Starting From Scratch: Constructing a K-12 Future Ready Library Program

Purpose & objective

Let’s face it, with increased budget constraints within districts, add a global pandemic, librarians tend to be the first ones cut unless they can prove they’re needed within their buildings. So just like constructing a building, we have decided to redesign our approach and model as Library Media Specialists within our district. As a department, we decided to adapt the Future Ready Library Framework to support our new learning spaces and address the needs of our buildings as educational leaders within the digital age. We will share our year-long journey of moving towards the framework and how we have evolved from a global pandemic to support our schools, students, and teachers. Within our session, we will share how we implemented this model in our schools and ways we helped to change the culture within our buildings and approaches to move our buildings forward with innovation. After all, the heart of innovation comes from within the library and spreads into the classroom setting.

We are five Library Media Specialists who will share how we curated resources and materials for our staff and ways we lead from within our library setting. Those approaches might be “on the go PD” or “one-to-one training” or “training the trainers” approach to help move innovation forward within our buildings. Learn how to design quick and easy PD on the go for your staff as well!

When we expose students to various technology tools within our library program, we provide more choice and voice for students within the library setting. These new skills can then be applied within the classroom environment. We will be sharing the various tech tools we use with our students such as: Apple Products like Keynote and Garage Band, Flip, Ozobots, Indis, Bee-Bots, Breakout EDU’s, Seesaw, to name a few. We also believe in integrating low tech tools within our programming as well. We will show examples of student work using various high and low tech tools. We are designing Makerspace environments that tie in Common Core Standards, ISTE Standards and Wisconsin Information and Technology Standards all within our programming within the library. Not to mention, we instruct and support digital wellness as well as help support its transfer into the general education setting. We believe in our students experiencing connecting globally and support it within our programming as well as in the general education setting.

Now add a global pandemic to the mixture and learn how we evolved and strived to stay relevant and valued within our various school settings.

Lastly, we will share tools we used to help provide voice to all our learners when teaching digital literacy, digital wellness, and library and technology skills.

As we move towards a year of construction, you will see how we redesigned our library plan and library manual to allow our team to have more of a common language and skillset.

Evidence of success will be both student and teacher videos explaining their educational journey this year. We will also share examples of student work that has been created within our library programming. Lastly, we will share approaches we used to “hook” teachers into buying into this redesign of the library and the librarian.

Outline

The following content will be shared with attendees:
-k12 Library Plan
-k12 Library Manuel
-Examples of how we advocate for our roles and positions
-Examples of End Of The Year Reports shared out to staff and administration
-Examples of library lessons and lessons where we supported the general education classes
-Examples of how we support staff "on the go PD," push in, one-to-one training
-Share out our book challenge policy
-Share out ways we integrate digital literacy into our lessons

We will spend about 10 minutes on each component. We will interact with participants. The last five minutes we will reserve for questions.

To engage the participants, we will be providing QR Codes with all our resources and materials for them to take.

Supporting research

Future Ready Libraries https://futureready.org/thenetwork/strands/future-ready-librarians/

Future Ready Libraries PDF: https://futureready.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Library_flyer_download.pdf

Leading From the Library by Shannon McClintock Miller and William Bass

Digital Citizenship In Action by Kristen Mattson

Learn First, Technology Second By Liz Kolb, ISTE - https://www.iste.org/resources/product?id=3975

Make, Learn Succeed by Mark Gura, ISTE - https://www.iste.org/resources/product?id=3797&name=Make%2C+Learn%2C+Succeed

Empowered Learners 4 truths and 4 myths ISTE - https://goo.gl/Z7VoRc

Leading From the Library by Shannon McClintock Miller and William Bass . https://id.iste.org/resources/product?id=4180

ISTE Online Course: Exploring Future Ready Librarianship Course

Digital Citizenship In Action by Kristen Mattson .

Assistive Technology in Special Education by Joan L. Green

Learn First, Technology Second By Liz Kolb, ISTE - https://www.iste.org/resources/product?id=3975

Make, Learn Succeed by Mark Gura, ISTE - https://www.iste.org/resources/product?id=3797&name=Make%2C+Learn%2C+Succeed

Empowered Learners 4 truths and 4 myths ISTE - https://goo.gl/Z7VoRc