Don’t Forget Your Emergency Plan

Aubree Burkholder

CA

Epstein, S. (2016, October). Don’t Forget Your Emergency Plan. Retrieved from http://publiclibrariesonline.org/2016/10/dont-forget-your-emergency-plan/

Summary:

This article enforces the need for all libraries, and personal homes for that matter, to have an up to date and accurate emergency plan. It goes on to outline the basic key steps to creating an emergency plan and the necessity to update information such as staff contact and emergency information at least annually.

Evaluation:

I enjoyed this article because I feel that it serves as a great reminder to library staff to ensure that an emergency plan is in place and updated on a regular basis. I feel that having or not having an updated emergency plan could very well be the difference between tragedy and triumph in an emergency situation. 

Independent School Librarians and Common Core: What Are We Doing?

Brandt, Alisa

MacLean, C. D. (2013, December 25). Independent school librarians and Common

    Core: What are we doing? [Blog post]. Retrieved from Independent Ideas

    website: http://aislnews.org/?p=841

CO-Collaboration Strategies

CO-School Organization

IL-Communication of Products

I have had over 15 years of experience working in independent school libraries and now eight MLIS courses under my belt. I have noticed a serious lack of scholarly library research materials directed entirely at independent school libraries so my goal is to find materials that will support this underrepresented population.

Most independent schools do not rely on government funding and thus do not have to implement programs such as Common Core. The idea is that the curriculum will have already included those standards and content and more. So, it follows that independent school libraries will have other standards and goals to help the school accomplish their mission.

This article from the Association of Independent School Librarian’s blog Independent Ideas is about how independent school librarians addressed the emergence of Common Core Standards in their libraries. As will most standards and guidelines, independent school librarians tend to study up on the newest state and national standards and look for ways to integrate the best of what would apply to their schools. C. D. MacLean offered her library’s solution of using the AASL CCSS Crosswalk in combination with their school’s own standards to create a document that will help compare their alignment with the state standards. This would allow the librarians to focus on areas that will meet their school standards while including the state standards.

There are also some suggestions of useful LibGuides and an iPad app that will help Language Arts teachers integrate technology into the classroom.
Evaluation: Seeing examples of how independent school librarians are working with state standards helps me understand how I can apply them to my own library. The links and the app suggestion are also very helpful.

The information-seeking behavior of grade-three elementary school

Kari Nelson

IL

REFERENCE

Nesset, V. (2009). The information‐seeking behavior of grade‐three elementary school students. Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 46(1), 1-3.

SUMMARY

Nesset discuss the importance of introducing and experiencing print and electronic sources from a young age. From this study, information seeking in the elementary school is represented in a three phase model: preparing, searching and using.  The preparing stage being the direct instruction of needed vocabulary and steps to complete the process.  The searching stage being the physical action of searching and the using stage is applying what the students learned.  Information seekers in elementary schools need exposure to the three phases early so they can build upon them in upper grades.

EVALUATION

I liked how this article shows that young students are ready to be educated in information seeking. As an educator, I see that children such as kindergarten and 1^st grade don’t complete research because it is “too difficult”. This article shows that we are in a time where they have been prepared for technology and just need the opportunity to have experience with it.

The power of high quality school library programs

Kari Nelson

CO, IL

REFERENCE

Farquharson, M. (2009). The power of high quality school library programs. Teacher Librarian, 36(5), 85-86. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct =true&db=lih&AN=41688122&site=ehost-live

SUMMARY

Farquharson discusses the importance of a library media specialist in bringing about a high quality library program that meets the information needs of students.  With the emerging technologies of today, student information seeking needs are changing and library media specialists need to focus on instructing students in how to read and obtain information from an online source.  In meeting the needs of teachers, a library media specialist needs to provide collaboration opportunities and provide resources that will enable such collaborations to be successful.  By improving communication of knowledge obtained, students are able to become more than information seekers, they can become information producers as well.

EVALUTION

I really enjoyed this article. It helped me to see the importance of collaboration in order to find success in a school library.

4 Powerful BYOD Apps For The Disconnected Classroom

Keith, E.K.

IL-Communication of Products

KtBkr4. (2013). Tools. Retrieved from Edudemic: http://www.edudemic.com/byod-apps-classroom/

  

An interesting statistic is referenced in this article. According to Pew Research from May 2013, 95% of teens are connecting to the Internet, mostly by cell phone. So, the author encourages teachers to take advantage of this statistic by using free apps to connect the student to the classroom.

These free apps include: 

• Edmodo
• Curriculet
• ClassDojo
• Khan Academy. 

It is important for teacher librarians to develop a curiosity about what kinds of free tools are available that may have interesting new applications for students. It is clear that using new tools has the potential to yield new results for students.

Keith, E.K.

CO - Collaboration
CO - Collaboration Tools
IL - Communication of Products
online learning

The Must-Have Tools for Online Learning

Reference:

Davidson, P. (2014, January 8). The must-have tools for online learners. Retrieved from Edudemic: http://www.edudemic.com/tools-for-online-learners/

  

More collaboration tools! This is a list of tools that the author believes are essential for online learning. Although Blogger is one of the items mentioned, this list seems to assume that everyone already knows about the Google options, and offers ideas outside of that box. The list headings are generic, and the author offers specific details in the text. The applications mentioned in the article are all free to use. They include: Blogger, KidBlog, UberConference, Facebook, Evernote, and Edmodo.

Here are the must-have tools for online learners:

* Webcam

* Headset

* Blog

* Conference Program

* Social Media

* Software to use for note-taking

* Educational Software for online learning

Because this is a very good-looking blog, the fact-checker in me always goes to the source. So, I went to each of these sites to check them out. There were a couple that really got my attention. UberConference holds really interesting possibilities for collaboration, and I wonder if anyone in our class has any experience using it. Evernote also got my attention, and while I was there I also learned about Skitch. If you like to annotate pictures, check out Skitch. It is also free.

This list is helping me grow my understanding of the number of FREE tools that are out there to aid in online collaboration and online learning. It is also making it clear how quickly things change in the online world!