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Monday, August 1, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Project ENABLE - Day 4
Day 4 began with a presentation on motivation and management by Dr. Ruth Small. We discussed the ARCS model of motivational design originally created by Dr. John Keller. The over-arching idea that in order for students to be motivated, they must expect that they can succeed and value their success. When students are not motivated, they get frustrated, angry, withdrawn and discouraged. I think this is true of adults as well as students.
Some of the suggestions offered by the ARCS model are things that we plan to implement immediately. We try very hard to promote active participation and provide variety and choice wherever possible. Several of the principles mentioned are things that we incorporate in many of our inquiry-based research projects. Not coincidentally, our inquiry-based projects often are those that show our students at their most motivated.
After Dr. Ruth's presentation, we heard from our special education colleagues. It was interesting to hear their perceptions of what they do and how they see themselves and their role in our schools. It was obvious that many of the valuable things that they have learned have been through experience--many spoke of learning from their students and from their paraprofessionals. I found it particularly interesting to see how many of the things that the special educators saw as their role were also things that the librarians mentioned--supporting students and teachers, encouraging, collaborating, communicating and advocating were all roles that stood out for me as things I do all the time. I don't think that I've ever sat down and considered all the ways our jobs are similar. To be fair, I also haven't analyzed the differences--just not something I've given much thought to at all. It has been nice to hear from other stakeholders in an informational discussion setting.
After lunch, we worked on our lesson plan at great length, and nearly finished it. We were thrown a bit of a curve ball, when we were issued a hypothetical student with a disability and asked to build modifications into our lesson. Coincidentally, the student we were given was extremely similar to a student that we actually have in our school and we had built the original lesson in such a way as to allow her to complete it with very few modifications. It almost felt like we were cheating :)
Following our lesson plan work, we learned how to upload our lesson to the S.O.S. for Information Literacy site. No idea how I was unaware of this site before today...it will be in my favorites from now on! We'll be finishing up our lesson plan and uploading it within the next day or so.
We got out of class a bit early today, after our daily test. I'm enjoying the workshop immensely, but my energy is starting to flag a bit, and the early release followed by a short rest was very helpful. My team finished our action plan this evening and we're excited about some of the changes that we're going to try to effect.
I attempted a bit of photo-blogging during class today and was pleased with the results. This has been an interesting experiment in documenting my professional development and playing with different tools to do so. I'm looking forward to making reflection a more regular practice.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Project ENABLE - Day 3
This morning's workshop started out with two really interesting discussions. The first covered our group homework assignment from last night. We began working on our action plan for making our library more accessible for all learners. We worked on two goals to start with. The first was our previously mentioned goal of improving communication between the library and the special education department. We're working on a form to easily communicate the resources available and match the students with what would help them the most. It sounded like several other groups struggle with the same issue and it was interesting to hear other people's take on how to address this problem. The other issue we addressed was another item of common discussion. We are interested in improving our collection, particularly to address the upper and lower literacy levels of our students. We will work to invest in high interest/low reading level books as well as books with a higher reading level. We have already begun looking at catalogs for hi/lo books and will look at lists such as the New York Times bestseller lists and the Alex Awards to find higher reading level materials. Another aspect of this goal is to begin a picture book collection that teachers can use to introduce and support topics.
After covering our homework, we had a discussion about what librarians do all day, using the questions in the previous post. The librarians had divided into two groups, elementary and secondary. The elementary librarians appointed a spokesperson, who first shared a library cheer and then spoke to the questions. I was reminded of the differences and similarities between the elementary and secondary library experiences. One thing that we seem to share is a sadness in our view of how others in our school district perceive us. While I share the sorrow, I've worked hard to overcome these negative perceptions. I try to advocate for my library program in and out of our school and endeavor to make everyone I can aware of what we do in the library. I think I've gotten to a level of respect within our school, even for those who don't utilize our services. I put in a few words about my experiences collaborating with teachers and librarians, and managed to use the words "sucking" "suckee" and "pimping" within the span of 5 minutes. Regardless, I think I got my point across. Work to get one person into the library and involved in collaboration and you've done a great job! I shoot for one new teacher and one established teacher each year. If I can get those two, I'm completely thrilled! Success breeds success.
We also looked at library policy and procedures today. When we first started this discussion, I was aware of our district library policy, which is about 3 pages, and addresses collection development and challenges/reconsideration requests. It is simple, inclusive, largely based on ALA (American Library Association) material and works for us. As I work in a library with one assistant, I did not feel that writing a detailed procedure manual would be a good use of my time. After looking at the example documents and a lively discussion, I am convinced that such a document would be useful to have. While I think we'll try to keep ours in the 10-15 page range (not 200+!), i can now see the value of reflecting on our practice and utilizing that experience to draft a procedure manual. This manual could be useful to substitutes, volunteers and future staff. Creation of this document is something I will consider for the 2011-12 school year.
