Here is the link to final reflections!
https://www.storyjumper.com/book/read/172506401
I thought there were so many amazing sites to choose from. This one was simple in the way that I students would love and be able to easily create on it. Students of all ages would be able to create on their own level. I also loved that students would be able to turn their work into an actual book. I know kids would think that is the most exciting and amazing thing ever.
Here is my library floorplan with the UDL and ADA guidelines in mind with planning.
Here is the link to virtual tour of my floorplan:
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1840806136542921572
I was very excited to learn about Universal Design for Learning. I feel a connection to this because my sister is a self-contained Sped teacher. She had a librarian at her school (who is actually a Sam Houston Library Science Grad) who went above and beyond to create a library for my sister’s students who have more profound disabilities. She procured resources and created lessons so that all the students were able to participate in meaningful library lessons. From talking with my sister, I could see how important and impactful it was to her students and her to have these students, who might be overlooked or marginalized, be given the treatment of any other student. I think the principles and guidelines outlined in the UDL are crucial to providing ALL students with the most effective library lessons and experiences.
I am currently a kindergarten teacher at a school with a high ESL population. I have also previously taught PreK at a Title I school. I have students come from a wide range of backgrounds with a wide range of abilities. I feel like these teaching abilities have given me a good framework to build upon for my library. Some of the guidelines that I am currently using are providing options for perceptions by giving alternatives for visual learners (giving visuals for my ESL students or my low students who can not read yet), providing options for language by clarifying vocabulary and symbols (again giving context to my ESL learners or students with underdeveloped vocabulary), clarifying syntax and structure (giving sentence stems for speaking and writing), providing options for comprehension by activate or supplying background knowledge. I also provide options for physical action by giving students different ways to respond to questions. Because my school has such a high number of ESL learners we are very intentional in our planning. We make sure to have differentiation built into our plans for whole group, small group and interventions that we provide for students.
There were also some principles and guidelines that I can start now incorporating into my current classroom. I think that I can be better about giving students more options for expression and communication, such as using multiple media for communication or composition. I think I can also be better about having students use their executive functions by having them be more aware and monitor themselves and their work/understanding. I also think that I can start incorporating means of engagement into the classroom. I give my students some autonomy over their work but I could follow more of the principles of recruiting interest. The last piece is areas where I feel like I need to learn more about them to better implement them into my classroom. I feel like I do well with providing some forms of alternatives for visual information but more of the specialized alternatives I don’t know nearly enough about. Those options that are more specifically geared towards disabilities are where I would need to research and learn more about what technology and resources are out there and how they can be incorporated into student learning. That also goes along with providing multiple means of action and expression. There are tools to help students learn the new information being presented but there are also different tools to allow students to show or extend their learning. I feel strongly about letting students be creative in how they show their knowledge but I see that I am lacking in giving students tools beyond their creativity.
https://open.spotify.com/show/3lOO5qXe8NvrgxxbhoFk80
Creating a podcast is something that is definitely outside of my comfort zone but it was a great experience to have! Podcasts are hugely popular so it only makes sense that they are adaptable to the world of libraries. I worked with a group of other Library Science students to create a podcast. As familiar as I am with listening to podcasts, creating one was a huge learning process for me. I looked into several different online sites for podcast hosting. Podbean was the first one that I looked into and it was the most user friendly to me. I was easily able to create an account and then start making the podcast. Some of the other suggested sites, you needed pay to create a podcast and that wasn’t something I was interested in doing. I’m sure those are higher quality sites with more features, but for someone like me, wanting to give podcasts a try but not ready to fully commit, that was disheartening. I looked into Soundcloud as well. I found it initially really hard to find the podcast hosting section of the site. It seemed more geared towards music and listening to podcasts. I think that could make it less likely for a student or someone starting out to use the site. I also looked at Spotify. I know that they are a very popular music streaming site (I’m an Apple Music user) so I thought that might be interesting to check out. It would be something good to familiarize myself with. I ended up using Spotify to publish my podcast. I originally was going to use Podbean, but I wasn’t sure how to edit the podcast, which I needed to do. I went through Spotify and it was a great tool to use. It created a transcript of the audio, which made editing it a breeze! There were so many other features that I didn’t fully explore but I imagine you could create really great work through Spotify!
There are so many ways that a podcast could be used in a library. Librarians could create a podcast to get information out to students about books and resources in the library. They could also create one to provide professional development to teachers. Librarians could create a podcast for parents to be involved and engage in what’s going on in the library. Students could create a podcast to extend their learning or book talk with one another. Librarians could use podcasts to grow themselves professionally or be inspired by new ideas. Librarians could connect students with podcasts that pertain to their interests.
There are so many great podcasts out there. One cool podcast I found was the 10 Minute Teacher Podcast. They aim to provide short, but informationally packed podcasts with bust teachers in mind. They create professional development content by teachers for teachers. I also found that the AASL had a recommendation of library focused podcasts (https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/two-podcasts-created-by-and-for-school-librarians/) . One of their featured podcasts was School Librarians United with Amy Hernon. It discusses the actualities of running a library. I am hopefully going to be starting my first year as a librarian next year, so I thought these seemed like a great resource to have! All these podcasts are available on Apple Music, Spotify and more.
"The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.
A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.
But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule."
