Digital and Media Literacy

I have been gathering resources for both students and teachers to build their media and digital literacy, and working on the best curation methods for each.  My goal is to empower learners, both student and teacher, to have these tools at their fingertips and utilize them when they are authentic and meaningful to their educational experiences.
Several of the ISTE Standards have focused this work.

Digital Self (Citizen 3b: Establish a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources and fosters digital literacy and media fluency.

I have curated a list of online resources relevant to the instruction of Media and News Literacy, and shared these with faculty members through several mediums.  I utilized Wakelet to Curate online resources in a visually appealing way.  To spotlight this topic and maximize access to the collection, I featured Media Literacy in my most recent Faculty Newsletter.  In addition to the Curated collection I included new print titles related to the topic, as well as an article on the importance of this topic.  This is a tool that I have utilized often to provide Professional Development content to teachers, for them to use them when and how they find them most meaningful.  

Digital Agent (Citizen 3C): Mentor students in safe, legal and ethical practices with digital tools and the protection of intellectual rights and property.

I often create screencasts for students on how to follow ethical practices when using information and media created by others, but the access to these screencasts has not been consistent.  I typically share them within a Google Classroom for a specific project.  I want to empower students to be able to find and access this information independently anytime they need it, so I put together a YouTube Playlist.  I originally intended on creating a separate channel, but in the end that was too complicated, so I opted to make a Playlist dedicated to this topic.  This Playlist will be shared consistently with students during each project or inquiry instruction opportunity, and I will encourage them to bookmark/ save the Playlist for future use. By providing a consistent access point I hope to Empower my student Learners to follow safe, legal and ethical practices.

Final Reflection

As always, Cool Tools was a great source of motivation and meaningful application of learning this year.  I developed lessons, digital content, programs, and assessments to enrich our library program.  I love the practical application aspect, coupled with a rich collection of resources.  This year, it was particularly helpful to find ideas and tools to expand opportunities for Diversity, as this is one of our Strategic goals in my district.  This was a theme that I was able weave into many of the topics that I explored and applied. 

I will sorely miss this learning opportunity in the future.  I am excited that our SLS is utilizing a similar format for a book study next year with Maximizing School Librarian Leadership, because this will afford me continued opportunities to participate in a learning community.  I find that the accountability and encouragement of the learning community greatly increases my engagement. 

Thank you for all of the passion and expertise you have poured into this course over the years Polly!!

Thing 15: Breakout

I have had a lot of fun and very successful lessons and events using our Breakout boxes and supplies, but I am always looking to expand my resources for these.  While I have created several games, including a Hamilton themed one and Library Orientation, and will continue to do so, this can be very time consuming.  I appreciate pre-made games and resources, and I have found them more difficult to locate, as BreakoutEdu now has a subscription fee for their games.  I often start with a pre-made game or resources and then modify it to fit my students' needs as well as our time and resource constraints.  We had a great Harry Potter Escape room this year built on Breakout supplies, and I want to start the year with a library program like this.  I found an "Escape the Library" game in the resources shared, and am going to use this as a base.  I am excited about the potential to engage students right away and encourage them to explore the library as they solve the clues.  To maximize this potential I will modify the clues in this game to fit our space and incorporate both literature and MakerSpace materials. 
I am also planning to use a BreakOut game to launch the content of Sustainable Development Goals to our Research Seminar students next year.  I want to better utilize BreakOut games to both start instructional units and tie together content concepts, as well as build engaging programs outside of the classroom.  If I plan ahead and build these games before the busyness of the school year hits I am hoping to be more consistent.
I will also use these opportunities to highlight their potential, so that teachers better utilize them for instructional purposes.  In fact, I want to connect with specific teachers to encourage their use. 

Thing 23: AASL Standards

I have been working throughout the year to incorporate the AASL Standards into our library program, and the tools and resources provided through "Thing 23" were very helpful.  I started my integration of the new AASL standards by diving into their meaning and looking at how I incorporate them into instruction and library programs.  I used small post-it notes to color code what I am doing where, and then identify where I have gaps.  I have been working this year to better address the "Grow" domain, which works well with our Districts goal to focus on Diversity and Leadership as well.  Through this work I have utilized the UN's Sustainable Development Goals to broaden student perspective and provide authentic Global experiences and opportunities to engage as Global Citizens.  I really like the resources I found on the "Tech Tools - AASL Standards for the Learner (PETE&C 2018)" document that addressed these goals.  In particular I would like to incorporate the SDGs in Action App next year with the seniors to implement action steps more effectively. 
I also focused on developing my assessments to better reflect the objectives and vocabulary of the standards.  Some of the areas that I have developed are my book project grading criteria, as seen in this example, and my long term research rubrics.  I have also been working toward my ISTE Certification this season, and am working to incorporate those standards as well, as you can see reflected in this Research Seminar Rubric.

Finally, I wanted to bring together the AASL Standards and our Districts Innovation Standards (based on ISTE Standards) under the Inquiry model that we utilize at Lake George, WISER, to have a crosswalk for myself to see how I can consolidate some of this work to maximize the impact I can have through our library.  That work is gathered here in our WISER Crosswalk with Standards.
My next steps will be in rolling out a more consistent approach to addressing these Standards at those grade levels where I spend less time.  Over the summer I will be developing my strategy of where to make these in roads to better build student experience. 