We concluded our day with a discussion of the AASL and CCLS standards and some lesson planning. I was a little surprised by how many people were not familiar with these standards or had incorrect information about their adoption/implementation. It was really interesting to look at the ALA Crosswalk of standards and apply it to a lesson for Brigitte's Economics class. We took an old lesson and infused some technology, turning a standard research-and-write-a-paper project into a reflective research and expression through blogging exercise. I'm really interested to see how this lesson evolves and ultimately is utilized.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's work and find that I'm really enjoying the various perspectives of the participants in the workshop. My team was discussing today how nice it is to just have time to talk and brainstorm and come up with nifty ideas. Time is not something we often have, and we are making the most of this week!
While I had been writing this blog mostly for my own reflection, I shared it with the class today, and hope to hear from some of you. Please chime in with your thoughts, ideas and comments. I value your input!
After covering our homework, we had a discussion about what librarians do all day, using the questions in the previous post. The librarians had divided into two groups, elementary and secondary. The elementary librarians appointed a spokesperson, who first shared a library cheer and then spoke to the questions. I was reminded of the differences and similarities between the elementary and secondary library experiences. One thing that we seem to share is a sadness in our view of how others in our school district perceive us. While I share the sorrow, I've worked hard to overcome these negative perceptions. I try to advocate for my library program in and out of our school and endeavor to make everyone I can aware of what we do in the library. I think I've gotten to a level of respect within our school, even for those who don't utilize our services. I put in a few words about my experiences collaborating with teachers and librarians, and managed to use the words "sucking" "suckee" and "pimping" within the span of 5 minutes. Regardless, I think I got my point across. Work to get one person into the library and involved in collaboration and you've done a great job! I shoot for one new teacher and one established teacher each year. If I can get those two, I'm completely thrilled! Success breeds success.
We also looked at library policy and procedures today. When we first started this discussion, I was aware of our district library policy, which is about 3 pages, and addresses collection development and challenges/reconsideration requests. It is simple, inclusive, largely based on ALA (American Library Association) material and works for us. As I work in a library with one assistant, I did not feel that writing a detailed procedure manual would be a good use of my time. After looking at the example documents and a lively discussion, I am convinced that such a document would be useful to have. While I think we'll try to keep ours in the 10-15 page range (not 200+!), i can now see the value of reflecting on our practice and utilizing that experience to draft a procedure manual. This manual could be useful to substitutes, volunteers and future staff. Creation of this document is something I will consider for the 2011-12 school year.
We concluded our day with a discussion of the AASL and CCLS standards and some lesson planning. I was a little surprised by how many people were not familiar with these standards or had incorrect information about their adoption/implementation. It was really interesting to look at the ALA Crosswalk of standards and apply it to a lesson for Brigitte's Economics class. We took an old lesson and infused some technology, turning a standard research-and-write-a-paper project into a reflective research and expression through blogging exercise. I'm really interested to see how this lesson evolves and ultimately is utilized.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow's work and find that I'm really enjoying the various perspectives of the participants in the workshop. My team was discussing today how nice it is to just have time to talk and brainstorm and come up with nifty ideas. Time is not something we often have, and we are making the most of this week!
While I had been writing this blog mostly for my own reflection, I shared it with the class today, and hope to hear from some of you. Please chime in with your thoughts, ideas and comments. I value your input!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Project ENABLE - Day 2
Day 2 began a bit more smoothly. Each group shared the results of the homework-modifications that they had made to their respective lesson plans. Each group talked a fair amount about reasonable expectations for the age group they were working with and discussed multiple means of expression for enhancing student understanding and learning. Several groups worked on the same lesson plan that we did and found it to be a fairly outdated, clunky lesson, much as we had. Several suggestions were made for its improvement and several alternate methods of presentation discussed. The original plan called for a PowerPoint presentation as the final product and most groups vetoed that idea out of hand. Alternates mentioned included Prezi, Glogster, and Voicethread. We also talked about the notion of having a screencasted set of instructions available on the web for later reference. Later, our group talked about ways we might use some of these tools and screencasting in other lessons--I love it when we spark ideas!
