Everything interacts. Always. We shape it. It shapes us. It’s all a big soup.
As a teacher-librarian, I’m constantly making decisions about which databases to subscribe to, which search tools to recommend, which encyclopedias to point students toward. These decisions often get framed as “neutral” by just providing access to information, offering students “the right resources.” But are they?
This question started nagging at me during IP 2 where I analyzed software encyclopedias through McLuhan’s tetrad and Actor-Network Theory. I decided to test something simple: I searched for two controversial topics across different encyclopedia subscriptions our division provides to students. The results weren’t just different—they were fundamentally different.
I sat there staring at two browser windows, and something clicked: this wasn’t a bug. This was a feature. Each platform was enacting a specific epistemology, a particular idea of what knowledge is. And my choice (as a librarian, and as someone who shapes student access to information) wasn’t neutral at all. I was choosing between worlds, while selling the guise of neutrality.
Why start with search?
When it came time to get to brass tacks on this assignment, I knew I needed an entry point that was practical. Not abstract. Not Barad discussing quantum entanglement — even though it’s fascinating.
Because it seems to me like if we want people to think outside of the box, we need them to realize that the tools they hardly think of as technological have been quietly organizing how knowledge appears to us for a very long time. They’re quietly working in the background; and their output exposes what’s going on behind the scenes. I think this is what makes them a great place to start unpacking the complexity of ideas behind new materialism.
How the elements came together
So I designed a professional learning activity: choose a heated topic, search it in three different tools (Google, Wikipedia, TikTok), and compare what appears. Then unpack: How does each tool assemble knowledge?
I think the session would ultimately take about two hours to work through with a group, but could probably be done in an hour and a half. I have embedded audio files into the presentation with my speakers notes, but have also linked them here if you would rather read them. My presentation slides are directly below.
If you’re an educational technology specialist, a teacher, an administrator or if you make decisions about which tools students use, which platforms teachers adopt, which systems organize learning, I’m inviting you to do something simple:
Pick a controversial topic. Search it in three different places. Compare what appears.
Then ask: What differences did this technology create?
It’s not a complicated activity. But I think it’s a critical and worthwhile one.
Because once you see how Google, Wikipedia, and TikTok assemble knowledge differently, you can’t unsee it. And that’s where the real work begins.
Not in finding the “right” tool. Not in establishing “best practices.” But in developing the literacy to read how tools shape what we can know, and the responsibility to choose—and keep questioning our choices—accordingly.
Okay, so my video is a bit longer than 5 minutes, but I swear there’s a reason! My video tour is presented as a mock news segment with Artie Smarts, an animated robot newscaster. I went with this format to keep things conversational and fun while still walking through the project in detail, drawing on Mayer’s (2009) personalization principle to show that professional learning can be engaging as well as practical. The playful opening, a few jokes, and the closing segment were all part of setting that tone and holding attention — though they do push the video slightly past the suggested runtime. I was having a lot of fun making it (using a combination of Adobe Express, Apple Clips, and CapCut), and I hope that comes through when you watch.
Sometimes you plan something and follow your itinerary to the letter; other times, despite your best intentions, another path calls to you and you end up going in a completely different direction. Such was the case with my learning throughout ETEC 524. In hindsight, it’s probably not surprising that my main work ended up focusing on AI and educators; it is a topic I’ve been almost obsessively engaged with for the past two years. But this was not where I initially set out to go in May.
My original goal was to outline and begin developing a hybrid online/classroom course for Grade 11/12 students, centred on skill development and mastery in an area of their choice. I’ve long wanted to create space for students who are not drawn to more traditional academic programming to pursue a deep dive into something meaningful to them. However, as the course unfolded, I shifted toward building a professional development module for educators in my school division. This shift came partly from recognizing the immediate usefulness of such a resource, and partly from seeing an opportunity to help teachers design more accessible, less cluttered Edsby environments for their students.
When I compared my initial and final projects, I noticed that both aimed at the same underlying challenge: addressing crucial shortcomings in current pedagogical models. The difference was that the PD module would allow me to act on these ideas sooner and in a context where I could model thoughtful technology use for colleagues as well as students. That reframing not only changed the direction of my final assignment, but also reframed how I now think about my role as a teacher-librarian — not just supporting student learning directly, but shaping the digital spaces and professional practices that make deeper learning possible.
I suppose we always live in ‘interesting times’, but the phrase seems particularly apropos of our current moment. Large Language Model tools, economic models that incentivize the capture of our attention and data, and political dialogue are currently shaking the foundation of what it means to learn, and therefore what it means to teach. I leave this course with many great resources to strengthen my toolbox, but also quite a few existential questions about where we move on from here.
In terms of resources, several were especially important in shaping my thinking throughout the course. I’m always one for an acronym, and Bates’ (2015) SECTIONS model and its clear breakdown of considerations for technology selection was a very helpful frame. I still struggle with it in some ways, but only because I see that it may lead organizations to prioritize immediate cost over sustainability. Of course, this is a systemic issue. Planned obsolescence, increasing energy demands, and security and privacy issues create a scenario where tech requires frequent updating and replacement, while the majority of companies that have significant interest in developing hardware and software run on a model of infinite profit and growth. This results in devices where parts can’t be swapped out, or where our data is traded like a commodity. Fighting against this means using open source or older technologies that require more in-house tech support, and often significantly less ease of use. I can’t help but worry that we’re paying out of our future for ease of use today.
