The ISTE - National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and Performance Indicators for Teachers by International Society for Technology in Education

Ultimately, what I've gotten from this publication is reinforcement of standards more fully fleshed out elsewhere.  In particular, though, I was struck by the expectation that teachers will, "demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations."  I immediately reflected on how commonplace it has become for us, as educators or simply as adults, to abdicate our role as experts and authorities the minute a new technology comes into the picture.  I believe throughout history many teachers have rejected new approaches and philosophies, but I'll bet we'd be hard-pressed to find a time when educators fully acknowledged the importance of a tool while laughing off any responsibility to learn to use it so as to teach it to students.  We do that all the time when we ignore our students' abilities and interest in new technologies.  Gotta be at least one chapter ahead, a mentor teacher once told me, and that means with technology as well, hard as it is to accomplish.

Parents: Focus More on 21st-century Skills, in eSchool News

"Parents do not feel that schools are effectively preparing students for the jobs of the 21st century, and [they] view technology implementation as essential to student success."   I used this very quote in a recent email wherein I updated my school administration on my own schooling process.  I thought they needed to read that parents are wanting more technological expertise taught in light of job-preparedness.  Ours is a college prep school with wonderful, pie-in-the-sky ambitions for teaching and learning, but it's so important to remember that so much of what these kids will be able to accomplish as persons depends ultimately on their ability to provide for themselves and their families.  This responsibility is weighing heavy on many parents' minds, and parents' concerns weigh heavy on my school's list of responsibilities, because these parents choose to send their kids to PRS and choose to send us their hard-earned money, as well.

Fwd: [CALIBK12] FW: O'Connell Announces Model School Library Standards are Available for Public Review by California Department of Education

These standards are so clear, so incredibly detailed, and so wonderfully official.  In it I have practically endless fodder for my new LC program.  The key that I will stress along with these standards is that what cannot be obtained from any technological device is a well-trained, caring instructor who will teach each learner in an individualized manner exactly how best to use resources and think clearly about them.  That's where I see my role in working to achieve and exceed these standards.

Technology in Schools: What the Research Says by Cisco and Metiri Group

I just realized, looking again at this amazing resource, that the first grant I will apply for will be a summer professional development mini-grant from my school in order to organize and prepare to implement the huge amount of data, instructions, strategies, and research I've encountered over the summer at ALA and this semester.

To the report:

1.  In discussing IWBs, the authors write, "students will continue to play a passive role if teachers do not engage them in active higher order thinking processes through student-centered uses of these devices."  Surely, this is a summary of any kind of classroom technology use and at the same time a stunningly difficult teaching style to change.  We've got to keep working on this, assisting teachers with specific strategies for this higher order thinking through student-centered teaching.
2. Summaries of Research Studies regarding clickers and physics students is particularly inspiring.  Our kids are taking high school level physics in 8th grade.  I personally believe this is simply too soon for many of their developing brains.  However, it is happening, and I'm thrilled to see these results again to remind me to try a collaborative project with the physics teacher in particular, incorporating clickers.  Great to have this as a segue into working with students in a science setting!
3. The entire gaming conversation is interesting.  It would be a hard sell in some ways, but not so much in certain contexts at my school.  I think a way to introduce the possibility of gaming-as-learning is through the Global Village geography game, especially since the authors cite excellent learning improvement results with this game in particular.
4. Reminding me of the cereal box claiming that its contents are part of a balanced breakfast, I think the authors are so wise to caution us regarding a rigorous 1:1 laptop program, "successful laptop programs must be part of balanced, comprehensive initiatives that focus on
   education goals, curricula, teacher professional development, and student assessment practices."  A math teacher at my school is currently pursuing this goal, but I'm not convinced it will be the magic bullet he indicates.  First, coming primarily from middle to upper middle class families, 99% of our students have computer access at home, and all of them have access to laptops in carts throughout the school.  Second, I haven't seen any initiatives that will ensure faculty and students alike will learn more or learn more efficiently if 1:1 were implemented.
5. I've been looking into computer assisted instruction with one of our algebra teachers, primarily to find technology-based teaching aids that will help him mix it up a bit in his class of slow math learners.  And isn't evidence interesting?  Nothing like the scientific method, I say!  There's I CAN Learn Pre-Algebra and Algebra, a commercial product, with a "Positive Effects" evidence rating and at least a positive 5 improvement index. Down below is the University of Chicago's Math program showing "No discernable effects" and a negative 6 improvement index!  Not what the ivory tower would have us believe.  This whole picture reinforces my growing understanding of the necessity to prove that what we do works to the benefit of the learner.

LitCharts

Well, this has been challenging to think of ever since I first checked out LitCharts when the arrived.  The challenge lies in students' not using others' work instead of their own.  One of my main concerns lies within this larger picture--I'm wary of providing the kids with what they may well see as "official" analysis of a text and therefore more important or correct than their own.  It takes a strong will, at 13 or even 17 years old, to even think of disagreeing with an instructor-provided, professional analysis of challenging text.

So I would use this tool as an example of simply another take on the text.  Specifically, I might work with an English teacher to offer LitCharts information as analysis for critique.  For instance, students would read LitCharts' analysis of a chapter and also write their own, citing differences and arguing their own points of view.  I would specifically allow the students to read the LitCharts information along with writing their own analyses because they would be required to come up with something unique, cite differences between their own take on the text and LitCharts', and be able to discuss these differences in a text-based conversation.

Thus, I would hope to eliminate the urge to avoid reading the original text and to teach them to create, value, and defend their own perspectives.

The Mile Guide

The Mile Guide toolkit looks interesting and helpful, no doubt, but I don't plan to purchase it immediately.  I am getting so much information and tasks from this class and the connections from it that I....

Ok, that's ridiculous.  It's $10 and surely doesn't have to be read cover to cover right away in order to be very useful, especially as my history teacher/collaborator and I hammer out new projects to work on together.

I'm ordering it right after I turn in this reading log. 

Position Statement on the School Library Media Specialist’s Role in Reading by AASL

1. "...requires that they develop as strategic readers..."  Love that term, it could mean so many things, all of them good.
2. "...a deep knowledge of the wide variety of authentic reading materials available in the school library media center and beyond" is something I lack to an alarming degree.  I will include some reading in my daily life at school--it's the only way to actually get it done while working as a student and a mother, and it's great modeling.  Ok, then, a new leaf turned.  I'm looking forward to it.
3. I think I'm beginning to fill the "leadership role in organizing and promoting literacy projects" on campus--beginning to.  
4. Regarding that, it's actually a neat experience to reread all these articles having had the class largely completed because the connections between them as a whole set and the class discussions become more obvious.  
5. I'm looking forward to Listening Lunches and possibly investing in Tumblebooks...middle school, yes.  High school for Tumblebooks, doesn't look like it.
6. "Opportunities for planned and spontaneous library use best serve learners as they identify, analyze, and synthesize ideas and information by using a wide range of materials in a variety of formats and media."  Ok, if that's not a Learning Commons well described I don't know what is.