Our Building is Closed, but the Library is Open!

March 2020 began just like any other month.  The library's schedule included a number of classroom visits, as well as special events.  The WNY Middle School Battle of the Books competition was gearing up, so students came to the library during lunch periods to talk strategy with their team members.  The Iroquois Girls' STEM Leadership Group began meeting in the library after school to plan the district-wide Family STEM Night slated for April 23rd.

Girls' STEM member tests out BeeBots and Keva Planks
for potential STEM Night stations.

Girls' STEM members work on a press release for Family STEM Night.

By the second week of March, it became clear that things weren't normal.  Maybe it was the full moon, the looming threat of Coronavirus, Friday the 13th, or a combination of all three.  The eighth grade Team DaVinci students had been working hard on their ELA/Social Studies WWII project.  By Friday the 13th, Mr. Baumgartner, Mrs. Maulucci, and I decided that students needed a little time and space to decompress.  We ended our classes fifteen minutes early that day so that students could chat, ask us questions, play games, and relax.  Eighth period study hall students enjoyed working on a Stick Together mosaic picture and making towers with Keva Planks.

Knowing what happened next, I'm thankful to have had this time to connect and relax with our students.

Eighth graders relax by working on a Stick Together picture mosaic.

Study hall students were making excellent towers with Keva Planks!

By the weekend, plans were in motion for school building closures at least until after the April break.  Iroquois administration worked swiftly to get plans in place for online instruction, meal delivery, and a host of other concerns.  With 1:1 device access, wifi available on campus while practicing social distancing, amazing support from our district technology department, and teachers already using Microsoft online tools for instruction, working solely in an online environment was possible!

The tough part, at least for me, is that I didn't get into education in order to work from behind a computer screen.  Libraries are all about building community.  Missing the in-person library visits from students and staff has been a struggle.

Transitioning to Online Learning
The overall mission of school libraries has always been to assist school community members become effective users of information found in a variety of formats.  With gains in technological capabilities, this has meant adding increased access to digitized information.

School library websites have been great repositories of information: subscription database portals, information about digital books, and curated pages for classroom projects have always been available, well before COVID-19 entered our vocabulary.

Moving into the building closures, I had some concerns about delivery of library services.  How can the community aspect of a school library carry into a digital environment?  How can instruction continue?  How can I assist students and staff in a way that is helpful and not overwhelming?  What about that deluge of "free" resources now available: what is purposeful, what raises student privacy concerns?  

Like the rest of educators, I continue to build the airplane as I'm flying it.  A couple of weeks into this new reality, the following are some strategies I've applied in order keep the Iroquois Middle School Library program moving forward.

Connecting to area library organizations: Right away, library organizations scheduled Zoom meetings in order to give area librarians a chance to meet virtually in order to share ideas and resources.  The School Librarians' Association of Western New York organized a Zoom meeting and moved their scheduled professional development sessions to online formats.  Both the Erie 2 BOCES School Library System and the Western New York Library Resources Council solidified plans for weekly Zoom meetings for member librarians.  I can't thank the library leaders in my community enough for these meetings.  So far, I have attended every session because of the tremendous value they offer.  Librarians are eager to learn and share, as evidenced by the conversations had in the Zoom meetings.  Through these sessions, I have had many of my concerns answered.  I gained information about strategies to connect with the community while keeping student privacy protected, and what resources are available to help our students, staff, and families.  The most valuable takeaway from the meetings is the strong sense of camaraderie within our WNY library community!  We're all in this together and willing to lend a hand to each other.

Virtual library presence established: One of my first responses to the building closure was to find comfort within the pages of a favorite book.  I was sure that there were Iroquois Middle students also feeling the same way!  Authors and publishers have eased recording restrictions in order to provide educators the opportunity to record read alouds (this article from School Library Journal does an amazing job outlining the new guidelines).  I chose to read Ghost by Jason Reynolds in its entirety.  To protect the property of the author, I posted the read aloud files to a newly-established Iroquois Middle School Library page on Microsoft Teams.  This ensured that the read aloud would only be available to members of the school community.  The Teams page was also established to create the library's virtual community presence.  In addition to the posted read aloud, this page will also house book talk video chat sessions, book reviews, and trivia competitions using Gimkit and Kahoot.  The first book chat is scheduled for April 10th.  I'm using student input to guide future offerings!

