This year's last guest blogger is Jeanna Walker, the media specialist teacher at Portage Northern High School (MI). There she is centrally involved in activities with students and teachers in the Library Learning Commons.
Visit the Portage Public Schools High School CyberLibrary.
Visit the Portage Public Schools High School CyberLibrary.
Portage Northern High School's library teaching program was selected to represent Michigan on Dr. Nancy Everhart’s AASL Vision Tour. Jeanna Walker was recently named by the Michigan Association for Media in Education (MAME) as Michigan's 2014 School Librarian of the Year.
Learn more about Jeanna, her work at Portage Northern High School, and a busy professional life at
The startup question asked of all the blog-guests this year is: "Can you provide a few examples or ideas of what makes your library program successful?"
Our program was built from the “ground-up”, based on the foundation that the teacher media specialist is an active teaching partner with the classroom teachers.
ReplyDeleteIntegrated Technology - the teachers and administrators view me as the “go to” person for integrating technology into the curriculum. I not only teach the students, I also offer classes to teachers and parents, both after school and in the summer. Our most “successful” projects revolve around the History classes. I initiated a partnership with the Western Michigan School of Business to bring the best of online collaborative learning to our students. Now in its 4th year, we have the expertise of the professors and graduate students to lead us in technologies that will be of value to our students as they enter the workforce and/or college. We focus on 4 major project-based learning activities, from Socratic seminars on immigration (past and present) and the decision to deploy the atomic bomb to eScrapbooks on the Muckrakers and United States Presidents. We were the first school in our district to roll out Google Apps for Education to every student. Another recent initiative that is exciting is “Books, Bodies, and Blogs.” We have one of the premier Forensic Science teachers in our school. She came to me with the idea that she would like her students to read a forensic science mystery - those written by experts in the field. I suggested they not only do that, but that we also incorporate blogging into the reading, based on the literature circle format. It has been an exciting and challenging endeavor. We were awarded a grant from the MSTA to purchase more books, including informational texts. Our semester long unit culminates in a distance learning live autopsy from COSI, The Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio.
Administrative Support - My principal and the District Technology director both evaluate me as a teacher. They see the value in student learning and achievement. They know that I am the direct link to students and teachers and that I will jump in to offer a new opportunity to reach our school community with the best in information literacy skills and collaborative technology. How do they know what I do? I tell them! I make every effort to celebrate our success and invite the administrators at the building and district level to share in our excitement for learning.
Our school has a focus on raising reading scores. Part of the School Improvement Plan includes allowing time for students to self-select their own reading materials and have a time for reading - commonly known as SSR. I am a voracious reader, priding myself on being able to recommend the right book to the right student at the right time. With the focus on technology integration into the curriculum, keeping my focus on the reading goal is paramount. I do not ever want to lose sight of that goal.
Common Core into ELA and Essential Standards. I have led the K-12 Instructional Technology Department in integrating the ELA Common Core Standards into the Library Media Curriculum. We recently completed selecting our Essential Standards, based on those documents.
Being a Leader in the District and in State Organizations has given me professional opportunities that otherwise would have been unavailable to me. I highly recommend getting involved in your local, state, and national associations. I play an active role in the Michigan Association for Media in Education (MAME), serving on the Executive Board as Secretary. I am on the Steering Committee of a newly formed SIG for Media Specialists in the Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL).
I was asked to be on the State of Michigan School Library Advisory Team. Our charge for the past 2 years has been to revise the School Libraries 21, an evaluation tool for School Library Programs in Michigan. I will be presenting this work, along with Nancy Robertson, Michigan State Librarian, to the Michigan Board of Education in November for endorsement.
Hi Jeanna Walker,
ReplyDeleteI am currently in a Materials for Youth class, dealing in-depth with Readers Advisory for kids K-8 mainly, and I can definitely see how being a 'voracious reader' gives you a major edge in recommending great books and getting reluctant readers into reading!
Recently, we've been discussing leveling - Lexile, Scholastic, DRA - with regard to choosing the proper book for a child and there are so many different schemas and each with their own agenda (as is apparent by Scholastic's search engine that only spits back their own published works). How do you use these leveling mechanisms to aid your selection of books? I find the entire system uncoordinated, hard to cross-reference, and time-consuming!
