Reprimanding Adults

This weekend, I attended an Ontario School Library Association (OSLA) council meeting. It was lengthy but productive, and as we were packing up to go, I asked our vice-president @KitchenerD and the OLA director for their opinion on a digital/ethical question. They provided some thoughtful responses and suggested that I blog a bit about it.

In the news lately, a tweet sent by a person offended by a conversation overheard at a conference led to the firing of two people, including the person who made the tweet. The links above are for two separate news articles on the subject. I'm going to avoid the topic of sexism in the technology industry or using social media for shaming, but instead focus on this question: what do you do when a fellow adult is doing something you think is reprehensible and needs admonishing?

If it were a teacher with a student misbehaving, the response is easy - speak to them directly, tell the student to stop and/or point out the undesirable behavior. I think it's "easy" because there's a power equation at work; teachers have more clout than students and can discipline a student within reason without repercussions. (I say within reason because I've heard of stories of school staff getting hassled by parents for speaking to their offspring for minor corrections to major behaviour faux-pas.) The relationship usually allows for that sort of scolding. What if it is a fellow teacher acting inappropriately? Then, I guess it depends on your relationship with that teacher, what kind of response you provide and how the teacher receiving that message will react.

Now complicate things by making it between people who don't know each other well, or add technology into the mix, and things get messy. The woman who overhead the jokes could have turned around and addressed the two men directly - but would that be safe for her? Would it have made a difference if she made an accusation or asked for clarification? (That integrative thinking element of creating your mental modes based on your own interpretation of events might come into play here. For instance, I've joked about the word "dongle" before because I think it's a funny word. Could she have been mistaken in her understanding of the conversation?) There are no easy answers. Using social media to indirectly scold them for their indiscretion led to huge problems for everyone involved.

I dealt with a correspondent recently that addressed concerns to me in a very inappropriate way using the wrong forum for that sort of discussion. I deleted it and did not respond. The person later contacted me using a better tool with a slightly better tone. I answered respectfully but I yearned to discuss the initial incident with the individual.

"What will they learn from it?" my colleagues asked. "What purpose will it serve?"

In the end, I chose to let it go. I feel cowardly but I could not argue with the points my library friends made. What does that mean for our society? Are people afraid to chastise others in person or in public for conduct that is rude or insensitive? What are basic rules of conduct and how can we address it when they are broken? When should we reprimand our social equals? How can it be done in a way that won't lead to an escalation in conflict or the degradation of one of the people involved?

Which Rubric Rocks?

Goodbye March Break, hello final third of the school year! There were several things I intended to do over the week away, like marking the MediaSmarts Reality Check independent unit the intermediate division students submitted before the break - but I didn't. (Sorry, Grade 7s and 8s!) However, my time off was not just spent sleeping in and eating out. I conducted some Forest of Reading e-chats and prepared some lessons and assignments to use in the next few weeks.

If my plans go accordingly, the intermediate students are going to re-visit blogging. There may be fancier programs or methods out there (e.g. Moodle, D2L, etc.) but there's something immediate and powerful about blogs that keep them going alongside much newer innovations in communication. Rather than reinventing the wheel, I researched different assessment tools educators have developed to assess blogging in their classes. I found a plethora of thorough evaluation tools. How do I know which one will work best for us?

I've made copies for the teachers to get their opinions, but I also want the students' point of view. There are just a few snags I can see with collecting all these judgments.

• time = how long will it take for the students to read through them all and make a decision?
• enthusiasm = if they don't care, will they prefer to just leave it up to the teachers to choose?
• ownership = if they don't create it themselves, do they really care which pre-made one we use?
• uncertainty = how do students know what the final product should look like at the beginning of a unit?

Heidi Siwak mentioned on her blog regarding self-assessment that it makes more sense to develop success criteria for a task two-thirds into the unit. Like Aviva Dunsiger's reflections in the comment section of that post, there's the flip side: some students like knowing up-front what is expected of them and may struggle without clear guidelines in place at the beginning. 

I also realize that time is ticking for me - I can't agonize over every word on a rubric for too long because by the time I develop something satisfactory, the unit will be over. Maybe I could use this device that Praxismaxis built on our Minecraft server: a time manipulation device (it can turn day into night and vice versa). Until I get the real-world version of this going, I guess I'll think, collect data, weigh the evidence and decide on a course of action.

Yes, this is just an excuse to share a Minecraft screenshot!

Redesigning a great space with the Learning Commons in mind

I have a beautiful school library space. It's big and I have nice shelves on wheels and many iMac computers.
It's easier, in my opinion to make a mediocre space better than it is to make an already good space great. That doesn't mean you shouldn't try to improve it. The document Together For Learning discusses creating a flexible physical and virtual space. It was time for me to make more moves towards incorporating a Learning Commons approach to the physical appearance of my school library.

Back in December, I wrote about creating a play place in my school library. I wanted the play place to be a bit more tidy but still accessible. I don't have a great visual-spatial sense so I asked some students for advice on how to rearrange things. My adult volunteers made some other suggestions and we made some changes.

