Library Love

Helping Teachers

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Jacqueline

In my job as Media Specialist (AKA Librarian & Instructional Technologist), I help train new teachers on various technology programs they need to do their job. Next week is new teacher training–so I w colored pencils ill get to spend a little time getting to know them at lunch and training with them. We have 18 new teachers in our building! 18! Craziness! That’s almost half of our staff so I really want to provide support!

I love to serve. I love to help. I love to be the go-to person when they have a question. I want them to be comfortable with me so I try to be honest and eager to help (and get them in the library as often as possible). As some of them have been up at the school working in their rooms, I have tried to stop by and introduce myself so that comfort level will begin to set in right away! BUT, I am thinking about some things that I can do next Friday when I get to spend a little time with them. Of course, Pintrest has a gazillion ideas!! But I want it to be easy and practical. So, I am thinking….

Create a folder with important info — map of the school, quick reference guide (common questions, who to call for what, etc), list of basic info about Google Apps for Education, what else???
1-2 books for their classroom library (thankful for my TLA ARCs that I can share).
Some sort of school supply — pens, notebook, sharpies? I can’t decide.
Chocolate!

What else would you include that I haven’t thought to include? I would love to hear your ideas! 🙂

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TALL Texans

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Jacqueline

This week has been one of the most amazing weeks of my professional career! I had the opportunity to attend the TALL Texans Library Leadership Institute. Wowzers. It was amazing. This is a leadership institute facilitated by Marueen Sullivan and Jack Siggins (who are pretty much legends in the library world). There were 24 participants, 6 mentors, a TLA employee. and Maureen and Jack. So, we had 4 days to learn and grow with a total of 33 librarians. The mentors were there to help us learn and grow and to lean on, but they also did a lot of learning themselves (which is telling about what we should all always be doing). We covered many leadership topics that included strategic planning, risk-taking, conflict negotiation, team building, coaching, ethics, advocacy, personal career planning, and more. The Institute is held at the Montserrat Retreat Center in Lake Dallas. We ate meals together and spent time in the evenings walking, playing games, and growing together. We even had a Twitter tutorial on the last night! And created our own hashtag to stay connected (#talltx15). Mornings before breakfast included walking, running, and yoga for those that were interested. I did yoga for the first time and really liked it — thanks to Jane! She was a great teacher!

Mornings at the retreat center

One of the first things we talked about was to “lean into our discomfort” — which is hard, but oh so powerful. Confronting those things that are hard. This was the perfect place for that. We had 2 assignments–and this is where the mentors really came in. We had to write out a plan to cultivate a library champion in our community and then also write out a project we want to complete. I truly did lean into my discomfort as I thought about who I could get to advocate for libraries. And, it also generated many ideas for other opportunities for advocacy in my community. Susan Mann, our current TLA President, was so inspiring when she talked about advocacy. She does so much for Texas libraries. And I think I can speak on behalf of our entire group that we all learned a little (well, maybe a lot) about advocacy from Susan. There are so many things that I learned that I could write about, but I think it all boils down to the fact that we should always be learning and growing. Our profession is evolving and we must evolve, too. I need to stay connected and involved and continue to speak up for our libraries (and their patrons). We built relationships that I know will continue as each of us becomes involved in TLA — and I think we will see some great leadership from this group.

Just about every minute was packed full of learning, developing, and making new friends. I loved connecting with other school librarians, but I really loved getting to know public and academic librarians and learning that we do have a lot more in common than I realized! For any of my Texas librarian friends — I highly recommend that you apply to this program. It’s amazing and you will learn so much. The members of the 2015 TALL Texans Class will be forever friends. We are probably the best class ever to come out of TALL Texans. 😉 I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend 4 days with these amazing leaders. I cannot wait to see what things are accomplished because of them!

