The Beginning of a New Year!!!

How did it get here so quickly? I'm overwhelmed to say the least. The school year snuck up on me. I'm sitting here at my kitchen table reading my emails and realizing I have less that 48 hours left before work begins again. So I thought I might as well get the first blog entry of the year over and done with. That's right it's Saturday night, at the end of August and I'm blogging about work. You are allowed to shake your head and call me a geek. I don't mind.

I learned something interesting over the summer. I like most people believed that the summer school holidays were created to match the Victorian Era farming harvest. Well that's a myth. Check out this link to The Independent to find out about holiday myths. It turns out there are all kinds of reasons for the long break including pressure from the tourist industry and parents changed the school calendar to create a longer summertime break for the benefit of families. Other articles state that concerns for the spread of disease through insects in the summer heat may be behind the summer vacation. Read up about it. Here's another link.

So what did I do with my summer? Everyone says we have so much holiday time. They're right I do have holiday time. Technically, we're unemployed during the summer but that's not what's important. It's precious time. I didn't get into teaching for the summer. It was never even on the radar, it didn't occur to me that it would be a really great thing.  In fact the time didn't become special until I had kids. I am extremely lucky to get the time and I spend it with my kids. What a gift! I have two months to bond and share the world with my boys. It's a dream come true. I hope my kids realize how lucky they are, not every mother gets this kind of time with their kids.

I haven't really been clear about summer activities though so here goes.... I don't think I really stopped once and took a good long break. We took a bunch of day trips in and around Bruce and Grey county (mostly hiking and canoeing). My husband and I took a three day holiday where we backpacked and camped in Bruce Peninsula National Park. Nope sorry no grand world travels, just simple affordable little vacations in and around our lovely province. Oh, and I experimented with underwater photography!!! Finally, I also did an extraordinary amount of home renovation. You are now reading the words of a laminate flooring master. My kids are masters with a hammer after a summer of practice.




Summer also included reading a collection of books and book reviews so I can go shopping right at the beginning of the year and fill the library with some new titles for the kids. My son helped me with the reading, he's 12 this year so right smack in the middle of the RHL cohort. I read a great many articles on technology. Here's a link to just one of them. "Critical mistakes made with iPads". I spent a good amount of time running over my plans for both the library and our technology program.

I've spent part of the summer emailing ideas back and forth with our new Principal Mrs. Neela Zinn. I still need to work out some details but our technology should be more innovative than ever and well the RHL Library/Learning Commons will be even more dynamic than last year.

I also plan to add a photography club and an outdoor adventure club to the mix this year. What am I thinking, this sounds like an awful lot of work. The answer is it is but it will make my year fly by and I get to do things I love with a bunch of people I love being around, namely kids.

Grade 7 and 8 Overnight Trip to Mansfield Outdoor Centre

So students are about to embark on a three day, two night trip to Mansfield Outdoor Centre, which is located just 1 hour from Toronto in the beautiful area of Mulmur. Students will be staying in the cabins at the Main building and will be participating in a variety of outdoor based activities. Essentially, our students will be coming to a traditional kind of summer camp, only we're going during the school year.

I believe strongly in the value of getting kids outside and having them experience nature, learn and be connected with their world. Once you get them outside and experiencing and learning they love it and become even more curious. Richard Louv author of the "Last Child in the Woods", discusses the importance of kids gaining independence and getting outside.

These types of activities are so important for our kids. Firstly, many of our kids never get to come to a place like Mansfield and experience the outdoors. So many of my city kids have no idea what it's like to spend 24/7 outdoors, in nature.

When we come here kids  get an opportunity to explore the nature. We give them freedom within a set of boundaries. For instance, during free time kids can go and explore the area as long as they see the main building at all times. This rule allows kids to explore approximately a 4 or 5 acre area while still being within eyesight of our home base. The kids play soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc. They explore the fields. I make the rule that students can climb trees as long they stay on branches that are thicker than their wrist. The reality is they never really get very far off the ground but it feels like a huge freedom. So many of them have never climbed trees before. Last year we taught a group to make a horn noise by blowing on thick pieces of grass. Some of them were so entertained by this they spent the whole week playing with grass horns.