Outcome development and assessment was another area of growth for me. Given my role in the public school system, I am much more familiar with assessing by outcomes that have been provided to me, rather than creating those outcomes myself. My part one of my second assignment showed my weakness in that area. Assessing for PD learning rather than an academic course was something that I hadn’t really thought about. In most of my school-based PD learning experience, assessment seems to boil down to your name being on the attendance sheet, or (for online modules), a series of automatically graded multiple choice and true/false questions that staff often did as a group. But we know that simply being in the room isn’t learning something, and that tests generally only measure lower-order skills (Mazur, 2013). As such, Mazur’s suggestions to improve assessment by mimicking real life, focusing on feedback not ranking, and assessing skills rather than content were especially useful, and I tried to mindfully incorporate them into the activities I planned in my unit. His fourth point about resolving the coach/judge conflict is tricky for online learning especially, as instructors are often spread more thinly. For older users, peer and self-assessment can be a useful workaround.
Media literacy (particularly around images, and also video)has also emerged for me as an essential skill for both students and educators. Yousman’s (2016) discussion of speed versus depth, appearances versus analysis, and the emotional pull of images resonates strongly with my concerns about online-only learning. In a digital environment where learners are often inundated with visuals, the skill to pause, question, and analyze becomes a prerequisite for critical engagement.
Ultimately, this course has left me feeling more positive about the state of in-person teaching, and with significant question marks about the long-term sustainability of online-only-asynchronous education — especially given generative AI’s rise. Many edtech tools, whether devices, applications, or Learning Management Systems, allow for holistic application of UDL principles into a blended learning environment; a fully inclusive environment that allows for multiple means of engagement, representation, and action & expression (Bourlova, 2025). But assessing learning without a real connection to the learner in an online-only environment becomes increasingly challenging in a world where almost anything can be made for you in seconds. When we are digitally siloed, it becomes far too easy to “other” the entire world. Bringing learning back to community, even in a hybrid format, becomes a moral as well as a pedagogical imperative.
This is why I leave this course particularly invigorated to see how learning technologies can be applied to hybrid environments, especially in the realm of professional development. When I plan professional development in schools, I often hear how great it is to have bespoke learning that is relevant, personalized, and even a bit fun when topics are difficult. I know, though, that these sessions are limited in their universal design, as some individuals need more time to process, different modalities, or repeated exposure to key ideas. What if this kind of work can be done at my divisional level to plan PD that reaches more of us, on locally relevant topics, and what if that trickles into our classrooms? One next step I see is reaching out to upper administration to share my vision of hybrid-learning PD using our Edsby system. I don’t know of anyone within my division with this specific background and training, and I wonder if I might be able to shape a role for myself in this space. McErlean’s (2018) work on interactive narratives also strikes me as especially relevant here — using immersion to engage participants while still controlling the delivery of key content. I think hybrid learning could benefit greatly from this balance.
I’m also especially interested in making Open Educational Resources that align with UDL standards. In creating accessible and Creative Commons-licensed resources, I can work toward reducing the paywall creep that has marked the shift from the open optimism of the Web 2.0 era to today’s increasingly commercialized edtech landscape. This work would not only address accessibility and equity concerns but also provide sustainable, adaptable materials that could serve both students and educators long after their initial creation. In my job as a teacher-librarian, I can promote the heck out of these resources to teachers; we don’t have to be in the pocket of big textbook anymore.
This course has reinforced for me that educational technology is at its best when it strengthens human connection, promotes equity, and cultivates critical engagement; not when it simply delivers content faster or more efficiently. The challenge, especially in “interesting times,” is to hold on to those values in the face of rapid change, commercialization, and the seductive ease of automation. My next steps (from advocating for hybrid, UDL-informed professional development to creating accessible OERs) are grounded in a belief that technology should expand possibilities for both teachers and learners, without locking us into closed systems or shallow engagement. The tools will keep changing, but the responsibility to use them thoughtfully remains the same.
Issa, T., & Isaias, P. (2022). Sustainable design : HCI, usability and environmental concerns. Springer.
Mayer, R. E. (2009). Multimedia learning (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
McErlean, K. (2018). Interactive narrative. In Interactive narratives and transmedia storytelling: Creating immersive stories across new media platforms (pp. 120-151). New York: Routledge.
The New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–93.
Yousman, B. (2016). The text and the image: Media literacy, pedagogy, and generational divides. In J. Frechette & R. Williams (Eds.), Media education for a digital generation (pp. 157-170).
; guiding our peers towards growth in their reference collection use
Teacher-Librarians are not just student educators – they also help lead their peers to growth and development in their own practice. But just like student learning, this can be a sensitive task. Our students come to us with a wide range of background knowledge, experiences, interests, and skillsets, and so do all teachers. We know that there is no such thing as a one size fits all approach to student learning, and thus it should be no shock that we cannot develop a OSFA approach to teacher learning either.
But often, with the blinders of our daily lives and the heavy demands of education, we want to describe how to do something before thinking about whether teachers are ready and comfortable to push their practice (Loucks-Horsley, 1996 as cited in “The Concerns-Based Adoption Model”). Change is a slow process, and what one teacher is ready for, another will find inconceivable. Barriers can exist regarding teaching experience, content area knowledge, technological proficiency, on top of each person’s own learning experiences or what is going on in their lives outside of school. Pushing people to try and do things that they are not ready for is an invitation for stalling growth in practice.
So, how do we apply this knowledge to encourage teacher growth in the use of our library reference collections? Fortunately, we have the Concerns-Based Adoption Model to guide us in building effective coaching and growth opportunities for teachers across a wide range of readiness for innovation.
Stages of Concern and Levels of Use from the CBAM (Olson et al., 2020)
Also worth considering when planning teacher learning is Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s SAMR model.
These two models have been considered when designing personalized learning opportunities for the two fictional staff below.
Teacher A
Who is Teacher A?
