“Scratch” Paper and Pencil! Let’s “Makey” Learning Exciting with Interactive Posters!

Calling all teachers, but specifically ELA teachers!  Have you heard of Makey-Makey invention kits?  I am new to Makey-Makey as well, but I’ve found some great instructions from The Techie Teacher and she gives a wonderful explanation of how these kits work in the classroom.  After attending a professional development, a few of my colleagues returned to school with a mission: to locate funds to purchase Makey-Makey kits.  My administration bought 15 kits and tasked me with the job of helping classroom teachers with Makey projects this year.  As I’ve been searching for ideas and help in tackling this project, The Techie Teacher, was instantly my new BFF!  Julie Smith blogs on many ed tech topics, but in her post about Makey-Makey (Academic Ways to Use Makey-Makey), she gives an in-depth overview of the kits, lesson ideas for how to use them from introductory stages to student-exploratory stages, and finally, some links to fun projects with Makey-Makey in action.

You may be curious as to where you can take this, and I have decided to begin with my ELA teachers.  Some Makey project ideas I have brainstormed with teachers are: interactive posters, book blurbs, and biography research projects.  We’ve also considered teaching students the nature of the Makey-Makey control panel and showing them how it is similar to game controllers.  If students understand this concept, then they could turn topics into games.  What student doesn’t love a game, even if it is on the topic of cause and effect?  Of course, this will require modeling from the classroom teacher and myself, but I know that students will find engagement with projects like these instead of creating paper graphic organizers or book reports.

Interactive Posters

A colleague and I finished a project with students this week!  This was our first time working with the kits and a computer-coding program, Scratch.  The students researched animals and used nonfiction books from the library and an SC Discus source, Britannica Elementary.  The students were asked to locate specific information to avoid sharing everything they read.  We asked students in each group to find information on the animal’s body, movement, adaptations, habitat, and diet.  In this way, we linked ELA (research skills) with Science (the animal study).  First, the students used their sources to locate information.  They recorded notes along the way.  After they found the information they wanted to use, they created a poster with limited text.  It was mostly pictures except the part where we labeled the posters to give the students guidance.  We then introduced them to Scratch (super awesome coding site—your students will surprise you with how quickly they catch on) and recorded them reading their research pieces.  Once all of the audio pieces were recorded, we learned how to code (connect space bar with animal diet audio recording, connect right arrow with animal adaptation recording, etc.).  We attached conductive material (aluminum foil) to the poster elements and connected the Makey-Makey wires to each part of the poster.  Students were then ready to present their research.  They invited other students from other classrooms to come and try out their posters.  As students tapped the aluminum foil points, others were amazed at the “talking posters” the students created.  It was a fun project and now that I know how to use the kits and the computer program, Scratch, I look forward to working with others in my building to create interactive presentations.  The sky is really the limit for Makey-Makey.  I can see story element posters, book blurbs in the library (my idea is to connect a laptop/Scratch and Makey-Makey to actual books so that when students tap a book they will hear about it from another student who has already read it), and biography briefs (like news commercials to highlight famous people).

My first project was with a third grade class because I have a great relationship with the teacher and class.  I felt like they would catch on quickly and really, the results were wonderful.  Of course there were hiccups along the way (you really need a silent place to record and the wires are sensitive, so conductors need to be spaced out), but I would say our first collaboration with Makey-Makey and Scratch went smoothly.  Why am I advocating for these tools with such little experience?  The students can tell you every part of their research (and other student projects) from memory and are BEGGING to work on another project.  Other students who visited the classroom to interact with the “talking posters” have already asked their teachers when they will get to work on projects like this one.  The integration of Makey-Makey and Scratch took us away from the typical reports and graphic organizers.  Lastly, I think teachers would benefit from using tools like these because sometimes ELA can be viewed as boring.  Let the students create a product they have most of the ownership of and it won’t be as boring! 

We pushed ourselves to learn about two new tools and alternative products to show learning.  It took a lot of planning and work, but the end product was worth it!  I am looking forward to leading in my school as we integrate more technology (Johnson, 2012).

Here are the proud Penguin researchers!

Resources:

Johnston, M. P. (2012). School librarians as technology integration leaders: Enablers and barriers to leadership enactment. School Library Research, 15, 1–33.

