Looking Ahead

This course offered many ideas and resources that were instantly applicable in my school library, so it is challenging to pick one idea or tip. Although  I learned a lot from my classmates blog posts on AR, makerspaces, and websites, the idea that I will take with me and use most often going forward is the idea of a digital curation.

The teachers in my building strive to be innovative and competitive, but they are often short on time, between curriculum meetings and conferences. Being able to curate resources for them on topics that interest them and intrigue their students, as well as preview tools that they inquire after will provide a valuable service for my community.

I frequently turn to Twitter as my professional learning network. As the only Spanish teacher in my building, Twitter provided information on trends in world language education when I did not have colleagues in my field on my campus. Now, as the only librarian on my campus, in between quarterly meetings with other librarians, social media will (and already has) provide connections to authors, events, and spotlight trends in librarianship and motivate and encourage me to stay on my desired path to becoming a future-capable librarian.

AR in the Classroom: Metaverse

Metaverse is a free website and app for the creation of augmented reality experiences. Educators can create experiences on a storyboard, add in any number of graphics, prompt clues, and design virtual scavenger hunts. In turn, they can share these experiences with their students, who follow along with the use of QR codes.

The platform maintains extensive resources for its users, from

YouTube playlist on getting started to blog posts that share the impact of Metaverse in authors' classrooms to ideas for the use of Metaverse experiences with students.

In addition to these resources, there is a bank of experiences for teachers and others to use. While there are many platforms to choose from pre-made AR experiences (such as Google Expeditions), Metaverse offers educators the chance to create content tailored to their own lessons - and at least one blogger reported allowing students to create with the Metaverse studio, giving her students the opportunity to create digital content.

Metaverse experiences allow students to problem-solve and collaborate while interacting with the content. A history teacher might create an experience where students have to find clues to navigate an important historical event, science teachers could create an experience withe layers of the earth or different animal habitats, and more - the possibilities are endless!

Makerspace Toy: Squishy Circuits

Makerspaces are the modern, future-ready library's evolution of the library's purpose; "to define a school makerspace by its purpose and simplest of terms, it is a place where young people have an opportunity to explore their own interests; learn to use tools and materials, both physical and virtual; and develop creative projects" (Fleming, 2015). The makerspace movement is much like the idea of teaching a man to fish as opposed to just giving him the fish. The skills that are encouraged and developed within the Makerspace are skills that will serve our patrons well in the future, as makerspaces foster creativity, innovation, and collaboration.

In several posts on Robert Pronovost's blog, attempts on using tech effectively in education, [his last post was in 2016, but the posts are still valid] he chronicles the establishment of a space (this post would certainly help a librarian as they embark on the creation of their physical makerspace). In his blog post on makerspace tools, he references a number of  toys worth exploring, including Squishy Circuits. Squishy Circuits kits combine a clay and conducting wires for endless possibilities for makers to design, create, innovate, and engineer.


Squishy Circuits would be an excellent toy for a school library for a number of reasons. The tactile stimulation that many kids get from molding clay, the incorporation of artistic elements, and because it combines a number of different elements (much like cardboard and coding), when students are working in groups, highlighting different strengths. From the design and implementation to the production, working with Squishy Circuits mirrors the real-life work scenarios our young charges will encounter in the future. Students using Squishy Circuits can also realize that coding and programming is not only about screens and keyboards, but about the creative process and working together - those future ready skills that Makerspaces, and modern libraries, are striving to develop.
Fleming, L. (2015). Worlds of making: Best practices for establishing a makerspace at your school. United States: Corwin.

Cyberbullying

The advent of the Internet, and with it, social media,  has fostered the development of cyberbullying - insults, intimidation, and harassment that take place online. Most educators have to dig deep in order to understand the virtual world that our students are so familiar with, but it is crucial that we do; studies show that upwards of 40 percent of students have experienced cyberbullying (Cassidy, Brown, Jackson, 2012), and, surprisingly enough to me, the trend continues even in higher education.

Cyberbullying hurts.

When we address cyberbullying with our students, we should educate them on their role as a digital citizen - highlight how they should treat others in front of a screen, but also how they can advocate for others and stop or report inappropriate behavior they see online.
As a classroom teacher, I piloted Chromebooks in our building, and I found several lessons from Common Sense Media to be effective and engaging. We "judged" imaginary profiles and analyzed our own digital footprints. Class discussions and reflection at the end of the lessons allowed for students to personalize the lessons, an element which is essential. Common Sense Media has longer lessons as well as shorter activities that are perfect for weekly "check-ins" on digital citizenship expectations.
We also need to model digital citizenship for our students and other members of our community. Whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, or comments under an online news article, we as educators should refrain extreme commentary, name-calling, or posting anything that could even be construed as derogatory to any individual or group.
Finally, while lessons on digital citizenship and the responsible use of devices and social media account are important, building personal relationships within the school community is a preventative measure that should not be underestimated. Helping students to develop friendships, during lunch and recess, without a phone in their palm, will surely help to make them both less likely to pick on a classmate and stick up for one who needs it.

