year.  This year is undoubtably the most busy of my career thus far.  There is no humanly way that I could have carried this load any year prior to this…and I may never be able to do it again either.

So while my position technically falls under the supervision of our deputy superintendent, I met with our HS principal as the majority of my goals for this year are classroom-related.

I’ve prefaced all of my goals with the word PRACTICE.  Dictionary.com defines this verb as: to follow or observe habitually or customarily.  And that perhaps is my first goal…to practice these things.

My principal is already concerned that I’ve set too lofty of goals for myself.  It’s likely true.  But these practices may just be the communication, the reflection, the balance…and ultimately, the organization…that I need in order to keep myself sane during this tremendously challenging time.

2010 Books in Review

It’s hard to believe that it’s January 1st already.  I honestly can’t quite figure out what happened to 2010.  What a year!  I ended my 5th/6th year in the classroom.  I started taking classes towards a Master’s in School Librarianship.  I spent 6 months on a home assignment in the US to begin preparing myself for my next role…the school librarian.  But this is about my reading…and how impressed I am with myself.  That sounds more than a little vain.  This is the first year that I made a reading goal for myself.  And while I didn’t reach my goal, I am proud of what I did read and how I expanded my horizons this year.

The goal: 78 books in one year.  52 young adult books + 26 adult books.

The result: 75 books in one year.  50 young adult books + 25 adult books.

So a few thoughts on the year of reading.  I’m borrowing the questions from Jennifer Rummel at YABookNerd.  The full list of my 2010 Books can be found here.

1. Best Book of 2010

• There were so many!  Why do I have to pick one?!  How about one YA and one adult?
• My YA pick: All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg.  Loved everything about it: the major topics of adoption, the Vietnam War, baseball, and the narrative verse that it was written in.
• My Adult pick: The Good Soldiers by David Finkel.  This non-fiction piece by an embedded journalist gave me a small glimpse of the Iraq that my brother-in-law saw during his 15-month deployment.

2. Worst Book of 2010

• Can we change this to the “Guilty Pleasure of 2010?”  Okay, after reading all 4 Twilight books last year, it felt necessary to round out the mix with Book #5 – The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer.

3. Most Disappointing Book of 2010

• I wanted more from Julie Powell’s second memoir Cleaving.  Lots of whining.  Lots of cursing.  And a general feeling of unhappiness and dissatisfaction with life made it the hardest book of the year to complete.

4. Most Surprising (in a good way!) Book of 2010

• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.  I first made an attempt at this book mid-summer but it wasn’t until downloading the audiobook on my iPod that I really sunk into the expansive story.  I’ll definitely be adding this book to the Grade 12 World Literature classroom library.

5. Most Recommended-to-Others Book of 2010

• I’m rather obsessed with Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. They definitely made the rounds to not only my Grade 7 students but also high schoolers, as well as any adults I came into contact with.

6. Best Series You Discovered in 2010

• Perhaps another guilty pleasure.  Along with half of America, I read Steig Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.  And I heard that he had 10 books mapped out for the series?!  I definitely know that I could not have read the 7 remaining books on my iPod as I did with the first three.  Perhaps a Kindle, Nook, or iPad would have been easier on my eyes.

7. Favorite New Authors Discovered in 2010

• John Green.  So witty.  And fantastic writing.
• Gordon Korman.  My Grade 7′s just find him hilarious.
• Jennifer Brown.  She tugged at the heartstrings.  Looking forward to reading her second book The Bitter End due out in May.

8. Most Hilarious Book of 2010

• Hands down, Kucklehead by Jon Scieskza.  Laugh-out-loud funny.  Laughing so hard that I was crying.

9. Most Thrilling, Unputdownable Book of 2010

• This Gorgeous Game by Donna Freitas.  I shared the sentiments of a reviewer on Amazon who said that she didn’t want to leave the main character alone.  I stayed up far past when I usually go to bed so that I could protect her in some way.

10. Most Anticipated Book of 2010

• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.  I was camping.  At midnight, I went down to picnic tables outside of the snack shack where I could pick up on a wi-fi signal and downloaded my pre-ordered copy of Mockingjay on to my iPod.  Yeah, I was that girl.

