Learning To Lib

  WHO IS THIS VISION FOR, AND WHY? LIBE 477 // November 2020 (courtesy of free-photos, pixabay.com) Audience, explained: Choosing my target audience for my Future Vision project has been a journey. At first I thought just my district TL community because, as mentioned in my last blog, other TLs have been tasked with showcasing their LLCs through Sway this way and I've been feeling like I should step up. However, my new vision for my audience has expanded greatly.  Here's a little background:   Due to Covid-19, my LLC budgets have been cut by over 40% from our last school year. Our entire public system is suffering from a current lack of funding. This is the first time in my three years as Teacher Librarian at my school that I have had to seriously pinch my pennies. Beyond our yearly program costs and supplies, my LT and I have barely any money left for book purchasing. We have been brainstorming ways to continue to update our outdated catalogue in thrifty ways. One of our ideas

  Planning for the Future Vision Project 1 November 14 // LIBE 477 (Courtesy of Pexel by Pixabay) As I plan for my Future Vision Project this week I tackled a brief outline that answers the questions “What” and “How”. HOW will I display my work? I have seen some examples of a Microsoft Sway, but have never created one myself. Every LIBE or LLED course has pushed me to try new technologies and presentations styles. I’ve enjoyed exploring different programs and have often reflected afterwards of how I could integrate that presentation style into the classroom. As I have mentioned a few times during these blog posts, it is my joy to be part of a TL community within my district that is supportive and very collaborative. I few lead TLs within this community have showcased their LLCs to us through a Sway presentation. (I cannot embed an example because the link is private). I like how Sway reads like a blog, but is part of the MS suite. I like how it allows for creativity and integrati

  Reflection: Two steps forward, one step back // LIBE 477 // November 2020 //  It's important to look back on the learning that has taken place so far as sometimes having some time to mull things over produces clarity. I have seen some growth this fall as for personal learning and have some key takeaways- some from my personal inquiries and some from classmates'.  Areas of Personal Inquiry Takeaway 1: Recreating a Reading Culture     The research and fact-finding I did when comprising the Reading Culture blog post has been important to me. It has shaped my thinking now to have gone through and analyzed that year (2018-2019) of targeted reading interventions. I am able to see now in 2020 that when all of us teachers worked as a team with one goal in mind, we truly could create a culture and common mentality to everything we did in our isolated classrooms. Don Vu's Pillars of Reading Culture reminded me so well that the Celebration of books is key. (See below for YouTube vid

Connecting to the World  LIBE 477 // November 1st // JKroeker “ By learning to read and write, children can succeed not only in school but  throughout their lives. ”   (CODE website: https://code.ngo/understanding-literacy/) When looking to provide aid to developing countries, many NGOs focus on delivering support to fulfill the bottom tier of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to the population. Physiological needs of food, water, shelter, clothing, air, and sleep are vital for life. Without these needs met, growth cannot be made to better one’s life because focus is entirely on surviving. NGOs are able to pull at the heart strings of North Americans sitting at home because the idea of these basic needs not being met brings on feelings of empathy and sadness. I remember my dad, who worked for World Vision for my early childhood, holding a small child in his arms describing his or her story to the cameras and into the homes of viewers. As donators we focus on our money being put towards givin

Supporting Teachers' Ongoing Pro-D  LIBE 477 - Inquiry Blog 3 - Oct 2020 How can we, as educators and Teacher-Librarians share what we’ve learned with our wider communities of practices? As Teacher Librarians we carry such a vast array of knowledge, truly fitting into a niche in which no other teacher will specialize. Disseminating this knowledge onto ears willing to listen is a difficult task. This is why I think, within a single school community, it is so important that TLs get a slot in every staff meeting. Some weeks it may be that there are simply some new books on a table that the TL can point out and teachers can take a look at. That will take one minute of the staff meeting time. But other times this slot could be filled with a reminder of how to access our online library catalogue, a reminder of our databases, or a little mini lesson on why digital citizenship is so important.    How can we best respond to the needs of our staff, in their wide spectrum of abilities and e

  Searching for Network Connections LIBE 477 – Inquiry Blog 2 I am thankful to be part of a district where we have a built in PLN within our TL community. District wide we have a vision that Teacher Librarians should carry some type of leadership within their school and with this we should be receiving ongoing professional development. In fall 2019 we received funding for every Teacher Librarian to get TTOC coverage for one afternoon a month. On that afternoon we meet at the School Board Office and either collaborate on a given topic or receive Pro-D. My learning at these sessions has occured informally through break-out groups where we learn from each other simply by sharing our challenges, solutions, and ideas. It also occurs formally where we are taught new skills with the idea that we disseminate the skills within our own schools. Last year we had a representative from Apple come and give a two-session seminar on ICTs in the classroom. After her presentation we met and discusse