Checking for Understanding

I listened in last week’s faculty meeting to strategies for checking understanding—thumbs up, thumbs down, and thumbs out to the side; green cup, red cup, yellow cup; etc. I listened…actively and intently.

Meanwhile, the vision playing out in my head was of my second-grade classroom where my classmates and I were all excited at the prospect of a rousing game of Thumbs Up, 7-Up. There we sat, heads down and thumbs up…desperately trying to keep our eyes closed to avoid any assumption of cheating...or perhaps we were desperately trying to cheat while avoiding any suspicions…nonetheless…there we sat, and there we played. Thanks to the mention of Solo cups, this memory was serenaded by the melodic sounds of Toby Keith in the backdrop.

Such is life in my head….

During the Solo/Thumbs conversation, it was also mentioned that teachers should be checking for understanding every 8-10 minutes and covering each student—not just accepting the loudest student’s feedback as a representation of the entire group—hence the Solo/Thumbs suggestion. 

Imagining my own classroom, I’m fairly certain I was guilty of letting my top students speak for the entire group when I asked if everyone was ok with the subject matter. Moreover, I didn’t check for understanding every ten minutes, and I certainly didn’t play Thumb Cups. I wish I would have.  

A few hours after first hearing this information, I sat in front of a computer in a graduate statistics course; it might as well have been a foreign language class. Since none of these students (myself included) are mathematicians, instruction was slow and methodical, and the professor checked for understanding after each step. Unfortunately, like the classroom teacher version of me, she’d never been introduced to Solo/Thumbs. “Is everyone ok,” she would say every time. And every time, the same girl in the fourth row answered, “We’re good.” Had I had a Solo cup, I might have thrown it at her head.

Since no cup of any color was readily available and no one asked to see my thumb, I sat there in dumbed silence, quietly struggling. Truth be told, I probably wasn’t alone in my suffering, but since it didn’t seem like anyone was particularly interested if *I* was ok or if *we* were each ok, we all sat alone, isolated, thinking we were the ONLY one who wasn’t in Camp Good with fourth-row girl.

Bottom line: I’m now a hard-core believer in Green Thumbs or Side Cups or whatever strategy relays the message that I’m not ok…not sort’ve, not remotely, not near. Students of all ages—4, 14, 24, 34—need to know that their teachers care if they’re ok…not just if fourth-row girl is ok. I imagine the learning in that classroom would have been exponentially enhanced had my professor had an accurate reflection of each student's understanding.

Checking for understanding allows students to feel comfortable with not understanding. It creates an environment that says, "Hey! It's ok if you're not really getting it. Let's work on it more together. You'll get there." It's nonthreatening and not intimidating, and it's an essential practice for today's students in today's classrooms.

So let's practice....

HEADS DOWN, EVERYONE!

References

Nguyen, L. (2013, March 8). Thumbs up, seven up. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/lnguyen/8540310031/ 

September @ the LLC

Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow: Why Student Library Patrons are Tomorrow's Leaders

ALA Leadership Institute, Winter 2014

I saw a video today of a young child posing the question, “Why would anyone want to go there?” in response to a statement that people went to libraries to first use computers because they weren’t economical to own personally. It was meant to be humorous. Everyone laughed. Even I chuckled. I know the intent, but I admit I felt a sting of sadness.

It’s disheartening that a child so young—traditionally the time in life when libraries are loved most—would question the pleasures afforded her through the library. Why would she love the library? Because nowhere else can she ride on a giant red dog, partake in mischief with a curious monkey, or go to school with a cool cat wearing colored shoes and big groovy buttons—all for free. In a society that largely fails to celebrate childhood, that a child anywhere should miss out on feeling the warm embrace of her librarian’s smile as she opens the door to wonder, imagination, and enchantment is a grave misfortune to me…and one worthy of a moment’s silence…and a call to action.

