SLIS 761 - Blob Post 8: KEVA Planks

Because I am a library student, all makerspace tools, toys, and components are pretty new to me.  I can proudly say I am a blank slate – ready to be molded by experts who have gone before me and who were once, themselves, blank slates!

While exploring blogs surrounding makerspace related topics, I discovered an interesting toy that I think would be both simple for a novice librarian to employ and valuable in terms of learning opportunities for students. Engaging with KEVA planks, a type of building block, helps children to develop their spatial reasoning, engineering skills and communication skills as they work together to create something new (Dewer, 2018).

In her blog, Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls, homeschool mom, Sarah Dees (2015) shares how she uses KEVA planks to stimulate learning with her children at home.  The activities she highlights in Five Engineering Challenges With KEVA Planks are specifically suitable for ages five and up and are also very appropriate for library use. One of the things that really impresses me about KEVA planks is their appeal to a wide range of age groups. Look how engaged these seventh-grade students are in the video below as they attempt to meet a challenge!  

Their enthusiastic participation is a great visual representation of Britton’s (2012) stated observation that, "Someone who wants to do something because it is fun is more likely to find an activity to be meaningful than someone who is doing something for a reward or to learn something.  When someone is engaged in a playful space, that person will learn more easily" (No Tools Required). 

As an aspiring librarian with no experience with makerspaces, the prospect of creating one from scratch is a little daunting. The amazing technology that many expert librarians promote can quickly cause me shy away feeling as if the prospect is slightly outside of my abilities.  But, like all new skills we have to begin in the same fashion that one eats an elephant…one bite at a time.  I think KEVA planks may just be the perfect first bite!

 

Bonus: 

Use the free printable challenge/task cards found here to get your elementary students started with KEVA Planks.

 and

For ideas of how to use KEVA planks with high school students, look here!

References

Britton, L. (2012, October 1). The makings of maker spaces, part 1: Space for creation not just consumption. Library Journal. http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/10/public-services/the-makings-of-maker-spaces-part-1-space-for-creation-not-just-consumption/

Dees, S. (2015, August 10). Five engineering challenges with KEVA planks. Frugal Fun For Boys and Girls. https://frugalfun4boys.com/five-engineering-challenges-with-keva-planks/

Dewer, G. (2018). Why toy blocks rock: The science of construction play. Parenting Science. https://parentingscience.com/toy-blocks/

SLIS 761 - Blog Post #7: Cyberbullying

                 Bullying is a tough topic to investigate.  Not because it is difficult to find sources about bullying.  It’s not.  It’s tough to investigate because the deeper you go, the sadder or angrier you feel.  It’s not an emotionless venture.  Of the resources provided this week in SLIS 761, the collection of videos presented by the Cyberbullying Research Center (n.d.) stood out to me the most.  Seeing people’s faces, especially the children, and hearing their voices drew an emotional response from me in a way that printed statistics can’t. It was that personal touch that caused me to imagine my own children experiencing the debilitating emotions elicited by bullying and wondering if they ever have.  While watching, I found myself with a lump in my throat and tears threatening to well up more than one time. Even the videos with positive messages about how to make a difference by being kind were moving tear jerkers.

            Because videos can be such a powerful mode of communication, I will use them with my students as well. If I am working with elementary grades on a fixed schedule, I will incorporate videos into a unit about digital citizenship and continue to integrate conversations about behaving responsibly when online throughout the year. If I am working with older grades, I will collaborate with teachers regarding the best way to address the topic, either through a school wide initiative or individual classes. Within the variety of videos provided by the Cyberbullying Research Center, one can find material appropriate for all grade levels.  Additionally, I will provide teachers with a copy of or link to my curation of cyberbullying/digital citizenship resources which I am currently working on.