Curation of resources: A positive outcome during these challenging times has been that educational professionals, authors, publishers, and educational technology companies have been extremely generous with allowing access to their resources and services.  Although this has been amazing, it has also been overwhelming!  Instead of sharing out all of these resources out little by little, I've created a new page off the library website called "Learning at Home" in order to keep a growing list of helpful resources for our community.  Librarians' roles have always included curation.  Now, our curation efforts have been driven into high gear because of the urgent need to share relevant resources with communities.

Brief and purposeful communication: The amount of change and the volume of information has been exhausting, to say the least.  My goal during this difficult time has been to offer assistance in ways that are gentle instead of overwhelming.  I decided to send out a weekly email to staff, sharing links to curated resources and other pertinent items.  Utilizing smore.com, I emailed a library update newsletter to all Iroquois Middle students.  This newsletter showed them how to access the library Teams page and other resources.  Within the newsletter was a live link to an embedded Microsoft Form.  This form asked students for feedback on what to purchase to enhance our Sora ebook/audiobook collection, as well as their ideas for upcoming virtual library events.

Continuation of instruction: As I mentioned earlier, our Team DaVinci eighth graders were well into their research project when the building closure began.  Because the research project is the culmination of many information literacy, critical thinking, and writing skills that students have been working on all year, it was decided that the plans already in motion should be continued.  Instead of offering students mini-lessons on research and citation topics, I used Screencastomatic to record online tutorials for students to view at their convenience.  Symbaloo was a great tool to present helpful websites for student research.  All of these items were available on a project page located on the library website.  Students completed their research notes, citations, and drafts within Microsoft Class Notebook, making it possible for educators to check in on student progress.  Microsoft Teams allowed for virtual office hours via chat (with the added bonus of meeting students' parents, siblings, and pets!).  Students have also been sending their research questions via email.

Although this new method of instruction is not without its hiccups (equity issues persist in education, and are even more pronounced now), it has been a helpful way to keep students engaged in their learning.  I'm happy to report that research projects scheduled from before the building closure are still slated to continue!  Of course, these projects will look a little different.  During collaborative lesson planning, the classroom educators and I will discuss how to best meet the needs of their specific students.

Staying grounded:  Most importantly, I realize that I am in an extreme position of privilege by being able to continue my work in this fashion.  Those working on the front lines in public positions of all types are worthy of respect and awe.  I'm doing my best to stay safe and healthy, not only for myself, but for the community.  Establishing a sleep schedule, eating healthy, exercising, and connecting (via phone/text/video chat) with family and friends has been a priority.  The shift to online learning means that time itself starts to feel more fluid: healthy routines and boundaries are needed more than ever before!

Monthly Report for March 2020.

Although the building stays closed, our library remains open--eager to share resources and build community.  It's impossible to say when things will return to normal.  However, when they do, I hope that added opportunities for digital connections continue.  In education, it's all hands on deck as we continue to move forward.  Libraries will always be there to lend support!

Early America Research

During November 2019, the students in Mr. Smerka's seventh grade Social Studies classes spent over a week in the library for a research project.  During this project, groups of 3-4 students researched Early American topics and presented their findings to their classmates.

Student groups chose from topics such as: Northern Colonies, Middle Colonies, Southern Colonies, Sons/Daughters of Liberty, Salem Witch Trials, and The Lost Colony of Roanoke. These topics were very broad and open-ended, meaning that the groups had the flexibility to take their research in many directions.  This made for a challenging task for the groups.  Not only did they have to comb through sources to find relevant and interesting facts, but they also needed to present their information in a way that was organized and engaging.

The first few days of the project were devoted to introducing students to the various resources available for research.  Students spent time using nonfiction and reference books available in the library.  There were close to 150 library books on these topics, so every group found interesting information when browsing the books.  They recorded their research on MLA note sheets, which helped them to stay organized and avoid plagiarism.  Later this year, students will learn how to make MLA formatted works cited pages during an ELA research project.

Note Sheets help students to stay organized during the research process.

Once students exhausted the information found in the books, we moved on to using web resources to gather more facts.  Credible websites were displayed in a Symbaloo organizer found on the middle school library website.  Students were also encouraged to find their own sources through internet searching, but were instructed to evaluate sources for credibility prior to use.  As with the book sources, students filled out MLA note sheets for all of their web resources.

The Symbaloo organizer displayed helpful websites for the project.

MLA note sheets kept the students' research organized.