The programs we participate in are also extremely valuable. Kids, participate in pond study, where they investigate pond creatures, or they complete orienteering maps and explore the forest. They learn about nature through experiential education.

I'm truly looking forward to this trip and can't wait to see what happens.

Music Class on the iPads

Recently I have been working with Mrs. Caroline Singh on a music project that utilizes the app Garage Band.   We worked together to plan the project. We discussed timing and coordinating use of the iPads, along with how many periods students would need to complete their work. We also discussed the actual use of the iPads for making music.

Caroline and I decided that it would be best to stay simple for this first project. We decided to focus on teaching students how to use Garage Band rather than the actual musicality of their songs. The plan is to have them master the app itself and then next as a progression students will begin to focus on creating music that focuses on rhythm, chords, etc.
Students were very enthusiastic to learn about Garage Band. They were curious about all the different features available and spent a great deal of time experimenting with the app. They have  created some very short but interesting songs.
I've upload a few here.

Gen and Taylor song

Caroline's song

Matea's song

Nishaans song

Our plan is to take these songs and upload them into iMovie then students will utilize iMovie to edit and create music videos for their songs. The focus of the project is more on creativity and learning the apps then it is on the actual musicality of their work. We will upload some of the music videos once they are completed.

The Human Library!!!!

We recently held a Human Library event here at R.H. Lagerquist. Inspiration for the event was taken from Human Library.org.

The Human Library is an innovative method designed to promote dialogue, reduce prejudices and encourage understanding.The main characteristics of the project are to be found in its simplicity and positive approach.

In its initial form the Human Library is a mobile library set up as a space for dialogue and interaction. Visitors to a Human Library are given the opportunity to speak informally with “people on loan”; this latter group being extremely varied in age, sex and cultural background.

The Human Library enables groups to break stereotypes by challenging the most common prejudices in a positive and humorous manner. It is a concrete, easily transferable and affordable way of promoting tolerance and understanding.

It is a “keep it simple”, “no-nonsense” contribution to social cohesion in multicultural societies. Read more about the history .

The aim of the day was to expose students to the varied and vast experiences of their teachers. We wanted to show the human side of people working in the building. The goal was to open students eyes to the fact that as teachers we do more than mark tests. The event stayed small with only 12 books and we had students loan out these books in groups of about 20. We had a whole variety of different books available. Some teachers discussed their travels to other countries, or childhood experiences, others discussed trying out for Canadian Idol. We had a very good mix of books available to students.
Ideally I would have liked to search for community members that could also participate in the Human Library but for our first attempt I kept the library small. It was successful students said they really enjoyed the event. I will definitely plan another library for next year. I had included some small sound clips in this entry to give you an idea of what the Human Library was like for the kids.

Education Week and The Canadian Raptor Conservancy

As part of our education week activities we had James Cowan from the Canadian Raptor Conservancy visit us here at Lagerquist. All Lagerquist students attended the performance. We were able to get all 600 students into our gym and seated comfortably for the presentation.

James brought five different birds of prey with him and students learned about the birds and James also flew the birds for the students. One of our teachers, Mrs. Dwyer got to hold the Harris Hawk as a present from the students for her birthday. It was an interesting and engaging performance, both students and teachers had a lot of positive things to say about the birds, James and all of the information they learned yesterday.  

Here are some examples of the information they received from the presentation.

1. A Harris Hawk can land on a cactus so it wouldn't hurt if one landed on your head.
2. Great Horned owls like to hunt skunks because they don't have a sense of smell.
3. The Red-Tailed Hawk is on the list to become the Canadian National Bird. 
4. Canada does not have a Canadian National Bird.
5. Turkey Vultures have bald heads so that when they eat carrion it doesn't get all over their feathers.
6. Bald Eagles were extinct in Ontario up until 15 years ago.

The kids really loved how James flew the birds. He made a point of moving all over the room and ensuring that the students got a very close encounter with the birds. In all it was a great morning here at Lagerquist check out our photos. 

