Posted by lpearle on 27 June 2016
The past week I attended a workshop on Design Thinking in libraries at my alma mater, Emma Willard School (currently referred to as Hogwarts by students):
And immediately after, I headed South to a city I never thought I’d visit (Orlando) for ALA’s Annual Conference, where I stayed in the Castle Hotel:
Of course, I’ll be blogging more about those two experiences (and much more) once real life has reasserted itself.
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Posted by lpearle on 5 January 2016
Diversity was a minor theme for the various professional development opportunities I had during the month or so before Winter Break. I’m always mindful of the fact that “diversity” doesn’t only mean “skin tone”; when I was co-chair of my school’s accreditation self-study, we tried to think about all of NYSAIS’ definition of diversity when discussing the school’s culture:
How does the school officially communicate its policies and practices with respect to differences in ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic level, physical ability, and learning styles?
Sometimes we do better at one, sometimes better at another. When I hear #weneeddiversebooks I think about the diverse diversities and what books are doing to address them. How does this relate to ALAN?
Last year there was a lot of discussion about “boy books” vs “girl books” and that carried over to this year. One panelist asked why no one asks where are the strong boy characters, simply because strong boy characters are the norm. Why can’t we have a world where that’s assumed equally for boys and girls? When one voice (male, or white, or Christian, or whatever) is always the authority/norm in books, it starts to carry over into real life because that’s what readers internalize. Protagonists are protagonists, period. Why don’t we say, “the protagonist” rather than “the girl protagonist”? Because if it’s a girl (or not white or poor or some other diverse subset) that’s what we notice. And isn’t that a shame?
The myth of diverse (by ethnicity or race) books not selling was also addressed. They do sell, but part of the problem is that the publishers are small presses without the big ARC/promotion budgets of the big houses. Why are so many English books translated into other languages, and not vice versa? What about diverse authors, and getting their story out? We were reminded that diversity is not all conflict, it can just “be” and still make for an amazing book. Just look at science fiction/fantasy/speculative fiction: they write around diversity and outside themselves all the time and no one questions those authors about using an authentic voice (and it was repeated: did not being a wizard make JK Rowling’s world less authentic?). The big takeaway was that maybe we should promote diverse books by not framing them as diverse, but as being about the story, as in “this a coming-of-age story” or “this is about first love”.
We were reminded that there were other diversities (see, it did all tie in!) that aren’t being as discussed, and where are the authors who are writing about these issues? Poverty, the not-college-bound, the disabilities (cancer, something other than OCD/ASD, a physical limitation), teens in prison, etc. are also missing from our shelves. The reality of these lives is that they’re not easy, not everyone accepts them and sometimes, life hurts. We need books that also say that while we may have depression, asthma, grief, etc, we aren’t depression, asthma, grief, etc., we’re human. Let’s remember that, as Laurie Halse Anderson said, adults know how to handle “dark” while teens are turning to fiction to learn how to cope. And Margi Preus eloquently said that every student reading is doing research into their future lives, books are a door to that life. So let’s open up the canon, add some new books that maybe weren’t taught (or published) back when we were in high school!
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Posted by lpearle on 11 September 2015
Still digitally decluttering…
Books, Reading, etc.
School Life
Tech Stuff
Etcetera
And, as always, Will Richardson has some great ideas about trends we should be watching. Something to ponder as the school year starts.
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Posted by lpearle on 24 July 2015
I’ve already posted my early-summer PD schedule and a few “if only…” options. Then I read this on Twitter:
Carrie Kausch on Twitter: “I attended disappointing PD at an #alaac15 precon, disappointing PD yesterday. Maybe I need to quit trying PD for a while.” via kwout
and Wendy posted about her Walden experience.
Both put me in mind of a friend (a librarian friend) who worked in a school that gave out summer sabbatical travel/learning grants. No librarian had ever gotten one, because why do we need to travel/learn? She applied and got a grant to learn to paint in Tuscany. The rationale? She was a very linear learner and thinker, not at all artistic. Learning to paint would be out of her comfort zone. Even more out of that comfort zone would be living and learning in a language she didn’t know. Why was this important? Because she was very comfortable (as I suspect most librarians are) doing research and speaking the language of information fluency/skills, etc.. Putting herself in those uncomfortable shoes would mean she could, for a few weeks, walk in her students’ steps as they began to learn the process of finding, evaluating and interpreting information while they did research. She argued, convincingly, that her experience would make her more empathetic to them and help her be a better librarian.
I’ve never worked in a school that’s had that kind of program (or, if they did, I wasn’t eligible) but it’s something to consider for next year, even if it’s out of my own pocket (as Doug says, it’s good to have skin in the game). Imagine how your program could change and improve if you did the same.
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Posted by lpearle on 9 July 2015
(another program that will be posted online – check here)
Many schools and libraries are starting to embrace personalized learning, blended learning, the flipped classroom or whatever new buzzword appears. At the Online School for Girls, they’re talking about “competency-based instruction” that puts learners at the center, meeting their needs and goals (in other words, it’s not teacher or student driven, it’s learner driven). This approach allows teachers to work smarter.