Smith, J. (2017, June 2). Academic ways to use the makey-makey in the classroom. [Blog post]. Retrieve from https://www.thetechieteacher.net/2017/06/academic-ways-to-use-makey-makey-in.html

Informational Literacy and Our Responsibility

It is evident from our learning module this week that teachers and teacher librarians have an enormous job: assisting young people with the skills necessary to make understanding from all types of sources.  Information literacy is imperative in today’s world as technology and information are at our fingertips and search results can be produced within seconds.  People of all ages, especially young people, need to learn how to find information, read it, check sources, question material, and make judgments.  I think the concept of The Big6 Skills are excellent in providing a foundational education in how to work with information (Big6 Skills Overview).  As I read through the skills, I decided the steps made sense for how I am currently working on a project in another SLIS course.  As librarians, these skills would be wonderful in introducing research to young people just as teachers use the Scientific Method with students to conduct experiments and science projects.  Also, I really appreciated the tip for checking out the Big3 included in our module.  I found the Super3 model online (https://thebig6.org/) and thought this would be simple to create signage and to implement in my library classes.  Plan, Do, and Review seem to be more user-friendly for younger students and I plan to add this model to my resource list for when I begin research in a few weeks with my older classes.

 

I reflected upon my information diet this week, especially after I listened to the Liturgists’ podcast.  I truly think I try to balance my information intake, but sometimes I can become a mindless consumer that scrolls through social media following clickbait as the hosts of the podcast shared.  While my political leanings may align with one news agency more, I actually have several of its opponents within my apps as well.  Each day, when I view the news, I make a point to view each agency to see what they are saying about the same topics.  I have found this to be very informational and it has helped me to recognize how my news outlet may lean a little too much at times or vice versa.  I also really appreciated the hosts of the podcast saying that there is a news outlet that can give you immediate information and you can walk there.  I often look at national and world news reports more than I do with my local news.  I really have no idea why I have never noticed this until this week’s module.  I spend an incredible amount of time keeping up with national news and rarely investigate local reports that potentially affect me more!  I think one of the reasons is that to view my local news online (where I do most of my reading and reflecting), my local news charges an access fee for the news.  I just don’t feel the need to pay for news.  I occasionally click on their free or released articles online, but mostly it’s out of sight and out of mind because of the access fee.  After reflection, I am considering a purchased subscription to stay more connected locally.

An information diet for a librarian should avoid bias.  As a librarian, you are charged with the task of informing your patrons through print sources, media sources, and more.  While a librarian cannot know all answers, a librarian should be able to point patrons to sources that will help them gain the information they are interested in reading.  If a librarian has certain political leanings or personal beliefs, he/she must be careful to share resources with patrons without a personal agenda.  Librarians should share sources that can help patrons gain information in an unbiased way, so they are allowed to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions about the information they are ingesting.  As well, librarians should encourage patrons to view multiple sources for the information they seek.  Librarians should be trained in research methods to help patrons to consider sources for bias, cross-check articles or reports with other reports, and to determine if sources are credible.  In Truth, truthiness, triangulation: a news literacy toolkit for a “post-truth” world, Joyce Valenza states that “it has always been up to the reader or viewer to make the reliability and credibility decisions,” (Valenza, 2016).  Librarians should make it a goal to help patrons search in the same manner.  A school librarian, in my opinion, has a greater responsibility with this issue than other librarians because school librarians are definitely influential in the lives of their patrons.  Students are impressionable and many will take a teacher’s word or librarian’s word as fact without questions.  It is important for school librarians to realize the role they play in students’ lives and to be careful when helping students find information.  As models for 21^st Century Learners, librarians are tasked with helping students to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills (P21 Partnership for 21^st Century Learning, 2015).  Teaching students how to examine sources, fact-check, and search for bias is important to these skills and to a librarian’s job.

In a world that is overwhelmed with information, it is our job to help others know how to locate and process information!

 

Resources:

Framework for 21^st century learning. (2015). Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/athompson/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/53C5XBND/P21_Framework_Definitions_New_Logo_2015.pdf 

 

 

Gungor, M., McHargue, M., & Matthews, W. (2017, March 7). Fake news and media literacy. The Liturgists.    Podcast retrieved from https://theliturgists.com/podcast/2017/3/7/fake-news-media-literacy

 

 

Super3 Model and Graphic: https://thebig6.org/

 

 

The Big6 Skills Overview: file:///C:/Users/athompson/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/IE/53C5XBND/Big6+Skills+Overview.pdf

 

 

