The Social Media Infused Classroom: Mediated Messages 2.0

I have written a few times about my experiences as a member of the Certified Google Innovator #SWE17 cohort and the ongoing learning as part of #GoogleEI . The focus of my application to the Innovator Academy (and the ongoing thread of my work with students and my colleagues) is the development of media literacy. The importance of media literacy can not be understated. Nor can the value of social media as a teaching, learning, and publishing tool.

In the latest iteration of my Innovator project, Mediated Messages, I have added a section on lesson ideas and launched a Facebook group for building a collaborative community dedicated to expanding our capacities for media literacy instruction. Social media is a multi-faceted education tool; it can be used for personalizing instruction, as a research resource, to foster global engagement, and to provide authentic digital citizenship practice. Here are examples of it being used or practiced in each of these contexts.

For Personalizing
In this previous blog post I wrote about my collaboration with an English teacher creating The Selfie Project. Ultimately, as a corollary to their study of Transcendentalism, the students used the makerspace to create 3D representations of self (we called it, "Yourself, in tangible relief"). The project started with an examination of all of the ways a student's identity can be explored, including through playlists, social media, school pictures, the contents of their bedrooms, and their school data. The lesson steps are here and this is a gallery of pictures of the students and their work

For Research
Understanding "Journalistic Truth" and the impact of digital media on our sources of information is essential to student development of savvy research skills. The journalistic truth slides outline a two-period lesson I co-delivered with an English teacher to the students in the non-fiction writing class.

Finding experts and research or non-profit foundations on social media is another excellent way for students to collect valuable insight and potential interview subjects to inform their inquiry.

For Global Engagement
An educator with a global PLN has the resources to connect students with adults and other students around the world for a sharing of culture and point-of-view. Exposure and interaction builds empathy and collaboration. My favorite experience using social media as a teaching tool happened when I was a social studies teacher working with a group of American Studies students. We were studying the cold war and I happened to have a Tweep who is an educator living in eastern Germany. She joined my class for a twitter chat about life in eastern Germany behind the wall and after the wall came down. We were scheduled to chat for 30 minutes and ended up chatting for the entirety of a 70 minute block period. During that time a few of her teacher colleagues joined the conversation as did her daughter who was a student at university. Now my students had both adults and a peer with whom to share perspectives. Several of my students and Ines' daughter began following each other on Instagram, too. The conversation began as a discussion of cold war life and evolved into a discussion of how do we each learn about the other. It was a rich exchange that far exceeded my expectations when Ines and I were planning it!

Teachers at my school haven't yet warmed to Twitter but they are enjoying Flipgrid in closed, classroom-based exercises. Expanding their grids to include participation outside of our school will be a first step building PLNs.

As anyone in the Google Innovator program knows, my cohort, my coach, and my mentor are unparalleled in their support of my work and the counsel they provide. And it's all happening via social media and Google Hangouts.

For Digital Citizenship Practice
I have an on-going collaboration with the teacher of our school's Digital Literacy course. Together we have launched a class Twitter account that the students use to post reflections on lessons and units and provide insights and guidance about good habits of online conduct. To launch this account we had students use Canva to design channel art. We loaded each of their submissions into a Google Form which we pushed to them in Classroom. Students then voted for their favorite design and that was uploaded to Twitter. Then I taught a brief lesson on Hashtags & the Anatomy of a Tweet. The conclusion of the lesson was each student drafting what the first class tweet should be. Again, we shared the submissions with the class and they chose which would be used as our introduction to the Twitterverse.

A Social Media Think Tank for your students is another way to engage them with social media in the context of your course material; here is an elevator pitch you can use with your students.

And that's not all!

My interest in educational use of social media preceded my acceptance into the Innovator Program and new opportunities to continue my learning in this realm have emerged because of the connections I made there. Here are some of the other irons I have in the fire at the moment:

At ISTE18 I will be co-presenting on using social media in the college search and application processes. From building a brand to researching schools to writing the college essay, there are so many ways students can powerfully use social media.

Public libraries in my area are interested in hosting seminars about media savvy and I have a couple happening this month.

My book is about to be released! I co-authored News Literacy: the keys to combating fake news with my friend and fellow librarian, Michelle Luhtala. It will hit the stands in May 2018! I am very excited about the companion video workshops that are being released in conjunction with the book. Those lessons include outreach into social media communities so that the learning is ongoing.