Thank you,
Ardea Smith
Hello Ardea,
ReplyDeleteThat is a great question! I was just talking with our Reading Specialist in our high school about the Lexile "issue." I hesitate to call it an issue, but there are various schools of thoughts on leveling books in the library/media center and requiring students to read at their Lexile level (rather like the AR debate). We do not share Lexile levels with the students in our school (at this point). Our books are not leveled in the library, except what is available through the Destiny platform and that is an AR reading level. We did not subscribe to Follett Destiny's module for Lexile levels. That being said, I, as I am sure you do, can "sell" a book to a student. I am aware of their reading levels if the teacher tells me, but often times it is the book talk that hooks them and they choose to read at or above their reading level. I do not believe in limiting students to their Lexile level. However....if our school decided it was beneficial to level our books, I would adapt my practice. I do not use Lexile levels to make purchasing decision for the most part; I purchase by professional reviews. I see publishers using Lexile leveling of books as a marketing tool. They are selling by the Lexile level rather than the content of the book.
Hi Jeanna,
DeleteYes, they are definitely selling by the level and not the content!
If you don't use leveling, and I can understand why, what are some techniques you use to determine the reading level of a student that comes into your library for the first time? My current teacher mentioned the five finger rule - raising one finger for each word you don't know and she is a children's librarian- but I'm not sure how applicable that is to dealing with middle or high schoolers.
Thank you,
Ardea
Hi Ardea,
DeleteIt seems a bit daunting, but I do come to know the students and their reading levels. Some of that comes in conversations with them and some in conversations with their teachers. I ask the student (s) what they have read last that they have enjoyed and I go from there. It does help me gauge their interest level, too. I am a firm believer that the best way to get better at reading is to read. I asked our reading teacher about that “general” philosophy and she agreed. That is not to say that Lexile levels, etc. do not have a place in the teaching of reading – they do. There is the 5 finger rule – I did use that when I was an elementary media specialist and I think it could still work with older students. Is your school focusing on Lexile (or other) methods to level the books in your library?
Jeanna
I hope one day I can say 'my library' but I'm still in classes right now. Student teaching doesn't start until Fall 2014. So, until then, I'm just trying to absorb as much information as possible in preparation for working in the field!
DeleteHi Ardea,
DeleteYou will love being a school librarian/media specialist!
Jeanna
I love that your library website doesn't look like a standard template. Was that created by a tech person in your district, students, or yourself? Was there a committee to decide what would go on it, or was it just you and the other media specialist? Who updates it, and how often does that happen?
ReplyDeleteHi Hayley!
DeleteI'm so glad you like our website. That was our goal - a library website that did not look like a standard website. The artwork (the sun page) was designed by one of my high school students. Sara Brown, the teacher media specialist at my sister high school and I planned out what we wanted to include on the website. We then met with my student and gave her "our vision". She came up with the sun and all the icon designs - pretty fabulous, right? Sara and I update the page - mostly Sara:). We did originally have a district tech person help with the actual set-up, but we are now on our own. I use the CyberLibrary with all the students and staff. Our databases are IP authenticated at school, but this is also our web presence away from school. I share the usernames/passwords in a print handout in my freshmen orientation, as we are not allowed to post the usernames/passwords electronically (per licensing agreement). I also share with parents, via a voluntary training session. Most of my handouts for classes are on the Eboard link. I may transfer them to a Google site, for for now I really like the Eboard for its ease of use. Most of
Jeanna
Hi Jeanna!
DeleteThank you for contributing to our class! I'd like to get your opinions on establishing an overall tone in the library. I work in a high school library and I feel like this is something I have struggled with. I think the library should be a collaborative space and I hate to be shushing students. I love to see students working in groups, and getting excited about projects they're working on. That being said, sometimes it just gets too loud! I feel guilty for those students who are trying to read or study, especially if there isn't a separate room for them to use. How do you handle this? Thanks! Emily
Hi Emily,
DeleteIt is my pleasure to join your class - you are all inspirations to me! I have struggled with that very issue myself. When I came to my high school library, it was a dead zone. Absolutely the bare minimum of students and teachers collaborating and learning. You can see what happened in a few short years - 4,000 - 5,000 students a week. We do not have the best acoustics in our Library Learning Commons and at times it can get a bit "loud." I do talk with all the classes I work with about being respectful of the other classes and students learning and teaching in the LCC. I do think my "talk" makes an impact on the teachers, too. There are times when I have to leave my class to ask another class or seminar students (unsupervised) to take it down a notch. I don't hesitate to do that if the other class/students are extremely loud and disruptive. It happened today, as a matter of fact. My principal was observing myself and the teacher I was team teaching with. I think the "noise" bothered him more than it did me - ha. He told the students to quiet down. My secretary is great at handling "noise and discipline", too - I just make eye contact with her and she will speak to the offenders. It is definitely a fine balance but given the "dead zone" atmosphere of before, I ere on the side of noisy learning. Oh yes - we do have conference rooms in the LCC, so if someone needs absolute quiet, I will direct them there.
