Wrapping Up Summer Reading

I detailed my summer reading plans in two blog posts: here and here. Scheduling the summer reading discussion was more difficult that I expected. We were finally able to work it into the schedule last week (third week of school). I think that the discussions went well. Luckily I saw our SRO on the way and reminded him, but everyone was present for the meetings. I have a suspicion that at least two of the teachers did not read their books, which I am baffled by. Hopefully they knew enough to keep the discussion going. Overall, I was very pleased with how everything went and hope to do this again.
Here are a few pictures from our meetings. My principal came down with the intention of taking lots of pictures, but he was drawn into the discussion for The Hate U Give.

The Freshman Academy guidance counselor discusses Ghost by Jason Reynolds.

The School Resource Officer discusses Gym Candy by Carl Deuker.

I was lucky enough to win an ARC of How to Disappear by Sharon Huss Roat and she sent extra bookmarks and swag to hand out to the group discussing Between the Notes. Awesome!

I pulled out one prize book for each group that connected to the book they were discussing so that the teacher could give that book to someone that really contributed to the meeting. I brought extra for my group, because it pays to be in the librarian's group:)

After the discussion I asked the teachers to give the students a quick survey about the program. Here are some of the highlights and information that will help me improve for next time.

• 90% reported that they read all of or part of the book for their group. The survey was anonymous so I feel that their answers are accurate. 
• 87% of surveyed students gave the book a 3, 4 or 5 rating when asked if they would recommend the book to other students. 
• Overwhelmingly, students reported that they enjoyed the format and liked getting to talk with a teacher that they didn't already know. 
• Other comments included "this format was short and sweet", "it was good because there wasn't a long, boring report", "there were lots of books to choose from", "it was fun to hear other opinions", and "good conversations".
• A few recommendations were to use a book pass instead of watching trailers so they could read a few pages and to be more diverse in book choices.

I also asked teachers to complete a survey, but only received one response. I did a few thank you emails and heard from others that it went well. I think their link was overlooked because it was in the same email as the student survey.

I shared some of the survey results with administration and asked if they would like to do this again and meet after Winter break. I'm waiting on their decision. If not, I hope to do this again next summer. Maybe with the entire school this time.

For upperclassman, I created Summer Reading BINGO cards. I wasn't here to do much advertising and it showed because I only received two completed cards. Hopefully, it will be better next summer when I am here to get the program going.

Top Ten Tech Tools to Promote Reading

This summer I presented the Top Ten Tech Tools to Promote Reading at the Upstate Technology Conference. I was excited when my session filled up quickly and sad when they started turning people away. They were very strict about not exceeding capacity this year. You'll find my presentation slides below and here is a Google doc with notes and links for each slide.
I had babysitting issues so I wasn't able to stay for any sessions this year, which is disappointed because they had great featured speakers this year.
I enjoyed presenting and filled up the hour. I'm not sure if I'll attend next year because it is difficult to get out of summer mode to present.

Helping Teachers Research Using Google

When asked to present a session to high school ELA teachers about research, I was inspired by a post on Ditch That Textbook called "Writing Papers and Research Reports the Google Way." 
I incorporated some of these ideas and requests from principals to create a session about tech research tools.
Before we meet, each teacher is asked to complete this pre-assessment in Google Forms.



Each teacher will also be asked to download the following Chrome extensions: Google Keep, Tab Scissors, Tab Glue, Easy Bib, Kami, Grammarly, Destiny Discover.

The teachers will be asked to join a Google Classroom class and will proceed through the rest of the session as if they were students completing the research process. Here are the tasks:

1. Complete the pre-assessment above and download extensions.

2. Let's daydream about summer vacation. Open the attached Google Sheet and add your name and location you plan to research. (We shared this one so that everyone can edit, in order to show how Classroom can be used to collaborate on one document.)

3. Open the research paper template. (I created a template shared so each student will get a copy. Then I can show the teachers how they can share on Classroom in order to have easy edit/view access as students work. You can also use a template so that the documents are in the format you require.)

4. Finding and Citing Resources. Teachers will use the state database to find a few articles related to their vacation location then save the articles and citation information in Google Drive. I created short video instructions for this.

5. Taking Notes in Google Keep. Teachers will use the Keep extension and/or app to paraphrase notes from their saved articles, insert parenthetical documentation, and use tabs in Keep to organize notes. They will use the following three tabs: Land & Climate, History, Tourism.

6. Writing the Paper in Docs. Teachers will open the template, go to Tools>Keep Notepad, then use the labels to copy and paste their notes into the appropriate parts of their paper. Then they only need to fill in connecting sentences to finish the short paper.

7. Peer Editing in Docs. Teachers will choose a partner to share using the Can Comment option. They will add a few suggestions for their partner then go back to address suggestions in their own paper.