A Water Story using Waterlife and Storybird!

Recently, several classes of grade 8 students visited the library in order to research water. They were interested in topics like water pollution, water use, the water cycle and the belugas whales in the St. Lawrence River.
Mrs. G. Singh and myself first discussed the project approximately two months before students were to arrive in the library for research sessions. Last year we utilized a Web 2.0 tool called Storybird.  It's an easy and versatile site that can be used for all sorts of activities from creative writing to writing non-fiction picture books.
Mrs. Singh and I came up with a set of criteria for the kids and tried to build on the project from the previous year. This year we added some time to research water issues using the National Film Board site called "WaterLife" Students were given a graphic organizer called "A Gem of an Idea". I've Included an image of the organizer here along with the instructions for using it.

The students spent two classes searching through the website writing down interesting facts and sharing this information with their peers by creating graphic organizers about water. Here are some examples. 

Students were then instructed to come up with some ideas for writing a story that would explain what they had learned about their chosen water topic. We discussed main ideas and themes and then students wrote a short organizer and began creating their stories on Storybird. The paid version of Storybird allows you to print out the stories as PDFs. We utilized the free version of Storybird.





Here are some screen shots from their Stories. This first story is an example of some of the topics and images available on Storybird. The idea behind Storybird is to take inspiration from the pictures available. Part of our struggle is to show the kids that their story needs to evolve from the images. Some students do struggle with this. We are lenient in that in the case of the story below this is a killer whale image not a Beluga.

This story discussed Beluga whales. 

Here's a second example. Again I'm showing just the cover page and one page from inside the story. 

The students seemed to enjoy this project and gave us lots of good feedback. The advantage to this project was our ability to combine language skills with research for science. In the end it was an effective way to integrate subject matter. 

Grade 7 Leadership Program

At the end of April 50 of our grade 7's will be participating in the R. H. Lagerquist Leadership Learning Program. This fun and engaging program selects students in grade 7 who have displayed strong leadership skills or the potential to be strong leaders and gives them an opportunity to attend a unique Outdoor Experiential Leadership Program. We will be taking a group of students Finlayson Outdoor Centre to participate in the Challenge Ropes Course. Finlayson is a Peel District School Board alternative learning site. All staff are certified teachers and hold specialist certifications in running a challenge course. The activities are fully insured and safety inspected each year.

The Challenge Ropes Course is an exciting, dynamic way to introduce or strengthen the concepts of team work, cooperation, goal setting and many other personal growth goals which students will identify in a preliminary session here at school. Finlayson uses the Challenge by Choice approach which enables each participant to experience their own success in the context of their own aspirations. On the ropes course, the greatest gains are rarely measured in terms of the number of feet climbed. And that in all the team building adventures, everyone has a role to play. The high ropes elements are up in the trees so the perceived risk is high, but actual risk is low. Participants walk across cable bridges, or negotiate giant ladders through the trees as they overcome personal fears and develop new self confidence.

The students will spend part of their morning discussing why they are there and what they hope to accomplish, then it's into the climbing gear and up to the Course they  go.  The Challenge Ropes Course has 10 high element challenge activities set in the forest overlooking the property.  Challenge activities will be based on the group goals.  It is an excellent experience for adventure seekers or the timid, shy student. This is an extremely unique opportunity which will enrich a students understanding of their strengths and areas in which they can improve their leadership skills. 

The cost of trip is 20$ to students. The trip has been subsidized by the school bringing the overall price down by 50%. The cost of busing for this trip was very high due to the extended day but we believe in the value of an opportunity like this and felt that this was an effective item to spend some of the school's money on. We will certainly update people on the student's progress and the outcomes of the trip. 

Grade 8 Cell Projects

Three classes of grade 8's recently visited the library in order to complete a research project for science class. They were learning about various types of cells. Students were expected to work with a partner to research a particular type of cell and then create a presentation which would explain their learning to other students in their class.

