Apps and Youth for OETC

Here is the link to the presentation that I gave to educators at the OETC conference on Tuesday, January 28, 2014.  It is an updated and refocused presentation of Early Learning Apps in the Library, focusing on apps for ages four through fourth grade in various educational settings:

http://www.slideshare.net/MissHayleyMac/apps-and-youth-for-oetc

Apps in the Library : Notebook on SpringPad

Click here to access the entire notebook: http://sprng.me/h5prp Click on "Filter" to bring up a list of and search by tags. For example, "science" will bring up science apps. Viewing problems? Make sure your internet browser if up to date.

I worked at our "downtown" branch recently.  After helping a middle-aged woman find some books on "recovery" and some religious music, she shared with me a personal story as well as the Cherokee tale about "the two wolves inside of me."  ... another commonality of humanity -- the fight within us all ... 

Here's a Youtube telling:

We Are All In a Story

This is my first blog post from my new computer!  Yes, it was time to make the leap from my 2003 desktop ... I'm still in the (learning) process of moving things from the old to the new ... Did you know a CAT5 crossover cord is the cheapest cord to transfer information from computer to laptop?  At least that's what I've heard.  We'll see what happens when the item comes.



After trying to create a home sharing network and failing (my old computer needed to have Windows 7 which I was not willing to install), I hope this cord will expedite the process.

I debated about just uploading all my pictures to Shutterflly.  However, Shutterfly doesn't give you the option to download pictures saved on the site back to your computer.

So many technology options ...

At any rate, I wanted to share this quote with you.  It's my own when I was four years old.  Thanks to mom for writing it down so long ago!

"Everybody is growing up.  We are all in a story; Is it a real story?"

Thirst for Knowledge

I've been quiet on this blog during my vacation from library-related activities.  I've been finding myself away from the computer ... and racing around ... mentally as well as physically.

I've been learning ... or trying to to learn.

My last day of work before vacation ... my first customer of the day ... I saw an "older gentleman" (as my professional co-worker would say) on crutches ... gingerly making his way over to me: "Good morning.  How can I help you?"  I gathered that he wanted to make a copy but had no library card.  I explained the procedure for this circumstance: "You'll need a card to get the machine to work.  If you go to the front desk with your ten cents, you can get a Courtesy Card."  The patron replied, "I want you to make the copy."  I read his tone as slightly demanding, and I asserted that the copiers were self-service but that I would show him how to use it once he had a card.  In perfect measure the older gentleman responded, "I'll go to the post offiice then."

...


I didn't know what to say.  I had relayed the information. I was ready to help in the way I could ...
I watched him crutch away and  felt unhappy about the interaction.

...

What would you have done?



I recently bought this at Rogers Farmer's Market!  Smart People DO Thirst for Knowledge!



After this experience, I immediately consulted with a colleague.  I feel my reactions weren't the best human response, but I wonder how to work that into "policy."

I've learning about these topics of communication and emotion in my personal life as well ... Which reminds me, I need to update my Shelfari shelf ...

Intelligence in Learning Environments

The following was posted on the storytell listerv: http://www.storynet.org/storytell.html. For me, it's a reminder about the overarching goal of libraries to provide access to all kinds of information and to provide programs that meet those educational gaps as well as to motivate learning in general as opposed to learning a particular kind of knowledge:

What Is Intelligence, Anyway?
By Isaac Asimov

What is intelligence, anyway?

When I was in the army, I received the kind of aptitude test that all
soldiers took and, against a normal of 100, scored 160. No one at the
base had ever seen a figure like that, and for two hours they made a big
fuss over me.

(It didn't mean anything. The next day I was still a buck private with
KP - kitchen police - as my highest duty.)

All my life I've been registering scores like that, so that I have the
complacent feeling that I'm highly intelligent, and I expect other
people to think so too.

Actually, though, don't such scores simply mean that I am very good at
answering the type of academic questions that are considered worthy of
answers by people who make up the intelligence tests - people with
intellectual bents similar to mine?

