LIBE 477 - Vision Project Post #2: Why and for Whom?

 The Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies curriculum builds on students’ natural curiosity, inventiveness, and desire to create and work in practical ways. It harnesses the power of learning by doing, and provides the challenging fun that inspires students to dig deeper, work with big ideas, and adapt to a changing world. It provides learning opportunities through which students can discover their interests in practical and purposeful ways.

- BC's Curricular Rationale for ADST

 

In the world of Education, the reasons why we do things, and for who we do things are big open questions sometimes. As teachers we carve our own ways in teaching content for our students and we choose how to teach because we want to reach our students in specific ways. We develop methods to reach those key students, and therefor we have targeted them and made decisions surrounding their needs. As part of our vision project we are asked why and for whom? What is our rationale for building this idea and allowing it to become a part of our personal learning journey? 

Above this post is a rationale pulled from the BC's Curriculum Wesbite. The reason why Applied Design, Skills and Technologies should be taught. It's within this rationale that I find mine. 

I want to provide learning opportunities for students to discover, in a "boxed up, here's some help for educators kind of way". Let's face it, as educators with an open curriculum, its overwhelming to plan for students to reach these goals. Below is a chart of the curricular competencies for just the first few grades!  Somehow we have to come up with new innovative, creative ideas to guide our students. 

We manage. Some of us do really well, and some of us struggle, relying on Pinterest or our colleagues for ideas (by the way, this is never a bad thing).

Enter me. 

What if...? And just hang on here because its doosey. 

What if we had the opportunity to have these curricular competencies met, by taking out a box from our local library, that then match to a website? 

As an educator, I could do a lesson, use the materials, post our results (nice evidence of learning opportunity here), bring back the box and voila! done! 

 So...Why? 

There's always a need for making teachers lives easier. This curriculum is relatively new and many teachers struggle with the openness of its content. I'd like to create a network for teachers to connect, by developing a website with lessons (shareable, I might add) and a place to post results of lessons! This all comes with the ability to "rent" out a box with the materials needed. 

So, why? For convience, networking and collaboration, a passion for hands on learning and connecting with our libraries! 

For Whom? 

Educators and Teacher Librarians. The idea is to involve the district after some testing in an elementary school. If I am able to get the district onboard it should be available to all. 

How's It Going So Far? 

So far I've started working on a website and creating the different pages of it. It's been tricky designing a site that allows for file uploads. I'm also trying to design all this on free platforms which has some challenges and limitations. 

My next plan is to create a tester kit that would go along with a lesson plan on the site. I also have an interview with a teacher in my district scheduled to ask what they are looking for in a ADST kit/borrowable lesson kit. 

I also got a bit over excited about a logo to accompany my vision.I'll give you a sneak peek below! 

Stay tuned for the next blog post which will include (dundunnah!) my vision project! 

Sources:

Wix.Com, https://www.wix.com/.

"Applied Design, Skills And Technologies | Building Student Success - B.C. Curriculum". Curriculum.Gov.Bc.Ca, 2020, https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/adst.

 

 

 

 

 

Brainstorming a Vision ( aka. LIBE 477 Vision Project Post #1)

Brainstorming (v):
Brainstorming combines a relaxed, informal approach to problem solving with lateral thinking. It encourages people to come up with thoughts and ideas that can, at first, seem a bit crazy. Some of these ideas can be crafted into original, creative solutions to a problem, while others can spark even more ideas.

- Mindtools

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So according to MindTools.com, I'm encouraged to come up with some wild crazy ideas for my vision project. 

 AWESOME. 

(This didn't really change the fact that I stared at my keyboard for a good 15min prior to starting).

I've been toying with a few ideas for creating a vision project that encorporates my prior knowledge, and leaves it open for future knowledge to be added. As previously mentioned, I've been passionate about literacy and hands on learning(ADST, Makerspaces, etc) so naturally, seeing as I want this project to continue after this course, my thoughts went straight to creating a Makerspace. The huge-ness of this brought me down to earth to consider starting smaller, and maybe including digital content, or starting out as a digital platform to then move into physical. 

Running through my head are a jumble of ideas and thoughts. My thought process went a little like this: 

Makerspace → Library (don't currently have a physical space though...) → So digital, maybe a website about implementing a space? (what are the chances its going to be read or shared out if I don't push it? There are also so many of these out there already..) → how can I combine makerspace and the library and a digital format? → I've always wanted to start a resource center with bins that can be taken out by educators for lessons...combine that idea with makerspace website??

This left me with a couple ideas that I wanted to persue more. 

1) "Digital Makerspace"  - online space for those to come together and share ideas and learning on ADST projects and lessons. 

2) Digital Makerspace - educator oriented website to download lessons based on curricular competency and grade. 

3) "orderable STEM/ADST bins that include the online lesson link from a digital makerspace" 

My ultimate goal was to connect the library/learning commons with the current curriculum and allow a space for students to connect lessons to books and real world applications. 

