A Recipe for a School Library as a place of Literacy and Learning
This is the second time that I have come across ‘PowToon’ in my LIBE Diploma courses. When I was first introduced to it in the summer, I was hot spotting my phone at my summer house, so my Wi-Fi connection was spotty and was not the best space to be learning a new online tool. I was drawn to this type of presentation that one of my classmates had shown and I had made a mental note to try it in the future, so here I am now. I am so glad that this tool had crossed my path again and that I would have the time to explore it.
I can hammer out a PowerPoint quite quickly, as I have had a lot of practice, however, I found this a lot more challenging than any PowerPoint that I had ever created. I used a lot of the pre-made ‘scenes’ as each one is quite complex and reminded me of a simpler version of scratch, but still involves a lot of moving pieces to make each scene look seamless. I also did not complete my PowToon in the four-day trial period of the Pro version so there are watermarks on this presentation since I did not want to get rid of the work that I had done. I also decided to video my entire screen to show my staff that this was created in a way that is similar to a PowerPoint, that way it still looks familiar to them.
I feel like I could take this example and post it to our school Teams Library Channel to show two things:
- How the Library is evolving to the Student Library Learning Commons
- A new tool that they could use for teaching or allowing their students to explore this platform for presenting their inquiries.
I chose to show my recipe as a PowToon to follow along with the theme of the Library Learning Commons and being a lifelong learner. I have included several quotes from our reading to back up my ‘recipe’ for the library as a place of literacy and learning. This is a platform that I have never used before and stumbled along to get a finished product (It took me WAY longer than I thought it would!). I feel that this is such an important philosophy to take on as a Teacher-Librarian and a Teacher. We are not ‘all-knowing’ and are constantly learning new things if we chose to. TL’s and teachers can become complacent if they have been at the same school and been in the same position for many years, however, we are learning that this is not the way that we should be teaching. We need to foster inquiry and encourage critical thinking with our students.
It is also important to recognize that the Library Learning Commons (LLC) should be a place where students feel safe and have a strong connection with the Teacher Librarian. As educators we know that “Successful learning communities require cultivation, and … a lot of time to forging relationships with students and helping them connect with each other (Kelley & Miller, 2013, p. 89).” I feel my recipe shows that a trickle-down affect of all the staff working together should show that the school community is strong and that students should feel comfortable in the LLC.
I hope that my PowToon shares the message that for the Library Learning Commons to be the hub of the school and a place of literacy and learning, there needs to be a lot of support in place. The transition will not happen over night and it will take time, along with a lot of help from others. This is not a job that should be done alone by the Teacher Librarian. This is truly a community project which involves everyone trying to achieve the same goal.
Works Cited:
Create Awesome Videos Yourself. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.powtoon.com/
Canadian Library Association. (2014). Leading learning: Standards of practice for school library learning commons in Canada. Ottawa: ON
Dickinson, G. (2004). Budgeting: As Easy as 1-2-3. Library Media Connection, 22(6), 14-17.
Hayes, T. (2014) Library to learning commons. Retrieved from https://www.edcan.ca/articles/library-to-learning-commons/
Kelley, S., & Miller, D. (2013) Reading in the wild: The book whisper’s keys to cultivating lifelong reading habits. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. p.88-128