TLA 2024 - So Much to See and Do

 There is always so much to see and do at TLA.  Lots of authors, sessions, friends new and old, and don't forget the books!  So many books.  TLA is consistently generous in giving out books.  My book club will be the recipients of those books tomorrow when we meet, and I can hardly wait to give them away.

Here is a list of the programming sessions I attended.  The author sessions are not included because there were no digital presentations . . . just authors and books. (*sigh*) You can't get any better than that!

Wakelet of programming sessions:    https://wakelet.com/wake/z0lm0JaQlxRuK6oTOoI9m

My favorite session was the Mavericks YA session. I'm going to be honest about this one.  I ended up in the wrong room.  I thought my session was in 301, and it was in 303.  To my surprise, the Maverick YA Graphic Novel list was in 301.  So I stayed, and I am so happy I did.

2 of the authors have popular YA Graphic novels; well at least they are popular in my library.

Molly Ostertag wrote/illustrated the Witch Boy Series and The Girl from the Sea.  Both are popular in my collection.  Jen Wang wrote The Prince and the Dressmaker.  Another graphic novel that seems to fly off my shelf.  In these sessions, it is always fun to hear about what the authors are doing next.  I guess I need to put those books on my list for next year. 

The other author, Greg Neri, has a graphic novels that I have in my collection.  He is the author/illustrator of Yummy: the Last Days of a Southside Shorty.  I'm not as familiar with that book, but it is a biography of an 11 year old gang member. Wow! That sounds like some heavy material.

Switching over to programming, the session that I enjoyed was "Promote Your Library with Professional Development."  (Second link in the Wakelet) I really enjoyed this one because it broke down presenting into small steps.  The librarians shared many ways one could present at teacher PLCs, campus meetings, district conferences, and then state conferences.  It was teaching the audience what to present - a presentation about presentations. So clever! I can appreciate that.  I love to present, and I think it is my duty to do so and share what is happening in my library.  Not necessarily because it is perfect, but because it is real, and not always perfect.  However, when others ask me what they could present, I draw a blank.  Now I have the tools to walk someone else through the process to find something they will be confident presenting.

I guess the one thing I would add is to make sure you are presenting something that you are actually doing in your library or you have tried with other classes.  You might think that is a "no-brainer." However, in my 20+ years of attending conferences, I have seen my fair share of programs "in theory" rather than in practice.  Usually the presenters of theory get caught up in the Q & A session afterwards.  It is definitely awkward when a presenter stammers over an answer because he/she/they haven't actually tried that program in their library.  You should always be able to tell the do's and don'ts of your program.  That helps others decide if the program is worthy of repeating.

I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't also share that the presentation that Pam & I did had a great turn out. "Creative PD to Ace your Library Evaluation" was a hit.  Lots of questions afterwards, and yes, we were both able to answer them.

Next year, I believe we are in Dallas.  I enjoy travelling out of town, but I'll be able to take public transportation next year; that is always an adventure.  Maybe not the same as being in San Antonio, but an adventure none the less. 

5th Six Weeks Check In

Here is the SHS Library 5th Six Weeks report. Well, I did see some improvement from the 4th Six Weeks to the 5th Six Weeks, but not much if we are looking at books checked out.  It seems as if I have less students checking out books this semester, which makes me sad.  However, the database statistics are great . . . thanks to the English III research unit. And the number of student visits were definitely on point.

Tra'vion was the student who checked out the most books.  So he is next to set up his favorite books in the student run book display.  I haven't changed that book display out as much as I would like, but it is a popular display.  I need to be better about that next year.  

Student Run Book Display

 I have been working with a student for the past 2 weeks to put up our first student run book display.  Hunter checked out the most books during the 4th six weeks; so I decided to start with him.  He curated a list of his top 10 book favorites from our library.  We pulled the books and created a display.  Hunter then went into Canva to create his own sign for the display.

Yesterday I sent out the book display concept in my "Library Tip Tuesday" email that goes out to the staff twice a month. In the email, I asked for recommendations of students who liked to read and might want to do their own book display.  To my surprise, I was given 4 names within 30 minutes of my email.  I was surprised because one often wonders how many people actually read your emails.  So happy that at least a few do.  I know I can put one of those obnoxious "read notice" on the email, but I'm not going to do that.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program . . . Hunter arranged the books, and I printed out his Canva sign.  He asked to put library/read stickers on his table.  Since I have about a billion of those, I let him go through my stickers to find the ones he wanted out on his table.  Now we just need to see what kind of foot traffic the display gets.  I am hoping to swap it out twice every 6 weeks.  I think the table turned out great, and Hunter is especially proud of it.