Projects are remapped to put the student learner at the center, allowing for deeper engagement with the materials :
remember: the pathway is less important than the competencies
You can build units in your LMS – Haiku, Schoology, WhippleHill, LibGuides, Moodle, etc. – chunking competencies and building in the pathway options.
Personalized learning is data-driven: always assign what students are learning and circle back if necessary. In other words, assess assess assess (not necessarily formal assessments!).
In order to do this, you need to think about the school climate and have conversations about pedagogy. For this to work, creating a climate of personalized learning needs to be a strategic intention, with an evaluation of space and investment in infrastructure for what the student’s needs are. Does the school’s mission have learners at the center?
The next speaker was from SFPL, highlighting their new literacy and learning center, a place where all kinds of learning can take place. They’ve relabeled their classroom the Learning Studio/Learning Theatre, giving it flexible furnishings that can be positions to best assist what the program is.
Other ideas:
Most learners want hands-on help! Make that happen with drop-in classes, 1:1 tech help (20 min sessions), online course instruction and meet-ups.
Finally, we heard from VATech, which has created a program that stresses empowering students by partnering with faculty – to do this they’ve developed programs and tools.
Good place to start: check with the first year experience librarians at schools popular with students and build down from that
One thing they’ve created is an iPad tour of the library: auto-generated, outcome based tour (there are also auto-graded assessments). They’re now thinking about beacons, QR codes and apps to provide the same opportunities.
It’s important to train the trainers: creating lesson plans and activities that teachers can use/drop-in to their classes. Your role is that of coach/consultant, not teacher. Example? their Working with the Library toolkit. The anecdotal evidence is that this works, freeing the librarians to do 1:1 assistance.
VT has also created an Instructional Learning Community with the assumption that all librarians are learners. It’s open to anyone who wants to talk about teaching and includes a Read/Lead group who read and discuss a book that deals with learning, pedagogy, schools, etc.
Tool to check out: EDpuzzle (allows students to insert questions they have about the video tutorials they’re watching)
Posted in Conferences, Pedagogy, School Libraries, Student stuff, Techno Geekiness, Work Stuff | Tagged: alaac15 | Leave a Comment »
Posted by lpearle on 8 July 2015
danah boyd’s research and work has been fascinating to follow – this was less “It’s Complicated” and more “it’s problematic” (if you’re an ALA member, the presentation will probably be posted here). This marks a shift from watching how teens use social media towards the idea of big data (and metadata) as a whole; essentially, she takes issue with the idea that big data collection can somehow solve all of life’s questions – it can’t because tech is not neutral, it takes on the bias of the creators/manipulators. She then went on to talk about three things:
Privacy
Making Meaning of Data
Just because it’s a machine doesn’t mean there are no politics involved: there are usually more!
Networked Data
So, where does Librarianship fit into all this?
we tell students that Wikipedia is BAD, but why do we also say that Google is GOOD?
There are three types of data collection (for more about some of this, see my post about Debbie and Kristin’s program at #alaac13:
This documentary was not mentioned during ms. boyd’s talk, but I highly recommend watching/showing Terms and Conditions May Apply. Scary, provocative and perhaps a catalyst for change.
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Posted by lpearle on 2 July 2015
I have so much more to write about, but just don’t have time right now to digest and properly reflect on the sessions. So instead, here’s the “easy” post, all about the books!
ARCs to savor – look for these books soon! (ok, I haven’t read more than one or two… yet…):
For the record, I got nearly 70 books at ALA, all of which I’m hoping I’ll truly enjoy. These just seemed to be the most universally interesting. Or not.
A few years ago, Wendy introduced me to the joy that is the Best Fiction for Young Adults teen feedback session. If at all possible, I try to go and hear what the teens really think (because as a 50+-year-old, sometimes I just don’t think like a teen). The following is a list of the books that got Much Love, Some Love and Mixed Love from the group that spoke, and one or two that they didn’t seem to like as much as the committee did:
There were 59 books on the list, so that “only” 24 were left off during a whirlwind 90 minute session isn’t bad. For me, the surprises were that Mosquitoland (David Arnold), Saint Anything (Sarah Dessen), The Girl at Midnight (Melissa Grey), Razorhurst (Justine Larbalesteir), Hold Me Closer (David Levithan) and Black Dove, White Raven (Elizabeth Wein) were not mentioned at all. That might not mean anything… or it might. What I do know is that I’m going to use the much loved and some loved books in a Welcome Back display in September, asking our students to weigh in.
Now I’m off on a brief vacation (and some reading of the new books). More on ALA when I return.
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Posted by lpearle on 19 May 2015
One of the biggest complaints others have about those of us who work in schools is that we get this really long summer vacation, so why do we need to get paid a reasonable wage? While it’s true that we get that vacation (and part of me says the haters are just jealous), the reality is that few of us use it for Vacation and more of us use it to revamp lesson plans, to learn new tools and skills, and to learn from each other.