Teacher A has been teaching Grade 7-9 students at Imaginary School for close to 40 years. Almost all that time has been spent as a math and science teacher. Generations of community families have had A as a math/science teacher and for the most part, students have all done the same assignments across that time. Their teaching style matches a more traditional lecture method, and many of the learning resources that they use for their courses have not changed dramatically over the decades – their motto being “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Their walls are lined with out-of-date textbooks, from which they will still occasionally pull a page or two – last week we chatted in the office while they were photocopying from a textbook with a copyright date of 1984. All students in their classroom receive the same learning materials. Teacher A has strong classroom management skills and an engaging personality that helps them connect with students despite the sometimes-dry nature of their materials. While not an adept user of technology, A has shown significant growth over the pandemic, and it has made them more likely to incorporate what they know into their teaching. They have five laptops in their classroom that students use for basic research and typing up documents and making posters. When materials, resources and information are shared by e-mail, Teacher A does not respond.
Because of the sharing of project ideas between members of the Grade 7 and 9 Teams, small projects have been incorporated into most of the year’s science units, and students are expected to use digital resources to complete their research. Previously Teacher A reports using physical copies of encyclopedias that were in our collection, but since these materials have been weeded, they have not moved to their digital counterparts, and they are not using print resources in our general collection either. When asked, they were unable to identify any virtual resources. However, students are often left to ‘Google’ on their own, with little guidance on how to effectively find reliable information online or how to navigate various websites.
Evaluation
CBAM
In terms of ‘Stage of Concern’, Teacher A sits at the Awareness stage of development, as outside of the things that they know and are aware of, they have little interest in learning more about a resource.
Regarding their ‘Levels of Use of Innovation,’ they sit at the Non-Use level, showing no interest and action towards expanding their use of our reference collection.
SAMR
While Teacher A does have his students use technology in his classes it is usually done at the Substitution level, where students are simply typing up written work or collating materials for posters that will be printed out and displayed in the classroom.
Evolution Plan
Because presentations introducing materials or new technologies at staff meetings and occasional email updates have not pulled Teacher A towards freshening their practice, a more direct approach will be necessary. Based on my observations, our online encyclopedia subscriptions would be most useful, but pathfinders (Centeno, 2021) or other collections of materials may prove to be just as practical. Making a point to pop in and see the teacher during their prep time and discover what units and projects their students have upcoming is a first step to determining what parts of our reference collection will be useful to support them and their classes. Once this has been determined, I can provide them with a brief overview of what is in the collection that will be of best use to their students and offer to provide support for them and their students when it comes time to research by booking the library as a research space for their class. These small workshops using pre-existing assignments will provide an opportunity to tweak Teacher A’s practice without having them completely redesign their practice. These actions should help move Teacher A from the Non-Use level to the orientation level of CBAM’s eight Levels of Use.
While this assignment is regarding the Reference Collection, I think a similar model can be used to move Teacher A’s use of technology to a level of Augmentation. Because the teacher is not comfortable with technology themself, pulling a small group of students and providing instruction on a graphic design platform like Canva, which allows for embedding videos and other multimedia, could be a useful way to nudge them towards transforming their use of technology. Students can then present and share their projects and lead their peers in utilizing the technology on other assignments. I would also suggest the work of Fontichiaro to nudge A’s worksheets towards inquiry, without requiring a complete overhaul of their practice.
Teacher B
Teacher B has been teaching Grade 5/6 students at Imaginary School for the last 4 years, with several years of experience in other schools on term contracts previously. As a core teacher, they are responsible for teaching ELA, Social Studies, Science, Math, and Art. Teacher B is adventurous and willing to try new things without necessarily having proficiency in the skill themselves, and student learning is often guided by students’ own interests. While there are textbooks available to use in the classroom for Social Studies class, B does not use them often, as they find that they are often much too advanced for many students in the class to understand. Their class actively uses their small set of laptops and iPads, and frequently borrows from others as they need them over the course of each day. Teacher B reaches out to the Teacher-Librarian for collaboration and unit planning, often inviting them in for small group instruction or other lessons. Materials shared in staff meetings, PD, or emails are often seen incorporated into this teacher’s practice.
While aware of our digital encyclopedia collections, Teacher B had less awareness of other reference materials in our collection like CBC Curio, NFB Campus and teachingbooks.net
Evaluation
CBAM
In relation to the parts of reference collection they use and the CBAM ‘Stages of Concern’ Teacher B is at the Collaboration stage, where they are mostly comfortable with the resources but are considering how others are using these resources to improve their own practice.
In terms of ‘Levels of Use of Innovation’ they would be at the Routine level, where they are using the reference materials, they are aware of regularly but are making few changes to that use.
SAMR
I would assess Teacher B’s technology integration at the Redefinition level, where they are using technology to create transformative learning experiences like podcasts or multimedia presentations that would have been impossible (or much more difficult) 20 years ago.
Evolution Plan
Because Teacher B tries new things and collaborates frequently with their team, they will need less guided support to evolve their practice. One suggestion I have is to book a weekly collaboration time where B and I can discuss their current and upcoming needs and to co-assess student learning using our reference resources. What is working and what is not? What kinds of materials are we missing? Another suggestion is providing coverages, or requesting release time from administration, for Teacher Bs so that they can go and observe other teachers and their use of reference materials and technology. To raise awareness of the other reference materials in our collection, lunch and learn sessions can be provided to provide brief overviews of what these materials are and some short examples of ready-to-use activities utilizing them.
Olson, K., Lannan, K., Cumming, J., Macgillivary, H., & Richards, K. (2020). The concerns-based adoption model and strategic plan evaluation: Multiple methodologies to understand complex change. Theory and Practice, 31(3), 49–58. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1274351.pdf
Whelp. I’m finally coming up for air. This past week has seen the world change forever in my neck of the woods and probably yours too. You maybe are even a week or more into it. Fortunately I was a bit ahead of myself in my coursework – but I know that I haven’t even looked at other blog posts from last week yet. Now that we are no longer in class, I will have a bit of time to sit down and catch up.
Everything that I have written below in black font, was written in the world before. Now, as we in Manitoba enter this new world, my coursework seems to be even more important and relevant. How do I teach students to do these things from a distance, with no consistent technological access? Stay tuned.
