Assignment #1A: The Stories That Bring Us Together Project

The Stories That Bring Us Together

What’s your story?

 

If there is one thing that this pandemic has taught the education world is how important technology has become.  Face-to-face meetings became zoom calls, classrooms moved from school buildings to the outdoors, textbooks became a thing of the past, platforms like Teams, Schoology, and Seesaw became part of our daily vocabulary, and teachers began to fully realize how important it was to focus more on Social-Emotional learning.

The school I work at was no exception…

In the winter of 2020, our admin shared with us during a zoom meeting the new school theme we would have the following school year.  They called it “The Stories that Bring Us Together” project.  They knew times had changed drastically and we needed to do something to help our students.  This idea came at a time when we had recently accepted that online teaching/learning had become the new “normal,” and we were all just trying to stay afloat amid the Covid Tempest.  Technology had now become one of the most important parts of our lives and many of us were not ready for it.  We, as staff, needed to do something to help our students not only academically, but also socially and emotionally.

Admin wanted to bring our school community together one more time, they wanted us to get to know our new “school culture” and to come up with ideas to help our school community grow stronger even when the pandemic keeps us apart.

As one of the newly appointed librarians, our job was and still is to come up with ways we could help staff, students and their families feel like they belong.  We were stumped…What could we possibly do?! What type of technologies could we use to reach our school community during school hours and after school hours?  We are both brand new at this role and we hadn’t even had the time to learn the system or our library collection.  Fast forward to now and we are slowly moving in the right direction.

The first step was for us to build relationships with staff and students.  Both of us have been teachers at the school prior to taking over the library, so this part was easy.  Once we were back in the building and our restrictions allowed us to have small and controlled gatherings, we opened the library for lunch so teachers could come relax and we have invited classes to come experience the library through centres, lessons, Storytime, or to just curl up with a book.  We are happy to say that after a few months, the library has become a haven for many, a place where learning and fun can happen at once, and most importantly, a place where someone will always be there to lend an ear or shoulder if needed.

            

I had not felt the need to explore other digital possibilities until I started LIBE 477.  I always knew that technology was important, I mean we had just come out of online learning and are currently planning for possible functional closures.  The course content has led me to reflect on what other ideas I can work on that will not only focus on bringing us together as a school, but will also enhance students’ learning so they continue to thrive under stressful situations.

Some of the concepts I would like to explore further are: media literacy,  transliteracy, connectivism, constructivism, how to help others become critical consumers, creating choice boards, and how to create a digital identity safely.

By the end of the course, I want to be able to use media literacy and transliteracy to present equity, values, and culture amongst our students.  I want them to learn through books valuable life lessons and to see technology as one of the many helping tools in 21st century learning.  I want staff and students to become critical consumers in an era where we are constantly being bombarded by thousands of views on social media and the internet.  I want myself and staff to feel more comfortable using various platforms to enhance learning while keeping students engaged, and most importantly, to be able to reach all our learners. 

What’s my story you ask?  Stay tuned to find out!

References:

1) Committee for Children. “Social-Emotional Learning: What Is SEL and Why SEL Matters.” YouTube, 20 Dec. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPwzFiuR1m8&t=47s. Accessed on Jan 18, 2022.

2) “Constructivism.” Www.buffalo.edu, www.buffalo.edu/catt/develop/theory/constructivism.html#:~:text=Constructivism%20is%20the%20theory%20that.  Accessed on Jan 19, 2022.

3) Greenwood, Ben. “Is Connectivism the Pedagogy of the Future?” Blog.teamsatchel.com, 11 Mar. 2020, blog.teamsatchel.com/is-connectivism-the-pedagogy-of-the-future.  Accessed on Jan 19, 2022.

4) “Transliteracy.” Wikipedia, 18 Jan. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transliteracy.   Accessed Jan 19, 2022.

5) Reinken, Cassidy. “How to Use Choice Boards to Differentiate Learning.” The Art of Education University, 11 July 2012, theartofeducation.edu/2012/07/11/how-to-use-choice-boards-to-differentiate-learning/.  Accessed on Jan 19, 2022.

6) “Why Teaching Media Literacy Is Important.” Verywell Family, www.verywellfamily.com/media-literacy-how-to-teach-kids-to-be-critical-consumers-5181306.  Accessed on Jan 19, 2022.

7) Wikipedia Contributors. “Media Literacy.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Apr. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_literacy. Accessed on Jan 19, 2022.

8) Wikipedia Contributors. “Digital Identity.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_identity.  Accessed Jan 19, 2022.