Final Vision: Blogging with Kids!

Here we are at the end of the course and ready as I’ll ever be to share this project! This has been a big learning experience for me for many reasons. Here, I’d like to share a bit about the process leading up to the finished (but still very much in-progress!) class blog.

Triumphs

Firstly, I’d never have dreamed of doing a class blog before being presented with this project! In fact, I’d never have blogged myself if it weren’t for Aaron forcing me to in this class and in LIBE 467. And I’m not going to lie, I really hated it at first! The thought of putting myself out there for others to judge really scared me. But, as the story goes, the more we do something the easier it becomes. This class in particular with it’s weekly postings really pushed me over that line from discomfort to developing confidence and voice. Because of this, I’m hoping to give that same experience to my students. Thank you Aaron!

I’ve been contemplating for years how to have an online presence with my class that really connects students, parents, home and school. Davison (2019) states “Parents want to be informed and be able to contribute and have conversations with their children about their day in school. Blogging is a vehicle to help make this happen. The blog is a way for parents to engage and have face to face conversations with their children about their day in school.” Some colleagues have created Facebook groups for their classes and this never really sat well with me as the forum I wanted. As I’ve mentioned previously, I have created class sites before, but they were stagnant one-pagers simply for kids to link out to other sites. I’ve also used FreshGrade successfully as a tool to share student work, but it is lacking the student voice. I truly believe that blogging might be the happy medium I’ve been striving for.

When I presented this idea to my class they were over-the-moon excited! I explained to them why we were doing it - to give purpose to their writing - and they immediately started shooting ideas at me about what they wanted to write about. I’ve never experienced that reaction when telling them to get out their journals! We discussed the things we need to pay attention to when writing for an audience and they seemed to take it seriously. Once the basic design elements of the blog had been decided and implemented and they saw what we could create they were amazed. These kids look at websites all the time, but I don’t think it ever occurred to them that they would be able to make a “real” website themselves.

Process

I began by showing the class quite a few different class blogs that were already up and running, as suggested by Kathleen Morris in her article Blogging With Very Young Students. The first step she suggests is commenting on other class blogs. We did not write any comments but we did look at where comments can go. We focused on looking at the design elements of the blogs and the content they were posting. One surprising but happy result of looking at other blogs was that my class decided they didn’t really like the ones with busy designs and backgrounds. In the end I chose the theme as there are just way too many choices to leave it up to the whole class, but I did consider their thoughts in choosing.

I created the “Teacher’s Corner” and “Learning Games and Resources” pages on my own. I still wanted all of their educational links in an easy-to-access place, from home and school. I also created the “Teacher’s Corner” to distance my voice from the students. I knew that it might be hard for me to not post on the blog as it’s such a great way to communicate with parents, but I really wanted the main feed to be student-centred and created.

Once the site was designed the class and I wrote the first post together. I typed while they gave me ideas. I took the pictures and added them to the post. I expect the first few posts might happen like this until they are comfortable with the process, have learned how to login and have an idea of what a blog post looks like.

We haven’t yet shared the site with parents. I am leaving the password protection off until this class is wrapped up and then I will send the following letter home complete with password.

Challenges

The biggest challenge by far was writing a blog post with the input of 22 kids ranging in age from seven to nine years old! As I mentioned above, they all had really great ideas about topics they want to write about and it was challenging getting them to stay focused on just writing an introductory post. The other challenge was to hear all the students and make sure that everyone had a say in how the first post should look. I think the posting will get easier as they begin to write individual entries but will present a new challenge in teaching them how to login with their own accounts and edit their work well. Time can only tell us how this will go!

My own challenge was learning a new blogging site in a relatively short amount of time while also working on it with my students. I’ve had a year to learn the dashboard of my personal blog and it’s quirks. It might have been easier to use the same blogging site with my students as I’m already very familiar with it, but I wasn’t keen on some of the features and I wanted something tailored to use in an educational setting. Jackson (2012) supports this sentiment: “Although easy to use, [some] tools are not specific to the education community and might not have all the safety and supervisory features a teacher, particularly an elementary grade teacher, needs.” On Edublogs I can create an account for each student so that they can login with their own credentials and post with me as moderator. 

