Libraries are Spaces of Learning

I got my first library card practically the day I started to learn to read.

My parents are well educated, extremely well read people, and I can still conjure up the way I felt as my first grade teacher, Mrs. Rovere, unwrapped the magic of reading to me. My folks had read to me, probably since the time I was born, but to be able to read things myself . . . I was seriously delirious with the new skill!

The library was a vast storehouse of information, adventure, and learning. From picture books with just a few words to my first chapter books to books that were well within my reading ability but probably beyond my maturity level, they were all there for the taking, and I literally absorbed the freedom and the learning.

Today in education we debate about the best way to bring information to our students. We debate about the merits of traditional books versus digital books. We debate about the appropriate uses of the Internet for learning. We debate about the best devices for accessing the Internet. We debate about whether we should put restrictions on what students can access on the Internet. We debate about the role of teachers in classrooms, and we debate about the role students need to take when it comes to learning. All of these things are worthy topics of conversation and deserve careful consideration.

What should not be open for debate, though, is the school library. Libraries, whether full of books on shelves or electronic information through technology, should be the heart of the school. I reach back to my childhood and my young adulthood and think about the special times I spent in libraries. I think of the learning that took place there and the relationships forged there, and I think of how important the public spaces for learning are. I remember:

• Storytime as both a child and a young parent
• Picking out storybooks for reading aloud
• Finding just the right book for the mood I was in as I started to read myself
• Checking out copies of books my teacher was reading to us
• Finding books my parents had read as children
• Finding the book about the topic we were studying in the classroom
• Digging through periodical catalogs and card catalogs for resources for the papers I wrote
• Craft time
• Studying for final exams
• Collaborating with my classmates on classroom projects
• Writing debate card after debate card in hopes of winning that next tournament
• Being awarded the trophy right there in that library when my teammates and I were successful
• Accessing the Internet before I had it from home
• Class meetings
• After school activities
• Guest lectures
• Meet and greets

As an adult I still find libraries of all kinds extremely important. I don't care if there are books on the shelves or eReaders for checkout or computers or mobile devices. The library is the space people of all different ages with all different interests and all different motivations come together to learn and to celebrate learning. I love the history. I love the smell. I love the people who choose to work in libraries. And, I can't imagine a school without that heart.

Stay curious. Keep learning. Read.

 

Photo by Martin Gonzalez

Teacher-centered or student-centered classrooms

I would like to write about this, but someone beat me to it and probably did it better than I could. Here's the quote I saw in an email I receive periodically from Tech and Learning. Click on the text to see the whole article.

When it comes to technology, a teacher who believes in the teacher-centered classroom thinks of computers as a source of remediation, an electronic tutor providing programmed instruction. In essence, the student is learning "from the computer." On the other hand, for a teacher who believes in the student-centered classroom, the computer becomes a cognitive tool with which the students construct their own knowledge.  —Gary Shattuck, CIO Advisor I couldn't agree more. . . .

Learning

Schools mean online community learning. I love that.

Chromebooks or Laptops

We've come to a big crossroads at the Storm Lake Community School District. We've made the committment over the past few years - short of 1:1 - to get as many devices into the hands of students as possible. We've bought into the fact that the Internet really is a source of knowledge far superior to static text or just the knowlege in a teacher's head. This does not mean that textbooks or libraries are useless. It also does not mean that teachers are disposable. Teaching is so much more than rote knowledge afterall. What it means is that students can learn more if they are globally connected, because if we add the online collaborative resources to both books and teachers, we add astronomically to the learning potential of our students.

With that committment, though, comes the dilemma: What is the best device for students? We must weigh many issues - Functionality, battery life, cost, durability, compatibility with what we have, etc. Ultimately, the most important questions we must answer are:

• What is it that we want students to do with the device?
• What can students do with the device that they couldn't do without it?
• How can the device add to the learning experience?

The answer is not simple. Look at any newspaper, and you will see different schools choosing different devices, including schools that are having issues with the device of their choice. However, after much deliberation over the past year, the Storm Lake Community School District is committed at this point in time to Windows based laptops and Chromebooks as the two devices that best suit our student learning needs at a reasonable cost. What's at issue now, though, is that as our laptops start aging out and need replacing, we are faced with new questions:

How many laptops? How many Chromebooks? Do students ever really need a laptop that costs over twice as much as a Chromebook? And if so, why?

