"We been up nort'" Reprise from Guys and Does (imagine the music)

The advantage of going away is a new perspective.  I was able to be outside, which is always good, including camping, fires, swimming, and stargazing.   I was mostly cut off from the computer ( the wifi in the snack bar doesn't work when the wind is off the lake) so I was able to relax.  I did begin reading A Whole New Mind as well as 21st Century Curriculum and learned that I have a much greater comfort level with reading in print but that I also suffered computer withdrawal symptoms when people would ask things like "what's the weather going to be" and I would realize that my phone would only say "No Service". 

I now feel ready to tackle the work for my classes and for next school year.  I've gotten past just being hurt and angry, about the politics of school budgeting in Wisconsin, though I have not gotten over the need to work in the political process to change things.  On to working on my actual assignments (though this blogging project has been my favorite all summer).

"Umbical Cord II:   Nicolet Bay Snack Bar, Peninsula State Park, WI.  Missing from the photo -- the man charging his cell phone in the booth next to the outlet; he was not gracious about sharing the electricity and I didn't think he wanted to be in a picture. . .

Thanks to everyone who commented on my blog. . . please keep reading.  I've also discovered that I want the interactive experience -- I don't want to just be talking, I want to know what YOU think.

Bing, The Cherry Musical and Guys and Does were the two musicals I got to see at American Folklore Theater.  If you have a chance to get to Door County, I can't recommend them highly enough.  The songs still in my head:   "Work hard, Play harder" from Bing and "Up Nort'" from Guys and Does. 

Sven's Bluff, Peninsula State Park.  I saw a sea gull chase an eagle off the water in an apparent fishing territory dispute.  Overlooks

"up nort'" Homework on Vacation

As I drive out of the park, away from my campsite and into town, my phone beeps to show that it is now receiving messages;  all the messages since I drove out of range yesterday. I am avoiding the temptation that represents.   It's 85 degrees, unusual for the area but a beautiful summer day.  We went swimming at 7:30 last night (the water was refreshing -- I have not looked up the water temp, like wind chill, some things you don't actually want to know.) 

However, this morning I am at the Fish Creek Public Library, using their lovely, portable desks so I can be near the electricity.  My traveling companion works in a public library in another state, so part of our breakfast conversation was about post-apocalyptic fiction and what the future of ebooks might be in a world without electricity.  Even on vacation, I'm thinking about my work and my homework.

I took a close look at the introduction to Curriculum 21 (edited by Heidi Hayes Jacobs, ACSD, 2009) this morning and was struck by a few ideas: 

"There is rising concern about 21st century skills and tools for our learners, although it is noteworthy that as of the writing of this book, almost 10 percent of the 21st century has already passed."  (p.2)  I have thought for quite some time that we should stop talking about 'technology integration' and '21st century skills' as something which we are going to do in the future and move ahead to an assumption, for example, that all schools will have available, accessible technology.  [Though, when I mentioned my concerns about school reform this morning, my traveling companion did say "you mean, you expect someone to pay for that?"  Though we agree on the need for education and the concept of "the public good" that is by no means a given in our current political climate]. 

We may not be able to change the funding structure or the political climate immediately, but we can, and should,  change the things in our control -- such as school policies which allow students access on their personal devices, including phones, and the policies which limit access to free productivity tools.  We need to reorient our thinking about the dangers of computer access to the same kind of manageable 'attractive nuicence' we deal with every day on the playing field, in the gym, and even in our classrooms, where scissors and chemicals and electricity all are available -- for use or misuse.

Let us all take as our watch words:  "Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child."

Language lesson for the day.  "in Latin, curriculum means "a path to run in small steps."  We negotiate and choose that path, but ultimately it is the students who determine how they will, or if they can, take steps on the path. . ." (p.2).  I  suppose I should have known what the word origin was, but I didn't, and I think it creates a really interesting context for thinking about curriculum design. 