And so now, without further delay, I present to you my class blog! I am really excited to see where this project takes us this year and so see my students’ writing flourish! 

http://mrslosell.edublogs.org/

Works Cited

Davison, Sharon (2019, February 21). Blogging with Elementary Students. Powerful Learning Practice. Retrieved from https://plpnetwork.com/2019/02/21/why-i-blog/ 

Jackson, Lorrie (2012, February 28). Blogging? It's Elementary,My Dear Watson!. Education World. Retrieved from https://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml 

Morris, Kathleen (2011, July 19). Blogging with Very Young Students. Primary Tech. Retrieved from http://www.kathleenamorris.com/2011/07/19/blogging-with-very-young-students/ 

Vision Project: Learner and Audience Considerations

For my final vision project I am creating a class blog. This isn’t the first time I’ve created a web tool to use with my students. Just last year I created a one page website that had all of the web-tool links on it so that my primary students could easily find the sites from one place. The site I created was heavily used by my students and served its purpose, but it had a very limited audience...my students. Also, my students had no input into the site. It was basically an index of links.

My goal for this project is to get the students involved in blogging (basically online journaling) and widen the audience a bit. As Jackson (2012) points out, “Educators know that students write better when they have a real audience -- not just a teacher with a red pen. In the past, finding such an audience was a challenge. But with Internet access and some basic software, any student can write for the world to see.” Although one page of the blog will still contain those web links for online tools, it won’t be the main purpose anymore and it won’t be on the home page. The intended audience is the students and their parents. For the students I really think that blogging will give some purpose to their writing and will hopefully motivate them to take some pride in what they are writing. It will also be a positive way of incorporating technology into the classroom. For the parents, they will gain some insight into what their children are doing at school, reported by their own children. As a

parent myself, with kids who come home and report that they “can’t remember” what they did at school I can’t tell you how much I’d love to see something like this. The hope is that the blog will be something that the kids and parents can sit read through together and bridge the home and school gap. Kathleen Morris (2011) supports this, writing  “A blog is something that parents can sit down and comment on with their child at home. Blogs can create a bridge between home and school. There is numerous research which suggests that family participation in learning is one of the most accurate predictors of a child’s success in school and beyond.” 

So far, the individual pages I’ve considered adding to the blog, besides the home page where the student blogging with be showcased, are a resources page (as mentioned above) and a “teacher’s corner” page where I can write about things without interfering with the kids’ work. Over the next two weeks I’m going to spend some time with the students introducing them to the idea of blogging, viewing some other class blogs and working together to create our first post. Down the road I’d like the students to create the posts, but I think it’ll be really important to model what that looks like in the beginning.

Some considerations that I’ve had during my planning process is that some parents might be apprehensive about their children having an online presence. For this reason I will send a letter home explaining the safety precautions that will be taken, which will include password protection (after sharing for this course!), students’ first names only and no identifying photos. I will sit down with my admin and beforehand and make sure they are supportive going forward and seeing if they have additional suggestions.

As a secondary audience I think that my colleagues might be interested in seeing the blog once it’s up and running and possibly try and start their own class blog. As of yet, I’m not sure how I would present it to them because I haven’t gone through the process yet and I’m not sure what challenges I’ll face. One challenge I can anticipate is simply the time it takes to learn the dashboard on Edublogs. It’s not a difficult site to navigate, but it does take some time to learn how to set up the blog on the back-end. I’ve spent some time this week adding a bit of content and editing the theme. I could see this being quite daunting for someone who isn’t comfortable with technology. These people may need some more mentorship to get a class blog up and running.