Keep calm, wash your hands and stay at home, friends.
Last week, I set up a beginning outline for my final vision assignment. The project would be posted using Adobe Spark Page, and would be a digital trove of information on Digital Storytelling. I envision it as a website/article hybrid. This project would be designed mainly as a resource for teachers who don’t know where to start with digital storytelling in the classroom. The outline is tentatively as follows,
1) What is digital storytelling?
2) Why you should be doing it.
3) A step by step guide – featuring a digital story how-to video made with the Adobe Creative Cloud.
4) Lists of helpful apps and programs.
5) ‘Tips and Tricks’ videos.
6) Some sample project ideas.
7) Useful handouts for students.
8) Some examples of digital storytelling projects.
It’s funny how the human brain works. Until I sat down and looked at this week’s question, I had never really thought of framing this project in any way other than at other teachers. It is interesting to me that my brain went so automatically to something aimed at educators rather than students. There probably is a definite need for resources on digital storytelling for students, in student friendly language. In many ways the best learning is that which is self-motivated.
I was reminded of this on Sunday, driving while listening to the program Tapestry on CBC Radio. Frank Kadillac, the Juno nominated singer of pop duo Neon Dreams, was being interviewed. I was struck listening to Frank as he talked about falling in love with the guitar as a kid – wanting one so badly that he drew out a paper fret board and strings on four sheets of paper and practiced playing chords and songs from tabs that he found on the internet. This kid took a marker and the internet and turned it into a career. I want to help kids do that.
This video seems appropriate for the times in which we are living.
But, then I am torn by the knowledge that frequently the teacher is the person who makes project decisions in the classroom, and so I need to make them more likely to buy into this as an option. And what is it that makes some of our staff such reluctant technology integrators? Factors that get in the way of teacher usage of technology have been reported to include things like “negative attitudes towards computers, technology incompetence, passive school support policy, different pedagogical beliefs and limited access to technology tools” (Chen et al, 2019). Another study concluded that beliefs about what makes a “good” education needs to be a part of any professional development for teachers (Tondeur et al, 2016). My main audience are the teachers who are less likely to use technology in innovative ways with their classes.
I feel like there might be an overlap between use of technology and love of Comic Sans.
To counter this, I am going to include rationale in my project, connecting Digital Storytelling to 21st century skills to help tie this to modern knowledge about what constitutes a good education. To help with feelings of technological incompetence and negative attitudes towards computers, I will provide step by step instructions and offer to join teachers as a co-teacher when they are providing Digital Storytelling opportunities to their class, or run smaller sessions where I completely take the lead. I hope that this project will work towards providing support to teachers, alleviating feelings of a lack of support from the school. To ward off limited access issues, I have planned to teach basics using operating systems and programs that we have access through our division and/or that are available across different platforms.
Why was I so set on planning this for educators? Ultimately, I do see my main audience as being teachers. However, I want many of the materials (especially videos) to be accessible to a student audience. They should be able to be used by educators as part of the digital storytelling experience in their classrooms. This is important for me to consider as I continue storyboarding and planning over the coming week – this project will hopefully create a grab-and-go kit for teachers to use with their students. While teachers are my main audience, I must keep students in mind.
Here is a first draft of a digital storytelling exemplar that I have put together for my Final Vision Project. The goal is to have materials that will engage students, as well as teachers. I learned some important things from this – especially the importance of a good microphone. Also it is missing the last 30 seconds. Better luck next time, I guess.
Chen, M., Zhou, C., Meng, C. et al. How to promote Chinese primary and secondary school teachers to use ICT to develop high-quality teaching activities. Education Tech Research Dev 67, 1593–1611 (2019). https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1007/s11423-019-09677-0
Tondeur, J., van Braak, J., Ertmer, P.A. et al. Understanding the relationship between teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and technology use in education: a systematic review of qualitative evidence. Education Tech Research Dev 65, 555–575 (2017). https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1007/s11423-016-9481-2
– or, we can lead horses to water, but how do we encourage them to drink?
Alternate title – if we build it, they will come?
I just finished reading Todd Rose’s The End of Average this week. Rose, a professor at Harvard and a student who barely made it through high school, discusses how the concept of average people and standards came to be. Ultimately, he argues that although this view has played a crucial role in creating the world that we live in, it is time for us to look for other ways to reach, educate, and employ the world around us. He describes how many of the ‘benchmarks’ of development that we have been taught to look for don’t so much tell us about normal development, but rather provides information about the environment someone was raised in (Rose, 2016, pp. 127-128), and that there are many ways to go from point A to point B. It wasn’t surprising when he went on to explain that even a concept like honesty is something that is context dependent.
Rose uses if-then signatures to map the context dependence of a concepts and behaviours.
When I was but a young T-L to be, I remember sitting in on an IEP meeting at which the student’s profile was referred to as a deficit based ‘Sawtooth’ profile. Some years later it’s clear to me that we are all, each and everyone of us, a sawtooth profile. We have strengths and gaps, just like very person does. Teaching students (and ourselves) how to leverage these strengths to develop others is one of the necessities of modern education.
Now, you might be wondering what on Creator’s great earth is Morgan getting at here – but I promise that I have a point. There is no one-sized fits all approach to professional development, just as there is no one size-fits all approach to education in general. In assuming there is, we limit the achievement potential of those around us.
So, how do we reach all people without burning ourselves out?