Chromebook issues:

• Microsoft Office: Will Google Apps suffice?
• Other loaded software: Is there an online alternative?
• Printing: Can most work be completed and feedback be provided online?
• Standardized testing: Yes, MAP tests can be given on a Chromebook.
• Java: How often do students use websites that require Java? Is it necessary or an expendable luxury?

Chromebook advantages:

• Google based: A definite plus in a Google Apps school like we are
• Log in time: Seconds rather than minutes
• Virus protection: Unnecessary
• Server space: Unnecessary. Store things in the Cloud. Download to device only when you know you'll have no Internet connection.
• Price: Less than half the price of a laptop
• Management: Devices can be managed and maintained through the Google domain
• Operating System: Updates automatically, always up to date
• Support: Between Google and the very active Chromebooks in education online communities, support is extensive. In addition, several area schools have also chosen Chromebooks as their student device of choice allowing collaborative problem-solving between EdTech Departments.

So, what's the answer? Are Chromebooks sufficient for our students' educational needs? Because if they are, we can buy at least twice as many devices, and that means more students with devices which, as I stated at the outset, is the SLCSD goal.

Duties and Relationships

I had some teachers that I really loved and who could have told me to learn almost anything, and I would have done it. Why? Because in addition to the work done in the classroom, I had a personal relationship with them. I went out for the school activities they sponsored or coached. I saw them at all the school functions - plays, concerts, ballgames, and more. They were the ones who punched my activity card at basketball games and worked with me in the concession stand. The teachers I remember as my very best teachers were those who believed that relationship was everything and who looked for ways to build relationships outside of the classroom.

Because of those experiences and my resulting world view, I think it's a missed opportunity when teachers choose not to do their assigned school duties, the ones who pay to have someone else take tickets or supervise the events they are assigned to. I believe it means the world to elementary students coming through the high school football gate to be greeted by classroom teachers, and it's uplifting and affirming to high school students to see their current or former teachers at their concerts, games, and plays. As human beings we are dying to be validated as whole human beings who share more than the classroom assignment that's due tomorrow.

I know it's a different world than when I was in school. More teachers live out of town, raising their families in different schools. There are personal and family conflicts with assigned duties. I am also certain that teachers aren't maliciously having others do their duties. My point, however, is that our communities aren't as closely knit as they once were, and there aren't as many opportunities for us to cross the same paths as our students. Therefore, being at a couple of school functions a year has become much more important than simply the means of earning one's activity ticket.

Please think about the opportunities missed by not participating in the events that your students and their families are involved in. These tiny commitments on your part may just help build a relationship that keeps a child in school or gets a child to work harder or helps them feel like a part of something bigger that is safe and supportive and caring.

Think about it. You may even decide to attend more events than just your assigned duties.

Storm Lake High School Groundbreaking

With every high school student and staff member, with few exceptions, in attendance, a cold fall breeze blowing, sunshine so bright you had to squint, the high school band playing, and community members from the School Board to the auditorium committee to the architects to the builders to just plain interested press and friends, we celebrated the beginning of the Storm Lake High School renovation project.

We renewed both our commitment to our belief in the importance of education for the future of our country and also our faith in our public schools to accomplish that task. It was a joyous event!

Trust

I just got notification today that the area EdTech powers that be are going to meet with the area Tech powers that be, and I couldn't be happier!

I wear both hats at my school, although I certainly can't take the credit for the great learning with technology that takes place in the Storm Lake Schools. It's the teachers and students working together in the classrooms, the outside world that collaborates with us, the technicians traversing the district each day, and the administrators who have bought into the validity of technology for learning who are the ones making sure the learning takes place. No amount of vision, dreaming, persuading, deploying, troubleshooting, training, or planning on my part alone can accomplish this. Like all things, it takes a team and a lot of focused hard work by many different people.

When any team can get together, hash it out, and then work for the same goals, magic can happen. Our students deserve this. This is the way we do business: Together.

It's about time.