Thing 22: Teaching with Primary Sources

The timing for this topic was perfect, as I was preparing for our final 8th grade English book project.  Each month students select an independent read, and then do a project, developing communication and creation skills throughout the year.  Our final project each year is focused on Historical Fiction and adds an inquiry element designed to prompt students to explore a time period through multiple perspectives.  Based on their book selection they write a research question to drive their exploration of primary sources.  This year I expanded their options for research based on the resources I found through Cool Tools.  The document sets available, particularly through the Digital Public library and the Library of Congress, helped some students narrow their focus, so these collections didn't feel so overwhelming. 
I really like the potential of Eagle Eye Citizen, and can see this being used by our Social Studies 7 teacher who presents her students with a primary document each week connected to their learning objectives.  I created a challenge related to amendments to experiment with the creation and usage, and think it would have a smooth application. 
To encourage teacher use of primary sources I used Wakelet to curate a collection, which I then incorporated into a Destiny Collection to share out with our social studies teachers.  Because of the push to use primary sources in evidence base writing I knew this would be a good place to share.  Now that it is created I can easily modify and re-share when it will be pertinent. 

Thing 11: Digital Tattoo and Digital Citizenship

As I look at tools, resources, and information on the topic of Digital Citizenship, my biggest takeaway in developing my own strategy is that I was to instruct from the perspective of empowering students rather than a perspective of fear.  I found many of the lessons focused on "staying safe", presenting the assumption that being online is dangerous.  While it is important for us to teach students where they may encounter dangers, I think we will have a more effective impact if we lead from a more proactive approach, focusing on opportunities to engage in positive and empathetic behaviors online as they develop as digital citizens, just as they develop as citizens in the larger sense. 
I appreciated the definition of Digital Citizenship presented by Common Sense media, "empowering your students with skills to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly online, allowing them to connect and collaborate in meaningful ways" ("How to Teach Digital Citizenship Through Blogging").  In an effort to follow this mindset, our Director of Instructional Technology and I developed and delivered a carousel of learning activities on Digital Citizenship for our 7th grade students.  We framed their sessions with Essential Questions framed within these three categories from Common Sense media: Digital Footprint, Relationships and Communication, and Cyberbullying.  Students rotated through 3 stations, all designed with a different content and instructional focus.  Our session on cyberbullying was presented through scenario cards and small group discussion and role playing. The session on developing your digital footprint was an individual exploration of online tools accessed through this Google Site.  Finally, the session on Relationships and Communication was a large group presentation facilitated by our safety officer. 
Our reflection time after these sessions was critical, as students engaged in these activities with a mix of seriousness and mischief.  We were able to provide opportunity for a group reflection, focused on their role in creating their community online, and then challenging them to each make individual commitments to grow in at least one specific area.  We collected their commitment, or "Promise" cards, and plan to give these back to them in 6-9 months for a follow up on how they are doing towards this goal.
One thing that we felt strongly about after running these sessions was the challenge of it being a stand alone, one time activity.  We are hoping to build from this place towards and ongoing, monthly series of learning experiences that can be embedded in a more authentic way. 

Thing 8: Digital Curation

I have been really inspired by the AASL Standards (Library) to incorporate curation intentionally into my instructional practices (Shared Foundation IV: Curate).  Curation is something that I have always done as part of my library resource sharing, but building it into student learning strategies to Empower them as learners is something new for me (ISTE standard I. Empowered Learner).  This year I incorporated curation into my Research Seminar class as one of their learning objectives.  Students had to think critically as digital citizens to evaluate web sources and collaboratively curate a list (ISTE Standard II. Digital Citizen). They are required to consider relevance and reliability of source content, and defend the usefulness of these sources to our intended purpose.
Research Seminar has a blended learning structure, which I organize around student generated questions about the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.  As they gathered sources, students contributed to shared collections, such as this one on "Clean Water", within our school libraries Destiny Collection.  This was both a new learning activity and new tool, and a great learning process for both myself and the students.  Some things worked well and others need to be adjusted after reflection. 
In looking at additional tools available, I explored Wakelet, which I really liked.  This digital curation tool allows you to easily gather all different types of sources and displays them in a visually appealing format.  There are so many applications for these curation tools within the library curriculum, and resource sharing for faculty.  I may utilize this tool with Research Seminar students next year, rather than Destiny Collections, because of the visual appeal and ease of access.  It generates a link to invite collaborators, which I could share through Google Classroom, streamlining that process for collaborative curation.  This would benefit students who struggled this year with the sign in process for Destiny Collections.  The visual format of Wakelet also lends itself to embedding content into a website, so I could share these resources beyond the context of the classroom.  Below you can see what that format looks like, which would be very functional, not only for student access to resources, but also sharing instructional tools and professional articles with teachers and faculty.  In the past I have created Smore Newsletters to share with colleagues, but I may try Wakelet as an alternative, because I can continue to curate topics and consistently share those resources.