Playing Cards Against Humanity — Library Version

2015 TALL Texans

Emily Billings, Tarrant College, Fort Worth
Len Bryan, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin
Laurel Crawford, University of North Texas, Denton
Edgar Fuentes, Houston Public Library
Kelli Getz, University of Houston
Carrie Gits, Austin Community College
Mark Gottschalk, South Plains College, Levelland
Jacqueline Higginbotham, New Caney ISD
Jan Hodge, Crowley ISD
Ashlynn Kogut, Texas Medical Center Library, Houston
Leah Mann, Lewisville ISD
Maya McElroy, Austin ISD
Daisy Ngo, Houston Community College
Tuan Nguyen, Mackin Educational Resources, Burnsville
Cynthia Pfledderer, Southlake Public Library
Robyn Reid, Texas Christian University
Lisa Scroggins, Claud H. Gilmer Memorial Library, Rocksprings
Gail Shipley, Dallas ISD
Jane Stimpson, San Jacinto College, Houston
Jake Syma, Texas Tech University, Lubbock
MyTesha Tates, Houston Public Library
Claudia Wayland, Lewisville Public Library
Peace Williamson, University of Texas at Arlington
Roberto Zapata, San Antonio Public Library

Each of the individuals above are doing amazing things. It was so fun to hear about it. And, as I said before, there is much more to come from the 2015 TALL Texans! And as soon as I have my hands on one of the group pictures, I will add it to the post!

Posted in #EduLS, Leadership, Librarian, Library, TLA | Leave a comment

Rejection Letter

Posted on June 28, 2015 by Jacqueline

So, I applied to be a Google Certified Trainer. I got an email this week stating that I was not selected.

I never felt completely confident that I was going to “get in” so I wasn’t totally shocked (although one of my librarian friends was–or at least pretended to be for my sake). I procrastinated on completing my application (which has multiple parts) until close to the deadline and was not completely satisfied with what I turned in, so I definitely see some areas to improve next time I apply. Oh, yeah, next time I apply. This is a given. I don’t think I can call it quits. Those qualification tests were not easy! The email I got was pretty generic, but listed some reasons that some applicants are not selected:

The application elements which we emphasize for qualifying applicants include a candidate’s background in education technology, experience in delivering high quality professional development, and mastery of Google for Education tools. We are also looking for applicants who have delivered a minimum of 20 hours of training to educational audiences in the previous 12 months. Strong applicants also demonstrate the passion necessary to positively impact education in their regions – going beyond their individual classrooms or school systems – and we’re able to see evidence of this in the application.

It is possible that you do meet these elements, but the reviewing committee was unable to verify based on the information you provided. To better your chances of being accepted in the future, take note of some common reasons that lower a candidate’s overall score.

Not enough evidence of training materials presented. In your case study please include public links to training materials you have created. This may include sites, documents, presentations, or other videos. The reviewing committee should be able to distinguish between materials created by yourself and others.

Insufficient training hours. Applicants should have experience delivering professional development on Google tools and be committed to delivering training in the future.

Video did not accurately cover a feature of a Google for Education tool. We are evaluating your training ability and style in the video. Here are a couple examples of training videos: Conditional Formatting in Sheets and Advanced Image Search. Videos should be hosted on YouTube.

Case study and/or video were poorly produced. Ensure that we can open and understand your case study and video. Poor spelling, grammar, and quality can lower the score as well. You may want to ask someone to review your material before submitting.

So, I am thankful for the feedback and will use it as a driving force to refine my application. I have not decided if I will apply next quarter (applications open July 8) or wait another quarter when I have had time to beef up my training materials (and hours). Google has changed their certification program a bit (Google Educator 1, Google Educator 2, Google Certified Trainer, & Google Certified Innovator) and changed their training center. All of that should be helpful in revamping my application, too! With failure comes the potential for learning and I intend to do just that. If you don’t follow me on Twitter, please start — I will be building and sharing some resources soon!

Follow @jhigg38

And I’d love to hear your failure turned success stories, too! Please share with me!

Posted in #EduLS, EdTech, Google, Summer, Teaching, Technology | Leave a comment

Summer Learning

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Jacqueline

This is my first week of summer! Our district got out a little later than most in the area and I work 202 contract days so I had an extra week after teachers. Officially, last Thursday was my last work day. It didn’t feel like summer because we had a death in the family last week and Thursday night was visitation and Friday the funeral. Plus, my husband had been out of town, my dog was sick, it was Father’s Day weekend…..on and on I think I could go. It was crazy.

