680. Artifacts

One theme for this class has been taking on modeling behavior when it comes to engaging technology as tech leaders.  The librarians in my district are tech-savvy and we usually bring and model new tech tools to other departments.  However, I feel we haven't done a great job of showing our tech leadership when it comes to our own department.  So for this class, I decided to take on a more active role with two of our tech tools: 
 

Social Media presence:

Our Twitter handle, DGSLibrary, was used mostly to communicate schedule changes when we had in-person students. Occasionally we would highlight a class or project but we weren't very active in sharing our story. I have started a weekly campaign to promote books in our library, books I'm reading, books I'm listening to, or the books in the Lincoln Awards list. The list has 20 books and each Wednesday I'll be tweeting a short book talk video about one of them. Last week's tweet was about A Heart in a Body in the World by Deb Caletti. 

DGS Library Website (Libguides) presence:

Remote learning has meant that our students and staff rely more on our website for information.  We started using Libguides last year to mostly link to Google Docs with instructions. This year we are converting lots of our instruction to videos for both students and teachers. For a Social Studies class, American Government, I created a page to include all the information that in the past we would have just linked to students from their Google Classroom with videos, interactive games, and a section in Spanish to help our EL students. Check it out at Media Bias. 

681. Managing Ed Tech Services Intro

Hello! Welcome to my blog for all library, teaching, and technology-related things.

My name is Inma Galan, I am a high school teacher-librarian at Downers Grove South High School in Downers Grove. This is my 5th year with the district. Prior to working at the high school,  I worked at a public library facilitating storytime programs for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. My day to day job allows me to work with a variety of classes from doing book talks to teaching citation tools.  We are a 1:1 school and now with remote teaching obviously rely on technology daily but even before we had a chance to utilize technology daily.  I want to learn more about leveraging and managing technology as we continue to change and evolve. I like to learn more about creating opportunities for all our students to engage with technology in more creative ways. 

I am a mom to two boys (17 & 13) and a dog, plus two cats that came along with my fiance. I am currently training to run my first marathon in 3 weeks!  I love to travel and hope to have a chance to go back home (Spain) next summer. 

680-Navigating Social Media

 

We use Twitter and Instagram in our library as a way to communicate and share information with students and staff. I don’t think many families follow us or that we particularly do a good job of reaching out to families.  One of the main reasons we started to use Twitter and Instagram was to share schedules with students, now with remote learning, we are mostly sharing new tools, tutorials, and book talks. In an always-connected world, I think it is important that we share with and reach out to our students, staff, and families. 

We have a pretty standard policy when it comes to inappropriate technology use, the first time students log into the district Chromebooks they have to agree to follow the policies. Honestly, I think most of them click on the "agree" without reading the statement. When we work with freshmen students we always remind them of the policy and the fact that there is not an expectation of privacy on district-owned devices and networks.  Additionally, when we work with classes we remind them of copyright laws and how they apply to in-school projects versus projects they will work for the outside world to consume (creating a blog or web posting versus a Google Slide in-class presentation). 

I think school leaders need to have more conversations with students, what is their perception of cyberbullying, how do they experience it, how do they think it can be solved or prevented.  I think we do a good job of trying to talk to students but at times our messages seem so prescriptive that they can’t relate to the message.  

680. Introduction

 Welcome to my blog for all library, teaching, and technology-related things.

My name is Inma Galan, I am a high school teacher-librarian at Downers Grove South High School in Downers Grove. This is my 5th year with the district. Prior to working at the high school, I worked at a public library facilitating storytime programs for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. This is my 6th class on the Instructional Technology Endorsement program. I have completed my ESL/Bilingual endorsements at St. Francis and really enjoyed the experience. 

Normally, I would be working with a variety of classes with daily changes from doing book talks to teaching citation tools. However, under the current circumstances we, the librarian's team, are doing the best we can to support teachers and students. We are a 1:1 school and were used to using technology daily. Now we are taking it up to the next level. 

I am a mom to two boys (17 & 13) and a crazy dog.  I love to travel and immerse myself in new cultures.  I am originally from Spain. This past summer we had planned to travel to Spain & Portugal, we're still hoping we'll get to do that next summer. In the meantime, I have been running and reading a lot. 

