Potty PD

Whether you call it Potty PD, Librarian in the Loo, Toilet Talks, etc. it’s a great way to share quick information while teachers and educators have 3 minutes to themselves a day in the faculty bathroom. I think it was Zinnia Bayardo who first introduced me to the idea and Deb Zeman (Z_Brarian), myself and Karina Quilantan Garza (@cuethelibrarian) ran with it. Each month we share ideas for potential #edtech tips to include in the slide we print and tape up in the faculty bathrooms around campus. See examples below.

My template copy here.

@Z_Brarian template copy here.

It’s a great quick and easy way to highlight new #edtech tools, apps, websites, etc. that teachers may not have the time to explore. I like to always include a QR code that they can scan and save when they have time to really look at it later. This isn’t anything new or particularly cutting edge, but it can start a conversation between you and a teacher you don’t normally collaborate with. It can also inspire some teachers to dive into an app they normally wouldn’t have. Here are some apps/websites I have highlighted over the last two years of me doing this with my staff:

• Loom

• Kami

• Wakelet

• EdPuzzle

• Mote

• Mentimeter

• Lumio

• Edulastic

• YouTube videos with no ads

• ChatGPT

• StickTogether

• The Achievery

• Quizizz

• Curipod

• Diffit

• Book Creator

• Screencastify

Library Orientation

In the past few weeks I’ve had a lot of librarians reach out to me asking what I do for library orientation. This blog will discuss various ideas you can do to get students excited about the library, as well as share important information with them. *Please make a copy of any of the documents linked in this post if you want to edit.

Google Slides: you can always do the tried and true presentation option. I’ve done it this way before when I didn’t have much time. Here are two examples you can make copies of if you want to go this route: ORMS Library Orientation and Virtual Library Orientation. Including your Bitmoji, active links, QR codes, cute transitions and backgrounds can keep students’ attention and share the information you need. It can also be another opportunity for students to “sit and get” so to speak, meaning they get a lot of that in class. Orientation can be a fun way to get them up and moving, but if you do use the Google Slides option make sure you end with a tour and check out so kids can move around and see the library for themselves.

Family Feud: I love playing this as students’ first introduction into the library. It creates an environment of fun, excitement and shows that MY library isn’t one where SHUSHING happens a lot. If you click on this Powerpoint presentation you will get the game already set up with transitions, music, etc. All you need to do is change your questions to fit your library. I put the students into two groups usually (please try and stay away from boys vs. girls. It can exclude non-binary students, as well as also make students feel like they have to fit themselves into one of those two categories and they might not be ready to do so just yet). I use a buzzer from Lakeshore Learning Store, but you can get one from Amazon here. I usually have a prize the winning team can get.

Breakout Games: Escape Rooms, Breakout Rooms, games, etc. are a fun way to create teamwork between students in classes. It also promotes outside-of-the-box thinking, race against the clock and lots of exploration of the library to find and solve clues. Click here for some ideas I’ve done in the library, as well as BreakoutEDU.

Goosechase: This app is super fun to create classroom or whole school scavenger hunts, however, due to COVID I haven’t used it in over a year. I have a presentation I’ve created, but might be outdated since apps do evolve and change frequently. Feel free to take what I’ve used and make any changes as you find them. I highly recommend using Goosechase, even if it’s not for your library orientation. Goosechase for Teachers, Goosechase for Students.

Bitmoji Classroom/Library: Last summer Bitmoji classes were the THING. I’ll be using Canvas this year instead of my linked up Bitmoji library, but I still think they can be adorable and it has all your links in one place, one of the strongest cases for someone to keep using one. Here are some links to get you started if you wanted to go the Bitmoji route: My Bitmoji Classroom, Bitmoji Templates, Bitmoji example.

Here’s a list of apps you can use to share your library orientation with and then you can play a quiz-style game to see if they retained the information: Kahoot, Quizizz, Poll Everywhere, Quizlet. I’ve also used the website Riddle to create a “Find Your Favorite Genre” personality quiz. The students love doing this magazine-type quizzes and you can create your own!

Please comment or message me what you’ve used for Library Orientation in the past or what you’re using this year. (I’m sure there’s some I’ve forgotten that I’ve done before and I’m always looking for new ideas!)

New School Year Resolutions

Photo credit: https://www.theloophk.com/keep-your-new-years-resolutions/

I’m back! Took some time off this summer to focus on me and now it’s almost time to start the 2021-2022 school year. As I sat down to write my goals I started thinking about another time of year when we as a society make goals, plans, promises for the upcoming year and that is the dreaded, but usually required in the U.S., New Year’s Resolutions. It’s when the entire world reflects on the previous year and makes new goals for the upcoming 365 days. Teachers get to do this twice a year instead of once. I don’t think any other profession in the world makes resolutions two times a year other than those in education. In the field of teaching we are constantly growing, changing, reflecting on what worked and what didn’t from our previous school year. Last year was anything but normal for teachers. We had to adapt more than we ever had before in order to teach students remotely, in a hybrid model or face-to-face. COVID restrictions made it almost impossible to teach at the level we are used to and with the same norms and consistency we always had. However, almost every educator I know took this summer and at some point began thinking on what they want to do differently for the next year.