 At the end of the day—at the end of the sting and the sadness—that little girl’s question left me empowered. Our district rallies around librarians because they know we’re important. I impact student learning because I have the privilege of welcoming every kid—every time. In my library, kids matter because they’re kids—not because they’re elected, not because they perform, not because they’re good at fill-in-the-blank. Rita Pierson said, “No significant learning takes place without a significant relationship.” I have nothing but relationship to offer kids—relationship to others, relationship to resources, relationship to knowledge, and relationship to success.

My kids become tomorrow’s leaders because my kids learn today that they make a difference. Without student patrons, school libraries cease to be important; without tomorrow’s leaders, school libraries become purposeless. My kids become tomorrow’s leaders because they learn today that even if they don’t have the answer, someone somewhere does—an author, a tweeter, a blogger, a journalist—and I teach them how to seek out that information. I teach them to navigate the mangled portals of today’s information highways. My kids become tomorrow’s leaders because in my library they learn today that everybody belongs, everybody makes a difference, everybody has a purpose. In my library, no one’s judging, no one’s grading, no one’s scoring; everyone’s welcome.

According to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) website, “Simply being able to use technology is no longer enough. Today's students need to be able to use technology to analyze, learn and explore. Digital age skills are vital for preparing students to work, live and contribute to the social and civic fabric of their communities.” ISTE offers six standards for 21st century students: creativity and innovation; communication and collaboration; research and information fluency; critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making; digital citizenship; and technology operations and concepts. My library offers opportunities for students to explore each facet of 21st century learning. So in answer to why would anyone want to go to the library…“To learn today, little girl, to lead tomorrow. Come to the library to learn to lead.”

Library Revelation

In the graduate student compartment of my life, last week was finals week for an incredibly intense, longer-than-eight-weeks-should-ever-be summer school session. One comprehensive exam loomed before me (yes, dear readers, those do STILL exist), and all I wanted to do was change my name from “Mommy” and bury my head in my books—or notes—as it were. Unfortunately, I was overruled by my Little Misters, and so “Mommy” I remained.

Monday came and went. One day down; nothing accomplished. After finally conquering bedtime, Hubs and I sat on the couch—our typical battle ground—determined to devise a strategy to ensure victory over that blasted ball-o-stress.  This is what Operation Slay-That-Test looked like:

Hubs: I’ll come home as early as I can tomorrow, and you can…study.

Me: Questioning look, as visions of myself barricaded in my bedroom with the Little Misters chanting “Mommy! Mommy! Moooooommy!” grappling with the child lock on the doorknob played in my head.

Hubs: Maybe you could go somewhere…somewhere where you can just make a nest with everything you need and have a study session.

Me: I guess I could go to Barnes and Noble.

Hubs: There’s really a lot of distraction there for you.

Me: Ugh…yeah…I guess.

Silence. 

Hubs: Too bad there’s not like a library or something you could go to.

And there it was. Battle plan devised. Victory assured.

He wasn’t even being snarky, but I was fairly ashamed that it was the Hubs that thought of the library and not his Teacher-Librarian wife, but a good idea is a good idea, and his was stellar!

Tuesday night found me rounding the corner to the campus library, greeted by the beautiful and overwhelming sound of silence. When I walked in, the faces of half my class greeted me, sheer determination in their eyes. They were there—all of them—with a shared purpose and an individual mission. They were there together, but each alone—two on desktop computers (a row apart), two on personal laptops (one with headphones attached), and one in a private study carrel. I assumed my own position in their battlefront—a comfy chair and coffee table in the middle of the room. Commence battle…

In the week that followed, I reflected on the significance of that experience as a Teacher-Librarian in today’s world of education. People ask me all the time, “Is the library even relevant anymore?” I always respond with passionate zeal about the resources we provide, the information literacy skills we impart, and the one-stop shop for just about anything anyone might ever need in life. (Did I say I was passionate?)