Hello again!
ReplyDeleteI have a question for all of you. What is your opinion of the Google Research tool within Google Docs? I don't want to "tip my hand" on what I think. This came up today with a class I was teaching. Thank you for joining in this discussion. I bragged about all of you to the class I was working with - they were impressed - Mrs. Walker is working with students from IU!
Hi! I have just recently begun using Google Docs for both personal and school purposes. I also just introduced it to my sixth grade students a couple weeks ago. The technology director at my school set up Google Apps accounts for all of the students about a year ago, but none of the teachers were utilizing them (to my knowledge). I decided to take the plunge, and so far the students have really enjoyed it.
DeleteI had not yet discovered the Research tool, so your question caused me to go looking for it. Since I've only spent a few minutes experimenting with it and haven't had a chance to use it with students yet, I don't have a fully-formed opinion. However, my first thought is that it is really handy but could easily be abused. It seems like it would be a very convenient tool for copying and pasting content into a report. It allows students to view little snippets of information out of context. Students could easily use the Scholar feature to find a list of citations that they could add to the end of their report by just clicking the insert button, whether they actually used the source for information or not. A teacher who was paying attention would catch on while grading the report, but still, I'm sure there are students who would try it anyway. If I were going to show students the Research tool, I would spend time explaining proper and improper ways to use it, so that students know that they need to actually visit the websites suggested by the Research tool, evaluate the websites for accuracy and relevance, and use the information appropriately without plagiarizing. I would also emphasize that they should also be looking at sources that Google won't be recommending (i.e. the school's subscription databases). If those steps are followed, I think Google Research could be a helpful tool at times.
Like I said, though, I'm new to Google Apps, so my opinion may not be the best. I'd love to hear yours!
Andrea
The research tool seems great for a last minute citation, image, or definition.
DeleteHowever, it seems to promote the melding of research and writing into a singular process. I think this is problematic because you can't begin writing a good paper (in my opinion) until you know the facts or can ascertain where the evidence lies. Using this tool, you could write a paper, and then go and find evidence to support your view. It doesn't lend itself particularly well to the - hypothesize, research, and then reflect and write strategy. Instead it promotes write, quick research, write, quick research. I think that process for me would be quite frustrating - it lacks a certain directionality that lends itself to a well written, concise, well organized, focused thesis.
I so appreciate the time you have both put into giving me your critique of the Google Docs Research tool. I do not think it could ever replace thorough research using our databases and vetted sources. It does seem like a “Google Search” disguised as thorough research. That concerns me. I can see it used by students as the only place they visit for information. And so we have the conundrum. It is a tool that is out there – kind of like Wikipedia. Excellent aspects of both, but caveats to using them. The image tool is nice, especially the ease of inserting the citation. The citation tool itself is not the best, but could be used as a starting point. I prefer Knightcite http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/ for creating original citations and teach that to the students. The quote tool has potential, but the students would still need to research the credentials of the person being quoted. I like you ideas of using Google Scholar to find citations for further research. That could be helpful for the higher level classes. On a personal note, I did convince the teacher that “perhaps” this wasn't the best way for the freshmen to start their research, but I would introduce it in the Spring after I have worked with them on numerous projects using our subscription research databases.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI see that you also use LibraryThing. Do you use any other social media sites to communicate with your students? Are there many students following you on LibraryThing, or do you think they use it more to check out the new things you have?
ReplyDeleteOr do you just use LibraryThing to show them what you're reading personally? I see that some of those aren't YA books.