So, yesterday, Monday, really felt like the beginning of my summer. Time for a little R&R. I have 6 weeks to spend relaxing and soaking up time with my little baby girls (okay, maybe they aren’t babies, but still…). One of the things we did yesterday was go to the public library and sign up for summer reading. I expect my kids to spend time each day reading with me. I let them choose books to check out, and of course, we have a gazillion books at our house). I also picked up several professional books for my personal reading. I am attending the TALL Texans Leadership Academy in July and they have a recommended reading list. I don’t think I will be able to get through all of the books, but I think I will be able to make some headway. I started reading Managing Tranisitions: Make the Most of Changes by William Bridges last night and can already tell that I am going to love this book. I get easily frustrated when people don’t do what I ask — and this book promises to have some strategies to help with that. So, while I go to get my hair cut today, this book is coming with me! Hopefully, I will get some reading in.

This also gave me time to reflect and think about what other ways I am going to work on professional growth. I plan to get caught up on some blog reading, twitter chats, and networking with other librarians and edtech friends. I have a few projects I want to work on for school/work, too. Creating some presentations for training for staff and students, doing a little research on new Google products, and thinking about some creative ways to implement technology.

As I embark on making memories this summer, I will not forget to keep my mind sharp and grow professionally while I soak up some sun and time with my kiddos. I am already looking forward to August when I get to go back to an amazing job of sharing literature and technology with students and staff.

Posted in #EduLS, Blogs, Librarian, Library, Literacy, Summer, Technology | Leave a comment

Survey Says!

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Jacqueline

So, I have this adorable little library intern that’s working on her Masters of Library Science from SHSU. She’s so cute and she has worked so hard this semester. One of the things we did in planning how to get more teacher collaboration was to send a survey out to teachers. She created the survey as a Google Form and I emailed it out. She put some really good questions in. Here are some results:

My favorite was that overwhelmingly the comments said their favorite thing about the library was the staff! I am all about customer service and helping teachers. I want to serve them! They have such a tough job so I am glad to see that part is working! Here are a few of the comments that warmed my heart:
- “I like that they are there when I need help or advice and would exhaust all resources to get me to where I need to be. I also like that they aren’t intrusive. They allow me to incorporate new concepts at my own pace and provide the best encouragement.”
- “The kids know they can find help in there and it is welcoming!”
- “That we have a knowledgeable and innovative librarian/media specialist”
Most teachers have students use the library in small groups or individually because so much of our schedule is booked with ELA classes; although we do try to bring in classes doing research. That has happened less this year with the implementation of Chromebooks.
There was a general like of the library and the library program. A few suggestions to find ways to bring math in (I am working on that) and wanting to do more book talks with students (I need more time). The one comment that stuck out to me was from the question regarding why you don’t use the library more — this comment broke my heart, but I know what teacher wrote it and have already reached out to her to let her know that we can work together next year we just might have to plan further ahead than she is used to doing!
- “The one time that I was asked about bringing my class(es) in for a research training, it was not a good time and I was emailed a ppt. (which I appreciated) to share with the class. From that point forward I thought that the library was too busy with ELA classes, etc. to have science class(es) come in, as well.

I feel like we have a good library program, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement. We are trying to find ways to make it a more collaborative space for students to work on projects and to draw them into checking out books and reading! 🙂

I am grateful to my intern for all of her work this year. It’s been amazing having her. I have no doubt she will be an amazing librarian! I hope I get to work alongside her one day.

Posted in #EduLS, Blogs, Collaboration, Librarian, Library | Leave a comment

Google Certified Trainer

Posted on May 10, 2015 by Jacqueline

As our campus media specialist, my job is to run the library and also help with tech integration on my campus. It’s a lot for one person. I do have a para to help in the library, but it’s still overwhelming some days. There’s a lot of picking and choosing what can and cannot get done from week to week. But I always like a good challenge.