If it isn't personalized, can it really be inquiry?

When given the opportunity to write a research paper about any topic that interests them, many students become overwhelmed by the task of deciding what to research. Many librarians recommendation is to survey topic collections in the databases and pick something interesting. I say this because a member of our state's librarian listserv asked for suggestions about getting started with topic selection and I was the only participant who didn't recommend the databases. Maybe this is because I am new to librarianship. But I just don't start there. Ever.

When out to dinner with a group of people from librarian world while attending the AASL conference back in November, an interesting question arose that none of us could answer. Several people grabbed their phones to start searching for the information and I offhandedly commented that I was fairly certain none of them were searching their databases. And they weren't.

Databases are fabulous resources. Access to them is not universal or forever. And, until a student knows how to manipulate a search, databases are horribly impersonal and sterile. Students should learn how useful databases are and how to use them well, but unless they are a future librarian, starting there is a big turnoff. If we want students to enthusiastically -- or at least willingly -- engage in the hard work that is research then we need to meet them where they are, embrace it, and use it to hook them. This isn't pandering; it's personalizing.

Start with their playlists, their favorite books, their video streams, their social media feeds. Look for the threads that show possible lines of inquiry. Whom do they follow who isn't an actual acquaintance? Why do they follow? What about that person, group, or organization intrigues them? Choose a topic or idea. It will be broad. Too big for a typical research project, and now we start to narrow it.


To give them practice I choose a current event with long roots for them to work as a class to narrow. Recently, I used "protest movements" and I explain how recent protests have captured my attention and in some I have been a participant so I am using my experiences as an opportunity to select a topic. The class divides into four groups. I then do a Google image search for protest movements and ask them to just look at the images and, by themselves, consider what looks familiar and what is new. While they are looking and thinking, I give each group a large piece of chart paper or a white board. Across the top I have written one of these categories: events and issues, time periods and dates, people and organizations, places and landmarks. I give them 90 seconds to work as a group and list as much as they can about protest movements that fits the category they have been assigned. At the end of 90 minutes, they put their markers down and rotate. Same group, new topic, 90 seconds on the clock, GO! We do this until each group works on brainstorming for each category.

When they finish -- which means they return to their original table -- they compile all of the ideas on the chart paper into a Google Doc that looks like this:

Then I highlight looking for threads. In this example the thread I was using was "students" and this large topic allows for many different threads. In fact, in one class they realized that even if every student in the class started with protest movements as their original topic, once they narrowed their focus, they would still be researching 25 discrete topics. I wouldn't suggest dictating to a class that they all research about protest movements because it removes student agency from the process and therefore undermines personalization. That being said, I do work with teachers who do assign the umbrella topic.

The thread provides the first narrowing of the topic. From "protest movements" we derived a more focused topic: How schools and colleges responded to student activism in the 1960s. Then we examined that topic for points that were still general and the students were able to ask questions such as: Activism about what? And, which schools? So our final topic became:

This exercise was just the model. We completed the exercise as a class in about 25 minutes. That meant they had another 25 minutes to try this protocol with their proposed topics so I provided them an organizer in a Google Doc pushed to them through Classroom.

As they worked, the classroom teacher and I circulated helping them expand their thinking and answering questions about the images that emerged from their Google search. Ten minutes into working, I stopped the class to share my observations. I told them that I noticed some students were plowing through lists and generating lots of ideas to consider. Other students were stuck, their organizers mostly blank. I hypothesized for them that the reason some were blank was because they weren't really interested in the topic, and that if that was the case, this research paper was going to be a painful experience. Some of them snickered and nodded in ascent. I told them now was the time to choose something that really mattered and that if they really didn't have any ideas they should take out their phones, get on Instagram, and raise their hand so one of us could chat with them. And they got back to work.

By the end of class, each student had chosen a topic -- each student had agency over that topic and how it was focused. Real inquiry can now happen because they will be exploring something that matters to them, not something a teacher told them matters. This week, among other things, we will work on generating a research question, another element of personalizing the research process, so that each student is seeking the insight s/he craves about his/her unique topic. They do this by listing everything they think they know about their topic and then turn each of those statements into a question. For example:

What I already think I know:	Phrased as a question:
Upheaval on college campuses during Vietnam War	How did universities respond to student activism? Do universities tolerate student activism? Did students organize across universities? Did employers hold students’ activism against them?

