Thing 11: Digital Tattoo & Digital Citizenship

I don't know why, but it still amazes me when my elementary students tell me they have iPhones. I got my first cell phone when I was a senior in high school and it was a Nokia (not the brick, but just about as sturdy). It made calls and had trial versions of three games. It also texted, but cost 25 cents a text. It was a far cry from my students' first phones, which are usually iPhones that are newer than my 5S.

Technology has moved so fast within my lifetime and I think that is one of the biggest obstacles in teaching digital citizenship. Curriculum takes time to create. Adults need time to catch up. By the time that is sorted out, there are hundreds of new apps available. My youngest sister is seven years younger than me, which is either a huge gap or a not so huge gap, depending on your perspective. But we both notice the differences in how we use technology. When I was in high school my dad had a very strict rule against me creating any sort of social media account (which was limited to MySpace and Facebook back then). I didn't fight him on it and am very happy today that I waited until college to join. My youngest sister, on the other hand, started a Facebook when she was 13 and realized our dog had a Facebook page and she didn't. Our parents were fine with it as long as she kept the strictest privacy settings available.

In college, I was the one kid who didn't have unlimited texting. I had a roommate who didn't have long distance calling. Another roommate got the very first iPhone when it first came out. My sister, on the other hand, practically needed a smart phone when she got to college.

My youngest students very recently turned three. What will technology be like for them when they go to college in fifteen years? How can we teach them to keep themselves safe on apps and technology that are years from being released?

When reading the resources and watching the videos in this activity, I was happy to see a shift from "the internet is bad. You shouldn't be on any social media until you turn 18, if ever," mindset to a "you can be online, just be safe," mindset. Nowhere in history has banning something resulted in someone not using/doing it. Just like in Order of the Phoenix, when Professor Umbridge bans the Quibbler and Hermione is thrilled. After that, everyone wanted to read it! And as librarians, we shouldn't be in the banning business anyway.

Our students are going to use social media. They're going to go online. It's not our job to tell them they can't. It's our job to give them the tools and resources to do so safely.

In the past I've used Common Sense's digital citizenship lessons. I loosely based a lesson on private verses personal information with fifth and sixth graders on one of CS's lessons. It went fairly well. The students were interested in discussing what they do online and what sort of information they should and should not give out.

I also did their 'Going Places Safely' lesson with first and second graders, which involved a virtual field trip. The lesson tried to liken going places in real life requires permission from your parents, and thus going "places" virtually should, too. During the lesson we took a virtual field trip to the San Diego Zoo and watched their livestreams of various animals. I am not sure how well the metaphor worked, but the kids certainly loved seeing the animals!

I'm excited to explore Google's Be Internet Awesome resources. The lessons look short and doable, which is necessary when library classes are 30 minutes long. I especially like that they're geared toward grades 3-6. The fact that they use video games to teach digital citizenship is perfect. Kids love video games. Google tapped into this and created a pretty fantastic looking game.

I also read the editorial about how employers shouldn't look at future employees' social media. I'm torn on this one. I've never experienced this since my name is ridiculously common. A quick google search of my name will come up with an Australian swimmer, NFL player Matt Ryan's wife, photos of women who are not me, someone who works for the Environmental Defense Fund, and a LinkedIn page to someone who is not me. That's just the first page. Second page results in more information on Matt Ryan's wife, a urologist, and a communications manager. On the third page I learned I am also a hockey player. I am not sure how far I'd have to delve into the google verse to find the Sarah Ryan that is me.

Part of me agrees with the author that employers snooping on pages is an invasion of privacy. But the other part of me is quick to say that if people put it on the internet, anyone can see it, even future employers. If they don't want people seeing it, they can make their profiles private. I'm not sure of the ethics on this one. I'm sure there are entire university courses out there dedicated to the ethics of this and similar online issues.

In the end, I think my biggest takeaway is that we need to prepare students to navigate the internet, just how we need to prepare them to navigate the real world. Because for them, the internet is as much a part of the real world as the real world itself.

Thing 23: The New AASL Standards

I'm vaguely familiar with the new AASL standards, so I figured this would be a good activity to explore so that I could become more familiar. My biggest takeaway after looking over the various resources is that, similar to the NextGen Science standards, the new AASL standards revolve more around student-led learning rather than teacher-led. This resonates with me because I have always tried to create my library program around student-led learning.

The other thing that stood out to me the most was that the standards are the same for all age levels. There are no separate standards for high school and elementary school. Because of this, I couldn't help but think "how are these at all possible for my three year olds?" How is a three year old going to curate accurate information on a website? They aren't. But when I thought more about it, I realized many of the lessons I already do with my pre-k students can fit into these standards. For example, under 'Engage,' "acknowledging authorship...," by talking with my pre-k students about who the author and illustrator are in the books I read them, I am teaching them that authors and illustrators matter and it is important to acknowledge them when reading a book.