EEND 675 Foundations Artifacts

The tools that I would like to highlight and that are part of the extensions we use in my district are ExplainEverything and Pear Deck.  They both can be used to engage students both in the classroom and when using remote learning.  There are free options available however subscription-based options provide extra support and resources. 

Explain Everything is an interactive whiteboard platform that allows teachers and students to collaborate, share, and learn. Teachers record and share lessons using options like images and videos. Students record and share videos as evidence of their learning. Here are instructions on how to set up a project using Explain Everything. Here is a sample of a completed project. 

Pear Deck transforms Google Slides into interactive slides by allowing you to include different types of questions for students to answer on their own or during class. The teacher mode allows you to see who is participating and display responses anonymously.

Here is an example of a Slides on finding News Sources that used Pear Deck to assess students' understanding of the concepts.

EEND 678 Effective Technology Integration. Artifacts

The topics we have covered over the last 8 weeks focused on leveraging technology effectively. This looks different for all of us given our roles, students, resources, and districts. My role as a teacher-librarian is to provide instruction, support students' literacy and reading for pleasure, and create collaboration opportunities with teachers.  Technology allows me to achieve these goals. The tools/artifacts I decided to share support students' literacy both in the classroom and for their own reading pleasure. 

Sora is the student reading app from Overdrive Education. It provides students with access to ebooks and audiobooks that can be downloaded to their devices (Chromebooks) and or phones.  Schools can set the number of ebooks students can check out and the length of the checkout. District libraries can share books between schools and/or help students borrow from public libraries. Teachers can assign books to be read and check on reading statistics. Students can highlight and take notes that can be downloaded as a PDF or to Google Drive. Here is a presentation on how to access our Sora App. 

Newsela is an instructional content platform that publishes daily online articles on a range of topics and reading levels and integrated assessments. Newsela helps students develop critical nonfiction literacy skills. Teachers can engage each learner with up to date content, view metrics on student usage and performance, differentiate with 5 reading levels, including articles in Spanish are available as well for ELL, and search by standards.  

EEND 713- Reflection

My two takeaways from this class are Authenticity and  Flexibility. For engagement to happen in an e-learning environment students must feel their assignments are authentic, relevant to their learning, providing them choice and ownership. Alongside authenticity, there needs to be flexibility for students and teachers to adapt to change, to modify plans, to change technology, to abandon and pick up new projects.

EEND 713- Engaging E-Learning- Artifacts

I tools I chose to highlight for this class allowed me to engage with students during remote learning. While I had used them in the past it was during remote learning that I truly realized how helpful they were to connect with students and help them stay engaged with their learning.

Screencastify allows Chromebook users to record video tutorials, presentations, etc. You can record your screen, yourself, or both screen and self.  Videos are limited to 5 minutes unless you have a subscription. Videos are saved to Google Drive and can be shared via Youtube.  Here is a sample I created for classes conducting research on how to use one of our library databases. Screencastify can be a great tool for students to review instruction after class, or to preview skills before class. For remote learning, it is a great way to connect with students by including yourself in the video.

Google Docs is a part of the Google family of tools.  A word processor that allows users to create and edit files online while collaborating with other users. Google Docs are versatile and allow users to include interactive links and multimedia.  Teachers can share documents with students, and students can share with students for collaboration during group work, with real-time work and/or the history of any documents available for all to see. Here is a sample of my unit lesson plan which includes links to multimedia, and additional Google docs.

Genius Hour week 8_ Reflection

Hard to believe that the last 8 weeks have gone by, that another school year has come to an end, and that summer is truly here. The last 3 months have been surreal, I don’t think any of us could have predicted how different our lives would be in 2020.  

For me, this project has been a way to reconnect with purpose and creativity in my life.  World pandemic and house confinement had me lacking initiative and the desire to learn new things.  By going back to doing things I enjoyed I found a renewed sense of purpose.  Throughout this process, I have learned that you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone to continue growing, that having routines help build preparation, but that you also have to be flexible to adapt to changes.  

This week I took another step to add a new challenge and push myself out of my comfort zone. I started a running plan based on the Hanson model. It is taught by Nikki Humphrey, wife of one of the founders, along with two other coaches. It’s virtual through Facebook and limited to 70 women from across the country. Some of these women have amazing stories and successes- running Boston in 3 hours! My goal is to become a stronger runner and person by following a prescribed training plan and leaning in for support.  

