Recently at EdTech Talk, the program Teachers Teaching Teachers had a one-hour show three weeks in a row about how to improve student research strategies using database subscriptions. A lot of what was discussed centered around the complexity of searching with the tools, and why students want to first use Google. I think when I make my brochure and handouts, I will include a Discus logo like I’ve never seen before. Of course I’ll use the one the state is using too, but I think in order for kids to make the connection that this can be their first choice for information, it needs to have that look if not feel of Google. So I google-ized a log0 (wonder if I’ll get in trouble?) and I’m thinking about using it on my material too. When I get my own webspace–I’m waiting on the district who is transitioning out of what they use now to something new–I may use the googlized logo too. What better way to help kids make that connection?

Just in case you weren’t aware, Discus now has a community log in too. There is a discussion board, and a place to network (so very web 2.0 of them) and I am not 100% sure, but it may be open to students too. Go check it out!

Okay I admit I can be annoying at times.  I read a lot (what librarian doesn’t?) and am fascinated with professional development.  I am totally addicted to blogging (but primarily in the professional sense) so I can’t help but try to spread my joy.  So I am sending you a link to a blog I read from that I think you may enjoy.  It is called LeaderTalk, and it is written I gather by “invited” administrators who blog about administrative stuff. Yes a lot of it is about technology, but a lot of the material recently is about starting back to school. I thought  you might enjoy it.

I will post it below.  I also want to explain how I follow this stuff, because quite honestly folks DO NOT have time to sit around and cruise the Internet, especially when family time is precious.  I do not cruise the Internet looking for this material, but rather set it up so it comes to me.  I use an aggregator (which translates loosely to a reader).  I can visit one site, and anything I subscribe to comes to that reader. And that is how this one came to my attention. (Of course there is not new material everyday, which makes this very manageable, too.) Reading my “feeds” is like reading a newspaper or a journal (magazine) each evening when I sit down after dinner.  Actually reading feeds, listening to podcasts, and listening/participating in webcasts has all but replaced my desire to watch television in general.

But I go overboard here.  My intent here was to maybe get you to read a post from Leadertalk today that might pep you for our first day back with kids.  Enjoy, and tell me what you think! I can help you set up a reader if you’d like….

http://www.leadertalk.org/2007/08/fighting-the-fl.html

Welcome to your new school year, Cathy. Here is your library. Enter with blinders on, for as you know the school is in the process of finishing a renovation and construction for a new science wing, and so the library has been a common storage area for just about anything and everything. Soon all this extra “stuff” will be taken out, but it may take a week or so. There are text books, library books, and other things boxed up and sitting around, but eventually it will all be sorted.

Here is your office and workroom. There is a conference room, an a/v room, a room where the old server is, and an additional storage room. You may have to wait to get into some of the storage rooms, because we stored a lot of classroom stuff in here while the new wing was being finished. I wouldn’t even bother with opening them today.

Surprise, the new production studio is well underway! It is going to be a state of the art facility, and we hope you are up to the challenge of bringing video production to our school. It’s not quite finished yet, but it is coming along nicely.

These boxes along this table here are from the shelves. You see, when we added the studio, it was decided to remove the bookcases from the walls. We purchased new shelving to accomodate all the books we moved, and they are in the boxes in order and well labeled, just waiting to be returned to the shelves. Since the studio’s “construction” is done, they can go back on the shelf anytime now. The workstations’ island may have to be shifted some, but you have time to figure out a floor plan that will work. What’s that? You want to give the books a really good study before they go back on the shelf? That’s right you did say that the collection analysis showed a lot of books need to go. Yes I would agree, and sciences probably need to be done first. That is good because the boxed books are from the sciences, technology, and sports…No time like the present to begin this project. It will save you a lot of work too, because there will be less shelving to be done. What a jewel! A book about flowers with a copyright date of 1948! Maybe we should save it for a memory box or some kind of archived history of the school.

I had to sit through the standard Payroll/Benefits meeting for new hires today, even though everything remained the same since all my information transferred from Rock Hill (my former place of employment in the South Carolina public education system.) The last part of the meeting was for the new hires to watch a sexual harrassment and bloodborne pathogens video that showed what to look for and how to handle such incidents. Riveting information to be sure–the videos are the same each year it seems. Same ol’ same ol’. I understand why I have to view it and sign off that I have received staff development on the topic, and I don’t mean to make light of it. It is a necessary part of today’s world.

Problem:

What did bother me about the content of the videos is how the typical “classroom” is portrayed. Students, bookbags, pencils, rows of desks facing the front, a teacher (bespectacled, no less!) and even a corny looking outdated administrator wearing his navy blue blazer, khaki pants, and a tie. School was portrayed exactly as adults remember school.

