Reflections on 2020-2021

We are now getting into the rhythm of the 2021-2022 school year.  Although it is tempting just to forge ahead, I believe it is important to take time to reflect upon some key takeaways from 2020-2021.  That year was a year unlike any other in teaching.  It’s easy to pinpoint the many negatives, but there were also bright spots as well as the opportunity to establish new connections with students.  As I continue to plan for this school year, I’ll be leaning on experiences from our unusual past year to improve library offerings (both in-person and virtual).

Here are some of the top happenings of 2020-2021:

#11: New Circulation Strategies
The COVID safety measures in place at the beginning of September 2020 necessitated a different approach to library circulation.  At this time, students were not traveling to different classrooms (the library included) and it was determined that browsing the library shelves would not be safe.  Several ideas took hold to continue to get reading materials into the hands of our Iroquois readers.

Morning Delivery Service: Taking the library mobile via a traveling book cart was a first for me!  As students entered the building in the morning, I visited various wings with new and interesting books.  This gave students the opportunity to select library books.  It was also a perfect time to chat with educators about library offerings and services.  The time in the morning to discuss books led to some collaborative lesson opportunities.

Sora: Our Sora usage really took off as a direct result of the pandemic.  Since our school offers 1:1 devices, Sora was a perfect fit for providing students with ebooks and audiobooks.  At the beginning of the year, I made sure to visit (either virtually or in-person) each ELA class to avail students of the Sora service.  Access to the digital collection through the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library greatly expanded students’ ability to find excellent reading materials.

BookHub: Although the morning book delivery and Sora helped fill the reading needs of students, more access to books was still needed.  The BookHub service provided students with different avenues to request titles directly from the physical library.  This offered students the option to place holds in the library catalog or request a surprise delivery of books.  Students in Ms. Beauchamp’s seventh grade ELA class even designed a logo for the BookHub service!

#10: Virtual Battle of the Books
The regional Battle of the Books competition is always a source of anticipation for area middle schools.  A fantastic group of middle school librarians affiliated with the School Librarians’ Association of Western New York (SLAWNY) selects five books and then creates trivia questions for the books.  Participating middle schools can host an in-school competition to crown the winning team in their district.  At Iroquois Middle, four teams participated.  Our winning team consisted solely of sixth grade students!  The regional finals, which would normally take place at an area middle school, were held virtually using Socrative.  The SLAWNY librarians did an excellent job making the virtual experience special for all participating teams.  The Iroquois Middle team fell short of first place, tying for second with Orchard Park.  The team is looking forward to trying for first place again this upcoming year!

#9: District DIY Contest
Over the fall and winter of 2020, the increase in COVID cases required taking a pause from in-person learning.  As our families were spending more time at home, the Iroquois Library Department found this to be the perfect opportunity to host a DIY contest for families.  This contest highlighted the large collection of DIY/Maker resources available digitally through Sora.  Winning projects were awarded prizes.  It was wonderful to see the creativity of our Iroquois families on display!

#8: Nonfiction Revamp
Folks unfamiliar with library work might be surprised to know just how much effort and attention is required behind the scenes.  I had long hoped to update the organization of the library’s nonfiction section, but this required recataloging, relabeling, and reshelving thousands of books.  The 2020-2021 year allowed me the opportunity to forge ahead with this laborious project, given the fact that the library space itself was without foot traffic.  The work that went into this overhaul has certainly paid dividends, as students can browse nonfiction with increased ease!  A grant from SLAWNY helped pay for the cataloging supplies needed for the project.  This blog post outlines the specifics of the revamp.

#7: Increased Emphasis on Digital Citizenship
Digital citizenship has long been a topic championed by school librarians.  However, time shortage in an already-packed curriculum is a barrier for classroom teachers to bring students into the library for digital citizenship instruction.  The increased emphasis on digital skills brought on by the pandemic created an opportunity to prioritize digital citizenship.  Teachers for seventh grade ELA and sixth through eighth grade STREAM booked multiple digital citizenship classes throughout the year.  These classes provided students with instruction on topics such as finding media balance, staying safe online, and confronting cyberbullying.  The excellent resources provided through Common Sense Media and the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum were readily used in lesson design.

