Jennifer LaGarde, Zombie Fighter

Last Saturday, Jennifer LaGarde gave the keynote at our ITEM state library/tech conference.

It may have been the best keynote I've ever heard aimed at library media specialists. Period. And I have heard some good ones. 

In BRAINZ! How To Survive The Zombie Librarian Apocalypse! Jennifer shared 7 tips (and a lot more wisdom) about how to fight for improved library programs that are relevant and effective in today's schools. Like the speakers who best motivate, the talk was a strategic blend of smarts and heart and a reminder that great school library programs are too important to too many kids for them to be in jeopardy - and that it takes good school librarians to create such programs.

And just maybe, I liked the talk so much since I heard echoes of my excoriations to the field over the past 30 years- but delivered more effectively.

Anyway, a chance to hear MY hero in action. Keep up this important work, LibraryGirl!

Filtering post on the KQ Blog

If, after Banned Books Week, you can handle one more post on intellectual freedom, libraries, and the Internet, here a short piece I wrote for the Knowledge Quest website: Marginalizing the Marginalized with Internety Filtering.

From the post:

High school student Rachel is increasingly concerned over racial issues in her community and plans to write her senior thesis on this topic. There is an active “Black Lives Matter” movement organization in her community that uses Facebook to communicate. Her school blocks Facebook and she does not have Internet access at home.

Middle-schooler Diego and his friends are having a great time using the iPad to create and edit videos. They think their last production about school bullying would be helpful to other students, but their school blocks YouTube. Diego shares the computer and dial-up Internet connection in his home with both his parents and two siblings.

Fifth-grade teacher Ms. Dickens uses GoogleDocs in her class to facilitate peer-editing online, so she was pleased to learn about a program that would allow students from families with low incomes to check out computers and wifi “hot spots” for use at home. But she was told that GoogleApps was blocked by the hotspot’s filter.

People who are not able to be at the digital table where discussions are held and opinions are influenced are very likely not to have their interests factored into big decisions.

Yet many schools make great efforts to keep students (and staff) from using social networking tools that enable sharing ideas online. These schools consider blocking blogs, wikis, social networking venues, collaborative-editing tools, and photo/video sharing tools necessary if children are to be “protected.” Many educators view social networking sites as frivolous distractions that prevent students from paying attention in class or focusing on other school work. ...

Be sure to read Helen Adam's response to the post that talks about the work ALA has done around this issue. It's been more proactive than I had realized. Thank you, Helen, I look forward to reading "Fencing Out Knowledge."

BFTP: Top 10 Social Media Competencies for Teachers

It's always a happy day when I see something I've written improved upon by another person. Embellishment, re-mixing, re-design, whatever, it's wonderful - and Med Karbach's inforgraphic on his Educational Technology and Mobile Learning blog is no exception. Enjoy!

What are The Top Ten Social Learning and Educational Networking Competencies for K-12 Teachers?*

1. Help students use educational networking tools to solve information problems and communicate digitally with experts, peers and instructors.
2. Know the major Web 2.0 categories and tools that are useful in the K-12 setting. Know which tools are provided/supported by one's school.
3. Use educational networking sites to communicate with teaching peers, students and parents.
4. Navigate, evaluate and create professional content on networking sites.
5. Use online networking to create, maintain and learn from a personal learning network - AND their students.
6. Know the district networking guidelines, follow netiquette, conform to ethical standards and interact appropriately with others, especially students, online.
7. Understand copyright, security and privacy issues on social media sites and share these understandings with students and professional colleagues.
8. Understand the importance of identity and reputation management using social media and help students understand the long-term impact of personal information shared online.
9. Create and follow a personal learning plan to stay informed about developing trends, tools and applications of social media.
10. Participate in the formulation of school and district policies and guidelines related to educational networking and social learning.

 Et tu, readers? What should make your Top Ten list?

* This idea stolen from modeled after:

Top Ten (10) Social Media Competencies for Librarians (by Dean Giustini)

1. Understand, explain and teach others about the main principles and trends of web 2.0 (and library 2.0)
2. List major tools, categories and affordances of social networking sites
3. Apply social media to solve information problems, and communicate digitally with users
4. Use social networking sites for promotional, reference and instructional services in libraries
5. Navigate, evaluate and create content on social networking sites
6. Follow netiquette, conform to ethical standards and interact appropriately with others online
7. Explain copyright, security and privacy issues on social media sites to colleagues and user communities
8. Understand the importance of identity and reputation management using social media
9. Explain related terminology such as collaboration 2.0, remix and open source
10. Renew social media competencies, advocate for institutional strategies and policies and build evidence base in social media

Original post July 31, 2010.