Get to know people and what will engage them
Observe, observe, observe. In the first class I took as part of my journey to become a trained Teacher-Librarian, we read New on the Job and I was struck by the chapter on ‘Clientele’. While the chapter was focused on collaboration, I think that it has tendrils that hook into professional development. The discussion of Gregorc’s Mind Styles Model strikes me as important to this discussion. Gregorc sorted people into four combinations of perceptual and ordering ability. (It is important to note that he did not think that anyone was a “pure” version of each style, but rather that we exist on a continuum of these traits). Concrete Sequential teachers are highly focused and often do best with brief projects. Abstract Sequential teachers are big picture thinkers who would do well with PD based on large topics. Concrete Random teachers are those who are most likely to try something completely new and out of left field. Finally, Abstract Random teachers work well in groups and with broad topics that they will be able to narrow down to fit their own styles (Toor & Weisburg, 2015, pp. 101-102). Personally, I know I am a very abstract thinker, although I can sway between sequential and random. I try to be mindful of this when I am planning for others. Knowing who you and your coworkers are will help you design tasks that work for everyone.
This image shows the four main Mind Styles as theorized by Gregorc. I imagine that people fall somewhere in between many of these categories, and that this can be viewed like a Quadrant Graph where individuals fall within a wide range of possibilities, and few are 100% true to type. Image is from https://web.cortland.edu/andersmd/learning/gregorc.htm
Pay attention to what people are teaching and send ideas and opportunities their way that will meld with their own teaching style. What are people interested in and passionate about? Connecting PD in technologies to these areas will enhance your likelihood for success.
Many things will influence whether teachers are likely to engage in PD. Time is one of them. Get to know the teachers in your building: some of the staff in your building will never, ever come to a lunch and learn session, or invite you in for a prep. Some will be more eager to get together outside of school hours. Are before and after school options for some? And what are your own personal availabilities? Remember to not get too set in your view of your coworkers and limit them before giving them choices, though.
Where is everyone at in terms of their own skill levels with technology? When it comes to whole group professional development, it might be a good idea to plan activities on a spectrum so that some are not left wondering what is going on, while others are bored. To borrow from math guru Jo Boaler, consider Low Threshold High Ceiling tasks that are accomplishable by all, but where increasing complexity is possible. Keep in mind that many educators have always felt successful at school, and new things, or tasks involving technology may leave them feeling less than successful, which can inhibit their participation. Do your best to plan so that you will not alienate those that need it the most. Everyone deserves to feel success!
Put options out there in advance
In the past, I have used an online survey to gather interest in small PD opportunities that I could provide for school staff. In the images below, you will see the questions that I asked of staff, which were based on technological availability as well as my own personal observations about the range of staff tech skills.
Here are some snapshots of my first staff PD survey. I used Microsoft Forms for this, but Google Forms could easily be substituted.
I’d say that this model was semi-effective, as I had a 45% teacher response rate. It did allow me to set up some small-scale exploration groups and teach some basic skills to teachers. I was left feeling like it didn’t have quite the effect on teacher pedagogy that I had hoped. The responses did let me know that there was a vocal minority who were uncomfortable with PD happening outside of divisionally mandated PD days. So, while it did not necessarily impact teacher skills and pedagogy, the rich information it provided did help me understand my co-workers.
When I redo the survey again, I think I will start with an anonymous survey in which staff rate their interest in various areas of tech related PD. We have a school Leadership committee that could provide some feedback on choices and options. I have created a draft version of the survey that you can check out here. If you want to see it, click here!
Try a range of different models
– Book clubs are a great suggestion for professional learning, and could be incorporated into many of the models listed below, whether Lunch and Learns or more formal PLNs.
– Lunch and Learns are a great option for those staff who are okay with giving up some of their mandated non-contact time. Bring in snacks, or see if your school budget has the ability to provide a light lunch (Weinstein and Toor are also big fans of food as a facilitator). If they are one offs, these are great opportunities to introduce and do a brief introduction to a new app or program. If this is over a period of time, you can make it a mini-inquiry.
– Kick off the staff meeting with a 5-minute highlight on a handy new tool or with a quick tip to make teachers’ lives just a little easier. Tangible take-aways often go over well in the education crowd; teachers love something that they can apply to their practice right away.
– Send out quick email updates on new technology tools and apps – I’m blessed to have a (mostly) flexible schedule that allows me to book banks of time with classes as they work on projects. This also means that if I find something new that I want to try out, I can just send out an email to staff and find some collaborators. Me taking the lead and organizing the event/activity takes a lot of stress out of trying something new, and means that I am more likely to get buy in. This allows me to work out some of the kinks and share problem solving hacks with those teachers who have heard about it through the grapevine and are now interested.
Here’s an email based on an app I found fwhile researching last week’s Inquiry Blog post!
According to research from the International Literacy Association, barriers to including new technology in classrooms involve the time to explore and prepare, the teacher’s own knowledge, and the perceived skill levels of students, amongst others. By doing some of the initial work, we have the ability to help teachers overcome some of those barriers (Thoma et al., 2017).
– Setting up collaboration time in our schedules to work with new and interested teachers is another great strategy to create individualized professional development that matches the styles and interests of that teacher.
– Give staff time to learn from one another – some of my favourite in-school PD opportunities have been done via an EdCamp model. For those unfamiliar with the model, this wikipedia article does a great job of summarizing it. I love seeing the tips, tricks and game-changers that the people that we work with are already using and having the opportunity to share things that I love. I think it gives power and choice back to individuals that often people groan about losing in a one-size fits all PD environment. Breakout sessions are another way to add choice and have staff play to their strengths.
– Become a part of, or help set up, school based Professional Learning Communities/Networks. If you can, set these up with the assistance of your divisions Joint Professional Development funds. This might mean creating a proposal and submitting it for approval – but it also means that you are more likely to hook teachers who are less likely to give up “their own time”, as substitute coverage will be provided.
– Consider framing any larger planning and development using the Technology Integration Planning Cycle to make sure that technology is used in meaningful and realistic ways.