#6: Updates to Library Website
Although an accessible and functional library website has always been important, the rise in online learning made the library website a crucial tool for learning.  Throughout the year, improvements were made to the website’s appearance and function.  A Bitmoji library adorned the welcome page.  A virtual makerspace, complete with clickable activities, were added.  Book promotion pages featuring book trailers and student recommendations provided new reading inspiration.  Since students needed assistance with their devices while at home, a link was provided for the district’s technology help pages.  As COVID restrictions changed, the COVID-19 procedures portion of the website was continuously updated.

The main page of the library website.

The virtual makerspace, with clickable activities.

#5: Virtual Wednesday Events
Throughout the 2020-2021 school year, the learning model changed.  One aspect that remained consistent for the first half of the year was some unstructured time on Wednesday afternoons.  This provided the perfect opportunity for virtual programming through the library.  On Wednesdays, students were encouraged to visit the library’s Microsoft Teams page for a variety of events.  These events included pre-recorded author visits, book chats, trivia contests using Gimkit, and even an advanced writing workshop with author Judy Bradbury.  These events helped build the library’s community atmosphere, just in the virtual space!  It was wonderful to be able to check in with students for fun activities and discussions.

#4: Virtual Author Visit with Gordon Korman
A yearly author visit is always an event to look forward to.  The benefits to students are numerous: the ability to hear about the writing/publishing processes, to learn about new and interesting titles, and to have a VIP-type connection with a stellar writer.  After an author visit, the author’s books remain popular checkouts for years to come.  Even though COVID threw many curveballs, the Iroquois Library Department knew that missing out on the yearly author visit was not an option.

An author with wide appeal across all buildings is Gordon Korman, writer of nearly 100 books for children.  Gordon got his start as a published author when a manuscript he wrote as a seventh grader was published three years later.  Mr. Korman was eager to hold virtual visits.  Students in grades 4-12 were inspired to hear of Gordon’s early start as an author and loved the ability to ask him questions.  Ever since the author visit, Korman books have been flying off the shelves at all Iroquois schools!  This proved to be a valuable opportunity for our community of readers.

#3: Girls’ STEM Leadership Group Meetings
In 2019, our school was fortunate to receive a generous $50,000 grant from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation to fund STEM learning for girls.  A variety of delays meant that we still had funds to spend during the 2020-2021 year.  COVID restrictions did not allow for in-person meetings across grade levels, so meetings were relegated to the online environment.  This proved to be beneficial as it allowed for more students to participate without the barriers of needing rides home.  Our group met on select Wednesdays after the school day.  Activities hosted during the meetings included a movie night, trivia competition, and building Tinkercrate engineering projects.  We were also fortunate to host two author visits with women who wrote STEM-focused books: Lynne Kelly, author of Song for a Whale, and Melissa Sarno, author of Just Under the Clouds.

#2: Virtual STEM Night
A major focus of the STEM leadership funding was the planning and implementation of a district-wide STEM event for Iroquois families.  Possibly the biggest challenge of the year was how to pull off an event without the ability to host in person!  Members of the Girls’ STEM Leadership Group tackled this challenge head-on and delivered an amazing virtual STEM experience.  The finished product, an at-home event accessible anytime, is a website filled with STEM goodness.  A variety of hands-on experiments were planned.  Girls created written directions, materials lists, and videos for each experiment.  Other group members interviewed women in STEM fields.  To make the virtual event even more exciting, supply bags for 200 families were prepared and distributed.  This demonstrated students’ ability to carry out a largescale project, even under difficult circumstances.

The contents of the STEM Night supply bags.

#1: Friendships Formed
Undoubtedly the biggest takeaway from this past school year was that students were still able to form new, lasting friendships.  Although we hadn’t been used to communicating mostly through technology, the hardships of last year meant that students who normally wouldn’t meet during a school day now had the ability to connect.  Library events and STEM events brought together students from different teams and grade levels.  A group of three students who met at a virtual library event later went on to write a book together!  It’s important to acknowledge the positive role that technology can play in relationship building.

I’m glad to see 2020-2021 in the rearview.  The challenges were many, but the positives will help bolster future library offerings.  

District DIY Contest

It seems the 2020-2021 school year continues to throw curveballs our way.  Throughout the year, we have oscillated between the hybrid model and the 100% virtual models of learning.  Strangely enough, this state of constant change is starting to feel a little more normal.  If there's anything to be said of this year, it's that those in education have become very adept at rolling with the punches!

