LIBE 467 Assignment #2: Creating a Community of Learners

http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/

This assignment took me on an interesting journey. As we transition towards a LLC at Kidston Elementary, and look to build an environment that allows students to explore, research, and learn in a variety of ways, we also have to create this environment for our colleagues. Creating a hub of collaboration and sharing, empowers a community of learners!

 As I have done many times, I turned to the suggested Leading Learning website, to find some key points in terms of collaboration. I was drawn to a specific quote "...learning commons are positioned as centres of teaching expertise which is achieved through a combination of resources, technologies, collaborative strategies, and physical and virtual learning spaces that support all learners as they evolve." ("Leading Learning – Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada", 2019). I believe this encompasses the idea that we are servicing everyone in our community, and through collaboration, we can truly empower our community to become life-long learners. 

  As we make our transition, I am hoping our LLC can have an impact on the way our teachers approach their teaching practices, and help them enhance their programs with a variety of new resources and technologies.

At Kidston, we are trying to move some staff out of the GREEN zone! 

  For this assignment, I have decided to go with the SAMR model, as technology is a major focus at Kidston right now. We are currently looking to upgrade the technology we have, and provide more options for teachers at all levels in our school. A technology committee has been formed, to discuss the approach we would like to take, and how money will be spent most effectively. We have a wide range of comfort levels, and most of our staff falls under the label of "not using technology at all vs. using technology on a daily basis," with very few falling in-between the two bookends. To give an example, we have some staff that are reluctant to create a Google account, so we can build an online computer cart sign-out system. Even some of our staff, that regularly use technology, would rather continue with the "pen and paper" system, because "it works just fine". As it is stated on the Lingo Media Blog "Growth in technology within the education sector has advanced rapidly. This movement has increased the learning capability of students and the techniques of educators." (Lingo Media, 2015). Creating a culture change, and giving our teachers the tools and knowledge they need to utilize technology, will be a key point in my examples for this assignment.

  I am fortunate to have an actual experience I can share, and I have decided to focus on one example, and the progression made into the Substitution stage, and the realization of the teacher, that we could also make the jump to Augmentation. I have been asked by our intermediate teachers, to work with  our Grade 3 population, to prepare them with more knowledge of technology as they move into Grade 4. It has been noticed (especially during FSA's), that the majority of our students lacked the skills to even login to their personal accounts. Time for change!

Mrs. Striller's Grade 3 Class

Part 1 - Substitution Stage: 

Mrs. Striller is an example of someone that has not yet ventured into the Substitution stage of the SAMR model. She has very little background with technology (other than daily attendance and e-mail), and is reluctant to change her ways. She has been in our school for 12 years, and has 20 plus years of teaching experience. However, after a recent staff meeting, she decided it was time to take advantage of some of the teaching time I have as a TL, and requested some support in creating PowerPoint presentations, to go along with a recent research project her students completed about an animal of their choice. She had mentioned, when taking out non-fiction books for the project, that our selection of animals was limited, and we should look to update this area of our library. I agreed fully, and let her know this was the next task on the list. I knew that this would be an opportunity to give her some simple ways for students to research, and find pictures using technology. This is a very clear example of moving into the Substitution stage (and further into Augmentation) and the the thought that "While we are long beyond this stage in classrooms at the richer end of the education spectrum, many places are still progressing through this first stage." (Lingo Media, 2015).

To give Mrs. Striller an idea of where we are, and where we would like to go, I first had her watch a couple of videos, demonstrating the SAMR model. The first video is a general overview of the stages. This allowed Mrs. Striller to see the possibilities with her students, and how easy it would be to move into the Substitution stage. Having her students take the information they researched, and transfer to a slideshow that can be shared with their peers, is a simple example of taking away the paper, and writing on a computer. It was here that she mentioned, the fear of teaching the students to simply login to the computers, was the fist hurdle she needed to get past. This was an easy fix, after a single lesson, the students in her class explored logging in and simply opened and played with PowerPoint. I demonstrated how to pick a theme, as well as add slides and text. We also had the class logout of their computers, and log back in, to reinforce this simple stage (both for the students, and the Mrs. Striller!)

The second video was where Mrs. Striller saw the opportunity to move from Substitution, into the Augmentation stage, and and she started to get excited about the possibilities for her students learning. As she watched this video, she started asking about all the "bells and whistles" that her students could use to enhance their presentation. Over the course of the next few weeks, we began introducing new and exciting opportunities for her students. 

