First Week of School

The first week of school is always a balancing act.  It's about how to be there for the students and teachers while taking care of library business as well.  To be honest, it wasn't all that balanced; of course the needs of the students and teachers took presidence over library business. 

We had 2 major issues this week that put stress on the students and teachers, and therefore affected the library....schedules and technology.  While dealing with classes that needed a place to go, students who didn't know where the J Hall or the West Gym were, and new laptops that were not communicating with the projectors, the 3 librarians did manage to redesign our Freshman Orientation classes (which start on Wednesday).  Actually, we didn't get it all ironed out, but we each have a bit of homework this weekend.  Hopefully when we come back on Tuesday, we will be ready.

So we are taking a page from the "Flipped Classroom" model with our Orientation this year.  We are starting by asking the teachers to take 5-8 mins of their class time to introduce our library policies with a "mixbook" we created.  http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/education/dhs-library-policies-for-students-7923701  Then they are going to pass out our Student Brochure for the students to take home and review before coming to the library.  By doing this, we hope to eliminate the very boring 15-20 min lecture that begins each class.  Then we will start the classes with a review (what they know about our library and what they still need to know) and then a quick quiz.  The teachers are planning to tell the students about the quiz; it will not be a surprise.

To address those questions they may still have about the library, we have created a scavenger hunt using Quick Response (QR) codes posted all over the library.  Students can bring their Smartphone or iPod to scan the codes.  Each QR code reveals another bit of information about the library.  After sufficient time gathering the information, we will reconvene for a Library Jeopardy game. Since we have a Pirate theme going here, the winning teams will be able to pull a trinket from the Pirate Treasure Chest.  Yes even 9th graders like to pick a prize!  After Jeopardy, we show the students how to use the card catalog and allow them to check out a book.

Things to consider when attempting a lesson with this many parts...
1. What if the teacher didn't do his/her part by showing the eBook and passing out the brochures?
2. What if the students don't bring their electronic devices?

There should always be a Plan B, right?

For #1, we plan to review the brochure with the students and take them through the quiz as a group instead of testing them individually.  The advantage of testing the students individually is giving the grade to the classroom teacher who can then put those grades in his/her grade book.  So hopefully, the teachers will be motivated by a "free grade" to help us Flip the lesson.

For #2, we plan to group the students into pairs, 3s, or 4s, if needed.  If no one from a class brings an electronic device, we are creating a low tech (paper) version of the scavenger hunt.

We'll see how this goes.  I'll have pictures next week.  Have a great Labor Day weekend!