As our learning model continues to shift, an ongoing challenge for librarians is to facilitate opportunities to build community, especially in the virtual environment.  The librarians at Iroquois Central developed an at-home family challenge to help do just that.

One of the most helpful services organized through our libraries this year has been expanded access to Sora, our district's platform for digitized ebooks and audiobooks.  Even when it was difficult to get physical books in the hands of the Iroquois community, Sora was available 24/7 for students and staff to access books from our digital book collection.  

To highlight the offerings in Sora, librarians utilized STEM grant funding from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation to create a mini-collection of STEM/DIY books within Sora.  These books provided the Iroquois community with lots of inspiration for projects that could be completed at home.  The books selected for this collection promoted DIY projects of many types: cooking/baking, LEGO builds, cardboard creations, and computer coding (only to name a few).

The DIY collection was showcased on Sora's main page.

In order to further promote use of the collection, librarians organized a contest centered around use of the Sora books.  The Iroquois Family DIY Contest encouraged families to look at the Sora books and work on an at-home project together.  The contest was open in late December and ran through February 1, 2021.  The contest was publicized by posting information to the Iroquois district Facebook page as well as the websites for the school libraries.  More excitement was generated by emailing students about the contest and "talking it up" in virtual library classes.  The timing of the DIY Contest was perfect, as the cold weather was an excellent time to stay inside and work on some projects!

The contest flyer.

As the contest deadline approached, many amazing submissions were sent in!  Staff members and students across grade levels shared pictures of their wonderful DIY creations.  Pictured below are just a few of the submissions:

An elaborate cardboard fort.

Cat food truck!

A crocheted Josh Allen.

Intricate LEGO house.

Animal origami mobile.

A gorgeous creation from a staff member!

The level of creativity blew the librarians away!  It was amazing to see such displays of creativity, but more importantly, it was fun to see families having fun together during these tough times.  With some of the remaining grant funding, our department was able to provide all participants with prizes.  These prizes varied by age level, but included some project supplies as well as a participation button.  Iroquois librarians look forward to hosting more contests in the future.

DIY Contest prizes.

Sixth Grade Finch Project

Last year, we participated in the robot finch loan program offered through BirdBrain Technologies, the company which manufactures the devices.  The robot finch is a wonderful coding tool that provides students with hands-on coding opportunities.  The students enjoyed these so much that our technology teachers, Mrs. Lambert and Mr. Kwietniewski, decided to buy them for their STREAM program.  This opened up some great opportunities for our library program to collaborate with STREAM.

The robot finch can be controlled with many programming languages.  Our students used Scratch to control the finches.  The finch comes equipped with two wheel motors, LED lights, a temperature sensor, buzzer, and touch sensors.  These capabilities provided students with seemingly endless programming opportunities.  The hands-on nature of the robot finches also made it fun and easy for students to see their programming skills come to life!

After some reflection on last year, we decided that sixth grade would be the grade level that would work most in-depth with the robot finches.  Instead of sticking with just an hour of code in December, Mrs. Lambert's sixth graders visited the library throughout all of December to work with the finches!  Each section enjoyed three full class periods for this project.

Learning how to code with the finches.

On the first day of the finch project, students received a brief introduction to the finches, including how to set up the finch on the student laptops, how to properly care for the finches, and which Scratch coding commands would be useful for their programs.  Students were then instructed to work in groups of 2-3 to complete a finch tutorial.  This packet, adapted from the finch education website, introduced students to finch features and some coding strategies.

Once students had completed the tutorial, they were invited to participate in a challenge of their choosing.  There were four coding challenges the groups could choose from: traffic light, dance party, remote control, and drawbot.  Each of the challenges were adapted from beginner level Scratch lessons found on the finchrobot.com website.  There were a number of groups that were able to tackle multiple challenges during their project time in the library.

Teams spread out in the library to work on their challenges.

DrawBot was a favorite challenge for this year!

Multiple groups participated in the DrawBot challenge.

It's great seeing your program come to life!

Masking tape mazes helped students tackle the remote control challenge.

There's lots of room in the library to spread out!

