I cannot remember which politician or political group sponsored the advertisement. It was in favor of the NJ bill for school choice. It sounds nice. I mean, who doesn’t like choice? The advertisement vilifies both public school teachers and the New Jersey Educators Association (NJEA), which is the teachers’ union. The gist of the advertisement is that our schools are failing our children, which was spoken as a blanket generalization without context. It states that public school teachers and the NJEA oppose school choice. The implications here are obvious. 1) The teachers and NJEA do not care about the children or they would support “school choice.” 2) Charter schools are better able to serve our children in all situations. While I am not able to find the advertisement online, this letter to the editor echoes the sentiments on NJ.com.

What is wrong with the ad?

The advertisement is such blatant propaganda and is wrong on many levels. For starters, the people behind the advertisement are not educators. They are politicians. Politicians who, by and large, do not use the public school system. What is worse, though, is not that they have a different opinion than I do (which is always welcome when civil discourse is possible), but that education is being sacrificed for political gain. An honest agenda would have presented facts or studies to support the egregious claims made in the advertisement. Offering teachers and the NJEA up as scapegoats solves no problem.

Second, despite the apparent beliefs of many NJ politicians, Secretary of State Arne Duncan, and President Obama, charter schools are not the panacea to all of the country’s education woes. Charter schools can solve some problems sometimes, but they are not THE answer. There is no easy, single answer. The problem is that politicians need something simple and concrete. No politician wants to go to his/her constituency and say that there is a long and difficult road ahead and that schools are going to take decades to fix if we start repairing the broken system now. It is much more palatable to voters and politicians if they can say this is what’s wrong (They failed a test!) and this is how we can solve it (Close the school! Open a charter!).

I am not going to use this post as a forum to discuss the benefits and costs of charter and public schools, although that will come in a post in the near future. However, charter schools are not held to the same standards as public schools and they are not required to follow the same restrictions. Yet, they are funded with public money. There is nothing charter schools do that public school cannot if given the same freedom.

The advertisement ends by saying, “Don’t let your child’s zip code determine his future.” I may have the words slightly off, but it is what was communicated. I agree with this. This sentiment stems from the fact that different towns have schools of varying quality. The way to fix the problem is to improve the schools so that they are all good schools and not to bus kids to other towns. Let me state that heterogeneous schooling is both unwanted and undesirable. However, we can work to improve the quality of the schools. In my experience, teachers are caring, hard-working, and willing to improve, when they have support in identifying what’s wrong and in helping to develop strategies to improve. For the record, a mandate saying that higher test scores are required is not including teachers in developing strategies to improve a school. Changing the way schools are funded would not be a bad idea either. Schools here are funded by property taxes, so the richer areas are obviously going to have access to better facilities and resources and, sometimes, teachers.

Also, how are the schools failing? The advertisement does not say. I would, though, bet anything you want that it is referring to a test score. I’m sorry NJ politicians, but if that is your only measure of a failing school, then I reject it. A handful of tests are not indicative of the overall health of a district.

Why do they oppose school choice?

The advertisement sets up teachers and the NJEA as being against children because they are against the bill for school choice. I have not contacted the NJEA (I am not even a member) and I cannot speak for any other teacher. However, there are a few reasons that stand out.

Supporting this bill would be tantamount to saying that the public schools are not willing or able to help children. Many teachers work unbelievably hard because they love their children. They should not take kindly to what is basically a governmental slap in the face saying that they are not good enough. If we are not good enough, then test us why and help us improve. We care about the kids and are more than willing to improve. But if you push a test score in my face, I can think of a few better places for you to put it.

I’m writing annoyed, which is not usually a good idea, so I may be less tactful than usual. I would appreciate any feedback. As always, you do not need to agree with me. Unlike the advertisement, I am open to civil dialogue discussing the merits and drawbacks of both the bill and the teachers’ union.

1. Pronunciation Practice. This can be excellent for foreign language and ELL students. If they call your Google Voice number, they can speak or read a passage, which will be saved to your voicemail. You can, one-on-one or as part of a whole class activity, review the students’ recording and offer guidance. Also helpful, students can call their own Google Voice number and use it for their own reflection. All this can be done without expensive microphones.
2. Homework Hotline. Not every student has access to a computer at home, but almost all have access to at least a land-line phone or a parents’ cell phone. This can enable them to have access to help when they need it. I am not suggesting that you have your students call your at 1 in the morning (I noticed that as the time most work was turned in on Moodle two years ago.). Google Voice has a nice “Do Not Disturb” feature that you can turn on in the settings. This will send all calls to voicemail. You are then able to respond as soon as you are able. What might be more helpful, though, is to have a department or grade level Google Voice number. For example, if any student has a problem with English, they can call the English Google Voice number. On Monday, that might go to my phone. On Tuesday, it could go to another phone. With 1 number, any amount of students could have access to help.
3. Notes/Reminders. This one is difficult as it requires cell phones to be allowed in your class/school. I do not see any reason why students cannot dictate some notes, especially in a science class, or leave themselves reminders, which would be transcribed for them and waiting in their email and/or Google Voice inbox.