The photos do not capture how significant the changes are, but here are some shots of the new and improved play area:

 All the large stuffed animals have been removed from the top of the shelves and placed where they can be reached.

The circle tables are free for whatever activities people want to do.

All the small stuffed animal containers are kept together instead of away from the play area.

The basketball net (which I originally tried to place on top of a table but it kept falling) is held up by the door handle of an unused door. It's still one of the most popular items in the play zone.

We took a shelf away from the fiction section and transformed it into a shelf for play items in bins and containers.

The piano was moved so it is part of the play area and the reference books were moved beside the teacher resource so that students could actually see where the encyclopedias are kept. Before this, the students had to round a corner to find the encyclopedias, so they weren't being used enough.

Two rocking chairs that were in the crater are now in here as part of the play area.

Removing the shelf from the fiction area meant that we needed to re-configure the fiction section. The spaces between the shelves were too small for multiple people to fit in to browse for chapter books. Once again, we chatted with students and adult volunteers for ideas. We also discussed how to make our signage more flexible, so that we didn't have to waste paper and laminate to make new signs every time we thought about changing the layout.

This is what the fiction section looks like now. We ordered 8 1/2 X 11 clear sign holder that we could easily update if we changed around the shelves. My super-fantastic high school volunteers came and re-did the books on the shelves. One insisted that the beginning of a letter always begin at the far left side of a shelf so that students would know where to look for sections, so we followed his recommendation. This led to some weeding as we tried to make room. We ensured that there was space at the end of every shelf so that new purchases could be added with ease. We now have access to those wall outlets that were covered by the shelves before.

It looks very plain but my principal came by when we were redoing things and he admired how clean and clear the new layout was. It's still a work in progress. The 2012-2013 goal was to completely weed the non-fiction section and once that's completed (we are at the 500 section right now), we can do similar things to the non-fiction section in terms of room.

The Pain and Process of a TLCP

Last week, my colleagues and I had a half-day in-school session to work on our Teaching Learning Critical Pathway. Unlike many schools that I've heard about, our school staff actually like our Professional Learning Community times, probably because it was not forced upon us but a conscious choice we made - I credit this positive attitude toward PLCs to our former principal, who took the time to develop a school culture that was eager and responsive to what a true PLC had to offer. You can read about how our PLCs developed in this article, co-written by four teachers from my school.

“A Professional Learning Community Journey” (with Stephen Tong, Mary Jane Huh, Jenny Chiu) Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research Volume 3 Number 1. 2008

Our current pathway is about oral communication and writing. Our current principal tinkered with the TLCP template so that it was more useful. The administration team (which I am on) discussed how to make the process simpler and we offered an inquiry question in advance. Despite - well, actually because of some of these changes - there were a lot of struggles. The teachers weren't keen on the inquiry question. The principal wasn't thrilled with the writing form that the teachers selected as their focus. At one point, I wondered if it was possible to get anything accomplished. We talked, and talked. We suggested things, dismissed things, and clarified things. By the end of the day, to my surprise, we had actually ironed out the plan. If my technology works, I'll post the completed template as a picture file below:

As I told my fellow chairperson afterwards, I need to remember that collaboration/inquiry can be messy and painful. I should not have been alarmed by the process as I was - Carrol Kuhlthau, a school library guru, wrote in her books (such as Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century) about the feelings and thoughts during the Information Search Process and these emotions aren't all positive. There is a lot of apprehension and uncertainty (as described in the Wikipedia summary of the Information Search Process). My husband jokes that I'm a "Russian" - always rushin' to complete things. He's partially correct. I need to remind myself that these things take time and anxiety is just part of the process. Is the TLCP we created a work of art? No, but it's a great start.

Making Decisions

What process do you undertake when you have to make decisions?

Last week, two of my former students came by the school library to work on course selection for their final year of high school. These are two wonderful teenagers whom I admire greatly and I enjoy acting as a sounding board as they contemplate what classes they want to take. One of them has a harder time choosing and agonizes over each choice. We made pro/con lists, established criteria (i.e. high marks in Grade 11 version / subjects enjoyed the most / etc.), examined university guides to ensure no doors of opportunity were closing because of dismissing certain options, and used all sorts of tools and strategies to help select the subjects. He let me know that he picked a full roster by the allotted deadline, but that, like last year, he'll probably switch a course or two in May and worry whether or not he made the right choice.

Well, it turns out that I'm in a similar situation, and like my teen counterpart, I'm agonizing over the decision making process. I've printed out the information I need to consider, made pro/con lists in my head, considered what consequences (both positive and negative) there will be for different stakeholders besides and including myself for Choice A and Choice B, and used one of my favourite (but probably least-helpful) strategies: I've asked other people for their opinions. The problem is, there's no consensus. Although everyone says to do whatever I think is best, feelings are split down the middle between Choice A and B. Like my former student, I have a feeling I know what decision I'll make, but I will still worry whether or not I made the right choice, for the right reasons.

This blog post doesn't have any words of wisdom or gems learned from trial and error - just an admission that making decisions can be really hard.

