The Lessons of the Holiday Havoc GooseChase

Let's try another staff GooseChase, I thought.

Let's have a great big departmental prize, I thought (with the magnificent assistance of our principal and bookkeeper, of course!).

It will be a fun team-building activity, I thought.

Well...

I was right.

And I was somewhat of course in that I didn't anticipate the true depths of competitive spirit of some of our staff members.

There are only seven missions, and the prize is $500 in instructional funds for the winning department! It immediately started with one department going to the administration telling them, "It's on!" This started the first rivalry. Once another department realized what could be purchased with the funds, things started heating up.

Accusations of possible improprieties, insinuations of cross-team assistance leading to "banishment (albeit temporary)," and other situations calling for me to become judge and jury suddenly arose. This after the issue of the "free" program required in one mission showing it's ugly hidden side in that IT'S NOT REALLY FREE!

OH, MY.

However, all of this was done with smiles, laughter, and a lot of good-natured fun so we'll see who wins! 

Black Holes of Technology and Creating Websites

As students finished creating their book trailers in Library Science this week, they were using a variety of film mediums: iMovie, green screen, stop motion, or animation. Meanwhile, multiple English classes at a time were using every available device to work on research papers in the library. This led to some periods of feeling stretched rather thin as Theater Arts students came to finish piecing together last week's silent movies on iPads as well.

By the middle of the week, the buildup of "cookies" on the computers and chrome books had one finicky database succumbing to the black hole of technology with multiple error messages cropping up on most devices. ("MMMM...I love cookies," says my inner cookie monster!   "YUCK! I hate cookies," says the librarian/research assistant in me!) Our normal fix of clearing the browser history worked at first, but then the devices themselves became irritated with us and began to play all sorts of tricks on the users. By the end of the day on Wednesday, I was ready to bring back the Index to Periodicals' Multi-Volume Shelves...you know, those giant green books...almost...

But I did take a few hours to rethink the unit beginning on Thursday for Library Science: Pathfinders. Did I really want to spend the days until Thanksgiving helping multiple English classes researching with databases and my Library Science classes creating pathfinders using databases? The unit after that I wasn't ready to start, but I needed something interactive and involving research so...they are creating websites.

Not just any websites. Fake news websites. By combining the last unit on evaluating websites and their research skills, students are creating websites that must challenge the evaluator to 1) believe it at least partially and 2) set themselves as an authority on the topic. They are already having fun with this, and I am looking forward to grading them over the Thanksgiving break.

Technology Tribulations

Today is this day we sort-of closed the library for a technology situation.

By sort-of, I mean we still had the CCP students in here working on computers, an English class came in for research, and the green screen was in use for two blocks. However, the main area of the library was closed because we were assembling multiple chromebook carts and having to unbox, barcode, label, and process 32 chrome books per cart! This generated a lot of piles of "stuff" around the libraries and filled multiple tables with stacks of devices.

The good news? This is helping us move more towards a 1:1 system, although with an ever-growing population and some aging devices it's an uphill climb. Also, these devices will be ready for use for fall semester exams in December!

Chasing Geese

Well, not literally.

I just decided to use GooseChase scavenger hunts in the library this year. Joining a game is free, and no accounts are needed for students. The free app has been put on all our iPads at my request.

Today was the inauguration of GooseChase research skills. After attending Discovery Education Network Summer Institute (DENSI) is July, I really wanted to try using the GooseChase app with students and staff. The staff has been a hard sell...with the exceptions of a few ultra-competitive people. The staff games (we're on #2) have been team and morale building in purpose.

At first, I wasn't sure how to create one for students. I don't see every class, and my educator edition is limited to 40 participants or 10 teams so an entire school GooseChase, with 2200 students, would be impossible even if I had multiple identical games going at the same time. Then a senior English teacher approached me about a research project. Normally, I take the first research project a class is doing as the opportunity to review databases, citations, ways to avoid plagiarism, and so on. Seniors, however, have already been through that review one, two, or three times. (Not all English classes come to the library for research. Some use devices in the classroom.) What can I do differently to engage them?

A GooseChase Review!

With much thought to the most important skills that would need refreshing, I created six scavenger hunt missions. The intent of each? To remind students of:

• Boolean Search strategies
• Finding the databases
• Using authoritative websites
• Citations
• Paraphrasing/direct quotes

Each table of students was assigned to an already established team. Once they logged in, they could use chrome books for the research and submit the evidence on the team's iPad. Bonus points were available in some of the tasks, but not all. Students were reminded of those bonus points. 