Overall, we were very pleased by the creativity and effort displayed by the STREAM students.  The robot finch project was a great way to celebrate #hourofcode and get students some hands-on coding time.  When Mrs. Lambert asked her students how they enjoyed their time in the library, many mentioned that they would have liked additional time with their finches!  A special thank you to Mrs. Lambert for making this possible!

Lego League Robotics 2019

On November 23rd, 2019, sixteen students from Iroquois Middle School participated in the regional FIRST Lego League Robotics competition at the Nichols School.  This was the second year that Iroquois took part in Lego League.  Interest in the program is growing, which meant Mrs. Ferger and I (Ms. Muhlbauer) were able to grow the club from one team to two!

There was plenty of planning and preparation leading up to the competition.  We held informational sessions about FLL (FIRST Lego League) during lunches.  Interested students needed to apply by providing a guardian signature and also a paragraph explaining why they want to join the team.  We stressed that FLL isn't a club in the traditional sense; instead, it requires a high level of commitment.  Once the teams were selected, we met for two hour meetings 18 times leading up to the competition.

Another wonderful addition to Lego League this year was the introduction of student mentors.  High school students Analee and Bella, members of our Girls' STEM Leadership Group, were eager to help our Lego League students succeed!  Analee and Bella shared their science and team building expertise with the middle school FLL students.

For those unfamiliar with FLL, it is a three part competition.  The spontaneous "Core Values" section assesses how well team members work together as a group in order to perform a specific task (mainly a team building activity).  Team members must then discuss how the Core Values of Lego League can be applied to school and other settings.  The Core Values of Lego League are as follows:

We are a team.

We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.

We know our coaches and mentors don't have all the answers; we learn together.

We honor the spirit of friendly competition.

What we discover is more important than what we win.

We share our experiences with others.

We display Gracious Professionalism^® and Coopertition^® in everything we do.

We have FUN!

- See more at: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/mission/corevalues#sthash.cVFMw5M0.dpuf

We are a team.

We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.

We know our coaches and mentors don't have all the answers; we learn together.

We honor the spirit of friendly competition.

What we discover is more important than what we win.

We share our experiences with others.

We display Gracious Professionalism^® and Coopertition^® in everything we do.

We have FUN!

- See more at: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/mission/corevalues#sthash.cVFMw5M0.dpu

We are a team.

We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.

We know our coaches and mentors don't have all the answers; we learn together.

We honor the spirit of friendly competition.

What we discover is more important than what we win.

We share our experiences with others.

We display Gracious Professionalism^® and Coopertition^® in everything we do.

We have FUN!

- See more at: http://www.firstlegoleague.org/mission/corevalues#sthash.cVFMw5M0.dpuf

- Discovery: We explore new skills and ideas.
- Innovation: We use creativity and persistence to solve problems.
- Impact: We apply what we learned to improve the world.
- Inclusion: We respect each other and embrace our differences.
- Teamwork: We are stronger when we work together.

Students practiced Core Values by assembling our competition board.

Following step by step instructions is crucial.

The "Project" section is more of a traditional science project.  Students are given a topic to research first.  This year, the theme was "City Shaper" and teams were challenged to find a way to improve something within their community.  The challenge took on an architectural feel, as teams were urged to explore structures and buildings within their community.  The team shares their innovation with a group of people who can benefit from their research.  They then must create a short presentation to show the judges what they learned through the research process.

The White Team decided to tackle the problem of Iroquois's campus not being bike friendly.  By developing ways to make Iroquois more bike friendly, the environment would be positively impacted and students would receive more exercise.  In addition to performing research online, students also interviewed Mr. Eric Nagel, Iroquois' Transportation Supervisor, and Mr. Clark, an official from the Town of Elma.

The White Team's completed project board.

Members of the White Team share their project with an interested student.

Members of the White Team prior to presenting their project to the judges.

The Red Team identified Elma's lack of a community pool as a problem in our area.  Many of the other surrounding communities have access to a pool, but Elma/Marilla/Wales do not.  Through research and an interview with Mr. Joe Colern from the Town of Elma, students developed a plan to make a community pool that was accessible for community members of all abilities.

The Red Team's completed project board.

Members of the Red Team, just after presenting their project to the judges.

