What's next for Libraries

10 Ways That Edtech Has Transformed Libraries h
https://www.thetechedvocate.org/10-ways-that-edtech-has-transformed-libraries/



Not Your Mother's School Library: Transformational Thinking and Innovation to Impact Learning for the School Community.
https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/not-your-mothers-school-library-transformational-thinking-and-innovation-to-impact-learning-for-the-school-community/


Traditional Library model compared with the Learning Commons model

found on Pinterest

Reading Innovator's Mindset by George Couros

One of the 8 Things to Look for in Today’s Classroom - critical thinking #futurereadylibs #InnovatorsMindset

Culture Code

My self-development book of the week from the author of The Talent Code, @DanielCoyle is The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups. c2018 
Highly recommend! Great for educators at all levels. 

Vulnerability doesn’t come after trust—it precedes it. Leaping into the unknown, when done alongside others, causes the solid ground of trust to materialize beneath our feet.” @DanielCoyle 

Access to Technology, Intellectual Freedom, and 21st-century education

Library Stats

Students completed 4,237 research sessions this school-year in the LibGuides platform.
With 1,263 sessions on an iPhone, this is still the top access vehicle for LibGuides.

We currently have 53 LibGuides with 6,521 views between August 2017 and May 2018.

Here are just a few:

• The Senior Capstone Project had 939 views
• Harper Lee had 247 views
• The Biome Project had 179 views
• Mark Twain 87 views
• Muscles Project 64 views
• Democracy Research Project 48 views
• Spanish Articles 29 views

Education Best Practices

Common Sense Media recommends several Device-Free Zones.
Guess what, the classroom is not one of them!

Ed-Tech Reviews and Resources from Common Sense Media

• 44 Smart Ways to Use Smartphones in Class
  

  Use Smartphones to Collaborate, Communicate, Create, Coordinate/Curate
• Computers of the Future May Be Minuscule Molecular Machines
  

  Zeroes and 1s are so last century.
• How Your Smartphone Camera Is Affecting Your Life
  

  JONAH LEHRER "those who took pictures showed higher levels of enjoyment ... Interestingly, these people also showed significantly higher levels of engagement. Because they were immersed in the act of picture-making, they were more attentive to the details of the scene; the mundane experience became an aesthetic event."
• Using Smartphones in the Classroom
  

  Tired of telling students to put away their phones? A veteran teacher shares tips for using mobile devices as learning tools.
• Your smartphone is millions of times more powerful than all of NASA’s combined computing in 1969
  

  Put simply, the iPhone 6’s clock is 32,600 times faster than the best Apollo era computers and could perform instructions 120,000,000 times faster. You wouldn’t be wrong in saying an iPhone could be used to guide 120,000,000 Apollo era spacecraft to the moon, all at the same time.

The End of Year Library Survey

If we want to prepare students for college, career, and life we must begin inserting more technology into our classrooms not less.  Our students need to use tech for more than recreation.

When asked - 

Where do you hear or read about Webb School news?  We found that students are not using online resources, instead, they are relying on Chapel Announcements and Word of Mouth.  

The results for Local and World news were not surprisingly the opposite.  In fact, 17.6% of our students get their Local and World news from Snapchat.  You might think getting your news from Snapchat is horrific, however, the Snapchat Discover section offers articles from Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and National Geographic just to name a few.

Where do you hear or read about Webb School news? 

An overwhelming majority of students completed the Library Survey on their phone. 

Designing a Research Symposium for High School Research

Preparing the Research

LibGuide for Resource Sharing
We placed links to Research and Resources on our Senior Capstone LibGuide

Visiting the University Library
For the past few years, we have visited MTSU or Trevecca University Library.  The Librarians were so helpful and it has been a great help.

Collaborating with English Faculty
We rely heavily on our Senior level English faculty.  In the research phase, students are using the GIST worksheets to do journalistic style research.

• Webb Senior Paper GIST note sheet 

The Presentation Teaser OR Elevator Pitch
Seniors prepared 1 slide to be an advertisement for the research presentation. We attempted to group topics and had multiple [4] presentation venues across campus.