FirstPage Friday Concierge Book Service

 

After going to a "PD in a Box" session at TCEA, I was determined to do something with that information.  However all of the research I found said the PD in a Box was a success when test-piloted, but no one seems to have gone past that initial phase, mostly due to budget constraints and man power.  There was one instructional coach who created a few pre-made PD boxes and traded them around.  So they were not created with a certain teacher in mind.  They were generic learning opportunities based on that campus's needs. That is a possibility, but really I am not an instructional coach.  Therefore I'm not sure I am ready to commit to that kind of work to watch the dust settle on my PD boxes.  However, I did decide to use the concept and apply it to the library.

Introducing the "FirstPage Friday Concierge Book Service," which is just a fancy way of ripping off the idea from all those subscription boxes out there.  We have Hello Fresh and Bark Box.  We have Dollar Shave Club and Stitch Fix.  There are coffee boxes, wine boxes, makeup boxes, beef jerky boxes, and so much more.  Why not a library book box?

The FirstPage Friday box will have 3-4 books (genre of choice), a snack, and a surprise or two.  Students return the books to the library, but they get to keep the snack and the surprise.  I am also planning to open this up to the faculty as well.  I decided to do a test run these last 2 months of school just to see the time and organization I need for next year.  Hence I am using my book group, The 40 Book Pledge, as my guinea pigs.  I have both students and adults who participate in that.  What is the 40 Book Pledge you ask?  I have a few previous posts about my book club, but here is the latest information:  40 Book Pledge 2023-2024

However, I digress . . . back to FirstPage Friday.  During my book club last week, I gave a very short presentation, and I think I have them hooked.  Adults don't usually come to the book club meetings. I emailed them the presentation, and I already have a few who have signed up.  I plan to hit up both the adults and students one more time the week after Spring Break.  

I created 2 surveys that the participants had to fill out.  One was a profile survey with all of their generic information like favorite genres, how many minutes a day do you read, favorite snacks, are you allergic to any foods, etc. (That survey they only have to fill out once a year.) The other survey was specifically about the first book box, which will be delivered the first Friday of April (hence the name "FirstPage Friday"). 

With the monthly survey, I have decided that the participants only have to fill out the next month if they want to change genres.  Therefore, if they fill out the April survey, but not the May survey,  I will assume they want the same genres and snack they indicated in the April survey.  If they want something different, they need to fill out the May survey.  I should have a deadline for that, but I haven't set that up yet.  I am literally winging it here. 

I'm not really sharing my materials yet because this is so raw.  I will feel better about sharing after I have a couple of months under my belt.  So I guess I will have a follow up post in June.  Until then, keep reading!

Teacher & Staff Fun - Valentine's Edition

 My goal this year was to boost teacher/staff morale by organizing a fun activity every other month.  This month I did a Valentine scratch off card.  I created 3 different cards. 

I made 8 copies of the "DutchBro" drinks, 24 copies of the "Mystery Prize" (which was a cup of candy with a Mardi Gras necklace and reading stickers), and then I made 148 "candy" prizes.  I have roughly 180 faculty, staff members, custodians, and cafeteria workers at my high school.  The scratch off part of the ticket is a sticker that I placed over those 3 prizes . . . which I found on Amazon.  I bought the 1000 piece roll, round stickers, gold, one inch.

We are about to close this activity; I originally ended the activity on Feb. 16th, but decided to give teachers and staff the whole month to claim their prizes.  So far I have given away lots of candy, 12 mystery prizes, and 0 DutchBros drinks.  I guess we will soon see who won those, or theDutchBro cards will stay forever unscratched in the mailroom.  How sad!

I have used the scratch off ticket 3 times this year.  I did an August scratch off that also doubled as an introduction to the library.  The front of the ticket was the prize, and the back of the ticket highlighted some quick ways to use the library.

I did a Halloween scratch off (only one-sided) where everyone won candy.

And this month was the Valentine scratch off, also one-sided.  If you would like to use any of these scratch offs, I made them in Canva.  Here are those template links.

• August Scratch Off
• October Scratch Off
• February Scratch Off

What did I do for December you might ask?  After all, I did say I was trying to do a fun activity every other month.  I created a  December "12 Days of Christmas" calendar.  Teachers opened each day to find a book recommendation, a brain break, a treat, or a technology tool.  I created that in Genially.  Here is the copy version: 12 Days of Christmas.  If you have a Genially account, go to the bottom of this presentation and click the button that says "reuse this genially." It should create an editable copy & place it in your account.

In April, I am planning a "self help" Tic-tac-toe card.  I stole this one from a presentation and adapted it for my activity.  Here is that template if you want it:  Self Care Tic-Tac-Toe board

Where do I get the money to finance these activities?  It's a combination of Activity Funds and my own back pocket.  It just depended upon whether I got the PO request done in time for the activity.

As always, I need to give credit where credit is due.  These ideas are not always my own.