I usually skip introductions, but I'm glad I read this one.  I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book -- from my beach chair.  I especially want to see what the author has to say about "four program structures that need to be seriously altered and altered in sync with one another:  schedules, the grouping patterns of learners, the configurations of professional personnel, and the use of space (both physical and virtual).  (p. 5)
I hope that she has some constructive suggestions as to how we can move the schedule away from being driven by the bus companies and the sports schedules to being something that works best for most students -- and teachers. 

Fish Creek Public Library -- portable lap desk.  [The librarian told me she bought them at Walgreens, on special, two years ago.  She's looking for more if you run across them. . .]

Umbilical cord of the 21st Century 

Excellent use of a very small space.

Connections and Community --- and a thought provoking video

Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability | Video on TED.com

This video came to me from my friend Lauren, who is also a librarian, but an academic music cataloger -- in library land, it is rather as if a tennis star knew a NASCAR driver -- both professional athletes but in very different worlds.  We met through a friend who is yet another kind of librarian, though a school librarian and a children's librarian are more like, say, baseball players in two different leagues.  I've been several kinds of librarian, which is considered unusual.  That could be the whole topic of an essay, but what I'm really thinking about is connections and community.

I now get email on my phone, and, in an attempt to simplify my life, am trying to have one main email address, so much of my professional mail in terms of online groups and communities now comes to that address.  And I scroll right past it.  What I click on are the items from people I know.  Sometimes, they contain brilliant and interesting professional or personal growth items, like this one, and I have my blog idea for the day.

When I've found all the emails from friends and family, and all the ones with work attached -- like online bills -- I will  go back and read the listservs and community newsletters.  Occasionally, they make the first click cut if they have really interesting headlines -- or if I have extra time.

Which leads me to my question of the day about creating online communities and about technology integration.  I encourage faculty to join online communities;  I sign up for lists and add things to Google Reader (where I am more likely to have my attention caught by good headlines, because I've gone to the site intending to do some professional reading);  I try to organize incoming things into folders -- but I am buried by things I'd like to read -- much of it relegated to the someday that never comes.  I think the forwarding rate of routed magazines, if studied, would show that it wasn't /isn't that different with print materials. It's not helpful to let it create dusty stacks -- physical or electronic -- or shame.  We should probably celebrate, instead, the gems that do make it to the top.

So the question remains -- how do we take advantage of all the information out there and all the opportunities to learn new things or adapt new techniques -- without being overwhelmed? 

Email remains our 'technology integration' success story.  We put it on everyone's desk, we let them play solitaire to learn how to use the mouse, and we encouraged them to use it for personal correspondence to provide the ultimate carrot "you could see pictures of your grandchildren."  The same carrot works for Skype -- most of the people my age I know who Skype have either distant grandchildren or students studying abroad -- but what of other technologies?  Can we afford to give everyone an iPAD and let them play "angry birds" at work?  Probably not.  In education, we have moved back to thinking that if people really want to have their own technology, they will buy it, but that may not be true with shrinking budgets and shrinking salaries. 

All that, before we get to the real question -- which technology?  which tool, which group, which community?  What are our priorities?   Should we look at what's the newest thing out there?  Or would we be better off concentrating on perfecting the use of tools which students and teachers already have? 

We know there's some value in  relying on serendipity and the good taste of our friends.

Parenting and Praise

I've been trying to remember to praise students for effort -- for figuring stuff out -- for hard work and perseverance -- but it is really hard to do and somewhat counter-cultural.  It's worth working at, though.  That's one of the lessons I learned in my Quality Instructional Training class last year.  A friend of mine just sent me this article from the Atlantic on "How to Land Your Kid in Therapy" that makes very interesting reading.  How to Land Your Kid in Therapy

I did  tell all my intermediate (4th - 6th grade) students that research shows the key difference in your grades is the effort you put into your work, and about half of them remembered that when I asked about in our end of the project reflections. . .

It needs to become a part of our mindset to the point where we don't think about it -- and, as this article points out, it has to be part of the parents' mindset as well.

I wonder how ready all of us are for the project based, student centered learning we're supposed to be creating, where teachers function as coaches and students solve their own problems.  Can we let them fail in order to learn? 

