Thing 1: Blogging

Hi!  I'm Wendy.  I am in my 24th year as an LMS at Schoharie Elementary School which is a preK-6 building.

I am taking part in this program because I always learn so much that I can apply to work and at home.  It is fun and I can take the course in my jammies if I want!

I looked at https://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/ first, but I really wanted to see some elementary school library blogs.  I took a look at http://mscassidysclass.edublogs.org/.  It is neat how it details what the class is doing.  Parents would probably love that.  The photos really make the blog alive.  Unfortunately, because of a change in procedure this year, there are only 2 or possibly 3 classes in the entire school that I could photograph.  Perhaps if we successfully lobby for a change, we could get it so that we could do a parents-only accessible blog -maybe via Google Classroom.

I then followed the link to 23 Great Library Blogs and chose the elementary school ones.  I looked at the England Library blog.  I liked their book fair advertisements on the blog, but I already advertise on my website.  I liked the August-September Library Use statistics.  While I realize that they don't show how we help the students learn, I think that realizing how much traffic we get is valuable.  I should remember what they used to make that "poster," but it escapes me at the moment.  It is eye-catching.
The giveaways were the most interesting thing I saw.  They are a way to get traffic and I especially liked how they explained how to comment, "Write a comment on THIS post.  Your comment should include your FIRST NAME, LAST INITIAL, what GRADE you’re going to be in THIS year, and a message for Mrs. Kupersztoch!  Do not leave any other personal information in your comment!  Do not post your e-mail address. Only one entry per student will be accepted, and only England Elementary students are eligible to participate.  Every comment has to be approved in order to appear on the website, so if you don’t see your comment right away, don’t worry!"
I guess the best takeaway for me was the fact that their blog is not daily or weekly, so it is not as overwhelming as some I have seen.

Next, I looked at the Falmouth Library blog.  It had lots of news, including statistics.  I REALLY liked their top 10 book checkouts.  My kids would really like that.  I know that Destiny has that feature, but I'm not sure that it is just our school and not the entire system.  Also, it includes things that teachers check out.  It wouldn't be too hard to make a report of the top 10 because students LOVE top 10 lists.  
I also liked her A Year in Review.  Lately I am always so busy that I haven't been doing yearly reports, but I should.  Her format seemed good. It actually would be a good thing for newbies to look at to see what a library can be.  

Then, I looked at the Ogle Elementary blog.  The Musical Chairs Book Tasting was interesting.  It is similar to the Book Speed Dating I have heard about here.  I think it could be easily done without the ipads which is good because we don't have them.  I also wonder if I could do it with my computers with book trailers set for them to watch.
I liked the Leaf Man creatures lesson that she did with kindergarten.  I would have to modify it for preK.  I have to look at the Highlights Leaf Creatures site.  The art teacher might be interested as well.  She is trying to incorporate more writing and technology in her lessons, especially since she now teaches the students for an hour!
I liked seeing how she incorporated Kahoots into her lessons.  I can't wait for the SMART Schools Bond Act money to come so that we will have more technology to use with the students!
Her lessons were interesting and I'm sure that the students have a lot of fun, but they seem strangely disconnected.  Like there is no obvious path that they are following.  I think that it really helps my students that they know that the small steps we take together are for some bigger purpose each year.  We have a major project in the spring that the earlier lessons prepare them for.  We constantly talk about how what we are learning fits into the bigger goal of the year and fits into their future education and life.

In general, I guess this Thing taught me that I shouldn't be so worried about blogging.  It took me a while to jump into having a website.  Maybe it is time to start a blog.  The next question will be how best to do it because sooo many sites are blocked at school. Is there a way I can created one through Google Apps for Education?  That way it would be following our technology goals. Hmmmm.

Thing 40: Final Reflections & What’s Next?

1: What did you learn?

I learned that although I do a lot of things that I should do, there is always more to add.  I really have to find ways to streamline what I do so that I don’t make myself crazy.  I have a lot of ideas to implement in the future, but I have not done a great job of implementing them this year.  Once the research really starts in January and February, it seems like I am just constantly underwater and I barely have the time to breathe much less to try new things.

I wish that I had done more “Things.” But, for the reasons stated above, time was not on my side.  I didn’t really make any new professional connections, but because of the Bonus Thing, I did see how viewing and commenting on other’s blogs can really help me to learn more efficiently. 
I have explored Anchor Charts more and started to collect those and other resources on Pinterest.

