ISTE 2015 Wrap Up
A Librarian's Lens
Maker Movement
Ideas Incubating... Our Next Steps
- Little Bits: morse code project with elementary library? Hey DASD elementary libraries-- do you have little bits? Do you think this would be fun??
- Move from playing to producing... We can do this.
- 3D Printer -- museums, like The Smithsonian are digitizing their collections and allowing the public to download models of the artifacts that can be printed in 3D printers. How awesome is that? Other thoughts include printing for Biology (prosthetics, bone structures, etc.), Art (tile patterns that can be used to imprint clay), Architecture (house plans), etc. Students design in Tinkercad and then send to the librarian for printing.
- Physical Computing-- we are starting with Little Bits this year and hope to grow in that program, but in collaborating with another teacher in the building, we will be looking at the integration of Little Bits with Arduinos and Rasberry Pies to allow the students to create and explore with computing and circuitry. I also want to get the Lego adapter for Little Bits so that we can explore how Little Bits and Lego can combine to yield some pretty awesome results!
- Crafting -- I want to explore having more crafting stations as well. At ISTE, someone mentioned upcycling discarded books to allow the students to explore origami.
21st Century Libraries: Intentional Spaces
Ideas Incubating... Our Next Steps
-From a blogger, the presenter gleaned that our digital lives are made up of seven spaces: group, private (secret), data, watching, performing, participating, publishing. She contends that our library spaces could contain these seven "spaces" as well. Does West library provide the opportunity for all of these types of spaces? I'm not sure. I need to reflect and observe. I worry most about the private spaces. Did we maintain enough space where the students can be quiet and reflective? How can we create more "cave"-like spaces (from the same blog)? Maybe using the chairs and nooks differently? This presenter encouraged us to look at each chair and space and think about what we are trying to accomplish with it. I hope to carve out time to do just that, and be intentional.
Second, Listen.
-Survey your students. Survey your teachers. And listen to what they say. One of my goals in early Fall is to survey my teachers to see how they would like to use the library space and services and become intentional about meeting their needs. After a little time has passed, I want to interview the students about how they learn best and how they view the space. What is working? What is not?
-Listen to your space. The presenter suggested taking a "listening tour" of the library every now and then. Listen to the noise in different areas at different times-- what areas are being used, and how are they being used? Where are your quiet nooks? Observe moment-- how are the students moving through the space?
Finally, Act.
We were challenged to:
-Channel the optimisim of a designer. Think without limits, first. Don't censor thoughts.
Then,
-Channel the resourcefulness of a hacker. Look at what we have and hack it-- make it new and make it work.
But, don't forget to
-Channel the playfulness of a maker. Have fun. Make a place that doesn't "smell like school." Make a place that is full of beauty and inspiration. After all, isn't that where you would want your own children to be?
Instruction: The Core of the Library
Ideas Incubating: Our Next Steps
1. Copyright and Fair Use: The purpose of copyright is to promote creativity, innovation, and the spread of knowledge. Not how you thought of copyright? Me neither. After my ISTE session, however, it is now, and I think your students should be able to see it this way too. They should, minimally, be aware of what their rights are as a consumer of content and be able to confidently filter through the massive amount of material available to them. Ideally, we want them to be producers of content and be able to walk through the thought process that would allow them to make a fair use determination and comfortably publish their products to an authentic audience. We can quickly empower our students with those tools and take away the mystery of copyright.
2. Super Searching: Google is awesome. But it could be so much more awesome if we actually understood it! In this mini-course, I hope to demystify what the algorithm behind Google does with our searches, how to choose the best search terms, when to use advanced search, and what all those funky options around the screen allow us to do. Our students are going to google-- we are going to google. Let's do it the best way we can and find out some pretty awesome things along the way! :)
Downingtown High School West Library
Email: mnass@dasd.org
Website: http://dasd.libguides.com/west
Location: Downingtown, PA, United States
Twitter: @dwestlibrary