Technology should not be creating barriers for teachers! (Thoma et al., 2017, p.169)
– Be open to trying new things! Here’s a fun thread I found on Twitter about the neat PD opportunities other schools are trying out
I’m putting together a post on alternative structures for PD. If your district is doing something besides sit-and-get, everyone in the same room, whole-school traditional PD, tell me about it! #edchat#satchat#mschat#leadupchat
NRICH. (2013, September). Low Threshold High Ceiling – an Introduction. Retrieved from https://nrich.maths.org/10345
Rose, T. (2015). The end of average: How we succeed in a world that values sameness. HarperOne/HarperCollins.
Thoma, J., Hutchison, A., Johnson, D., Johnson, K., & Stromer, E. (2017). Planning for Technology Integration in a Professional Learning Community, 71(2), 167–175. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1604
Toor, R., & Weisburg, H. K. (2015). New on the job: a school librarians guide to success. Chicago: ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association.
Horses drinking in river, Regional Nature Park of the Camargue (Parc naturel regional de Camargue), Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur, France. [Photograph]. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. https://quest.eb.com/search/126_505599/1/126_505599/cite
The internet is overwhelming. According to this Forbes article from May 2018, 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are produced every day. To use terms that you’re probably a bit more familiar with, that’s around two and a half million terrabytes of data. That’s 1 736 111 100 000 (one trillion seven hundred thirty-six billion one hundred and eleven million one hundred thousand) three and a half inch floppy-disks for those of you who remember what the save icon stands for.
So many floppy disks.
In 2018, over 456 000 Tweets were sent out each minute, along with 510 000 Facebook comments made on top of 239 000 status updates. How on this green earth are we to find ANYTHING amongst all that?
The good news is that most of this information isn’t relevant or useful for you. But it is the chaff through which you will need to search for the wheat that is useful pedagogy, skills and tech tools. The good news is that I think there are lots of ways to find those gems, and not all of them involve being technologically savvy. Here’s my list of ways to keep my fingers on the pulse of edtech.
ISTE
Joining Professional Learning Networks through the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) or becoming friends with someone who is a member so that you can hear about cool opportunities, learning and professional development through them is my current top tip. ISTE itself is
home to a passionate community of global educators who believe in the power of technology to transform teaching and learning, accelerate innovation and solve tough problems in education.
ISTE inspires the creation of solutions and connections that improve opportunities for all learners be delivering: practica; guidance, evidence-based professional learning, virtual networks, thought provoking events and the ISTE Standards.
This document describes the differences between the levels of membership to ISTE that are required to gain access to these PLNs. I think a basic membership, with it’s access to the PLNs and more for only $105 USD is a fantastic option.
I will admit that I have not yet personally joined – but I am interested in several Professional Learning Networks that they offer. These networks allow us to connect with other members in such focus areas as Digital Citizenship, Early Learning, Global Collaboration, Games and Literacy; they even have a PLN for Librarians! They provide us the ability to connect and collaborate with other educators across the world, allowing us to “network resources to help students collaborate”; one of the teacher skills required in the area of knowledge deepening in the ICT competency standards for teachers set out by UNESCO in 2008 (p. 12).
Is digital citizenship a focus for you? ISTEs got you covered. Follow @iste on Twitter, and @isteconnects on Instagram
According to ISTE members these online groups are rated as the most popular membership perk. Other benefits include things like online streaming of conferences, webinars, and general global networking. Membership also allows you to sign up and attend the annual ISTE conference! When I have access to PD grants again after completing my diploma, I hope to attend it. The timing is not ideal, the last week in June every year, but I have only heard amazing things about it.
I am mindful that ISTE is heavily supported by Microsoft, and I try to be aware of the impact of corporate sponsorship.
Virtual Connections
I think that Twitter may have become an established routine of mine now. I don’t spend much time, just a minute or two (okay 5) at the end of the day before I curl up with my book, but I do a quick scan through those I follow. If something interesting jumps out at me, I share the link via email to myself to read/share at another time. If I feel like I have a few more minutes of time to spend, I do a search for #edtech. Inspiration can strike from anywhere. Twitter is also a great way to reach out and connect with experts around the world – last year while reading the novel Exo by Fonda Lee, it was a tweet that connected her to my class, and then she was able to skype in to answer some of our questions about the novel.
As mentioned in my earlier post about the Library’s role in a school’s culture of reading, one of my current favourite sources of couch PD is the “Future Ready Librarians” group on Facebook. Here Librarians from around the world post asking for ideas, connections, or sharing cool things that they have going on in their Libraries. There are even free webinars from admins on the page. Some things relate to more traditional library life, but a significant portion involves making and new apps and learning tools. It should be noted that this group is supported by Follett.
Here are two examples of posts from the Future Ready Facebook group.
Local Networking
I am fortunate that the division I teach in has a consultant at our head in with to check in with, and who plans multiple professional development opportunities for us throughout the year. I attend these sessions, despite the dreaded sub planning, because they provide me the opportunity to meet with my peers, see and hear what they are doing in their schools, and we are often provided information or brief introductions to new tools that are available. They also advocate heavily on our behalf to be provided coverage to attend other PD initiatives related to technology.
At a provincial level there are numerous organizations to join or attend PD with. The Manitoba School Library Association offers a full-day professional development session in November and other member benefits throughout the year, and these events and their journals allow exposure to new ideas and networking opportunities. In Manitoba, another group to consider joining would be the Manitoba Association of Computing Educators, or ManACE. Like MSLA, they provide a November PD, as well as occasional evening events throughout the year,and bi-monthly journals. ManACE is very connected to the maker movement in Manitoba, and a great way to make connections. Your province or state has these organisations too. Reach out, join, and contribute!
My friend, Google
One of my favourite things about the end of the calendar year is looking for ‘best of the year’ lists. Lots of these things are for my personal enjoyment, but many are also connected to the LLC. As I read through lists of the best music and books of the year, I also make sure to check out lists of the best educational technology. My usual search terms are “best + edtech + tools + YEAR”
Larry Ferlazzo’s list of apps has been one that I have been checking out for years now. His background is in English Language Learning, but the apps that he selects are all free and easily accessible to non-tech savvy users and ELL students. Here’s his list of ‘The Best Web 2.0 Applications for Education in 2019 – part one”.