At the end of the third day of research, the students completed an online "Research Check In" form that was posted on the library website.  This check in allowed Mr. Smerka and I to see if students understood the importance of using reliable sources and if anyone was experiencing issues with the research process.  The data gathered from this was extremely helpful.  Students that might not have been comfortable telling us that they were having problems researching felt comfortable letting us know on the form.  Over the next few days, we were able to provide targeted assistance to those students.

A check in page via Microsoft Forms was distributed to all students.

The groups then worked on PowerPoint slides in order to provide a visual for their presentation.  The majority of these projects were well organized and utilized advanced features such as hyperlinks and transitions.

Students worked on research and PowerPoint presentations while in the library.

Student groups prepared to present to their classmates.

The flexible seating in the library allows students to work in comfort.

The last few days in the library were devoted to presenting the group projects.  Students received a grading rubric prior to presenting, so they had a clear idea of the assessment criteria.  The presentations were wonderful!  Many student groups displayed tremendous creativity (and the groups that brought snacks were much appreciated!).

Mr. Smerka instructs students on effective presentation techniques.

One group made Johnnycakes (a colonial recipe), and even brought in a sub tray!

The sub tray was a wonderful treat the day before the long weekend!

Having Mr. Smerka's students in the library made for a very enjoyable week and a half.  Most importantly, students were able to practice their research, teamwork, and presentation skills.  The seventh grade teams will return to the library for an ELA project in January where they will continue to hone their skills.

Welcome to the Iroquois Middle School Library!

Welcome to our blog!  My name is Ms. Maria Muhlbauer and I am the new librarian at Iroquois Middle School.  I'm so thrilled to be teaching in the district where I reside!  Iroquois is definitely a very special place.  Be sure to visit the blog often to see what our students are learning in the library.

Fall 2017 was a very exciting and busy time.  Although I was not able to arrive until late September, we hit the ground running by organizing the library and hosting classes.

Over the summer, new lounge-style furniture arrived in the library.  This furniture has proven to be a big hit with students, as it allows them flexible and comfortable places to sit during their library visits.

The new seating area in the library.

The organization of the library was improved by adding additional library signage and displays.  Prior to my arrival, Miss Metz and Mrs. Jensen worked hard to get the library up and running!

A spooky book display near the library entrance.

Signage within the graphic novel area helps students find great books.

Fiction books were removed from the high shelves and replaced with displays.

Series fiction is grouped together.

Posters brighten up the reference area.

Mrs. Lasky, our fifth grade art teacher, had even more ideas to make the space inviting.  The nonfiction shelves now display some amazing works of art from fifth grade students!

Fifth grade artwork adorns the nonfiction area.

Students made Chiluly-inspired bowls out of old overhead projector sheets.

With the library ready for visitors, it was now time to host classes.  Here are some highlights from the past month:

Library Orientation and QR Code Scavenger Hunt
With all of the changes in the library, it was really necessary for students to have a library orientation.  In order for the orientation to be more interactive, we used the QR Reader app on the iPads to access videos about the sections of the library.  Students from grades 6-8 worked independently or in groups to complete the scavenger hunt.  Students then filled out a brief reflection.  The reflection asked students about what they like to read, what they would like to see purchased in the library, and if they had any ideas for special library events.  This feedback will help plan for future book purchases and library activities.  There were some amazing suggestions!

The scavenger hunt sheet was completed during library orientation.

Examples of the QR codes posted around the library.

Book Selection, Book Talks, and Free Reading
Many recent library visits have focused on selecting books for independent reading.  It is clear that Iroquois students love to read!  Sixth grade reading classes are participating in the 40 Book Challenge, inspired by "The Book Whisperer" Donalyn Miller.  Other grade levels also have reading goals and challenges.  For instance, eighth grade ELA students are challenged to complete a genre tic-tac-toe reading assignment this year.

The tic-tac-toe board used in eighth grade ELA.

Music Research
The seventh and eighth grade music classes of Mrs. Fox, Mrs. Kloc, and Ms. Louttit visited the library for research projects.  Seventh grade researched classical composers and eighth grade researched a rock and roll artist or group.  All students utilized books, encyclopedias, databases, and websites throughout the research process.  World Book Student and Kids InfoBits databases proved particularly helpful.  Useful websites were also organized on the library website through use of the Symbaloo tool.

The website organizer for the eighth grade music project.

All in all, it was a great start to the year in the library!  I'm looking forward to adding more library visits and special events in the coming months.

A snapshot of the last few weeks in the library.