Cassidy, W., Brown, K., & Jackson, M. (2012). ‘Under the radar’: Educators and cyberbullying in schools. School Journal of Education and Training Studies Vol. 3, No. 6; 2015 121 Psychology International, 33(5), 520-532. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0143034312445245

Kahoot

Kahoot is an engaging, interactive online gaming site that currently markets itself to both educators and corporate executives. Teachers can create free accounts on Kahoot (there is also a Kahoot! Pro version for educators which promises an extensive images library and the ability to collaborate with other teachers) to make or search for already-made quizzes and activities within their account. Teachers then direct their students to Kahoot.it with a game pin. Students can play on any device (iPad, smart phone, Chromebook), and the teacher can display the questions on just about any screen (SmartBoard or Promethean, or in a pinch even a desktop!).
Kahoots (noun, the multiple choice sets the teacher puts together) can incorporate images and sound clips, and the possibilities within the classroom are endless. While the best way to get started with Kahoot is with a topic review (anything you can put in a multiple choice or True/False format), it is also possible to use a Kahoot throughout a lesson to check for understanding (teach a concept, show the Kahoot question), and it is even possible to introduce topics through a Kahoot, which Kahoot calls Blind Kahooting.

Last year, I visited an underperforming school in a rough neighborhood. The students moved in to the class with lackluster, and ignored the teacher for most of the class. Then, a Kahoot! They voluntarily moved their seats in front of the board, screamed and yelled at every right and wrong answer (and yelled about the answers - why they made a mistake on one,  how they knew it was a certain answer because..), and when the "champion" was identified on the screen, she asked the teacher if she could take a picture of it for her SnapChat story! That is the power of Kahoot.

Flipgrid as an Accessibility Tool

Flipgrid is an online video posting board that is easy to use and easy to implement in the classroom or any educational setting. Frequently used to collect video discussion posts, Flipgrid has several applications as an accessibility tool, too.

Flipgrid is incredibly easy to use - click on the PLUS button!

Simply because of its video application, the program makes it a lot easier for those who struggle with written expression to contribute their (literal) voice to the classroom. Whether it is posting an opinion on a current event or answering a discussion prompt, it is a lot easier for students to add to the class with Flipgrid's platform.
In addition to contributing their voice, Flipgrid makes it possible for teachers to share their voice with students, even when they are not physically present. Educators could post video instructions for an assignment on a grid, elicit questions or comments on the same grid, and reply.
Although not technically under the umbrella of accessibility, one of my favorite things about Flipgrid is the engagement it fosters - not just with students, but beyond the classroom. As a Spanish teacher, I often asked students to introduce or interview family members, and in doing so, I brought them into our classroom. Family members could post for students on grids shared with them, or students could be directed to include friends and family members in their video posts, fostering a true learning community.

#flipgrid fever is real!

The Flipgrid promotes their platform (free for teachers this year, WOW!) with the hashtag #flipgridfever, and it is completely accurate - once you try Flipgrid, you will catch the fever, and you will easily start to imagine the possibilities within your classroom, school, or library. You will find yourself sharing videos of students with anyone who is willing to watch and promoting this platform to anyone who crosses your path. The best news - the students catch that fever, too!

If you catch #flipgridfever, there really isn't a cure, so check out these resources for even more ways to feed your fever:
https://www.hollyclark.org/2017/05/28/15-ways-to-incorporate-flipgridfever/

Chromebooks to the Max

In many school districts, technology departments are investing in Chromebooks as student devices. Chromebooks are an economical (between $200-$300) cross between a tablet and a laptop in that they generally do not have storage ON the device (they work on a cloud-based storage system) but unlike tablets, they have keyboards already attached. Like tablets, many Chromebooks are touch-screen (though not all).

Chromebooks use the Google Suite of Apps, including Drive.

Within my school district, we have piloted both tablets and Chromebooks, and at my specific school, we chose to pilot Chromebooks. I participated in the inaugural issue of these devices within a Digital Learning Cohort, and that is actually where I first learned about the SAMR model (strangely enough, by the second year of the digital learning cohort, they were favoring a different anagram for technology integration.).

The SAMR Model goes deep.

Many teachers, when first given new tech, do 'simply' substitute the use of tech within the same tasks. With the Chromebooks, this might involve students using the Chromebook to type up an essay they would normally write in class, or maybe even type in a traditional computer lab (I have witnessed a lot of substitution with the use of the Smartboard, too, used only as a glorified overheard projector.). Augmentation of the essay with the use of a Chromebook might be the teacher making comments on the Google Doc - still not terribly deep (see graphic) on the SAMR model. Modification of the standard essay might require students to collaborate on the essay virtually while using the Chromebook. In my own classroom experience, the Chromebooks absolutely transform the collaboration of students. Students who normally shared a singular piece of paper are now looking at the same document, and as a result are exponentially more engaged in the task. More modification might include links to resources to be included in the essay. And finally, going to the deepest level, the redefinition of the task might be transforming the standard essay into an interactive hyperdoc, complete with a video segment, and maybe involving links to primary sources in the social studies classroom, news clips, or interviews with students around the globe.
While the SAMR model is indeed basic in nature (Green, 2014), and does not go far enough for use by technology departments (maybe why my own district's cohort ultimately abandoned it), its message is one that many teachers need to pay careful attention to. In practice, classroom teachers are often given tech without any kind of professional development, and forced to figure out - not even on their own, but with 25 students in the room - how to best effect growth with the use of said technology. Digging deeper with tech is vital to preparing our students for a future where the tech is used, but creativity and innovation are crucial.

RESOURCES
Using Chromebooks in Math Class
Ways to Use Chromebooks in the Classroom (How about a video chat with a grandparent? So cool!)

Green, L. (2014). Through the looking glass. Knowledge Quest, 43(1), 36-43.