For instance, I had an auto-repair man once, who, on these intelligence
tests, could not possibly have scored more than 80, by my estimate. I
always took it for granted that I was far more intelligent than he was.

Yet, when anything went wrong with my car I hastened to him with it,
watched him anxiously as he explored its vitals, and listened to his
pronouncements as though they were divine oracles - and he always fixed
my car.

Well, then, suppose my auto-repair man devised questions for an
intelligence test.

Or suppose a carpenter did, or a farmer, or, indeed, almost anyone but
an academician. By every one of those tests, I'd prove myself a moron,
and I'd be a moron, too.

In a world where I could not use my academic training and my verbal
talents but had to do something intricate or hard, working with my
hands, I would do poorly.

My intelligence, then, is not absolute but is a function of the society
I live in and of the fact that a small subsection of that society has
managed to foist itself on the rest as an arbiter of such matters.

Consider my auto-repair man, again.

He had a habit of telling me jokes whenever he saw me.

One time he raised his head from under the automobile hood to say: "Doc,
a deaf-and-mute guy went into a hardware store to ask for some nails. He
put two fingers together on the counter and made hammering motions with
the other hand.

"The clerk brought him a hammer. He shook his head and pointed to the
two fingers he was hammering. The clerk brought him nails. He picked out
the sizes he wanted, and left. Well, doc, the next guy who came in was a
blind man. He wanted scissors. How do you suppose he asked for them?"

Indulgently, I lifted by right hand and made scissoring motions with my
first two fingers.

Whereupon my auto-repair man laughed raucously and said, "Why, you dumb
jerk, He used his voice and asked for them."

Then he said smugly, "I've been trying that on all my customers today."
"Did you catch many?" I asked. "Quite a few," he said, "but I knew for
sure I'd catch you."

"Why is that?" I asked. "Because you're so goddamned educated, doc, I
knew you couldn't be very smart."

And I have an uneasy feeling he had something there.

Storytelling vs. Story Sharing and Copyright vs. Creative Commons

As a still newish member of the National Storytelling Network (NSN), I'm viewing my librarian story sharing in a different light. I'm considering the art of storytelling (with the attention on oral aspects and audience feedback) removed from the science of early literacy and removed from story sharing techniques that rely on the book as a prop.  I'm also understanding the prevelance of sharing personal stories or folktales.  Why?  Copyright issues.

What if a storytelling artist wants to share a story that is originally from a picturebook (the oral, performing artist wants to bring a story to a different audience through a different sense) and the original writer is not a performance artist?  (Some writers, such as Patricia Polacco, Charles R. Smith Jr. and Chris Raschka, can perform their story as well as produce a physical form!)  The retelling artist must seek permission, of course.

Following the suggestion of my listserv friends from NSN, I did email Paul Owen Lewis in hopes that he would let me retell his Frog Girl, a perfect family story whose theme fits "One World, Many Stories."  Today, I have gotten his permission to retell it for not-for-profit settings!

On a related note, I'm exploring the idea of Creative Commons http://creativecommons.org/ licenses.  Anyone have thoughts and experiences with this?

Education and Society and Tween Programming

Chris Mburu makes a great statement in the documentary A Small Act.
To paraphrase...
"For us, education is a matter of life and death."
The ignorant are easily led by power-hungry leaders.
The ignorant engage in violence and perpetuate a grim standard of living.

Chris Mburu was a Kenyan student whose education was paid for by Holocaust survivor Hilde Back.  Mburu now runs a Hilde Back education foundation to sponsor other Kenyan students.

I wonder what it would be like to show a less than five minute clip (fair use copyright) during a tween program and have a discussion about it.

What about having a multimedia tween program involving conversation, music, video, print, and games to talk about a concept?

Google Books

Have a quote? Google Book search it.  (Note the new interface!)
 
"The overall purpose of human communication is -- or should be -- reconciliation." M Scott Peck

Asperger's Syndrome and StoryCorps

At ALA Annual of this year, I caught the end of Dave Isay's presentation.  Dave Isay is the founder of StoryCorps.