My plans, in addition to revamping and trying new tricks, are:
If I had the time/money, I’d also be attending
Between now and then, however, I have time to go through my archived tweets and blog posts, pulling out great ideas to try for next year and tools/tricks/tips to share with you, my faithful readers. And after, more time to play and explore, not to mention get caught up on all the wonderful summer book releases and getting ready for fall. Sadly, Faculty Orientation and Student Orientation in August will be upon us far too soon…
What will you be doing? where?
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Posted by lpearle on 10 February 2015
“Life is change”, we’re told. And we need to “lean in” to the discomfort (a real misreading of That Book) or recite the Serenity Prayer or do yoga or something. But change is stressful, no matter how we try to deal with it.
There’s a very loosely connected group of librarians who meet once a year at a day-long conference (the group is called the New England Association of Independent School Librarians, or NEAISL, and has no elist, no website, nothing more than this moveable conference) and this year, Porter’s is hosting that conference. Our metatheme is change in all its permutations and instead of presentations we’re having facilitated conversations. I know, from personal experience, that those conversations we have amongst colleagues are incredibly valuable – going to a conference presentation may lead to a new idea or two, or give an overview of a new tool, but for help with real change, real problems, it’s that interpersonal piece that works best.
So what kind of change? As a librarian, I know that our programs have changed radically over the past couple of decades. The school library my parents had looked very much like the one I had, but the one my nieces and nephews had has undergone so much change that they wouldn’t recognize mine! Gone are the micro-format machines and drawers of film/fiche, ditto the card catalog, the LP collection, etc. and instead there are computers and databases and possibly makerspaces, and no shelves of encyclopedias with annual updates. Do we stay with Dewey, or go with Metis or BISAC or Library of Congress? What is the right size to the collection?
And then there are professional changes, like a shake-up in school or library administration. Sometimes it’s a redistribution of duties or divisions, based on staffing changes. What do you do if you have to change divisions, moving from your Middle School comfort zone to working with Upper School? Or losing your K-12 range to go K-4 only? Maybe there’s been a reduction, where your clerk has been “reassigned” (or someone without any training has been assigned!). And if you’re new to a school, how do you fit into that team – if there is a team; sometimes you’ve gone solo and are suddenly everything from the Head Librarian to the occasional volunteer.
For some people, and I’ve heard from a number, these changes are too much. They’ve gotten that one straw too many and it’s time to think about What’s Next. Years ago, a colleague at another school sent out an email describing a situation at her school, where the new Head was radically changing the program and essentially turning it into a non-library space with a non-library focus. This distress call got back to the school and a few days later, What’s Next became What Do I Do Now? Some of us are trying to prevent that from happening to us, but the strain of keeping up with the changes is difficult to deal with.
It’s my hope that instead of thinking the unthinkable, we’ll be able to band together and share resources, share tool and share our stories, bolstering each other so that we can deal with the stress and the change. What are we doing, and where are we going is relevant to everyone – so here’s your opportunity to vent, share and help. I look forward to your comments!
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Posted by lpearle on 24 November 2014
I’m a list maker. I like checking off that To Do list, getting organized and Getting Things Done.
Being a school librarian is not the best profession for anyone who likes that!
My Big To Do List for this school year has changed, morphed, been ignored and resorted over the past few months… and even after 18 years in schools I’m still not totally ok with that. I keep thinking that we should be further along with the weeding project. The Varsity Reading Team should be meeting. Updating the library blog and twitter feed needs to be more frequent. Our Resource Guides aren’t exactly where I want them. Etc. Etc.
So why aren’t we there? Because of the constant interruptions: helping students find books to read for pleasure… working with them on how to cite a source… ordering new books for the collection… chatting with the student needing an adult ear to listen and shoulder to cry on… And, sadly, neither I nor my Partner-in-Crime are good at being in two places at once.
We’re hosting this year’s New England Association of Independent School Librarians conference, and change is our metatheme. The programmatic changes when your school goes 1:1 with laptops or tables, or decides to go more (or totally) digital, or the research focus moves more online and in class than before. The personal changes when you move from being a team member to a solo librarian (or the reverse), or become a department chair, or are asked to move from your division of comfort (K-4, or 9-12) to another division, or are suddenly losing staff and being asked to take on more. The organizational changes when the school’s Head or other administration changes, or the school drops AP exams, or joins the IB program. And thoughts about retirement and/or career change.
Those are conversations we need to have, and have needed to have for years. Decades maybe. I can’t wait to share stories with my peers, and to feel a little less alone with these questions and fears and issues.
I think about my high school librarian, who ran a program relatively similar to the one my parents would have had. She was at the school for over 30 years and saw a hugely shifting landscape (where did that wonderful room of LPs go? what about the microfilm/fiche room?). In my time things have moved from databases on CD-ROMs to “in the cloud”, for example, and movies are not on VHS (or laserdisc) but streamed. Keeping up with those changes is exhausting! What makes the perfect program? How has that perfect program changed since what it was last year? or last month?
I’m grateful that I now have a week to think about those things, to reassess the To Do List and to regain my footing on the ever-changing landscape I call “my” library.
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