It is key that they be coached to ask authentic questions, not questions that lead to a predetermined answer. In other words, stay open to ideas and avoid seeking bias confirmation. As they turn what they think they know into questions, they begin to realize two things: 1) they may not be sure about everything they think (or not know as much as they think they do), and 2) some of their questions will be easily answered (closed) and others are open to interpretation (open). They can then group closed questions with the open questions they help to answer. They are starting to organize their thinking and plot a line of inquiry. Of course they will revise and update this plan as they go, but with a starting point and a plan they can be more purposeful in their searching.

Finally, we get to the databases! We will also learn how to search Google like a database by using advanced search and how to search social media for field experts.

Thanks for reading. If you have other strategies and tips for personalizing inquiry I would love to hear them!

Collaboration through Making

I am preparing to facilitate another meeting with our school's new teachers the focus of which will be ways the library learning commons can support their teaching and students learning. My focus for this meeting will be about Making. The guiding question to my presentation is: "How can making help my students learn?" I hope this opportunity to talk with the new teachers -- not all of whom are new to teaching -- paves the way for increased collaboration with colleagues and use of our innovation lab.

I have put together a "what if you asked your students to..." thought experiment and outlined it in these Google Slides:


 The teachers will be visiting the Innovation Lab for the first time since their orientation at the beginning of the year. Since then, I have collaborated with a few of them when their students were involved in research projects -- always in the teacher's classroom. The focus of our work on those occasions was accessing databases, savvy Google searching, and citation protocols. I am hoping that today's conversation inspires new ideas about what personalized learning means and how the library learning commons space can support all learners and teachers.

I appreciate any thoughts you have about library advocacy, working with new teachers, and helping high school teachers infuse making into teaching and learning.

Inquiry Update: Refining the Questions and Keywords

In my last post I wrote about our preparation for using the Question Formulation Technique (QFT) designed by the Right Question Institute to inspire and focus high school juniors for writing their research papers. They are writing this paper at the conclusion of reading The Great Gatsby; the unit essential question is: how does socioeconomic status affect opportunity in modern America? When I wrote my last post, we were collecting and reviewing possible artifacts to serve as a Q-focus for the classes. Ultimately, we chose to provide several and allow the students to choose which focus to use and with which students to work. Their Q-focus options were:

• the strategic school profile for a nearby high school that is very different than our school
• an expired green card
• a birth certificate in both English and Spanish issued in Mexico
• a photograph of five members of the St. Louis Rams entering the stadium with their hands up
• a data visualization of household income gap by race
• another data table about education levels among married black women
• data about health care access by race adjusted for income

We used these slides to explain the QFT protocol. They were projected around the room while students worked so they could refer to the directions as their groups collaborated on each task. As students sorted and rewrote their closed and open questions, they collected their questions on a pair of slides dedicated to their group's Q-focus. Here is an example from one of the four classes that used this process. All of this was completed just before the Thanksgiving long weekend. Today we returned to school and the students in all four classes working with us on this research paper submitted the current draft of their research question for us to review. Their questions address a vast array of current sociopolitical issues. Certainly they still need refinement, but students are beginning to narrow their focus to a topic of interest that is potent in the U.S. today. Here is a selection of the (unedited) questions the students are asking:

• How does affirmative action impact minorities? 
• Does gender affect a persons income? Why do blacks have a lower income than whites/ does race affect a persons income?
• How does race and wealth impact the type and level of education you can receive 
• How does geographical setting affect health care accessibility for adults?
• How might a persons socioeconomic status directly affect their access to quality healthcare?
• How can racial bias in the judicial system affect the way a case is treated?
• How does poverty impact the learning and culture of a school body as a whole in terms of absences, disciplinary actions, and Free or Reduced Lunch (FRL)?
• How has the Affordable Care Act impacted people with lower socioeconomical [sic] status?
• How does the justice system affect imprisonment of the lowest social classes?
• What causes the tremendous inequality in educational oppurtunity [sic] in America?
• Why are crime rates higher amongst the lower class?
• How does ones socioeconomic status affect the severity of their mental health?
• How does income inequality affect rates of incarceration for different social classes?
• How heavily does education influence the likelyhood [sic] of achieving a stable, lucrative career?
• How does race effect the odds of immigrants achieving well paying stable careers?
• "How do the living conditions and locations of adolescents contribute to their level of education?"
• How has the war on drugs affected people's ability to rise from poverty?
• How does the constant factor of social class diversity affect the quality of education in a child's lifetime?
• Why is the education gap in America growing? and how can we close the gap and have an equal education standard across the US?
• Why are there a lot of college drop outs
• How do the economic circumstances of ones birth dictate their potential, as opposed their talent and hard work?
• How does social class affect parenting?
• Does race affect the amount of college dropouts?
• How do financial issues lead to high dropout rates in college?