In my previous posts, I made myself a to-do list of sorts:
·      Get out my camera and try to document. (I’m still awful at this.)

·      Do a better job of organizing evidence of what I already do. (Between this post and my additional paperwork for my APPR, I have at least summarized more of what I already do, but I don’t have much actual evidence yet.  I need to look at: circ data for targeted students, facilities data, display data/getting my students more involved in the displays, and connecting my data with pre- and post- assessments. I also want to try to implement the Learning Logs and start copying more student work.)

·      Start to create exit tickets. (I like Kahoot and hope I win the grant I applied for to get tablets. While I am at it, I think I have to add “I can” objectives to each lesson, too.  It is good for my students and good to model for our new teachers.)

·      Investigate using widgets to access Google forms and sheets. (I REALLY have to do this.)

·      Work on an elevator speech. 

·      Gather lists of supporters and encourage them to document their support (and give it to me.)

·      Explore using empty VHS containers as shelf dividers. 

·      Start creating videos of how to download ebooks, how to upload appropriately licensed pictures from a Google search, etc. 

·      Tell everyone about Kahoot and beg for devices for my library so that I could use it, too. (Begging done – I applied for a grant.  Telling everyone, well many students and teachers in grades 2-4 will be exposed to it as I am doing Kahoot as a wrap-up to the year.  The teachers will hopefully finally have SMARTboards if the district’s Smart Schools Act application is approved.  Even if I don’t get my grant, there should be more laptops in the district so they will be more available.)

2: What’s next?

I really should try to write an annual report this year, although my evidence is inadequate.  Still, I should be able to pull something together.

I hope to use some of what I learned with the mentees next year at our district’s mentor meetings. 

The bonus lesson only emphasized to me the need to include student choice more in what teach, but with very clear expectations.  Just last week, I did a lesson where I showed my second grade students some of our digital resources and then gave them time to explore the resources.  They were very enthusiastic, but the written summaries of what they did were less than stellar.  More modelling of an acceptable response would help.

Over the summer, I hope to be able to access more of the “Things.”

3: Did you like learning this way?

I do like learning this way, but I do have trouble with the timing.  Winter and spring with the research projects underway is just way too busy to get much done.  It is also not the time to innovate and try new ideas in my room.  That is better done with the initial lessons in the fall.

What I most value about the program is the broad range of ideas that I am exposed to.  There used to be a College of St. Rose conference where I could get a lot of ideas, but it is no longer held.  Although my local BOCES/RIC does a one-day technology awareness day, there are so few sessions that you only learn three things in a day.  It just didn’t work for me.  Cool Tools is the best option I have found thus far for efficient exposure to useful technology PD.  (I just wish it were running June to December instead of the current timeline.) 

I certainly hope that Polly can keep finding new ways to challenge us so that I can keep participating!

Bonus Lesson!: Make Connections

            Okay, so I feel like this is a bit of a cheat, but I might learn something really useful that I wouldn't otherwise read or view.  I guess that I didn't read the directions too well because I first examined Deb Collin's blog posts as I know her and she is middle school level.  I was trying for people whose experience is closer to mine than a high school librarian's is.  I read her post about "Thing 16: Digital Tattoos & Digital Citizenship." I really should try to get more into this myself.  The examples that she plans to use to demonstrate the permanence of an online tatoo or footprint seem especially easy for a student to understand: permanent marker, straightening a crumpled piece of paper, toothpaste out of the tube.  I watched the Digital Dossier video and I totally agree with Deb that it is chilling!  I plan to forward it to others and hope to use it in my mentoring meetings next year to help the new teachers!  While I was there, I looked at her Maker Space post and watched the video she recommended, RSA Animate: Drive.  Again, I think that it would be good to show to the new teachers because it speaks to why student choice is important.

             Now, to do what I should have done…  I went to Cathie Morton’s blog.  I read several of her posts and commented on Thing 17: DIY - You Pick!, “I am hoping to get in Kahoots, too.  I applied for a grant that I REALLY hope will get me tablets for my library.  Otherwise, I will have to use it only when I can borrow the laptop cart.  I used it on Thursday with my third-graders in the competition/quiz mode and they LOVED it!  I think that it could be used in the survey mode as Formative Assessment/Exit Tickets to inform future instruction.”