Another of my favourites is Jennifer Gonzalez’s blog cultofpedagogy.com; she posts at least yearly about the newest apps for teachers to test out in their classroom. My only complaint about her recommendations is that they often require purchasing – but if the tools are transformative enough, I’ll consider it. Here’s her post about ‘6 Ed Tech Tools to try in 2020’. If podcasts are more your style or meld with your hectic schedules, hers is also well worth a listen. Every year she posts a Teachers Guide to Techfor sale on Teacher’s Pay Teachers; which this year is a 282 page hyperlinked PDF file with all kinds of tools, exemplars, screenshots and links to YouTube videos.
It’s also usually worthwhile to do a search right after the ISTE conference – here’s one from weareteachers.com about their favourites from last year’s conference, which was the first time I had heard about the Bulb App for digital portfolios.
I hope this list has been a supportive list of suggestions for tools to keep you up to date with an ever-changing topic. It may feel like you’re being chased by a Great White, but with a little help from our friends (and global collaborators) we’ll make it through okay.
; the role of the library in building a culture of reading
Warning folks – I have a lot to say about reading. Who would imagine that there would be passionate readers in a Teacher-Librarian education program, am I right?
I am blessed with the best team member; a library technician who is warm and kind, a lover of books and the kids of our school. Everyone loves her. Kids. Teachers. EAs. Custodial staff. Visiting parents. Between the two of us, we have spent a lot of time building relationships with our students and making the library a warm and inviting place that students want to be. I think that ultimately, this culture and passion for reading are the keystone species of our strong reading ecosystem – everything else is just a tool to get us there.
What follows below is a list of things that we are doing, and that we would like to do, and what we struggle with when it comes to engaging our school population in reading:
Physical Considerations
We used to have a leveled-book section available to students in our library. Getting rid of it was one of the first things that I did upon moving into my role as Teacher-Librarian at the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year. I went out for a steak supper to celebrate its demise.
This article, posted by the School Library Journal this week, does a good job of summing up some of my concerns about leveled reading. One of them is that different leveling systems place a book at vastly different levels. One favourite in our library, Smile by Raina Telgemeier, can be rated anywhere from a Grade Two to a Grade Eight reading level. So… what is that level really telling us?
I do not smile when I hear teachers telling students they are not ‘allowed’ to sign out our graphic novels because they need ‘real’ books.
Now, I believe there is definitely a place for leveled texts in education; some of our now homeless collection were shared with our Resource and EAL teachers, others with classroom teachers, many were permanently weeded, ones in sets were combined into a guided reading collection, and those with good circulation stats and eye appeal were added to our regular collection. Under the previous T-L, several classes had been required to take out 2 or 3 “good fit” books from this collection, and observations/conversations with students told me that they hated it. It was the one way I decided to rock the boat my first year in the position. To soften the blow, and for teacher reference, I created lists in Destiny Collections of books available at various levels that could be found amongst the general collection. In our school library, students were not going to be forced to take out books from a special section. Students would be free to take out materials based on their interests, because all books are leveled books, and part of our job in the library is to help make sure that students can make the call of what a good fit book is independently. And just as much our job is to make sure that we have books that they want to read. Motivation is a key aid in determining whether a student will even try to understand something they read.
It wasn’t until a year later that I really had the data to support my actions. Those leveled texts had made close to 1700 of our yearly circulations, but despite eliminating those call numbers from our collection our circulations were up by over 500. Bless the power of choice.
The next year our goal was to genrefy our fiction collection. It took a village of volunteers to make it happen, but by May (without closing the library, I might add) we had it done. And our statistics are once again showing us that we have made the correct choice. Our circulation stats for this year and last year show that we are up over 1600 circs, and that was only at the year’s halfway point. We are seeing kids who used to only take out Wimpy Kid books from the library widen and select texts from the Humour genre. Ultimately, what it has helped allow us to do is make the library a more accessible space for students who struggled finding a place to even start looking. This article from the School Library Journal is a great overview of things to keep in mind. Because ultimately, the first step in creating a culture of reading must be getting books into the hands of students.
The library, right after we completed our yearlong genrefication project. Ignore the shoddy couches, we just got beautiful new ones!
Connections
The Global Read Aloud has been a success in building a culture of reading in the school, and any other books written by GRA authors are amongst our most circulated novels. Teachers between Grades Five to Seven take part in it yearly and have mystery Skypes with other classes reading the novels. It’s a great way to bring the world into our classrooms, and the titles are always #ownvoices and progressive. I would like to see our Grade Eight and Nine classes get involved; while I always get sets of the YA GRA novels for our Book Club collection, I have had no success in encouraging our team at that level to take part. I’ve found it especially challenging with Grade 9 classes, who only see their students for six periods a cycle and don’t want to ‘lose’ their time.
Our Grade Seven team has created a final assessment for the year that really focuses on community and reading. Students are partnered with a nearby elementary school student, and several times over the course of the year they meet up for buddy reading times. This is tied in with a study on what makes effective picture books, as well as an interview with their buddy – and after they complete this they spend May-June drafting and producing a special picture book based on their interests. Their last buddy reading period is spent reading and sharing this specially written book.
Digital Books
While we haven’t moved towards ebooks, except those that can be accessed by educators from the Province of Manitoba’s Online Resource Library, we have started growing a collection of digital audiobooks for students to sign out online. They have been well used, but we struggle with some limitations from Follett – especially that they require internet access to listen to. This is unlike the OverDrive system that is used by the Winnipeg Public Library, where for the loan period the digital files exist on the individual’s personal device which allows them to listen to them without internet access.
