Video Platform

In my library, students have a variety of video platforms to use for projects. Library Science I students explore each type in different projects and then have the option of using their favorite platform for remaining projects.

One particular format has been used at both the elementary and high school level to great success. (Although visions of students spread throughout the library, hiding in nooks and crannies, attempting to record their voices at the elementary school without echoes of other voices can still make me giggle a bit!) This platform allows students to create animated videos using stock or uploaded photos for backgrounds. They can also customize characters, upload or use stock music, insert speech bubbles and text screens, and create animated transitions between scenes. It's called GoAnimate4Schools. Not only is it easy to navigate, but it's cost affordable, with a class of student accounts and two teacher accounts costing slightly over $100.

When students compare the different formats: stopmotion animation, GoAnimate, green screen, and live motion not using the green screen, GoAnimate and green screen are usually tied for the most popular. Shyer students prefer to be anonymous and, therefore, prefer animated characters made to look like themselves. Extroverted students enjoy the animation, but they love using the green screen because it has fewer steps involved. (Stopmotion is fun, they all agree, but tedious and time-consuming for tiny clips of video.)

The problem?

GoAnimate ends this summer.

Although it has been written about in every educational tech magazine as the number one platform for students...

Although it has a great following on social media...

Although many of us have asked (okay, I admit, BEGGED)...

They are no longer going to have a school plan/pricing with their new platform. And I can't find an affordable, comparable alternative. There are other animation websites. However, it's hard to compromise on the features that work so well: upload pictures to have it set where you need it (our library, cafeteria, etc.); create characters with a variety of looks and clothes or costumes; huge amount of movements, facial animations, and emotions from which to choose; stock music to fit different moods; ability to download and put the video on a website; make a class set of accounts affordable; easy, easy, easy, easy to use.

They suggest their new platform, Vyond. I am sure it has all the features I love. Except one: AFFORDABILITY. There is absolutely no way a school can afford the business (or a teacher afford the personal) pricing!

So I am still searching for a replacement...and hoping some other company steps up and does what GoAnimate4schools has always done for countless educators and students! Suggestions are welcome!

March Book Madness Update

Who has moved on to the Elite 8?

The new matchups are as follows:

All the Bright Places
v.
Children of Blood and Bone

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes
v. Scythe

Crossover
v.
If I Was Your Girl

Long Way Down
v.
The 5th Wave


I have to admit some of my favorites are still in the running while a few are out in the first round, surprising many students on their bracket entries! (A few have only one book left in the entire bracket...)

Which ones am I disappointed to see out of the competition?
Warcross is the main one. I didn't mind The 5th Wave too much, but parts of it were just a little off to me personally. I don't think the movie helped me like the book at all. However, if it had been against a different title, I probably would have been rooting for it! Having just finished Warcross as a preliminary read for a possible Battle of the Books title for next year, I really enjoyed the dystopian future that wasn't quite so miserable and bleak.

Oh, well! It will be interesting to see what happens at the end of this round of voting. Although you cannot enter a bracket submission, don't forget to vote!

www.marchbookmadness.weebly.com/ya-bracket.html

An End in Sight!

With a lot of sweat equity on the part of my Library Science students, Library Assistants, and some great volunteers from the National Honor Society, the books are all labeled (except for some that are still checked out)! Not only that, but in just 3 days, we managed to move over 9000 books from their alphabetized order onto tables and then back into alphabetized genre sections!

The only job left to finish, which is up to me, is changing the sublocation of each book in the library catalog. This way students can look for books by genre or locate a title in it's new genre location. Action/Adventure/Survival, Dystopian, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Horror/Thriller, Mystery/Suspense, and Paranormal are finished with the update to their records. Realistic Fiction, Relationships, Science Fiction, and Sports Fiction still remain. Our goal was to be finished by spring break. We should be finished next week! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Meanwhile, we are participating in March Book Madness. (#2019MBM) Students can turn in their bracket guesses by tomorrow. They can also vote in each round to help determine the winner in this world-wide activity.

This year's "Sweet Sixteen" of Young Adult fiction?

