14 Things to Tame

While at AASL in Minneapolis, I went to a session about 17 Things to Chew On, a 23 Things-style learning program for teachers created by two school librarians (Alicia Duell and Allison Cabaj) in Illinois. I'd been thinking about doing something similar for a while, but couldn't wrap my head around the logistics; the plan that Alicia and Allison shared filled in some of the blanks for me.

Inspired, I returned to my school and started to think about how to make my own "Things" program a reality. I'm lucky to have a very supportive administration, and even though I'm not sure they understood exactly what I was planning, they gave me the go ahead.

The next step was to create a video to promote the program. I wrote a script, and then gathered my performers. I also went around asking faculty if I could take a picture of them looking frustrated in front of a computer; none of them asked me why I was taking these pictures, displaying a level of trust in me that I both truly appreciate and plan to exploit again in the future.



I introduced the program, 14 Things to Tame, during our professional development day last week, and the response so far has been amazing (and I only had to strong-arm a few of them). There are incentives involved along the way; I've also been putting candy in the teacher's mailbox after each task they complete, in an effort to create a Pavlovian response (learn something new! get a piece of candy!). Dear colleagues: please do not think of yourselves as subjects in a science experiment.

There are teachers from all different departments participating; there are also at least a few teachers who are following along, even if they're not participating. And that's part of what I love about a program like this--you can participate in the conversation in whatever way you're most comfortable, but--one way or another--everyone becomes part of the conversation. The people who are participating are talking about it to the people who are participating--and they're all talking about the role that these technologies can play in their professional development and in their classrooms.

I'm excited. I already have more teachers participating than I expected, and I'm sure I can guilt even more into participating. I know it's going to be a lot of work, but I think the payoff will be worth it. If you're thinking of doing something similar in your own school, please feel free to ask questions or borrow anything from my own program!

Widget workshop on a Wednesday, and other non-alliterative thoughts

I went to a workshop on widgets today, taught by the wonderful Polly-Alida Farrington; if you work in a Connecticut library and haven't taken advantage of one of her workshops, you're missing out. I took her podcasting workshop my first year as a librarian, which is what got me started on creating recorded book trailers, and really helped me shape how I do reading promotion.

Today's workshop was also excellent, and still has me thinking of new ideas; this is one of the things I love most about Polly's workshops--in addition to feeling like I have a really solid of how to do something, you get a million reasons why you should do it. I keep a notebook open next to me throughout the workshop--not to take notes on what I'm learning, but to jot down ideas for how I can apply my new knowledge after the workshop.

I currently have a wikispaces page for my library's web presence, but I am growing increasingly fed up with its limitations. Up until now it's been where teachers posted homework assignments, but my school is getting a shiny new web portal for homework and other such things, meaning there's no real reason for me to maintain wikispaces. I'm not sure what the library presence will be like on the new site, or how much control I'll have over what it looks like (though I'm taking part in the training this summer--I'll be one of the "train the trainers" type people, which means I'll get a thorough look at the behind the scenes stuff. Given that, and given that my IT department knows I'm capable, I'm hoping I'll be able to have a fair amount of control when it comes to adding and manipulating library content).

But I know no matter how much I can do, there will still be some limitations. And given that I'm trying to become more professionally active outside of my school and do more presenting (hopefully even beyond the CASL Conference, though that first step was huge for me), and maybe even publishing (the first part of that would, of course, be writing something to submit for publication), I'm thinking more and more about creating my own website outside of my school's site. You know, in my spare time.

There are, of course, limitations to any free site, which would mean ponying up some cash. Which, no matter how little cash it actually is, feels like a commitment. Which could be a good motivator for working towards doing more presenting and writing. And I know some of this is just part of the post-workshop high, but the more I think about it, the more I like this idea. Once I learn what the library's presence will be like on my school's website, I'll be able to come up with a plan. If I can do most of what I want, this project moves to the back burner; if not, it gets moved up the list.

If and when I decide to go ahead with this plan, I can, of course, draw upon the wisdom of Hank Green. And, of course, sign up for Polly's Wordpress workshop.

Seriously, if it's still snowing, how is it "spring" semester?

Spring semester starts tomorrow, though the weather is making it difficult for me to think in terms of "spring semester." The second half of the year is when most research gets done (I've already fielded a couple of scheduling requests); it's also right around the time most people have forgotten everything I presented during my PD workshops at the beginning of the year. I'm trying some new things this year--including a Collaborative Planning Form--that will hopefully give some focus and direction to the research process here, though I'm also prepared to hit some of the speedbumps I've hit time and again.

No matter how excited or informed people are about the library at the beginning of the year, it's hard to maintain that over the course of a school year (never mind the people who never seemed to get the message in the first place). In an effort to a)remind people what goes on in the library and b)show off some of the new things I'm doing, I put copies of the following poem (I got the idea off LM_Net a while ago) and a homemade chocolate chip cookie in everyone's mailbox in the faculty room.

If You Give a Teacher a Cookie
(with apologies to Laura Numeroff)

If you give a teacher a cookie,
Chances are, she’ll stop by the library to say, “Thanks.”
While she’s there, she’ll probably look at all the magazines we have.
She’ll want to check some out,
And maybe grab some back issues.
Then she’ll see the shelves of videos,
And the section of professional reference books.
She’ll ask about putting some books on course reserve,
And about making articles available electronically.
She’ll probably look around and notice books about everything!
She’ll want to know about the library catalog, and the databases, and
Setting up a class blog or wiki, and scheduling classes to come into the library.
All that discovering will make her hungry,
And when she goes to the desk to check out her books,
She’ll probably ask if you have any more cookies.

~~~~

People will either find this endearing or obnoxious. We'll see how it goes.