Web Presence

I have spent a lot of time in the past few years developing my web presence.  This year I didn't want to change the structure of my page, but I wanted to begin taking a look at the Site Analytics, continue developing my presence through social media, and try out Google Sites, so that I can better support students developing sites for instructional purposes.

Site Analytics

Now that I have explored the analytics available and how to access this information, I will begin to capture this each month, along with the other evidence I have committed to gathering.  In Weebly, which I use for our Lake George HS Library website, the analytics are very easy to access and read.  The first look gives you an immediate sense from the current week, and if you click further you can look a month back, with some additional information broken down into page views, and access points for the page.  All of these are useful data to collect, so I appreciate these options.

One drawback is that you cannot access the historical data of your analytics for a specific date range though, so I will need to be diligent about access these analytics on a regular basis to make the data collection useful when looking at the year in review.  The data that is included will help me to see how the site is being used, and could help me to better harness the possibilities here.  

Social Media Presence

This year I have expanded my social media to include Snapchat, in addition to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  I have also gotten better about posting more regularly... although this is always something to work on.  Right now I use Hootsuite to manage my posting, although I am looking for another option, which would allow me to post to more places (Hootsuite's free version limits you to 3 social media accounts).  My goal is to connect the physical space of the library to the virtual spaces, and connect students to literacy, inquiry, and making throughout.  Any time I have programming, events, etc. I include promotion at all of these levels, and try to point them all towards each other.  This also allows me to engage with students where they are at, and learn about the technologies they are using.  I recently discovered that my Instagram was set to private- I was wondering why I couldn't get them to follow the library there.  Since changing that I have begun to develop a following there.  The recent addition of Snapchat has allowed me to have students become my teachers, to have them train me on how to best use this app.  I am also consistently using the hashtags #LGreads and #LGMakers to highlight what students are doing with literacy and making through our library and school community.  All of these elements are to create a strong and unified purpose in our library learning commons environments, both physical and virtual.

Google Sites

Because we are a Google school, and use all of the Google products throughout instruction, I wanted

to experience site creation using Google Sites.  Creating a site with the tool prepares me to support students when they are using the tool.  I had the opportunity to do this a few months ago, when creating a resource site for a 12th grade English project.
Google Sites has come a long way, and does allow for a nice looking site to be created with minimal learning curve.  The options are not super extensive, but give you the ability to build a nice clean looking site.  The biggest complaint I have is that creating columns in the layout wasn't intuitive, and you had to "force" the system to create that look.  Overall, a nice option for site creation though.
One thing that I regret is that I did not explore statistics before the project, so I did not set up Google Analytics.  This would have allowed me to see how much seniors used this resource, and therefore better supported them, both this year and classes in the future.

There is always something new to learn in building a web presence, and so much possibility for connecting and building community.  As with so many aspects of this course, I could get lost in the options and spend hours more, but this gave me a push to try these next steps.  

MakerSpace: Continued Growth

We have come a long way in our MakerSpace since the inaugural 2014-2015 school year.  We started small and made it manageable, so that it could also be sustainable.  I am so invested in inquiry instruction and my need to focus on collaborative teaching opportunities that I didn't want to build a MakerSpace and expectations that I couldn't maintain.  I believe that this progression has actually allowed our MakerSpace to grow organically and naturally, gaining momentum as students and our school community catch the vision and understand the possibilities of a MakerSpace.
The progression in our space is outlined in the Infographic shared here.  We have also attempted to incorporate collaboration, and are still working on this element.  I would love to have an active MakerSpace Advisory with students, faculty, and community members, but I have not yet been able to figure out the logistics of this kind of group.

This winter and spring we seem to have reached a tipping point in the MakerSpace though, with students coming to me with project ideas, asking for specific resources and training to be able to engage in making that is meaningful to them.
Our space is beginning to transform, with some of the furniture selected through the 7th grade project, arriving and changing the look of our MakerSpace.  The clear drawers of the mobile carts made a big impact, with students feeling empowered to access resources themselves and becoming self directed in their making.  I am excited to see it all come together, as the rest of the furniture arrives.