I found this quote on their book and struck me that it could apply to other aspects of life “Being a great racer is part preparation and part flexibility” 

This class has provided me with experiences I can take into my class, especially with remote learning becoming a part of our daily lives. Creating authentic assignments and opportunities for students to pursue their own interests will support the development of the skills needed to succeed in the 21st century.  Pursing inquiry, evaluating sources, leveraging technology, and ethically creating and sharing new knowledge. 

Genius Hour week 6- Showtime!

I started my Genius Hour project with a very loose idea of creating a “happiness project” I had been feeling uninspired to try new things, frustrated with some of my routines and/or lack of routines, and overall discouraged and wanted to get back some of the “fun” in my life.
After doing some reading and checking out some blogs and apps I ended up focusing on 3 things that I felt were helping me feel focused and centered: exercise, in particular running and yoga, playing piano, and journaling.  Reflecting on the process I realized that week 2 was really helpful to create new routines and to force me to stick to my new plans.  Looking at my learning styles I realized that all these activities are kinesthetic in nature which is my preferred learning style.

One thing I have learned throughout this experience is the need to push myself out of my comfort zone.  From sending my piano practicing videos to my teacher for virtual feedback, to joining small races around the community, to posting on a mediation blog and reaching out to a supportive community.

I realized that the learning experience is one of the things that bring me joy. I’m still struggling with finding the perfect balance between having fun with what I’m doing and not feeling like it’s becoming a chore. I realized that I need to be flexible with myself and kind of take one day at a time.  I would like to try a similar approach with my kids and let them decide what their Genius Hour project would be and see how that unfolds.

Genius Hour week 5- Learning Styles

My learning style is hands-on, I need to try things out, I need to do in order to figure out how things work. I realized that I’m very visual too. I like to make lists and sketch things out, I highlight and take notes on my books, I love sticky notes and color-coding things. I think that there must be a mental connection/reward for me when I get to do something physical and see the end result.

When considering the type of learner that I am while attempting different activities during my Genius Hour project I realized:

• Playing the piano: It is a combination of kinesthetic, visual, and audio.  I have to practice, to physically touch the keys, I can learn from watching videos and listening to audio, but ultimately I have to practice to reap the benefits.
• Yoga: Again a combination of kinesthetic and visual. I realized that I enjoy practicing yoga videos more than I thought I was going to. In the past, I had gone to a yoga studio but creating my own playlists has worked out nicely. 
• Running: total kinesthetic activity and one that I enjoy better with friends. However, I have started reading more books (training books) and have joined a virtual team with coaches that will host Zoom meetings and Facebook live events.
• Meditation: journaling is a kinesthetic activity for me. I like to write down my thoughts much better than listening to a guided meditation or using any electronic format. 

Here is my Dip chart

Genius Hour Week 4- Mutiny!

This week I was able to focus on reading Mallika Chopra's book Living with Intent and found some passages and quotes that truly resonated with me. I’m sharing them with you here.  One in particular that resonated with me was this

“Change doesn’t happen when we feel confident, strong, and rooted. The blessing of uncertainty is that it gives us the nudge we need to dig deep- to incubate and reflect on what we want- and to find the courage to carve out a different path.” (Chopra, 51)

I struggled with my own frustrations this week especially around my fitness goals and desire to push myself to do more. Sometimes less is more.  Sometimes you don’t have to have everything figured out in order to achieve change but instead, you have to work through uncertainty to find your path.

I struggled with practicing yoga and piano realizing I’m frustrated to not have feedback at the moment. I found myself procrastinating and not enjoying those activities when instead I should focus not on the feedback and progression but on the joy they bring me. Who cares if I miss I beat? My only audience is my dogs and cats and they don’t seem to care but rather are amused with my attempts.

I guess this is part of the journey and while I felt the routines of week 2 had really helped I won't see a difference unless I stick to them long term. Setbacks are normal and we should learn from them. Reflecting on both of the books I have been reading I realized that both authors broke down their "intentions" over long periods of time and focused on developing routines that supported one or two changes at a time. 

