Jennifer Boykin's School Library Blog

Mrs. Allison Bird Pack standing in front of an Art display in the library at SVHS     Introduction Allison Bird Pack is one of two librarians at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, SC. She became a librarian in 2017. I have been a teacher at SVHS since August 2015; I have been a consistent visitor in the library since Pack came to Spring Valley. My classes routinely visit the library to find books to read for independent reading and to get sessions on research and Noodletools. I interviewed her based on the following AASL standard: "Collaborate.D.2.Grow: Creating a learning environment in which learners understand that learning is a social responsibility." I chose this standard because I was curious about how she fosters an environment of collaboration. Reflections & Takeaways  We spent the first half of our conversation discussing the ways in which the pandemic and virtual learning has impacted student social interactions. Before COVID students were more curious ...

    Librarian Debbie Easler in her office at Spring Valley High School. She is one of two librarians there. Introduction Debbie Easler is one of two librarians at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina. She graduated from USC's MLIS program back before it was virtual, before there was even internet, and before the iSchool merged with the JSchool. She fondly recalled doing research projects using the beloved card catalog. Debbie has been a librarian for 32 years and has worked closely with our school's Technology Learning Coach. She just recently returned to the library space and runs a club where students make arts and crafts project out of goods that could have been recycled or thrown away. Because of her history and experience, I chose to interview her about the AASL Standard " Curate.A.2. Designing opportunities for learners to explore possible information sources." Takeaways & Reflection  Debbie does much research on what teachers are teaching; ...

  Mical Hope Brandon was the first librarian at Muller Road Middle School. Introduction Michal Hope Brandon was the first librarian at Muller Road Middle School in Blythewood, SC since its opening in 2011. She has worked in education for twenty and half years and has been a librarian for most of those years. She recently transitioned into a new position, but has been helping the librarian aide Allison Daniels on a part time basis. I was hired as the new librarian at MRMS in February and will start in August 2024. During our interview, we focused on AASL standards Shared Foundation of Inquire and broadly discussed a few of the Key Commitments. Since I will be transitioning from high school to middle school, I wanted to get a sense of how the inquiry could possibly look in middle school. Reflection and Takeaways We discussed several ways she has used inquiry with students including starting with exploring animals in sixth grade on DISCUS and eventually working up to argumentative es...

  Please enjoy my video on Sphero! Additional Resources: Sphero.com Evanston Public Library ALA Creator Studio  

  Dark blue and lighter shade denoting night time with houses in the background. In the foreground is a cartoon-like figure of a young woman with dark brown hair holding a phone and crying. Text messages surround her with negative messages. The headline says Stop Cyberbullying and the sub headline says, "Words are powerful / choose them carefully" " Technology is a great way to stay connected and learn; however, sometimes it can be used to spread negativity. Young people could potentially experience cyberbulling around the clock, at school and at home, essentially all day and all night, and this is part of what makes cyberbullying especially dangerous. As a poet, I was extremely excited to see the number of videos that were spoken word poems. It shows how powerful poems are and how we can use them to heal ourselves and each other. When students can share their stories, it allows them to express themselves, and it shows other students that they are no...

  Graphic features cartoon-like rendering of individuals with disabilities. Each individual appears in a colored rectangle: An individual in a wheelchair is in the lime green rectangle; an individual wearing a hijab and using sign language is in the orange rectangle; an individual in a wheelchair with a basketball is in the blue rectangle; and an individual with no arms or legs is on skateboard in the red rectangle. At the top are blue words that say Access for all. Created in Canva. Did you know the month of July is Disability Pride Month ? Today's blog post is about increasing accessibility for learners with disabilities. There are several adaptive technology tools available to students. Although there are an array of assistive tools to help students with various disabilities, I will focus on accessibility in the context of readability. Some of these students have dyslexia and other diagnosed visual impairments and others have cases that have yet to be diagnosed. I have been in t...