TCEA Take-Aways (Part 1)

I had the great privilege of attending TCEA 2017 last week as a representative from my school district, Crandall ISD. A small group of teachers and I arrived on Sunday and attended the conference Monday - Thursday, attending various academies, sessions, and the exhibit hall. It was a jam-packed week and I've just now had the opportunity to sit down and decompress from the information overload I experienced.

During my 21 years working in education, I have attended a lot of conventions. I've been to teacher conferences (ATPE), mission workshops, librarian conventions (TLA), book festivals (NTTBF), and more. As a presenter, participant, officer, and volunteer, I feel like I have a decent amount of knowledge to guide me through any convention I visit. However, this trip to TCEA held a new experience for me.

Never before have I attended a conference where I got something out of EVERY SINGLE SESSION! Most times, I'm happy to find one or two good things to bring back to my school to share with others. This year....I've got a whole list of ideas, information, wish lists, and topics I want to talk about and get busy doing! In fact, I used one of the Google Extensions (Screencastify) I learned about last week to make a video for my book fair coming up next week!

Here are a few things that blew my mind:

 
• You can use green paper and Frog Tape for an inexpensive green screen background, and I won a free version of the Veescope App! Can't wait to use it!
• MakerSpaces are "not about the stuff, but the thinking around the stuff." This from the awesome ladies (@mtorres.gses and @EdTecHere) who presented on Takerspaces.
• Mystery Skype is no longer a mystery! :) And there are so many more to ways to use Skype in the classroom! 
• GoogleTreks is a new twist on web-quests that imbeds information into Google's MyMaps
• iBeacons are a new technology that link "the internet of things" ("the interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data." from Google Search definition). I MUST have these in my library/school!
• Google Expeditions are a way to take kids on a virtual tour. I like the fact that the teacher can pause the trip so everyone stays together while instructions are given. I've already ordered a VR headset to play around with this next week!
• I can "clone" myself and get more done with Google Tools! TabCloud, Screencastify, and the Explore button in Google Slides are my new best friends!

Needless to say, my time spent at TCEA was very informative! I will use the coming weeks to parlay this new information into authentic practice with my staff and district. 

(Whew! I'm glad a few of the sessions I wanted to attend were at capacity and I wasn't able to get into the rooms. I'm not sure my brain could have held any more new ideas!)

Treading Water

It's been too long since I've posted about my middle school adventure. I need to get caught up, but really, I've just been treading water. It's that time of year (the hump right in the middle) when you work toward Christmas Vacation and Spring Break just to make it through. The classroom teachers are plodding through, and I feel the same way.

Since we opened November 1st, it's been crazy-town...in a GOOD way...but crazy none-the-less!

The first week we opened I saw all students TWICE. Once for a walk-through/orientation of the library and the second time for a MOCK Presidential Election. It was quite a week! The following week we opened before school and I had anywhere from 50 - 80 those first few days. We finally came up with a pass system to keep me sane...all students at my school are required to go to the cafeteria or band hall before the first bell. We have 20 passes available from the band hall and 40 available from the cafeteria to limit the number of students moving down to the library. I also had a teacher volunteer to come hang out with me in the mornings for crowd control. It works great! Some days we have all 60, but most days we only average around 30. I've also limited the number of students who come down during lunches to make it more manageable with classes and individual walk-ins -- we have 10 passes for each lunch period. So far it's working well.

I've done some special lessons/read-alouds with picture books (which I'll mention in a later post) surrounding holidays and special occasions.

The Twelve Days of Christmas was a good first run. We chose one of our CREW classes (like homeroom) each day to participate. Going with one class a day allowed me to know exactly how many of each craft/activity I needed. It also exposed the library to some of the students who don't usually come down to hang out.

 (Most of the pictures were taken directly from Pinterest boards).

Back from Christmas Break I've just been working on the day-to-day issues of librarianship: ordering books, weeding from the old collection, processing new books, etc. 

For the near future, I'm getting ready to leave for TCEA and can't wait to bring back some new ideas for my faculty and staff! AND Valentine's Day will bring our first Scholastic Book Fair! 

I've got a busy month ahead, but promise to be back soon!