Works Cited

Jackson, Lorrie (2012, February 28). Blogging? It's Elementary,My Dear Watson!. Education World. Retrieved from https://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml 

Morris, Kathleen (2011, July 19). Blogging with Very Young Students. Primary Tech. Retrieved from http://www.kathleenamorris.com/2011/07/19/blogging-with-very-young-students/ 

* All pictures acquired through Creative Commons and are labelled for noncommercial reuse

Final Vision Project Design Considerations

When considering ideas for this final project the concept of win-win-win was the one that really resonated with me. I want something that will benefit me in my studies for this class and stretch my learning a little beyond my comfort zone, something that could possibly help my colleagues and most of all something that would be useful to my students. The idea that I’ve landed on is a class blog. Blogging is something I am becoming more comfortable with, thanks to this class and LIBE 467. 

In this class we’ve covered a vast array of topics. Many of them were ones that I felt very comfortable researching and commenting about, but one that is really out of my comfort zone is ICT. It’s not necessarily that I’m uncomfortable using technology, it’s that I have a hard time wrapping my head around integrating it into a primary classroom! Especially as I feel that kids are exposed to a lot of tech in their lives already. A class blog will force me to branch out of my comfort zone in terms of incorporating a little more technology into my classroom and will also teach the kids how to use technology in a productive way.

I work with a really tight-knit group of colleagues, for which I am really lucky. There is a lot of collaboration and support on our team. I’m hoping that if I can be successful with class blogging that I might be able to support some others to do the same. Especially as I am deeply involved in professional development planning, it could be something that I could run as a workshop in the future.

Finally, I think my students and parents will benefit the most from a class blog. How many of us in the elementary classroom struggle to get students to write in journals? I know I get a lot of one or two sentence entries and whining complaints along the lines of “I don’t know what to write…” Jackson (2012) points out that “Blogs, because of their ease of use, and because of the context of news and editorial column writing, have become a highly effective way to help students to become better writers. Research has long shown that students write more, write in greater detail, and take greater care with spelling, grammar, and punctuation, when they are writing to an authentic audience over the Internet.”

Following are some useful resources to help me get started:

In Blogging with Very Young Students Kathleen Morris explains the process of getting a blog started, particularly with younger primary students. She also has an extensive list with links to other classroom blogs.

In Blogging with Elementary Students Sharon Davison shares her own journey, tips for blogging with students and the benefits of blogging with students.

https://edublogs.org/ In my searching for a blogging platform, I came across Edublogs (a Wordpress product). Edublogs offers a free account to educators and allows the admin (teacher) to set the level of privacy and control at whatever level they feel appropriate. This means that it can be used across a wide age-range of students, the younger the students the more control the teacher can have. There are also options to have the blog password protected, which means the parents can be given a password to access the blog but it won’t be available to the general public.

Works Cited

Davison, Sharon (2019, February 21). Blogging with Elementary Students. Powerful Learning Practice. Retrieved from https://plpnetwork.com/2019/02/21/why-i-blog/ 

Jackson, Lorrie (2012, February 28). Blogging? It's Elementary,My Dear Watson!. Education World. Retrieved from https://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech217.shtml 

Morris, Kathleen (2011, July 19). Blogging with Very Young Students. Primary Tech. Retrieved from http://www.kathleenamorris.com/2011/07/19/blogging-with-very-young-students/ 

* All pictures acquired through Creative Commons and are labelled for noncommercial reuse

Phase 2 Reflections: Stretching our Thinking

The last month has been filled with many new ideas as well as some reinforcing of pre-existing ideas. I was pleasantly surprised to read other people’s blogs and find that the same topics could take us in so many different directions but that we usually arrived at similar conclusions! Following are some of my take-aways from the past few weeks of exploration.

1) Getting kids to love reading is simple.

Get interesting books into the hands of students and they will develop a love of reading on their own. This seems fairly simple, and it is an oversimplified statement. Reading levels matter and there still needs to be explicit reading strategy instruction. However, the biggest push in the right direction is for kids to discover the joy of reading. To accomplish this we must get interesting (to them!) books into their hands and model our own love of reading. 