            After reading a few more of Cathie’s posts, I moved on to Lindsey Murphy.  I read her “Thing 11: Coding” post and said, “It is interesting that you have so few girls.  I wonder how the class is being presented to them as an option and what is competing with technology.  Although the Jewelbots look interesting, they are SOOOO expensive that it doesn't seem to be an option for a run-of-the-mill classroom.  Hopefully the price will come down +/or a competitor will arise.  Actually, some of the functionality seems dangerous or perhaps difficult from a school standpoint.  It might be capable of promoting cheating, it will definitely be distracting during teaching, and it might be used for bullying/intimidation.  (As in, if you don't ..., then you aren't our friend and everyone will know it because your jewelbot won't light up.)  Just thinking.

Anyway, with options like the Frozen part of Hour of Code available, there shouldn't be too much trouble getting younger girls involved.  Once they are hooked, the background won't matter as much.”

            Finally, I checked out Jan Murray’s blog.  After reading a few, I decided to comment on “Thing 15: Web Presence.”  Unfortunately, I forgot to copy before I posted and I can’t seem to access the reply yet.  The gist of what I wrote is that I had never considered using a blogsite as a professional portfolio.  I will have to read the new version of Polly’s Thing 15 to see what it says about that.  I might want to use Jan Murray’s example as well as Polly’s info in my mentor meetings next year.

            So, in summary it is interesting to read other’s blogposts because you see a different viewpoint +/or hear about a link that you didn’t pursue.  I actually think that this was a great “Thing” and should be included in future years as I explored many different Things in one lesson.

Thing 33: Taking the Lead: Connecting with your Stakeholders

I actually started thinking about all of this when I looked at the blog models at the beginning of Cool Tools this year.

I watched the webinar: Your Stakeholder Connected Librarian Toolkit. 

Here are some of my existing practices and the target stakeholder.

Students:

• I start each year with an orientation to tell them what is new and to remind them of existing policies and practices, like behavior and checkout rules.  I don’t want there to be any surprises! 
• I greet every class that arrives in the library and I try to greet every student who comes on a pass. 
• I learn to names of every student in the building preK-6.  I try to remember what their interests are so that I can recommend books, websites, research topics, and more.  I make some very individualized book recommendations -even occasionally loaning a book of my own or purchasing a book for a student who will like it even if the book is not one I would put in the library collection.  I buy incentives and prizes with certain target students or groups in mind.
• Whenever possible, I use this information about students to modify my lessons, if only in the examples I use.  For instance, when describing the Inquiry Process, I use learning Minecraft as an example.  
• For ease of book access, I have labeled the shelves with popular series and popular nonfiction topics. In the chapter book sections, these labels are simply words, but in the picture book/early reader sections the labels have pictures as well as words. 
•  We have small stuffed animals of popular characters in the picture book/early reader sections to further help students locate their favorite books.
• Over the summer, we added labeled baskets for series books to the picture book/easy reader section.  These baskets allow the books to face out as well.
• In addition, while I have not genrefied the library (nor do I plan to), I have put genre stickers on many of the books, especially in the chapter book sections.
• On our Destiny Quest catalog, I created numerous resources lists on genres and topics of interest.
• I taught our fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade reading intervention students how to search the catalog and limit the results to items in our collection that are at their reading level.  Later, I saw these students showing their classmates how to do it!
• We have monthly displays.  Some of them are student-created.  These are displays of appropriate picture books for the month (holidays, season, etc.) as well as our character education display or simply for highlighting good books.
• Ms. Molle recommends stickers on books show students which books I consider REALLY good. 
•  Artwork is hanging in the library.  The art teacher and I are trying to even add more.  She sends the students on hunts to find works that are inspired by her featured artist.  Similarly, I purchase books and materials for her to use in the classroom and for interested students to extend their education.
• The library has lots of plants and is decorated in bright colors to be inviting.
• Recess is a busy time in the library even though I might be teaching other classes.  Some students come to help in the library, while others come to use the computers, to check out books, or to work on their own personal projects.
• Students can earn a digital passport to allow them access to the MyQuest features of Destiny, including reading lists, recommendations, and reviewing titles.  This year I opened this up to 4^th graders for the first time.  The digital passport also gives them the ability to use other websites on the library computers during their recess or other free time. I plan to add to my “advertisement” that students can use the Wish List feature to recommend books to be purchased.
• Easy access to digital resources is important.  This year, I added bookmarks to our monitors that detail our electronic resources and their login information.  It makes it easy for the students to access sites that I recommend.  Teachers have even started requesting copies to attach to their classroom computers!  I plan to hand these bookmarks out to the students as well. 
• In addition, I created a symbaloo linking to all of the resources I teach or recommend.  This symbaloo is on the catalog and the library webpage.  It has proved challenging from a filtering standpoint, but it is visually appealing, so the students love it!
• I maintain a display case and multiple bulletin boards in the hallway.  These don’t tend to be changed as often as they should, but it does show off the library to some extent. 

