I am creating a white board video using the program Videoscribe. I admit that progress is slow going as I try to complete my script or "message" of my video. Balancing full time work, schooling, home renos and family is proving to be quite challenging to me these past few weeks but I know this project will get there. I am creating an advocacy video for administration and senior school board staff I hopes that "the powers that be" will be the value of TL jobs for student achievement and how much more could be done with a full time TL in a school.
Right now I am researching scholarly articles through the UBC library such as this one and this one as I will likely want to touch on quantitative information - I feel like my audience will be most interested in numbers and stats as far as how having a full time TL benefits student learning. I am finding research to be increbible slow going - lots of articles I have read are out of date or not Canadian in content or just not quite what I am looking for. I really would like my video to be backed up my good, reliable information. I am anticipating that my biggest challenge this week will be creating something of value given my limited time frame. It will have to be short and sweet blog post this week as I need to focus my time on actually doing it, rather then just talking about doing it. Looking forward to having more time to think and reflect on the process next week!
I am now trying
to work on the script/content of my video and I am realizing
that I will have to focus my topic much more then I initially realized. I would
like to show my video to my principal and staff but I would especially like to
share it (ideally) with senior school board staff -superintendents,
trustees, etc - the people who are making decisions about how much
time and money is allotted to TL jobs in our district. I would love them
to watch my video and think that maybe, just maybe, TLs are really making
a difference in student learning and worth investing in. Thinking about
the needs of my audience was an interesting thing to consider. In last
weeks blog post and in my initial notes about why my school needs a full time
TL, I realized that it was a bit too "me" focused. My audience
doesn't care about me! What they care about is how an increase to my job is
going to improve student
learning. I think for them that is the bottom line. We as TLs know
what we can do, but at the end of the day my video will need to be
less focused on "endless possibilities" and more focused
on concrete information. They don't need another inspirational quote
written over a photo of a sunset - they need facts.
I will need to do some research! I will want
to make sure that I create an advocacy video that “not only clearly (and
simply) articulates the role of school libraries and librarians in supporting
student learning, but also to makes sure their message is received and
understood by the right people….” (Ray) My
rationale will need to be based on qualitative and quantitative information on
how having a full time teacher librarian will benefit student achievement. It will need to be clear, concise and effective and hopefully persuasive!
Some key ideas I'm reflecting on for my video are:
*Teacher Librarians helping with the learning goals presented in the new curriculum
*TLs helping with implementing new technologies and skills for 21rst century learning
*How more time allotted/support to collaboration will benefit students!
I need to continue to focus and narrow my topic and continue to make is relevant for my particular audience and school.
I've broken this post down into two main parts. First I'd like to discuss what format I'm researching and then I will discuss content. For my Vision of the Future I have been thinking a lot about the themes of embracing change, taking risks and embrace a more positive attitude toward technology . I really want to try something different and new. With this in mind, I have decided to try and create a whiteboard video. I'm sure most of you have seen numerous whiteboard videos before, but just in case you aren't familiar, here is an example of what they are and why they are effective.
I think this is going to be a bit of a challenge for me but I'm really motivated to try something outside of my comfort zone rather then just a paper or blog post or website that I have done before. I am still very much in the early planning stages and am a bit daunted, but I've found a program that seems quite user friendly called Videoscribe. Here is a very informative tutorial on the program.
Perhaps even more important then learning the program is what my content will be and the planning process. After all, I have already discussed on my blog the importance of technology being used in a meaningful way. I want to make a video that is insightful, educational and reflective, not just flashy and fun to watch. This video, particularly the first minute, talks about the planning process and where I should begin.
I hope I will be able to make the video, I suspect it will be a lot of work. I played around with the program a little bit and made a intro, which likely won't be in the final product but I did figure out how to add text, images, music and voiceover.