2) Working together makes us stronger.

This is an idea I’ve encountered many times during the course of my studies, being close to finishing the teacher-librarian diploma. But the fact that it keeps coming up just reinforces the importance of positive working relationships and collaboration with colleagues. Beyond that it is important for teachers (be they classroom or non-enrolling) to take on leadership and professional development responsibilities in the school and beyond. 

3) Libraries around the world are more important than ever.

Nobody needs to worry about libraries becoming irrelevant as long as they are keeping up with the needs of their patrons, and it seems that they are. Now more than ever they are so important in bridging the economic and digital divide. Internet access is almost a life necessity these days and yet it can be prohibitively expensive for some households. We perceive North American countries as “have” nations, but there is a good portion of the population living beneath the poverty line with no hope of getting ahead without being able to do online training or apply for jobs over the internet.

Libraries in  developing countries are also providing access to relevant reading materials and internet. I have learned a lot about school libraries in this program, but stretching my thinking and research to public libraries has been eye-opening. For example, I had no idea the prevalence of mobile phones in developing nations. Simply having access to a mobile phone can go a long way in connecting people to resources.

I’m going to sign-off with a video I found called “Do We Still Need Libraries?” (2019). It’s a fun watch as it goes through the history of the library, ending on current relevance. One point made at the end of the video was that some people are calling for public libraries to be open late like restaurants and bars to give people a social space where they don’t have to drink or spend money. In the town where I live there’s a cafe/bar that caters to board game lovers. They have hundreds of board games on the shelves and for $5/person you can play as many games as you want for as long as you like. Mere blocks away is the public library. They also have board games, probably upwards of 50 of the most popular games, that patrons can play for as long as they like...for free. They’ll even let you bring in your snacks and (non-alcoholic) beverages as long as you are respectful of the space. It would seem that our libraries are paying close attention to the needs and wants of the 21st century patron.

Works Cited

Origin of Everything (2019, June 18). Do We Still Need Libraries? [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zfhvDhnA5U 

Mobile Technologies and Technology Access in Libraries

With the popularity of the e-reader that arose in the mid-2000s libraries had to keep up with book-selling competitors in offering their patrons a way to borrow books on their devices. E-readers provided convenience for commuters and travellers and those who didn’t like large, cumbersome books. The proliferation of mobile devices has changed the way people use libraries even further, particularly the younger generations. Most people have smartphones and many have tablets. If you have a library card you simply need to download an app to have access to thousands of ebooks and audiobooks for free without ever leaving the house. Today, when people are busier than they’ve ever been it is so important for libraries to provide their patrons with access to these digital resources. To stay current and valuable to their patrons, libraries are also providing access to free internet and access to technology where it might not otherwise be available as well as support in teaching their patrons how to use these things. 

Andrew Roskill speaks to the library’s ability to bridge the economic and digital divide. He points out that libraries have some major competition for patrons when companies such as Google, Amazon and Apple are so good at marketing that people will pay for content that they can access for free with a library membership. Three services that libraries can provide that the big companies can’t are to lend devices, provide technical training and host special events.

The following video demonstrates just how important public libraries have

become in our internet-dependent world. The video is based in the United States, but the same theories can be applied to developing countries as well. More and more people are depending on the internet for basic needs, such as

finding and applying for jobs, doing coursework, applying for and accessing government programs and connecting with friends and family. This can be very challenging in rural communities and individuals living below the poverty line who cannot access or afford internet in the home. The public library has become the place where people from any walk of life can get help and access the technology they need.

“In developing countries, the internet is one of the most important features that public libraries have to offer. In public libraries, farmers, fishermen and more are able to use the internet to market their products and keep up with current prices. Agricultural information and technology in the library are vitally important in developing countries.” (Nielson, 2017) For 20 years the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, through their Global Libraries program, made it their goal to provide free access to information and technology through public libraries across the globe.