I am working to keep up with the student requests in the MakerSpace, and to facilitate the self direction of making, by building a Badging System.  As I generate new projects I am using a template and project pattern that can become a "Library of Badges".  In addition, I have enlisted the help of our technology specialists to build a system for tracking student badges and displaying a MakerSpace Leader Board in the library learning commons.  We have been using the language of badging and the Badge Project Sheets for the last few months, as a kind of soft launch to this idea.  I am also creating 10 Summer Maker Kits for students to check out over the summer, which incorporate project ideas, materials, and books to explore.  The kits, which range from "Fashion Design" to "Music Making" to "Arduino Coding" to "Weaving" will become 10 additional badging options, which can easily be pulled for students to work on
independently during the year as well.  Inside each kit are 3-4 project challenges or ideas, with basic materials to get started, and links to additional resources.  These kits and badges will be launched full force over the summer and into the fall.  I needed to generate enough options to make it sustainable before bringing it to students.  My hope is that this will add motivation to complete and share projects as students catch a vision for the MakerSpace Leader Board.

My next focus and challenge for the MakerSpace will be getting an
Advisory group off the ground.  My first priority is to get students engaged in the planning and direction of this space, but I would also love to have faculty and community members involved.  There is such a wealth of knowledge and skills that I would love to see shared with our students.  In addition I am looking for opportunities to add a global purpose to our making.  I would love to find "real" challenges and problems that our students could be working on during their time in the learning commons.
The possibilities with MakerSpace are endless, which is so exciting, but can also become overwhelming.  It has been so important for me to explore what others are doing, glean ideas, and be inspired by all the making happening out there.  I attended the NY State Maker Summit in Albany this spring, which was a great opportunity.  I continue to spend hours on Pinterest gathering ideas and inspiration, and am constantly encouraged by the blogs of other librarians and makers.  Through the resources for this project I will be adding #makered to my Tweet Deck to use as another resource.

Social Reading and "Book Stuff"

Good Reads

I have been a member of Good Reads for quite some time, but I haven't been faithfully using it for the past year.  So many great tools and ideas, and so little time!  This topic encouraged me to get back on and explore Good Reads though.  I updated my books read shelf, which I appreciate having gathered.  Sometimes it can be quite challenging to remember the titles of books I read recently.  Maybe this is a sign that I am getting older, but I can definitely see myself using this shelf to recommend titles to students...if I can remember to keep it updated!  
I also added a widget to my website (like the one below) with my latest "Good Reads" activity, which could help me remember to keep it updated also.  I like the transparency as well, and hope it gives me some accountability to keep reading and sharing what I read.  

Social Media "book chats"

I love #2jennsbookclub!!  I joined my first discussion last April, and had a blast.  They have such thoughtful questions, and I always love the opportunity to connect and collaborate with other librarians and readers.  The format of these Twitter chats is both engaging and overwhelming- I love the interaction, but sometimes the timing is difficult and the speed of posts makes it hard to keep up.

 I wanted to try something like this with my book club, so I created a question image for our April book selections and shared it through different social medias that I use (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat) using our hashtag #LGreads.  I haven't gotten responses yet, but I hope to encourage this at our next meeting- perhaps modeling it during the meeting itself and then following up.  Our book group includes both junior and senior high students, so their experience with social media varies drastically.  In addition I created a book group within Good Reads, and included this discussion question there as well, for students who do not use social media at all, which I have several.  
I am also going to open this up to the larger school community with an online discussion comparing the book 13 Reasons Why and the Netflix show, while that is still a big topic of discussion.  I am hoping to launch that within the next two weeks.  

Reading Resources

Epic Reads is a resource that I use often, and the one I find most familiar to my readers.  This website is truly designed with teens in mind and seems to appeal to them.  They gravitate towards the format presented there, and sometimes share it with me.  Because of that, I try to stay familiar with what they are sharing and promoting.  While exploring it again during this project I discovered that you can create an account.  I haven't found the benefits of this account yet, but will continue to check back on what is new, and what I can provide my students through this resource.  

Library Reads was new to me, but I like the idea of hearing from other librarians on what is new each month, and keeping up to date on what is happening in the publishing world.  This is always a challenge, and anything to help along the way is appreciated.  I subscribed to their newsletter, and look forward to receiving their updates.