New Paths in Library Advocacy: Reflections on the NC Teaching Fellows Jr. Conference

Today I had the amazing opportunity to work with some of my state's most valuable resources: new teachers.  The students in the classes I taught today were (roughly) one year away from completing their teacher education program as part of the NC Teaching Fellows Program.  (An aside, our legislature voted to zero out funding for Teaching Fellows this year - a travesty you can learn more about here). 

I've been nervous and excited about these presentations for weeks now.  Nervous because it always feels a little strange to play to an audience outside of libraryland and excited because I often wish my own teacher education program had offered the opportunity learn from and about school library media specialists and how they could help me (as a classroom teacher) and my students. To this day, although (in general) I feel like my own teacher education program perpared me fairly well for what I would experience in the classroom, I don't think I'm alone in the lamenting the lack of emphasis on the instructional team I would NEED to be a part of in order to truly provide my students with everything they would need. Indeed, I can't remember anyone talking to me about the school librarian and what he/she could do for me (my kids).

And so, to be honest, I couldn't wait to get in the room with these eager, fresh faced, soon to be teachers - if for no other reason that I felt I had a golden opportunity to fill a gap for them that was not, until much, much later, filled for me.   Advocacy is a topic that seems to be on the tip of every school librarian's tongue these days.  To that end, while I think many of us are becoming quite savvy when it comes to sharing what we do with those who have the power to impact our budgets and positions, I fear we may be missing the boat when it comes to embedding ourselves in education of the next generation of teachers/admininistrators.

In the end, however, I can't help but think that I got just as much (if not more) out of the experience than they did.  While I feel the sessions went well and I received great feedback afterwards, between the two of us, I feel like the big winner. Not only were the students funny and smart, they asked great questions, were willing to try new things and were filled with that new teacher spark - the perfect mixture of idealism, optimism and the unstoppable drive to make a difference. Ah... if only I could bottle that spark.  I'd keep most of it in a special, glass case labeled "In Case of Emergency." The rest I'd load into a one of the supersoaker squirt guns and take aim at those people we ALL work with who really need a good soaking. But I digress.  Even without the bottle (and squirtgun), I couldn't help but feel nostalgic being around them. Nostaligic and inspired.  As much as I hope I was able to help shape the image that these "youngsters" (I nearly cried when the second section informed me they were not alive when I was in middle school) will have of school librarians when they land in their first classrooms, the shape of my world was changed too by their contagious energy and endless enthusiasm - just a little of which rubbed off on me.

The following are my presentations from today's sessions.  As always, everything posted here is free for you to use, share and make better.

 

View more presentations from Jennifer LaGarde

 

It’s a Small World After All – Developing Personal Learning Networks for Students AND Teachers Using 21st Century Techno on Prezi

PS: Thanks so much to everyone who contributed to these presentations!  Your input proved invaluable!  Here's some proof: 

Future teacher:  "Will this symbaloo be available after this session?"
Me:  "Yes. It will be available forever."
FT:  "Really???"
Me:  "Yes."
FT:  "Really???"
Me:  "Yes."
FT:  "Thank you! Thank you! Oh Thank you!"

New Tools for New Teachers

As I prepare for some sessions later this week during which I will get to work with new teachers on the fine arts of collaboration and personal learning, I've been busy making stuff. 

The first is the "Bibliotherapy 2.0" wiki that i solicited help for a few posts ago.  Though I ended up deciding to make the wiki more of a web/conversation curation tool than an actual bibliography, I will be adding the titles so many of you suggested to the discussion portion of the wiki.  THANK YOU!  In the meantime, I'm ready to share the product as it currently looks.  I welcome feedback and will happily grant requests to join if you'd like to be a part of contributing to this resource for new (and not so new) teachers. 

http://bibliotherapy20.wikispaces.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second is a webmix of tools to help new teachers create and contribute to a Personal Learning Network.  This was a lot of fun for me to put together, but I'm sure I'm missing one or two or twenty resources. 

http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/toolsforplnbuilding

Some points of conflict for me are these:  a) I had originally planned to group the content of the webmix a bit more systematically, but I'm still chewing on that.  b) I'm also on the fence about including must read blogs - once I start that, where do I stop?

For now, I'm just anxious to roll up my sleeves and start making mischief with the group of new teachers I'll be working with this week.  Until then, please feel free to make suggestions for improvement or addition.  Your feedback will not only help me but also the fledgling teachers I'll be corrupting working with soon.

Sharing the Power of Books with New Teachers (With Your Help!)

cc image from http://ow.ly/5APci

In a few short weeks I have the tremendous honor of presenting to a group of soon-to-be-teachers who are a part of the NC Teaching Fellows Program. I'm super excited because not only does this provide me with an opportunity to take my message outside the echo chamber of library land, but it also gives me a chance to broaden new teachers' understanding of how school librarians can, and should, be their instructional partners. I like the idea of school librarians being a part of the inservice training of new teachers and, (dare I hope?), new principals.   Of course, I'll post more about these presentations as they take place, but for now, think of this post as a plea for help.

One of my presentations is called Bibliotherapy 2.0 - Using eBooks (and print ones too!) to Reach and Teach Diverse Student Populations. Given the recent hoopla surrounding YA Lit and its, according to some, inherently dark message, I'm really looking forward to showing new teachers how putting the right book in a young person's hand can, literally, change their lives. (And how eReaders afford teachers/librarians the chance to create personalized libraries for students). Anyway, for this presentation, I'm compiling a bibliography of titles that could be used to help students work through problems, conflicts, etc.

This is where you come in.

While I like to think I have a pretty good working knowledge of childrens/young adult literature, (and I've certainly got lots of ideas) I've spent my whole career in middle school (plus one really short stint in high school early on), so I'm afraid my perspective is just a bit skewed.

So... will you help me compile this bibliography for new teachers?

Essentially, I'm looking for recommendations of books that you believe have the potential to help kids/young adults work through problems, issue, conflicts, etc. If you can help me, please leave your recommendations in the comments including (if you can) the title, author, issue dealt with and what age group you think it's appropriate for. An example might be: Cut by Patricia McCormick: Deals with self mutilation; I recommend it for grades 7-12. 

Thanks you so much for helping me help these new teachers (help their students)!