Happiest of Fridays to everyone. Enjoy some good blog reading!
So You Are Going to Be A Teacher Librarian… now what? Part 1
- Elizabeth Lyons – @mrslyonslibrary
- http://thelibrariansjourney.blogspot.com/2022/06/so-you-are-going-to-be-teacher.html
Is there any location in a school that changes so frequently in response to resources, understanding how students read, or just a conducive place for learning, reading, making, or just a place for lesson planning as the library?
Elizabeth has started a series of blog posts about what goes into her thinking about design and I like how she’s generous enough to share it with us in this post and has shared it with colleagues and administrators from other schools over the years.
Today’s library is so far removed from the libraries that we enjoyed going to in schools. Certainly, we enjoyed going there and it was a favourite place for a number of reasons. Mostly, I recall, it was for books and a quiet place to work.
Things have changed. How do you make it a success? There’s lots of planning, design, and thinking that goes into it and you get a sense of it in this introductory post.
- Things to consider – layout of the room
- Beginning readers
- Picture books
- Chapter books and graphic novels
- Non-fiction
- Dual language
If you’ve been paying attention to education, there’s much more to come as we think about makerspaces and all the other things that happen there. As she notes, the library environment is the third educator in the room. If you think it’s just another room with books, you’ve got another think coming.
I’m looking forward to the upcoming posts.
Researcher’s Journal: Living in a post-truth world
- Paul McGuire – @mcguirp
- https://paulmcguire1.com/2022/06/13/researchers-journal-living-in-a-post-truth-world/
Now that Paul is working on his PhD, he’s taking us deeper in thought as we tag along with his research.
This time, he’s looking at “post-truth“, ironically the definition that I’m sharing is from Wikipedia! This resource even has a post about mis-information.
It doesn’t take long when you turn on the evening news broadcasts from the south of the border that this concept blows up in your face. There was a time when an expert carried an expert label; now it seems like anyone who is willing to stand in front of a camera and scream gets the air play. Truth used to be so binary.
Paul’s current thoughts are influenced by Sam Weinburg and he’s good enough to give us a glimpse of his research reading.
These days, it seems anyone can be a journalist and you can start with a blog and share whatever information you want! Later, I’m going to talk about a blog post from Bonnie Stewart and she has a link to a resource on eCampusOntario about Information Abundance. Good reading and I can’t help but think that Paul’s work is important but how will it be judged objectively? What does objective mean anymore?
Minds Moving … For Adults And Kids Alike!
- Aviva Dunsiger – @avivaloca
- https://adunsiger.com/2022/06/03/minds-moving-for-adults-and-kids-alike/
All teachers have a way to start their class. There’s a phrase that you often hear “minds on” to describe things. You’d like to think that students come in, sit down quietly, and get to work. About the second day in this profession and you know that they need help; it doesn’t come naturally.
Aviva shares how she personally starts her day. With an early start, she’s into the popular word puzzle games. I know that many teachers are now using it as a fun start to the lesson (psst don’t tell them that it’s good for them) but Aviva uses it for herself to get her mind going.
Then, what would an Aviva post be without pictures? She shares how her students get started independently.
It seems to me that the key to all of this is to find a bite-sized activity that’s engaging and enjoyable to do. That’s not always easy but finding it will have huge payoffs.
Redesign for online: 3 easy steps to questioning everything you do as an educator
- Bonnie Stewart – @bonstewart
- http://theory.cribchronicles.com/2020/06/22/redesign-for-online-3-easy-steps-to-questioning-everything-you-do-as-an-educator/
My RSS Reader brought up this two-year-old now post from Bonnie. I don’t know if she updated it or if it was just fortunate luck but I read it and really enjoyed it. There’s so much wisdom in here that, after COVID, we can get a better understanding of now.
Warning – the title is a bit of a bait and switch but not in a bad way. As she notes, there is no such thing as three easy steps.
Online teaching is her thing so she does write from a strong background and credibility. After two years, everyone has built up a bit of expertise so her experiences have added importance.
There were a few big takeaways for me.