Our other morning activity was a field trip to the Syracuse University Library. We poked around the library (some of us with tape measures in hand!), looking at the library through a Universal Design and ADA lens. We took a look at the library's ease of use and accessibility for all users, then started a discussion about how our own libraries might be made more accessible for all users. I saw several nifty things that I may try to incorporate in our library. One was a bookmark with 5 ways to get in touch with the library for reference help: phone, in person, email, via text and instant messaging. There was also a QR Code to scan with a smartphone to connect you with the library's homepage. Some folks in my group weren't super familiar with QR codes. Here's an example:
This code can be scanned, much like a UPC code and will take you to a specific URL. This particular code will take you to the Stillwater MS/HS Library Media Center's Facebook page. The uses for these codes are many, from linking to book trailers in the library to embedding links to subscription databases on a paper assignment--resources at your fingertips!
After lunch, we had a PowerPoint presentation/Skype call with Dr. Marcia Sherer about assistive technologies that led to a good conversation in our group about what technology we have in place and what we think might be useful to add.
Our homework tonight was to begin an action plan for how we might improve our school library's accessibility to all and what specific steps we might take to get there. It is a work in progress at the moment, but I will share the completed plan when we get there. One of the goals we worked on tonight was improving communication between library and SPED department about students’ needs and the library resources available. This goal stemmed from a conversation today where I was mentioning the New York State Talking Book and Braille Library and that we haven't used them much, as we don't currently have any students with visual disabilities. This statement was met with "Except ____, who is nearly legally blind!" While Colleen and I have good communication, it had never occurred to me to mention this resource to her, and I had no idea that we had a visually impaired student. We resolved to work together to try to make a better match between students and resources. We'll be working on our action plan all week, and I'll keep you updated on where we stand as we go.
I had a little individual homework tonight too, which I promptly dragged my team into. Tomorrow, the librarians in the group will be discussing:
- How you plan your library's programs and services.
- Your experiences working with students with special needs.
- Your role in the school community.
- Your perception of how OTHERS in the school community perceive your role.
- Your experiences collaborating with other educators including general and special educators and school librarians in other school settings.
The idea is for each group to recognize and understand what the others so. The two groups of teachers will also present on Thursday and Friday.
I'm presenting on number 5, as the librarians in my group decided to "divide and conquer".
I'm looking forward to talking about how I suck teachers into collaborating with me, as well as some of the great (and not so great) experiences I've had collaborating with teachers and other librarians. I've got 2-3 minutes...filling the time shouldn't be a problem; shutting up after that time has elapsed might :)
Librarians reading along, what would you want to share about these issues?
Monday, July 11, 2011
Project ENABLE - Day 1
Day 1 started off with a bit of a whimper. We've had lots of technology and connectivity issues and spent a fair amount of time sorting all that out. We had a fun introduction session where we met a great number of the participants in the room, speed-dating style. I learned a little bit about a lot of people in a short time. We also did a short pre-assessment to see how comfortable we are with information about disabilities, accommodations, IEP's, and presenting what we know/what we learn to others. I was surprised at the things that I didn't feel like I had a huge amount of information about. Of course, I didn't apply to come to this course because I had a firm grasp on how to best serve our students with disabilities, rather to find out what we're doing well and what we can improve, so I guess it's good to have gaps in my knowledge.
It was interesting to see the different perspectives of the workshop attendees and apply conversations Colleen & Brigitte and I have had over the course of the last day and projects that we've worked on over the course of the last few years.
After struggling through the technology quagmire this morning, we did a little simulation exercise, which I volunteered to participate in--I'm a big volunteerer. :) I sat in a chair trying to listen to someone read me a passage on trolls texting while one person gently poked my neck, another rubbed my arm, and another read a different book loudly in my ear. The idea was to simulate the experience a student with autism might encounter trying to focus in the course of the day. It was really difficult to focus and kind of an eye-opener for many of us--definitely for me anyway.
We discussed disability law and the ways that a student might qualify for services--this was an area that I felt reasonably familiar with. We were also provided with a chart to help us to identify various characteristics that students with certain disabilities might exhibit. Colleen pointed out that we should be careful not to exclusively label a student based on one or more of these characteristics--it is important to look at the person first, and the disability (and symptoms thereof) later. I found that some of the experiences I had with more severely disabled folks before I became a librarian are helpful in understanding some of the disabilities we've discussed. Between these two jobs, I have had some experience with nearly every disability we discussed in one form or another.
After lunch, we discussed the role of the librarian, special and general educator in the special education process--interesting to see the different perspectives. I also learned a bit about privacy laws, school libraries, circulation systems and overdue notices. This is definitely a subject I'll be doing a little further research on.
