Second meeting with Principal

I was finally able to sit down and have another conversation with my principal to hone down my project. We decided that my idea of using audio recordings in the classroom would be the best goal to pursue at the moment. We discussed the possible uses of those recordings and benefits of each, but the two concepts we really spent the most time on were:

1. using them to record students reading and letting them listen back on an Ipod to hear themselves reading. We hope this would work to improve "reading with emphasis" skills.

2. using the Ipods to allow students to replay teacher instructions at home, or to offer Spanish translations for ESL students (and their parents) who are struggling with textbooks and instructional time using a language they don't understand.


We have decided to pilot this program in three classes that span our grade levels. We chose 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades to choose the classes, and then picked a teacher from each grade that we felt would be most likely to be open to the ideas. I'm a bit worried about pitching the ideas to the teachers, because I'm not entirely sure what form they need to take (I'll need their input and expertise in their own grade levels for that.) However, I am really excited about this large step forward. Now I need to form a solid sales pitch to the teachers and start working with them to figure out what our desired end-result will look like. Once that gets rolling we should be able to order our Ipods. We are going to offer 4 to each classroom, making a total of 12 we will need to purchase.

First Group Meeting Reflections

I feel like our first group meeting was successful. I think the online format will take some getting used to, but for a first meeting it was still very productive. We all were able to discuss and compare projects. Everyone seems to be leaning toward an audio/video theme in their projects, so we all are heading in similar directions. I'm still unsure what mine will ultimately look like, but I think I can use some pieces of what others are doing (such as book reviews) as ideas for teachers if I try to teach them to implement videos into their classroom teaching and assessments.

Lunch meeting with the principal

Sat down at lunch and was able to speak with Dr. Sheek about my project and it's scope. I threw out both ideas I had been thinking about and he reacted very positively toward both. I had the feeling that the "podcasts" were more exciting to him, and that he had been bouncing that technology around in his head already. He just didn't know which direction to go with it or what the first steps would be.

The library will be changing soon, but he envisions it as a process spanning a few years. However, the planning stage needs to happen now. If we can create a blueprint of what we want it to look like, then we will be able to slowly work toward it. I fear that without a solid final goal in mind, we may end up blindly following different directions and not spend any allocated funds efficiently.

I think we will be able to sit down and break down both ideas more in depth in the coming days. I think that both of my ideas will come about, I just need to figure out the best way to tie one up into a project. I guess I need to go back tonight and look at the syllabus to see what I should focus on within these to be my class project.

Action Learning Project Update

I've managed to narrow my project down to one of two directions.

Option one is creating a design plan for our school library as it transitions from K-8 to K-6. I know that they are wanting to improve technology access as well as modernize the look and feel of the media center. This may be too big in scope, but it is something that is going to happen and needs someone heading the project. There are different ideas as to what all will be included between my principal and media coordinator though, from what I've gathered.

Option two is offering instruction on using video and audio recording devices in the curriculum. I'm not sure that the final goal is exactly a podcast system, but I do think we could use existing technology to both modernize some class projects and record student projects without wasting too much paper. Our principal is almost always willing to invest in the hardware to empower the teachers as long as it looks like it will help increase student learning. I just am not sure which form the initial exposure to the technology should take yet.

Librarian Interview

I finally got a chance to sit down with our school librarian today. She was out of town all last week taking care of her father, but luckily we were able to plan ahead for a time today to sit and chat.

Mrs. Keatley is from a time where her first experience with a computer came in college. She recalled a time when Mac could only read a file up to a certain size. One of her final major papers was on the verge of that size, and apparently her final revision bumped it over. The computer let her save and overwrite the old file, but then refused to open the new document because it had become too large. I believe that early experience really set the tone for her ideas on technology from that point on.

Her first school library job began in 1987. The school had two Apple IIe computer in the media center that were the only computers in the school. She remembers them as slow and lacking in usefulness, but as sturdy machines that were built to last the test of time. She laments that the computers we get in now seem so fragile that we might as well throw them out once they are over three years old. The entire school shared two television sets on rolling stands and there was no option but to show VHS tapes on them since there was no cable system in the school. The card catalog was still based on cards, and the checkout system of taking the card out when the book left was simple…yet left you rarely having any idea of your actual inventory in the library.

She spoke of how her position’s name change from Librarian to Media Specialist really mirrors the role she has come to play in the school. Once the technology started flowing into the schools, they implemented a checkout system from the media center for each item. That slowly changed to having enough of everything that each classroom had their own and no longer had to check things out. However, the responsibility of keeping inventory of all the items remained her duty.

The actual books have changed too. She said that they used to have a smaller budget and could buy even fewer books because “library bindings” were twice the cost of normal books. On the other hand, books now seem to last no longer than 5 years maximum, and those expensively bound books are still holding up after 20 years.

The main problems in the library today seem to fall into two groups: upkeep and training. The lack of funding and time for each always creates an inefficient use of technology in the school. The budget always seems to include money for new supplies, but not enough to maintain them. She told me about how a few years ago the PTA supplied all our classrooms with a new printer. They worked great for a year or so…until the ink ran out. The PTA wasn’t willing to continually fund replacement, and the school couldn’t afford them. Last year we sent the majority of those off to be recycled.

Training is a major issue as well, because her time is so full with kids and book checkouts during the day. After school, she is busy fixing problems that the county tech team will never get to. Many teachers have no idea how to utilize the technology in their room. It is different with each teacher though, because they are all on different levels. She tries to offer school-wide trainings when an obvious need arises, but what is logical and natural to some ends up sounding like brain surgery to others.

She likes our current Follett system because it is localized and efficient. She says the larger circulation systems wouldn’t be best suited for our network because our server is old and adding pictures, reviews, or any other information would just slow down the check in/checkout process. It doesn’t appear that many students use the system to find books here anyway. Most prefer our online reference sources, but there isn’t a centralized system to search all of them from one site.

She sees the future of the library having less and less to do with actual books, and becoming more as a facilitator to finding information digitally. She thinks that many of the current fads of using blogs, wikis, and message boards as a bandwagon that is used more for show than actually being useful. However, she thinks that education will continue moving in that direction, and that more efficient tools will naturally evolve from those beginnings.

I have a feeling this conversation has been less of an interview and more of an open discussion that will continue in the future. She knows the future of the library is pretty obscure at the moment, but we have really had a great time speculating and discussing possibilities for THIS library at least!

Final Thoughts

This school is fortunate to have a principal that is very technology oriented. Although that tends to mean that our inventory list is massive and rather unruly, we get to experiment with most technologies that come out and seem interesting and useful. Ms. Keatley grew up in a time with little in the way of technology, but she is full of desire to continually learn as technology grows and changes. She also tends to be a bit distrustful of the newest changes in anything, and is unwilling to let go of functioning technology until she is absolutely sure the next generation will hold its own and supersede the current. I think this allows for a library (and school) that is both on the cutting edge, yet functional and stable, to appeal to all levels of users. She mentioned that she wants to get all the life out of a machine…yet get rid of it before its merely on life support. Many times inadequate funding prevents this from being possible, but I still agree deeply with the idea behind it.

Ms. Keatley has always been very knowledgeable, approachable, caring, and open minded. I believe that my time working with her (the last two years) has really nurtured my long-standing thoughts of becoming a librarian. This conversation (there was far too much discussion and frequent tangential ideas followed for the term “interview” to really cover it) has really served to reinforce both my desire to become a librarian and my admiration of my interview “subject”. While it didn't really open up a specific area for my service project, I mentioned it, and she agreed to keep that in mind and brainstorm with me again in a few days.