Another thing I did was create a start/stop time for each of the 4 games. (To prevent students from an earlier class logging in on a phone after their class, each block was a separate game with identical teams and missions.) When students finished the missions or time was up, they started their research project individually. Devices were already distributed for the game and it was a seamless transition. This then gave me time to evaluate each team's submissions and to assign the bonus points as earned. For all three classes, those bonus points made the difference between teams.

First block: These students were enthusiastic in learning there wasn't a boring presentation to sit through. All teams participated and submitted several missions but all ran out of time to complete every mission. The main thing they had forgotten? Boolean searching.

Second block: This was an honors class. Some students were less than enthusiastic because they wanted to just get started on the project and not review at all. Interestingly enough, those "jump in" students had the most difficulty with the tasks! 

Third block: This was the competitive class...bonus points were attempted by all teams. Several students had forgotten how to access the databases. Another good reason to review!

Overall, the English teacher and I were pleased with this activity. It will definitely be used again with classes needing a review. The next GooseChase? Analyzing Websites. 

(Although I don't have a class lined up for that one, my philosophy is, "If you create it, they will GooseChase!")

Calendar

The calendar is full...no, seriously. Yesterday was six English classes for research, four classes for class novels, a class needing the computers because their lab was being re-imaged, and two classes here for research...all in a four block day. And this is just the beginning of research season!

Whew! (Anybody know any quick cloning/robot building techniques? I think I need more than one of me...)

One thing I will be doing differently when a senior class comes in for a refresher on databases is a GooseChase. Because most seniors have used the databases before, I want to try something different when they start researching that's more interactive and engaging. If it works well, I will probably create one for juniors, too.

Library Science I classes all began their stop motion animation projects on copyright. Based on preliminary planning by the students, this should be very interesting! This project is new to the course, and I'm looking forward to the results. Hopefully they won't encounter difficulties tomorrow while I am administering the PSAT.

Books Ahoy, Week 2

This year the Books Ahoy Mobile Library Cart is travelling to every English class over the course of two days. (Up to seven classes on Thursday and up to seven on Friday each block.) This is really helping get my FitBit steps on those two days!

It's a bit of a long haul out to the last two classes each block on Fridays since they are in the very first ( which means FARTHEST away) cabana (a.k.a. mobile classroom). Sidewalks would help, but the cart is managing to survive the bumpy boardwalk. It's easier with two people. However, sometimes I will be by myself when seniors are busy with meetings, senior trips, etc. (Building muscles!)

My question becomes the organization on the cart. All books on the cart are labeled with the new genre label. Should I separate and cluster each genre together, or should I just keep them randomized on the cart? I am trying to determine which would increase circulation and student interest the most.

Although some classes are a bit of a hard sell on checking out a book to read, circulation numbers are increasing. I am looking forward to that trend continuing through both the cart and when the fiction section is genrefied.

On another note, Mr. Wall, the Tech facilitator with whom I share an office, is on the senior trip today. That leaves me to "put out technology fires" in what I sincerely hope is a figurative sense...like the invasion of minions last year, technology fires seem to ignite when Mr. Wall is away....By 7:30 this morning, the fires appeared somewhat manageable as you can see by the fire extinguisher I attempted to use. Hopefully that continues all day.

Let the Genrefication Games Begin

Now that our labels are here, the first task has begun!

Our first task at moving the fiction section into genres is to place transparent colored labels on the existing spine label. The colors correspond to different genres.

Our color codes will be:
Green: Historical Fiction
Orange: Action/Adventure
Purple: Mystery/Suspense
Red: Horror/Thriller
White: Sports Fiction
Aqua: Paranormal
Blue: Realistic Fiction
Fluorescent Pink: Romance
Fluorescent Yellow: Fantasy
Gray: Dystopian
Burgundy: Science Fiction

Students are using the existing catalog to look for the genre. Some MARC records, however, don't list it. Our backup plan had been GoodReads...Naturally, we discovered that GoodReads will not load correctly on a chromebook. Not a big problem, but making a few books a little more difficult to label.

My library assistants are currently working on A-Dec...the center library shelves. When those are done, we'll begin on the tall shelves at the back of the library. This step will take a little while!

Breakout

In June I decided to revamp some of the ways my Library Science classes will cover different subjects. One of my new strategies became using a breakout box.

(For those that are unfamiliar with breakouts, you have a box with multiple locks of varying types  keeping it closed. Students are given a "story" and tasks/clues to lead to the combination of the locks. These tasks/clues should be instructional, academic, skill-based, and/or review in nature.)

