It's that time of year... placement sheets!

 It's that time of year in my board when we have to start filling out our placement sheets for the next school year. Depending on the admin we sometimes have to list our top 3 or 4 choices, stop/start/continue for the school community, goals for the next 5 years and we can discuss it at a fireside chat of we wish.

It's an interesting time. 

People are curious as to what other people requested. Who wants to change grade levels? Who is looking at a support role? Who is thinking of switching schools or boards?

I have asked for full time library (of course) but in looking at the writing on the wall I can see how much our school population has dropped and that there's a pretty big chance my library allocation will be reduced. So then what? What is the optimal combination to effectively re-start our free flow book exchange and maker space programs should we be back to a somewhat "normal" school year next year?

I know in many, many schools and in many, many boards that teacher-librarians, library technicians and other school library professionals are split across roles, schools and in many cases, across distances between schools. I know the huge path of school library privilege I have always walked in as a full time teacher-librarian. 

I am also aware that the last 2 years in the school library have in some ways soured me to the role. Don't get me wrong!! I love the school library. I love being a teacher-librarian. BUT, there's been a lot of piece stripped away from the role as I knew it due to COVID protocols and the need for various support roles within the school community. 

For me it comes down to the students. I miss them.

I miss our day to day interactions when they would come to exchange books. I miss the kids who would visit multiple times during the week excited to find the next book they would devour. I miss the kids who would come to the library to just sit and play not knowing that while they were there they were gaining experience and skills towards their own self-regulation that would support them when they returned to class. I miss the thrill of starting a new inquiry with a class and filling a white board with a Notice/Wonder chart. I miss watching students building and share their ideas using loose parts and explore communicating their thoughts using a variety of modalities. I even miss the tangle of glue guns and glue sticks that came with large scale maker projects.

I miss being in the mess with the students.

The mess of learning. 

I've been looking back at my three year plan from when I started in the LLC 5 years ago as I do feel as though September 2022 will be a re-start. None of the students in our school will have participated in free flow book exchange in over 2 years. Our oldest students (Grade 5) will have been in Grade 2 the last time they accessed the library independently. It's going to be a complete refresh which on one hand in exciting and on the other is terrifying. 

I do feel as though I need a jolt of some kind to pull me back into what I love the most about teaching (and school libraries, if I'm being honest).

So on my placement sheets for next year, if I am not full time in the library, I have asked for Kindergarten planning time. Why not start at the beginning? Why not immerse myself in the full-on messiness, inquiry-based, wonder of learning? Why not take the opportunity to co-learn and co-teach with kindergarten educators? Why not?

Of course, full time in the library learning commons is the gold standard of library placements but a small part of me is really hoping that I'll get to experience some kindergarten joy as well. 

I guess we'll see what happens...

The Year End Report

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on.

~Hal Borland

This is my second year as a teacher-librarian and my first year creating a year end report for the library learning commons. It was an assignment for my Teacher-Librarian Specialist AQ but I won't lie... I really enjoyed making it!

First of all, Canva is absolutely one of the best things out there. It's so fun and easy to create a really professional looking product like an infographic or year end report.

Which I did! LOL

Secondly, I have come to discover that I am a data nerd. I love looking at the numbers that relate to how the library space is being used by the school community and how the data can help to inform our practice moving forward.

The areas of focus. 

I chose to focus my report on 5 main areas:

*Collaboration/ Inquiry
*STREAM/ Maker Culture
*Circulation and Collection Stats
*Visits / Events / Presentations
*Fostering Literacy

and I included a Moving Forward section at the end.

Inspired by...

I originally started by creating an infographic that was modelled after the one shared by Leigh Borden (@msbordenTL) on Twitter. I liked the concise nature of the infographic for sharing snapshot of the data and a summary of the report for those stakeholders who may not have time or inclination to read a multi-page report.

I like the clear and succinct picture that an infographic offers.

But I want it all...

After viewing a few examples of different long-form year end reports for my AQ course I knew that it would be a great way to tell the story of our library learning commons and the transition that we have undertaken in the last two years. A big part of me REALLY wishes that I had done a report at the end of last year, my first year in the TL role, but I didn't really even know about year end reports then.

I did then what I knew how to do. 

Now that I know better, I do better.

~Maya Angelou

What really jumps out at me as I look over the report is the pictures of the learners interacting with the space. 

The multiple ways the space has been used.

The numbers of educators and students willing to take risks. 

Willing to try new things. 

Willing to say "yes, and".

Some of the numbers are staggering to me to look back on.

We are given 190 school days each year and hope that we make the most of it.

Hope that we fill each and every one of them with as much learning, questioning, wondering, making, thinking, reading and fun as we can.

We hope we connect.

When I look at this report I see a community of readers,

of makers, 

of problem-solvers,

of "doers", 

of writers,

of creators,

of tinkerers,

of learners.

