Creativity in the School Library

Encourage summer reading with some of these suggestions! Feel free to make a copy and change the squares as needed. 

Susan K.S. Grisby writes: "Personalized professional development in schools has been a rising trend for years, but what many schools don’t realize is that their greatest asset for professional development is already in their building. The librarian, to be exact. Librarians and media specialists are some of the most highly trained, highly versatile staff a school has at their disposal. The library is not just “the room where the books are,” but the entry point for new, innovative technologies, as well as the hub from which those new technologies are introduced to the entire school."

(Image: SEMS Library)

"If you haven't had time to look up from the frenzy, the end of the year is HERE! And with the end of another academic year, often comes the annual gathering of stats. Jess Denke, Public Services Librarian at the Trexler Library at DeSales University, has created an infographic that really illustrates how her library was used."

Last week, a teacher asked me to help her students explore “our amazing nonfiction collection.” (Her words, really!) Students have always been reluctant browsers in our nonfiction section, even though we put our most enticing titles on display. With our construction project this year, it’s been even worse, as we weeded and condensed nonfiction from five to three rows and the new signage isn’t up yet. I thought about revising our speed dating lesson with all nonfiction categories. Then at lunch another teacher asked me to address persuasive techniques with her class. I recently found the Break Your Own News website and used that to introduce a website evaluation lesson. First flash of brilliance--I realized we could use the site to create book talkers for our nonfiction books! I quickly created a presentation about persuasive techniques in advertising, with videos for each technique.

Nicole Davies writes: "Librarians are far more than stackers and catalogers. They are creative curators of their book collections. They review and renew their flocks of books, adjusting what they have to fit their readers, highlighting certain sections and topics to reflect the world. They are on hand to guide and encourage, to foster relationships between books and people. Subtly, quietly, inexorably, they weave individuals into a community. They make a library shimmer, as if the books were the scales of a dragon flexing as it folds and flies."

Some tips on how I plan on hitting reset midway through the school year. None of them involve sneaking kittens into the library!

From the website: Listen online to relaxing sound atmospheres, ambient music or chilling sound effects. You can even create and mix your own moods, all for free.

I wanted to share how we use Instagram, and I also am massively jealous of my daughter's blog writing in the BuzzFeed sort of format. I played with several things and finally just made a Google Site so I could upload the photos the way I wanted. 

Someone on LM_NET asked about doing a March Madness activity in the library. Here's how we do ours:

Each year has a theme. We've done:

• Favorite series
• Best book into movie
• Favorite literary hero or villain
• Sweet Escape: a fictional place you'd like to visit, if only for one day

We start with a Sweet 16 round. We post the brackets in our large windows that face out onto the campus. Be sure to post the entire bracket since some students won't be familiar with the process! We just put placeholders in for the upcoming brackets: Elite 8, Final 4 and Championship round.

Now for the voting! We use Google Forms, and you should, too! It's so easy to create them. We leave each voting bracket open for a week, and each day we print the graphs created by the Forms that show which book is leading. We do allow students to vote more than once since some students are so excited about "their" book.  

We promote March Madness with the help of our student TV channel.  The news crew records in front of the display, or we just send them daily updates that they read. We usually see an uptick in voting immediately after the news airs during homeroom.

Here is a link to a folder with more photos of our windows and some of the forms.  This is by far one of our students' favorite activities and generates a lot of book discussion on campus. It does take a bit of time to create the initial display, as we have to find cover images for all the books. Once you have those, it should be an easy job for a student aide or volunteer to update the brackets. Google Forms could not be easier, so if you're not using it now, go spend a few minutes playing with it! 

Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions.

"Julie Todaro, President of the American Library Association, ALA and Eleni Miltsakaki, founder and CEO of Choosito! sat down with Rod Berger to discuss the role of librarians in today's schools.1 Contrary to the widely held notion that the role of the librarian is shrinking, both Todaro and Miltsakaki make strong arguments for the increased importance of librarians as overseers of an endless stream of Internet data. Todaro and Miltsakaki agree that students, more than ever, need the guidance of librarians in their educational lives."