Now when I went to the week-long DENSI conference, I attended a session on how to create your own breakout. One of the suggestions was to have a clue lead to another clue and then to the combination of a lock.

Well.....

Although I felt the 13 tasks were fairly straight-forward, there was one important thing I forgot to anticipate and take into account:

MY STUDENTS ALL TEND TO OVER-ANALYZE EVERYTHING.

That's right, they made it more difficult than it really was! For example, one clue said to "skip over just a bit and see what your rights are." The book the clue was found in was in the 347's of the Dewey Decimal System. Five books away on the same shelf is a book titled, What Are My Right?. The students were looking at shelves above, below, and two/three shelves away because "Due Process," court cases, and the judicial system all "deal with my rights."

Finally, I had to give them hints. "It's on the same shelf." Well, that led to them looking at almost every book EXCEPT the correct one. "Whose rights?" (answer: my rights. "Yes, now remember that.") Still, no luck. Finally, I just chuckled and told them they would all be smacking their own foreheads when they saw what the correct answer was....and they all did.

We haven't gotten through the entire box's clue. One class did get one extra lock opened compared to the other classes so I am giving them 30 minutes today to move forward. Hopefully they will have learned that I am not making this into rocket science...

To Weed or Not to Weed

This is a very important question! We have some obvious choices: books that, although brand new in appearance, are actually quite old. These books were part of the "school start-up package" and would not have been individually selected. (Louis L'Amour anyone?) However, that's where the easy part ends.

The reason for switching fiction to genrefied is simple: connect students with the books they want to read! If a student enjoys mysteries, having all the mysteries together allows the student to find new authors in the genre of choice. We have so many great books that are somewhat "lost" because a student who would enjoy it might not look at that particular shelf when browsing.

So the question becomes" "Would this book be enjoyed once in a genre location?" This was easy to answer for some non-circulating books, but not so easy for others. Why not leave the books and see? Well, moving to a genre organized collection is a lot of work. The more books, the more work you have to do. Each book is labeled by genre, then genres are separated to new shelves. Finally, each book must have a sublocation created in the library program to help students find them from the online catalog and to aid in inventory at the end of the year. This means weeding the collection in advance is a time-saver in the long run.

New Beginnings

Yes! The 2018-19 school year has arrived with a....hmmm...don't like bang. Maybe a bunch of virtual balloons?

What's happening in the library?

To start the year with some fun, I created a GooseChase scavenger hunt for teachers...It ends tomorrow, so there is still time to win that Starbucks gift card!!!!!

For students, this year there are 3 blocks with Library Science I classes. Hooray! Classes have multiple students in them and are going well. Tomorrow they get to learn how to use the green screen and film their first assignment on it.

A CCP (College and Career Promise) class is meeting Mondays and Wednesdays 1st block in the our back classroom area. It's a FULL class with 42 students. A few of those students hang out Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays since they don't have class. Other CCP students are finding the library a great place to be when their classes don't meet so the new Google Sign-in form is in use quite a bit.

This year, the Books Ahoy cart will travel to every English class on either Thursday or Friday. I'm excited to provide students the opportunity to check out a book and return it through their classes. We've got a bunch of new and high interest books on the cart, ready for it to begin once we are on a regular bell schedule.

New signage is calling attention to different genres this year. I've started with Zombies, Realistic Fiction, Science Fiction, and Murder Mysteries/Thrillers.

Finally, a great deal of weeding has begun because we are going to GENREFY this year! This year-long process will involve weeding books, labeling every book with a colored spine label to indicate it's main genre, moving the books into genre areas, and the changing the sublocation in the computer for every book.....I'm tired just thinking about it! One step at a time, though, and it should be done by the end of May.

DENSI2018

First, it's pronounced Den-s-i. Not Den-c. I know, it might take a little getting used to that extra syllable.

Back in the early spring, I applied to attend the Discovery Education Network Summer Institute because it would be held in Wilmington at UNC-W. As a DEN Ambassador and DEN STAR who trains teachers and others about how to best utilize this great resource, I felt this would be a wonderful way to receive more training myself, network with others from around the world, and find ways to help the teachers at CHHS use Discovery Ed.

Fortunately for me, I was accepted.