Recently, a group of media specialists from my distinct decided to take on the challenge to become Google Certified Trainers. It just doesn’t seem like you can go wrong by getting a Google endorsement, right? Here are the requirements:

Have previously achieved Google Educator or ‘Qualified Individual’ status (receive the qualified by passing the required tests–more info below).
Submit a Training Resume showcasing work experience and trainings you have recently given.
Provide 3 references for trainings you have given in the last 12 months.
Submit a 2 minute video showing your training style (screencast)
Create a case study to show your training strategy

So, clearly this is not a quick and easy accolade to add to your name. It’s serious business. And you have to go through the process once every 18 months. And during the 18 months as a trainer, you have to complete 3 training sessions per quarter. Serious business I tell you.

So, we signed up to attend 3 days at our local service center. In this 3 days we reviewed and took 5 90-minute tests over the basic Apps of Education (Drive, Mail, Sites, Calendar, Chrome). It was intense, but it was great to do it in a group setting. The region center did a great job reviewing and providing the support that we needed to be successful. That seemed like the biggest hurdle. Google has a window each quarter when you may apply. I have until May 31st to submit everything. I am waiting until after May 18th because I am presenting at the Texas Google Summit and want to include that training. Looking at the last 4 bullets listed above, the training resume is the one that intimidates me the most. It’s going to be some work. Gathering data and compiling it all in a nice neat way. Although the case study won’t be a piece of cake either. I will be calling on friends and co-workers to help me make it all sound good. I believe we will be notified by June 11th if we have been accepted at Google Certified Trainers. Hopefully, I will have a cute little badge on my blog soon!

If you are currently interested in becoming a Google Certified Trainer, they have taken their tests down while they make changes to them. A “small update” according to their site. They will be available again June 28th. I am curious to see what changes they make. Of course, there are other options. You can become a Google Educator or Google Teacher. For my current position, Google Trainer makes the most sense. Their website linked above has more info on how to do that!

I definitely think that all this work will be worth it in the end. Google Certified Trainer sounds pretty good.

Posted in #EduLS, Google, Library, Technology | Leave a comment

Following Blogs

Posted on April 25, 2015 by Jacqueline

I have a few blogs I love, don’t you? Thought I would share some of my favorites and ask you to do the same!

In no particular order my 5 favs….

1. Nerdy Book Club (okay, this is probably one of my favorites and one I look at all the time because they post something EVERY day). I love Colby Sharp. And Donalyn Miller. And anyone who proclaims themself part of the Nerdy Book Club! How do you join the Nerdy Book Club? Just love books and reading and you’re in!

2. Donalyn Miller. Enough said. She’s amazing. I got to meet her at TLA 2015. She was walking across the lobby of our hotel and I said to my friend, “Is that Donalyn Miller?” Sure enough, it was. And we spent the rest of the evening with her. She’s amazing. She has so much in her brain that she is sharing with the world.

3. The Goddess of YA Lit — AKA Dr. Teri Lesesne. I have been her fan since I was in library school (2006-2008) and still love her. She’s a great resource in all things related to books. And not just YA Lit — she knows pictures books, too. I always love running into her.

4. friED TECHnology — Amy Mayer is brilliant. No, actually she’s genius. Her blog has so many tutorials and ideas related to Ed Tech that it’s almost overwhelming. Almost, but not quite. I can always find an idea when I am struggling to find something new.

5. Ninja Reflections on Education — Todd Nesloney must not sleep. That’s the only logical way I can explain how he does what he does in the time he does it. It blows my mind. Seriously. I’ve learned how to navigate Twitter and many other tech tools thanks to Todd!

There are so many other blogs out there that are good. And ones that I like to read, but these are my favorite most frequented. What are your favorites?

Posted in #EduLS, Blogs, EdTech, Librarian, Library, Literacy, Technology | Leave a comment

Teacher Collaboration

Posted on April 18, 2015 by Jacqueline

One of the things I strive to do is collaborate with teachers. With teachers having so little time, this is hard. They are overwhelmed with paperwork and not nearly enough time to complete all their assigned tasks. As a result, they spend long hours before and after school and at home working. I have always said that as a librarian, my job is to make the job of teachers easier. Whatever I can do to make their life easier and better for the students, I will. I have volunteered to grade bibliographies, to come in and teach classes, and work with the teachers to create dynamic lessons. In my district, part of my role as media specialist is to help teachers integrate technology into their classroom. I love technology and I love books and research so I usually try to marry these things in working with teachers.