DeleteHi Haley,
DeleteI use my Librarything for both- it is a combination YA and what I read personally, although some of the "adult-type" books I recommend to students. I also have a LibraryThing for new Social Studies books, as I work with many of those classes. I do have a GoodReads account, but I hesitate to start using it exclusively, as the students are used to going to my LibraryThing. Yes, they do use it and I promote it a lot. We are not "allowed" to have a school Facebook page to communicate with our students. Facebook and Twitter are blocked at school for students, so I don't use as my primary method of communicating with them. I’m sure that is an issue for many school librarians. We are a Google Apps for Education School, so we (students and staff) all use our "School Gmail" to communicate. Until our school district opens up more social networking tools, I don't want that to be my primary vehicle of communication with the students as they can't access it at school.
Jeanna
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI love being able to communicate with librarians from another state. What a fun way to see what others are doing! I also love your website! Such a cool and innovative way to do the "same old thing" :) Students probably see the interesting artwork and are already more intrigued than they usually are when searching in a library website.
Based on your previous comments about team teaching, I would love to know what you think is the best way to collaborate with teachers. I taught for nine years before becoming a librarian this year, so the classroom doesn't intimidate me, but I find that teachers don't want my help. How can I help them see the value of working together?
Thanks!
Lucy
Hi Lucy,
ReplyDeleteI love the collaboration, too – it really does give us a much broader view and is inspiring to share our ideas. Thanks you for your compliment on our web site – it was one of those “ideas” where the planning really paid off. The students do love the “sun page” – I think they use it much more than when we had our more linear web page.
I started my collaboration at the high school with one teacher. She came to me and wanted to work on a health research paper. I ask her if she would be willing to “change it up” and include a creative way to present for the students to present their information. She and her department said yes and it launched everything. I displayed the students’ posters (at that time we used Publisher to create a custom large poster – now we use Google Presentation), made a website of vetted medical information and we were off to the races. Other teachers saw the students’ work displayed and said they would like to do that, also. The displaying of the student work in the LCC was the catalyst. Another huge collaboration started with approaching the local university to work with me on an online collaborative project with history students. I asked one teacher to pilot it. We approached our principal for a PD day (s) to design the project. We had the administrative buy-in and that went a long way in promoting the partnership. The original project has launched different project-based learning units with the American History classes that last all year. I find that teachers truly “get” what I (and you) do when I team teach with them. I use technology and the research database aspects of the lessons to show my value. I hope that helps
Jeanna
Oh wow! How innovative! I love that you were able to help update the health teachers' ideas to be more creative. I definitely agree that "piloting" my assistance can help others see what I can do. When you say that you displayed the students' posters, do you mean you put them up in the library? or were they in the hall or teacher's classroom? I'm working on making my library more "student-oriented" and want to display work, but I'm struggling with teachers letting me display their work in the library. I've convinced the art teachers, and we have some amazing book art being displayed now. About how much time do you spend collaborating/teaching with other teachers?
DeleteHi Lucy,
DeleteThat is a great idea – display art work in your library We have an International Baccalaureate Art program – I showcase an IB art student every 2 weeks – their art is on display in the LCC. I ask that they include a biography so the students will know them personally, as well as become familiar with their art.
I did display the students’ work in the Library Learning Commons – I still do that. It did help that the work was a collaborative effort between me, the teacher (s) and the students. The teachers were so proud of the students’ work; they readily agreed that it should be displayed. One thing to keep in mind (I learned this the hard way), is to be sure the work is in “publishable” form – Type 5 writing, if you will.
I spend the overwhelming majority of my time collaborating with teachers and team teaching with them. For an example, this week, in a 7 period day, I am team teaching 7 out of 7 periods. In the high school setting, I don’t have my own “class” and I am not a “special” as in the elementary, so I must constantly engage the teachers in team teaching with me that will be of value to their students. The 7 out of 7 period collaboration/teaching day is not unusual. I just looked at my schedule through the first semester (January) and this is the pattern for each day. Starting October 14th, all freshmen American history teachers want to do the same project (researching the Muckrakers era in US history and designing a magazine) with me at the same time – that is 3 teachers and 350 students. Although I have room for all the classes (tripled booked some periods) I am not quite sure how I can be with everyone at the same time ;) should prove interesting!
Jeanna