8. Self-Graded Rubric and Turning in Completed Paper. Teachers will complete a short self-assessment on Google forms and turn in their paper through Classroom. (Then I can show them how I see it as a teacher and can edit, grade and return in Classroom.)

There will be some teachers who are challenged (hopefully not overwhelmed) by this plan. Others will finish this quickly and find themselves bored. For those teachers, I created a hyperdoc of additional activities to explore. I loved this post from Joyce Valenza and was eager to give it a try.

This will be my first official session with the ELA teachers from my new high school so I am hoping that this goes well and that they will want to collaborate with me to use these tools with the students.

Creating Instructional Gifs

I have been working on a research PD session for high school ELA teachers and I wanted to try out instructional Gifs after seeing them on Alice Keeler's page. I love that it is little bite-size instructions that loop automatically for learners. I feel that this is less intimidating that a long Youtube instructional video.
I had to alter the creation from her original instructions because Snag it is no longer a free Chrome extension and I don't have the extra money to buy the full version right now. I will consider it for next year though.

I used Screencastify Chrome extension to record how to save files from our state DISCUS databases and how to use the citation tools in the databases. Then I uploaded the recordings to Youtube, used the Youtube editing tool to trim the clips, and then used the MakeGIF video capture Chrome extension to create and download those clips into Gifs.

Here are a few examples.
This is a loop showing how to use a PDF printer to save articles from the database into Google Drive.



This is a loop showing how you can send some database articles straight to Google Drive.


My main issue is that I am not sure why they show up so small with a big gray border. I may purchase Snag it next year and try making more of these to insert into hyperdocs, Google Classroom, the library website and other instructional delivery methods. I think if I can figure out how to enlarge them they will be very useful for helping teachers and students use tech tools.
If you make Gifs, I would love to hear about how you make them? What tools work for you? How have you used them in instruction?

A New Curation Tool: Elink.io

I learned about a new curation tool, Elink.io, on the Future Ready Librarians Facebook page. I like how visual this tool is for curating several links. I thought this was the perfect tool for links to the summer reading books.


I see potential for using this tool for curation activities with students and creating a research launchpad for projects. I hope you can find this tool useful as well.

Summer Reading Plans Underway

I am lucky that the middle school that feeds into my new school has an amazing librarian, Emily Pataky (@MrsPatakyReads) and very supportive ELA teachers. I scheduled a time with them to introduce the summer reading program, Wren Reads, to the rising freshmen. Unfortunately, that is the day that my children were ill.
I know time is precious at the end of the year so I snuck into a quiet room and recorded my presentation using the Screencastify Chrome App so the show could go on without me. You can find my presentation and playlist of book trailers below. Students will begin signing up for their books very soon. We're waiting on the announcement of a new administrator and the title he/she chooses.
I sent an email to the upperclassmen today with the Summer Reading Bingo sheet, SYNC YA flyer, and a short video I recorded in Shadow Puppet. I embellished the email with my Bitmoji character to make it more fun and personalized. My next Google Form survey will also feature my character thanks to Alice Keeler's instructions for inserting them into Forms. So fun!

Reaching Out to My New School

I know that relationships are vital in being the best librarian I can be for my new school. In an effort to reach out to my new students and teachers, I created a quick video introduction and asked for feedback using a Google Form.
I used Snapchat and Animoto to create an introduction video.

I created a separate survey for students and teachers.
Here is a copy of the teacher survey.
Here is a copy of the student version.
I was very happy with the number of responses and useful information for planning. When asked about social media the students answered that Instagram and Snapchat were their favorite sites/apps. I shared this information with the principal and asked for permission to create a library account in each of these platforms. She agreed to Snapchat as long as it was only active after school hours and said that next year I would have access to use the school accounts on the other sites. Thanks to Nikki Robertson and other librarians for sharing how they use Snapchat in the library.

Sixty percent of students felt that they had enough opportunities to visit the library even though half of them visit only when teachers took them or once a week and a full 30% visited rarely or never. A few stand-out answers for what would make them visit more often included "if books were arranged in a way I understand", "I didn't have to pay fines", and the most popular answer: more variety of books. One student recommended bean bags and cotton candy machine. Yum! I'll consider it. This is good evidence for me to support my move to genrefy fiction and drop overdue fines. The most popular answer for "favorite thing about the library" was the quiet. That lets me know that even though I'm not a shushing librarian, I do need to maintain some areas for quiet study. I also added 27 books to my order list that students requested.
The teacher survey illustrated to me that they are not accustomed to co-teaching, something I'd like to work on. Almost 60% of teachers are interested in coming to a monthly tech session with me, which could be a way I can build some collaborations. Eighty percent were interested in summer PD, which is why I organized and shared the Camp Readamorra program last week.
I have already met with a few teachers as a result of the survey to discuss ways we can work together next year. I look forward to sending another survey next year and comparing the answers to guide my library goals. If I can share something here with you to make your efforts easier, contact me.