What am I missing? I know that there are other good ideas. How else might we be able to implement this powerful tool to make it useful to students?

The first idea that comes to mind when one thinks of the archetypal school librarian is an older lady who shelves books and hates talking, and possibly hates people. There is even a librarian action-figure with “Amazing push-button shushing action.” Let me say up front that I do not fit that mold. I’m 24, I hardly ever shelve books, and my library is never quiet. It is a bustling hub. We usually have close to 100 people in the library before first period starts; we often teach classes on both sides of the library for the duration of the day. The modern library is fun, active, and should be the heart of the school.

This is not to say that books are not important. The books (including physical books of all kinds, audio books both physical and electronic, and e-books) are the foundation of the library and a gateway to wisdom. I purposely used the indefinite article because it is vital that we realize that books are not the only gateway to wisdom, as they once were perceived. In terms of books, I do spend a lot of time reading books to stay current, researching what is popular and appropriate. I almost never shelve books. I can train student aides to do that so my time is freed to focus on more important issues. There is a fundamental difference between how school libraries and public libraries think about ordering and managing a collection. The public library can think only about what people want. The school library has a very clearly defined dichotomy. On one hand, we have to stock interesting and current literature for all tastes and ability levels to help foster a love of reading in the students. For example, my library is the first in my county to have a very large collection of anime/manga books. Many librarians look down on those books, but the group on close to 60 students in my school that read them have checked those books out more than any other books in our collection. More than half of those kids never stepped in their school library at their last school if they were not dragged there for class. Now they are reading for pleasure and occasionally branch out into other sections of the library. We need to get kids in the door and get them to want to read. Second, we have to look at the needs of the curriculum and the teachers. When my partner and I were planning our collection, we looked at the curriculum for every single subject as well as the new TN state standards to make sure that no matter what is being taught, there are resources here to support the teachers and the students.

The problem with many school libraries is that this is where the job ends. It should be where is begins. The librarian has many titles. In my brief tenure, my position has changed from school librarian to school library media specialist to school information specialist. I am not concerned with the title, but it should be evident that there is a great need for the librarian to current and skilled with technology. This does not mean that librarians should be interchangeable with computer technicians; rather, that they are the master learners in the building and continue to develop their practice in all aspects to support those in their building. A great explication of this was recently written by Debra Gottsleben, a librarian for whom technology does not come naturally, but who still helps her staff to integrate it effectively into instruction.

The first natural extension of current practice (by which I mean traditional, old libraries) into the modern era is in the field of research. Librarians were trained to research in books and this is still valid, but it is not the only or primary way to research anymore. Librarians need to be able to help students setup their papers, properly format them (usually in MLA or APA), and give credit to avoid plagiarism. When my English teachers were setting up their research units this year, I sat down with every one and helped plan a research unit around the needs of their students, which my partner and I helped teach with the regular English teacher. These included structured lessons on plagiarism, Internet safety, finding appropriate sources online, advanced searching online, using scholarly databases, formatting a paper and writing a works cited page, how to keep track of sources, and so on. The skills taught in freshman year were reinforced in sophomore year; the skills taught in sophomore year were reinforced in junior year and so on. Furthermore, we made research consistent throughout the building. We structured and helped deliver research units in criminal justice, algebra, chemistry, engineering, physical science, biology, music, and every history and social studies class we offered. Students were taught to approach research using the same skills and expectations throughout all of their classes. This helped students to see the importance and the relevance of it, and the research papers greatly improved throughout the course of the school year. We worked to teachers to make sure that with more creative projects, both in and out of the library, students still took the same careful approach to research and cited sources appropriately in any medium.

The students need to know that we are there for them in every situation. It is similar to the classroom in that the students do not care what you know. Our library program this year has been successful because we made it a priority to be available and helpful. Our school hours are 7:10 to 2:35. I get to school when the custodian opens the doors at 5:30 in the morning. It works well because I tend to get up early and my partner likes to stay late. She often stays until 4:30-5:30 in the evening. Between us, we make sure the library is an available resource to the students. The amazing part if that students, even without school transportation, are using it. I usually see 20 students here by 6:30 and 20-40 here after school every day. We make sure we walk around to check on the students, help them with their work, help them find books, and find out about them as people. This has contributed to our having a great rapport with the kids. I am happy to say that even in the rare times when I am in my office, students have no problems coming right in and asking for help. That is the environment we tried to cultivate. This is a service profession; we need to sell what we can do to the students so that they will utilize us. When classes come down, they are captive; it is incredibly powerful to see them coming here motivated and independent of any outside influence.

