Yesterday, I presented to Casa's ELAC (or English Learner Advisory Council). Administrators, teachers, parents, and students came together in the library to review the school's resources available for families online. Parents logged on to the new computers in the computer lab and toured CasaGrandeHighSchool.org and BigHouseLibrary.com. The best part, though, was when I taught parents how to use Google Translate! :) Casa has made it a goal to do more, better outreach to the families of our English learners. And the library is proud to now be a part of that effort. Thank you to my 5th period TAs who made this awesome YouTube welcome video for our Spanish-speaking families. Thank you to our beloved ELD (English Language Development) program coordinator Ms. Judi DeChesere, our outstanding ELD/SDAIE teachers, our dedicated bilingual assistants, and our school administrators for inviting me to be a part of ELAC. Thank you to Jose Luis for translating for me. My Spanish leaves much to be desired! Thank you to the handful of Casa students who hung out to help me troubleshoot computer problems. And thank you to the many wonderful parents who spent their evening with me in the library. I am so happy to know you and I look forward to working together more. :)
"What is with the whole school turning, like, technologically advanced?" one Casa student asked recently. "Even Todd. We have homework for Todd online," she said. "I don't get it. I'm very confused."This student was referring to economics teacher Todd Siders, who brought his Green Careers Pathway economics class to the library's new computer lab to discover the real and hidden costs of their ecological footprints. In an online version of a traditional stations assignment, Todd's students calculated the costs of the various aspects of their lives -- driving, shopping, eating, drinking, smoking, etc. -- they listened to podcasted instructions, added their comments to a collaborative online message board, and reflected on their learnings via an embedded Google form. Here's a link to that assignment. It was very cool. :) More and more Casa teachers are bringing their classes to the library and the computer lab lately. It's common for us to have 2 classes per period using the computers at the same time. It's also common for Casa students to have a couple of classes a day that use computers.
Casa teachers get that technology is a tool that their students need to be able to incorporate effectively into their curriculum, because it increases student engagement, which increases student achievement, which better prepares them for the college classrooms and and jobs can expect to encounter in 2010.
This is one reason why Mrs. Kelin Backman brings her English and Event Planning classes to the library to use our computers to do their work on Google Documents. Mrs. Backman would love to see Casa get class sets of the new Apple iPads. "They're awesome!" she said, "and there are so many applications for them in my classes."
It was one of Todd's and Mrs. Backman's students who made the bold comments at the beginning of this blog post. And after having back-to-back classes in the computer lab, I can understand why she wondered what was going on, why Casa was becoming so techy. I was recording Mrs. Backman's commentary on the new Apple iPad video for a podcast. I recorded this student's comments as well completely by accident, and I'm so glad I did! To me, what she's saying is a sign (a very good sign, I think) of how far we've come and of where I hope we're heading. :)
Hey everyone! :) We'd like you to meet our first PollEverywhere poll. :) So far, we think PollEverywhere pretty neat because you can vote by texts and tweets, on your smartphone or on a computer. But the best part is that it's easy, fun, and free! :) We're still partial to the look of PollDaddy, because you don't to embed the poll and the live feed separately, but the texting and tweeting thing seems like a fun feature. We can't wait to try this out with classes in the computer lab -- that is if teachers will allow students to use their cellphones in class! :) So go ahead and vote on this poll now and be on the lookout for more to come. :)
the big house library was proud to be a satellite location for this live streaming learning event. :)
the big house had a total of 17 district-librarians, teacher-librarians, and library support staff from all over the north bay area. :)
there were a total of 200 participants -- individuals logging in from home and groups signing in from satellites like ours -- from all over the state and from across the country! :)
some participants just watched, listened, and learned, while others texted and tweeted with attendees from all over the state. it was totally interactive and incredibly fun! :)
the technology worked surprisingly perfectly! :) (at least on our end... some satellites struggled at first, but made it online eventually!)
