Introducing my new Voki Avatar

 Planning to use this to introduce You tube video book trailers to 8th grade students tomorrow...how to get the actual image into this blog???
http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=9015300&height=267&width=200

Batman Humor

This is not an artifact from my ePortfolio for me to reflect on, but shows an example of some of the funny things I find while browsing Pinterest. Some of the things I find are personal, but others are things I can "borrow", modify or purchase for my library. When working with 1,000 middle school students, it's good to have a sense of humor and this poster is an example of that for me.

artifact 6 - School library Destiny web page

1. What? (What is the CONTEXT of the artifact? What is it? When and why was it produced?)

The artifact is the webpage for my school library at Timberlane Regional Middle School. Here is the link to that:
http://destiny.timberlane.net/common/servlet/presenthomeform.do?l2m=Home&tm=Home
Each school library in my district has a web page like this that the librarian for each school is responsible for updating in whatever way they feel is needed for their schools. This web page is a work in progress as I am always adding or removing new databases, websites and categories  as I see the need. When I first arrived at my school three years ago, this webpage had only the few databases the library subscribed to at that time. As time has gone on I have broken the web page into categories and added websites that are not paid databases as I find good websites.

 2. So What? (What is the ROLE of the artifact? Why did I select it as evidence for meeting this standard? What does it say about my growing competence as a teacher?)

I believe the links on this page both videos and databases show that I am meeting one of the goals in Danielson's Domain 2, which states the library media specialist will "Establish a culture for investigation &; love of literature." By the web links and databases that I have placed onto this school library page I am hoping to do both of these Danielson's goals as the links on my page are there for both research, information and love of literature, such as the banned book links and links to summer reading ideas and the public libraries that serve my students.

3. Now What? (What is the IMPORTANCE of the artifact? How did producing the artifact help me improve my professional competence and what will I do to continue to improve relative to this standard?)

This website page that I keep up-to-date is important  to my students and staff because it is packed with resources to help with research for personal and professional needs. I am constantly looking for good websites to add to this, and  new databases to consider subscribing to for my library. 

artifact 5 - Summer Reading assembly

Artifact 5 - Summer reading assembly with local public librarians in the Timberlane SAU

for link to video:

1. What? (What is the CONTEXT of the artifact? What is it? When and why was it produced?)

Representatives from Kimball Public Library (Atkinson), Plaistow Public Library, Colby Memorial Library (Danville) and Sandown Public Library present their youth / teen summer reading programs and activities to students at Timberlane Regional Middle School in this video. I coordinated this reading assembly and a performance of live animals that were related to the "Dig into Reading" theme the public libraries had during the summer of 2013. It was produced about two weeks before the end of the school year in the gym at the Timberlane Middle School. There was one assembly per grade, each about 40 minutes. 

The goal I had in organizing and coordinating this assembly was to meet the goal for Domain 4 in Danielson's library media specialist criteria "participation in school and district projects." The reason I felt it was important to bring in all the local public librarians was to let my students know that with 8 weeks of summer vacation coming up, there were safe, fun activities related to books and reading available to them through their local public libraries.

2. So What? (What is the ROLE of the artifact? Why did I select it as evidence for meeting this standard? What does it say about my growing competence as a teacher?)

I believe this video shows that I am active in reaching out to other professionals in my local town. Because all of the librarians featured in this video are connected to the towns my SAU serves I feel it is important to be collaborative with them in helping our students have access and love of books and libraries. 

3. Now What? (What is the IMPORTANCE of the artifact? How did producing the artifact help me improve my professional competence and what will I do to continue to improve relative to this standard?)

This was my second year in this school of running a reading assembly of this kind. Each year I feel I learn a bit more. The first year I scheduled these as small assemblies of about 50-100 in my library about 8-10 times. This past summer I got each entire grade to meet at the same time in the gym and added an animal performance to hook student interest. Next year I believe I will NOT be inviting 8th graders to the assembly as I received feedback from the 8th grade vice principal and from 8th graders themselves who feel they are too old and will not participate in any summer reading programs at their public libraries. Despite the 8th graders being less than thrilled, I feel overall this was a success. I got good feedback from the local public librarians that their summer reading programs had higher turnout than ever before and they were very appreciative of my efforts to get kids excited about their local public libraries.

artifact 4 - Library Orientation

1. What? (What is the CONTEXT of the artifact? What is it? When and why was it produced?)

The document linked to my ePortfolio is what I used this year to introduce and re-introduce my middle school students to the library and to my expecations for them while in the library and related to the school library. This document is an example of how I am managing student behavior, which is part of Danielson's Domain 2 standard. 

2. So What? (What is the ROLE of the artifact? Why did I select it as evidence for meeting this standard? What does it say about my growing competence as a teacher?)

I selected this document as evidence of how I am managing student behavior. As part of my library orientation for 6-8th grade students I invite each language arts teacher to bring all of their students into the library for a lesson. We go through each of the items on this list together. I project the form onto the big screen through my projection system and have class discussion about each item. I ask students to write in their own words what the expectation is for each of these items. I believe by making this an interactive lesson where students are participating in the discussion and taking/writing notes in their own words, that I will be able to better manage student behavior because students who understand what the expectations are in the library are better able to behave according to those expectations. I find I do not usually have very many problems with student behavior due most likely to activities such as this library orientation activity.