Clearly these questions still need refinement. We are pleased that students have started to branch their thinking into aspects of American society and historical issues that they were not able to consider before we introduced the QFT to them. Our next step is to help students begin generating keywords for searching our databases and print collection for information about their topic. We believe that once they start listing terms relevant to their question, they will begin to see the possibilities for refining and focusing their questions to better fit the constraints of a five page paper.

That is tomorrow's plan. We are going to ask them to examine the entire list of collected questions from the four participating classes and copy into a document any of the questions that they think explores the topic they are trying to research. Then the students will begin compiling a list of key terms that are related to their topic and their questions. We will provide them instruction on the value of key terms including how to use them in searches:

• Boolean Logic (and, or, not)
• Truncation and Wildcards (*, ?)

Then we will ask the students to resume compiling their lists and then revising their questions, ultimately choosing one question to sustain their research. Stay tuned to see how this unfolds.

For those of you interested in updates on the research project using Google My Maps, we are getting ready to introduce it so more on that will be coming soon, too!

Outreach and Relationship Building

Full confession: I was worried about making this jump from the social studies classroom to the library. Let's face it, I had some obstacles to overcome:

1. I was certified in the Alternative Route to Certification in CT. Would people take my credentials seriously?
2. I taught social studies for 23 years. Would people trust my respect for and understanding of their non-social studies curricula and pedagogy?
3. This move is a professional challenge I seek voluntarily. Why do (some) people think I'm burning out and just looking for an easy coast through my last years before retirement?

OK. Question three is EASY to answer. Anyone who thinks I am coasting has no idea what a good library media specialist does, can do, or is willing to do. I aspire to be a great one!

Questions one and two are more complex, but they have a common thread: in this new role, how will I build relationships with people in various departments so they understand, trust, and call upon my capacity as a supportive co-teacher and resource? And, how do I manage this in the shadow of an incredibly accomplished, visionary librarian, with whom they are all acquainted and in whom they all trust?

Well, @mluhtala is not just accomplished and visionary she is collegial, professionally generous, and thoroughly respectful. I am not allowed in her shadow. I stand side-by-side with her, and that speaks volumes about her trust in me which transfers to the rest of our fellow faculty. In fact, when deciding on costumes for a spirit day at school, it was suggested that we be Peter Pan and his shadow. What a cool partner costume idea! And, you have to know that we look alike. A LOT a like. But Michelle said: no, period. We work as equals.

So, I have this tremendous partnership going for me. Now, how do I leave the library, meet colleagues, and encourage them to share their students and class time with me? How do I show -- not just tell them -- them that I can be a valuable partner? How do I advocate for myself and the value of the library in the important work they are doing with their students?

I started with book recommendations.

And my colleagues in the Science department.

The library is on the first floor. The science department is on the third floor. When were our paths ever going to cross? So I sent an email explaining that I wanted our students to know that the teachers read for pleasure. That seeing adults modeling this habit would increase their independent reading. I invited everyone in the department to share with me a favorite book -- fiction or non-fiction -- all they had to do was email me the title and author. When they sent me a recommendation, I took their picture and added it to a Google slide with a picture of the book cover. When I had about seven or eight recommendations compiled, I shared the slides with the department so they could see what the display would look like. Quickly, I had several other teachers send their suggestions.

For the month of October we have featured the science department's favorite books as a display near the entrance of the library. Some people chose what they are currently reading, one teacher recommended her favorite book from high school, another recommended an entire series! And these recommendations are being noticed! Students walk by the display on their way in and out of the library and say things like: "Oh, I have (teacher's name), what's that book?" or in conversation with a friend: "I read that, too! You would really like it."

So, to my science colleagues: thank you, thank you, thank you for helping to get students pleasure reading! And, thank you for entertaining my invitation, even if it felt a little funny to have a new Ms. Luhtala-look-alike take your picture when you weren't sure what I was going to do with it. Thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself to you and chat about books! Thank you for welcoming me to your department meeting and into classes to show students how to access great resources for science research. 

