"The very existence of libraries affords the best evidence that we may yet have hope for the future of man."
~T.S. Eliot
~T.S. Eliot
Could the images below be the future of libraries world-wide?
Scroll over the images above for image descriptions.
London, England here I come?
My Future As A Learner Essay
By Rebecca Baron
“It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.” ~Albus Dumbledore
My future as a learner begins at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The last section that includes the above quote is one of my favorite parts of the entire series and I never realized how closely his situation mirrors my own. I got a job as a school librarian almost four years ago. Right from the first day of school for us teachers that Fall 2010 I was thrust into a technology leadership role that I felt unprepared for and vastly under-qualified for. I thought my days would be spent checking books in and out, helping students find good books to read, and searching out quality books to add to my library collection. I never imagined that four days after I started my job I would add the title of Media Specialist to my name and stand in front of the entire district staff to present the technology updates and teach them all the things that I had learned in my first three MAET (Master of Arts in Educational Technology) classes. Since then I have been pushed and pushed others in directions I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams, but the people I work with assure me that, so far, I have “taken up the mantle and worn it well."
Now as I finish up my MAET program I find that being a technology leader in my school district is not such a bad gig. Everything I have learned throughout the last four years has been taken back and shared with the teachers in my district and a lot of the tools and online resources that are now being implemented by them stem from ideas and projects shared with me by both my instructors and my MAET classmates. I am so excited to continue following people like Lodge McCammon on Twitter, and reading the updates on websites, such as Graphite.org, both of which I learned about in my MAET courses. The first year I went to MACUL I was in absolute awe. Now every Fall I look forward to the updates I receive about the things I will see and learn about the following Spring when I head to the conference once again. My MAET experience has become such a part of my everyday life that there is a small bit of fear lurking inside me as it draws to a close, but I know the program has prepared me to continue my technology leadership well into the future.
I now know how important it will be for me to continue to follow my educational technology Twitter accounts, my school technology bloggers, and I fully intend to stay in close contact with the people I have met throughout my MAET experience. I also feel confident in the choices I have made for my future Continuing Education requirements. I am very fortunate to work for a school that sees the value in supporting well trained teachers so I will always be able to attend conferences like MACUL and the Michigan Reading Association conference. I am slated to attend the NWEA conference in Portland, Oregon next year to learn about all the new and exciting ways we will be able to improve our students’ performance through technology use. Even though it is a huge stretch I have just submitted my application for the Google Teacher Academy conference in London. I am far from cutting edge in my small rural district, but I do the very best I can with the small amounts of funding we have to implement the most meaningful technology based learning experiences for our students. I am hoping the people at Google recognize that as well and accept my application, though I know that I am a long shot candidate.
This year has seen the advent of the first major iPad roll out in my school district’s history. We went from five district iPads to one hundred twenty five district iPads in one year and the results so far are very encouraging. My hope is that with continued support and training we can continue to add more and more devices while maintaining the level of effectiveness we have established so far. I do not see my district ever being able to go to a 1:1 learning environment based on our funding situation and the lack of a reliable internet connection for a large majority of our students but the Technology Committee I have chaired for the last three years has established a new plan based on a very successful model being used in the Utica Public School system which would make our new technology goal four classroom pcs and four classroom iPads district-wide. It may seem small and simplistic to some of you from well-funded districts but it is an exciting, and more importantly, realistic plan for little old Lake City Area Schools. Through continued discourse with my teaching staff and support from my administrators and the community as a whole the future looks bright from my perspective and knowing that I will always have the MAET community’s continued support makes me feel confident in that future.
My future as a learner begins at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The last section that includes the above quote is one of my favorite parts of the entire series and I never realized how closely his situation mirrors my own. I got a job as a school librarian almost four years ago. Right from the first day of school for us teachers that Fall 2010 I was thrust into a technology leadership role that I felt unprepared for and vastly under-qualified for. I thought my days would be spent checking books in and out, helping students find good books to read, and searching out quality books to add to my library collection. I never imagined that four days after I started my job I would add the title of Media Specialist to my name and stand in front of the entire district staff to present the technology updates and teach them all the things that I had learned in my first three MAET (Master of Arts in Educational Technology) classes. Since then I have been pushed and pushed others in directions I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams, but the people I work with assure me that, so far, I have “taken up the mantle and worn it well."
Now as I finish up my MAET program I find that being a technology leader in my school district is not such a bad gig. Everything I have learned throughout the last four years has been taken back and shared with the teachers in my district and a lot of the tools and online resources that are now being implemented by them stem from ideas and projects shared with me by both my instructors and my MAET classmates. I am so excited to continue following people like Lodge McCammon on Twitter, and reading the updates on websites, such as Graphite.org, both of which I learned about in my MAET courses. The first year I went to MACUL I was in absolute awe. Now every Fall I look forward to the updates I receive about the things I will see and learn about the following Spring when I head to the conference once again. My MAET experience has become such a part of my everyday life that there is a small bit of fear lurking inside me as it draws to a close, but I know the program has prepared me to continue my technology leadership well into the future.
I now know how important it will be for me to continue to follow my educational technology Twitter accounts, my school technology bloggers, and I fully intend to stay in close contact with the people I have met throughout my MAET experience. I also feel confident in the choices I have made for my future Continuing Education requirements. I am very fortunate to work for a school that sees the value in supporting well trained teachers so I will always be able to attend conferences like MACUL and the Michigan Reading Association conference. I am slated to attend the NWEA conference in Portland, Oregon next year to learn about all the new and exciting ways we will be able to improve our students’ performance through technology use. Even though it is a huge stretch I have just submitted my application for the Google Teacher Academy conference in London. I am far from cutting edge in my small rural district, but I do the very best I can with the small amounts of funding we have to implement the most meaningful technology based learning experiences for our students. I am hoping the people at Google recognize that as well and accept my application, though I know that I am a long shot candidate.
This year has seen the advent of the first major iPad roll out in my school district’s history. We went from five district iPads to one hundred twenty five district iPads in one year and the results so far are very encouraging. My hope is that with continued support and training we can continue to add more and more devices while maintaining the level of effectiveness we have established so far. I do not see my district ever being able to go to a 1:1 learning environment based on our funding situation and the lack of a reliable internet connection for a large majority of our students but the Technology Committee I have chaired for the last three years has established a new plan based on a very successful model being used in the Utica Public School system which would make our new technology goal four classroom pcs and four classroom iPads district-wide. It may seem small and simplistic to some of you from well-funded districts but it is an exciting, and more importantly, realistic plan for little old Lake City Area Schools. Through continued discourse with my teaching staff and support from my administrators and the community as a whole the future looks bright from my perspective and knowing that I will always have the MAET community’s continued support makes me feel confident in that future.