And I'm so very lucky to be a part of it. 

And so here it is....

The Year End Report. 

Sharing the LLC Space- An Advocate's Infographic

It is true not all has been accomplished that the earnest advocates would desire, but a start has been made. Frank B. Kellogg
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/advocate

I am currently taking my Teacher-Librarian Specialist AQ and one of our assignments was to create something to promote the use of the LLC to one of our stakeholders- the learners, the educators, the caregivers, etc. I ended up creating an infographic aimed at the students that use the space and the uses available within the space. I think this could also be aimed at caregivers who might be unsure of the direction the LLC is going, at staff who are new to our building, and to advocate for school libraries in general.

It also got me thinking that I wanted to create a second infographic outlining the co-planning, co-teaching, collaboration from an inquiry stance opportunities available to educators who might be interested in teaming up with me (or their teacher-librarian) to help develop students #InquiryMindset.

Advocate. Promote. Share.  

After creating the first infographic, I shared it on Twitter (because that's what I do with pretty much everything these days...) and it got a lot of attention and it really began to make me think. Why do we share our pedagogical journeys on Twitter, or on a blog, or on a podcast, or or or...

Why do I tweet?

I tweet and share my journey in the LLC because not only am I proud of what my school community has accomplished in transitioning to a Learning Commons space and the risks that are being taken by learners every day but to pay it forward. 

I was helped along my journey. 

My questions were answered. 

I was given support.

So as an educator, it's my job to help others on the same path as much as I can.

So if even 1 tweet finds its way to someone who was looking for help, then I have added some good into the world.

I also feel that in our current educational climate any and all advocacy for school-libraries is important.

I want to shout from the rooftops about the importance of a school library. 

I want to share every good news piece, no matter how big or how small, with every person I pass on the street.

I want to reach policy makers and care givers.

I want to reach skeptical educators.

I want to preach to the choir of teacher-librarians so they will also advocate.

Advocate for their space, for their learners, for our future.

And so in that spirit I share here my infographics.

Free to "copy" from, "borrow" from, modify and re-share.

Always re-share.

Playing the Long Game: Teaching from an Inquiry Stance

Teaching and learning from an inquiry stance and the benefits it provides has long been an interest of mine, long before I was a teacher-librarian. As a classroom teacher I looked for ways to have my students co-creating their own learning through questioning, researching, problem-solving, design thinking and developing our success criteria. But unless you loop with your class (move with an entire group of students from one year to the next) you don't always get to see the progress the students make as they move on to the next grade.

As this is my second year in the Library Learning Commons and we have reached just about the halfway point (yeah for 100th Day of School!) I feel that I can start to make some observations about the students that I interact with frequently, either when their class comes to the LLC for collaboratively inquiry, those students who have joined the Silver Birch book club, those student who are starting to make frequent use of the Genius Cart and even just casual encounters with students tinkering and playing with the provocations in the LLC.

So far the biggest takeaway from teaching and learning from an inquiry stance is that it involves playing the long game. That is, the rewards come down the road and you have to be willing to be an active participant in the achieving the goals necessary for student success (e.g., 21st Century Competencies) which will take some time and some effort. Ensuring our students are prepared and able to be active participants in their society and to tackle the problems of our world is a long game. It's going take some time. It's not a "one and done" proposition. One can't "do inquiry" and then move on, that's just not how it works. If we expect our students to exhibit a growth mindset, to reiterate when they are solving problems, to be reflective and communicate about their struggles with achieving their goals, then we must also do these things.

Teaching from an inquiry stance is the ultimate iterative practice. 

This year I have had the opportunity to co-teach with a Grade 5 educator on two different occasions and for both of those we have been actively working with the students to co-create the inquiries and use their passions and curiosities to guide the learning. Which makes this co-teaching/co-learning situation unique is that she did loop with her class this year (most of her Grade 5 class were with her for Grade 4 last year when we also co-taught and collaborated together often) AND even more unique is that 5 of her students were in my class in Grade 3 the year before I moved into the teacher-librarian role. This means that these students are well practiced in the art of inquiry learning and have started to teach us a thing or two!

We are currently working on a guided inquiry of Black Canadian History. I say guided because I am also a big fan of Inquiry Mindset: Nurturing the Dreams, Wonders, and Curiosities of Our Youngest Learners by Trevor MacKenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt and in particular this sketchnote:

Trevor MacKenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt

We choose the topic- Black History but the students really took off with the inquiry. If you are interested in following along with our inquiry (and believe me, it's awesome!) just click here and visit the "Artifacts from Our Inquiry Process" page.

