The School Librarian's Technology Playbook: Innovative Strategies to Inspire Teachers and Learners by Stacy Brown

Chapter 1: "Be the Change You Wish to See"

1. Name some change-makers and innovators that inspire you to reflect on innovative practices that you would like to adopt to suit your own learning community? What makes these people so effective?
2. Can you identify decision makers in your school community who are willing to experiment? Can you think of someone who might not usually be brought into the conversation, but who might be excited about thinking differently?
3. Do you already have a venue for teaching the teachers (staff meeting, planning meetings, small groups)? If not, how could you add one? Consider your pitch: Whom should you approach to get this started? When and how often can you offer these learning opportunities? What topics are of relevance to your learning community? How can you demonstrate your value in addressing these topics?

Activities

• Make a list of school librarians and/or teams of teachers and school librarians who are already working well together to elevate the learning experience. How can you showcase their progress to your decision makers as examples of what you wish to emulate within your own school community? Practice how you would present this information.
• Evaluate the playing field. Survey your colleagues as to what new knowledge they need to support a Future Ready School. Make note of the most common responses.

Chapter 2: "It's Not About the Tools, but . . . 3D Printing Has a Lot to Offer"

1. If you've had a 3D printer for a while, is it still supporting your curriculum? Have you continued to find new uses for it, or do you do the same old projects over and over?
2. Brown mentions having kids use the printer for service projects like building water filtration systems. Did the coronavirus pandemic spark any new ideas for 3D printing projects?

Activities

• If you have a 3D printer at your school or in your district, set up a time to tour the equipment and see how it's being used.
• Make a list of student leaders who can help you make the 3D printer more accessible to students to support their curriculum and invention literacy. Then enlist them!
• Draft a social action challenge. How can you inspire students to build 3D models that will improve society?

Chapter 3: "Alter Reality to Elevate Learning"

1. How familiar are you with altered and virtual reality? After reading this chapter, do these seem like tools that can support your curriculum?
2. Brown gives several examples of connections to the curriculum at her school (colors, animals, researching composers, interactive displays for parent-teachers conferences, etc.). Can you think of one current assignment at your school that could be enhanced with altered reality?

Activities

• Try a "turn and talk," as Brown mentions on page 26. Turn to a neighbor and brainstorm ideas for using augmented reality to alter your students' learning experience. No holds barred! This is brainstorming, so be creative.
• Augment a nearby object within your environment using a free app, such as EyeJack.
• Engage with your colleagues about which curriculum they are least excited to teach. How can you use virtual reality to reinvent how the teachers and the learners interact with this content?

Chapter 4: "The Power of Podcasting"

1. If anyone in the group regularly listens to podcasts, share ideas about which ones could be used to support your curriculum.
2. If you've never considered starting a podcast, why not? Make a list of some of your reservations and brainstorm tactics to overcome those challenges.
3. Do you think your school would benefit more from creating a specifically educational podcast or something meant to be silly or playful? Discuss.

Activities

• Select a teacher to co-create a podcast with you for their students' benefit. Decide the name of your podcast, who will write the script, mix the music, record the voice(s), and publish the podcast.
• Now that you have practiced with a teacher, tag team with the same teacher and find out how to support them to turn the podcast creation process over to their students.

Chapter 5: "Curricular Connections to Coding"

1. Is coding a valued skill at your school? Do all grade levels code? If not, could the library become a central place for experimenting with coding?
2. Look at the list of program ideas that link to Hour of Code on pages 66 and 67 and choose an idea that would appeal to your school community.
3. Does the idea of "compassionate coding" appeal to you? How could you connect this to your curriculum?

Activities

• Put together a team who will create coding activities for students to highlight what they love about the library. When the team works on this, they should meet the students where they are in their different coding comfort zones: Scratch for beginners, JavaScript or Python for advanced.
• Brainstorm how you could use a technology tool to create marketing material to advertise Hour of Code activities that would appeal to your school community.

Chapter 6: "Sometimes It Is All Fun and Games"

1. Brown points out that gamification can be used with adults for professional development, not just for youth. Can you think of any necessary information it might be more fun to learn if it were learned as part of a game?
2. Is any of your assessment of students already gamified, such as earning badges or points instead of grades? Do you see any evidence that students are more attentive or retain information better when they're earning points or badges?
3. What role could you, as the librarian, take in helping to gamify your curriculum at various levels?
4. Are you familiar with all of the tools mentioned beginning on page 104 (Kahoot, Class Dojo, Classcraft, Minecraft, Google Slides, Seesaw, Bloxels, Gamestar Mechanic)? Did you come across any new apps or programs you'd like to try?

Activities

• Brainstorm a digital badge system to inspire your colleagues to choose their own adventure in professional development.
• Explore a gamification tool that you have not previously used. Discuss what you liked about it, what you did not like, and whether you would partner with a colleague to help introduce this gamification tool into their curriculum.

Chapter 7: "Engineer the Learning to Be Awesome"

1. Many schools do engineering challenges in some grades (building a parachute to protect a dropped egg, building a bridge out of popsicle sticks, etc.). Does this chapter help you think of ways to incorporate engineering for different levels? Which ideas are your favorite?
2. What are some ways the library can support teachers in engineering activities, even if you aren't participating in all of them?
3. Where could library involvement support research related to engineering challenges?

Activities

• Discuss and record the benefits of engineering within the curriculum with a colleague.
• Experience the accessibility of engineering firsthand. Grab five nearby objects and use them to design a new creation. Partner up to share your newly created object. Reflect on the process by giving and receiving feedback on one another's creations. How can you integrate this activity into the curriculum to begin exposing students to the engineering process?
• Make a list of resources that are accessible to students to assist them in researching an engineering challenge. Create a digital shortcut that makes these resources more accessible to your students.