Librarians have an interesting position as they straddle the line between teacher and administrator. I teach constantly, but I also manage the library program. This puts me in a great position to help my staff. Depending on the culture in the school, I have noticed that teachers tend to be hesitant to be completely honest with the administrators for fear of repercussion or because they do not want to look vulnerable in front of an authority figure. I go out of my way to try to cultivate relationships with my staff. They trust my partner and I, and they tell us concerns and problems that they do not discuss with the administrators. This is a generalization and does not apply to every teacher I work with.

This is helpful for several reasons. First, we developed an extensive collection of professional literature and specialize in pedagogy. If there is a problem in a classroom, we are often able to help mentor the teacher and, when necessary, go to his/her classroom to help deliver an effective lesson. I cannot say enough that library is about service. We need to support our teachers and our administrators in whatever ways we can. This can be recommending a professional book, mentoring, being on committees, etc… We just have to remember, if we can help our teachers and administrators to improve, we make the experience better for students.

I have been blessed to work in a school where over 80% of the teachers are in their first or second year teaching. There is always room to grow and there were some issues from having such an inexperienced staff open a new school. Overall, I believe that they have done an outstanding job. What was wonderful about it, though, is that they did not come in with too many preconceptions about what the job is supposed to be like and were willing to collaborate. The absolute biggest part of my job this year has been co-planning and co-teaching. This looks different in every school, but I made it one of my highest priorities. Ours is a teaching library, not just books that collect dust and computers that are glorified typewriters.

I have had the honor to co-plan and co-teach with every single department in the school this year and nearly every teacher. We use Google Calendar to have a public calendar of who is schedule for the library when. When at teacher wants to use the library, they fill out a Google Form. The form includes areas for them to tell us what they want to do, what they think they need, and specify a time when they would like to collaborate. They can choose the time, but collaboration is non-negotiable. If a teacher wants to use the library they must collaborate. Some teachers need us a lot, some not very much. Before every lesson, usually a few days before, my partner and/or myself will meet with the teacher, we will discuss ideas, find tools, develop a full lesson for each day the students will be in the library, and develop a sound assessment. We make sure that all of the puzzle pieces are in place before the students come down and the lessons have been better for it.

After co-planning, we co-teach. There are 6 periods per day here. It is not uncommon to teach 10 periods in the library. I will work with a teacher on one side of the library and teach 5 classes. My partner will work with another teacher and do the same on the other side. Usually, the content area teacher comes with an idea and we help match the idea to the tool that will best help. Most of the time, although not all the time, this includes technology. One of my favorite ways to work with a teacher is that I will take the lead in the beginning of the day, especially on the lessons that are more heavily reliant on technology, and transition to the teacher taking the lead with less and less support throughout the day. Ideally, by the end of the day, the teacher is comfortable using the tool on their own and can continue to embed in their own instruction.

It has been tremendously helpful to me to be able to co-teach with so many different and skilled professionals. I am in the wonderful position of being able to observe the teaching styles of so many. I can try to assimilate their strengths and use the techniques I learn to help others. For example, one of our freshman English teachers has the best classroom management I have ever seen. I have watched her teach and taken notes. I have shared her strategies with many who were struggling this year and plan to incorporate them myself when I get back in the classroom next year.

Once I gained the trust of the staff, they started coming to me when they needed help. This manifests itself two ways. Especially in schools with a dedicated technology coordinator in the building, the librarian unofficially takes on that role. I have become the computer repairmen for all my staff and many of my students (many bring in personal laptops that need fixing). While it is not necessary to do this, it really helps relations with the staff and the kids. Remember, the library is a service profession. Second, I have began in the second semester to offer after-school in-services on different technology-related things that my staff wanted to learn. Again, this falls under the category of helping our staff get better to improve the experience for our students.

In my humble opinion, my views on being a librarian can be summed up in one sentence. Help the students in whatever way possible. Help them by coaching teachers. Help them by co-teaching. Help them by providing a safe and comfortable atmosphere. Help them by providing a place where they can work uninterrupted. Help them by working with the administration to craft sound policies for the school. Help them by being available. When we look at our profession in that way, it really is very simple. Find out what your students need, and provide it.

I was really honored that Jason asked me to write a guest post on his blog for the series entitled Diffusion of Innovations. At first I was more than a little frightened about writing about technology when I looked at who else he had asked- Stephen Anderson, Will Chamberlain and many others who I follow faithfully on Twitter to get THEIR technical expertise not to offer mine! But when I thought about how new ideas are diffused in our school district I think that I do have some ideas that worth sharing.