3. Now What? (What is the IMPORTANCE of the artifact? How did producing the artifact help me improve my professional competence and what will I do to continue to improve relative to this standard?)

I feel that this sort of activity is an important piece of managing behavior and I continue to tweak my beginning of year library orientation to be more and more interactive each year. I am in my 12th year as a library media specialist and each year I learn to have me talk LESS and my students talk MORE! I imagine next year I will do something similar to this year for the library orientation but may make this shorter.

artifact 3 - Halloween Costume contest

Artifact 3 reflection on Halloween Costume Contest https://vimeo.com/78360628

1. What? (What is the CONTEXT of the artifact? What is it? When and why was it produced?)

The video created and used for artifact 3 is an example of how I recently tried to establish a culture and love for reading by hosting this costume contest in the library and video lab at my school. This fits the Danielson "Domain 2" standard. Students were allowed to dress up in costume as a character from a book and agree to be video-recorded in our new video lab to promote books and technology. Students who participated were treated to a pizza party in the library with pizza from a favorite local restaurant and monster mash music in the background. They socialized with each other and students who were in the video club were able to participate on the editing/tech side of the video. 

2. So What? (What is the ROLE of the artifact? Why did I select it as evidence for meeting this standard? What does it say about my growing competence as a teacher?)

I think this video is evidence that I am trying new ways to establish a culture and love for reading in my library. Although the turnout of people participating was not as high as I had hoped, the few who did participate were really excited to be part of the event. I hope that this experience prompts those who participated as well as those who will view the video over the next week, to feel that the library really is a fun place with fun happenings and to let kids know it is ok and even cool to talk about books and characters they love from books.

3. Now What? (What is the IMPORTANCE of the artifact? How did producing the artifact help me improve my professional competence and what will I do to continue to improve relative to this standard?)

I hope to do this contest again next Halloween and I hope that through this artifact of the video, I will be able to inspire more student and teacher participation. I will have this video available for students to view next year in their language arts classes and I am hoping for more participation next year. I think this year was a harder sell because students may have thought they would have to do or say something that made them feel uncomfortable. 

artifact 2 reflection - Social Networking tools!

Artifact 2 reflection

1. social networking links :

https://twitter.com/ms_librarylady

http://www.pinterest.com/cyclingnutcase/library-stuff/

http://www.pinterest.com/cyclingnutcase/library-bulletin-boards-displays/

1. What? (What is the CONTEXT of the artifact? What is it? When and why was it produced?)

Both the Twitter and the Pinterest cites are examples of social media web 2.0 tools that I use professionally and personally also. I created the Twitter account several years ago when the school district that I was working for asked all of the district's librarians to set up accounts. I joined Pinterest just recently and have found it is a very good tool for me to share wonderful things I find on the Internet.

2. So What? (What is the ROLE of the artifact? Why did I select it as evidence for meeting this standard? What does it say about my growing competence as a teacher?)

I feel that these two Web 2.0 links show I am meeting the Danielson standard in Domain 1 that says:  

"Demonstrate knowledge of resources, both within and beyond the school  and district." I use these two social networking sites largely in a professional sense to show my knowledge of resources helpful for library media specialists. I include relevant news articles on books, reading and libraries on Twitter and on Pinterest I show knowledge of books, authors, literature and examples of wonderful library displays and methods for teaching with technology. Both the twitter and the pinterest sites do include some personal things about me, but nothing I would not be comfortable sharing with anyone about me and who I am and what makes me tick.

3. Now What? (What is the IMPORTANCE of the artifact? How did producing the artifact help me improve my professional competence and what will I do to continue to improve relative to this standard?)

I think both Twitter and Pinterest are excellent tools for sharing news, information, web sites about the world at large. I will continue posting to Twitter and "pinning" interesting web sites that help me continue to learn about the world outside my library and especially as that world connects to libraries and literacy and technology.

artifact 1 reflection - you tube book trailers to get kids excited about books!

Artifact 1 Reflection - 

 artifact 1: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbUua_rpzyMZ5_bfWU0_KPWjd66vbylQr

 1. What? (What is the CONTEXT of the artifact? What is it? When and why was it produced?) 

The context of what this video playlist is, is that it is a tool I have begun using over the past year to introduce my middle school students to the newest books in the school library. This artifact is an example of how I am using the Danielson "Domain 1" requirement for librarians to "Demonstrate knowledge of resources, both within and beyond the school  and district."

This video playlist was created in winter of 2013.

2. So What? (What is the ROLE of the artifact? Why did I select it as evidence for meeting this standard? What does it say about my growing competence as a teacher?)

I selected this artifact because it represents a new method, which uses the popular Youtube.com website to get students excited about new books. 

3. Now What? (What is the IMPORTANCE of the artifact? How did producing the artifact help me improve my professional competence and what will I do to continue to improve relative to this standard?)

 Because students who come to the library have been checking out the books featured in the trailers, I feel these playlists have become an important tool for me as a librarian. I create playlists of book trailers for the newest books in my library about 4 times a year, mostly once every quarter. These playlists help me demonstrate knowledge of children's literature in a way that my middle grade students can get excited about. I will continue to search for good videos to create new playlists as I get new books in the library.