We are teachers and learners. Books are something we all have in common. What a great starting point; I hope this is the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration!

Next month, we will feature the multi-lingual book recommendations of the World Language department. I sent out their invitation today.

Let me advocate for co-teaching

The principles of good teaching that informed my work as a high school social studies teacher for twenty three years are as applicable in the library as they were in the classroom. But, there is so much about being a librarian that is different than being a classroom teacher. Here is one of the biggest changes. I used to think that a class load of 125 students in a semester was a lot. Now I have 1300. That is a lot.

My advocacy meme... will it work?

So here is the challenge: I work with all of the students in the high school. I have a responsibility to those students and to the fidelity with which we implement our library media, inquiry-based, research curriculum. And to be successful, I have to work with students in the context of their classes with other teachers.

Without a specific course load of my own, my collaboration with my colleagues is essential to fulfilling my curricular mandates and achieving my curricular objectives. If I am successful, students will benefit in direct and indirect ways from the work I and their other teachers do together. First, students will experience an increase in teacher attention and feedback by virtue of my co-teaching. And, second, by supporting classroom teachers in the infusion of technology in their instruction and project-based learning, students will experience a more personalized implementation of the curricula. Adding a teacher to a classroom cuts the student-teacher ratio in half so more students will receive direct support for their inquiry work during class time.

Teacher-Librarian collaboration is also an essential way to help classroom teachers enhance their effectiveness. I can help with unit and project planning and resource collection. I can co-teach lessons on inquiry and research. I can support the classroom teacher's instruction during content examination, I can help create and analyze formative assessments, differentiate, re-teach where necessary, and re-evaluate students' progress. And I embrace what we can learn from the reflection and de-briefing after an extended collaboration to determine how to best meet the varied needs of the students as the year unfolds.

As a classroom teacher, I did not make use of the opportunities provided by collaboration with my library media specialist. As a librarian, I am committed to forging the relationships that will encourage my colleagues to open their classrooms and their time and their energy to collaborating with me. I am happy to hear how other librarians advocate for their library programs and encourage their colleagues to embrace the opportunities collaboration offers and how it empowers students.

Independent Reading

Full disclosure: I have always loved reading. When I was little, the Book Fair was one of my favorite school events. Every Christmas list I made was dominated by books. As an adult and a teacher one of my big struggles was the lack of time I had for pleasure reading, relegating those books which accumulated all school year long to the precious weeks of summer when I could divide my time between pleasure reading and curriculum planning for the next school year. Whenever I buy gifts for children it is books. Some of my favorite gifts that I have ever received are books. You get the picture.

Needless to say, I found it heartbreaking when my children reached an age -- or a grade in school -- when reading lost all enjoyment for them. Even summer reading is proscribed. They are told what to read and what to do with and in response to the books. They no longer read for pleasure and I actually worry that they won't rediscover that joy when their agency over reading is restored.

With all that said, as a librarian, I really want students to find the joy in books. Any kind of books: print, ebooks, audio books -- fiction or non-fiction. Just relish the world created by an author and enjoy it just for entertainment or because the story resonates for some reason. In 2000 an ALA report defined independent reading as reflecting "the reader’s personal choice of the material to be read as well as the time and place to read it. Independent reading is done for information or for pleasure. No one assigns it; no one requires a report; no one checks on comprehension." The definition remains sound, the question is how can schools, teachers, librarians, and students make time for this type of reading amidst all of the other required and assessed content reading? And, if more un-assessed reading was done purely for pleasure, wouldn't reading performance assessments improve?

So how do we DO it? Certainly modeling it is important. I wonder: how often during the day do students see the adults around them reading independently? I try to model this by having the books I am reading piled on my desk, and I listen to audiobooks to and from work and usually forget to take my headphones from around my neck during the day. When students ask: are those bone-conducting headphones? I answer with: I was listening to my audio book; do you want to try?

Patty Blount discussing "Some Boys" with #SWVBC

Last evening, I participated in my new school's "Somewhat Virtual Book Club" chat (#SWVBC). We met in the library after hours and ordered for pizza for dinner. At 6PM, we joined a Google Hangout where we met with the students, teachers, and librarians from two other high schools in different states. Just as we were finishing our introductions, the author of the book we were discussing  joined our Hangout. Nothing about this experience was required. Some students still hadn't finished reading the book, but the conversation about the book still mattered to them. Some participants were critical of the book and talking with the author helped them re-frame their perceptions. Still other readers of the book loved it and were thrilled to hear about the author's process and learn why the story and characters evolved as they did. Today, at school, students were still talking about the book, carrying over from last evenings chat.

