Yatzee and biscotti: A visit to Southern California's board game cafe

Jolene Kemos

Gonzalez, S. (2014, May 1).  Yatzee and biscotti:  A visit to Southern California’s board game cafe [Web log post].  KCRW Which Way L.A. Retrieved from http://blogs.kcrw.com/whichwayla/2014/05/yahtzee-and-biscotti-a-visit-to-southern-californias-board-game-cafe

Descriptive Summary:

This article profiles a new cafe in Los Angeles. GameHaus houses over 700 board games that range from the traditional to the obscure.  The cafe and model for business responding directly to the needs and wants of the community.  They provide space, snacks, and games catalogued by theme.  As a means of introducing patrons to new games, they offer regular special events and tutorials. Further mention is made of the culture that is developing in which strangers are willing to play with each other, or support the learning of new games. Employees are tasked as "sherpas" to bring patrons into the full experience of the gaming options.

Evaluation:

It is very inspiring to see models of user service and participatory service in unexpected places. GameHaus models meeting the needs and desires of a community and employs its customers as creators of knowledge content and expertise.  This is a perfect analogy to the participatory culture we are trying to cultivate in LIBR 233.  

Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us

Jolene Kemos

Godin, S. (2008). Tribes: We need you to lead us. New York: Penguin Group.

Descriptive Summary: 

Tribes is a motivating, if somewhat unorganized, attempt to light a fire under…well…everyone…to affect change in the status quo!  In a mere 147 pages, Godin defines stagnant and ineffective organizational structures/approaches and, through personal experiences, company and leadership profiles, paints an inspiring portrait of the layman’s unprecedented potential for leadership.

Evaluation:

As we continue to evolve library structures and services to meet the needs of, and involve our users, bold leadership is required. Godin's work is a shot in the arm to get us going. In the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, particularly in public schools, this is a much needed call to action. Godin has very little patience for complacency or cynicism. He constructs a strong argument for grassroots efforts and rejection of the status quo. My favorite metaphor in the book is the call to be a "unicorn in a balloon factory." Small movement can create huge impact!

Role of the Library Media Specialist

This blog post is about how the implementation of the Common Core requires librarians to be firmly implemented into the educational system more than ever. The Library Media Specialist becomes an integral part of a school by adopting the technology integration specialist mantle as needed. Supporting the research needs for every grade will contribute to the success of a school or a district.

The onus to become very tech-savvy falls upon the librarian, naturally, but it sounds like it beats puppet shows and booktalking the Hardy Boy series.

Monti, James. (2014). The library media specialist: a changing role in turbulent times. Retrieved from http://www.ednetinsight.com/news-alerts/voice-from-the-field/the-library-media-specialist--a-changing-role-in-turbulent-times.html?elq=68e3d6a3aad34d1a973d1767db947fb4&elqCampaignId=66

Padlet-Collaboration Tool

http://padlet.com/

Grades: Grades 6-12

I found this free tool through a Common Sense Media review of the 10 best new applications for educators. (The review is here: http://www.graphite.org/website/padlet.) Anna Taylor and I are using it to collaborate for a project and I'm really inspired by its functionality.

Padlet lets you pin videos, text, links, images, anything that can be added to a board with a simple drag-and-drop system. It enables you to share ideas from many different mediums, including documents, class notes, and completed assignments, in one easy to access place. Since more than one person can contribute to a Padlet wall, its useful for teamwork and group project. I like one educator's suggestion that you can post a prompt, ask each student to contribute, and then once everyone has posted, you can change the setting so everyone's input can be seen.

Anna found this great Padlet mini-tutorial on YouTube which explains some of the features that are especially useful for teachers.

This blog is about Blendspace, a free website for students and teachers to organize and share information on the web. Teachers can assess student understanding and track student progress in real time.  Blendspace used to be called Educanvas. Teachers can use Blendspace to “flip” their classrooms and for differentiation. Students can upload their projects and assignments to the site. Teachers can add classes with up to 35 students. It can also be used at a school level with unlimited hosting for all teachers and students and even administrative accounts to help with implementation. There is a premium version with a cost of $4.00 per student. The premium version allows for voice commands, Google Docs style collaboration, and private webinar training.

Blendspace

YouTube Tutorial


I learned about Blendspace just this week from a colleague. She is very excited about the possibilities, so I decided to do some research and found this blog. This is a great blog for learning about Blendspace. I included a YouTube video to show how easy this site is to use.

Visibility, core standards, and the power of the story: Creating a visible future for school libraries

Todd, R. J. (2012). Visibility, core standards, and the power of the story: Creating a visible future for school libraries. Teacher Librarian, 40 (1), 8-14, 4. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1115270137?accountid=10043

Summary:

Using stories as a data collection tool, this article examines narratives from effective school library programs to explore how teacher librarians can overcome “occupational invisibility”. Dr. Todd sees Common Core implementation as a vehicle for increasing the visibility of the school librarian with its focus on developing deep knowledge and inquiry-based learning. Examples of effective school libraries are given demonstrating how they support and contribute to student learning through integrated instruction that provides information literacy skills as well as curriculum content through engagement with appropriate resources.

Dr. Todd’s vision includes the  “...the school library as a pedagogical center; the school librarian primarily working as a coteacher; the focus on curriculum knowledge and meeting syllabus standards; and the implementation of an inquiry-based pedagogy.” He suggests this will improve the visibility of the importance of teacher librarians to student achievement and describes the library as the center of a school; integral to the implementation of all curriculum.

Evaluation:

I appreciate this article’s focus on the school librarian as having teaching as the core of their responsibilities. I also thought the idea that 21st century skills are not just about navigating and using information but actually using those skills to build knowledge was well stated. Some administrators and other teachers tend to focus on the information part of the technology without following through to explore how students will use the technology and information to increase their content knowledge.

    

    

Design Thinking in the Classroom: From Ideas to Practices.

This blog post is about changing units of instruction to make them more engaging to students. These interactive and collaborative units are called “Design Thinking”. “Design thinking is used to solve design challenges, or units of study structured around real world problems linked with interdisciplinary academic studies”(2014). The units are broken into five parts that include Gather, Glean, Generate, Gauge and Go.  The blog describes each of these stages. Students collaborate all the way through the project and end up with a product that has real world applications.

While this blog post is geared toward classroom teachers, teacher librarians would find the information useful. These units would benefit from the collaboration with a teacher librarian. Students need a place to gather to brainstorm their assignment and the physical learning commons would be the perfect place. A virtual learning commons would allow them to gather their information in one place, for all to share.

Ott, L. & White, E. Design thinking in the classroom: From ideas to practice. Part I. P21Blogazine. Partnership for 21st Century Skills, April 24, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/news-events/p21blog/1403-design-thinking-in-the-classroom-from-ideas-to-practice-part-i