the organizers used elluminate to conduct the webinar. it allowed for slides, videos, audio, and IM all to used simultaneously. it was efficient, effective, and cool. :) our new computer lab did the job marvelously! this event was exactly what the space was designed to be able to do (and hopefully will do much more of in the very near future).the only casualty was my (expletive) microphone! i cannot explain why it chose today to not work.
the presentation was flawless; it was full of helpful tools, practical information, and inspirational ideas.the chatting was fast and furious; we were full of witty comments and thoughtful questions.we talked about web 2.0 the entire time and the need to do it now! to walk the talk, i took notes using a web 2.0 app called wallwisher: http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/myjvwebinarnotes.
there were a lot of really great quotes to ponder and so many awesome new links to explore!
@aprilgeltch said: "i will grow step by step, not all at once"
@glenwarren said: "i wish we could bottle this and put it in every supermarket!"
the famous and fabulous professor of librarianship dr. david loertscher asked the million dollar question: does web 2.0 impact student achievement? i'd sure like to think so! and when i find some research to support that claim, i'll post it here.
dr. loertscher also asked if 2.0 tools impact earning potential. well, to me, it's obvious that they do! when was the last time your employer asked you to prepare a poster board about a project you were working on? why is it then that we're still assigning them to our students? when was the last time your employer told you that you couldn't use a computer all day at work? why is it then that we expect our students to power down at school when we never do?
what we are required to teach our students does not align to what they need to know how to be able to do to succeed in today's workplace. state school library standards will help, no doubt. but we've got to begin now teaching teachers, administrators, policymakers, parents, and of course our students about all this stuff. they just don't know what they don't know; and that's where we come in! :)
i learned so much in this webinar, probably most importantly that i am not alone in my desire to do libraries differently than they've always been done before. we're marching in the right direction. keep heart! the revolution is under way! :)
in response to the "oh-my-gosh-there's-so-much-what-do-i-do-next" feeling that many of us had at the end of the webinar, i would point out dr. valenza's answer to our nagging question: how does she *do* all this???
dr. valenza said: "i stopped making the beds. i don't inventory every year. i don't catalog completely. and i gather all the help i can (students, parents, grandparents). but not doing it is not an option."
i would like to thank the tireless organizers of this event in the southern section of csla: kathie maier, jane lofton, and my gal pal marie slim! :) i would also like to thank our inspired speaker dr. valenza and our host dr. loertscher. :)
i can't wait for our next webinar! (and, yes, the big house will host!) there will thankfully be one a month from now on. teacher-librarians -- especially ones new to the profession like me and in districts like mine that can no longer afford to have teacher professional development days due to the state budget shortfall -- desperately need school library leaders like dr. valenza and dr. loertscher pushing and prodding us to do more and be better. our kids deserve no less from us.
You'll never guess who I hung out with the Big House Library yesterday! Dr. Stephen Krashen! :) Dr. Krashen a professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, author of numerous books about literacy and reading, advocate for libraries, and a personal hero of mine! :) I gave him the ten cent tour and showed him my smutty magazines (he was impressed) and our new computer lab (he wasn't impressed). We talked about Race to the Top and his most recent research on how school libraries positively impact student achievement. I am so inspired by Dr. Krashen's relentless advocacy for reading. I am so grateful for his defense of libraries. And I am so honored to count him as a mentor and a friend. :)
Join us for the President's
Speech to Students.
We'll be streaming it live
in the library's new computer lab.
Watch the webcast with us:
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 9 a.m. p.s.t.
Hey Everyone,
Hope you had a happy summer. =) It's been great seeing you all back at the Big House. There's lots of surprises in store for you this year: a fabulous new computer lab, tutorial passes, and no food or drink in the library (for real) to begin with (we'll tell you all about all that real soon). And though some stuff may seem lame, actually Miss Helen and I are looking forward to giving you all the awesome library experiences you deserve. (We promise it won't suck. We swear!)
Smiles,
Ms. Koval =)
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