The Presentation
Presentations were 10-12 minutes in length and should:
Explain the research question or thesis statement, Show extensive research and critical thinking, provide appropriate and supportive details, has good transitions and is memorable

• INTRODUCTION
• ORGANIZED, RELEVANT, COHERENT EXPLANATION OF IDEAS
• AMPLE RESEARCH APPROPRIATELY CITED [Background] approx. 3-5 slides [This is a research paper and not an opinion piece]
• PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT WITH TOPIC [Primary Research] 3-5 slides
• CONCLUSION [this is a research conclusion - not a list of "thank yous"]
• Q&A - Questions and Answers

Answering the Frequently Asked Questions

What about attendance? How will we decide which venue to attend? 
Advisory groups voted and then attended a session together.  Advisers reported absentees only.  We used Google Forms for advisory group voting

What about technical difficulties?
We assigned one tech person to each venue.  But the independence and change helped the students to be more flexible and many figured out the tech on their own.

What if a student has a sibling or especially close friend in another venue?
A student was allowed to apply for a waiver to attend that venue.

What about announcements?
We assigned an emcee for each location to read brief announcements only.

Why the change?
This is a recommendation from the Academic portion of our school strategic plan.  This is a more authentic presentation and is in keeping with the initial creation of the Senior Project in that it allows for Q and A and a defense of the research claims.  Finally, the student body has grown to the point where all-school presentations would consume the spring calendar and interfere with other coursework.

What about FOMO?
We worked to arrange a designated student or faculty member to make a video recording of the presentations.  These will be uploaded to the cloud.  [Cloud is coming soon]

Giving a Professional Feel

Students presented in a very "real-world" way.  We also promoted the symposium each day on social media.  We also made signs to hang around campus.

What Do You Like to Read?

We are a work in Progress!

We are working on a new way of organizing books in The Webb School Library! We have organized the books into genre categories. Many of our patrons have asked for books in specific genre categories and now we will be able to serve patrons better in this way.   Right now this is a work in progress so please bear with us as we organize using this new method.

Anatomy Research

Sometimes our AP teachers have little to no time for research because they must cover so much content. 

An anatomy teacher at my school wanted her students to do some research on muscle building, supplements and their effects, strength vs size of muscles. 

We met and created a simple pathfinder with appropriate databases for students to answer the questions the teacher posed. 

http://thewebbschool.libguides.com/muscledevelopment

Economics research

Our new residential Dean is also teaching Economics. This is a practical course and these mini projects use the Internet  to research real- world situations.

This is a great example of authentic learning. 

Going to college - http://thewebbschool.libguides.com/EconomicsProjectOne
Buying a car http://thewebbschool.libguides.com/EconomicsProjectTwo

What is Mr L.R. Smith working on in the library and archives?

This year is the 100th anniversary of American involvement in World War I.

In the library and archives there are more than 600 glass slides that date back to World War I .  These slides were part of the collection of William R Webb Jr.

We have both the projector and the script that goes along with the slides.  Mr. Smith is doing the tedious work of cleaning, identifying, and digitizing the slides.

Starting with a full agenda

We are just three weeks in and we have existing and new collaborators in the Library. Keep the projects coming, we love to see the library in use!

Teaching research with the History Department 

Research about the causes of the Revolutionary War
http://thewebbschool.libguides.com/history8
The three research categories

• Enlightenment ideas -- Search for individuals known for Enlightenment ideas
• The Great Awakening -- Search for those ministers known for sparking The Great Awakening, and colonial history
• Economics & the coming of the American Revolution - Search for Boston Tea Party, King George III of England and general colonial history

Public Performance

8th grade began immediately to work on their declamation

http://thewebbschool.libguides.com/declamations

Economics

Economics of College - online research and survey research

http://thewebbschool.libguides.com/EconomicsProjectOne

Moving on and moving in

Students from 17 different countries moved into Webb campus this weekend. On Friday we had the international student orientation . This event was hosted in the library .