How do we teach them to be creative -- to see things that are not there?  Or have never existed before?

 The Milwaukee Art Museum -- with the "sails" open, with the "sails" closed, and from inside the museum.  All views look East, toward Lake Michigan.  They have very nice art, but the building itself is the most amazing part of the visit.  Weather permitting, they open the sails in the morning, close them at night, and open and close them at noon.  We saw the noon "show" and it was awe inspiring.

"Let Freedom Ring"

I always hear that phrase in the voice of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. as he used words we all knew to remind us of what they should mean. Please take a minute to read this essay by a college student finishing up her study abroad in Israel. Thanks, Nashira!
http://lechilach.blogspot.com/

Happy 4th of July

Web surfing

My nephew blogged a whole week in one day, in part because he was on a train without electric plugs.  As I fight to find the space in the library, the space in the coffee shop nearest the plug, or sit on the floor in an airport corridor next to a wall outlet, I wonder about a future where access to information is based on access to abundant and cheap electricity.

I spent all day online, including three hours of working at my online job, as well as several hours catching up on reading for my classes;  and I love having information at my fingertips.  An internet connection and books on my phone -- it's a librarian's dream come true.  BUT

I bought my textbooks in the 15th century portable information storage device format -- technology that has worked very well for me all my life [though there is a photograph of me as a 2 year old proudly holding my book -- upside down].  Just wondering. . .

However, I would have a Nook for a present, and I'll probably buy a few for my school library and see how it goes.  I know from the questions about how to download library ebooks that I'm fielding, the readers are popular.  Will they continue so?  Probably.  They are lighter to carry -- and so Star Trek!  e Reader Sales

Other interesting things I came across today:
Google +   Google Social Network beta
and the next thing you'll need if you're cool enough to have a Google+ invite How to actually delete your facebook page

Beyond bedtime.  How do people find the time to blog every day?  Sometimes all day every day?



 

A Beautiful Sunny Day -- in the Library

I'm looking at the beautiful summer day through the Manitowoc Public Library's patriotically decorated windows -- the children and teens painted all of the library's windows (and they have a lot of them) with Red White and Blue for the holiday.  It's a great yearly event, and the sunny skies have preserved their masterpieces (a lot of stars and flags and fireworks, though one window quotes from The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.  Check out the video from Good Day, Wisconsin! http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local/lakeshore/manitowoc-library-has-a-summer-of-fun-for-kids

I spent all day yesterday working with my colleagues to hammer out our vision statement.  The three groups  (elementary, middle, high school) of librarians had remarkably congruent top five lists ("big rocks").  We are going to try to polish it via Google Docs, and it is a stronger document because of everyone's contributions.  I will post a final copy when it is approved.

Homework, homework, homework.  Isn't reading Facebook demonstrating my web 2.0 savvy?  Or answering a panic question on my work email from the summer school librarian?   When I was in undergraduate school, I used to study in the floor of the library with the Asian languages collection so I would not give in to temptation.  Only the Core Collection at Northwestern, a library within a library, was open from midnight to 2 am.  I was often there, but, while my boyfriend often got work done, I read a lot of interesting a quite random books published by Northwestern professors. Or whatever was nearest to me in the stacks -- and every study carrel was within an arms length of a book shelf.   I still remember the one about hiking the length of the Appalachian Trail. . .A bucket list item I have not gotten to, and a book which predates A Walk in the Woods by 20 years.  Though if you have not read Walk in the Woods, it is laugh aloud funny!  [And we see how an essay about distractions can itself include distractions. . . ]

One of our challenges as educators is to help our students feel the joy or exploration and discovery, while also helping them to focus in a world of distractions right on their keyboard -- the very tool we want them to use for school.  No hiding among foreign alphabets for them.  Anyone have any ideas?
 

How I'm spending my summer vacation (beyond library work and classes)

I've been reading a few personal blogs lately, all about travel:  Lechi Lach ,  The Brown Cow and Adventures in Africa and I wonder if it's easier to create and keep up a blog that has a specific, limited time purpose.  If blogs were genres, all these would be "armchair travel" which I seldom read in book form.