Teachers:

•  I already request new book suggestions and I keep track of who makes the suggestions so that I can let them know when the book comes in. 
• I try to assist teachers with the technology.  I am on the District-wide technology committee.  I advocate for more technology and I try to tell the teachers when I find a new resources that they might like.
• The current design of our library media program encourages collaboration.  I hope that there are no changes forthcoming, but I am certain that my principal, even though she is new, knows a lot about what I do, approves of it, and sees its value.
• As a co-coordinator of the Mentoring program this year, I was in a unique position to talk to all of the new teachers in our district.  Since they meet with me regularly, it makes me just a little more accessible to them.

Parents:

•  I send home letters asking parents, grandparents, and other community members to volunteer in our library.  This definitely increases the program’s visibility.     
• Reading contests are another aspect of my library program.  They used to be monthly, but staffing cuts have forced me to reduce their frequency.  Still they encourage students to read and forge a bridge to home.
• Electronic Resource Lists are sent home several times a year to let parents and guardians know that there are library resources available 24/7.  I even try to send home letters about special short-term resources, such as when StarWalk Kids gave free access over the holiday break at Christmastime.
•  I try to have the students finish at least one special project every year.  For instance, my kindergartners spend the year learning about the Gingerbread Man and learning about habitats around the world.  The work of each student is collected into a book that tells the story of library class that year.
• I have a presence during Open House.  I hang posters detailing what students will be learning and doing during the year.  I offer parents and guardians the chance to see the library and speak to me personally.  I also have a table of other helpful resources.

Administration:

• I make myself very visible to the administration.  I am a member of many committees which has the advantage of being at the forefront in regard to the district’s goals and initiatives.
• The newly-formed School Building Leadership Team which looks at existing practices and policies and creates new ones where there is a need.
• The Curriculum Coordinators Committee which works to improve the building’s curriculum and teaching methods.
• The Mentoring Program as both a co-coordinator and as a member of the Steering Committee.  This group works with new teachers both to retain them and to develop them into the best teachers they can be.
• The Professional Development Committee which oversees all professional development in the district, monitors its success, and makes recommendations for future PD.
• The Technology Committee which helps create the district technology plan and its implementation.

I also try hard to support new initiatives, whether that means making displays, adding pages to my website, purchasing new materials, or trying out new teaching techniques so all of the classroom teachers can see me try it, too.

Community:

• I try to be a member of the community even though I don't live in the community where I teach.  
• I shop at the local businesses.
• I donate to local causes.
• I help the needy in my school community.
• I help out at local events.  This year I bought and passed out candy at the local "Trunk or Treat" event. My students were excited to see me -even the ones I taught 15 years ago.
• I don't ask the community to purchase anything for my library that I wouldn't be willing to spend my own money on.  (Fortunately, the district purchased a SMARTboard for the library before I broke down and bought my own.)

I read 10 things classroom teachers need to know about modern school librarians and Four ways to advocate for school libraries.    I didn’t really get anything new to use from them.  It was just a reminder that I need to speak to my principal about getting a cart of laptops for the library, art, and music to share.  The Laura Devaney article did make me realize that I should take the position that not only do we use the existing laptop cart more than any classroom teachers do, but we can lead the teachers into using them in more innovative ways and in training the students so that the teachers have less stress when they use them.

I went through 10 Ways Librarians Can be a Marketing Genius Like Lady Gaga.  I don’t do #2 –Leverage Social Media.  I’m just not comfortable with the idea of Facebook.  There have been too many horror stories.  In fact, our district just sponsored a speaker who essentially said that teachers shouldn’t be on Social Media with students or parents.  I have no problem with #1 –Have an opinion.  I always do.  Likewise, # 3 –Be Different isn’t an issue.  A person who is still wearing BIG red plastic glasses gets noticed and recognized.  The idea of branding your school +/or students is interesting, but my school district’s logo is an Indian and I am not comfortable with the logo.  The community, however, is very attached to the logo and it is unlikely that anything else would be accepted.  Teachers and students have tried several times since I started working there.  I do however love my “Little Monsters,” as Gwenyth Jones says.  I guess again this presentation didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t know.  I am passionate about my job –too passionate!  I know what to do, but I can’t do more.  I have no more time or energy.  All I can do is shift my focus.

