The Role of Libraries: Running a Virtual Space

In a time when the world is weird, what role do libraries or school libraries have in the past few months or the coming months looking forward? I know I have been even more dependent on my public library and it’s e-book services the past few months (previous e-book post here). As we look to starting school back face to face, I had to think about the ever-changing role of the school library/media center/learning commons. I say my space is the largest classroom in the school, and this allows for collaboration, making, tinkering, and usually more than one class at a time. However, in a time of Covid, the policies and procedures in place to return to school face to face don’t allow for our normal operations in the school library.
In order to prepare for our digital start and now looking towards a face to face start, I had to re-think how I reach my students and teachers. We expanded our e-book collection using Sora, and our usage statistics are insane! I’m so glad that kids are able to have access to high interest titles at home to read on their own devices. We also began curbside pick up, and we are trying to think how we can continue this for those students staying remote. Additionally, I’ve posted virtual makerspace activities where students complete them at home and record a Flipgrid response showing their creation.
I am curious though for the school librarian and teachers out there–how are you starting the school year? Are you back virtually, hybrid, or face to face? How are you handling the school library? Let me know and stay well!

E-books: Status Check

E-books I keep track of the books I read each year, and a few years ago I went deeper to start keeping track of non-fiction, fiction, e-books, audiobooks, library books, and bought books. I feel these are interesting statistics to keep track of for my own personal reading. Why do I read mostly fiction? What non-fiction books interest me? How many books do I buy in one year?

This year, due to Covid crazy, I have read vastly more e-books. Of the 50 books I’ve read this year, 36 of them have been books on my Kindle. This bypasses the 28 e-books I read all year last year, and it is only August. So this makes me wonder are e-books now going to become even more mainstream in today’s world? With public and school libraries being closed earlier this year, I’m curious how many others are reading more e-books?

Teachers: We can do Virtually Anything

Virtually anthing After three weeks of pre-planning, I am a mess. A full blown mess. Since March 13th when I left my learning commons for the last time under “normal” circumstances, I think I felt as most teachers did. We started asking questions: when can we return, is it safe to return, how are students doing at home, how are teachers doing, and what will the 2020-2021 school year look like? Here we are heading back, virtually or in-person for teachers for our district, and completely virtual for students until further notice. How in the world do we start a school year online? How are kiddos who have never been to school before going to to do? How are my mom friends going to handle childcare and teaching online?

Everyone keeps telling me, “well everyone is in the same boat as you.” Correct, however, that response does NOTHING to calm down educators or parents in today’s world. So if you are offering sympathy, maybe phrase it as “I can’t imagine what you are facing.” We are scared of the unknown. So how about this…the next few weeks just give grace to educators and parents. Don’t judge people for their decisions. Also, for those people that believe educators should take pay cuts during this time, please know that teachers are spending even longer now ensuring the assignments, activities, and class meetings are even more engaging than before to ensure the success of students.

My teacher friends are working around the clock to make classroom instruction meaningful and engaging. We’ve cried together the past few weeks, and we all feel as if we are first year teachers again. We can do this, and we will but let’s all just keep patience and grace at the forefront of our thinking the next few weeks as we settle in our routine.

Summer Reading List

Summer Reading List I feel like I started to get a jump on my summer reading pile back in March, but that only means my pile had longer to grow! Also, with the public library closed during Covid times, my e-book hold list was out of control!

I was reading The Hobbit when our school closures started, and y’all I just couldn’t read the rest of the series. This was the third time I’ve read it, and I read it based on a student recommendation. This book/series just isn’t my jam. Has anyone read the whole series? Is this something I should try to power through?

I try to keep track of different genres I read (mostly highlighting genres I don’t normally read), and I read all three non-fiction books I’ve finished this year during the past few weeks: The Power of Habit had been on my nightstand for almost a year, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You was a book I had been on hold for awhile with the public library and more timely now than ever, and Like Me by Chely Wright.

I’ve also had time to borrow books from my school’s media center and finish those too. My children’s lit Covid reading list includes: The Unteachables, The Forgotten Girl (scary, ghost story so this was not a favorite), Words on Fire, The One and Only Bob, Level 13, Stargazing (graphic novel and not my normal genre to read), and Greetings from Witness Protection. I have two more books from the media center on my nightstand, so we will see if I can get through my pile before I go back to work.