I will be have to read a non-fiction book to complete the adult summer reading program at the Manitowoc Public Library.  I did win a prize in the first weekly drawing -- and I was surprised by how excited I was to get the email.  So, note the value of intermediate rewards.  I am turning in my other mysteries, but to get into the grand prize drawing, you have to read 5 books from five different genres.  I like the challenge.

It's finally a beautiful day, so I'm going to see how much professional reading I can get done at the beach.  I will have to go to the library this afternoon to 1. claim my prize  2.  see them paint the library red, white and blue  3. do more homework, both for school and for real life.

My colleagues and I are meeting tomorrow to decide on the five main purposes of the school librarian.  Here's ONE very rough draft.  What do you think?

Vision:  Library and Information Access for Students, Staff  and Community

Mission:

1.     Information and Digital Literacy Instruction

2.    One on one instruction:  sharing excitement for research and enthusiasm for reading

3.    Acquisition of materials and informational tools

4.    Communication and Collaboration with all members of the learning community

5.    Provide opportunities for student engagement 

Examples:

1.     Information and Digital Literacy Instruction

a.    Steps of the research process (Big 6)

b.    Evaluation of materials

c.    Respectful and Responsible use of information

d.    Media, print, and digital literacy skills

e.    Choosing literature and recreational reading

f.     Use of technology tools for creating products

2.      One on one instruction:  sharing excitement for research and enthusiasm for reading

a.    Reader’s advisory:  helping students & staff select books

b.    Reference:  helping students and  staff identify information and sources

c.    Coaching students and staff in the use of electronic resources, including library catalogs, databases, and search engines

3.    Acquisition of materials and informational tools

a.    Review the professional literature to select and purchase books, magazines, sound and video recordings, e-books and other materials based on district goals, curriculum, and in response to requests.

b.    Select and purchase databases in consultation with the faculty, after research and trial review.

c.    Suggest content for the District Website and provide content for each library’s website

d.    Identify articles, free Internet sites, applications and other materials for use by faculty and students in accordance with district goals

4.    Communication and Collaboration with all members of the learning community

a.    Work with teachers to design and implement curriculum related information literacy instruction

b.    Lead staff development classes

c.    Coach staff and students on projects and technology use

d.    Write articles for parent newsletters and school web sites on library and information literacy topics

e.    Facilitate cross-curricular lesson planning and discussion

f.     Suggest books and materials for special projects

g.    Serve on school wide and district committees

5.    Provide opportunities for student engagement

a.    Coach book discussion groups, battle of the books, and other literacy related activities

b.    Employ and train student helpers in the library

c.    Serve as coaches or mentors for school wide activities such as literacy night

d.    Provide opportunities for students to share their ideas and reviews of books  (bulletin boards, blogs)

e.    Celebrate book and technology related special events such as Teen Tech Week and National Poetry Month

Trying to take the weekend off

I should be at the beach, but I'm online. . . I'm finding two online classes to be a lot to keep up with, especially when I'd rather be reading murder mysteries.  I am grateful to my friend Annie for giving me Still Life, the first in a series of mysteries by Louise Penny.  I just finished the third one, and I highly recommend them all,even if I spotted the murder in the 2nd early on.  The characters, the setting, and the infusion of philosophy and religion into the created world are excellent.  Check them out -- but do read them in order!
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/63473075

My Online Teaching class has been having an interesting discussion about social skills in online students and about the purpose of education -- what do you think the purpose of K-12 education, especially public education should be?

Point Beach State Park, WI



 

Texas Bluebonnets, Cameron Park, Waco, TX Spring 2011

Summer Vacation

I'm in the public library's quiet study room, hoping the library furniture so familiar from my undergraduate days will influence me to focus on my school work.  I've been here since the library opened at 9, and so far I have spent my first two hours doing work for my job -- sending emails, looking at a project a colleague and I worked on yesterday, and filling in my calendar for a vacation week in August that I'll be spending in my school district at classes, meetings, and working for student registration. 