Mr. Warr and I worked to coordinate class time for students to complete the projects. I then helped Mr. Warr to introduce the project. We discussed with the students the importance of taking good jot notes so that the information would be easy to utilize when creating their presentations. Students were given several options for creating their presentations. Some utilized PowerPoint or the free version of PowerPoint called Open Office. Most decided to utilize PowerPoint. Students were required to completed a project in which they researched the life cycle, and the anatomy of a particular cell.

They utilized our digital library, print resources from our non-fiction collection and also other websites from the internet. For this project Mr. Warr and myself decided to use the mobile WiFi cart. We learned a great deal during the implementation of this project about the use of our mobile cart. Here at Lagerquist our mobile WiFi cart contains 12 iPads and 12 Netbooks. Students can access and use the cart in their classrooms. At first the use of the cart for research was difficult to master. Mr. Warr is admittedly not tech savvy and required a considerable amount of assistance with in utilizing the cart for the completion of their projects. The iPads were more awkward to use because the could not utilize PowerPoint on the iPads so we had to coordinate who was using which device. Also, the Prezi app on the iPad did not have many of the capabilities of the desktop version of Prezi so this made it difficult for students to utilize. However the students and myself worked around these limitations and overall the projects were very successful. We have learned that there are limitations to the usefulness of the iPads. The Netbooks are certainly useful for certain types of assignments and the iPads have their place in the creative realm for producing things like music, videos, photography and certainly surfing the web. The most effective projects were completed using Prezi. I've included a link to this Web 2.0 tool here. I've also added this little YouTube video that explains how Prezi works. It's a fantastic tool.

Photo Essays on Migration

Recently, students in Mrs. Naidu's grade 8 geography class completed a research assignment on the push and pull factors that affect human migration. Students utilized smart ideas to organize and map out information which compared the quality of life in Canada to life another country. Students utilized The CIA World Factbook, and many other sites to find information about birth rates, literacy rates, unemployment rates, etc. Students then took this information and synthesized it into a photo essay with captions for their chosen images. Students had many different options available for creating the photo essays. Some used the iPad or their Mac book, others used Prezi or PowerPoint. We gave them many options for creating their photo essays.
Students were given several periods to research their topics and Mrs. Naidu and myself guided the students through the numerous facts and information as they built their webs on Smart ideas. All in all the results were pretty successful. Students learned a great deal and had to do a lot of thinking about their topics. Some found that their countries weren't very different Canada in terms of health care, education, etc. These students really had to think about what might draw a person here to Canada if their home country was so similar to our own. We watched the students think they're way through the project and learn a great deal about life in other countries. Many of the students were surprised by infant death rate in many countries. It's fairly unheard of here in Canada to lose a child so this statistic surprised them quite a bit.
The project was an enjoyable experience for both teachers and students and the results were valuable. We look forward to working together on the same project next year. Of course there will be items that will be tweaked and the amount of data will probably be lessened. Student feedback on the project mentioned that this was a difficulty they had with the project.

Below are some links to examples of the project and the finished photo essays.
Jordan's Photo Essay
Nesha's Photo Essay as a website
Amy's Morocco Photo Essay

A Fall Report on our Library

I just wanted to write up a little progress report on the activities occurring here in the library over the fall term. There’s been a lot and I’ve learned a lot. We have a lot to do still to keep building this place into a learning commons.

My Goal to build this library!!!

1. A welcoming, service-oriented, tech-rich environment that is open on a regular basis and that invites students in to find resources and services that support their work.
2. Comfortable reading areas that attract students to books and to developing the lifelong habit of reading.
3. Comfortable working areas that enable different groupings of students to work, from independent learners, to pairs and small groups to whole-class instruction.
4. 24/7 access to digital resources as well as a collection of dynamic print resources all supporting curriculum and reading.
5. An area that would invite teachers, and guests to work with a class or group, with the support of the teacher-librarian to present multimedia or other performances.
6. A place that would provide students and teachers with opportunities to learn more advanced technology skills and create more complex digital products.
7. A place that is available for teachers to work in groups in workshops/lunch n’ learns to build new skills or collaboratively develop new resources, tools, etc.
8. provide a multitude of literacy initiatives and reading programs

Total number of Forest of Reading Books - 160
Total number of students participating in Forest Voting - 194 signed up
Activities for Forest of Reading