I've found that I'm still thinking about this particular story in which a twelve year old boy (who has Asperger's syndrome) interviews his mother.  Here is the animated short.

I think about the questions he asks like, "Have you ever lied to me?" and "Was I the child you hoped I would be?"

I think about how his mother calmly responds, never skipping a beat: "You've exceeded my expectations ... You have made me grow so much as a parent. [I've had to learn to think outside the box, and I thank you for that.]"

In my personal life, I think about the people that I'm close to that face such different challenges than myself.

In my professional life, I think about the challenge of sharing stories and information with a group of developmentally diverse children.

I think about how by knowing and interacting with all those who are different from me, I have had such opportunity to grow as an individual.

Tattoos, Dialogic Reading, and Unity

Here's a train of thought:

I've noticed that more and more of the people (that I help at the library) have tattoos.  Perhaps my awareness has increased with my interest in them, or perhaps more people are getting them.

Whatever the reason for this observation, I have a positive outlook on body art that is akin to my love of picturebook illustration ... and I recently stumbled on a thought which brings value to body art as a conversation piece.

With any form of artistic expression (remember my brief cell phone/ring tone post?) or striking diversity, there is opportunity for sharing ... or listening to ... a story.  There is potential for learning something new or finding a commonality.

At the very least, dialogic reading shows us that an illustration provides a platform for bonding and conversation.

Conversation and communication (as I explored in my recent article) are keys to fostering unity.

Truth in Story from Katherine Paterson

Quoted from Gates of Excellence: On Reading and Writing Books for Children by Katherine Paterson (56-7):

"Is it true?" the child asks.  "Is your story true?"

Ha! you say.  We adults don't ask that question because we know you write fiction -- and fiction "is the act of feigning or imagining that which does not exist or is not actual." Ergo -- fiction by definition is not true. 

I'm being unfair.  Some of you are wiser than that.  And although you may never voice the question to the writer, you will come to one of my novels or to anyone's novel with that same question.  Is it true?

And my answer for you is the same answer that I give the child who asks.  "I hope so.  I meant for it to be true.  I tried hard to make it so."

...civilization as well as education takes a downward spiral when it ceases to ask, "What is truth?" and concerns itself primarily with what is measurable."

"Minds, Brains, and Early Learning: How Infants Crack the Speech Code"

by Dr. Patricia Kuhl

Babies are born with neurons, but not connections.
6 months is really a key time in baby brain dvelopment.
At age 3, children have 3 times the amount of synapses than any other age.
At age 14, the neurons have been pruned to strengthen certain connections.
The brain does have critical learning periods where it needs the right information at the right time.

See Evolution of Language
Babies hear distinction in all sounds.  They are citizens of the world.  From 6 months to 1 year, before the baby produces these sounds, the brain is sorting these sounds out.  Mother-ease, the exaggerated "baby talk" we use when talking to babies is brain food.

Children with autism prefer non-speech sounds to the same frequency, human vocalizations/speech.

Learning opportunities in the first five years are critical for children of all social economic status.  Lower SES environments, however, tend to use less complex, less thought-provoking language, and more "do" and "don't" commands.

See NeuroReport journal.

MEG machines show that TV engagement does not equal learning.
This begs the question ... What is social learning turning on in the brain?
What is the social brain?  We know that cognitive aging is slowed by exercise and social interaction.  Language is a social affair

See the Department of Early Learning

Digital Storytelling Resources

While reading the Winter/Spring 2010 issue of OJELA: The Ohio Journal of English Language Arts (a publication of OCTELA, the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts), I came across an article by Jessica Fries-Gaither.  Here are the digital storytelling resources she lists:

Ohio State University's Digital Storytelling Program 
Berkeley, California's Center for Digital Storytelling.
Guide to Digital Storytelling from Scholastic
Integrating Digital Storytelling into Your Classroom

Here are some of Fries-Gaither's quotes that speak to illustration and story's ability to transfer learning:

"Image selection sets digital storytelling apart from the traditional writing process because illustration is often an afterthought or only part of the publishing step when writing traditionally." (11)

" 'Stories' in all content areas provide opportunities for students to make connections and synthesize information, two important thinking strategies for reading comprehension." (11)

Patricia Polacco, the Ultimate Storyteller (Video)

Patricia Polacco is an illustrator, writer, and storyteller who captivated the Mazza 2010 Summer Institute audience with personal, historical vignettes.  She touched the audience to tears with her themes of loving relationships, abounding beauty, learning and educational challenges, and heroism.

