Week 12

This week is dedicated to my sweet parents! This is our Spring Break, and they took our two boys on a lovely vacation so that I could do my best to complete my hours without being too distracted.

They left on Sunday, so that is when I began work. I worked more on the Level 1 Google Educator training. I am learning so much about features I have not ever used before in Google even though I use something in Google almost every day.

I also listened to a webinar from the AASL entitled AASL Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2015. Though the recording of the webinar is a bit glitchy, the information was great and I hope to use some of the apps at school. They have a website with a list of the apps here: http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards/best/apps/2015

On Monday I listened to a webinar on the AASL website which introduced the top websites for teaching and education. The list can be found here: http://www.ala.org/search-results?as_q=best%20websites%20for%20teaching%20and%20learning Another webinar I listened to on Monday was called "Brains Change @ Your Library". It was about making sure that in lessons and helping students you use higher order thinking skills through questioning and projects. One idea presented was that "If a question can be answered on Google, it is not using higher order thinking skills."

Throughout the day I was at Bowling Green High School. I worked at the circulation desk part of the day being available for students and checking in books. The rest of the day I spent "reading" the shelves. I was not familiar with that term, but I learned quickly! We are making sure that all of the books are in order so that the inventory will run more smoothly.

When I came home I spent more time working toward the Google Educator Level 1 certification. Again, I am learning so much about apps that can (and should) be used at school. I will spend some time on Tuesday using these new resources to create lessons to use.

Tuesday morning I stared the day listening to a webinar from AASL again, this time it is called "A School Librarian's Role in Preventing Sexting and Cyberbullying". It was a heavy subject to start the day with, but is was good to understand more about what is happening and get some resources for helping students. NetSmartz is a good resource for educators, parents, and kids. I would like to create some lessons using their videos and other resources, such as e-books.

At school I had a similar day to Monday. I spent time at the circulation desk being available to help students and helping some find the Dewy Decimal number they were in search of. I also spent time "reading the shelves" which is now a finished project!

After school I spent some time working on the Google Educator training and watching another webinar entitled "Building the Learning Environment - 'Engage, Interact, Immerse, Learn'" from AASL. They focused on quite a bit on STEM resources and approaches so that an SLMS can meet the curricular needs of the students.

Wednesday morning I began the day by listening to a webinar called "Changing Lives Through Informal Learning". This webinar was based on the idea of inquiry learning based on interests of the students. The presenter has worked with students who were not digitally literate to help them learn digital skills and find great information through guidance about searching for and evaluating information. She presented their research experience as a model for librarians in schools.

I also spent the day at BGHS again. We were able to weed the reference section, help students, work on day to day activities like circulation, and begin the yearly inventory. The Follett scanner makes doing inventory and weeding very easy! It is a portable scanner that holds the books in a file that is transferred to the computer to Destiny Quest. It works well so far. Amazing also to see that after scanning only 2 1/2 shelves, I had scanned over 600 books!

I began Thursday morning with a short webinar from AASL entitled "Coaching the Leader Within". I was hopeful that it might give some insight on how to collaborate and work with administration to advocate for library needs, but it mostly focused on leadership[ qualities and how to use that with staff or colleagues also in the library. I also listened to "A Space vs. a LEARNING Space". It talked about the space you have available for students - both physical and virtual.

At school I worked on helping students and circulation again. I was also able to attend the Technology Showcase for the school district which was held in the gym. Students from elementary all the way through high school showed their recent technology projects for STLP. We also did inventory. We had a bit of a disaster when the scanner erased the 100 or so books we had just scanned! It was frustrating, but we got it fixed and hope things go better tomorrow.

Friday was a good day beginning with the library Coffee House at 7:15. We worked on the inventory again. Mrs. Butler also bought me lunch which was very nice of her. She has been a great supervisor! I also listened to a webinar called "Coteaching". It was about how effective collaboration and coteaching can be to provide resources, technology, and differentiation.

Overall it has been a good week, and plenty busy!