Scan here for the my book trailer:
I think there limitless ways to use QR codes in the library. It would be an easy way to post information around the library without taking up as much space. It could also make it so things are interactive-like using links in real life. It could be used for younger readers, who might not be able to read yet. It could be used for ESL students, to help them listen, view, or more information. It could be used to help students research or learn more about new books or newly taught genres. It could be a way for students to connect learning in the library to the classroom.
Some of the ideas that I found online for using QR codes would be for students to respond to the book they had read. It could be a great way to incorporate higher order thinking skills into the library. You could also use QR codes to give more information about the author or related topics.
I will share comics with teachers in my school to help connect what we are learning in the library with the rest of the school. This will make is easier for students to remember what we have learned, use online resources and more. It will give everyone even more access to the information that is available to them in the library.
Infographics are a great way to share information. They make data easier to read and understand. There are a multitude of ways that infographics can be used. There are also a number of great online resources that can be used to create infographics online.
One of these sites is Easel.ly. Easel.ly is a straightforward site. It was free to join. There were a small number of free templates available to use to customize.If you are newer to creating infographics, the smaller selection could make it less overwhelming to choose from but it felt limited in the choices. There was also the option to create your own design. You can add graphics, charts, text, videos, and more. There are design elements to help guide the creator.
Another site is Piktochart. This site was easy to navigate and had many more options available. There are many types of formats that can be created. Focusing on infographics, there are tons of templates to choose from. They even give the option of types of infographics to choose from to better suit your needs. The design elements that you can use are texts, charts, design elements and more. They also have creator tips easily accessible.
A third online resource is Infogram. This site also lists many different formats that you can choose from to create. The infographics are easily customizable. It is also pretty easy to input/change the data you want. As someone who is new to this, I found it helpful that I could change things around and the program was able to adjust accordingly. You can also add charts, maps, graphics and integrations-things like YouTube, DropBox and more.
I used Piktochart to create my infographic. To me, it seemed to be the easiest to use. There were lots of templates to choose from but I still felt like I could easily customize them to make them fit my needs and what I need for my information. It was very user friendly to change and customize the data. I don't always feel very confident in my computer skills, but I was able to navigate this site pretty easily. There were so many ways I could see using this site to create future infographics. They can be tailored to fit any level of students, parents, staff, whomever you want to reach. I think the design choices are also eye-catching and current with the times.
Sources
Easelly-easel.ly
Infogram-Infogr.am
Piktochart-piktochart.com
References
Gottfried, J. (2024, January 31). How Americans Use Social Media. Pew Research Center. Retrieved March 9, 2024, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2024/01/31/americans-social-media-use/
I work for Plano ISD. This is the school district that I attended as a child as well. Plano is a large suburban city north of Dallas. Plano ISD covers about 100 square miles and also provides education to some areas of several surrounding towns. It services almost 50,00 students ranging from preschool to adults. Plano is a very culturally diverse city. There are high populations of many different nationalities throughout the district. 14,000 students are white, 13,00 are Hispanic/Latino, 11,000 are Asian, and 6,000 are African American. There is a wide variety of languages spoken throughout the district with an increasing number of schools becoming bilingual to accommodate the large number of Spanish-speaking students and families that attend PISD schools.
There are also a wide array of jobs that families within the district have: 20% are professionals, 20% are in the education or healthcare field, 12% are in finance, 11% are in retail, while the others are in food, construction, and utilities. There is a vast difference in the economic status of students in the district. There are a large number of corporate headquarters near Plano which lead to multi-millionaires as well as families that are without housing or have recently immigrated and are starting over. Most students go to the school that is the closest to them. The district has started allowing students to transfer to other schools in the district, but must be approved to do so. Most campuses are traditional schools but there are a few alternatives within the district. There are IB campuses, virtual school, bilingual campuses, and alternative schools. There is also an adult education center.
The district has put a large emphasis on technology. There is a 1-to-1 ratio for students to have Chromebooks at school. There is wifi available at all schools, throughout the schools. Teachers use it daily in the classrooms, for curriculum, testing, communication, student work, grades, etc. They also require students and teachers to use certain technology in class (for example, I work at an elementary campus and we are required to use Seesaw a certain amount of times a month). Students use technology in other areas of the school besides their classroom, such as the library, PACE, and ESL classes. Students are able to bring their technology with them around the schools. The district does help families that might not have access to technology at home by having Wifi available to families from the parking lots of many schools. A wide variety of the apps that are used in school, are available to students and families to access at home too. Individual campuses have policies about student technology checkout. Some of the technology students have access to are chromebooks, hotspots, and more.
Our district understands the importance of technology in the classroom and all the benefits it provides to students, teachers, and families. There is a small amount of technology professional development, but it does get overshadowed with all the other training that is required. There are many options for professional development but those are not mandatory.
Plano ISD Technology Information
Facts & Figures / 2021-22 Annual Report. (n.d.). Plano ISD. https://www.pisd.edu/Page/29215
Instructional Technology / Homepage. (n.d.). Plano ISD. https://www.pisd.edu/Domain/88
2022-2023 Student Enrollment. (n.d.). TEA. Retrieved February 10, 2024, from https://rptsvr1.tea.texas.gov/cgi/sas/broker?_service=marykay&_program=adhoc.addispatch.sas&endyear=23&major=st&minor=e&format=w&selsumm=id&linespg=60&charsln=120&grouping=e&loop=2&key=043910&_debug=0