On Saturday was move-in day and new student orientation this was where all new students came to campus both town students and residential students. The library hosted many events that day including the middle school meetings and social .

Summer Fun at the Library

We had a blast this summer reading aloud about all different kinds of animals. We really focused in on for animals that are native to Tennessee.  The animals that we covered this summer were referred to as  "Tennessee critters!" We learned about the sounds that animals make.  We learned about whether they are nocturnal or not. Also, we learned about what they eat and what their tracks look like.

Summer Programming off to a good start

Today we read "Yertle the Turtle" by none other than Dr. Seuss! Each week we are focusing on animals that find a home in Tennessee.  This week was all about Turtles.


A great resource for Tennessee Wildlife is:
Tennessee Watchable Wildlife



Children also learned a little about empathy.  Especially for poor Mack who found himself shouldering the load at the bottom of the turtle stack.

Other Resources:
10 Human Rights Heroes
Life Lessons from Dr. Seuss



Turtle snacks, crafts, and games -

Tennessee Critters read all about it!

Wednesdays in July

The Webb School Library will be open Wednesdays in July from 10am - 3pm

to both Webb and the Bell Buckle Community

This summer's theme:
Tennessee Native Creatures

July 5 - Yertle The Turtle -Lesson about Turtles, make crafts, and enjoy snacks

July 12 - Scaredy Squirrel - Lesson about Squirrels, make crafts, and enjoy snacks

July 19 - My Lucky Day - Lesson about Foxes, make crafts, and enjoy snacks

July 26 - The Kissing Hand - Lesson about Raccoons, make crafts, and enjoy snacks

Children’s Story time 10:30 am 

[parent or caregiver must be present for children under 10] 

For teenagers we are open for book check out. 

Also, we will celebrate the book release of Alan Gratz, "Refugee" on July 26th 

Call or Email if you would like space for a book club or if you would like to volunteer this summer.      

hlittle@webbschool.com   

931-389-5758

The William Bond Library

Ms. Little's absolutely NOT mandatory summertime reading list

Here are some books I want to read for FUN this summer 

Children of Exile by Margaret Peterson Haddix

What's it about: This is a science fiction novel that is about Fredtown "a happy, safe place to grow up."  The protagonist, Rosi, is suddenly moved from Fredtown to her new town the adults are calling home.  But "home" is not what she expected.

Why I want to read this: First because the author is Margaret Peterson Haddix.  Second, because I have a daughter transitioning from high school to college and I think this story will help me with empathy.

Refugee by Alan Gratz [available July 25, 2017]

What's it about: This story follows three children a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany,  a Cuban girl in 1994 and a Syrian boy in 2015.  All three are refugees.  This promises to be an action-packed read about escape and survival.

Why I want to read this: Why, because I love survival fiction.  I also really like this author! I can tell he puts a lot of work into his writing. [It always helps to meet the author.]




The Gender Game  by Bella Forrest

What's it about: This one is about a world that is divided by gender where the Women rule the East and the Men rule the West.

Why I want to read this: Mainly because I have not read any self-published authors.  Also, the premise of a specific gender ruling intrigues me. We will see ... this one is 416 pages.

Need More recommendations

Checkout TeenReads on Instagram

So now the question is  - What are you reading this summer?

To Ban Or Not To Ban

Is that, the Question?

It is no surprise that educators struggle with classroom management in the age of the smartphone. The number of distractions is just too large to list. This coupled with the temptation to cheat and the problem of cyberbullying has led many schools to ban smartphones altogether. This often pushes education about these issues into the "after school" territory. When this happens, parents need advice and education for teaching digital citizenship to their children.

Shakespeare Selfie

Help is Here!

A good resource for understanding and teaching digital citizenship is Common Sense Media. This site has information for both Parents and Educators. The site also provides in-depth data and review to help determine age-appropriateness of everything from books, to video games.  It is neat how they give a parent opinion and a kids opinion in the recommendations for appropriate age.

What happens when you ban ...

I have to say that banning something like technology goes against my nature as a librarian. Especially when I am fighting so hard to provide access to information. 