Last but not least is the "Robotics" component.  Students are honing their computer programming skills in order to train a robot to complete missions.  Each mission is worth a predetermined amount of points, so the team that accumulates the most points will win this section of the competition.  This part of the competition requires a lot of trial and error; it is difficult to get the robot's programming just right in order to complete the missions.

Members of the Red Team cheering on their robot.

Preparing for the robot competition.

Members of the White Team prepare for the robot competition.

Setting up the robot required care and precision.

During the competition, it was very exciting when our teams' robots successfully completed missions!  The White Team's robot came in eighth place and the Red Team's robot came in sixth place out of twelve teams.

In between the rigorous competition rounds, our students found ample time to have fun!  The staff at Nichols does an amazing job keeping the entire day exciting, interactive, and upbeat.

Nichols provided a button making station for all attendees.

Students were invited to dance in between each robot round.

The Lockport High School robotics team shared their creations.

The cookies at the concession stand were a huge hit!

Although both teams are to be commended for a successful day, the White Team deserves a special nod for winning the event's Core Values trophy!  This trophy is awarded to the team that displays outstanding teamwork, perseverance, and kindness throughout the competition.  In addition to earning the trophy, students on the White Team were also selected as Model Citizens by the robot judges because they cleaned up their robotics supplies without being asked.  This wonderful behavior is indicative of the amazing students we have at Iroquois!

Members of the White Team with their Core Values trophy.

Although Lego League is over for this year, the team members are keeping their robotics skills sharp by participating in the middle school's Bright Minds Club and Science Challenge.  All sixth and seventh grade students are visiting the library with their STREAM classes in December to compete in various coding activities.

Thank you to the Lego League students and families for another successful year!

Makerspace Progress

Over the summer, I received some exciting news regarding the physical footprint of the library.  The Teacher Resource Center room adjoining the library is now part of the library!  This room was once used as a conference meeting space, but will now be solely student space.

There are many features of the room that make it ideal for a student creation space.  Most importantly, there is an abundance of storage.  This is perfect for storing STEM items, craft supplies, and ongoing student projects.  The space itself is open, making it possible to store the bulky LEGO League mission board.  There is also a bank of windows leading into the library.  This means that students can be working in the creation space while being supervised from the library itself.  A long counter underneath the windows makes for a perfect workbench.  All of these features are opening up many possibilities for our library program!

After lots of cleaning over the summer, the room was ready for its transformation.

The back room prior to any re-purposing.

Here are some pictures of the room in its current state:

The long counter is a perfect workstation.  The bank of windows
make the room visible from the library itself.

All drawers are labeled and contain various craft supplies.

The LEGO League mission board fits perfectly in this large room.

All cabinets are labeled with the supplies each contains.

The LEGO League teams have their own cabinet
where they can keep their supplies organized.

Maker and STEM books have been added to the library's collection. 
Many of the books are now on display in the student creation space.

Access to a sink makes messy projects a reality!

Maker Mondays
Now that the space was ready for visitors, it was time to invite the students in to enjoy the space.  The first "Maker Monday" program took place on Monday, October 7th during sixth grade study hall.  During this time, students were invited to visit the library to participate in coding activities using the BlueBot coding tool.  Students learned how to use the coding tool, then applied their knowledge to tackle various coding challenges.  It was great to see students try something new and work together to meet the needs of each challenge!

Students were challenged to create the longest code possible using the BlueBot.

Students worked together to create a code that would
avoid the fire squares on the BlueBot mat.

There was lots of enthusiasm for the first Maker Monday activity!  Future activities will include STEM challenges as well as craft activities.  The library books purchased will be used for project inspiration.  We're lucky enough to have an abundance of duct tape that needs to be used, too!

Future Steps
We're off to a great start, but there is still a long way to go in building this hands-on component of the library program.  Some next steps include:

1. Naming the student creation space!  I'll be putting together a contest for students to come up with a creative name for their new space.

2. Expanding the Maker Monday program to include new projects and grade levels.  Student input on September's library orientation survey will help with program planning, as they indicated the types of activities they would like to see happen within the library.

3. Decorate the space!  Although the room looks cozier than it once did, there is room for improvement.  Ideally, students should take the lead on making the space their own.

4. Foster more opportunities for student creation through use of recording resources.  We currently have a green screen, but it has yet to be mounted in the space.  Once dedicated recording capabilities are up and running, students will be encouraged to create their own recordings within the library.