A group of tech-savvy librarians offer up a list of their favorite education apps this year.

"Storytelling has been around as long as humankind. It is one of the most effective ways to communicate an important truth to another person. It is a connection point between two people. It gives meaning, context, and understanding in a world that is often filled with chaos and disorder.

Because of this, educators must use stories if they hope to reach their students. Stories will stay with people much longer than facts or statistics. If a teacher becomes an excellent storyteller, he or she can ensure that any concept they teach will be remembered for years to come.

Stories don’t just work well for narratives; they can be used to illustrate scientific or mathematical processes as well. Take for example the difference between learning a formula, and the ability to solve that problem in the context of a real-life example. Stories bring information, knowledge, and truth to life.

If you're not using Google Keep, you're missing out on a powerful organizational tool. Here are some of my favorite tips!

Kelly Jensen writes: "To welcome in spring and to keep your love for books and reading alive, how about a round-up of ideas to have a more bookish season? Some of these suggestions are easy, while others might require a bit of work. Some are straightforward, while others might require you to interpret what they mean. The fun is just that; these are meant to be inspiring ideas, sparks for taking your literary life to another level and finding magic in moments where you might not otherwise."

Diana Rendina writes: "School libraries are starting makerspaces all over the world. It’s an exciting time in education as we rediscover the power of creativity. But many schools rush to start makerspaces so quickly that they neglect building the maker culture. Developing a maker culture is a lot like developing a love of reading, it takes time and persistence and it’s totally worth it. Here’s a few ways that you can work to cultivate a love of making and creativity in your students."

Kristen Mattson writes: "I LOVE Canva. It makes me look like a graphic design superstar without much effort at all. This week I used the free online tool to create custom bookmarks that go along with our "Walk a Mile" reading challenge. The "Etsy Cover Photo" template inside of Canva is the PERFECT size and shape for bookmarks."

Kelly Jensen writes: "For some of us, winter feels like it encompasses not a season, but half of a year. It’s a time of quiet and a time when things seem to be dialed back in the world around us (except, perhaps, in places where you get to experience snow or sleet or freezing rain or freezing fog and know exactly what kind of snow is best for making snowmen and what kind will break your back while shoveling). It’s also a time when many begin to really feel the impact of seasonal affective disorder and moods and energy can be low."

Lee Watanabe-Crockett writes: "Here are 6 great reasons to begin exploring digital storytelling in your classroom along with some suggestions for tools to get you started."

From the website: "Inspired by kids and grounded in research, Novel Engineering is an innovative approach to integrate engineering and literacy in elementary and middle school.

Students use existing classroom literature - stories, novels, and expository texts - as the basis for engineering design challenges that help them identify problems, design realistic solutions, and engage in the Engineering Design Process while reinforcing their literacy skills.

A.J. Juliani writes: "Libraries are vastly important to our social and economic future. We often forget that in many communities, many schools, and many areas around our country (and the world) libraries serve as a refuge for not only reading but also learning.

There’s a movement in the United States and many other countries to add makerspaces to libaries. We are going through a process now in my school district of planning and looking at what a library should look like in 2016 and beyond.

I know libraries are a sacred place because I was a bookworm growing up. I also know that these spaces can be used for making, creating, and designing, as much as they can be used for reading, researching, and consuming information.

But in a rush to make the library more about creation, we must not forget that it is a place that still needs to be focused on literacy. It still needs books, it needs adults to encourage reading, it needs to be open and safe and free."

Laura Fleming writes: "Design thinking as a creative process is messy learning. Done well, it uncovers unmet needs and produces innovative new models. Today, schools around the world are teaching design thinking to their students to foster innovation skills. Increasingly, we find school teams learning and leveraging the process to tackle their issues: homework, schedules, student engagement, and learning and play spaces."