I was a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book junkie growing up, and then it became role-playing computer games. I think the best part was knowing that if you made a mistake, you could always go back and make a different decision. Wish life was like that sometimes! But anyways, Classroom 2.0 is bringing them back:

A message to all members of Classroom 2.0

This Saturday, May 23rd Kim Caise, Lorna Costantini, and Peggy George will be hosting another Classroom 2.0 LIVE web show.  The topic this week is: “Interactive/Choose Your Own Adventure Story Creation–iPods, iTouches and Netbooks” with special guest Tony Vincent, creator of the Learning in Hand website. Please join us for some great information and tips on how to create interactive stories and innovative ways to use handhelds in the classroom. Links for more information can be found at http://live.classroom20.com. We strive to make our shows beginner-friendly although they are designed to be conversations around using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. If you’ve never participated in a live web meeting, don’t be afraid to come and observe. ‘Dip your toes in’ the conversations until you feel comfortable enough to “jump into the conversations with both feet”! We want to encourage “experienced Web 2.0 users” to join us by contributing and extending the conversation by sharing real-life examples and tips/suggestions.

Date: Sat., May 23, 2009
Time: 9:00am Pacific/10:00am Mountain/11:00am Central/12:00pm Eastern
Location: http://tinyurl.com/cr20live

I never did post my reactions and photos from our 2 library visits, and now I back revisiting these expriences and notes as my team and I kicked off our planning of the new library program this week! Mr. Rolf Erikson, author of Designing a School Library Media Center for the Future and consultant to K-12 library design, joined us on Monday at an informative meeting and helped guide us in our planning. His book is providing the foundation for our approach to designing the layout, equipment, and purpose of the space.

Mr. Erikson had recommended looking at the Robin Hood Fund’s L!brary Initiative (yes that is an exclamation point in there) http://www.robinhood.org/initiatives/the-l!brary-initiative.aspx as their Elementary spaces are similar in size to ours. Wow! The photos alone were inspiring! There is SO much to consider! But what he and his book and the librarians we visited all emphasize is to first clarify the vision and purpose of the library.

Here are my notes (photos to come) from our two visits.

Chelmsford High School Library:

• Serves 650 high school students
• Started the design process in January 2008, broke ground in June 2008 and opened in December 2009
• Hired consultant Rolf Erikson
• equipped with 38 PC desktops and 24 wireless PC laptops (Hewlett Packard)
• One of the common spaces becomes a Coffee Cafe in the morning
• $170K budget that does not include the carpeting and tiling
• Shelves are made by Worthen
• Conducted surveys and held community votes on chairs, carpeting etc
• Got money from donating scrap metal of old shelves
• Current staffing model consists of 4 people, 3 FT, 1 PT
• Clubs meet in the space after school
• 3 projectors and screens in the space
• At the front of the library is an Alumni Author’s Corner
• 1x a month are listening lunches where students perform for their peers on a removable stage such as open mic and poetry slams
• 1 interactive white board is by TeamBoard
• Information literacy skills taught by the Head librarian include plaigarism, citing sources, searching online, and evaluating sites
• 12,500 sq feet
• Bretford desks
• Rounded edges on shelves
• desktops powered by N-computing (1 cpu and 7 monitors), 2 printers
• See chelmsford.k12.ma.us/chs/library/index.htm

The Beebe School, K-8, in Malden:

• 990 kids, sees 2-300 kids/day
• Has a multimedia Telecom room where vcrs and dvds are housed. Teachers request a movie and librarian pops in the tape/dvd and it is sent to the teacher’s classroom TV. The teacher can control the playback of the tape/dvd via his or her computer by logging into his/her Sprint account on the library web site.
• Each kid has their own library card
• Kinder come for 20 mins every 4 days, else come for 40  mins almost every other week
• has inner office, work room, telecom room, and circulation desk
• Has mobile video conferencing cart with a pull down screen in a central open circle
• 24 new Dell desktops
• Places bar codes on top left corner of the book for easy inventory via a scanner
• Multiple activities take place at once in this one space because it is big and open
• Large beautful window but cause glare on screens
• See malden.mec.edu

Man, not only is staying home sick THE worst thing because you are actually SICK, but when you are an educator, the GUILT that comes with it just compounds the pain!! You’re leaving the kids with a sub…a colleague has to cover your duties on their day off…your lessons get off track…It’s not a fun feeling. This week I caught some nasty stomach bug and had to stay home 3 days – I probably should have stayed again today just to be totally rid of it. But then I would have missed seeing the 6th graders eyes light up when they were introduced to Garage Band today on the mini macs! The beats these kids were laying down! They are totally into iLife and are ready to dive into their digital storytelling next week. One malfunction was the mics didn’t work today on any of the stations for the voiceover piece – gotta get that wrapped up by Tuesday. And gotta get myself fully healed by Monday morn for a full week of work.

In other news, the thesis is DONE! Well, it is written and approved – all 98 pages – as of Monday. Now I have to get it bound. So “technically” I am not “officially” done, but I am just glad the content was done before the bug hit! Phew. Graduation is June 4 and I am proud to say that my advisors nominated me for some award. Of course, I have no clue what it is. But it feels good to finish strong. Well, when I am “officially” finished.

Time to get home and relax for the weekend.