So what caused all this reflection on "nurturing an inquiry mindset" in students? Well, if I do say so myself I had just about the perfect day in the LLC. I had a class in this morning to read a Blue Spruce book and begin to explore a #makewriting activity that will branch into an art piece. Then the Grade 5 class I mentioned above visited to go deeper with our Canadian Black History inquiry. We are at the stage of starting to narrow down our focus after researching, asking questions, viewing videos as provocations, discussing, asking more questions, reading more articles, watching more videos... (you get the idea!) and after an amazing discussion last week where we asked the students what the end goal of our inquiry might be today we posed this question-

How might we share our learning?

And as well-prepared educators we had a small list (on a post it!) of ideas that the students might be interested in exploring to share their learning with world... however, the students had other plans. In a short 20 minute popcorn session of ideas here's what they thought-

Isn't it just incredible to see?

Finally, the day ended with open making at our new maker space endeavour- the Genius Cart! Student are able to come and explore making with various materials and challenges. Today there were students from Grades 3-5 exploring K'Nex, building tinfoil boats, and building constellations on the light table. And there was a hum. A hum of thinking, a hum of questions, a hum of discussion. Was it a little noisy? Yes. Was it a little messy? Yes. Was it purposeful? YES.

Each student there launched themselves into their own mini-inquiry cycle. They developed a question about how they might construct an object/a boat/a constellation and then tried their first design which in most cases didn't work or they didn't like. But they tried again. We discussed solutions. We discussed failing forward. We discussed, and tried, and discussed and tried. 

We were playing the long game of inquiry and the students knew the game. 

And they liked it.

Sparking Inquiry with Loose Parts: MakerEd TO 2018

Earlier in the summer I had the privilege of sharing my love for using loose parts and inquiry in the Library Learning Commons with a group of maker educators and to learn from the maker endeavours of other educators at MakerEd TO. 

It was a whirlwind of a day... in the best way possible!!

Over the course of my first year in the LLC I came to love loose parts for the 

learning opportunities they provided to so many students in the space. 

I would see students from grades 4-5 come just to play and tinker with the available pieces. They would use the time to reset, to calm themselves, to re-center and then perhaps return to their class better prepared to tackle their learning endeavours.

I would see students from all the grades come with a purpose and a plan for using the materials. They knew what they wanted to create and what materials they would need. As I often rotate the materials students soon learned to advocate for a material that might have been stored away. They also began to advocate for documentation- "Mrs. Lyons, will you take a picture of my.... I want my teacher to see what I did." They were proud of their creations, their tinkering, and wanted to show it off.

I would see students who came eager to see what new provocations might be set up. During the Winter Olympics I set up a light table with a variety of materials and the simple prompt- "How might you create a sport from the Olympics using these materials?". Along side the provocation were books about the winter sports and updated articles as Team Canada began to compete. Student created hockey games, curling rinks, snowboard half pipes... and so much more. Where the real excitement came in was when we tweeted out our pics to Team Canada and the responded! An authentic audience appreciating the student's creations with loose parts.

The Library Learning Commons offers a safe space for all learners, students and educators alike, to take risks on their learning journey. In the Library Learning Commons we have been exploring how loose parts can be used beyond the Kindergarten program to spark an inquiry mindset and inviting learners to try new models of learning as their natural curiosity is stimulated and imagination is given free rein. Loose parts help learners to develop critical thinking skills, creativity and problem solving as they manipulate the pieces to communicate their reasoning and thought processes. 

They also allow for multiple entry points for learners and encourage voice and choice on their learning journey. Learners are able to create representations of their ideas and exhibit flexible design thinking.

Here's a slide deck with a few examples of how I used loose parts in collaboration with educators in the LLC last year. 

Inquiry Mindset- Chapter 3

The Inquiry Cycle

As the Teacher-Librarian I have the great privilege of co-planning and co-teaching lessons/inquiries with the educators in my school. This means I have the opportunity to interact with a wide range of students (my school has 900+ students!!) and many different curriculum areas. There are a number of challenges that come with this-- finding the time to plan together and approaching the planning from a similar place. Depending on the personal learning journey of the educator I am working with they may be very familiar with teaching and learning from an inquiry stance or just starting their journey and dipping their toes in the inquiry pool. After reading Chapter 3 in Inquiry Mindset I wanted to create a planning/tracking template that could help me in my co-teaching with the educators in my school.

This is the first draft of the template and it will definitely be a working document but I think it will be very useful in helping me co-plan with my fellow educators as well as help me grow my understanding of the inquiry cycle. I think I'd also like to create a series of posters for the Library Learning Commons to educate the students about the inquiry cycle so they can contribute to the planning of their own inquiries. Lastly, I have spoken to my principal about using Inquiry Mindset for a book talk with the educators in my school in the fall and I think this template will be an excellent resource for educators as we work through the book together.

I'd love to know your thoughts or see a similar inquiry guide if you've created one.

INQUIRY CYCLE TRACKING GUIDE