Still, I do have a plan. 

What I need to do for the future:

·        I need to work on an elevator speech.  I have a tendency to get befuddled and defensive when I think that the program is being questioned.

·        Gather lists of supporters and encourage them to document their support (and give it to me.)

·        Videos are a weakness of mine.  It would be great if I could make videos of how to download ebooks, how to upload appropriately licensed pictures from a Google search, etc.  I want to explore Screencastomatic and Powtoon for these purposes. 

·        I like Heidi’s idea of using empty VHS containers as shelf dividers, so I will explore that.

·        As described in previous posts, I need to come up with habitual ways to document existing evidence.

BTW, if anyone has any idea why these posts look so strange on the blog (background changes, spacing changes, etc.), please let me know. 

 

Thing 32 : Evidence Based Practice – Collecting Data

The quote from Doug Johnson in Demonstrating Our Impact: Putting Numbers in Context talks about “enumerating how many instructional activities were accomplished:  booktalks given, skill lessons taught, teacher in-services provided, pathfinders/bibliographies created and collaborative units conducted.”

For instance, the fourth-grade teachers and I share the work of monitoring each student’s progress in their projects.  After looking at Methods to Assess Learning in the Library Media Center and clicking on the link to her presentation, “Four Methods to Assess Learning in the Library Media Center,” I realized that I should use Google Forms or Sheets to create checklists for those classes so that each homeroom teacher and I could see the progress as a whole.  We could see what each of us has done and which students need a push. I just have to make it really easy to use or the teachers and I won’t use it.  

I would love to have the ability to use Google Forms for pre and post lesson assessments and to use student response systems, but we just don’t have enough technology at this point to make it feasible.  Exit tickets seem like a better option though slogging through the data seems onerous.  I know that Google Classroom has the option of comment pages or I could use something like Padlet, but without 1:1 tech, the process of students logging into and out of something takes SOOO long.  I generally only have 30 minutes to teach and every minute is precious.  Does anyone have an option that doesn’t require the students to log in?

I decided to explore the Teacher Librarians Toolkit for Evidence Based Practice.  (The links from Thing 32 didn’t work for me anyway, so I had to Google it.)  I think I will download the Learning Logs at school as a way of having students be accountable for what they accomplish.  I can see myself using them with 4th and 5th grade this year and I will add them with 6th next year.

After reading Samples of Student Work, I realized that I need to do a better job of copying student work.  I liked their list of possible student samples: Note making sheets, Completed graphic organizers, Works Cited list, Reports, Brochures, Posters, Multimedia presentations, Brainstorming sheets, and Web pages.  I don’t usually make copies of any completed projects, just some of the prior steps.

I liked the Facility Improvements page.  There were two areas where I need to work: displays of student work (which has fallen to the side now that the emphasis is on long-term projects) and enough computer workstations.  I don’t have a periodical display area, but it doesn’t seem to be missed.  I honestly think that the databases more than make up for it.

The Capital Region BOCES training some years ago for APPR made me start collecting Feedback from School Library Stakeholders. I copy emails and save whatever thank you notes or articles mention our activities.

For exploring the tools, I first tried the two Joyce Valenza articles.  Most of the tools seem to require 1:1 tech and logins that I previously discussed were problems, but the Kahoot did not.  So, I started to explore Kahoot.  It seemed easy to make.  I liked the fact that you could always go back and see how your students responded so that you could analyze the data.  I’m wondering if I could create Kahoots as Exit Tickets and have the students complete them on the available workstations before or after they book exchange.

Okay, that won’t work as it has to be simultaneous users.  (I HATE the music in the background by the way.  Very distracting!!)

Still, I will mention this tool to my teachers who are getting a laptop cart for each grade level.  This just emphasizes the fact that I need devices!  

Back to my previous idea… 

There was an email discussion on the listserv this past week about how we go about collecting student recommendations for new books.  One of the respondents said that she has a widget to a Google form.  I think that exploring this could be the answer to a lot of my data collection issues.  I could presumably have multiple widgets: collection requests, facilities data, display data, differentiation data, collaboration data, etc.

I looked through Lyn Hay’s slides which seemed to mostly duplicate Joyce’s ideas except that there were more examples of reports for the final step of EBP.

The LibGuide from CISSL at Rutgers, though full of useful information, was difficult to read.  It was too small and too cluttered for me to really digest what I was seeing.  If, in fact, it was simply a collection of what was presented in a different format, then I think that it could work for people, but as an introductory resource it was overwhelming AND it, too, seemed to duplicate Joyce and Lyn’s.