• Book Club
• Award Design Contest
• Talks with Expert Teachers
• Voting
• Imovie for the blog

Library Helpers
Currently 17 students come to the library regularly to shelve and restock books and help with maintaining the library

Study Hall
This runs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - 99% of the time I’m full and have to turn people away


Total number of checkouts to date - 2971
grade 6 total = 567
grade 7 total = 847
grade 8 total = 784

Total new items purchased by year
2011 - 503
2012 - 788

Total number of items in the library
Books - 2594
easy read/picture - 246
Graphic novel - 210
Magazine subscriptions - 8
Prof reference - 334
encyclopedias/reference - 180

Age of Books
Average age of books is 11 years old by publication year
2004 - 1111 total books published this year these are fiction and non-fiction
2001 - 887 total books published this year these are fiction and non-fiction
2008 - 442 total books published this year these are fiction and non-fiction

Graph Age of books by Dewey system

Teacher Research/Collaboration

• grade 6 research for Biodiversity - students researched and created presentations using poster board or prezi or powerpoint
• group research on Aboriginal peoples - students created a presentation for class on a specific group of native people
• completed Dare Arts cards
• research for grade 8’s completed Island City project
• grade 7 french project to create comics using Bitstrips
• utilized Tumble books
• website creation with live reenactment utilizing twitter for confederation
• recording radio advertisements in french for restaurants
• utilizing ipads and screenchomp for explaining websites for a charity “Shattered” novel study
• utilize computers to work on gizmos for science
• utilizing Imovie to create TV ads for a French Restaurant
• utilizing Ipads to film skit for french
• research project on mixtures and solutions end product was powerpoint or prezi
• research project with students on Canadian Artists
• research project on famous musicians students create a presentation for the class, like Prezi, powerpoint, frames 4, or jeopardy
• research project for migration students are creating photo essays on push and pull factors
• robotics project
• collaborating with me to train students on premier

Upcoming Projects/Plans

• using both the cart in class and the lab students will do research for cells
• will use Imovie to create trailers for the book the Twits - we will split the class and do storyboards then alternate filming times
• students will research water then create children’s stories about water utilizing Storybird
• utilizing audacity to make podcasts in music

6 Teachers bring their classes for regular book exchange

Fundraising

• Book Fair - 250$ - store credit
• Chapter’s night - 400$ - gift card
• Dare Arts - 95$ - cash
• Adopt a School - 500$ - gift card

Major Expenses for library budget

• Purchasing Fiction titles appropriate for grade 6’s - 1500
• Purchasing Graphic novels - 500
• Purchasing replacement book tape - 150$
• Repair books - 195$
• Magazine subscriptions 275$
• Incidentals like barcodes, magazine racks and board games took up the rest

Lessons learned from this year so far

• I can’t let teachers book regular weekly periods for computer use. There isn’t enough flexibility to schedule around them in 4 period day
• I needed to purchase more than 8 copies of Red Maple for Forest - they’re very popular
• The cart is a huge maintenance issue - reliable students should be trained in September to help with upkeep
• Cell phones are too small for BYOD to be useful awkward for kids to read
• The cart needs to monitored every period to ensure everything is back
• If Ipads are constantly plugged in to charge the battery dies
• Netbooks must be shut down with each new user or you can’t get on the network
• Each Wi Fi hub has 30 logins
• The cart is heavy
• Not everyone knows that you can sign out books from the library
• Not everyone knows that they can bring kids to the library to do research and collaborate/team teach with me
• Many teachers aren’t aware of the need to scaffold research so students of all levels are successful
• I have a lot to learn :))))

Forest of Reading - An Update!!!

There's so much going on at school right now. The library has been booked solid for the last three weeks.  The Forest of Reading has been incredibly successful. I ordered a total of 80 books for just the Red Maple category of the Forest of Reading and right now all 80 books are checked out. In total I purchased 170 titles for the Forest of Reading. I have kids requesting copies left right and centre. I've included a link to the Forest of Reading brochure. People can access and see all the categories and all the titles in Forest of Reading. If anyone were to donate some of these titles particularly the Red Maple category, that would be fantastic:))

The Forest of Reading has been very popular this year. I currently have 176 students signed up to participate in the voting, for the winning books. This is a huge number. I certainly didn't anticipate having this many students interested in the program and am feeling a little overwhelmed by their enthusiasm.