Classroom teachers often use their free Epic! accounts as Listen to Reading stations during classroom reading/Daily 5 time. I run workshops in the library to help students access the free digital resources from the Winnipeg Public Library; resources that would be too expensive to provide at a school level, but which are provided free of charge for Public Library members. The school does have memberships for RAZ-Kids and Reading A-Z that are primarily used for supporting EAL and students at the five-six level. Many of the teachers who were fond of the leveled library use this in their classrooms for students requiring a more targeted intervention. I’m not sold on whether they add to the culture of reading, but they are being used as an instructional tool, and it is a handy resource for parents who want to have something their child can “do as homework”.
All books welcome
We have really upped our game in terms of Graphic Novels and Manga over the past several years. 6.84% of our collection is a Graphic Novel or Manga, but these books make up 27.75% of our circulations. We have been working on adding graphic novels and picture books into our book club sets as well. I am currently heavily weeding our non-fiction collection, but we are focusing collection development in the area of gaming. I am certain that every book I put in our library about Minecraft, Roblox or Fortnite has multiple holds on it. I have probably added 20-30 new titles in this area so far this year, and I still can’t outpace demand. Student recommendations also usually make up a significant part of our book orders.
My professional development goal my first year in the library, and a continued focus every year since, has been in having the characters and topics of the books in our library reflect the diversity of the community that we live in. For example, our Grade Eight team has consistently done a mythology themed literature circle unit, and our collection skewed heavily to Greek and Norse mythology. Adding titles like Sarwat Chadda’s The Savage Fortress, Roshani Chokshi’s Aru Shah and the End of Time, and Kwame Mbalia’s brand new Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky has breathed new life into the study and is truly more inclusive. I really recommend the site weneeddiversebooks.org as a starting point in your search for books written by and featuring Black and Indigenous People Of Colour (BIPOC) and LGBTQ* persons.
Picking books that are written by and reflect the cultures of the student population, and making sure that they are used in instruction is another way to build a culture of reading.
Last year, borrowing an idea from Chapters Indigo, we got a giant stack of Staff Picks stickers made online and had staff members pick some of their favourite books to tag and sign. I’m hoping to extend this to our library advisory committee in the future. Kids seem to search out their favourite teacher’s choices, and it’s been a great way to pull students towards some classics.
Some shots of our Staff Picks display at the end of last year.
In previous years, our library has been heavily involved in the Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Awards, but to add some new variety we cut down how many copies of these books we purchased and have also invested in the Ontario Library Association’s Forest of Reading books. Kids have particularly liked the non-fiction options available in this program. These awards are familiar and well promoted within our division, which means that kids know to look for them, and thus they are well utilized.
Social Media
I use Goodreads ratings heavily when talking or otherwise advertising books, and have heavily encouraged students to download the app. The scan feature is probably my favourite thing about it, and I work it in with my Grade Eight and Nine classes during their orientation at the start of the year.
How to use my best book shopping friend, the Goodreads app book scanner feature.
We do have a new book section in the library, but because new books tend to not stay in the library for long, I have been using our library Instagram to talk and promote new books. I will admit that I also post a lot of semi-school related memes and puns – but those are more a hook to snag some students who might not be drawn to follow the LLC otherwise. It sort of makes me feel like I’m one of those parents who hides vegetables in chocolate chip cookies. I’ll run fun promotions for first access to popular new books out of the Instagram account as well – like this one we did for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball.
The Clips video editing app for IOS is my favourite for creating quick social media posts.
Room for improvement
I think we have significant room to grow in creating a culture of reading non-fiction books. That side of our collection is really struggling to hold interest; with access to the internet and the subscription services, I’m finding that there is significantly less demand for many curricular topics. Teachers aren’t using our informational texts, and honestly they aren’t very interesting or engaging. Promotion of narrative non-fiction has helped, but I feel like there is still much to do. I found this article through the School Library Journal, which focuses on the five main types of non-fiction, and I think our space would be best served by browsable and narrative texts especially.
I have also been playing around with the idea of inserting QR codes for Flipgrid into the front of books and inviting students to post a short video review after reading, which with student permission could be played on our daily news broadcast. This idea came from someone on the “Future Ready Librarians” Facebook group, which is a pretty frequent source of inspiration – it’s like daily PD on my couch.
I also feel like I can do better in promoting books to staff. I’ve tossed the idea out there of running staff book clubs on new and exciting YA/Children’s novels so that staff can expand their repertoire. Global Read Aloud has gotten a few of our staff to bring new books into their class reading options – it would be nice to add more to their toolkit. If we use new titles in our literature circle/book club collection, hopefully we can hook teachers (and then students) on these new materials as well.
A section of the website of the National Library of New Zealand on the role of libraries in building a reading culture mentions many tips to building a reading culture. One of them is using school assembly time to promote books. Because of some major school construction projects, we haven’t been able to hold a whole school assembly yet this year, but I would love to be able to use my Library Leader group (grades five to seven), and Library Volunteers (grades eight and nine) to promote books they love. This could also be completed on our morning video announcement show “Live at Leach”.
In their article “Building a school reading culture”, Merga and Mason tell us that having a staff that reads was reported by Teacher Librarians as a huge contributing factor to having a strong school reading culture. Here I have room to develop as well. Some teachers report having no time with the marking they “must” keep up with, others have too many things on their plate outside of school with young families, and others will readily admit to not having any interest in reading. In this same article, one of the interviewees reports that they view the staff at their school as their clientele just as much as the students. This really resonated with me. This interviewee set up a section for staff pleasure reading in the library, and stock it with 30 new adult reads before breaks (Merga & Mason, 2019, pp. 182-183), and put up advertising in staff rooms and in staff bathrooms. This is an easy first step, and one that I can easily incorporate into my practice.
Merga, M. K., & Mason, S. (2019). Building a school reading culture: Teacher librarians’ perceptions of enabling and constraining factors. Australian Journal of Education, 63(2), 173–189. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944119844544
