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Real Talk: A School Year Like No Other

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I want to use this platform as an opportunity to share inspiration, best practices in technology integration and library programming.  I have been wanting to add so many ideas here, but this has been a school year like no other.  Finding the time to blog has been a tremendous challenge for me.  I know from my own experiences this year and from what I hear from teachers at my campus, librarian friends and my social network that pretty much everyone is struggling.   I wanted to be real here and share a little about my own journey this year.  There have been some extreme highs and definitely some lows and I am trying right now to keep my head above water.   This has been the year that: my child who is in kindergarten has had COVID twice- once in September and once in January this same child has gotten Flu A and B and Strep in between having COVID I am his care taker so that means I have been out to care for him for all of these occurrences  I got the call that I was a finalist for TCEA Li
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Reflecting on 2021

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Technology has transformed the way I teach and the way my students learn.   As a librarian I get the pleasure of meeting students and staff right where they’re at to help them select relevant tools to meet their learning goals.   I’m passionate about leveraging technology to amplify student voice and  bringing innovative tools to the library and schoolwide that promote critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration.   My goal is that students find the library to be a space for innovation, collaboration and risk-taking. Each day that our students enter the doors of the library is a new opportunity for them to grow and pursue their passions and to get closer to acquiring the skills they need for lifelong success.   I am so blessed to be able to work with our teachers weekly on impactful technology integration.  We are focused on developing a shared vision and culture for technology use campus wide.  At PSJA Collegiate High School technology use is purposeful and meaningfu
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Power PD #4 Student Engagement

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This issue of Power PD includes some creative ways to increase student engagement.   You can check out the slidedeck with all the links here. 1. Try Wakelet Check out this post by TCEA to see more creative ways to use wakelet. Have you had a chance to try out Wakelet yet?   Ditch that Textbook recently put together a great post about using Wakelet.  Y ou can read more about it here .  Wakelet is a tool that can be used to organize or curate your information.  Students can use it to show what they know or to respond to others.  It can be individual or collaborative.  There is so much possibility with using this tool. Check out this wakelet about using wakelet created by Holly Clark. 2. Choice Boards I recently used Choice Boards in my Capstone Research Project lesson series. Giving students choice is a great way to build engagement.  I love using choice boards with my lessons.  If you have never used choice boards, I would suggest starting small.  You can give students a few choices on
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Choice Boards in Action With High Schoolers

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Choice boards have been around for awhile, however I have noticed they are really trending lately.  When I was an elementary teacher and librarian, I did use choice boards in a low tech way.  I gave students options in how they might respond to a lesson. Now that our campus is one to one with devices, I realized I hadn't tried digital choice boards with my high school students.  I decided to go with combination of stations and choice boards to flip my instruction with my 11th graders last week.  I knew I wanted to structure their library visit in a way that we could cover four areas: finding a good book, researching colleges, exploring test prep materials and checking out a book.    So how do we start using choice board in way that works for teachers and students. Tip 1: Use a template I'm always so inspired by what Mrs. Howell is doing with Gold Edu and I decided to use a template she shared with our group.  Here is the template I used: Inspiration/ template for my choice boar
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Power PD Issue # 3 Productivity

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  This issue of Power PD includes some creative ways to increase productivity, build your PLN and jazz up your slides presentations.   You can check out the slidedeck with all the links here. Productivity:   I think each of us is thinking about how we can be more productive and eliminate unnecessary stress in our lives.  I had a chance to listen to the Truth for Teachers Podcast recently as they discussed 5 ways to improve productivity.  I highly recommend you tune in to the episode to hear the host really delve into each of the 5 tips.  I thought I'd take a few minutes here to reflect on how I plan to use those tips in my life: 1. E liminating unintentional breaks and making intentional breaks. For me this is a big one, sometimes I find myself jumping around from task to task and I have found that a daily to do list keeps me grounded.  Since the pandemic I started using an iPad and the GoodNotes app to organize my thinking and planning.  One thing I love is I can simply select my
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Making Professional Learning Stick

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  Throughout my time as an educator there have been training sessions that really stuck with me and those that were quickly forgotten.  As I begin rolling out Tech Tuesday sessions with teachers this school year, I took some time to reflect on what makes an interesting, memorable and impactful training session for me.  These are some of the questions I consider in how I provide training for teachers: 1.  What does this look like in the classroom? 2.  How can I apply what I've learned? 3.  How does this solve a problem or make my life easier? 4.  Is the information easy to follow and come back to? Making Thinking Visible- What does it look like in the classroom? In my recent training session with my teachers, we revisited their Gripe Jam which I spoke more about in this blog post .  They delved into brainstorming areas they are struggling with in their classroom.  It could be organization, lesson planning, lesson implementation, engagement, utilizing technology, or any other number
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Transformational Change Through Google Coach Program

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Big announcement!! I just found out I am officially an Google Certified Coach!  Getting started with tech coaching has been a dream of mine for awhile.  In this blog, you will be following along in my journey as a librarian and tech coach.  Come along with me as I navigate how to balance running a high school library and support my campus with impactful technology integration.  It is new waters for me and I'm excited about the challenge ahead. During the pandemic, my perspective on technology integration changed as the reality of one to one devices and virtual learning set in.  I saw the need for more teacher support in navigating the sea of technology tools and options.  In the summer of 2020 I heard about the Google Certified Coaching program .  I had just applied to be a Google Trainer and I knew from completing that certification program I wanted more of what Google had to offer.  The Google Trainer Program prepared me to provide effective and personalized individual and group
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