Do Over

Happy Family Day to all those in Ontario!
I'm still marking those media tie-in projects that I wrote about last week (and chasing students who haven't handed in portions of the assignment), but as a nice balance and contrast to last week's post, I wanted to talk about a lesson that totally tanked. I told a version to this story to a good friend of mine, a friend that makes me feel like I learn from every conversation we have - but before I launch off on a tangent that's an ode to my colleague, let me refocus to my teaching strike-out.

Are you ever in the middle of a lesson and you know it is just not working? My media lesson on laugh tracks was a perfect example. The lesson was crashing and burning right before my eyes and all the little tricks teachers do sometimes to try and reset things were not working. Frustrated and disappointed (with myself and with the students), I stopped the task and brought the whole group to the carpet. I announced to the primary grade students present, "Boys and girls, I think this lesson bombed. I think it's partially your fault and it's partially my fault. Sorry."

I think the group was a little startled to hear this admission. They asked if I had ever had lessons bomb before and I admitted it. They wanted to know the worst lesson bomb so I briefly described a lesson I did when I was a student teacher where a student slapped another in the face right in the middle of the class. The recess bell rang shortly afterwards and we went our separate ways.

The wonderful thing about being a teacher-librarian is that sometimes, I get the opportunity to have a "do-over". Unfortunately, I couldn't turn back the clock and repair the mistakes I realized I made in that lesson with the first class, but I was scheduled to teach the same lesson with a different class the next day. I changed the plan (did some more modelling with a concrete example, used more visuals, changed the small group task to a whole group activity, gave away my leadership to students for a certain section, shortened the time for parts, etc.).

The changes worked! Naturally, class dynamics being what they are, things did not proceed as perfectly as some of the "best practices" sample classes we might see on the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat videos. (This other class is "full of beans" and the concrete example made them so excited that it was harder to calm them down.) However, I think that this class understood the concept and the end product was quite impressive. I know life doesn't often give us "do over" chances, but it's nice to steal those moments when you can and improve.

Media Tie-In Task Breaks my Expectations

Last Monday, my Grade 1-4 students submitted their major media projects. I was totally blown away by what I saw, and by what happened afterwards.

Along the left side of this post, you will see just a small sample of the many projects students shared as part of this task.

I could tell that several projects were finished with help from home - and that was just fine with me. My blog post from a few weeks past explained why I was content with this sort of assistance. I welcomed each and every project with a great deal of enthusiasm and put them on display in the school library.

One class was very eager to take this project to a different level.

"Can we sell our things?", they asked.

Opening a market was not part of my initial plan,but they were super-eager, so I told the students that they had to confer with the principal. He happened to be passing through the library during one of their periods with me, so he stopped and heard their proposal. I didn't know what he'd say, since we are still on a "pause" and our school's interpretation of this action suggests that teachers refrain from handling money. He came up with an ingenious compromise.

"Instead of getting money, why don't you have people barter? Act like a trading post - see what goods or services people will offer in exchange for your product?"

Once the students wrapped their minds around this idea, they were even more excited. We put an announcement on the P.A. system - if people were interested in a project they saw in the library, they were to take a Post-It note and write their name and offer and attach it to the object of their desire.

Soon, crowds began to form in the library, as word of this unusual shopping centre spread. Some of the creations lent themselves more to multiple customers, especially the food-focused ones. There was a bit more work involved, as many of the primary students had offers from students in the junior-intermediate grades, and I had to arrange bargaining times. These entrepreneurs considered these negotiations very seriously. Then, teachers started to get in on the action. I myself had to offer things in exchange for a cookie or a brownie. As I tweeted one afternoon, "when would you ever work on a project for school and have others interested in buying it off you?".

One of the kindergarten teachers retold his experience with the enterprising students. (This is just an approximate quote.): "I offered them one mood ring for two cookies, and they counter-offered me! They said they'd accept two mood rings for two cookies, because two of them made the cookies. I asked them if they'd just share the ring - one girl could wear it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and the other could have it from Thursday to Sunday, but they said no. I told them I'd have to consider their deal. I counter-offered them - two mood rings for three cookies, but they declined. We finally settled on two cookies for two rings."

Unfortunately, it wasn't all fun, games, and unexpected learning moments. One student was too tempted by the treats on display and stole two brownies from the box. Thankfully it was easy to determine what had happened - he still had chocolate crumbs all over his mouth. We had to talk about the seriousness of stealing and restitution. This incident meant I had to keep a close eye on all the projects to make sure  that nothing else went missing. Unfortunately, a white chocolate car mysteriously vanished, but I'm not yet sure if it was traded away without my notification, or if it was stolen.

Another unexpected moment that grew from this market was a discussion on worth. We are so used to measuring value based on money (e.g. this chocolate bar is worth $1) that students had to really consider whether or not the offered item or action was worth the effort they put into creating the desired object. I was amazed to hear that the Rice Krispies / Wreck It Ralph car inspired a trade offer of a Wii game! I have to investigate that to make sure it's legitimate.