In the Substitution stage, we had the students simply transfer each of their research pages into a single slide (Habitat, Predators, Prey, Appearance & Physical Adaptations, etc...). The students were focused on creating full sentences, with proper punctuation and capitalization, as well as using bullet point features. They quickly noticed the tools that would help them create better sentences and improve their spelling! Once the students had all of their information transferred, which did take some time (insert the need for typing practice here), we were then able to move from the Substitution portion of the project, and spice things up in the Augmentation phase. While we are currently entering this stage, I will discuss some of the tools and resources we are looking to use with the class. 

Part 2 - Augmentation Stage: 

It was very rewarding when Mrs. Striller watched the second video, and asked what extras we could include. As to not overwhelm her or the students, I have decided to focus on three things: 

1. Adding transitions/animations
2. Using online reference sources 
3. Inserting images (and possibly videos)

While adding images, transitions, and animations is fun, and thoroughly enjoyed by the students, it is the use of online resources that really takes us to the next level of Augmentation. Now that the students have the ability to login, open, edit text, and save their projects, we need to give them more tools to use, to fully enhance their projects.

SD 22 Digital Resources Available for Student Use

We will be focusing on World Book Kids

Mrs. Striller was amazed at how simple and easy it is to access World Book Kids, and she is very excited to have her students add to the information they have found in non-fiction books. We will be using this resource to find and add some pictures and for those students that have some advanced skills, we will give them a couple video options they can select from and add to their presentations. 

I feel that Mrs. Striller has stepped out of her comfort zone, and taken a huge risk in terms of her teaching practices. She has ventured from no computer use, jumped into the Substitution phase, and now she is excited to move forward into the Augmentation zone! Through collaboration, she is now more willing and able to bring technology, and new resources into her classroom. While many of us may see this as a little step, this is a huge step forward for both Mrs. Striller and her students. She is already looking at ways to implement technology into the other subject areas (she was interested in the Math component in the earlier video), and possibly exploring applications on iPads as well. The ultimate goal, will be independence, and the ability to use these tools without direct support. However, with the weekly time built in to my TL schedule, there is opportunity for weekly check-ins and support. Mrs. Striller's goal for next year, is to have these presentations ready to show at Student Led Conferences. She has also realized, that while we do need to update our current non-fiction selection, there are others ways to find more up to date and relevant information online. With the tools we have at our fingertips (paid for by the district), we must make sure we are taking advantage, and giving our students a variety of options in their learning. This is also a goal for our school as a whole, as we transition to a Library Learning Commons. 

In thinking about moving Mrs. Striller out of the enhancement zone, and into transformation, I will be having a discussion about Google Apps for Education, and using the accounts available for our students. Being able to implement Google Slides, and even possibly allow students to work in pairs and collaborate to complete their projects seems to be a logical next step. Creating a slideshow that multiple students can work on simultaneously, would open up a whole new world, plus the opportunity for the students to engage in their learning at home! Right now, with PowerPoint, the students are somewhat limited to working on their projects during class time. There have been some students, that have asked if they have access at home. Giving the students the tools and ability to further explore these programs at home, will only prepare them more as they move on to their intermediate years. Through continued collaboration, I feel that Mrs. Striller can make this transition into the Modification and Redefinition zones, and add yet another tool to her technology bank! For now, I am appreciative of the risks Mrs. Striller has taken with her teaching practices, and her willingness to make a change. 

 

References:

Bethel Innovation Technology. (2014). SAMR Elementary Example [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZVUd7jZaS0

Canadian Library Association,. (2014). Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada. Retrieved 4 March 2016, from http://clatoolbox.ca/casl/slic/llsop.pdf

I Choose Brave. (2019). Little Step for Big Gains [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.ichoosebrave.com/an-intentional-life-small-steps-big-gains/

Lingo Media. (2015). The SAMR Model [Image]. Retrieved from http://lingomedia.com/stages-of-edtech-the-samr-model-for-technology-integration/

Media, L. (2015). The 4 Stages of EdTech – The SAMR Model for Technology Integration [Blog]. Retrieved from http://lingomedia.com/stages-of-edtech-the-samr-model-for-technology-integration/

Llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca. (2019). Leading Learning – Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada. [online] Available at: http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/ [Accessed 3 Mar. 2019]

School District No. 22. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.sd22.bc.ca/Schools/libraries/libraryResources/Pages/default.aspx

Spencer, J. (2015). What is the SAMR Model and what does it look like in schools? [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC5ARwUkVQg

Swarthmore. (2019). Google Apps for Education [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.swarthmore.edu/google-swarthmore