Students can participate in the Forest of Reading in a number of ways. My goal was to make the program accessible to everyone and make it easy and fun to participate. I would like to see every student in the school pick up a Forest of Reading book sometime during this year and enjoy reading it. If students do this then I will consider the program to have been a success. Of course this isn't the only thing going on students have the following options for participation.

1. Read any of the books for enjoyment.
2. Read any of the books for enjoyment then speak to one of the participating teachers about what they have read.
3. Read any of the books and come to book club on Tuesdays or Thursdays. 
4. Write a message on the Graffiti board. 
5. Rehearse and discuss their book while I film them for our Forest of Reading video.
6. Read 5 books from one of the categories and document their reading on a passport, then participate in the voting at the end of April. 

I want students enthusiastic about reading and enjoying what they read. I believe that literacy is best promoted through positive encouragement.Students all read at different levels so it is important to make the books and success accessible to all. Hopefully, the variety of options that I have presented to students will encourage them to keep reading and above all enjoy it.  

Gearing up for the Forest of Reading!!!

We are currently gearing up to kick off our Forest of Reading event in our school. Every year the Ontario Library Association hosts the Forest of Reading, which is a celebration of Canadian Authors. Our Forest of Reading program is funded through our chocolate fundraiser. Each year we use some of the fundraising money to purchase the books for students.

There are several different categories. Our school participates in Silver Birch Fiction, Silver Birch Non-Fiction, Silver Birch Express, Red Maple Fiction, Red Maple Non-Fiction, and White Pine.
Here's an introductory video about the program.

Here's what kids have to say!!!

There are many ways that students can participate in the program, here at RHL. Students can read the books for sheer enjoyment and leave a quick note on our blog or on our comment board in the library. They can choose to participate in our book club which will run during the last half of period 2 on Thursdays. Students may wish to participate in our book reviews which will be posted (with parent permission) on this blog site. Students may also wish to participate in the Forest of Reading contest. The contest allows students to vote on and decide on the best books in the Forest of Reading this year. They must read at least 5 books from any one category in order to be eligible to participate in voting. The winners of the contest will be announced in the spring. We will have a Forest of Reading celebration at the end of the year which will recognize the success of our students.

Researching How Everyday Objects are Made

The grade 7 classes have just begun a new research project here in the library. Students are utilizing their knowledge of mixtures to help them research and understand how everyday items like toothpaste, soft drinks and steel are made. Students are required to research these items using both digital and print resources for information.

The students were taught about mixtures during class time. They were required to read about mixtures from the textbooks, teacher notes and videos. Students then completed questions on mixtures and ensured they understood the content through class discussions. The students then chose a topic and read through the assignment page.The science teachers and I then booked the classes into the library for an introduction to research and then time for researching. Students were given three periods to complete research and to start building the digital presentation of their work.

The important part of this project was to create a framework from which students could organize their thoughts and ideas about the project. When the students came to the library to begin their research we discussed the importance of being focused on what they needed to find. I first talked with the kids about the important piece of understanding we wanted them to gain from this project. The kids were quite perceptive and they were able to conclude that we wanted them to understand how classroom notes and information could be used in the real world. We wanted students to see a practical application for the use of mixtures.

We then set up a framework for understanding the content and got the kids thinking about what they needed to learn. We had students create a KWL chart which stands for "I know", "I want to know" and "I Learned". We established prior knowledge with the kids. We had them assess their understanding of the item they were researching to find out if they knew a lot about the subject or very little. This is the "I know" part of the learning. We then had them think about their items and come up with things they wanted to know about their topic. In other words where were their gaps in knowledge and which parts of the research did they really need to focus on?