• The original scratch off card I borrowed from Pam Pinkerton, former high school librarian & current library coordinator in Mansfield ISD.
• The Self Care Tic-tac-toe board came from a presentation called "Collaborate and Compete with Canva" which was part of the Winter Virtual Showcase hosted by the Canva Librarians & Teachers FB page.

4th Six Weeks Check In

 

I'm not going to lie, my check out statistics are disappointing for the 4th six weeks.  I saw the downward trend coming, but this is probably an all time low for me.  It's time to push book check outs because we all know if the students are not checking out books, they are not reading books . . . in general.  We do have classroom libraries in each of the ELAR rooms, and I know some students buy books or download them.  Regardless, we should have more than 336 books checked out in 6 weeks!

I have added different data collection to this report after seeing Shannon McClintock Miller at TCEA.  She didn't go over library statistics specifically, but her presentations inspired me to go to her blog.  One of her blog posts, "Sharing Our Library Statistics and Celebrating our Readers by Setting Up New Carousels in Destiny Discover," gave me some great ideas.  I like how she ran the stats for top patron readers and top homeroom classes, and then the top books checked out.  So the second page of my library statistics looks like this . . . 

I am hoping to spark some competition with the students and maybe even the ELAR teachers.  I plan to post this report on social media and email the staff too.  If you look at the actual check outs, they are low.  However, I have to start somewhere.  There is only one way to go from here. 

Another fun statistic I added to Destiny is a ribbon which has the top 20 books checked out from our library this year.  (Thanks, Shannon . . . again)  I didn't rank them according to how many times they have been checked out.  I just did Alphabetical order, but I think we might get some check out traffic with this new ribbon:  https://search.follettsoftware.com/metasearch/ui/26295 

Something else I thought to include is to have a shelf where my top readers can recommend their favorite books.  Maybe that will also spark some book check outs.

Then, of course, I will continue my book check out incentives.  Right now we are giving out Mardi Gras necklaces.

In addition, my school purchase Beanstack, and I have yet to promote that.  I love the product, and to be honest, I am not sure why I have been hesitant to try something new, especially when it is hooked to reading.  I guess I will get over myself, and dive into Beanstack, and maybe do a school wide challenge after Spring Break.  That gives me plenty of time to talk it up to the teachers and students before the actual challenge.

I believe I am ready for the 5th six weeks.  Stay tuned to see how this all goes.

TCEA Did Not Disappoint This Year

TCEA did not disappoint this year.  Lots of new learning, new people, old colleagues, and AI.  As always, some sessions were better than others.  We did get some positive feedback on our session which was the first day at 1:30 pm.  It wasn't a packed house, but not as many people were there on Saturday.  To be honest, I would have skipped Saturday if I wasn't already presenting.  As I  get older, my weekends become sacred.  I need downtime these days.

The best session I attended was AI & Research Tools: Transforming Libraries for Dynamic Outcomes.  What made it stand out from the others was the practical ways a librarian could use these tools with students and research.  So many AI presentations are all about the theory of AI - where it pulls its data, the history, etc.  I guess I am past knowing about the theory/history and am ready for the practical examples of how to use AI in the classroom.  After all, AI is just the next tool.  If we are not using it, we are obsolete.  Will AI replace my job? . . . not in my lifetime.  Will someone using AI replace me?  That is the better question, and I believe the answer is YES.  AI is definitely here to stay.

Other sessions I attended are listed below with my take away piece of information.

These are a few of my Favorite Things - I want to create a choice board of digital breakouts for students to do at their own pace. Great idea from this session.

Creative PD to ACE your Library Evaluation - okay, this was our presentation, but my one take away - create with purpose. Create your programs and activities around your library standards.

Canva: Amplifying Student Voice in School Libraries - pay attention to the design - what can people see? what do you want to emphasize? Also loved the "New Year's Reading Resolution" that students could design and put up in the library

EdTech Bytes: A Subscription Box to Rule them All - I WANT TO DO THIS!!! not sure if I will try with teachers or students first. Still thinking

Tech Treks: Adventure abounds with Digital Scavenger Hunts - great secondary examples

Tools you Can Use Tomorrow - I think I need to revisit Padlet

Unlock the magic of Genially - I really am better at this program than I thought. I need to explore the breakout examples.

Tech Badge Dash: Building Teacher Capacity within Your School  - I've always wanted to do this, but this session was a bit too technical for me. More coding than I am comfortable doing.

Magic of AI in Canva for Education - that icebreaker is worthy of adapting and doing with a group of teachers or students

Tech Tastings for Teachers - need a digital binder or hub for all teacher training, I might be doing that with Canvas. Need to revisit.

My Favorite AI Apps - need to look at Copilot (Microsoft's version of ChatGPT)

Like I said, TCEA did not disappoint this year. I have lots of new ideas, and I need to see where they will fit in my library program.