First Week of Freshman Orientation

I think our first week of our Freshman Orientation went well.  We saw 12 Freshman classes.  This week, we will see 28 classes, and we will close out the following week by seeing 4 classes. 

We usually have to block off 3 weeks to see everyone.  The first week we schedule the teachers willing to go first and be our "guinea pigs" because we redesign our class every year to address the needs of our current audience.  So we start slow and learn from our mistakes. (Let's just say I always feel bad for the first set of classes; they are never as polished as those we schedule the 2nd week.)  Then we roll the rest of the classes through the library during the second week.  The 3rd week is reserved to finish up the classes and reschedule make up days (in case of random assemblies or teachers who are sick).

So our lesson went something like this

• introduction of librarians and pirate theme
• Knows and Need to Knows of the library
• discuss "knows" and take short policy quiz
• discuss "need to knows" and go on scavenger hunt
• meet as group to play Library Jeopardy
• revisit "need to knows" to make sure all questions were addressed
• learn card catalog and check out book or choose another library leisure activity (magazines, chess, library craft, homework, log onto a computer, puzzles, or games)

Flipping the Library Policies so that the librarians could skip the first 20 minute lecture went well.  Two of the teachers chose to show our Pirate eBook (link in last week's entry) and pass out the library brochures.  With those classes, we had a brief review by having the students brainstorm what they know and what they still need to know about the library; this is part of the PBL process that we adapted for our classes... 



We addressed what they already knew, and then took the quiz so the teachers could put that grade in the grade book as promised.  Then we addressed their "need to knows" by sending them on a QR Code scavenger hunt around the library.  Those with the smartphone were able to scan the QR codes and store the information in theie phones.  For those without a Smartphone, we also printed the same information for students to jot down notes or to take a picture if they had a phone with a camera.

 

 

We had 15 different QR codes hidden around the library.  Each group of 3-4 students had a map with 15 Xs on it to identify where the codes could be found.  The map helps them keep track of which codes they have found so they don't scan the same one 3 times and count it as 3 different codes.  They were given 15 minutes to find 15 different codes.  At the end of the 15 minutes, we came back together to play Jeopardy with the information they collected.  The team that won Jeopardy was able to pick a treasure from the treasure chest.

 





 

 

As I mentioned last week, we were able to anticipate what to do with the classes where teachers did not Flip the lesson and how to handle the QR Scavenger hunt if there were not enough students brought a smartphone.

What we did not anticipate...the amount of time needed for troubleshooting the students with their phones; they needed time to log onto our wireless including access to their new passwords, to download the QR Reader, and to practice scanning codes.

Luckily, we had built in "free time" at the end of the lesson.  So the amount of time we originally had budgeted for the free time was cut in half.

 

This week we will see the bulk of our Freshman students, 28 classes.  We will see how we hold up! 

 

Have a great week, and thanks for stopping by.