Thing 18: Student Assessment & Feedback Tools

I set out to explore this thing again this year because I want to offer a professional learning opportunity to my staff about Student Assessment & Feedback Tools.  We hope to eventually get approval for our SMART Schools Bond Act application and actually get more (and more up-to-date) devices into our school and into the hands of students.  Our teachers have been so long without devices that some need ideas for how they will use them, while others are always searching for the new thing to try with what we have.

Here is a look at what I looked at:

Voting tools

o    Dotstorming If you have a need to have a class vote, this is an interesting way to do it.  Not sure how I would use it in my library, but it would be worth demonstrating for the classroom teachers. One quick application that comes to mind is teachers who have macaroni jars as behavior incentives.  When the jar is full, students vote on what they want the reward to be.  This would be a cool way to let the students vote that would make the reward even sweeter.

Thought-sharing Tools

o   Padlet I have Padlet set up for teachers to share materials and supplies that they no longer need, so I can see the purpose, but I have not come up with a real-life application for my elementary school students. I read How to Use Padlet: A Fantastic Tool for Teaching.  I still can’t see myself using many of those ideas. 

o   TodaysMeet – After a quick visit to the Sample room for CoolTools folks I think that this is similar enough to Padlet and Answer Garden that I am not going to pursue it further.  I can see a lot of application for professional learning though.  It could be a parking lot for questions.  Of course, it could be used for that at any level, but at the elementary level in my school, I would be afraid that the students would focus on the technology (and get lost somewhere else) rather than pay attention to my lesson.

 

o    AnswerGarden  I can see how this might be good for brainstorming purposes.  They would be fun with a professional development class.  But I don’t see how they are really applicable for much in my elementary school learning environment.  The best application I could come up with to create a word cloud for PR purposes.

Video Assessments

o    Vizia &  EdPuzzle Good to know these products exist.  I show so few videos that they are not relevant to me.  Similarly, I don’t think most of my coworkers will need it, but if I was a middle or high school teacher, especially a Social Studies teacher, I think that this would be invaluable.  It seems like a good thing to use for a substitute plan.  The students could be actively engaged in learning regardless of what kind of substitute ends up in the room.  If you coupled it with Google Classroom, the students wouldn’t even need the sub’s instructions to start it.

Formative Assessment Tools

o    Kahoot I used Kahoot with most of my 3-5 classes in the spring.  They loved it.  I loved the instant feedback as well as the availability of spreadsheets to track learning.  BUT I don’t really have access to enough portable devices to make this feasible right now.  There is only one Chromebook cart for the entire building.  My library computers are desktops that are not located near the SMARTboard, so the sad fact is that the students can’t use Kahoot with our current computers because they can’t see the questions from where they are. 

o    Quizziz This seems to make up for my problems with Kahoot.  Although everyone has to take the quiz at once, they can be on computers that are far apart.  So, I could conceivably have up to 14 groups being “quizzed” at once.  I still can’t do the entire class, but I could do half of the class and then the other half. It is obviously easier to do the quiz on a touch screen device, but not necessary.  For the middle and high school where so many students have their own devices, this would work very well.

I like how you can add graphics.  That means that this can be used for MANY different subjects and types of assessment.  Too bad that the answer choices can’t be images as well.

I could see classroom teachers using this for a quick formative assessment in math class.  When the students break into groups for differentiated learning, part of their computer time (as most elementary teachers have 4-5 computers in their room) could be completing a quiz to gather results for the next day.  The teacher would lose some class time to resetting the quiz for each small group, so they still might prefer Google Forms.

o    Spiral This is a British product.  There were not many easily accessible videos or examples to view. It is web-based or an app.  It does require devices for each student.  In the Quickfire mode it appears that after the initial sign-in with code process, the students could be at computers that do not face a central screen.