So much about this experience was so cool! Students could get together and socialize around a common, voluntary reading experience. They could participate from home if they couldn't get a ride to school. Students in different schools, in different states, could meet and interact with each other. Students could ask an author all about their process, their experiences, their words. And students (and teachers) could just listen and take away whatever was meaningful for them. And ultimately, that is what is enjoyable about reading. Each reader takes away personal meaning or challenge or enjoyment. They immerse themselves intellectually, emotionally, imaginatively in a text. What more can we want for our students?

Library Literacy Badges

A few things to know about our library:

• We have TechXperts, students who provide tech support for staff and students.
• We are working on a program for "Maker Majors" in our makerspace.
• We also have changed to NoodleTools this year.

Many of our conversations during the day are dominated by these three initiatives. How to grow the programs and how to wean 1300 students and 130 teachers off EasyBib and teach them to use (and appreciate?) a new system. As we, Michelle and I, continue to curate tutorial resources and load them to the help section of our library website, Michelle suggested badges. And that got me thinking... There are so many domains of information literacy: we can set up a hierarchy of badges for each domain and align them with our curriculum. Off the top of my head I came up with:

• Google Power Users
• Citation Czars
• Database Doyens
• Reading Prodigies
• Maker Majors
• TechXperts

Each one can have strands for inquiry, communication, collaboration, innovation, critical thinking, creativity, literature appreciation, computational thinking, and digital citizenship. Needless to say, these elements of information literacy are key components in our schools 21st Century Learning Expectations:

• Analytical and Creative Problem Solving
• Reflective learning
• Effective Communication
• Healthy Life Choices
• Responsible, Productive Work and Collaboration
• Respect
• Community Contribution

Certainly as we continue to co-teach with teachers in the various disciplines the foundational skills for each badge category are being established. As students move through four years of high school they will have the experiences and practice necessary to demonstrate mastery in all of these areas before they graduate. That, after all, is the point of our curriculum and our outreach into as many classes as possible. But the badging system would be a new way to honor the growth, the grit, and the necessity of developing information literacy skills.

On Summer and Google

As the middle of August approached and I began working in my new district, collaborating with new team, and planning professional learning experiences for my new faculty colleagues I was struck by what my family began calling "the summer of change." Summer of 2016 was packed with adventures both personal and professional. Needless to say, resigning from my social studies position at the school where I had been teaching for eight years was bittersweet. The library opportunity I had been offered was extraordinary: a high-powered district with a talented faculty and a nationally-recognized mentor wanted me! But, change is always hard and parting ways with other respected and valued colleagues is not easy. Bridging the gap between these two phases of my professional life was one child getting her license, another child leaving for college for the first time, and a wedding. In addition, back in May, I was accepted to attend the Google Geography Teachers Institute (#CAGTI16) in Mountain View which was held this past July. Needless to say, the experience was invigorating and inspiring because the love and respect Google has for educators is tremendous.

Before I dive into unpacking that experience, let me provide a quick history on my love affair with Google. I have already been fortunate to attend a teachers institute hosted by EdTechTeacher and Google at the Boston Google headquarters as well as participate in a design sprint hosted by Google in New York where eight teachers from North America collaborated with the Classroom team on educational tool design. Living and teaching within commuting distance from Manhattan has afforded me the opportunity to bring classes of students to the New York headquarters on two occasions so we could teach and learn in their model classroom while Googlers studied how worked and used the GAFE tools. So, suffice it say, going to Mountain View was my version of going to Mecca!

So, I returned from a honeymoon to Vancouver and Victoria, BC in time to do laundry, repack, and head back to the West Coast. I was nervous about this trip. I worried I wouldn't measure up to the other people who had been accepted to this institute. When I applied to the program I was a social studies teacher who was going to be teaching four sections of World Geography, now I was a library media specialist and had not yet met any of my colleagues. How was I going to bring to them all that Google would teach me?