The left bracket is as follows:

All the Bright Places
v.
Love, Hate, & Other Filters

Children of Blood and Bone
v.
An Ember in the Ashes

A Land of Permanent Goodbyes
v.
The Reader

The Marrow Thieves
v.
Scythe

And on the right:

Crossover
v.
Simon and the Homosapiens Agenda

The Poet X
v.
If I Was Your Girl

Long Way Down
v.
Outrun the Moon

Warcross
v.
The 5th Wave

Voting for this round is March 6-12.

The Elite 8 voting is March 13-19, Final 4 voting is March 20-26, and Championship Game voting is March 27-April 2.

Anyone may vote at marchbookmadness.weebly.com/ya-bracket.html

Personalized Learning in the Library

You might wonder how personalized learning works in the library. It's not as easy as a classroom to differentiate or use Universal Design theories. However, the library is the hub of learning in the school. It should be the central focus of many parts of education, and is always linked to the classroom. Therefore, PL is in the library.

You can start by just "searching" for it.

The catalog. Our catalog uses Follett Destiny, which is used in many school systems throughout the world. Students have login abilities, can create lists of favorite books and resources, share those lists, have lists shared with them by other students and teachers, write reviews of books, and more. In other words, they can personalize it! (And you thought the catalog was only for searching...)

The collection. If a collection is truly balanced, there should be something for everyone. Graphic novels, graphic nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, general nonfiction, every genre of fiction imaginable (as appropriate for the school setting, of course)...these help students find something to read that matches their interest AND ability level. In a high school library, we have "high-low" books scattered throughout the collection: books with high interest plots and lower than average reading levels to help English Language Learners and those with reading differences. Why? Because reading is not an innate ability; it is a skill that takes practice for mastery. If a student practices way above their ability level, they will never master it! (You don't start playing professional sports, do you? Nor is your first musical piece on the violin a Bach concerto.  We've all heard the beginner's attempt at "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.") And, of course, the collection is every changing, growing, and being weeded to meet the needs of its patrons.

Technology. The library should be the forefront of technology in the school with a variety of activities allowing students to personalize their projects. Green screens, filming areas, photography, and so on help different types of learners show their knowledge in new and, for them, exciting ways. Introverted students might prefer a more behind-the-scenes approach so non-camera technology choices gives them a chance to shine. (Think animation programs, stop motion animation, and the like.) To make this accessible to all students, house it in the library!

Collaboration. This is, perhaps, one of the key components to personalized learning in the classroom, and the one most often overlooked. By working together, the classroom teacher and the librarian can develop more project choices and activities to meet the needs of students that match interest and ability levels. 

When All Else Fails...

...at getting students excited and interested in research, what can you do? Is it the process or the product causing student angst?

There are, essentially, three groups of students in a high school: the group definitely, without a doubt, heading to college; the group undecided about college, but who are probably going because that's what they think they need to do; and students planning on heading straight into the military, workforce, or a trade school. (Note: this is based on what the STUDENTS say they are planning, not on parental or guidance counselor expectations.) For the first group, completing any project is a necessity and, therefore, done with varying degrees of grumbling and complaining. The second group usually completes a project, whether whole- or halfheartedly. The third group, even if they have excellent grades, will ask, "What's the point?"

So let's back up a moment and discuss the "dreaded" research paper, and how it applies to the groups. Universities and colleges expect students to be able to perform the research process independently, efficiently, and effectively. They require students to produce a paper, of varying lengths for different classes or departments, in a specific format. This process is rarely TAUGHT in higher education. Therefore, the first two groups need proficiency before graduating from high school. The third group, however, rightfully wonders the need for learning to write a formulaic paper when it does not apply to their future plans. Is it any wonder this last group balks at the time-consuming writing project? However, the need to learn research skills is important no matter the career so the process is necessary still!

This leads to an alternative to the research paper: a website!

(First, let me stress that the requirements for learning how to use authoritative, accurate, unbiased, current sources does not change. Whether searching a database or using a website that must be evaluated, students must learn strong research skills. Also, writing skills are important to effectively communicate without the use of texting abbreviations so spelling, grammar, mechanics, and punctuation are important! Finally, to be a 21st Century learner, students need to understand how to be a good digital citizen. Images, sources, etc. need to be cited properly.)

Allow students to research just as they would for a formal paper, but instead of putting it into paragraph form with an introduction, thesis, transitions, and a conclusion, why not have them create a Google site (or other easy to navigate website platform)? Require an "about me" page, a home page (this would be a longer introduction to the topic!), a page for details (the body of the research paper's details), and a citation page. Allow the use of copyright-free images from creative commons websites, the Library of Congress, public domain sites, etc. if they are properly cited.