11. Favorite Cover of a Book You Read in 2010

• It’s a tie between Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson and Anything but Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin.  I really loved reading Laurie Halse Anderson’s blog and seeing some of the paperback covers for Wintergirls outside of the USA.  What a difference marketing plays in book covers!

12. Most Memorable Character in 2010

• I still find myself thinking about Melinda in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  She has followed me for many of the almost 7 years since I first read her story.

13. Most Beautifully Written Book of 2010

• I’m changing this to Most Uniquely Written Book of 2010.  And that goes to Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.  It takes some talent to write without many of the letters of the alphabet.  Some serious word choice in that book.
• Oh, and another one for this category: Pyongyang by Guy Delisle.  A stark and moving graphic novel about a foreigner in North Korea.

14. Book That Had the Greatest Impact on You in 2010

• Silence by Shusaku Endo.  I’m not teaching it this semester but it keeps popping up in conversations with former students, on Donald Miller’s blog, and other random places.  I still think about Rodrigues and Kichijiro often.

15. Book You Can’t Believe You Waited Until 2010 To Read

• I’ve said for years that I wanted to read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver but it never happened.  This was the year.

16. New Favorite Book Blog You Discovered in 2010

• Miss K at Devour Books
• Tess at Recycle Your Reads

17. Favorite Review that You Wrote in 2010

• I didn’t write it…but I did record it.  My first-ever podcast was a review of John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines.

18. Most Thought-Provoking Review or Discussion on Another Blog in 2010

• Repetitive, I’m sure, but the #speakloudly conversation, discussion, and subsequent campaign against banned books was inspiring and a challenge to many of us.

19. Best Event You Participated in During 2010

• I participated occasionally in #bookaday but not formally.

20. Best Moment of Book Blogging in 2010

• I have not yet done a lot of book blogging…something I hope to change with the new year.  I’d like to keep better track of what I read and my reactions to what I read.  I think I’ll be doing that on GoodReads.

21. Best Bookish Discovery of 2010

• A wonderful Twitter community that has been so helpful with their book recommendations.  They have kept my TBR continually growing.  I am so thankful for their influence in this past year despite having never met most of them.  Specifically check out the hashtags #bookaday, #yalitchat, #titletalk, and #speakloudly.
• And even though I failed miserably (let’s not even talk about how miserably), I was enthralled by NaNoWriMo and would like to make another attempt next November…and will have a plot outline set before November 1.

I’m proud of myself for what I did accomplish this year.  I don’t know what my goal will be for this next year…100 books, perhaps?  I’m going to give myself a little bit of time to think about it.

Almost there…

A few comments on the Moodle entries of some of my classmates and I’ll be finished with my first grad school class!

I posted my Final for the class on my wiki: http://msbecs.wikispaces.com/LIB705.  It’s Module 7: Assignment 2.  I’ve created a content lesson entitled “Readers for Research” as an introduction the role that RSS Readers can take in the research process.  I’m happy with how it turned out and am looking forward to using it once I get into my library.

I’m probably most proud of the tutorial videos that I made to introduce Netvibes to my students.  I used Jing Pro to do the screen capture videos.  Check them out:

• Video 1 – Signing up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU2D1EQm_6Q
• Video 2 – Adding content and tabs:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMSZdFZc7zQ
• Video 3 – Adding a search: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQxZu4lVOwQ
• Video 4 – Other helpful widgets: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whSDDPrSdc4

December?!

How on earth is tomorrow December?!  And I don’t want to hear any of your smart-alecky comments like, “Well, first there was January 1 and then January 2…and then July 16 and then July 17…and then November 29 and then November 30, and now it’s December 1.”

December is gearing up to be a big month.  Lots to do.  One last assignment for my first grad school class.  A visit to see my sister.  A concert of my favorite band (oh how I love thee, Over the Rhine).  Christmas parties.  Time with my fam.