The Evolving with Evidence presentation covered much of the same ground as the previous tools, but it did give me a link to Anchor Charts for Libraries which gave me some great ideas for my library –just not this project.  In addition, despite the anchor chart link, it was definitely targeted to high school.  Some parts were difficult to follow without the speakers’ input and some slides were so cluttered as to be unreadable.  (Of course, I have editing problems myself!)

So, in summary, I guess my action plan is:

1. Get out my camera and try to document.

2. Do a better job of organizing evidence of what I already do.

3. Start to create exit tickets.

4. Investigate using widgets to access Google forms and sheets. 

5. Tell everyone about Kahoot and beg for devices for my library so that I could use it, too.

Thing 31: Evidence Based Practice – Getting Started

Okay, I’ll admit it I’ve been dragging my heels on collecting data despite many articles and presentations on the importance.  I’ve been lucky that my community seems to see the value in the library programs that my high-school counterpoint and I have created.  Still this is an area where I should do more.

I looked at the pdf for Evidence Based Practice for School Libraries: The 4th E = Evidence, I read Show Them The Evidence of Your Success, and I watched the Show Me the Data! Webinar which I found to be the most helpful.  The presenter emphasized that we need to work beyond total circulation data.  She suggested that we focus on our Principal’s priorities.  Since I am a member of the professional development team, the curriculum team and the school building leadership team, I certainly am aware of the priorities.  I need to start to record data that shows how spending is being used (who, how many times, how used). 

I should look at circ data for targeted students.  For instance, I taught our fourth, fifth, and sixth-grade reading intervention students how to search the catalog and limit the results to items in our collection that are at their reading level.  I could look at how many books these particular students are checking out.  I also should have collected data on how many times I saw these students showing their classmates how to do it!

I liked the idea of using a Google Form to collect collaboration data.  I would have to remember to bring up the form every day, so I would have to add it to my homepages, I think.

 I think that a Google Form would be a good idea for collecting facilities data as well.  I constantly have teachers meeting in the library, staff meetings, district meetings, peer tutoring, preK students receive therapies in the library, the reading department and some members of the special ed staff test students in the library.  The afterschool program even uses the library sometimes.  I never considered collecting display data. I guess I have to start paying attention to it.  While I often have students gather the materials for the displays, in general, I seldom have allowed them to select them –this year was an exception.  One third grade class helped create both our December holiday display and our January one.  While I don’t think there is time for video reviews at this point, I could encourage students to write a one or two sentence blurb to stick out of the books that they select.

Collecting Instructional Data is something that I have always done, though I’ve not always gone beyond the SLO requirements of connecting my instruction to results.  I like the idea of a whiteboard to collect student responses to an exit prompt about what they did or did not learn.

I have never really collected data to document how I differentiate instruction.  The aforementioned lessons to the intervention students are an obvious case of differentiating.  Her individual intervention seemed natural to me. She talked about showing circ data for specific students that you are working with, that you greet and help when they come in the library.  In my library, I try to greet EVERYONE who enters unless I am teaching another class.  I believe that there are very few students who would be hesitant to ask for help and those exceptions are because the students are young and particularly shy.  (One kindergartner who HATES to talk does jump to mind.)  I do reading and interest inventories with my older students and try to follow their interests so that I can recommend books and buy new ones.  I think that in general even my current, new administration is aware of how I differentiate for the students because my coworkers and even the parents talk about it.

I will try connecting my data with pre and post assessments.  I already have access to both my SLO data and the Fountas and Pinnell scores.  I have access to the state test result data in some form as well.  I used to write an annual report, but it seemed as if no one ever read it.  Maybe the new administration will, so I will add it to my to-do list.

I also took at look at Joyce Valenza’s On capturing evidence in a few new containers.  Her first suggestions include three  things that I always have known that I should do, but I never remember to do.  I think that I have to leave the camera out on the desk because I never think or have the time to get it out from its case.  Even before I read this article, when I pondered the next steps, taking more photos was one of those steps!  Exit tickets are something I always mean to do and that I encourage my teachers to do that I don’t do myself!  Database analytics used to be something that I ignored because with IP authentication, the high school data was intermixed with my elementary data.  Now, however, most of our databases are just password authentication, so I could look at the analytics and I should.  I plan to explore more samples of annual reports both through the weblinks and through our own BOCES which asked for them last year.