Blog Post 4: Technology Leadership Role of School Librarians

It goes without saying that technology is beneficial to students in today’s world.  They have information at their literal fingertips via the Internet on tablets, smartphones, and other handheld devices.  Researching and sharing information is so much simpler today than it was even ten years ago.  Technology, however, shouldn’t just be viewed as an ‘extra’ or another resource to use.  Today’s students have expectations that their learning will be taught through technology, and that they will be given opportunities to respond, create, and collaborate in a variety of ways using technology in multiple formats.  It is vital that teachers and librarians understand the Standards for 21^st Century Learners (American Association of School Librarians [AASL], 2007), use technology to enhance their instruction and students’ learning, and collaborate to make planning and implementation more efficient.

In the Standards for the 21^st Century Learners, the AASL (2007) has identified four areas that are key to student success. These standards focus on how students can acquire knowledge and use that knowledge for their benefit and the benefit of others.  With so many forms of information available, students must be educated in how to find what they need efficiently.  “Multiple literacies, including digital, visual, textual, and technological, have now joined information literacy as crucial skills for this century” (AASL, 2007).  Librarians must be up to the task of teaching these skills by utilizing the resources in their libraries and through collaboration with teachers (AASL, 2007).

Librarians and teachers alike are tasked with staying abreast of technology as it becomes available.  Not only do educators have to learn how to use technology themselves, they must have a level of understanding that allows them to apply it in their teaching and instruct students of all levels and abilities in how to use it.  While this is no easy task, it is a very worthwhile one.  Research shows that technology, when used effectively, enhances student learning in all subject areas.  McLaughlin (2013) points out that the use of multimodal texts, which include “print, audio, photos, illustrations, film, graphic novels, [and] the use of color and design…” can be motivational to students and provide a wider variety of learning experiences.  Educators can use this technology in lessons, and students can respond with the help of technology as well.  “By tapping into multiple modalities, we also encourage students to use their strengths as they learn” (McLaughlin, 2013).  If teachers and librarians use an array of technology and give students the opportunity to use that technology in lessons with real-life applications, students will be better prepared to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

Keeping up to date with new technology is one of the most difficult tasks teachers in the 21^st century face.  Between planning, preparing, locating resources, and doing all the ‘extras’ that are required today, it is hard to find time to search out available technology to use in those lessons.  That is where today’s librarians play a key role.  In the words of Johnston (2012), “it has become critical for the teacher librarian to partner with teachers to address the needs of the 21^st century learner.”  Librarians can provide technological support to teachers by collaborating in lesson planning, modeling, and co-teaching.  “As a technology leader, the teacher librarian can keep staff abreast on new technologies, facilitate teacher understanding, and [provide] staff development training” (Johnston, 2012).  Librarians can and should help teachers choose the right technology to create the most effective and relevant lessons possible.  Johnston (2012) pointed out “that classroom teachers were more willing to collaborate with the teacher librarian if she or he had taken the initiative to become an assertive, involved leader in the school,” which is why it is imperative that school librarians embrace the role of technology leader.  By showcasing new technology and its uses in the classroom, librarians are not only providing tools to students but teachers as well.

Technology is an integral part of education and its importance will only grow as more advances are made.  Because of this, librarians have had to go through a sort of metamorphosis over the past few years.  With this change librarians have discovered a new and exciting role as technology leaders.  An understanding of new technology and how to integrate it to teach curriculum is a librarian’s most valuable tool and what renders him/her irreplaceable in 21^st century schools.

Resources

American Association of School Librarians (2007). Standards for the 21^st-century

      learner. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards

McLaughlin, M. (2013). Hoping to engage students in the common core?  Try

      using multimodal text. Reading Today, 31(2), 20-21.

Johnston, M. (2012). Connecting teacher librarians for technology integration

      leadership. School Libraries Worldwide, 18(1), 18-33.

Blog Post 3: Technology Implementation Strategies

Over the last few years technology in the classroom has become an expectation.  Teachers and librarians incorporate various forms of technology daily to teach and at the same time give students the opportunity to review skills and create new products using technology.  One current trend is to have young students use devices to read digitally in addition to reading traditional picture books.  This practice can be very beneficial when done right.

There are numerous benefits to using digital picture books with beginning readers.  One of the most obvious assets is that kids like them.  They are engaging, interactive, and hold students’ attention.  Young students are having fun while they are also developing valuable skills.  Digital reading helps develop the same early literacy skills as printed picture books.  Students who use this technology gain knowledge in “phonemic awareness, phonics and concepts about print, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension” (Cahill & McGill-Franzen, 2013, p. 32).  This can be especially helpful to students who are struggling as well as English language learners.  The interactive features of digital books provide built-in support.  For example, the story can be read aloud, and the words are highlighted as they are read so the student can read along.  Also, some books give the option to choose different reading levels so that many students can enjoy the same story but at a level that is right for them to read.

While it is true that digital books can be beneficial to students, the quality of the books used makes a difference. In order to see positive results, teachers and librarians must choose quality digital books.  The structure of the story itself is just as important as the design of the electronic book.  While the experience may be fun for students, without quality text to read, digital books won’t help students to progress and grow in early literacy skills.

There are several factors to consider when choosing digital books.  The text itself should be engaging, have well-developed characters, and be interesting and easy to understand (Cahill & McGill-Franzen, 2013, p. 34).  The images are equally as important because they add to the story and assist young readers by giving them clues to reading and understanding unknown words.  High quality digital books also have expressive narration that adds to the story and interactive features that enhance students’ reading experiences. 

Digital picture books can be used in several ways in the classroom and library.  I plan on using digital books with my struggling readers to work on fluency.  Using books with the record feature will allow my students to hear themselves read the text.  This recording will allow them to hear what they’re doing well while at the same time give them the opportunity to set meaningful goals to grow in reading fluency.  Students will be able to track their progress by using the record feature every couple weeks.  I would also like to use digital books with all my students as a model for writing.  Students will have the opportunity to read several digital books, and identify the elements that make it an interesting story to read.  They could then use those experiences to help them create their own digital books using apps such as Story Maker and My Story.  Digital books will provide my students with a different reading experience from traditional printed text, and I can’t wait to see the positive impact they have.

References
Cahill, M., & McGill-Franzen, A. (2013). Selecting "app"ealing and "app"ropriate book apps for beginning readers.
     The Reading Teacher, 67, 30-39.