Our next step was have students peruse and scan the print resources available in the library. They discovered that there was an awful lot of information in the books and a lot of it was easier to find that information from the internet. Kids started putting information down in the "I Learned" section of their chart. As they did this they discovered that they had more questions they needed to ask. The students showed that they were thinking about what they were reading by adding in new questions and crossing out ones for which they had found the information.  

We also directed students to our Library eResources. The Peel Board has paid for and provides students with access to a wide range of digital resources including encyclopaedias, dictionaries and catalogues. The students were introduced to Britannica Online and began their online research from this site. 

During the second period of their research students we began with a quick discussion about goals and plans for that particular period. We asked students to look at the assignment page assess what was most important to complete that period and to have a quick discussion with us about their plans. Hopefully, this continued to provide students with a framework from which to work and got them thinking about staying focused on the topic at hand. Students were enthusiastic about the project and I had several of them in today working during the lunch on the completion of their research. They are just beginning to build their digital presentations.

Students were told they could use either Prezi, Frames 4 or Powerepoint to help build their presentations. We asked them to utilize the program they were most comfortable using. I plan on posting some of their work once it is completed. 

Sir Ken Robinson and a Really Great Talk from TED

I wanted to include this TED talk here. It's got a lot of great points in it and Robinson explains a great deal. I really think he has hit the nail on the head. Robinson identifies the importance of tapping into and finding people's talents. Many people go through life not finding or utilizing their talents. Robinson sights the current format of schooling actually hinders many people from succeeding in their talents.

And high among them is education, because education, in a way, dislocates very many people from their natural talents. And human resources are like natural resources; they're often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they're not just lying around on the surface. You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves.

I take this to mean that we as teachers should be trying to dig down and find out what the talents of our students are. It's not easy to find it and honestly, I've failed with many students but I have succeeded with many as well and seen them do very well. It's a struggle for sure and one that if you work too hard it can certainly drain you. Even small successes should be acknowledged.

In this next section Robinson begins to discuss the need for changes to the education system.

 What we need -- and the word's been used many times during the course of the past few days --is not evolution, but a revolution in education. This has to be transformed into something else.One of the real challenges is to innovate fundamentally in education. Innovation is hard because it means doing something that people don't find very easy, for the most part. It means challenging what we take for granted, things that we think are obvious. The great problem for reform or transformation is the tyranny of common sense; things that people think, "Well, it can't be done any other way because that's the way it's done." 

We've had the same format of education for the last two hundred or so years and nothing has changed really.  This is a serious issue, our society is considerably different than it used to be. School should reflect that change and reflect our society more accurately.

I won't go through the whole talk but he's certainly worth watching, listening to and thinking about. I don't agree with everything that's said but.... There's an awful lot of ideas here in these talks for everyone to think about. I hope that I encourage the talents of my students.

I would love to hear other people's comments about this talk and what they might like to see in education.  

School Library Staffing is on the Decline

In an earlier entry I discussed staffing and formulas used to decide just how much staffing a school library receives  The reality is that funding for school libraries is in heavy decline. Funding for libraries has been decreasing. Statistics and many different studies say this is a bad thing. A recent article by CBC News discussed a report by People for Education. The report discusses the decline of school libraries and the important role libraries play in student success.

The report by the group People for Education found 56 per cent of Ontario elementary schools in 2010 have at least one full- or part-time teacher-librarian, an accredited teacher who has library training. That's down from 80 per cent in the 1997/1998 school year, according to the report, which was released Monday morning.

Meanwhile, 66 per cent of secondary schools across the province have at least one teacher-librarian, down from 78 per cent in 2000/2001, when the group first started tracking data for high schools. CBC News

Libraries play an important role within the school. It offers a place for work to be completed, literacy to be encouraged and perhaps its most important role is as a support resource role for teachers. Quite often I meet with teachers to discuss teaching strategies and ideas for promoting literacy and content understanding, in their students.

Annie Kidder from People for Education also sites the importance of Libraries in helping to improve student achievement.

Teacher-librarians play an important role in helping children find information, evaluate and thinking critically about it and then applying it, said Annie Kidder, the executive director of the group in an interview.