- “Redesigning for online is a confronting process. It forces you to pare down both your course content AND your course communications to the bits that matter most” – Yes! Not everything gets ported over. It’s also a good idea as you prepare for F2F next year
- “the infrastructure of the internet is actually designed FOR two-way participatory communications” and she gives terrific examples of what to do. I thought that the concept of knowledge creators versus consumers was particularly helpful. With YouTube and the like, I think everyone has got the consumer part down pat
- “My partner, on the other hand, worked ten hour days, wrote half an Online Teaching textbook, and created an entire site of video resources and interviews about digital pedagogies” This is a rich resource
There is a presentation and the irony of the tools used isn’t lost on me but it will be a good hour of professional learning for all.
Grad Prep
- Diana Maliszewski – @MzMollyTL
- http://mondaymollymusings.blogspot.com/2022/06/grad-prep.html
After the fact, I had some regrets about sharing the post. The content was about the work that Diana puts in to support her colleagues in a couple of graduations in the school – from Kindergarten and Grade 8. She’s using her technical skills to build a presentation using green screen and a story for each student.
It was a little sobering when she mentioned that this might well be the first time for the kindergarten students to see a big audience. I never thought of that.
The regrets came from responses to the voicEd show where the concept of graduations was discussed in not so glowing terms. That wasn’t the point of Diana’s post and I hope that she missed it. Graduations are a school or district decision; not an individual teacher’s.
Having said that, I can’t recall any course where things abruptly ended after the last class. Even at the Faculty of Education just taking a single course, there was an invitation to go out or over to someone’s house to celebrate the end of things.
There have been so few things to celebrate these days that a formal graduation may just be the shot that people need, for that moment in time. There may be a time and a place to have this discussion but to tag onto this blog post isn’t it.
And don’t forget the parents – this from a friend of mine this morning…
So proud x 2 🎓🎓🎉🎉! Congratulations to both XXXXXXX and XXXXXXX on their Grade 8 graduation from XXPS! 🙌🏻 10 years in the making!
I’m sure that also the kids will get a DVD or a link to the presentation that they can enjoy for a lifetime. I sure wish I had that to look back at.
And on to LongCovid
- Marie Snyder – @MarieSnyder27
- https://apuffofabsurdity.blogspot.com/2022/06/and-on-to-longcovid.html
“Masks are all but gone in my neck of the woods.”
Ditto here. In the past while, I’ve had an optometrist and doctor appointment and I’ve worn a mask. The sign on the door says so and I know that these are occasions where you’re going to be closer than ever to someone not in your immediate family.
We also wear masks to the drug store where it’s about 50/50 with staff and Walmart where the ratio is less. I’ve convinced my wife that self-checkout isn’t bad because you don’t have to stand really close to anyone.
I’d like to go with the sentiment that it’s all over. But it isn’t, by a long shot.
- A good friend, wife, and inlaw all got it
- Friends on Facebook have checked in with the sad news
- Baseball was cancelled because they couldn’t field a team
Then, there’s the concept of longCOVID (longCovid) that Marie talks about in the post. It’s not pleasant and she doesn’t sugar-coat it.
Somehow, so many have bought into the concept since vaccination centres are shut down and there isn’t a frenzy to get a jab.
I had to smile a bit at her thoughts about style. Like so many, I just wish we could get to the point where it’s not here and we don’t have to worry about writing about it. We’re not there yet.
They haven’t the foggiest
- Doug McDowall – @dougzone2_1
- https://dougzone22.ca/2022/06/22/they-havent-the-foggiest/
I’ll give Doug some cred by pairing him with Monty Python.
Hey, Doug
If you’re looking for a little smile and some play on words, this will be your Friday morning read.
Please find some time to enjoy these posts. Then, follow the authors on Twitter.
- Elizabeth Lyons – @mrslyonslibrary
- Paul McGuire – @mcguirp
- Aviva Dunsiger – @avivaloca
- Bonnie Stewart – @bonstewart
- Diana Maliszewski – @MzMollyTL
- Marie Snyder – @MarieSnyder27
- Doug McDowall – @dougzone2_1
This Week in Ontario Edublogs
doug -- off the record 
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