Some of my favorite videos from the collection mentioned above are:

• Pause and Think – for younger elementary students
• Anti-Bullying Learning and Teaching Resource (ALTER) Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – for older elementary students
• Where Are You? – for middle school students
• All That We Share – for high school students

            I was quite surprised by the outcome of the study, From the Sandbox to the Inbox: Comparing the Acts, Impacts, and Solutions of Bullying in K-12, Higher Education, and the Workplace, which documented evidence of university faculty being targets of cyberbullying.  Researchers found that about 25% of the faculty involved in their study had been cyber bullied within the last 12 months (Cassidy et al., 2014; Faucher et al., 2014 as cited by Faucher et al., 2015, p. 116). I have always thought of the act of bullying, by any means, as a childish cruelty doled out by children. Childish and cruel it is, but perpetrated only by children – well that notion, as it turns out, is sadly false. I hope that creating an early awareness of the damaging effects of cyberbullying and constantly promoting good digital citizenship will encourage positive lifelong attitudes and habits in my students. 

 

References

Cyberbullying Research Center (n.d.) Cyberbullying videos to use in presentations. https://cyberbullying.org/videos

Faucher, C,. Cassidy, W,. & Jackson, M. (2015). From the sandbox to the inbox: Comparing the acts, impacts, and solutions of bullying in K-12, higher education and the workplace. Journal of Education and Training Studies, (3)6., 111 - 125. http://dx.doi.org/10.11114/jets.v3i6.1033

SLIS 761- Blog Post #6: Instagram as a School Library Social Media Platform

 

”Part of being fearless is stepping out and trying new things even if you have never tried them before.  The willingness to learn and put yourself out there even if failure ensues (and it will) is the most fearless thing you can do” (Robertson, 2017).

With that profound wisdom in mind and in the spirit of fearlessness, I tackled a new-to-me thing this week; a thing called Instagram. I’ve had a personal Instagram account for years but, remarkably, have never created a single post. I acquired the account for the purpose of following others, my daughter in particular, rather than for sharing my own content. Thus, the experience of creating a brand-new Instagram account suitable for sharing school library content and actually posting content was quite educational. I encountered more challenges than I expected and, I’ll admit, I almost gave up in favor of a social media platform with which I am much more familiar and comfortable - Facebook. For example, I quickly learned that, aside from a complicated work-around, trying to post to Instagram from a PC is nearly impossible! I was motivated, though, by the amazing tips and guidance offered by Molly Wetta (2016) in her article, Instagram Now: Engage young users with the image-based social media tool. I really wanted to succeed at Instagram because of its appeal to younger audiences including students and young parents alike. So, I hiked up my britches and pressed on. Here is the result!

My Home Page

My First Post

A Creative Way to Share Links to

Outside Sources.  More about this below.

As a new Instagram user, my initial plan is to start slow and use the platform to draw attention to the school library by frequently posting images of students engaging with books or literacy activities; publicizing school and public library literacy events; and offering snippets of instruction, book talks, or digital literacy tips through video posts. Providing students, teachers, parents, and school administration a transparent view into daily library happenings will be a strong advocation of the school library and its merits. Ideally, the school library Instagram account will eventually be linked to Facebook and Twitter accounts to allow for cross posting to reach a wider audience since making assumptions about a targeted audience’s social media preferences is risky (Jensen, p. 28).

If you, like me, are new to Instagram, I’d like to share one final tip that I learned during my initial explorations. I was disappointed to realize that it is not possible to create hyper links within an Instagram post. Being able to do this is important to me because I want to be able to link parents and students to outside sources that support and encourage a love of literacy. Thanks to a tech savvy friend who graciously shared her knowledge, I was able to creatively accomplish my goal using Linktree, a free resource that allows one to collect web links all in one place. I created a Linktree account then placed the link to my account in my Instagram bio. Now, when I share outside sources, I can simply direct my Instagram followers to refer to the link in my bio for more information. The link will take them to my Linktree collection where they can access the additional information I want to share. If you’d like to see this in action, check out my brand-new Instagram account and view my post about the Diary of a Wimpy Kid author event.

Happy posting!

References

Jensen, L. J. (2019). Integrating social media into online education. Library Technology Reports, 55(4), 27-30.

Robertson, N. (2017, June 10). 5 Tips for new school librarians (and those who aren’t so new). The Incredibly True Adventures of an Edtech Trailblazer. http://www.nikkidrobertson.com/2017/06/5-tips-for-new-school-librarians-and.html

Wetta, M. (2016). Instagram now: Engage young users with the image-based social media tool. School Library Journal, 62(2), 30-32.