Some educators write their goals/resolutions down, others make it a part of their professional evaluation system for their evaluator to monitor throughout the year, some have them mentally while others jump in head first and start implementing change immediately. I’m a list maker. I have post its on the side of my computer at work, on my desk, on the Stickies app on my desktop, reminders in my calendar on my phone, etc. constantly nudging and prompting me of the goals I have set for myself. Some are whole year goals while others are ideas, lessons, clubs, library actions, etc. of what I want to do at some point in the year.

One goal I did not meet last year was to finish my Diversity Audit. With almost 10,000 titles in fiction alone it was a daunting task to try and complete, during this past year especially. However, I am only three genre sections away from completion (Historical Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Fantasy) and while they are my biggest sections, I am going to make it my number one goal to finish that this year. I also got new shelving for my graphic novels so I plan on genrefying that section in itself such as: manga/anime, general graphic novels, nonfiction, superhero, etc. I am so excited to do this because when I got to this library six years ago there weren’t many graphic novels. Now I have tripled that section. Other goals I have: present more at the state and national level, be more active on Snapchat for my brand, continue with TikTok, IG and Twitter for my brand and PLN connections, bring my clubs back on campus, earn more #edtech badges, continue to blog, and above all else: connect with my students more now that restrictions won’t be so tight in the library.

What are your New School Year Resolutions?

Branding

This month has been a whirlwind of activity for me in regards to social media. I was asked to participate in a diverse book giveaway on Instagram and be a part of a librarian loop in the hopes to gaining new librarians in my PLN (professional learning network). Both events caused my following to triple in the span on a week. Up until now I’ve had several different handles for various platforms and none of them matched. At the same time I was asked to participate in a podcast for Librarian Influencers. At the end of the interview I needed to share ways for other librarians to get in touch with me. Looking at all the different names I had I realized the time had finally come to create a brand for myself to make it easier for people to find me and recognize what I am all about. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for over two years, but hadn’t been able to think of the perfect name for myself.

Finding a name was the hardest part because there are so many creative people out there! You have to make sure the name you choose for yourself hasn’t been taken by someone else on any platform and you want to make sure it accurately reflects your brand and what you want people to think of when they hear it. I ended up settling on TheNextGenLibrarian because that’s what I aspire to be: the next generation librarian for my students, teachers, campus and community. This can mean being an avid reader, proficient in #edtech, being an ambassador for various apps or websites, getting certified in different areas, being a campus leader, PD guru, knowledgable in research and fact checking, digital citizenship advocate, and so much more.

Once I had my brand the next step was to secure it on all the social media sites that I use—plus more. I was able to get @thenextgenlibrarian on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, TpT, Pinterest and secure the domain name for this website. Twitter didn’t allow that many characters so I became @thenextgenlib on that platform, as well as my GMail since the longer version was taken already. Luckily I don’t have to start from scratch on TikTok, IG and Twitter. I was able to change my handle and keep all my current followers and content. If I had to start all over I don’t know that I would have made the change. I didn’t have a website for myself (only for my middle school library), nor did I have a Facebook page set up either. I went about doing both of those things because I want to make sure that everything I share on any platform is from ME—not my campus or district. That was a big reason for making the change as well. I had been sharing a lot of my opinions on my campus’ Instagram account and found that it’s just a good idea in general to remain separate from your campus and district when sharing ideas.

The downside to branding is that I lost some of my recognition. I am on the Sandhya Menon Street Team and when we do our IG lives, I was easily recognized as @oakrunlibrary. However since the change I don’t think anyone recognizes me or my account with the new name. So be aware that it might take some time to get some of that recognition back once you change over to your new handle. For the most part though, everyone has been so supportive of the brand name change on all my platforms. So now it’s important that I take it to the next level, which includes adding more social media platforms with my new brand and building a website and blog so that I can share my journey with others.

Branding isn’t the quickest thing in the world because you do have to consider all the social media accounts you want to use, as well as build a website and purchase a domain name. I did this through Google for the domain and then used SquareSpace to build the website. It’s easy to use and fairly cheap to maintain the cost of the website each month. Having one place where other librarians, educators, administrators, etc. can go to find out all about you is important so the website is a must. Next up will be business cards, stickers and more to give out at conferences and trainings I attend. Soon I want everyone to know that Amanda Hunt is synonymous with TheNextGenLibrarian! Thanks for following me on this journey!