Below is Ms. Polacco sharing her family's four (or more?) generational "keeping quilt."

Image from Amazon.  Notice the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the upper right hand corner.

Learning: Emerging Leadership (Quotes)

The quotes below are from After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path by Jack Kornfield, pages xix - xx.  During ALA Midwinter 2010, Elizabeth Gilbert recommended this read-alike to her Eat, Pray, Love.
 
"Our intention was inspired by the humility and compassion of the Dalai Lama himself, always eager to learn, even from his mistakes."

"... wise speech ..."

"The wisest express a greater humility.  Abotts like Father Thomas Keating of Snowmass Monastery and Norman Fischer of the San Francisco Zen Center, for example, regularly say, "I'm learning" and "I don't know.""

Mo Accepts the Andy at ALA (Video)

Mo Willems at the American Library Association Annual Conference 2010. This is the introduction to his acceptance speech for the Andrew Carnegie Medal. (Yes, I took this video.)

ALA Annual Conference Schedule (Actual)

Items in italics are committee requirements.

Sunday, June 27
8:00 - 10:30 LNOSCY Committee Meeting
11:00 - 11:30  (end of) Dave Isay from StoryCorps
11:30 - 12:00 (end of) Celebrating the Spoken Word with Poetry for Young People
12:00 - 12:30 Exhibits
1:30 - 3:30 Question, Find, Evaluate, Apply: Translating Evidence Based Practice to Information Literacy Instruction
4:00 - 5:30 Japanese Paper Theater: Interactive Culture for Your Library

Monday, June 28
8:00 - 10:00 Dr. Patricia Kuhl, Co-Director of the University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences
10:30 - 1:00 ALSC Awards and Membership Meeting
1:30 - 3:30 Developmentally Appropriate Practice-What is the latest understandings of DAP and how to incorporate them into quality services
4:00 - 5:30 Who's driving the technology bandwagaon - the users or the librarians?

Librarians as Educators

The American Libraries article "Build Your Own Instructional Literacy" by Char Brown (a 2007 ALA Emerging Leader!) addresses the issue of librarians as educators. 

I, too, have felt and feel strongly that librarians are indeed educators.  Period.  Additionally, children's work requires one to be an entertainer.  One must be able to capture an audience through a combination of voice, acting, interacting, song, and movement.

I will need to review the ALA college accreditation guidelines, but it seems to me that the four vital teacher training issues that Brown lists -- theories, methods, conviction, and experience -- need to be addressed more in library school.

While I was fortunate to have a background in music, to have experience in reading to children, and to have taken about thirty credits of education classes during my undergraduate education, I realize that (occasionally?) children's librarians appear in the field without such background.  For the benefit of all librarians and especially those "learning in the trenches," Brown offers the "instructional literacy" framework and USER method.

Those who learn, teach, ... and those who teach, learn.

How Leaders Learn

"The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do, but how we behave when we don't know what to do." John Holt in How Children Fail (205)

While Holt's classic title provides ideas for leaders who work with children, general concepts can be applied to all areas of leadership. In the section from which the above quote is taken, Holt suggests that success occurs when one meets a new situation or problem openly, utilizing the mind and senses of imagination, resourcefulness, confidence and hopefulness. When anaylzing these initial behaviors, he or she is willing to accept and learn from mistakes.


In this same title, Holt discusses "real learning" (136-7) which applies to students of all ages. Something is understood when:

1) one can state it in one's own words
2) one can give an example of it
3) one can recognize the concept in various guises and circumstances
4) one can make connections between the new concept and other facts or ideas
5) one can utilize the new information in various ways
6) one can foresee some of its consequences
7) one can state its opposite or converse