And now to focus on my content! I have mentioned several times throughout our course the importance of advocacy. I, like many TLs, don't have enough time to do my job. I currently work three days a week in the library, doing prep coverage for 13 classes in K to 7. I see each class for 30 minutes a week and I have approximately 3-4 hours (depending on the week) of library admin time which includes maintaining the library collection, planning, attending to daily library "issues" and collaborating (if I'm lucky) with my staff. I don't have enough time to plan lessons that are as meaningful as I would like, I don't have time to plan Pro D opportunities, I rarely work with other staff (although partly I think this is a matter of getting teachers "on board") and the books in my library, particularly the non-fiction, is embarrassingly out of date. I want my video to specifically focus how my school would benefit having a full time TL. Dream big, right?
I haven't figured out my exact "script" for my video yet but the ideas I'm working with right now are "the dream" of my school having a full time TL in order to:
allow more time for TL/classroom teacher collaboration so library prep lessons are planned and specifically relevant for classroom learning - students are more engaged in library when they know the lesson is directly tied to what is happening in the classroom!
allow time for me to be directly involved in teaching staff why TL/classroom teacher collaboration is important (fostering inquiry, personalized learning, asking questions, making connections, problem solving).
allow time to work with staff in other roles such as Pro D, etc.
allow more time for me to research and become more comfortable with new technologies.
allow more time for me to work on our entire library collection with particular focus on:
-weed and add to the non-fiction collection to help meet the needs of the new curriculum
-consolidate, review and relocate our Aboriginal resources to make the more accessible for staff.
-weed and add to our fiction collection in order to
continuing promoting reading for pleasure and have students make good book choices.
I think these are all interconnected and will all benefit student learning - which I suppose is the most important thing of sll for my intended audience. I also want to touch briefly on the importance of our district TL group and how TLs are making a difference across the province. My next step will be to doing some research to back my ideas in my video. I will also need to focus my topic a bit more as I think pairing my video down to three minutes or so will be very challenging. When all is said and done, I'd like my final product to be a concise, effective video to share with my staff but especially my admin and district staff in the name of promoting the benefits of teacher librarianship.
As I reflect back on my key learning from this phase of our course, I keep coming back to the idea that we as TLs are each others best resource for being life long learners. Collaboration is alive and well in our professional and I feel more inspired than ever to learn from my colleagues within this course, at my school, in my district and around the province. With some of the new technology we have learned about (Google hangout, Twitter, etc) it seems easier then ever to connect. I was able to collect a lot of relevant and practical tips and resources from reading classmates' blogs which has been beneficial. Teaching can be very isolating if you are not willing to put yourself out there or are scared to ask for help. Being a TL can also be isolating as we are often the only one doing our specific job at our workplaces. We must stay connected, learn from each other and share, share, share!
I have also learned to try and take a more positive attitude particularly when it comes to the implementation of digital technologies. Instead of focusing on what my school doesn't have, I'd like to try and focus on what we do have, take some risks and move out of my comfort zone. I may not have the time and support to undertake a massive collaborative inquiry project using web 2.0 tools, but perhaps I can do something simple and learn about and implementing a few educational apps with one of the classes at my school. Baby steps. A specific goal I have in mind is having students make a book trailer. I'd like to try using iMovie. Here is a video running through the program.
The one topic the resonated most with me, as it was the most relevant and realistic to my job, was fostering reading cultures in schools. Technology is wonderful, but for those of us working in a low tech/limited tech library, I think it is important to take a step back, unplug, and focus on good old fashion books. Yes, the definition of literacy has hugely changed, but I would like to think that reading for pleasure and enjoyment will always remain. Reading is so important. This excellent article describes in a much more eloquent way what I am trying to explain. I love talking to students about books! I love to see the excitement on a young persons face when they have found that "just right" book that has hooked them and opened up a whole new world.
As I move forward I would like to try and find a comfortable balance with all the many facets of my job- a challenge for us all. I think I will be most successful by remaining flexible, open minded and adaptable to change.