Starting yesterday, July 15, I have been at DENSI. Although living on campus is taking a little getting used to, not to mention walking all over a campus again, so far this has been a marvelous experience. I have already learned ways to work with students who need the written words of the videos on Discovery Ed, leveled texts within the site, more strategies for teachers to use...IT'S ONLY BEEN ONE DAY AND A SESSION ON SUNDAY!

Talk about feeling a bit overwhelmed! I try to keep notes but can't always keep up. Fortunately we are being given so many great resources. Tomorrow we have a field trip to help us learn more, and, of course, the best resource so far has been...

...my Discovery Channel Shark Week Hat! (as modeled here with my fellow teammate, Miguel from Miami!)

Captain is also enjoying himself:

 Wearing the fin!

 (He's a bear. A bear's gotta eat.)

 With new friends, Jonathan from London and Diego from Mexico.

 Getting ready to use DE for World Emoji Day!

 More ways to differentiate with DE!

Whose plate belongs to whom?

 Virtual Reality

 Seahawk Popcorn!

 Merge Cubes for 3-D experiences

 Engineering contest!

 Mohamed Ali from Egypt!

 Motto to remember!!!!!

Recap

Somehow time disappeared, and I appear to be missing a few months. NO, I don't want them back. That would mean recalling all seniors and everyone retaking exams...

Here's a recap:

The foot is mostly fine and Da Boot is gone.

The school year finished as it normally does: inventory, inventory, inventory! Shelf order, cleaning, exams, etc.

Other than that, what else to say about the missing months?

I spent 2 weeks in June in professional development. More on that later.

Feel caught up? Good!

ReIntroducing "Da Boot"

Although my Library Assistants and Library Science Students would much prefer I create and dedicate an Instagram page to Da Boot, I will simply dedicate one blog post instead to the rather ugly device being worn upon my left foot at the moment. We shall call the device "Da Boot." (And I have vehemently rejected the idea of continuing to wear Da Boot long after the doctor's okay to ditch Da Boot simply to dress and photograph Da Boot in new and interesting outfits!) I wore a similar device a while back on my right foot, which became Rudolph, Frosty, and other Christmas-themed boots. Hence the "re-introduction" of Da Boot.

Because anything this ugly has to have attempts made to make its appearance more palatable, I have decorated it everyday since the incident.

To summarize the incident: over spring break I decided to paint the foyer, downstairs hallway, stairwell, upstairs hallway, living room, and kitchen walls. (blast those open floor plans!) On the morning of day two, I slid down the step ladder as my heel went "thump, thump, thump, THUMP" on the steps of the ladder --- did I mention I was walking down it like a set of stairs? Needless to say I spent the next 6 days walking on the ball of my foot to avoid my heel as the pain worsened. I did finish painting, continued my second job as a cashier, ended spring break, and finally decided I'd better see the doctor.

Diagnosis? Initially I did tissue damage to the heel and bottom of the foot. Walking on the ball of my foot caused ankle tissue damage. Oooops. Although Da Foot is feeling better and Da Swelling has decreased, Da Boot has stay stick around for a few more days. Each day, Da Boot has had a new ensemble.

So now, for the Da Boot:

"The Royal Boot"

"The Great Gatsby"

"The Bootquet"

"Flower Power"

"Bota de las Muertas"

What else is coming?

Well, there might be a Buccaneer (a.k.a. Pirate) boot. And maybe a Buckaroo (Cowgirl) boot. Then let's not forget prom is on Friday! My "date" will be looking rather spiffy with a bowtie, don't you think?

Addendum:

"Buccaneer Boot"

"Boot Bandit" (a.k.a. Cowgirl Boot)

"Formal Friday"

(originally to be paired with silver "Frank Sinatra" fedora, 

but the constantly falling glitter would have driven me insane 

so...I had to nix the hat!)

AND THE FINALE: 

(For Prom, of course)

Help! The Captain is Missing!

Okay, maybe MISSING is the wrong word. Deliberately HIDING is infinitely more accurate!

To celebrate NATIONAL SCHOOL LIBRARY WEEK, Captain Corinth is hiding in different areas (or in different book collections) throughout the library. Clues are being read on the morning announcements and posted on twitter @QueenofLibraria and @CHHSPirates, the media center website, and my website.

Monday's clue took a little while for anyone to find. Finally, the picture of the Captain was discovered by two girls in his photo album from Baltimore. They both got to spin the prize wheel app on the iPad.

Yesterday's clue was so easy it was solved within 10 minutes of the announcements. Is there any other master of horror than Stephen King?

