Step Inside the ERMS Library Learning Center

Ridgefield Public Schools Communications Coordinator's "A Day in the District" Brings You Inside the ERMS Library Learning Center

The ERMS Library Learning Center It’s a Makerspace. It’s a TV Studio. It’s a Collaborative Classroom. It’s All That and More!

Technician Jay Callahan begins his work at East Ridge Middle School (ERMS) at 7:00 a.m. and is ready for students to arrive by 8:00 a.m. for “Chromebook Hour.” Mr. Callahan provides technical support at both ERMS and Farmingville Elementary. As part of the 1:1 Digital Learning Initiative, a program that began this school year providing all middle school students with Google Chromebooks as a tool for individualized and collaborative learning, each middle school has a dedicated hour at the beginning of the day when students who are having trouble with their devices or simply need a loaner for the day can get assistance. I arrive to witness this “Chromebook Hour.”

It’s a quiet morning, so as Mr. Callahan continued working on other tickets, digital request for repairs, and assistance requests from teachers and administrators, I use the time to get to know him better. Having been with RPS for 2 ½ years now, he enjoys his work. He says, “The kids make it fun; and being here in the library I can see all the projects in the Makerspace, the lego wall.” It is his kind of place. For him, tech support is all about “problem-solving, solutions, [and] puzzles”—all skills we encourage in our students too. He loves to build motors and rebuild cars, particularly classic Volkswagens.

Now, with technology a quiet day is a good day— it means everything is working. But I wanted to observe the middle school technology team in action, and finally I get my moment. Stephanie comes in. She has a small issue. The vocabulary-building app she downloaded for class is not working. It is the first time all year that she has had an issue with her Chromebook. Mr. Callahan solves the problem in a matter of minutes.]

As Chromebook Hour wound down, I head out from Mr. Callahan’s office into the heart of the Library Learning Center (LLC) and meet Trent (pictured above) building a Ping Pong paddle in the Makerspace as part of a LLC contest. It appears there are contests and activities happening all the time in this space and a great deal of it can be attributed to ERMS Library Media Specialist Tanya Anderson.

Ms. Anderson is an active educator, moving all over the LLC assisting students at one of the many computers, speaking with students about their video productions, or making suggestions about good sources for a project they are working on. You can visit the ERMS LLC web page on the school site and learn more about her and the role of the LLC.

She takes me to a room dedicated to reimagining technology and I see some student work including two projects built from recycled computers that were donated to the LLC. One is a Robot and the other is a version of a computer-parts table. She would love some more broken computers to recycle to help the students complete the table! She would also love some more parent volunteers too to help out; there is an energy here that I think parents would enjoy.

Feeling inspired I head over to the collaboration stations as Ms. Anderson joins Kim Moran, our Middle School Technology Integrator and 7th-grade social studies teacher Michael Settani with his class, as they assist students beginning research on a project called “The Revolutionary Restaurant.” (See the full assignment on the LLC web page.)

The collaboration stations are essentially a table and chairs, large enough to fit five or six students, with a large monitor at the end and connections for multiple computers for, you guessed it, collaborative work. Today students are working in teams to create note cards and citations on three American Revolutionary War figures using a product called Noodletools. Their sources are books (arranged on a cart by LLC staff) and a myriad of online sources on their Chromebooks such as World Book Encyclopedias, the Library of Congress, our local Keeler Tavern Museum, and more. (Pictured is the note card builder in Noodletools.)

Ms. Moran and Ms. Anderson work with teachers developing projects such as this. The teamwork I witness demonstrates to me what a teaching and learning environment really means. Students are learning from each other and multiple sources; there is active conversation. There are three educators present in the LLC to support their learning even though students are engaging with the materials primarily in their group. Everyone is teaching and yes, everyone is learning and immersed in the process of developing the projects.

Ms. Anderson enjoys this work, “It is always exciting when media specialists, technology integrators, and classroom teachers have the opportunity to collaborate with an entire grade level on a a project. Being involved in these projects from inception to completion allows us to not only infuse our knowledge and expertise into the project's lessons in a meaningful authentic way, but also ensures that all students are receiving the same instruction and support, and appropriate resources are available to all students. A further byproduct of our working together is is that we are modeling the skills and dispositions (collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity, respect, etc.) we expect of our students.”

At one point Mr. Settani pulls aside students who have chosen “Molly Pitcher” as one of their revolutionary war figures and does a mini-lesson. It seems that Molly Pitcher was actually a name given to multiple women who brought water to their cannon-shooting husbands and, at times, had to take over for them. He recommends some books to get details and ends with a humorous account about one Molly Pitcher’s close encounter with a cannonball.

Mr. Settani can see via a Noodletools spreadsheet on his Chromebook if any one or group of students is getting behind in creating the cards, and intervene to get them on track. I like this because it means to me that although kids can socialize more readily in these group settings, they can’t for too long because of the accountability built into the collaborative resources provided by the Chromebooks. The kids appear relaxed and involved.

The educators ask and answer questions. At one point Ms. Anderson notices that some students are looking at a book resource and struggling to find the information they need. She asks for everyone’s attention and gives a quick review on how to use the book’s table of contents and the index to narrow down where the needed information is most likely to be.

When asked if the 1:1 digital initiative is going well, Mr. Settani responds with a Santa-like twinkle in his eyes, “Kids have been engaged in my classroom all year long!” If anyone knows Mr. Settani, or even if you just met him, you can see the passion he has for history and for teaching. One suspects that students have always been engaged learners in his classroom. He is clearly inspired, however, by the learning he is witnessing and the passion students bring to their work when they are given the opportunity to engage with content in so many new ways.

As the middle school technology integrator, Ms. Moran has been a key player in implementing the 1:1 initiative. “The biggest change I have seen since moving to 1:1 is the ability for the students to have a choice. Teachers are offering many options for students to showcase their work. They are choosing to build websites, create green screen videos, and making Fake Twitter and Instagram accounts. Teachers are comfortable encouraging them to use tools they (the teacher) may not be an expert in. The student may choose what would best showcase their learning.”

There is no better example of that choice than The Revolutionary Restaurant project; their final presentations go way beyond a traditional book report or poster (although they do those sometimes too). The presentation must demonstrate how their historical figures contributed to the success of the American Revolutionary War. Students have options for their project, such as: creating a large baseball card with images, stats, and presenting a speech as is if the figures where accepting a “Hall of Fame” award, or reciting three original poems, creating a slideshow with music of the time, writing and recording a song or rap, creating a video, TV broadcast, or TV commercial based on a battle with an original script, creating a board game, conducting “interviews” with historical figures, designing postcards with at least 3 images, setting up a social media page for their figures with comments and likes, filming a movie trailer, or taking a contemporary song and performing it with new lyrics. Wow! I set out to learn more about the evolving role of technology in our schools.

As I leave the LLC, I pass the colorful Makerspaces once again, the green screen awaiting these young minds, the collaboration stations, the video cameras, the lego wall filled with fun designs, walls of books decorated with student creations, and all I can think is how inspiring it is to be with these educators and these students. The collaborative and creative learning made possible through the tactical use of technology is happening every day in the district. I look forward to attending the student showcase when it is all done! 

 

R
Submitted by Ridgefield, CT

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