o    Formative I found the site itself strangely uninformative.  They just wanted me to sign up before I really understood what I was signing up for, but a YouTube video that I located, https://youtu.be/0sA8pJY7cwM, explained some of the benefits of the site. One of the best things seems to be how flexible the site is.  You don’t have to retype everything.  You can import word documents, pdfs or google docs and put in spots (short answer, show your work, true/false, or multiple choice) where the students answer on their computer where they would have put their pencil and paper answer.  Of course, you can build the questions from scratch as well even adding graphics.  The students answer the assessment in one of three ways: you can enter a class and invite them all, you can give them a link (through Google Classroom, for example), or they can use a code on the goformative.com/join website.  The advantage to the last one being that they can log in as guest to be anonymous (at least from the site’s perspective).  From the promotional video I found, https://youtu.be/1Cu8F6gMshg , you can export your results.  It is not as flashy as Kahoot or Quizziz, but it would be much easier to convert your old assessments to digital ones with this tool.  It is not clear to me at least if there is a way to stagger when your students take the assessment or if you need 1:1 to take full advantage.  

o    Plickers This is not strictly an iOS product.  It is available for Android as well.  This is a great tool when you don’t have one-on-one technology available.  Quite a few of our teachers are using this for instantly-available formative assessment and up-to-the-minute DDI.  I have not used it myself.  With 500 or so students, there would be A LOT of cards to deal with.  Perhaps I could have one set and just reuse them with different classes by assigning just numbers to the cards with each student having a number.  I don’t know yet. 

o     o   Google Forms I use this ALL the time – with my students and with staff.  I have students do formative assessments on it.  I collect student evaluations of other’s presentations, student evaluations of group member’s work, student reading interest inventories, and more.  I have used this to help colleagues create easy formative assessments for DDI tracking.  We use Google Forms to track faculty and staff opinions on library materials, to gather contact information for the union, to collect district-wide interest in professional learning and their evaluations of district-provided professional learning.  Google Forms is awesome.  Still having enough technology available to fully implement it is an issue.  If only the SMART Schools Bond Act money would come in! I had tried the Flubaroo add –on for self grading quizzes time ago.  It seemed cumbersome in a way that Google Forms self-grading does not, but it does allow for more answer formats that stand-along Google Forms does.  In addition, some schools will have trouble with the add-ons. (BTW, checking out the comparison reintroduced me to the Control Alt Achieve blog which has some other interesting posts!)

o    PearDeck – This does look like a cool site.  The free version only allows 30 participants which would work for a classroom teacher, so I will show it during my professional learning opportunity.  However, many of the features don’t work on the free version, including Google Classroom integration.  Bummer.  Without the 1:1 device, I’m not sure it is something I would personally use.

Portfolio +/or Blogging Tools

o    SeeSaw For the most part, we don’t have iOS devices, so this option is out.  Actually, after a little exploration, I found out that they do support Android devices, Chromebooks, and computers with Chrome or Firefox.  However, from what I saw, this is more of a blogging or a portfolio tool than an assessment tool.  As a result, it is not really what I am looking for.  This is all complicated by the fact that MANY of our students cannot be photographed or have their names posted on the web, so showing parents work via a web app is not a good idea for my school.

o    Flipgrid I can’t see when I will have the time/need for video responses to questions at this point and the fact that it is a pay site makes it less attractive.  I suppose that this might help to garner student interest, but if you need a gimmick to get the students interested in the library, then maybe you need to rethink your program.  I accessed the link to 2nd Graders Use Their Research To Respond Via Flipgrid! But I couldn’t actually see the student work.  After some Googling, I did find a fresh link to a project on text structure at https://expectmiraculous.com/2016/09/22/students-as-teachers-exploring-text-structure-with-flipgrid/ The students are having fun, BUT this takes an enormous amount of time to video all of the responses, not to mention the need for so many devices.  Fun for an end-of-the-year-when-you-have-extra-time activity, but again the fact that so MANY of our students cannot be photographed makes this impractical. 

Well, I have found several good tools to use and to introduce to others.  I spent many hours doing it, so I don’t think I will use the More to Explore right now, but I will check out those links in the future.

Okay, I lied. I couldn't help myself.  The link to Take Three! 55 Digital Tools and Apps for Formative Assessment Success has several other worthwhile links to check out!
Take Three! 55 Digital Tools and Apps for Formative Assessment Success

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.