Today was a bit more difficult because it was supposed to lead to a section of the Dewey Decimal System (nonfiction). HOWEVER, I inadvertently gave three clues that pointed to a specific novel that student after student searched through...OOPS!

So, for future reference in the hunt: no clue leads to a specific book in case it gets checked out! Instead, all clues lead to a collection of books or to an area of the library.

HAPPY HUNTING!

It's Coming!

What's coming?

Why, School Library Month, of course! (April is also National Poetry Month.)

This year, we will be celebrating SLM in style, with a contest! Where in the Library is Captain Corinth?

Each day on the announcements, a clue will be shared as to the location of the Captain in the library. It will also be on my twitter page and website barring any technological snafus. The first person to solve the clue and find the Captain wins! What's the prize? A spin on the prize wheel for free food cards to area restaurants.

😊

Happy hunting!

To Travels and Applications

I have an excellent excuse...I mean, REASON...for not blogging during February! It's difficult to write a blog entry when you have very spotty satellite WI-FI in the rural areas of Southeast Asia!

For a good part of the month of February I was either preparing for a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, or I was there. This wonderful trip was a gift to my husband and me for our 25th Anniversary. We had a marvelous time.

One of the highlights (although I will admit it comes after the temples of Siem Reap and Angkor Wat) was visiting a Cambodian school.

Several things are important to remember about education in Cambodia: Pol Pot murdered millions of Cambodians in the 1970s. The victims were the educated: teachers, professors, engineers, doctors, lawyers, judges, and religious personnel. As a result of his "Year Zero" policies, an entire generation went uneducated simply because there was no one to teach them. Now, education is compulsory for grades 1-6; however, it costs money to attend a "public" school where the teacher is only two years above a secondary school graduate. (That's right. Education college takes only two years.) Uniforms, tuition, supplies...these are out of reach for many Cambodians so their children stay home.

Grades 7-12 are optional, and the time spent in school is usually only a half-day because of the lack of teachers. The secondary school we visited concentrates on teaching English and computer skills. Students attend the village school for half a day, and then attend this school the other half or in the evening. ("Half" is a misleading term; they are in school for 2-1/2 hours.) The problem with the English classes? The teachers have only some experience in reading the language, less in speaking it. Computers? Ten for a school of 500 students. Despite these obstacles, the school is doing amazing work.

Now that I'm back, I've had to work diligently on my DENSI 2018 application. What is DENSI? (pronounced den-s-eye) It's a summer institute by the Discovery Education Network. With new features like the studio boards, I hope to attend in order to learn all the ins-and-outs to share with my staff and district. The video is finished! (Yes, there is a video component to the application.) I've uploaded my application and now have to wait...as patiently as possible...

Harry Potter Newspaper, Anyone?

One of the interesting parts of being a librarian/media coordinator is learning new technology so that, as a digital learning guru in my district, I can teach my staff how to incorporate it into their teaching. At NCSLMA17, one session mentioned briefly a way to make Harry Potter styled newspapers for student projects and bulletin boards. This intrigued me, but they didn't really give directions so...

It became an investigative project for Library Science II. (This class has students look at various units from the perspective of a librarian.) The project was to create a newspaper and have two pictures that used the information from the conference to "make the pictures come alive" as they do in The Daily Prophet. How does this work?

First, articles are written on the subject matter. Students in a class could research singly or in groups. Once the articles are written, and placed in Google Docs if making a shared document, they need to attach the pictures.

Using the green screen first, they film the actions for the picture. If it is going to be a"talking" picture, they will need to be sure to have good sound quality. The background of this video will be the still picture in the newspaper. Once this has been filmed and saved, they will move over to the app. (We use iPads which made the entire process very easy.)

The Aurasma app, which is free for Android and iOS, is being used at our school under one school account in the media center for my classes. A teacher could create one account for his/her classes to make this easier and so students do not make individual accounts. The necessary pieces are uploaded to the app and then inserted as a picture in the newspaper.

Now, when looking at the newspaper when printed, all you see is the background of the video. For instance, if the article is a literature piece set in a "fairy tale" you could use Neuschwanstein Castle as the backdrop. Without going any further, the picture connects to the article as a "normal" photograph. The magic occurs when the picture is viewed through the Aurasma app using a camera or iPad....be sure to have the sound on if it has audio! Suddenly the picture changes from black and white to color, people appear and move! Voila! Your own magical newspaper.

If doing this with multiple articles, be sure to have students work in columns to make the entire piece have that effect on the viewer. These can be displayed on a bulletin board with a device nearby for viewing.