Catching Up from Behind the Times

           

Creative Commons image courtesy of Penman’s Art Journal

ICT is an area that I feel constantly behind the ball in. Evidence of this is that I have to keep looking up what ICT even stands for. It’s Information and Communication Technologies. The full confession is that I am a slow absorber and a slow implementor. So that being said, I understand the importance and value of developing connections and exploring tools to further my understanding. I have found I have to pace myself and tackle one or two things at a time. Here are a few things that I have started looking at or recently discovered that I am working on to maintain my development.

Our provincial Teacher-Librarians’ Association (BCTLA) has a regular newsletter, twitter feed, conferences, spotlights on innovative practices, and other professional development opportunities. I have found value in keeping up with the news posted and attending the conferences and workshops put on by the BCTLA. The goal is always to discover good resources and well-tested learning experiences to share with my staff and students. I recently discovered the workshops and webinars offered through School Library Connection. They have been especially helpful in the area of “library facility design”. Our school has received a Learning Commons grant to transform our more traditional library into a learning Commons. The series of workshops on designing the space will be valuable as meet with administration and our district helping teacher to plan. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/?learningModuleId=2170983&tab=3

Creative Commons image courtesy of Pixabay

Educators use Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs, and myriad other platforms I’m surely not aware of to connect and see what ideas are new and fresh. In a previous course we read a number of articles by Kristin Fontichiaro and I’ve visited her blog sites a number of times for clarification and inspiration (http://www.fontichiaro.com/blogtwitter.html). My personal preference is to see things working with my own eyes. I love when professional development days are in people’s learning commons. It’s inspiring to see other teacher-librarians’ spaces, learn how they use them, and hear them share about what they’ve done with their students. I have found and used a lot of resources from the courses that have been a part of this diploma program as well. Resource collection sites like Symbaloo and Padlet are tools that I’ve learned about through project requirements and other diploma students sharing their work. Publications like School Library Journal, Quill & Quire, and The Horn Book are further resources that I have learned about through this diploma’s coursework. Though I haven’t begun to use them as a true resource at this point, they’re on the back burner.

My introduction to Feedly in 477 has opened up a new avenue for maintaining connection with other educators and the great sharing of ideas that’s made possible in the digital world. Being linked through this class with so many other TL and LC enthusiasts is a great source of connection and inspiration for the future.  I value and will take every opportunity to visit and talk with other teacher-librarians when the opportunity arises.

Works cited:

Fontichiaro, Kristin. "Blog/Twitter." Kristin Fontichiaro,

www.fontichiaro.com/blogtwitter.html.

Morris, Rebecca J. "Library Facility Design. Library Facility Design: Introduction."

School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, September 2018, www.schoollibraryconnection.com/Home/Display/?learningModuleId=2170983&tab=3.