Signe Whitson makes a great point in her article Why Banning Social Media Is Not the Best Answer for Kids.

"... adults do kids a frightening dis-service by banning the use of technology outright. At best, this head-in-the-sand approach ill-prepares kids to deal with the world in which they live and at worst, it creates a fervor among these young people to get their hands on social media in sneaky, risky ways."

We have all seen what banning a book does for circulation of the banned books.  I have noticed when you ban technology and social media there is indeed a fervor that drives students "underground."

You can't teach if you are not in the classroom

Some educators may brag that they don't really pay attention to social media. This is sad to me because they are discounting an important part of their students' lives.  Two years ago in 2015 Pew and the Internet reported that 73% of teens had a smartphone and 41% of teens were on Snapchat and half of teens were on Instagram.  When you ignore the technology platform it becomes a teacherless classroom.  We need teachers of all ages in the social space [online] teaching about honesty, courage, and respect.  How? Not necessarily befriending young people as peers, we instead need to provide positive role models of not just "appropriate" but honest, courageous, and respectful behavior online!

Traditional Values for the Digital World

So, how can we as educators help Generation Z, born into our data-rich world, learn digital citizenship and discernment skills? Jason Ohler in a 2011 article, Character Education for the Digital Age introduces the idea that we should encourage students to live a single life.

"The "two lives" perspective says that our students should live a traditional, digitally unplugged life at school and a second, digitally infused life outside of school."

The article further discusses the idea of developing and teaching traditional values and how to apply them to the digital world.   Ohler cites two organizations lists of principles.  These lists show the overlap of what is important to diverse groups.

International Center for Leadership in Education: "The 12 Guiding Principles of Exceptional Character"  - adaptability, compassion, contemplation, courage, honesty, initiative, loyalty, optimism, perseverance, respect, responsibility, and trust-worthiness 
Heartwood Institute: "The Seven Universal Ethical Attributes" - courage, loyalty, justice, respect, hope, honesty, and love 

Finding ways to teach these intangibles is a challenge.  And teaching without a teacher-parent partnership is nearly impossible.  Join me as I search for ways to encourage parents and teach students to live a singular life.  One where students don't hide from the trusted adults in their lives.  And one where we embrace the positives of technology and the digital world and use tech for the greater good.  

Ways to start merging the digital and physical space

• Learn about the technology for yourself

• Ask your child or student to teach you how to set up an Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter

• Ask students for tips on the "unwritten rules" [like don't screenshot everything]

• Read about emerging technologies and recommend those with educational benefits 

• Make the technology conversation less threatening 

• Ask students "how can we use technology for good?"

Take a look at our Digital Parenting Book Display

Unpacking the Spectacles

The Spectacles have arrived, Now What?

Just in time for Spring and School Library Month, the Snapchat Spectacles have arrived. We are unpacking and charging right now and hope to have videos up soon!



Here are some ideas of what we can do with the Spectacles.

Snapchat Spectacles: What are they, how do they work and where can you buy them?


10 things to do with your Snapchat Spectacles now you’re bored of them: The fun is only just beginning

Here are 11 tips to help you get the most out of your fancy sunglasses.

Snapchat Spectacles are in 😎

A post shared by The Webb School Library (@libfeet) on Apr 3, 2017 at 6:18am PDT

Snapchat Discover

Snapchat goes Public

On March 2, 2017, Snapchat went public.

Read about the event 

• NPR - Snapchat Goes Public In Largest Tech IPO Since Alibaba 
• The Guardian - Snapchat shares soar 44% to value loss-making company at $28bn

The Snapchat Discover platform is packed with media and news.  It has everything from Wall Street Journal to BuzzFeed.  Check out the charts below.  I am hoping to also develop a "how to cite" Snapchat discover post very soon.

Coming Soon, Snapchat will offer television programming.

• WSJ - Why Snapchat Is the New TV
• Mashable - The future of Snapchat Discover looks a lot like TV

Stay tuned, you will hear much more about Snapchat in the near future, including our adventures with Snapchat Spectacles.

Charts with the Snapcodes for the Discover Channels