But last week, I realized the library affords so much more than that. It provides people space to just be—to be alone, to be together, to be alone.together. In the noise of the 21^st century technology-infused educational world, the library teaches respectful use of personal technology in a haven for isolated togetherness. As media progressively infuses more of our students’ lives, authentic connection is lost for Facebook friends and text-message discussions; however, 21^st-century life readiness skills dictate that students “communicate and collaborate” and make meaningful connections between “their futures, their teachers, their parents, their peers, the environment, and the spirit of their school, their community, and their world” (LeButt, n.d.). It’s difficult to teach students effective interpersonal skills without authentic connection, and the library offers an environment rich with resources, brimming with real-world opportunities, and booming with silence big enough to foster connection...and in my view, that’s pretty relevant.

References

Lubutt, C. (n.d.). Empowering your students for the 21^st century. Retrieved from http://www.empoweringyourstudents.com/Home_Page.html

It's All Happening

I’m not waiting for Black Sabbath like these girls from Almost Famous, but I’m just as excited. It IS all happening! Unbelievably, exhaustingly, and FAST…it most assuredly is all happening. But as it turns out, this happening requires a lot of work…A.LOT.OF.WORK. and no one’s doing it with quite the flare as Kate Hudson and friends. In case you’ve ever wondered what goes into the undoing of a school library, here’s a glimpse of the it...happening.

We even put our kids to work!

And in the spirit of outing with the old, I’d like to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS and a super big THANK YOU to some very special seniors…ahem…graduates…that served as a big part of this year’s library staff.

Alondra; Nayeli; Cierra and Ashley; Bridget, Jocelyn, and Adrian; Adam and Noe; Selena; Brian; Courtney and Laurin:

You guys were a great help to Ms. McCrary and me this year! From welcoming patrons to the CHS Library where you were happy to serve to running errands, delivering fine notices, processing books, and packing boxes, we could not have done this year without you. I wish you all the best and hope you’ll look fondly on your time at the CHS Library.

To Hannah (babysitter extraordinaire), Judy, and Tony: 

You guys are still my go-to guys. I don’t know how they’ll do StuCo without you next year. You are amazing leaders, and I look forward to hearing about all your future successes.

As a child, my mom insisted on purchasing graduation cards with the poem If by Rudyard Kipling. In our small town with one pharmacy (I use the term loosely as it also served as our town’s clothing store, toy department, and wedding registry—complete with fine china), we were limited on card options, but she held out and drove at least an hour if necessary to find the few cards offering Kipling’s words of advice. I grew to love that poem, and I still find it greatly apropos for graduates. Sadly, I haven’t seen it offered on cards in years, and I’m afraid it’s nearly obsolete. To my graduates…all of them…I offer it now as my wish and prayer for you. 

IF

By Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Out with the Old...Old...OLD

“I’m pretty sure these chairs were the same chairs that were here when I was in high school in the ‘60s,” she mused, lost somewhere in her own glory days. “You know, you can’t even buy replacement chairs for these,” the furniture salesman cringed, looking at me as if I’d recently personally selected the current library furnishings. Needless to say, the Castleberry High School Library has needed an extreme makeover the likes of which Ty Pennington wouldn’t even believe to bring it into the last three decades…ahem…I mean the 21^st century. Even though it’s not quite time to MOVE THAT BUS, at least the bus has moved into the district and taken up residence.

In the coming weeks, the books will be packed away, the ‘60s furnishings hauled somewhere into deep…deep…DEEP storage, and the CHS 20^th century library will begin its journey into the 21^st century as the new CHS Library Learning Commons. We’re not sure when, but sometime in the 2014-2015 school year, the ribbon will be cut, and students will be enjoying learning…commons style. Complete with a coffee bar, couches, and a plethora of collaboration spaces, the CHS LLC will be a place where students feel at home, enjoy coming, fall in love with learning, and discover the joy of reading…together…with their friends. Keep your eyes out and your ears open, and in the not-so-distant future, you just might hear the echoes of “Mr. Jones….MOVE THAT BUS!”