"These kinds of skills that sort of help kids in what we are calling these days the knowledge economy are incredibly important," she said.   

When I first arrived at Lagerquist,  9 years ago, as a classroom teacher we had a full time Librarian who supported teachers through many different initiatives including the Forest of Reading and a research skills program. She was reduced to 80% the following year and then as years passed the job was again reduced to 50%. It was only this past year that the allocation was increased due to the arrival of grade 6 students at our school.

The state of our library is pretty good all things considered. We have new computer and work tables as well as well as Wi-Fi and a full computer lab available right in the library. We have a supportive principal who believes in the importance of a library and she has given me a lot of freedom to encourage use of the library. Students are free to visit during the day to complete work and to utilize technology. We are extremely short on books though. We're about 1000 titles short for a school our size but fundraising efforts are helping this. Visit our adopt a school site. I enjoy having the library open as much as possible in order to help students and teachers. I notice an excitement in the kids when we discuss books and kids are flocking to the technology we are offering students in the library.

There are many schools that can't say they have this much, I know that but this doesn't mean we can't keep building towards something even better. This is my goal to build up the library to make it the hub of the school.

Generosity and Support for Libraries

I want to thank everyone who came to our fundraiser last night at Chapters. The support was fantastic. Over 50 families came to Chapters night and helped support our library. This of course doesn't include the number of teachers who came over with their families to help support the library. I'm honored truly honored. Thank you!!!

Now to the good news. WE RAISED OVER 400$ LAST NIGHT!! That's incredible. It will make such a difference to our library. An extra 400$ means more books, more variety, more reading, more literacy and in general smarter kids.

Thanks so much everyone.

Questions and Answers about Staffing the Library here at Lagerquist

Currently, here at Lagerquist our library is staffed for 80% of the day. I am a part time teacher/librarian. I want to make it clear that this is not about me bargaining for a full time position. In fact I dropped down to 80% 4 years ago in order to take care of my young family. Should our library be staffed full time. Yes! I believe it should but this of course is not in my power to change. This is blog is about giving clear information about how much our library is available to students under our current staffing allotment. 

Why is our Library not open full time?

The amount of staffing for each school library is based on student population. Here at Lagerquist our student population is approximately 650 students. As such, we fall into the 80% staffed library formula. If we were to have less students our library staffing would diminish. If we had more students our library staffing would increase.

How does one calculate the amount of time the library is staffed in a day cycle formula?

Here at Lagerquist our cycle has 24 instructional blocks which works out to 4 periods per day on a 6 day cycle. An 80% allotment means the Library has 15 periods available as teaching/staffed period and 3 periods for teacher planning time, totalling 18 periods out of 24. 

What does this look like in terms of open library doors? 

On paper the library is open from 9am to 1:30pm daily. I do not close the library for my planning times, in reality I don't take them. I also staff the library beyond my allotted contract. Our library does not close at 1:30pm I stay for an extra half hour daily in order to keep the space open for as long as possible. 

This means the library is open as much as possible which I feel is extremely important to the success of a library, in the school environment. Students need to be able to drop in and utilize the resources in the library when they need them. Students have not perfected the idea of planning ahead and working within a time frame. Plus you never know when you might need something. 

What services does the Library offer? 

One of the services I offer is Study Hall which I run on my own and of my own volition. I open the library for 3 lunch hours a week in order for students to have access to computers and workspaces they may not have at home. They use the time to finish up homework, to exchange books, to read quietly, to study for tests, to utilize items they cannot sign out like class reserved print resources, Ipads or netbooks. The rule of Study Hall is you must be working on something. Students use Study Hall regularly I often have between 30 and 40 students in the library on an given lunch hour.

Is Study Hall considered a part of the 80% staffing? 

No it is not. Study Hall is an extra that I run because I feel it is important and in reality a part of the unwritten job description of a library. Libraries should be open and available to students when they need it. 

Hopefully, this gives you a better picture of how much our library is open and available to students. In upcoming blogs I will discuss more of the programs we offer, how study hall works and it's benefits, the Forest of Reading program will begin running in the near future and lots of other activities that will occur here in the library.