Action:

This calls for action. Over the years I’ve been taught that it’s okay to complain as long as you offer a viable solution to a problem. I will be teaching one class of video production this fall, and I think I will show these videos to my class. I plan to challenge them to create a video that has a more modern look at school, one that demonstrates the many unique ways students learn. Maybe I’ll even have them add a segment on cyberbullying for the sexual harassment video. I want schools to look more realistic, and I’d much rather the typical classrooms showcased in the scenes be modeling “best practice” rather than the same ol’ same ol’. I realize there are MANY classrooms out there that look JUST LIKE the picture above, and there may not be a lot of “best practice” experience in my students. I hope to open their eyes to authentic learning and making a meaningful video by immersing them in the planning and executing of this video. Who is their target audience? We will begin with our own student body. Everyone in my meeting this morning agreed students really should view the same video we watched, just so they are knowledgeable about the topics. I agree, but I think most kids would tune it right out since the content is dry and boring in composition. I hope my students can make something that is informative, high interest, factually correct, and useful to our student body. Maybe we’ll submit it to the district office for them to use in their next “new hire” orientation.

Werdmuller, Ben. “Classroom” Ben Werdmuller’s Photostream. 21 December 2006. 6 August 2007 <http://www.flickr.com/photos/benwerd/329570782/>.

Another issue at hand, beginning at 6:45 in the morning, is my upcoming eye surgery. I am having the newest corrective vision surgery,  where the doctors will replace my lens (in each eye –Thursday and Friday) with a flexible plastic lens, called Rezoom and Restor. I will be having this done in Charlotte, NC at the Christenbury Eye Center.  If all goes well, I will be glasses free beginning Saturday! I have needed reading glasses now for two years, and according to the doctor (Doctor Christenury) I have what is known as Presbyopia, which is the inability to focus on things close up due to age.  I’m only 44 for pete’s sake.  Most patients only get the Restor lens implanted, but because I have an astigmatism in  my left eye (basically translated I have a weird shaped eye) I will need the Rezoom to compensate for some of my distance vision.  Best (or worse, depending on how you look at it) I go back in a month, and if my vision is not what Christenbury wants it to be, he will do a touch up Lasik surgery to correct it more.  And that touch up surgery is free.  Now in the office, Dr. Christenbury showed me a warm and fuzzy video to prepare me and get me excited (to get my buy-in.) But what he failed to realize is that I, as an information specialist, know how to use the internet to get information. I have seen numerous videos (that really creep me out!!) and seen the forums and discussion boards of my eye surgery. So I think I’m aware of what can go wrong too. Knowledge is a double-edged sword sometimes.  I know way more I would wager than the average patient.

Okay so what does this all have to do with going back to school?  In my new school, an entire shelf of library books (I am a school library media specialist) has been boxed up because a television studio room was added to the library. A doorway was added there, and I am the “saving grace” for bringing video production to this school.  I’m very excited about that.  BUT those who don’t work in the library don’t always realize the ramifications of moving books, whether it be one bookcase, one shelf, or just a few books.  Because the library books are arranged in Dewey order, when books of any number move, everything in front has to shift too. EVERYTHING.  So when I show up at school Monday, my first task is to assess the ramifications of the section of books boxed up, order shelving to replace the removed ones, and begin the process of reorganizing the library’s layout.  It’s a daunting task. But it is exciting to know that I will be able to “play” around with the set up.  I already know there is a huge weeding project too, as I have looked at the collection analysis, and it may be that I won’t need any new shelving if I tackle the weeding that needs to be done first.  In the meantime I need to get to know the teachers and students and begin to seamlessly integrate the library and information literacy into the curriculum.  And considering all this, due to my eye surgery I cannot do any heavy lifting at all for the first two weeks! I will have to rely on volunteers for the manual labor part of my job to begin with.

I have only been in my new school one time, and I live three hours away. So it’s not like I could have used my entire summer to do anything or even oversee or make recommendations for the changes that took place.  If I had been right there, I would have begun that weeding process right away! That would have helped considerably with the boxing of books, and they probably would have been the ones that won’t go back on the shelf.  If you haven’t already figured it out, I am NOT AFRAID to rid the student’s library (my workspace) of unused, outdated, or old books.

As far as living 3 hours away, I will be relocating to that area living alone in an apartment. I will be home with my family on the weekends. Yes it’s new and different, but I have my entire family’s support in this.  It was not how we planned to live, but it is how things worked out.  My family is very excited about my new job too.  So for now, these are my back-to-school thoughts. Please pray for me in the next few days.