I found Paige Jaeger's highlighting activity very useful (although I did make it more 21st century by not printing the chart and highlighting with Preview!). My chart turned out to be fairly equal in terms of which colors were represented. My strengths are inquire, explore, and engage, with explore having much more green than the other foundations. This does not surprise me since explore is the foundation that lends itself most (in my opinion) to reading for fun, coding, makerspaces, and creating in general. Curate and include had the most red, which is, again, not surprising since those foundations struck me as the most "high school" type foundations. I will have to look at them more closely and find elementary friendly activities that will still use them.

Most, if not all, of the tools in this workshop would lend themselves well to these new standards. The Scratch coding project I mentioned in my previous post also hits on many of these standards. It was student-led, encouraged collaboration and creating, and allowed students to become the "experts," rather than me.

I am very happy to see that these standards encourage coding and creating, but still encourage reading for fun. It's great to see libraries keeping up with the 21st century, but we still need to be the place where kids go to find that perfect book that will make them lifelong readers.

Thing 6: Digital Storytelling

I chose digital storytelling for my first thing this year because it is something I've been doing intermittently with my students for the past year anyway. Many of my older students love animation, graphic novels, and comics, so this is perfect for them. One of my 5th graders even recommended a few animations sites to me last week. Unfortunately none of them were free, but I appreciated her effort!

One of the first digital storytelling tools I used with my students was one of the ones listed in this lesson. Make Belief Comix. This is one of my favorite websites to use when I need a spur of the moment activity for students when I am absent, most of a class is absent, or whatever other reason. It's very easy to use and my students love creating their own comics. My favorite two things about it are that it is web based and no accounts are required.

While Make Belief Comix is great for a one time class every so often, my favorite digital storytelling tool I've found is Scratch 3.0. For the past month I've had my students in grades 3-6 create their own animations using the beta version and I have been very impressed with what they've done. Google created a bunch of how-to videos on how to create animations that are very helpful. I knew very little about Scratch and even less about Scratch 3.0 when we got started, but all of us worked together to figure it out. They love figuring things out before me! More information on that can be found here. An animation created by one of my students can be found here.

For this activity I did look at a few other animation tools including Animoto, Adobe Spark, Moovly, Powtoon, StoryBird, StoryBoard That, Pixar in a Box, and Toondoo.

Animoto looks like it does a lot. I will have to explore that one more. I was disappointed that a lot of the templates in Powtoon were not available with the free version, which is something I know would frustrate my students. I wish they just wouldn't show up on the free version. For that reason I could sooner see myself using Moovly. Moovly does, however, look like it's geared toward older students.

Adobe Spark was extremely easy to use and I can see using that to have students make posters, flyers, and info graphics for various projects. Last year my 5th and 6th grade students researched food from European countries and created menus. They could've used Adobe Spark for that. Here is a quick poster I made (10 points to Hufflepuff for anyone who gets the reference).

StoryBird looks fantastic! That is definitely something I plan to explore more and use with my older students first and then perhaps my younger ones. StoryBoard That's free version looks too limited.

Pixar in a Box looks like a great addition to any storytelling unit, whether it is digital or not.

Finally, I explored Toondoo. It is very similar to Make Belief Comix, except it requires an account. I found it simple to use, albeit a bit slow to load. I think I'll stick with Make Belief Comix. But here is a comic I made with Toondoo.

First frame says: "Santa? You're a bit far from the North Pole.
Second frame says: "Elves. I had to get away from the elves. They have so many demands. I couldn't take it.
Third frame says: "I only asked for some socks."

Thing 12: Final Reflection

This was my second year doing Cool Tools, but my first time posting a final reflection. Both years I found it useful and enjoyed learning this way. I like the self-guided aspect of it and being able to pick and choose what I am interested in and what I think will be useful for my students.

Of all the things I learned about this year, I found Google Drawing to be the most useful. I knew about Google Drawing before Cool Tools, but I hadn't used it much. I used Google Drawing in two Tools this year (Google Drawing and Bitmoji Fun). Both were fun and useful.

I have mostly used Bitmoji personally since completing the Cool Tool for it. After I posted my Bitmoji with my SLS logo on it, quite a few librarians I work with wanted one, so I've made a lot of those since. I also made another with my SLS's Storytelling Festival logo, which I then made for a few other librarians. If I'm ever in a high school, I will probably use Bitmoji more with students. Now that it's nearly the end of the year, I do plan on putting a few Bitmojis on posters encouraging students to return all their overdue books.