I’m not the typical techie person that comes to mind. I’m an older female (let’s just say that I celebrated the midcentury mark several years ago!) and I don’t enjoy technology. Or maybe I should say that the tech hardware often stumps me and I have a long learning curve with some of the Web 2.0 applications. What I do enjoy is learning how to improve how I teach to help my students learn better. I was always an excellent student who finished near the top of my high school class as well as my undergraduate class. So taking on something that wasn’t easy for me to learn was a risk that I had to take in order to succeed in my new profession as a school library media specialist. Because the use of technology didn’t come easily for me I felt like I had a unique opportunity to reach out to other teachers who struggled with implementing these innovations. It was a great opportunity to collaborate.

As Kyle Pace mentioned in his recent post in this series, the human element is important. It is very critical to remember that not only is change hard because we get set in our ways but also sometimes people may be fearful that they will fail, that they just won’t be good at this new practice. If you can offer a helping hand it goes far in soothing a fellow teacher’s concerns. If you can offer to collaborate with a colleague you may just be able to bring them along. Just showing someone a new tool may not be enough. I am fortunate in my role as a school library media specialist at Morristown High School that I have a flexible schedule which allows me to work with teachers when they need me or my colleague and not when a fixed schedule says that their class will come to the library. I have gotten to know many of the teachers and know what they do with their classes. So when I see a web 2.0 tool that might enhance one of their lessons I offer to work with them. They introduce the content specific material and I work with the class on the technology part. Some teachers run with the new ideas, others need me or my co-librarian to continue to work with their classes. And, sometimes it just doesn’t work out. But usually the teacher is open to try something else.

One inspiration I had for this post was from a slideshare someone tweeted about called “Let Out the Creative Beast” by Betsy Streeter http://www.slideshare.net/betsystreeter/let-out-the-creative-beast In it Ms. Streeter declares that in order to become more creative we need to not judge ourselves when we are trying something new, that we need to be able to experiment, scribble and laugh and that most of all we need encouragement. I thought about what it was that she said and realized that it is exactly those sentiments that we need to convey to our less “techie” colleagues. Reaching out a hand to those you may consider beyond hope of ever being able to grasp the concept of Web 2.0 may be just what your fellow teacher needs; you might find that they may actually be very willing to take a journey with you if you just offer some encouragement and help. It may be hard to work with someone who is afraid of change and sticks to their old habits but the rewards can be great. And what a role model for students to see and emulate you can become by not giving up on someone just because they may be reluctant to embrace change.

First Do No Harm by Hadley Ferguson

Instruction and Technology – Where Do I Start? by Philip Cummings

The Ten No Nos of Teaching with a Projector or Interactive Whiteboard by Lisa Nielson

True Democratic Government by Aaron Eyler‘s students.

Education Will Become Personalized by Andrew Barras

I Like to Watch by Deven Black

Overcome With Techno-Fear by Steven Anderson

Yet another reason standards based grading is necessary by Matt Townlsey.

To implement change, there has to be a sense of urgency; and to spread innovation, there has to be inspiration…

Changing a culture, especially in schools, is a daunting task for anyone. Even a school administrator who implements change from a top down approach may not be well received by staff and never fully embraced. Trying to change culture from the bottom up approach is equally difficult when colleagues and administrators may feel threatened or ambivalent by one’s ideas. We cannot deny that teachers and administrators are passionate about education, but with varying pedagogies, learning styles, and philosophies, how does a staff move forward with a school culture that everyone buys into?

Changing culture in regards to technology infusion…

There are a myriad of factors that need to occur in order for real technology infusion, but if I were to point to a unifying factor, it would have to be a sense of urgency amongst all the staff. Although there are many profound discussions on Twitter that is valuable about tech integration, there is no real sense of urgency for teachers to not only be part of a personal learning community, but to actually execute the practice of technology integration. I always refer to my blog post about The Boiling Frog Syndrome when trying to infuse technology with our wide spectrum of teachers. However, when faced with adversity such as a school in program improvement status and putting teachers on the firing block, a change in the way we operate is essential. It may not be an extreme scenario as being a program improvement school, but if a staff does not feel an urgency to infuse technology, tech integration specialists will continue to struggle getting everyone on board. The staff has to see technology as a catalyst and foundation to solve the urgency for the school. They have to see that technology can efficiently reform the way procedures and communications operate for the school (information technology), as well as differentiate, drive data assessments, and enrich the curriculum for our classrooms (educational technology).

There is hope however…the ability to inspire through innovation.

I have seen school culture change because of the brilliance of staff members who continue to innovate and inspire using technology in the classroom. It is rare to change everyone on staff (there is always a couple), but I have seen teachers who inspire many others to change the way they operate and teach their classroom. I believe patience and sales skills are two qualities I would add to any technology integration specialist position.

As we continue to preach the use of technology in schools, technology specialists will need to create a sense of urgency amongst the staff and model innovation that sparks motivation. And patience goes a long way…