Genius Hour Week 3- Elevator Pitch

This past week has been emotionally intense and working on my Genius Hour project has provided a dedicated “me” time. Last week I started some new routines: exercise, journaling, and decluttering at the end of the day. I’m proud to have stuck with them and realize that they are helping when coping with stress. When reflecting on what I wanted my Genius Hour to be I think I have come to the realization that I wanted to find a new purpose, a calmer or more centered me, and to create healthier routines. Last week I wanted to add some new routines: Practice piano more frequently by recording my practices and sharing them with my teacher for virtual feedback. Read Mallika Chopra’s book Living with Intent. Explore the app Insight Timer for guided meditations.

Quick updates; I managed to practice piano a bit more...here is a sample of Greensleeves (still need to practice more to not rush through some of the measures). While it feels really odd not to have immediate feedback and for all I know I’m playing the piece totally wrong I find a sense of calmness in the repetition of practicing a piece over and over. I had installed the Insight Timer app a while back but it always seemed I didn’t have enough time...or I didn't make the time. This week while I walked I listened to some of their guided meditations and listened to their music playlists when doing homework. I found that I like their playlists but wished they would be a bit “faster” for walking. A friend has shared that Headspace, another app has “walking mediations”. However, there are no free options. I didn’t manage to read Living with Intent. Overall I feel that I have identified things that at the beginning of this project I was unsure of and that by sticking to routines I’m able to better be present in the moment.  

Genius Hour Week 2- Routines

This past week I read the first chapters of The Happiness Project because even though the months of April & May were the ones that had caught my attention and got me interested in exploring this whole idea I realized I needed to figure how the author had decided to pursue this project. I need to figure out why I was drawn towards this idea myself. Each chapter (month) gave me some ideas: Identify what is bothering you Break down big issues into smaller items you can work on Take care of your physical body if you want to take care of your emotional body Stop complaining Ask for help Work smarter Create routines… Like most everyone, the global pandemic and the events of last week has taken a toll on my overall sense of well being, energy, and patience. I realized that little things have been “setting me off” but truly it’s not the little things but the larger issues that I have been ignoring. I identified that being short-tempered or aggravated with my children was one of the issues bothering me, feeling disconnected from those I love, feeling tired and unmotivated, and lacking a purpose or goal. So what can I do? Create smaller tasks that can help me avoid feeling like I have no control over what is happening around me. Exercise, eat healthier, get more sleep. Delegate housework...and let it go. Create my own routines… I realized that I liked my routines and schedule prior to the shelter in place orders, even though there were some issues and I’m sure I was short-tempered at moments, I felt there was a sense of control that now seemed lost. So I decided to revisit my days and figure out how I can create “routines” that will allow me to regain “control” at the same time some of these routines will help me feel more energized, calmed, and focused. So here are a few of the routines I have created for myself: Exercise: I love running, but injuries are preventing me from becoming a better runner. Instead of getting frustrated or discouraged, I have decided to incorporate yoga into my routine- 2 days a week- to help with flexibility which will help my injuries.

Walking is another option that I can do with a friend (maintaining social distancing) this will help both physically and give me a sense of connection. I can also walk with my son and our dog and it will give us time without distractions.

Journaling: I have started writing for 5 minutes every day. It is a kind of “freewriting” to just empty my mind and practice gratitude.

Clutter bothers me and makes me feel I don’t have a sense of control. One of Gretchen Rubin’s suggestions was to take 5 minutes every night before going to bed to do a quick “clean up” and pick up things so in the morning there is a clean start to the day. These are 3 of the routines I have started following and while it is too soon to really know if they are making a difference I do feel that I have a better sense of control over my days and I feel more energized. This week I want to explore three additional resources: Practice piano more frequently by recording my practices and sharing them with my teacher for virtual feedback. Read Mallika Chopra’s book Living with Intent. Explore the app Insight Timer for guided meditations.

Genius Project-Week 1

This project came into my life at the right time.  I have been feeling very unmotivated to learn anything new or to pursue any new or old passions. A few things I have been passionate about over the last year have been 1) learning to play piano, 2) learning Italian, 3) running a marathon.

A few years ago I inherited a piano and decided to step out of my comfort zone and take lessons as an adult. I have been taking lessons for almost a year and can play a few songs.  Since March I haven’t been able to meet with my teacher and my practice time has gone down significantly.  Last week I decided to record myself and send it to my teacher. She was delighted and has started sending me her own recordings so I keep practicing. However, I have decided that while I will keep practicing I’m not going to focus on this passion for my genius hour project.