Thinking back to reading "Why School", I know that the authors son had a creative way to show problem solving, creative thinking and skills outside of academia using his game. I can't help but think how fast he would have marched to the library if he had known that there were books about his game, or even that he could apply some of the skills learned in the game to something else (like a coding station perhaps?) 

This idea is for mainly designed for educators but my hope, is that students will be shown the website so that if they would like to create a project at home, they are able to follow the lesson/idea/video. 

 One of the librarian blogs that I've come across posted a really great little post about how they are turning their Makerspace digital as to always be accessible by students. This is something I'm going to follow and see how they manage their digital "space".

You can read about it here ↷ 

So, although I'm still deciding between a few bigger ideas, I think I know the general vein of what I want to do. Up next will be to smooth out some wrinkles and narrow down my vision and decide who I want to target with my grand idea. 

Stay tuned!

Sources:

"Brainstorming: Generating Many Radical, Creative Ideas". Mindtools.Com, 2020, https://www.mindtools.com/brainstm.html

Miller, Shannon. "Thinking About Our New Makerspace.....Bringing It Online With The "Digital Makerspace" Too". The Library Voice, 2014, https://vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com/2014/03/thinking-about-our-new.html.

 

LIBE 477 - Inquiry Blogpost #5: Reflections of Learning

Reflecting:

Hard to believe that we've been doing Phase 2 for over a month, sometimes it feels like much longer, other times, it feels shorter. The topics covered in this time have been very thought provoking and have allowed for me to view many different perspectives, both in my own practice and in others'. It's tough to pick just one key takeaway because I feel that each post had something to tuck away for later. However, amongst all the posts, the takeaways that stuck with me the most, were from blog posts #1-3. 

Click me to learn more!

 

 

Key Takeaways:

Fostering a Reading Culture 

My main takeaway for this post was that I am proud of my journey as an educator in promoting a reading culture, and find I use many different strategies and tools in my practice. In reflecting on my role as a facilitator and guide, I also came to the conclusion that while bringing passion and getting students reading is important, the assessing of progress and building skills is something I need to continue to develop. 

Personal Learning, Development, Networking and Ongoing Professional Development. 

My main takeaways from these two posts were the importance of connections (using your network) and the importance of reflection. I have thoroughly enjoyed commenting and discussing with my peers throughout this course and other courses on their blogs and discussion posts. Having a group that shares ideas and learning journeys has been very valuable and I have been able to snag some pretty fanstastic ideas from this group. 

Moving Forward

Avenues I'd like to drive down

• Bettering my assessment and tracking progress skills. I feel that I would like to have a better grasp of how to support students in their literacy journey. 
• Getting better at using Twitter and following more Teacher Librarian blogs. 
• Reaching out to colleagues and peers, and get better at asking questions!
• Keep following my passion of using Makerspaces, ADST programs and developing a library learning commons that can encompass these.
  

 

I know there is much to still learn and reflect on. For me, moving forward in my learning journey will include much more collaboration and networking. As someone who is currently not working in a library, and has very little experience with its place in the school, I feel that I am going to need support when that day comes. I am going to keep checking in on all the social media posts, the blog posts and keep the emails of peers I have chatted with so I can maintain the connections. I've also really enjoyed keeping a blog and will try to keep it updated with my journey. 

 

LIBE 477 - Developing World Libraries Blog Post #4

My task this week was to explore library projects in a developing nation. Naturally, I googled a list of developing nations, picked one and then dove in.

I picked Argentina.

Turns out most Argentinian libraries don’t have English on their websites… so, back to square one, or perhaps a whole new plan. 

On my internet travels for plan B, I came across LWB, Librarians Without Borders. Now, we’ve all heard of Doctors Without Borders, but who knew there were librarians doing the literacy equivalent.

To give a little bit of information, I’ve pulled the LWB mission statement from their website. “Librarians Without Borders (LWB) is a non-profit organization that strives to improve access to information resources regardless of language, geography, or religion, by forming partnerships with community organizations in developing regions.”

BINGO!

The biggest challenge often faced by libraries in developing nations is the access to information inequity. Access to information is important for “supporting learning and literacy, reducing poverty, empowering citizens, and building healthy, strong communities.” Nations like Ghana do not have the same access to information as Canada or the USA. So how can we level the playing field and make information accessible? How do we make information accessible to those in nations where the literacy rates are sometimes less than 50%!? These were questions I pondered while reading through various programs, and organizations in Ghana through LWB.

 My first literacy program I came across with the goal of creating access to literacy was WorldReader. WorldReader is an organization that gives free e readers, and mobile phones to children and families to improve lives through learning and empowerment. WorldReader builds a reading program library designed for the specific region (even trying to use local authors and stories), then distributes the appropriate technology to access the library, and finally supporting the communities with training. They create reading communities where education is valued and can be transformative to the people.