My favorite trilogy I started the past few months has been the Paradise trilogy by Elin Hilderbrand. It takes place on St. John, so I think I just like pretending I’m on a tropical beach somewhere. Also, An American Marriage and Daisy Jones and the Six both had been on my TBR pile for awhile too, and I had time to read those.

Sounds like I made good progress the past few months, right? Again, the pile continues to grow. What is on your TBR pile? What have you read the past few months that will stick with you?

Wanderlust: Travel Dreaming

Wanderlust I know we are in such weird, unprecedented times these days. However, this makes me appreciate all the trips and places we’ve been able to travel to so much more! That’s not to say I haven’t been appreciative of the extra time we’ve had at home to get projects done (new fence and floors-yay!!) and enjoy some backyard sunshine time.

I just know it may be a hot minute before we are jumping on a plane anywhere too exotic, so I’ve been using many days and nights to look back through previous trip pictures and think about all the funnies, views, and stories we have from those trips.

From daydreaming on the beach in Cancun or St. Martin, to the Swiss Alps, to Downton Abbey in Newbury, to calligraphy classes in Kyoto, to that amazing library in Helsinki, and a Reims Champagne tour, I am forever grateful for all these memories and countless others.

Virtual Professional Development

virtual pd Sometimes professional development and exploring resources further gets pushed to the back burner during the school year. We are too busy teaching, lesson planning, meeting with PLCs, attending after school meetings, and everything else we have to do in a regular day. However, I attended and participated in some of the best professional development virtually during our digital learning days. I also had the chance to meet weekly with my local media PLC virtually, and we were able to brainstorm and talk through ideas with each other. I’ve outlined some of the resources and sessions I attended below. If you have participated in some great PD the past few weeks, let me know! I would love to hear about other opportunities!

The One and Only Bob Book Launch with Katherine Applegate: School Library Journal interviewed Katherine Applegate about her new book, The One and Only Bob. This sequel to The One and Only Ivan came out a few weeks ago, and after listening to this interview I can only hear the author’s voice in my head as Bob when I was reading the story! You can still register to watch the recording online too.

Introduction to the Question Formulation Technique for Primary Source Learning: This webinar through The Library of Congress could be applicable for K-12 users and beyond! It would be great for ELA or Social Studies classes as a way to introduce how to formulate questions about a research topic. At times, students struggle with the research process because they don’t know how to form questions. The link will take you to all the webinars available through the Library of Congress this summer.

Nearpod Remote Learning Webinars: If you are a Nearpod user, these are great webinars about how to best use their tools for at-home learning. Also, many of these tools or ideas could be used in the classroom or as a way to provide extension for students. I attended the “Deliver Digital Lessons for Home-Based Learning” and “Connecting With Students Virtually” sessions. They offer different webinars throughout the week, so be sure to check their schedule regularly if you are interested.

Upcoming PD (I have registered for these later this summer!)

Kelly Yang in conversation with Laurie Halse Anderson

SLJ Day of Dialog

GLMA Summer Institute

Our New Normal

Our new normal Wow! 2020 has been quite the year already, and it is only April. Is anyone else trying to find a new normal between working from home, working out at home, eating at home, taking care of pets (or children) at home–are we noticing the “at home” pattern? This is such an unusual time. I would love to hear how others are creating a routine or sense of normalcy during these days at home. I’m trying to stick to some sort of schedule Monday-Friday and wear normal clothes, put on make-up, and set an alarm. Since this last week was spring break for our school district, all bets were off!

Adjusting to a slower pace has also been a mental change. I think we are so driven to get as much done in 24 hours as possible that not having places to be each day gives are brains and emotions a chance to slow down. I know in the past few weeks, I’ve cleaned, dusted, purged, and organized the whole house, walked the neighborhood, and cooked new recipes. I wouldn’t have taken the time to do any of these tasks with our regular routine and schedule.

How are you keeping a routine around your house these past few weeks? What does your new normal look like?

