Guest post by Joanna McNally

This e-mail below came from my friend Joanna unsolicited. Her ideas of how to make a library welcoming and the rewards that come to both students and the media program for doing so are something from which we all can learn.

Consider that the things we are learning from libraries and their response to ubiquitous, digital informations sources can be used by classrooms as well since student have an increasing number of options to sitting in a F2F classroom.

Posted with permission...

Hi Doug,

I just came across a repost on your blog about coffee/cafe in the school library. Since this is my 1st year at Orange HS, I have not yet implemented anything. But, when I was at Charles F. Brush HS, I started a "cyber cafe" and it was a big hit. The cyber cafe came as part of a grant to renovate the library (new book shelving, magazine shelving, circulation area, reading areas, computers with tables, chairs, etc.). It was a lot of work but I had an assistant and administration that were on board to give it a try. We had students help run the cafe in the morning and after school. I found a company that provided us with a free machine that would create single cups of hot chocolate, coffee, cafe mocha, french vanilla, hot water (for tea drinkers), and decaf - we just had to pay for the supplies. We also sold snacks like granola bars, honeybuns, oatmeal cookies, rice krispy treats, etc. It was a profitable fundraiser for the library and in the time frame that I worked at Brush (3 years), the library became the heart of the school. Students and teachers wanted to go to the library - not just for the cafe. I ordered print magazines that students and staff wanted to read/check out and we moved the fiction books near the comfy reading areas. Circulation increased. I also started a book club - on average I had about 15-30 kids showing up at each meeting. I also had a Student Library Advisory Club that helped provide input into the entire transformation and afterwards. We garnered a lot of local press (I and the school library were constantly in the paper for about 2 years) and the whole experience, although a lot of work, was well worth it. A little spill here or there, some crumbs on the floor - in the big picture I'd rather have students/teachers wanting to come to the library and using its resources than having signs up policing against it.

In my new position, I followed a person that was not well liked by both students and teachers. She was a no food/drink librarian. Yesterday was my last day before going on maternity leave and the staff surprised me with a huge cake. The students and teachers were tickled to be able to celebrate with me and eat cake in the library. There weren't any messes to clean up and I can't tell you how many students were elated. I kept hearing over and over, this would never have been allowed before. So many kids wanted to be a part of the celebration (not just for the cake) and the good will that it created is amazing. Students at the school I now work at love coming to the library!

I think some school librarians forget that the students in our libraries today become future adults and voters - and they'll either support libraries in their future or they won't. If they've had favorable experiences with their school libraries - they just might end up being huge advocates for us in the future. That isn't a 21st century standard but I think it's pretty important in the grand scheme of things.

I have a couple of pictures I'm attaching - enjoy!

Joanna

Joanna McNally
Library Media Specialist
Orange High School
Pepper Pike, OH 44124

You too can be a technology guru

Here is how I answer probably 95% of the tech "how-to" questions I receive...

Uh, Doug, how do I add a graphic to my signature file in GoogleMail?

1. Type "Add graphic to signature file in GoogleMail" into the Google search engine box.
2. Select one of the first few credible-looking hits.
3. Find the process. Read the steps.
4. Try the steps out on my own computer.
5. Reply to the person asking the question as though the answer was my own hard won discovery.

If I started telling folks how to find their own answers, I'd lose my aura of omniscience!

BFTP: Revisiting Pink and "Conceptual Age" Skills

A Saturday Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. The original post from October 4, 2005.

In my August 22, 2005 blog entry, I did a short review of Daniel Pink’s new book A Whole New Mind in which he lists six right brain “senses” he believes successful workers in a post-information age economy will need to have.

Pink’s “senses” (DESIGN, STORY, SYMPHONY, EMPATHY, PLAY, and MEANING) were on my mind this weekend when working on a “serious” paper for the National Library Board of Singapore conference I’ll be presenting at this November. (Yeah, I couldn’t believe they asked me either.) The topic is “The Knowledge Worker Redux” and it was a great chance to reflect on what skills our students need to successfully compete in a global economy.

First, I am going to be bold and add a seventh “sense” of my own to Mr. Pink’s list:

7. Not just knowledge, but also LEARNING. Unless a person develops both the ability and the desire to continue to learn new skills, to be open to new ideas, and to be ready to change practices in the face of new technologies, economic forces, and societal demands, he or she will not be able to successfully compete in a global economy.

In the age of educational accountability, we seem to be gearing all our instructional efforts to helping students master left-brain skills, since that is what tests usually measure. But to what extent do we and should we also be developing design sense, storytelling abilities, the ability to synthesis information, empathy, the use of humor, and the ability to detect the importance of the information learned? How do we create true “life-long learners?” What emphases, using Pink’s model, might schools and libraries wish to cultivate in the “conceptual age” worker?

1. DESIGN
• Offer art classes and activities
• Assess not just content, but appearance of student work
• Teach visual literacy

2. STORY
• Ask for student writing in the narrative voice.
• Teach speaking skills.
• Use storytelling as a part of teaching.

• Give students opportunities to both hear and tell stories.

Honor digital storytelling as an important means of communication

3. SYMPHONY
• Design classroom projects that cross disciplines.
• Ask for the application of skills and concepts to genuine problems.
• Use inductive learning strategies (learning by doing).

4. EMPATHY
• Emphasize reading literature about people from other cultures and socio-economic groups.
• Give students service learning and volunteer opportunities or requirements.
• Give students the opportunity to take part as an actor in theater productions.
• Design group projects.

5. PLAY
• Teach with games.
• Offer a variety of athletics and physical education classes.
• Offer participatory music classes.
• Teach through riddles and jokes, and encourage students to tell them.

6. MEANING
• Offer classes in comparative religion, myth and legend.
• Teach ethical behaviors as a part of every project.
• Asking for writings to include statements of personal values.

7. LEARNING
• Teach processes, not facts.
• Allow students to research areas of personal interest (and tolerate a diversity of interests).
• Give students the ability to learn in non-traditional ways (online, early enrollment in college, apprenticeships).
• Make available clubs and organizations for students to join in which students learn non-academic skills.
• Provide access to a wide range of information sources.