Another challenge faced by libraries in developing nations is simply that books are difficult to come by and patrons may have difficulty getting to a library. Inexpensive mobile technology which is widely used worldwide (a 2014 UNESCO study states that over 6 billion people out of Earth’s estimated 7 billion population already have access to a working mobile phone) could be the solution to these challenges. The study done by UNESCO (2014) found that the number one reason why people read more on their mobile devices in developing nations was convenience and access to a wider selection of books. Where printed materials are prohibitively expensive, digital technologies are not and can easily be accessed through a mobile phone. 

School libraries can also benefit from students bringing in their own devices, particularly where access to technology is limited as Nielson (2017) describes: “In schools, I think that mobile devices could have a very positive impact on learning. I was recently teaching a class in the library and asked students to participate in an online discussion. There are only 9 computers in the library, so the remainder of the students needed to use their phones to participate. It was really neat to see a group of students using their devices in such a positive and collaborative way. I have noticed that phones can be a distraction, but with guidance and support, students can learn how to use them to further their learning. This many change the way their use their phones outside of school as well.”

We will not see a decline in the use of mobile technology anytime in the near future. From a library’s perspective, both public and school, it’s something to be used to their advantage or something they can fight against. The fact that we are seeing the former bodes well for libraries staying relevant and meeting the needs of their patrons.

Works Cited

GatesFoundation (2012, May 24). The Public Library is Transforming Communities [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cwsrgMOcLA

Nielson, J. (2017, October 27). Public Libraries and Developing Countries [Blog post]. Technology and the New Library. Retrieved from https://medium.com/technology-and-the-new-library/public-libraries-and-developing-countries-cea63153fb4c

TEDx Talks (2014, May 14). Get a read on this -- libraries bridging the digital divide: Andrew Roskill at TEDxCharleston [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J198u5HK0pY

West, M. & Chew, H. E. (2014). Reading in the Mobile Era. UNESCO. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000227436

* All pictures acquired through Creative Commons and are labelled for noncommercial reuse

Teacher-Librarians Supporting Colleagues

Teacher-Librarians as Professional Development Leaders

I believe that it is important for the teacher-librarian to have a leadership role in the school and to take on a piece of the professional development. It's a unique role within the school in that there is only one person doing it and the job entails the management of a facility. As such, teacher-librarians are leaders by default. As for professional development, the teacher-librarian should be on the forefront of discovering new resources. I believe it's important for the T-L to “vet” up and coming resources and present them to the teaching staff. Carl A. Harvey II in “Are You the Next Leader in Our Profession” (2011) states that “We have to be one of the folks in the building to whom students and staff look for guidance, support, and encouragement. We want to be models; our patrons should see the librarian as someone who is a lifelong learner, always striving to make their program better.” 

In order to establish themselves as a professional development leaders, teacher-librarians should consistently be connecting staff to new resources and opportunities. They might do this simply by sharing some new resources at a staff meeting. They might take on a teaching role in PLC time or create and lead a PLG. Being a member of the professional development planning committee is important in that they can present workshops to staff or plan for engaging facilitators.

Teacher-Librarians as Educational Partners

Unfortunately, it’s not always clear to staff just how useful a resource their teacher-librarian can be. Trevor MacKenzie (2019) speaks to the value of working collaboratively with the teacher-librarian: “I have discovered rich support and learning in my own backyard when I have collaborated with my teacher-librarian. This educational professional is often under-utilized in a school environment. Many teachers see the librarian interact only with students, but they are invaluable resources for teachers as well. Collaboration with a teacher-librarian creates a rich inquiry practice for classroom teachers that can easily be implemented with students. If we develop the habit of accessing this great resource as a regular class routine throughout the year, we will see the kind of progress and success we are looking for.”