Learning Italian is something that I started almost 5 years ago, kind of just for fun and because it is very similar to Spanish.  I have been using Duolingo however when life got busy with work and graduate school I kind of abandoned it. I considered going back to it for my genius hour project but after going through Duolingo, browsing through some of the books I purchased, and watching some YouTube videos I didn’t feel like I was fully committed to investing the time and energy to make this my project.

Running has been a way to manage stress and anxiety in my life. It allows me to have “me time” and afterward I always feel better.  Last year I went out of my comfort zone and joined a local running group, trained over the summer, and ran my first half marathon.  My goal was to run a marathon later this fall, however, that might not be an option with limited races available and a recurring injury. 

Like many of you, I have been remote teaching for the last few months, while at the same time managing my kids' e-learning and daily life. While I have tried to be patient now and then I have found myself stressed out. My son pointed out that I was working too much and not enjoying the moment. I have forgotten how to have fun and “lighten up”.  As I was reflecting on what I would like to pursue, what I would like to learn more about for my project I was browsing my bookshelves and saw a book I bought a while back The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

In her book, Gretchen tackles a subject or topic every month with the goal of creating her “own happiness”. As I was browsing through the different chapters I came across April: Lighten Up- Parenthood, May: Be Serious About Play- Leisure and thought this has the potential to be a great genius hour project.  So I’m going to pursue the idea of creating my “own happiness project” using her book and other books I have available as well as online resources.  Let's ignite some fun learning!

EEND676 Reflection

The timing for this class couldn't have been better and what a plethora of resources to take advantage of.  My first two classes on this program have focused on multimedia and collaborative tools. While I will be able to utilize some of these tools with the different classes I work with I have learned as much from reading how my classmates implement these tools with their classes. 

As we are planning a return to our students and schools leveraging tools that enable collaboration remotely and offer different learning methods & options for each learner I know I'll go back to the ideas and tools I have learned about during this class.

Reflection

This is the first course I completed within this program and I really liked having a chance to explore different multimedia tools as it can feel overwhelming to have many options. The structure of the course allowed me to dive in and explore tools in depth. 

The fact that we had a range of grade levels and experiences also helped me envision how I could utilize different tools with different subjects and students.

 

677-Multimedia Tools

Hello

As this course comes to an end I am reflecting on all l I have learned about "creative tools" that can help me engage with my students, pre-assess their knowledge, conduct quick formative assessments, and share information with not just my students, but with staff and parents.

I shared four tools I have used over the last 8 weeks. Adobe Spark has become one of my favorite tools to create graphic flyers, short videos for book talks and trailers, and webpages.  WeVideo is another tool I use frequently to create book trailers and/or digital stories.  Flipgrid was new to me but I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to use and how much fun students had using it. It allowed me to pre-assess their knowledge and even put a face to their names since it was my first time meeting this class.  A second Flipgrid allowed me to check on their understanding of the content away in a quick and fun way.

I shared Scrible a software we started using last year to annotate webpages and PDFs, create bibliographies, annotated citations, outline papers and much more.  It is relatively new software and while there are some aspects we would like to see improved the developers are super responsive to our feedback and continue to make the product better and better.

Check my "Creative Tools" page to see samples of these different tools.

Inma

Graphic Design- Discussion

We live in a visual world and learning to communicate and to learn by using images & visuals is a skill we all need.  Our students consume visual media daily, they communicate with each other via images (Snapchat, Insta, TikTok) and when given a chance to draw or doodle students tend to remember more information.  

I have collaborated with several teachers to create projects that combine research + visual literacy, for example, with social studies students selected a pre-colonial civilization and had to create a flyer with 3 unique elements from that culture. See a bad sample and a good sample.  With this activity students not only needed to complete research on 3 unique elements they had to figure out how to be selective with the information they were sharing since they had limited space. They had to find images that were appropriate and connected with their topics.  They had to use visual literacy and make sure they used fonts/colors that complemented each other. I have also used a combination of images & text to create book reviews. See Sample.  We have also done a quick lesson on using mindmaps to take notes. See How to Mindmap. See sample. 

Lately, I have been using Adobe Spark to create flyers using their templates because I’m normally not that creative but having something to react to is a great way to help me get started. 

Welcome

Welcome to my blog for all things library, teaching, and technology.

My goal is to share book reviews and recommendations, lesson ideas, and tech tools.