I actually like continuing education, and I chose to devote this summer to a lot of it, both because there are things I think I need to know for my new job responsibilities and because I have decided to take the classes I need to renew my teaching certificate.

However, I would like to find some way for all the people whose objections to teachers seem to include those "summers off" to see my schedule.  Those "summers off" do include time at the beach and some recreational reading, but it's more like being laid off for two months -- but you still have to go to work AND pay tuition to go back to school. 

I actually think that we should look at different school year models -- even when I taught in a rural community with  many working farmers among my students, I didn't think the 19th Century calendar was working for us.  However, I would expect to be paid for working those extra weeks, and I would want to have the four or five weeks of vacation I enjoyed in other professional level positions.  [I think everyone should have more vacation, but that's another story].

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we can communicate to our friends, neighbors, politicians, and community that schools have changed since they were in second grade, and that the student's perspective on what a teacher does and how they work is not the whole story?  I do think there is a need for serious school reform, and to look at lots of other possibilities for education -- but seeing something done is not the same as knowing how it is done or being able to do it.  I watch a lot of NASCAR racing, but I wouldn't drive 200 miles an hour.

Calling for more media literacy: Who will teach it?

I just read Why Core Standards Must Embrace Media Literacy from Education Week.  This is a good article on the need for media literacy and information literacy instruction.  I agree, and find it problematic that it seems to fly in the face of school districts eliminating or cutting the hours of school librarians.  The common core standards actually align fairly well with the AASL Standards and the ISTE Standards.  Information literacy and 21st Century learning is what teacher librarians teach.  We've been doing it for a long time, constantly adapting to new technology and new ways of learning.  However, when positions are cut or eliminated, we don't have the opportunity to interact with students and faculty, and it is difficult to maintain these standards.   

Same blog, new graduate class

Borrowed the title from my nephew's blog The Brown Cow where he is narrating his second experience with going to school in Germany and titled his first post, "same blog, different year."
I started this blog for a graduate class several years ago, and have kept it up only sporadically since then, but now am required to blog once again.
Information literacy instruction, the role of librarians in the school system, and relevant research and tools remain my professional interests.
These have been eclipsed since February of this year by the political events in Wisconsin, though I don't know how much I should say about what I think about politics and education reform.  Continued warnings by both school officials and my union on the dangers of publishing on social media has created a chilling effect  in terms of what I feel comfortable discussing. 
Let's begin with the impact school libraries have on student learning.  The key study is the Colorado Study, first done  in 1993, and repeated both in Colorado and in many other states.  The most important finding was that, in schools that had a FULL TIME, CERTIFIED School Librarian who was seen as a teacher and actively involved in teaching, the students showed an increase in test scores, especially in reading and literacy.  Since that study, and the implementation of the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, which is supposed to be research based, we've seen a steady decline in the number of librarians in our schools.  I find it frustrating, but will be looking for more research and posting some of what I find here.

Lechi Lach: And now for something completely different

I wish I could be as articulate as my friend Nashira.  Please read this call for sanity and care in our political life.
Lechi Lach: And now for something completely different: "After over three weeks of protests and public dissent in Wisconsin, I can no longer conceal my extreme aggravation and truculence regarding ..."

Massive crowd protests at State Capitol on Wednesday

Ellison Bay, Wisconsin at Sunset

Back to Blogging

It's the first truly warm day of the spring, warmer in Chicago than at my home, and I am inside, online, networking. Moving around the coffee shop to snag the coveted "with electricity" space. Working on my electronic life -- blog, portfolio, twitter account. . .
I know I'm not a "digital native" but I feel as if I've lived in the country for a very long time, especially since I teach the "natives" new things every day. Time perhaps, to embrace the value of some old fashioned notions (privacy, accuracy, objectivity) instead of feeling ashamed to have values.

Your Web browser software doesn't support frames, but you can visit Select A Candidate™ at www.selectacandidate.org.

Julie goes to the Vice Presidential Debate!

My sister in law is the last interview on this video from St. Louis television news.