Image Source: Trevor MacKenzie (2019)

It’s important for teacher-librarians to establish themselves as approachable, personable and collaborative. With the teachers the main focus should be on building relationships. Toor & Weisburg write about the personal relationships being even more important than the professional ones. Teachers need to feel comfortable wandering into the library for a chat or to look for resources. They need to feel some ownership over the resources and know that they can browse freely without someone pestering them but knowing the support is available (in the past I’ve gone in to browse and found it really hard to focus when the librarian didn’t give me space!) Building a strong foundation with teaching staff will help the teacher-librarian to become an indispensable member of the school. As far as collaboration, the goal is to lighten the load of the teachers by supporting their units or taking on certain learning outcomes for them, especially in (but not limited to) the curricular competencies related to Applied Design, Skills and Technologies. Being an observer is one of the best things a teacher-librarian can do. When they see the needs of the teaching staff they can pull resources and make suggestions to colleagues without having to be asked. A busy classroom teacher will be grateful to know they what they are doing matters and is supported.

Works Cited

Harvey II, Carl A. (2011). “Are You the Next Leader in Our Profession?”Library Media Connection, 29(6), 14. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=e4203618-7b3c-4698-8f51-dd5c10c08d78%40sdc-v-sessmgr06

MacKenzie, Trevor (2019, March 18). Classroom Inquiry’s Secret Weapon: The Teacher-Librarian. Canadian School Libraries Journal. Retrieved from https://journal.canadianschoollibraries.ca/classroom-inquirys-secret-weapon-the-teacher-librarian/

Toor, R., & Weisburg, H. K. (2012). New on the job: A School Library Media Specialist’s Guide to Success. 2nd edition. Chicago: American Library Association

Teachers as Lifelong Learners

Image Source: Cox, 2019

Professional development is one of those things...it’s only going to be as good as you make it. For that reason, there are educators who (unfortunately) year after year complain about the workshops and courses that they have to do and really don’t take the initiative to improve their own practice. There are others who strive to find workshops of value and set goals to work towards. I’m entering my second year as the professional development committee co-chair and what an eye-opening experience that has been! Firstly, before being a part of this committee I really was clueless about the amount of blood, sweat and tears that our colleagues go through to plan and implement enriching professional development opportunities. Secondly, as I mentioned above, there are passive and active participants. Motivation to partake and continue to learn is probably the most important element of professional development. Many of Janelle Cox’s “15 Professional Development Skills for Modern Teachers” (retrieved 2019) point to the fact that professional development is a very autonomous process.

It could be argued that doing the teacher-librarianship diploma alone is self-motivated professional development. Even if I never step foot in a learning commons as a teacher-librarian, I’ve learned so much in the course for this program that has improved my practice in the classroom. I think that professional development is so much more than the five mandated days every school year. It’s just as much a reflective practice as it is an active one. Every school year I reflect on something I find challenging to teach or something I feel that I can improve upon and I set a goal to work on that one thing, and some goals last more than one school year. A few years ago it was differentiated math instruction. This year it’s an improvement upon and formalization of student conferencing for formative assessment. As a result of setting these goals I have a purpose to my professional development and seek out workshops, resources and other like-minded colleagues that support my success.

One of the biggest factors in pushing me forward in my practice is finding a small group of colleagues with similar goals. Working with colleagues that have similar values has raised my own professional development to the next level. Collaborating on ideas to implement in the classroom, getting feedback from those who are already doing it and seeking out resources that they’ve used has been the most valuable for me in my learning. The theory that we learn best from our peers is supported in TeachThought’s article “10 Simple Ways to Engage In Lifelong Learning” where four of the ways explicitly involve working with others: “keep smart company”, “teach others”, “join a study group” and “find a job that encourages learning and collaboration”. (TeachThought, 2019)

Video source: TeachThought, 2019

Works Cited

Cox, J. (Retrieved 2019). 15 Professional Development Skills for Modern Teachers [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.teachhub.com/15-professional-development-skills-modern-teachers?k12-news 

TeachThought (2019, February 2). 10 Simple Ways to Engage In Lifelong Learning [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/learning/10-simple-ways-to-engage-in-lifelong-learning/