And heaps of reading…I have 16 titles to go before I reach 78 books for the year.  December is going to have to be my biggest reading month yet.  We’re going for almost all Middle Grade and Young Adult books, I think.

Technology Standards

My latest grad school assignment was to review technology standards from four different organizations and summarize.

You can check it out on my wiki: http://msbecs.wikispaces.com/LIB705/ Scroll to Module 6 – Assignment 2.  The .pdf file is labeled Summaries of Tech Standards.

“Gotta Keep Reading”

I’ve shown this video a number of times to students.  Upbeat and a fantastic endorsement of reading.

And if you haven’t seen the original video that they’re spoofing (The Black Eyed Peas on Oprah), then check that out here.

UPDATE: They’re at it again!  Check out a recent video of Ocoee Middle School on WESH in Orlando, Florida: http://www.wesh.com/video/25649318/detail.html

Conversations with librarians

Part of my job for my 6-month home assignment is to meet with librarians, tour their libraries, and discuss with them their struggles, joys, frustration, advice they may have, things that wish that they could do differently, the role that digital media is playing in their libraries, among other things.

I have felt so incredibly welcomed by the librarians that I have met while I’ve been out here in Washington.  I’ve met with Christian school, public school, and public libraries.  They are elementary librarians, middle school librarians, teen librarians, combination librarians (Grades 7-12).  They are in schools that have significant budgets and no budgets at all.  And they have all been so gracious in answering my questions.

As I leave Washington, I wanted to reflect on some of what I have learned and discussed with these amazing women (have yet to meet with a male librarian…which I find a bit discouraging…boys need to see men reading and promoting books).

1.  They are all passionate about what they do.  It is thrilling to watch how their eyes light up when they talk about the love that they have for their jobs.

2. Each of the school librarians deals with the struggle of providing quality pieces of literature to their student population.  They are all asking the questions – what is appropriate?  What’s the line when it comes to content, language, situational appropriateness?

3. Teaching students how to use the library well is something that they are all wrestling with.  One school does an orientation with all of their incoming Grade 7 students (youngest grade in that school) and then they do another orientation with their incoming Grade 9 students.

4. All of the libraries are hooked into the public library system.  Some still have their own online databases that they purchase but many are hooked into the ones that the public library system offers.

5. The physical space of every library that I’ve been in has wide-open space.  While the shelving units on the wall are floor-to-(almost) ceiling, none of the center shelving is above chest level.  There’s almost nothing blocking the librarian’s ability to see every corner of the room.

6. All agreed that the phrase “unquiet library” was probably the most accurate description of what they are and how things work in the middle school and high school setting.  Thank you, Buffy Hamilton, for coining the phrase.

7. I saw a variety of circulation systems.  Most are using a Follett product.  Some will be moving on to Follett Destiny when Follett no longer supports their older products.  One school was in the process of moving from Concourse to Koha.  I liked the open-source idea of Koha.  It appeared to be very user-friendly and I loved it’s visual appeal to the “digital natives” who use it – pictures of the books, ability to search at home.

8. All have a policy and process in place when the situation arises that a parent or staff member or student takes issue with a book in the collection.  All of the librarians were pretty firm on making sure that you have this policy in place before you ever open the doors of your library.  Some have to have the educational board read the book in question; others have committees that read the book and make a recommendation to keep or discard.

9. All see digital media as changing the game.  Not sure what that’s going to look like in the future but it’s going to be a game-changer.

10. They passed on a wealth of resources: print-outs of books that they’ve added to their collection in the last year, Booklist, LM-Net listserv, the Indie Next List, reading lists by grade level.

I really appreciate the time that each of these librarians has spent with me.  Most have given me an hour or more of their time.  And I’m fully aware that as a general rule, they are THE librarian with a limited amount of time to spend with a school-librarian-in-training.  So my sincere thanks, Jean, Pat, Aubrie, Liz, Sue, and Anita!

Goal 2010!

Music:

“Revolve” by hisboyelroy
http://ccmixter.org/files/hisboyelroy/430
is licensed under a Creative Commons license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/nc-sampling+/1.0/