See if this changes the interest level, efforts, and quality of work from your "group 3" students!

It's a Work in Progress

...but it IS progressing! Our goal is spring break, which is late April this year.

All year we have been moving towards redesigning the fiction section into genres: genrefying!

We are over three-fourths of the way through the tedious task of looking up the genre of each book and labeling it with a colored spine label. With eleven sublocations from which to assign each book, sometimes we have had to be creative! (A supernatural, paranormal thriller romance set in the 1850s? Hmmm...paranormal, horror/thriller, relationships, or historical fiction?)

Because I realized waiting for the labeling to end might mean the books NEVER got moved, I started shifting books on Wednesday. This means pulling all the books, in alphabetical order, from a single genre and stacking them...everywhere! We're working on one area at a time to eliminate thousands of books in stacks.

Our first section is pulled through the PER. Action/Adventure/Survival has an orange label. Once it is in place, we will put the Dystopian  (Gray) novels on the shelves. Then Fantasy (Yellow), Historical Fiction (Green), and Horror (Red). This will take care of two large genre collections, fantasy and historical, opening up shelves for Mystery/Suspense (Purple), Paranormal (Aqua), and Realistic Fiction (Blue). The final sections - Relationships (Pink), Science Fiction (Burgundy), and Sports Fiction (White) - should be fairly easy to put in place.

Of course, once everything is in place, I have one final task. Using a scanner and chrome book, I will scan every book in a sublocation into a file and do a batch update. This will allow students to search for books by sublocation. (I will also be able to inventory books through sublocation reports!)

Once Upon a Research Project

One of the biggest problems students have is choosing a "do-able" topic for research. Now that research season is upon us for the new semester classes, it's time to think about the way projects are assigned and taught.

(Uh, oh. Here goes that blasphemous librarian again, changing up the way it's always been done. If change bothers you, this might be a good time to stop reading.)

Traditionally, and I mean back to when my grandmother went to school in the 1920-30s and probably even earlier, a paper was written through the following steps:

1. Choose a topic.
2. Write a thesis statement.
3. Research to find facts to support the thesis statement.
4. Compile the facts into paragraph format, with an introduction and a conclusion.
5. Add the bibliography/works cited page.
6. Turn in the paper after proofreading it for spelling, grammar, and mechanics. (There may be a rough draft/second draft/final draft portion if the teacher requires it.)

HOWEVER, is this the most effective and efficient way to research and write a paper?

What if a student can't find articles to support the thesis? Can they change it? Now they have lost days possibly of time to work on the paper.

What if they get frustrated and feel they are incapable of being successful at research? Will they eagerly embrace the next project, or will they be on a downward spiral of negativity?



There is a different way to approach the start of research, but it requires a new mindset. The specific topic/thesis cannot be expected to be known before research begins. This new process looks like this:

1. Identify a BROAD main topic (too broad for a research paper: i.e.: illegal drugs, sports, music industry)
2. Read TWO database articles on your topic to help identify TWO subtopics of current issues involving that topic.
3. Write those two subtopics in the form of questions. (Is smoking pot dangerous to your health? Should their be salary caps for professional athletes?)
4. Find FIVE items of evidence, take notes, and record the citations for EACH subtopic. This means five note cards for each subtopic, helping to answer the questions.
5. After looking at the notes, create a claim using ONE of the subtopics. A claim is a statement that can be defended using your evidence. If the student discovers the two subtopics can be linked together into a single claim, that is perfectly acceptable.
6. After creating a claim, start researching to find more evidence to defend it.

But why change what's been done, quite literally, for a century or longer?

Well, for starters, it makes more sense to know what's out there with regards to research material BEFORE getting into the heart of the research process. Why waste time starting a topic, only to learn it's un-doable?

That leads to the frustration factor: when a student gets frustrated at the start of the research process, the negative feelings are infused into the process itself. Then, for the next research project, the student automatically is unenthused and gives a half-hearted attempt OR no attempt at all! This is not acceptable!

We want students to understand that research is not some horrible, aggravating process to suffer through. Instead, it can be, and should be, and enjoyable learning experience! (Although whether or not they enjoy creating a works cited page is left to another blog post.)