I just got back from the Texas Library Association Annual Conference in Austin. It really is the best conference. I loved it. I always do. I have two collaboration ideas that I want to implement in the next few weeks. And while I was at conference I was emailing teachers to share ideas and start getting dates on the calendar! 🙂

The first day of TLA was #txlaTechCamp15 and it was great. I learned lots of things. One of the things I want to try right away came from the The Tech Chicks in their breakout session — it was all out about bringing books and technology together. My favorite was having students record book reviews and adding the QR codes to the books. Nothing new, but I love the website Students Review Books where I can add my student reviews and use other student reviews for books in my library. I immediately emailed our department chair and asked her if we could do this. She liked it and we are already in the planning stages! I already have the beginnings of a lesson about how to write a review in my head!

The second idea came from Jill Bellomy in her session on collaborating with ELA teachers. I have a ton of ideas from this session. And because our school is 1:1 I am always looking to add technology to our collaborations. One of Jill’s ideas was to do Spine Poetry — pull books off the library shelves and create a poem with the words on the spine. Kind of chaotic and fun and exciting, but also a lot of creative thinking that can happen as students create poems and have to search for different parts of speech. I thought it would be really fun to have students use their Chromebooks to take a picture of the their poems and create an online anthology. Or connect to some of the authors via Twitter. Maybe they could research different poem formats and choose one to model their poem after. A few other ideas are bouncing around my brain, too. I will be working with some of our English teachers to come up with other ideas, too. Hopefully, a future blog post will have some pictures of this!

I have some other ideas, too, but these were the two that I want to implement right away. I have a lot of other things from TLA I want to write about, but that will be another blog post. One about listening to authors will be soon! Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave comments!

Posted in Collaboration, EdTech, English Teacher, Librarian, Library, Teaching, Technology, TLA | Leave a comment

TCEA 2015

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Jacqueline

Challenge Accepted: Educator Learning Series (#EduLS) Challenge #5 is to post a blog. I have had this blog for several years, but haven’t kept up with it. I am putting it on my calendar to write a post on the second Monday of each month. I am hoping that by putting in my calendar, I will be more likely to remember it. Maybe I’ll even post more than once a month, but don’t hold your breath. So, thanks @TechNinjaTodd!

I attended my first ever TCEA (Texas Computer Education Association) Conference last week! I got up VERY early on Wednesday morning (my birthday) and headed to Austin with some fellow librarians/media specialists from my district. The first thing I did was meet with some Scholastic folks about their products (a meeting had been set up prior to the conference) and then I headed for the sessions. I attended 4 sessions back to back and skipped lunch so I could soak it all in! I was so excited to get to listen to Naomi Bates (she’s a rock star in my book) talk about how Teacher-Librarians and Instructional Technologists work together (of course, I am both on my campus). I attended other sessions about MyOn, Hour of Code, and creating a tech ninja club. Thursday was the librarian/media specialist academy. That was pretty intense, too! My brain was filled with information about library commons, tech tools, teacher support, Google tips, and so much more. The break out sessions were pretty awesome, but I was pretty overwhelmed. I think we had 6 sessions that day! Whew! Friday morning I was able to meet with a friend from another district for breakfast and talk library lingo. That was invaluable. I finally got a chance to hit the exhibit halls Friday morning, too. I got some good information about some learning management systems, ebooks, and other cool techie tools. I have lots of notes and ideas. And the conversation among the media specialists on our drive home was so good, too!

SOOOOOO….now, what do I do with all this information??? I want to share it, of course. Tomorrow I plan to sort through my notes and come up with some goals and action plans. Things I want to do for my library, things I want to do for my school/staff, things I need to share with other media specialists so we can plan together. I have so many ideas bouncing around my brain as I reflect on TCEA, but mostly I keep coming back to the importance of literacy with technology. Yes, I love technology. It’s amazing. But if our students cannot read, technology isn’t going to do them any good. So, as I make my plans and move forward, I am going to keep that at the heart of everything I do.

Posted in #EduLS, Literacy, TCEA, Technology | Leave a comment