Another interesting task that we took on today was attempting to navigate a simulation of a website delivered via screen reader. his simulation and several others are available here: WebAim Simulations. This simulation was incredibly frustrating, but led to an great discussion on how to better design websites to make them more accessible for those who need to use a screen reader. As I'm thinking of redesigning the library website, I made a few notes on how to better design it to be accessible to all.
We finished the day with a discussion on Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning. The principle behind these ideas is pretty simple--if you follow the guidelines put forward, you'll not only make things better and more accessible for your students with special needs, you'll make things better for everyone. Cast.org has a lot of resources on Universal Design for Learning. Our homework assignment dealt with taking a lesson plan and modifying it to reflect UD and UDL principles. While I have enjoyed the formal and informal collaboration with my teammates thus far, this was one area where it was fantastic to have all three perspectives--special educator, general educator and librarian. We pulled apart the lesson, discussed it's strengths and weaknesses and how and why we would change it, then discussed how we'd modify it to include UD and UDL principles. It was an interesting lesson plan, and we're already plotting ways to modify it for use with a 7th grade class in our school, as well as how to tweak it for possible use in government and economics classes. I'll take inspiration wherever I can find it!
Tomorrow I'm going to try to increase my note-taking and in-the-moment tweeting to better capture the experience. Today's tech issues bogged me down a bit. Thanks to Brigitte for the notes!
It was interesting to see the different perspectives of the workshop attendees and apply conversations Colleen & Brigitte and I have had over the course of the last day and projects that we've worked on over the course of the last few years.
After struggling through the technology quagmire this morning, we did a little simulation exercise, which I volunteered to participate in--I'm a big volunteerer. :) I sat in a chair trying to listen to someone read me a passage on trolls texting while one person gently poked my neck, another rubbed my arm, and another read a different book loudly in my ear. The idea was to simulate the experience a student with autism might encounter trying to focus in the course of the day. It was really difficult to focus and kind of an eye-opener for many of us--definitely for me anyway.
We discussed disability law and the ways that a student might qualify for services--this was an area that I felt reasonably familiar with. We were also provided with a chart to help us to identify various characteristics that students with certain disabilities might exhibit. Colleen pointed out that we should be careful not to exclusively label a student based on one or more of these characteristics--it is important to look at the person first, and the disability (and symptoms thereof) later. I found that some of the experiences I had with more severely disabled folks before I became a librarian are helpful in understanding some of the disabilities we've discussed. Between these two jobs, I have had some experience with nearly every disability we discussed in one form or another.
After lunch, we discussed the role of the librarian, special and general educator in the special education process--interesting to see the different perspectives. I also learned a bit about privacy laws, school libraries, circulation systems and overdue notices. This is definitely a subject I'll be doing a little further research on.
Another interesting task that we took on today was attempting to navigate a simulation of a website delivered via screen reader. his simulation and several others are available here: WebAim Simulations. This simulation was incredibly frustrating, but led to an great discussion on how to better design websites to make them more accessible for those who need to use a screen reader. As I'm thinking of redesigning the library website, I made a few notes on how to better design it to be accessible to all.
We finished the day with a discussion on Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning. The principle behind these ideas is pretty simple--if you follow the guidelines put forward, you'll not only make things better and more accessible for your students with special needs, you'll make things better for everyone. Cast.org has a lot of resources on Universal Design for Learning. Our homework assignment dealt with taking a lesson plan and modifying it to reflect UD and UDL principles. While I have enjoyed the formal and informal collaboration with my teammates thus far, this was one area where it was fantastic to have all three perspectives--special educator, general educator and librarian. We pulled apart the lesson, discussed it's strengths and weaknesses and how and why we would change it, then discussed how we'd modify it to include UD and UDL principles. It was an interesting lesson plan, and we're already plotting ways to modify it for use with a 7th grade class in our school, as well as how to tweak it for possible use in government and economics classes. I'll take inspiration wherever I can find it!
Tomorrow I'm going to try to increase my note-taking and in-the-moment tweeting to better capture the experience. Today's tech issues bogged me down a bit. Thanks to Brigitte for the notes!
Project ENABLE - Introduction
I'm spending five days at Syracuse University, attending the Project ENABLE workshop put on by the Syracuse University's School of Information Studies, Center for Digital Literacy, and Burton Blatt Institute. I was one of 45 librarians in New York State selected to attend the workshops and I picked two awesome colleagues to come along, a special educator and a general educator. We're here to learn how to improve library services for our students with disabilities. Here's a peek at what our schedule looks like. I'm practicing blogging as a reflective tool for professional development and to help me remember what we cover! In addition to blogging, I'm trying to tweet a bit as we go. Watch the twitter feed on the right if you're interested!
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