Earlier in the week I introduced my book club students to Google Drawing and had them start creating new book covers for the book we just read (Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson). I showed them the one I created and how to search for images directly in Drawing and they went at it. They caught on really quickly and loved searching for just the right images and finding just the right font. They aren't done yet, but I will post their finished products on Twitter (if you want to see them, follow me @SMRreadsbooks).

I also recently used Google Earth to show my first and second graders the Eiffel Tower. They loved how it zoomed in on the Earth until it found the Eiffel Tower. They also loved how I could zoom in really close so they were looking at Paris as if they were standing on top of the tower. That is definitely something I'll be using in the future.

There are still many Cool Tools I haven't yet explored, so I would like to do this PD again next year. It's great having this as an option. I like PD that is in person, but also appreciate the kind like this where you are able to explore at your own pace.

Thing 43: Google Drawings

Since I already started using Google Drawing for the Bitmoji thing, I figured I might as well do this thing!

I have to confess that I always forget that Google Drawing exists, which is another good reason for me to do this thing. I usually steer my students toward Docs or Slides, and most recently I had a few use Comic Life. Most of the ones who chose Comic Life found it frustrating (as did I) and decided to start over using Docs. In the future, I can direct them to Drawing.

I've discovered that I like Google Drawing for its simplicity. It can't do nearly as much as the GIMP can, but that's what makes it great. It does the basics and most of the time, all you need is the basics. My favorite part about it is how it integrates Google Image Search directly in it. And the best part about that is that it already filters out images that we don't have permission to use!

One thing I explored in this assignment was #BookSnaps. This was not something I'd ever heard of (although it's something I've been doing on SnapChat since I got SnapChat). Many of my 5th and 6th graders use SnapChat and are already familiar with the SnapChat culture. While I can't give them an assignment using SnapChat itself, I could have them do SnapChat-like things with Google Drawing. I think many of them would enjoy taking pictures of the books they're reading and using Google Drawing to express their thoughts about those books. It's definitely something I'll have to try out with my 5th and 6th grade book club.

#BookSnaps with Google Drawing also seems like a great mess-free way to do blackout poetry without having to keep weeded books on hand. Plus, I think my students would be more interested in blackout poetry if they got to choose the book page they used (and if it's a book they've read and loved!).

I also explored Recovering the Classics. This is a really cool idea and I saw many covers that I would love to buy for my own book collection. Most of the classics on the list are for adults, but I can have my students create new covers for the books they've read (they just won't go up on the Recovering the Classics website). I needed a new project for my 5th and 6th graders after they finish their current read (Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson) and this will definitely appeal to their creative side.

I also looked at Get Creative with Google Drawings. This had a lot of really great ideas. I especially like the magnetic poetry template. The magazine cover template also looked interesting.

And I'll end with a cover for Pride & Prejudice I made using Google Drawing. It doesn't compare to many of the covers on Recover the Classics, but I was happy with how it turned out.

Thing 45: Anything Goes Google

The first thing that caught my eye in this assignment was "How to Create an eBook with Google Slides." When I saw it I had visions of having my students write and illustrate their own books and then create them in Google Slides. Which is still something I could see myself doing with my students, but this article wasn't very helpful. I thought it would have tips on how to format the pages, how to create and import illustrations, the best way to add text, etc. But instead it just taught how to change the size of the slides (which I'll admit is something I didn't already know) and how to download the slides as a PDF. Then, the author plugged her book, which she created with Google Slides. I thought there would be a sample eBook I could look at. There wasn't. I could pay $10 for hers, but no thanks. It's still a great idea and I'll keep it in mind for a project for my older students, but I'll have to practice it myself and see what I can create.

I then moved on to "Primarily Google" since most of my students are PK-2. There were a lot of good ideas, many of which I can see myself doing with my 3-6 kids rather than PK-2. One in particular was the Multimedia Text Sets made with Google Drawings. They are something my 5th and 6th graders could create and I could then use with my PK-2 students. I like all the templates in the article, especially the self-portrait idea, but as with anything Google related with PK-2, there is still the issue of getting the kids logged in to their Google accounts. Even with my 3rd and 4th graders, when I have them log in to Google, it takes the better part of the period to get them logged in and to reset passwords and look up ID numbers. But the templates are things I could use on the Smartboard with the whole class.

