A Library Science Blog

As I have been completing my Librarian Practicum, I have noticed that a librarian's schedule is very important for so many different reasons. The students need access to materials 24/7, teachers need assistance and library space, and administrators have needs and requests as well. Aside from all of that, the librarian has to plan when they are going to work on everything else: planning lessons, collecting materials, weeding, reading advocacy, school clubs, etc. The list goes on.  I think that there is a happy medium between a flexible schedule and a fixed schedule. For example, on the days the librarian is giving lessons, the library should only be open for checking out books. A flexible schedule will work most other days. This also depends on the space of the library. If a teacher wants to use a space in the library to teach a lesson, the library may have to be closed as well. But again, the library always remains open for students needing access to books. Here's an elementary...

Coming fresh from the classroom, it's important for librarians to empathize with teachers. Think about all of the tasks they have to complete on a day-to-day basis: the grades, lesson planning, implementing UDL and other educational strategies, walk-throughs, observations from administration, professional development, etc etc. The list goes on. With this in mind, the librarian should be a supplement to the teacher. We should look at the scope and sequence of the curriculum. We should ask the teacher what they have in mind for delivering the content. After receiving all of this information, we can begin to support the teacher with their lessons, adding any type of literacy support that will help the students. My goal is to not be a burden to the teacher. I want the teacher to feel supported, relieved, and pleasantly surprised at how the librarian can help in the classroom. 

This course has been one of my favorites in the Library Science program at SHSU. We didn't just read about current tech trends, but we got to create as well! My favorite module was the Information Ethics module because I got to create a lesson plan and that is my favorite thing to do! If you'd like to take a look, the slides are linked here:  Information Ethics Lesson The tools that excite me the most are podcasts, Animoto, infographics, and anything in Canva! I love that Dr. Gross gave us other apps to consider besides Canva. Although I loved exploring the other apps, Canva is still my number one, but I'm glad I have more options now. The hardest thing for me to do was create a podcast. I hate my voice! I feel like my middle school kids right now but it's true! I did not want to hear myself talking about anything educational. I don't ever want to sound pretentious or superior. We are all learning every day! With that being said, it was a great challenge for me to o...

Universal Design is a teaching framework that helps educators improve learning for all students. Everyone learns differently, this is why it's important to provide differentiation in your lessons. One size does not fit all in education. Students need the opportunity to learn in their own authentic way. This may mean more frontloading on the teacher's part, but it also ensures a successful learning environment. Here's a small graphic that outlines the basic framework of the UDL design: Source:  https://www.ahead.ie/udl-framework For the past three years, my district has trained teachers to implement the fundamental five in the classroom. This includes: Framing the lesson Frequent, small-group, purposeful talk Work in the power zone Recognize and reinforce Critical writing This is a formula for quality instruction that naturally incorporates UDL. The author and researcher of this formula are Sean Cain and Mike Laird:  Laird, M., & Cain, S. (2011b). The Fundamental 5: The ...

Podcasts are becoming more and more popular in today's society. They are used for many different reasons: entertainment, storytelling, true crime, etc. The most popular podcasts are the ones that also offer videos with the podcast. Many podcasters post clips from the podcast on TikTok or Instagram to garnish attention. They can gain many more subscribers by posting high-engaging clips from their episodes. As I explored different podcast platforms, I came across three that were very user-friendly.  The first one is Buzzsprout.  Buzzsrpout is a free platform. You can post up to 2 hours of content once a month. If you'd like to post more material, you can pay a subscription fee. The platform also offers analytics on your episodes. You can see how much engagement you have gotten from listeners and what episodes are most popular. The next platform I signed up for was Spotify's podcasters.  This platform wasn't as easy to log into. You have to manually sign up and enter perso...

Creating cartoons and comic strips in the classroom is an excellent way for students to process information. It's also a good way for the teacher to assess the student's knowledge of the lesson objective. Below are three comic strips that I created using Fotojet, Pixton, and Make Beliefs Comix.  Fotojet  was the most accessible platform to use. They have templates created for you, so you only need to fill in the template. You can easily change the image or the speech bubbles. You could have students create a quick comic on the main idea of the lesson, for example, the comic below was created with the main idea of AI. The next application that I used was Pixton.  This app is harder to navigate and it takes more work to create a comic or a cartoon, however, there are a lot of design options. This is a great app for students who are into graphic design and are more comfortable creating comics on their own without the help of a template. The only problem with this app is that...