Valenza, J. (2016, November 26). Truth, truthiness, triangulation: a news literacy toolkit for a “post-truth” world. [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2016/11/26/truth-truthiness-triangulation-and-the-librarian-way-a-news-literacy-toolkit-for-a-post-truth-world/

AASL and ISTE Standards

As a former classroom teacher, I strictly adhered to grade-level standards provided by the South Carolina Department of Education.  As well, I used support documents as my every day guides.  I enjoyed using the state standards, and especially loved the explicit language of the support documents.  I am entering my second year as a school librarian and I have struggled with knowing if I’m teaching the right things or if I’m planning and implementing my lessons well.  It is important as a librarian and educator to not view standards as a curriculum.  The introductory videos to AASL’s Standards said they should be used for guidance as we plan a curriculum that works for our needs.  The standards are available to help librarians personalize their practice.  How authentic!

One article from Knowledge Quest that piqued my interest this week was Implementing the National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries in Rural Virginia.  The authors shared the research and effort they put into working with school librarians in a specific region of Virginia to put the standards into the hands of librarians.  In their research, they had 37 participants and the majority did not own a copy of the new standards, thus, implementation wasn’t confidently evidenced.  Bringing together regional librarians, the authors helped the librarians to connect with others and to unpack the standards.  The professional development provided for these librarians seems wonderful—they had an opportunity to receive the standards, network and learn the standards, and participate in an ongoing Canvas project to share lessons, ideas, and support while implementing the standards.  This worthy project would be excellent for training librarians, but implementing the ISTE standards into a professional development session would benefit librarians as well.  Sharing a crosswalk to aid librarians in using both sets of standards would be a great idea.  Both sets of standards push student-learning, creating knowledge, and collaboration.

The infographics for the AASL are very interesting and would be excellent to display in a school library.  A librarian could use them in a way to help students remember tasks during class or to give gentle reminders when necessary.  For example, if groups are working on a research project together, but it is one-sided or a student is taking control, pointing to the “Include” or “Collaborate” infographic could help students remember the purpose of their group work.  I also really enjoyed watching learners give explanations for each standard and was amazed to see that students were capable of articulating the standards in practice in their school libraries if they were in first grade or a high school senior.

ISTE standards were created for a different purpose, but librarians can naturally employ many of these standards within their curriculum.  As librarians aim to become “future ready” it is important to consider the opportunity with integrating these standards in library practices (Gerakios, 2016).  What types of products are created by students who seek information in a library setting?  Often, I see that ISTE standards can be used in the product-stage of research for students.  As I was sifting through this module’s information on standards, I strayed from focus at one point and found myself clicking through various resources provided in the folder.  I experimented with Brush Ninja and Deck Toys to name a couple of the “best” learning sites as provided by AASL.  This made me think of how I could implement these tools in my library.  As I dabbled in Brush Ninja, I created an animated GIF to describe a book I recently read.  My students are fortunate to be 1 : 1 in the area of technology.  I can request that students bring devices to my library and this could be an easy way to explore technology standards with students.  They would LOVE to create GIFs and I could tie it to our lesson, a read aloud, you name it.  This would fit the ISTE “Empowered Learner” model as students take ownership for their learning, by using technology to demonstrate competency.  Deck Toys would be a wonderful way to help students explore topics covered in library in a game-like scenario.  I previewed a deck in which I had to identify call numbers and other library skills.  I could use this deck with my students and after they have gained familiarity with the technology, they could become the “Knowledge Constructors” by creating their own decks to help others learn.

Upon comparing the AASL and ISTE Standards, I have realized that it does become a gray area when librarians and technology specialists within the world of education come together.  Although it can become questionable how deep a librarian should dive within the technology standards, I think it’s important as a future ready librarian to at least make an honest attempt at using both sets of standards to drive instruction. 

Resources:

AASL Shared Foundation Infographics: https://standards.aasl.org/project/foundations/

Best Websites for Teaching & Learning 2019: https://standards.aasl.org/project/bw19/

Gerakios, J. (2016, July 25). Are you a future ready librarian? [Blog post]. Retrieved from
     https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/future-ready-librarian/  

  

ISTE Standards: https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards

Spisak, J., Harvey, C.A., Collins, K., & Church, A.. (2019). Implementing the National School Library
     Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries in Rural Virginia.
     Knowledge Quest, 47(5), E1-E7. Retrieved from 
     http://search.ebscohost.com.pallas2.tcl.sc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=136102781&site=e host-live