Chapter 8: "Leveraging a Love of YouTube"

1. Are you worried about keeping students safe on YouTube? Do you agree that school librarians' expertise on privacy and information security makes them the right person to lead these conversations?
2. Does it seem manageable to use YouTube as part of your curriculum? Did this chapter give you ideas about units/levels where it would be a good addition?
3. How do you feel about using YouTube as a marketing tool for your students/school/events?

Activities

• If your school blocks the use of YouTube for purposes of teaching and learning, make a list of three alternative tools that can take the place of YouTube for teaching and learning. Note how you might use these tools to inspire students to share their work.
• Envision that you are hosting a panel of student leaders on the benefits of YouTube usage within school. What would you encourage these students to share? Make note of these points.

Chapter 9: "Making Connections with Makerspaces"

1. Does your school have a makerspace? Is it well-used, or has usage dropped off?
2. Read through the questions on pages 162–163. Even if you already have a makerspace, does this list give you any ideas for additions or changes?
3. Do any of the makerspace activities in the chapter resonate with your learning community? Who could help lead implementation?

Activities

• If your school has a makerspace, list three activities that students enjoy doing in the makerspace. Consider one of the activities from the list and craft a plan that allows students to experience a similar maker activities at home.
• Brainstorm content areas that lend themselves well to thinking with one's hands. Enlist a teacher who will partner with you on integrating a maker activity into their curriculum.
• Interview a colleague as to what they feel is missing from your makerspace. How can you join together to make the case for that acquisition?

Chapter 10: "Socialize Learning with Social Media"

1. What emotions do you feel when you think about kids using social media? Are they on the worry side of the spectrum or the excitement side?
2. Does your school "provide [students] with formal training and practice to navigate the digital highway"? Who leads this effort? Who could?
3. See Table 10.1 on page 180. Which of these suggestions are possibilities for your school?
4. Do you agree that "the school librarian should be at the center of the efforts to promote the integration of social media into the learning community"? With whom could you partner to lead this effort?

Activities

• Pick a faux social media tool: Fakebook, Twister, iText, etc. Write up a student challenge in which students are inspired to use one of these tools for good. Incorporate the following questions into the challenge: How will they use that tool? What positive impact can the use of that particular social media platform have?
• Engage in a friendly debate with a peer about the use of social media in the classroom. What are the pros? What are the cons? How can you respond to the cons?

Chapter 11: "Build Curiosity with QR Codes"

1. Do you use QR codes at your school, or are there barriers to their use?
2. Do QR codes seem like an easy way to add layers of multimedia to projects? Do any of the examples in the chapter sound fun to try?
3. Do you think parents in your school community would welcome the use of QR codes to share their children's projects and research?

Activities

• Strategize the placement of QR codes to share important content about library programming and/or upcoming learning opportunities. Doodle a diagram as to where QR codes in your school might attract the largest audience.
• Devise a playbook strategy with another teacher and consider how QR codes might increase the sharing of student work. Draft a plan to put this play into action together.

Chapter 12: "Go Viral with Videoconferencing"

1. The COVID-19 pandemic has made us all more expert on videoconferencing, and many teachers have now taught whole classes using these tools. Have you thought about using videoconferencing to connect your students to people outside your school community?
2. Are there parents, grandparents, teachers, administrators, or support staff who could share their expertise with students through videoconferencing? What kinds of experiences could those people offer to students?

Activities

• Huddle up together and strategize: Collaborate with a colleague and identify one outside "expert" to serve as a guest speaker via video conferencing. How will this guest benefit the teaching and the learning? Consider together how other digital tools can be incorporated to interact with the speaker in real time. Make a plan for implementation.
• Explore different backchanneling tools and consider how you can leverage these tools to engage a variety of learners during video conferencing.

Chapter 13: "Innovation Requires Leadership"

1. Is your school already actively building and encouraging student leaders? Is this something that teachers who serve the whole school are part of? Could they be?
2. Does your school have any programs similar to the Network Sherpa program at Brown's school? Would teachers benefit from a way to formalize kids' technological know-how so they can act as teachers themselves?
3. Can you think of any tasks at your library that are currently falling by the wayside that could be done by a group of student volunteers?

Activities

• Build a team of student experts: Make a list of the most commonly asked questions that you receive. Where are the knowledge gaps? How can you implement a student leadership team that helps tackle some of these commonly asked questions?
• Storytelling to Share Success: What innovative platforms can you inspire students to use to help share library success stories and that showcase the value of your learning environment? Make a bullet-pointed list and a sign-up sheet for students to share these stories using these tools.

Conclusion: "Reflect, Revise, Redo"

1. How do you see the librarian/teacher partnership working at your school? Do librarians get excited about learning and teaching technology? Do teachers welcome the partnership?

Activities

• Consider all that you have read in The School Librarian's Technology Playbook: Innovative Strategies to Inspire Teachers and Learners. Using Stanford's d.school I Like, I Wish, What If model, select one strategy from the book and evaluate how this strategy might be implemented within your community.
• Leverage your enthusiasm: Create a timeline of action items that you are inspired to execute and commit to weaving those action items into your own playbook for the year.
• Draft a bonus play and reach out to a colleague asking them to partner with you to integrate an innovative practice into a specific content area. Keep asking until you get to yes and discover how you will share, as a team, the benefits of your partnership.