LIBE 477 Assignment 1 Part A

 Reading Review Part A

For most of my career, I was an elementary school TOC and while I loved visiting numerous classes and learning new ideas, I was rarely in classes long enough to gain more than a superficial knowledge of digital resources and tools. Technology has never been my strength and I find the vast number of digital resources and ever evolving technologies to be overwhelming.

Bitmoji, 2022

I am, however, cognizant of the expectations of teacher librarians to be media experts. I understand the importance and widespread acceptance of this role and am working to push aside my insecurities and step to the metaphoric plate!

Fake it Until you Make it (Freepik, 2020).

I am in my first teacher librarian position this year in a small K-5 school. There are 70 students, 4 classroom teachers, and 3 non-enrolling teachers. The school is located in a small village outside of town and has a strong sense of local community. I admit I felt unprepared in this new role as my experience in library was limited to TOCing. I find some teachers in the school to be far more technology literate than myself and I find myself wondering, how can I help them when they know more than I do?

Bitmoji, 2022

One message that has strongly resonated with me throughout this program is the realization that meaningful changes can happen in small steps, and it is not necessary or realistic to try to achieve everything I envision. Most importantly, we all have skills to offer and a part of this journey and role includes learning from my colleagues. As Miller and Bass state, it is crucial that new teacher librarians get to know their school community and build relationships and rapport with staff and students (2019). By getting to know my school, I am better prepared to meaningfully incorporate ideas and tools that meet the needs of the school community.

“Knowing the right time and place to introduce something is critical, and it is a reflection of how well you understand the culture of your school community” - Miller and Bass, 2019

There are numerous topics I want to learn more about moving forward but taking into consideration the needs of my school community, I narrowed it down to the following topics:

Digital Literacy

Digital Tools

Digital Curation

Meaningful Integration of Technology

Creating a Makerspace (on a limited budget).

Focusing on makerspace is something specific to this school’s needs as there is currently no makerspace present, and teachers are beginning to explore inquiry and collaboration with other teachers. We also have a limited budget compared to other schools so I need to consider what this will look like. At this school, like most in my district, technology and digital resources are limited and rarely used in classrooms. Some of the teachers are more willing to try new technologies and other are hesitant. I would like to be able to provide teachers with ideas and opportunities in a user-friendly curated collection of tools. This will require me to further hone my skills of digital curation and evaluation of digital resources.

These are areas that are not only of personal interest to me and relevant for my school community, but also connect to the BC curriculum. Technology, digital literacy, and makerspace all connect to BC curriculum subject areas of Applied Design, Skills and Technologies, and English Language Arts for grades K-5. These are areas where my growth and understanding will enable me to meaningfully support staff and contribute to students’ learning.

References:

BC Ministry of Education. (2016). BC’s curriculum. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/sites/curriculum.gov.bc.ca/files/curriculum/english-language-arts/en_english-language-arts_k-9_elab.pdf

BC Ministry of Education. (2016). BC’s curriculum. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/sites/curriculum.gov.bc.ca/files/curriculum/adst/en_adst_k-9_elab.pdf

Bitmoji (2022). Personal image, technology. Bitmoji.com https://www.bitmoji.com/

Bitmoji (2022). Personal image, wonder. Bitmoji.com https://www.bitmoji.com/

Freepik (2020). Fake it Until you make it (Vector). Freepik.com https://www.freepik.com/

Miller, S., & Bass, W. L. (2019). Leading from the library: Help your school community thrive in the Digital age. International Society for Technology in Education.