The thread that connects all of  my experiences with Google is this: what matters most are your habits of mind; everything else can be learned. As long as I am willing to take risks trying new things, fail forward, and do so in thoughtful collaboration with other willing risk-takers from an array of backgrounds and disciplines, everything else will work itself out. #CAGTI16 was no different -- and neither is my new job. Participants in the institute came from points all around the world, all different kinds of schools, and walks of life. We worked in collaboration with each other and a team of Googlers and Google partners unpacking the learning potential in an array of tools from MyMaps to Earth to the Cultural Institute to 3D images in Street View and more.

Day 1, Session 1 I chose to attend a session  with Jeff Crews (@crewsertech) on using Google Street View with students. First we considered AMAZING ways that a tool like Maps has changed people lives. Meet Saroo Brierley. After some quick instruction to calibrate our use of Maps we were off and running around the Google campus with Ricoh Theta S cameras snapping 360 images and uploading them to maps. Then began the brainstorming of how to use this technology with students. I started to think about my lessons on art analysis and unpacking images, how paintings differ from photos, on the importance of considering the role of the photographer in staging, cropping, and editing a photo -- even in the days way before Photoshop! Those considerations of purpose and control are changed dramatically by a 360 degree image. Certainly maps have a purpose in geography instruction, and I had used StreetView in the past to help students develop setting when writing historical fiction, but the 3D element adds all new aspects of image analysis and historical record to the conversations!

Day 1, Session 2 I explored issues of graphicacy, teaching students to unpack, understand, and create graphical presentations of information, with Richard Treves (@trevesy). Richard packed the basics of a semester-long college course into a 2-hour session. This was a map-making course akin to a visual arts course where we examined use of color in all layers, types of symbols, and the impact of map-maker decisions on map reader literacy. Not only did this inform how I would ask students to make a map or other data display but also how I will go about select maps and other graphical resources for students to consume.

I hesitate to call the next experience the highlight of the institute because every session, talk, and experience had such value to different parts of teaching and professional learning, but Jamie Buchanan-Dunlop's (@jamie_bd) key note address the morning of day two resonated emotionally so intensely that it continues to linger with me even now, more than a month later. Developing student empathy for a global community empowers their sense of agency to effect meaningful change and invigorates their desire to learn the skills and content necessary to be a positive change-maker.

I returned to work with Richard Treves on Google Earth and while practicing the basics of building layers to create Google Earth Tours began discussing different contexts for such projects which ultimately we determined have purpose in most disciplines for documenting the movement of goods or people, for telling stories, for contextualizing data, and so on.

Phew. There was much more packed into my time in Mountain View. These are just some highlights that I am bringing to my new students and my new colleagues. Obviously geography literacy matters in all disciplines in that it can support the learning of so much interdisciplinary content and requires critical thinking and reading skills that are relevant in so many aspects of learning and functioning in the world. My new home is the library and from there these new skills and enhanced pedagogy can reach even more teachers and students.

My Journey from Social Studies to the Library

I came of age in the era when library meant a room, designated as silent space, which housed a collection of print texts. To me, today, library still means a collection, and media is the key word in the title Library Media Specialist. Whether the space is called a library, a media center, or a learning commons, all students and teachers can thrive intellectually in a space dedicated to collecting, displaying and distributing the widest possible array of learning resources: audio and video archives; video and podcasts; fiction and nonfiction texts; paintings, photographs, and sculptures; maps... the list of media can be endless. And the material can be tangible or digital and interactive. Thus a media program must reach out to all of the academic and co­-curricular disciplines to share the resources, time and space it can offer, to solicit what the evolving needs of the faculty, staff, and students are, and to maintain its resources and physical space in a way that is relevant to how people learn and teach.

I love to read and I love being a teacher. Those are only two of the reasons that I sought this certification. I embarked on earning this new endorsement because I also want to be able to extend the reach of my learning about the purposeful use of technology and the inquiry process. I thrive on collaboration with my colleagues and eagerly anticipate the opportunities for collaboration inherent in the position of the library media specialist. And, importantly, all of this new learning for this professional shift enhanced my work with students in my social studies classes. As the digital aspects of our lives continue to evolve, schools must sustain awareness of the pulse of technology and its educational uses to ensure that schools remain progressive and thereby vital elements of students’ educational opportunities and experiences. A school is well­ served by a media specialist who prioritizes and facilitates such awareness, who encourages teachers and faculty to live on or close to the information literacy cutting edge. I am grateful to have heeded a calling in a profession that not just allows me to reinvent myself, but demands that I do so in order to remain a vital and relevant contributor to the lives of my students and the work of my colleagues.