Distance Learning: Connecting with Your Students

Whew! I never thought I would miss going into work as much as I do. During these days or weeks of online, distance learning, how are you connecting with your students? I know many of my teacher and media specialist friends are having online sessions with their classes, whether this is a zoom class session, office hours, or a morning meeting. I have been hosting a Friday story time, and while I’ve only done it two Fridays, I think they were both successful (with some minor technical glitches–oops!). I also have posted a Flipgrid option for students to leave book responses too.

What are things you are doing to connect or “see” your students during this time? I am continuing to do my video messages each morning, but I would love for students to be able to respond back. I would love to hear how you are continuing conversations with your classes and students!

Digital Learning

Well I’m not too sure the past few days have been what anyone would have imagined especially for educators. If your school or district has gone to digital learning the past week, I would love to hear from you and which resources your class or district is using for digital learning. I’ve been doing daily videos on my Twitter (@ashermly), school blog, and facebook along with a different resource highlighted each day. Below are some examples I’ve focused on so far you can grab from my school blog link.

STEM/Makerspace activities: This was a free STEM product from Teach Outside the Box, and it provides activities and resources for at-home makerspace type of activities.

Book Review Choice Board: I created this optional choice board (template from Brooke Brown on TPT) of options for students to complete about books they read over their digital learning days. (I allowed students to check out 6 additional books the day before left school, so hopefully they will read them and complete one of these activities).

Author Videos and Resources: So many authors and illustrators are trying to ensure students have access to their books through digital story time (while still complying with copyright)! Kate Messner compiled a great list here.

Screencasts: I have screencasts created with step-by-step instructions for accessing and using different databases I will post over the few days too.

How are you trying to reach students and parents? I read an article about how important it is for our students to “see” us during these digital learning days. Are your students “seeing” you at all through videos, skypes, or virtual meetings?

Let me know! We are in this together!

London Fashion Week

I am fortunate enough that our school district has a balanced calendar, which means we have a February break in addition to December break and spring break. This past February break my mom and I went to London Fashion Week, and we had a great time! Not only did we attend Fashion Week events and a fashion show, but we also were able to do things in the city we hadn’t done before.

We have been to London twice before this trip, so we had already covered lots of ground within the city and day trips from London. However, we did re-visit some of our favorite spots. Highlights from this trip around the city include: Tower of London (we did this six years ago, but we were with a big tour group so it was nice to go at our own pace), the Shard and dinner at Oblix West (make sure you have reservations), the National Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, and a show! We saw the Tina Turner musical, and we loved it! If you go to London, make sure you get tickets to a show (it is cheaper to buy in advance online from the States before you go).

We also re-visited our favorite places and restaurants: Fortnum and Mason, Primark, Harrod’s (the food hall–AMAZING), Burger and Lobster, shopping on Oxford street, and the Footman pub. We stayed at the Chesterfield Mayfair, and this is our third time staying there. It is centrally located and walking distance to an underground station. Also, we attended Fashion Week pop up events throughout the city including Karl Lagerfield and Michael Kors, and the De La Vali fashion show, fashion discussion, and showcase event.

London is the only one of the big four Fashion Weeks (Milan, Paris, New York, and London) that opens tickets to the fashion shows to the public. However, this does still mean the big designer shows, like Victoria Beckham and Burberry, are closed, invite-only events unfortunately. BUT! The Fashion show and events that day open to the public were still amazing. Also, part of attending the event was just seeing what everyone else was wearing. We ended up dressing very conservative compared to most people there– although I would have thought my tutu and pearls were more statement pieces.

Trends to be on the lookout for this spring include bright colors, sequins, sparkles, and cowboy boots (especially white boots). Many designers used yellows and greens in their new lines along with silk and fringe. Some statement pieces we saw were pretty outrageous, but fun pieces to wear on a special occasion. Yet, I’m not sure when you would wear a bright yellow fedora with sequins.

Overall, we had a great time, did lots of shopping, ate great food….buttttt we had food poisoning our last full day, so that was super unfortunate. We did miss our tea we had planned, but have done it twice before so we didn’t feel that we missed too much. Also, it made our flight home feel even longer, and it made even more grateful to touch down at the Atlanta airport when we got home. Sometimes there is nothing better than coming home!

What other questions do you have about our week in London? Let me know!