My biggest regret as a middle school librarian isn’t that some the books weren’t in precise order, or that the students didn’t memorize MLA citation style by heart before they got to high school, nor that the book displays weren’t punny enough.
Now imagine that with this AR level your teacher just wrote for you on a post-it, “you are level 4.2!”, that you are to enter a beautiful library filled with magical books. In these books you will encounter magical worlds, walk two moons in someone else’s moccasins, or hopefully find a strong, relatable character through whom to live vicariously. But before you browse the inviting covers, I have to tell you... Stay away from that Harry Potter (Level 5.5, 12pts.) all of your friends are reading, because you’re just not quite there. Don’t even think about re-reading your favorite spooky Goosebumps story (Level 3.0), because you’re too good for those now and it’s only worth one point. You want to read a book you brought from home? Sorry, that book isn’t in the AR system. You have to stick within your limits, I mean... levels. Forget what you actually want to read. What’s important is that you understand it and that answer questions about that book correctly so you can get those points. ...Perhaps we don’t say these exact words to our students, but this seemingly basic ritual of assigning levels to students has great implications for their reading habits down the road. The truth is that teachers and librarians are pressured to comply and confine students to their reading level in hopes of demonstrating to data-driven school superiors that they are competent educators. Teachers then push their students to read books that increase their point-values to--- help students improve their reading, yes, but also to prove that their instruction and sustained reading activities have led to measurable growth, as if this was all there was to teaching! There is no question that reading to learn and live is critical to higher order thinking. However, if our quest as educators is to nurture lifelong learners and critical, creative thinkers, what effect does our own desire to show measurable outcomes, based on a flawed point-value system, have on a student’s potential for long-term reading enthusiasm and growth? As it stands now, using extrinsic rewards for students who succeed at raising their AR levels tend to singularly reward students who are already doing well and continues to shame students who don’t read up to “grade level”. If you can only read the yellow books when the majority of your classmates are reading green, that’s going to affect your self-perceptions in other classes, on the playground, and potentially scar you for the rest of your life. A book might actually become a trigger throughout your life that reminds you that you are not good enough or alternatively, that you are better than everyone else. According to a study published in 2011 regarding student attitudes toward AR, students who already enjoy reading find the AR system abhorrent and a waste of time; it actually discourages their reading for pleasure. “I would read more relaxed, pay attention to details if I didn’t have to do AR.” As a librarian, this breaks my heart. As a librarian that complied with the system, I will always hang my head in shame. I felt the pressure of measuring my success by students’ AR levels too, as a means of justifying that a school librarian is necessary in every school. I'm sure I’m not the only one. Accelerated Reader has been around longer than I have. It continues to potentially scar and eliminate generations of would-be lifelong readers. Limiting access to books or discouraging readers to read beyond their limits threatens the distinct spirit and purpose of libraries. How can we break away? How will we know the students are growing?
Let the children read what they want! In doing so, we liberate their creativity and ability to think critically down the road. Instead of putting up gates, we are charged with helping them open the doors to new worlds. Student choice is the key. Illustrations by Nikos Brown 2018
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One of my core tenets as a teacher-librarian is that collaboration is key. So often teachers have great ideas brewing that are totally worth pursuing and librarians can and should be the catalyst that helps make a great project even better. Many of the greatest lessons I've ever taught were only possible because I had teachers to collaborate with. Find those colleagues who are willing to team up and take risks, be real and plan flexibly, learn and celebrate. Allow me a minute to expand on these points: 1. Find colleagues willing to team up and take risks:
2. Be real and plan flexibly:The earlier you can begin planning, the better. Think BIG, then scale back on what's realistic. Be real about timing, sit down with your calendars, prepare for unexpected obstacles (i.e absent or unprepared students, other assignments that take priority, editing, exhaustion). Be open to failure. You will inevitably run out of time and you will need to be fine with however it ends up. Planning and collaboration requires being held accountable to timelines and consequences for both teachers and students. Say what you're going to do and do what you're going to say. Communication is key, articulate to students that this applies for both teachers and students, model teacher teamwork. While you might need to surrender certain ideas from your vision, never compromise the expectation for the project's excellence to students. Yes, we don't have time to record those scenes, but this project will still be done and done well for a larger audience. 3. Learn and celebrate often
Let's go!I must preface by saying that these students had previously finished a unit on digital photography and shooting that I adapted from KQED Teach's "Video Storytelling Essentials" This was not their first rodeo. You must build up students' skills gradually and develop their vocabulary (i.e. rule of thirds, landscape vs. portrait, etc.) so they know what the heck you're talking about!
Reflection and CelebrationAny decent teacher knows that the practice of reflection fosters deeper learning and provides a more authentic means of assessment other than a skill recall test. All of their reflections over their five years at the school are kept in their own digital portfolios. I adopted this practice after attending Trevor Mattea's digital portfolio workshop. "Honestly, it was pretty hard because we kept laughing. We had to keep adding and deleting over and over again. We had to keep the really embarrassing part of me with 3 heads and made sure everything was spot on perfect. I learned that filming and making scripts are actually pretty hard. You have to determine which parts of the book are important and valuable enough to be put into the movie trailer." -Student reflection excerpt When all was said and done, students enjoyed a FILM FESTIVAL where they finally saw what other groups were working on and shared the debut of their final masterpieces with other school community members.
Feel free to contact me for more information, resources, tips, or if you need someone to brainstorm with by commenting in the section below. Better yet, I'd love to hear about how you're integrating green screens in your classrooms and taking things to the next level.
Next up: Awakening civic engagement in students through protesting digital wrongs! Whaaaa? Stay tuned to find out. After teaching middle school digital literacy for 6 years in the middle of tech-centric San Francisco, I am eager to share some of my more creative and successful lessons I've enjoyed teaching to 9 through 13 year olds.
I had the opportunity to build a digital literacy curriculum from scratch in a time where this subject matter and its relevance grows more and more. The school I taught at started with 4th grade, and most students stayed until their graduation which allowed me to build long term relationships with my students, as well as set up a 5 year progressive, flexible, and cumulative curriculum that taught students not only how to master basic computer skills but also how to create well, create often, set and meet their own goals, and to practice a critical eye online and a moral character online in order to understand the real offline effects of technology use. I draw on a variety of resources online and will share those tools with all of you. Because of the limited budget of the school I taught at, it forced me to be resourceful in finding free applications. It is my intention that posting my lessons and digital literacy classroom practices inspires and aides computer-teaching educators in their own teaching realms. First up, green screen films! |
AuthorAlicia Tapia is a school librarian and digital literacy instructor focused on information literacy skills delivered in a creative and effective way. ArchivesCategories
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