Lastly, I looked at "Hipster Google," which had a lot of really cool ideas I can use with my older students. Some of them I already knew about, such as Google's reverse image search. That has proven useful for disproving unresearched memes on Facebook. But there were a lot of new ones I am excited to show my students. Be Internet Awesome's Interland looks vaguely minecraft-esque, so it'll instantly be popular. My students love looking up where they live on Google Maps and Google Earth, so all the apps related to those will be popular. They'll also be useful since my school does Montessori Global every year, where the whole school researches one country or continent or state and puts all their projects on display for one day every May (this year we're doing Europe). I've been doing a lot with 3D printing recently and hadn't heard of Poly, so I'm excited to explore that and see if it's something I can use with students.  Mystery Animal, Quick Draw, and AutoDraw are ones I'll add to my Destiny page as options for students to play if they have extra time during class.

Thing 44: Social Reading & Book Stuff

This thing might be my favorite so far because it comes back to what I think our number one job as librarians is, and that is to foster a love of reading in our students. We can teach coding, run makerspaces, and teach research skills, but the basis for all of that and more is reading. Students learn to read in the classroom, but they learn to love to read in the library.

I really enjoyed the Scholastic article "It Takes a Reader To Grow a Reader: When Adults Don't Read, Kids Lose." The author's views on how adult reading habits influence children are the same as my own. If children see the adults in their life reading, they are more likely to become lifelong readers. It isn't enough for us to teach our children how to read; we have to show them that reading is fun. I think the two best ways to do that are to give them books they're interested in and let them know that we read for fun, too.

I work to make sure I do this in my own library. I am lucky that my school does not do AR or any similar programs which require students to check out books "on their level." When my students come into the library they pick books solely based on their interests. They may have to get a book on a certain subject for a class project, but I don't count those toward their checkout totals, so that they can then get books based on interest alone. I am also lucky to work with teachers who support their students' interests and encourage them to pick books and learn about what they want to read and learn about.

I also try to read what they read. Personally, I enjoy reading YA realistic fiction and fantasy best, but I read a lot of middle grade fiction as well because that is what my students read. Often, my 5th and 6th graders will come to the library and want me to recommend a book to them and they are much more likely to check a recommended book out if I have read it and enjoyed it.

Another important thing to do with children, in my opinion, is to talk to them about what they're reading and what I am reading. When my students read a book I've read, we talk about it. Even if it's just a two minute conversation during checkout, they love to know what I thought of a certain book and I love to know what they thought of it. If it's a book I haven't read yet, I ask them to tell me whether it's worth reading or not.

My students all know that I love Harry Potter and when they read one of the books, they eagerly tell me all about it and ask questions about who my favorite characters are, what my opinion of Snape is, and whether Cursed Child is part of the series or not (it's not!).

I really liked the infographic included in the Scholastic article. I plan on printing it out and putting a copy in the library and the teacher's lounge.

Switching gears, I am very interested in Open eBooks. It seems like a great resource and I'll have to look into it further. I wish there was a single code for a whole school rather than individual codes for individual students. My students have a hard enough time remembering their ID numbers and password they use to log onto Chromebooks.

And, lastly, Goodreads. I love Goodreads. I've been using it for years and it's a great way to organize all the books I've read and want to read. As far as how it helps me in the library, I like how it lets you scan book covers and barcodes. When I go to the public library I'll go to the children's section and scan books I think would be good to add to my own collection. Then, when I do my ordering, I just pull up the Goodreads shelf I stick them on and add them to my order.

Thing 16: Bitmoji

When I saw that Bitmoji was one of the new Things this year I knew it had to be the first one I did. Bitmojis are one of my favorite things about SnapChat and I was curious to find out what people had been using them for in teaching. After reading a few of the blog posts about it, I've learned you can do a lot of really cool things!

I love the idea of teachers making their own Bitmoji stickers to put on student work. That got me thinking about how I could use them in the library and I think it would be fun to put them on bookmarks for students to take. Another idea would be to put them on the various signs I have around the library with usernames and passwords for databases. 

I'm not sure if I'll ever have students create their own, at least not while I'm working at my current building. I love the idea, but being in an elementary school, I'm not sure how appropriate it would be to have students creating accounts for something so closely linked with SnapChat. A lot of my older students do use SnapChat, but as I tell them, that's a decision that's up to them and their parents, not me. 

At least for now, I'll add my own Bitmojis to bookmarks, signs, and perhaps newsletters. I think the students would enjoy it.

For this assignment, since I already had a Bitmoji account and have used it quite a bit, I decided to try customizing my own Bitmoji on Google Drawing. Inspired by the tutorial video here, I wanted to make one with my school library system logo. This was slightly more complicated than the video made it out to be since the file I have of the logo didn't have a transparent background. After a bit of googling, I found directions on how to make the background transparent on the Gimp and managed to do it. Here is the finished product!