UDL

Universal Design for Learning

LIBE 467: The Reference Book Dilemma: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

emadsen3 Comments

Take a trip back in time.

source: https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2023/08/best-second-world-war-books

For a course last spring I was tasked with assessing my school library’s reference books in support of a commonly taught curricular area. I selected World War II because a) I was teaching it; b) it’s super interesting 🪖, and c) I figured that would be one of the more robust sections of the non-fiction collection. Hahaha 😂- I just used “robust” in a sentence talking about reference books! While there were certainly more WWII books than most topics… it was still very limited. I consequently struggled with the assignment. It’s tough to show your ability to assess a wide variety of things when there isn’t a wide variety of that thing.

But the reality is, it’s 2024, and our teacher-librarian has a realistic view of the needs of our school community and has tailored the collection accordingly (Riedling, 2019, p. 107). Our print collection primarily addresses the recreational reading needs of our students, and 99% of information services have gone digital. And that’s a good thing. ✅

I am a literature-loving, information-hungry bookworm 🤓 and am therefore just as nostalgic as anyone for the libraries of the past. However, it is not the past and the days of pouring through books 📚 to complete research papers 💾  have gone the way of the leg warmers and neon I would have worn while doing it. We need to teach our kids how to acquire information in 2024.EBSCO Mobile on the App StoreLogo, google, g icon - Free download on Iconfinder

Wikipedia logo - Wikipedia

The dramatic shrinking presence of the “dead tree” (my TL’s phrase of choice) in the reference section of the LLC in no way diminishes the value of a good teacher librarian. In fact, our students need us more than ever. Back in my day (said like a screechy old woman 👵🏻), the challenge was locating information, but once I found it, I had faith in the publishers that I could trust it. Today, information is ubiquitous; it is no longer a challenge to find it 🔎. The hard part is sifting through the vast amounts of garbage and determining what the good stuff is. Capable librarians can sift through garbage, so our jobs are safe. Kids need “school librarians with skills in searching, accessing, using, and evaluating information efficiently and effectively” (Riedling, 2019, p. 105). 

The way we access information has changed and consequently a library’s “information services function will become increasingly important” (Riedling, 2019, p. 108). Our reference book section has shrunk, but OUR importance has grown. We want our students to benefit from all the greatness the internet 👩🏼‍💻 allows: the most up to date information, a vast amount of information and a wide variety of perspectives, multi-media learning, access from anywhere, and interactivity (Beaudry, 2024). Therefore an important aspect of our information services includes a strong focus on a continuum of skills for our students. We cannot just ditch the books and let the Internet do the rest! 😳 The ability of students to access information from home further highlights the power of a good teacher librarian. Strong curation of “garbage-free” digital resources on the school virtual LLC is another way our information services are expanding (Riedling, 2019, p. 106). The “reference section” is now the whole world. Cool!

Are there still reference books in our library? Yes. In honouring the diverse needs of our learners, we recognize that the sometimes “confusing graphical layout” of digital resources presents a challenge for some. Furthermore, all students in general can benefit from the simplicity of something like an encyclopedia in building basic background knowledge as they embark on their research (Beaudry, 2024). It’s a great example of the UDL mindset that can make us more effective educators: needed by some and good for everyone (CAST, 2024).

source: https://resoluterecords.ca/products/the-clash-london-calling-new-vinyl
The print reference section is smaller, but it’s there for you like a reliable fiend 🙂. The computer access to digital reference sources is at your fingertips 🖖; work alone or with friends. The reference services are amplified: the TL is amazeballs! 🤪 And your reference needs can be met anytime, anywhere- even at home in your leg warmers while you rock out to The Clash.

References

LIBE 477 Inquiry Project Blog Post #4– A Tale of Two Cities

emadsen3 Comments

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Wait- someone already said that. Let’s try that again.

I have taught in two BC school districts, and despite sharing a curriculum, guided by the same provincial government body and functioning under the same funding system, they’re worlds apart.

I love teaching history and one of my favourite things to teach is the Enlightenment. I tell my students that my job is to turn them into intellectual giants. Some seem interested at this prospect. Some genuinely wonder if I’m up to that kind of challenge. Some just role their eyes as only a disinterested teenager can. For me, the Enlightenment is that pivotal shift in history where human beings embraced the power of reason. I have a degree in French literature (really!), so I’ll whip out a Victor Hugo quote here (translated, of course):

“The true division of humanity is between those who live in light and those who live in darkness. Our aim must be to diminish the number of the latter and increase the number of the former. That is why we demand education and knowledge.”

In 2022 Canada, we like to think of ourselves as enlightened. Canadians are nice, fair people. We value equality. We value education. We want our citizens to “live in light.” But does our reality line up with our aspirations?

The BC Ministry of Education proudly states on their website that they have a “clear mandate, to enable every learner to maximize their potential.” Furthermore, they declare that this commitment is “regardless of their background or where they live in B.C. … enabling equity of access to quality education for every student.” But even they do acknowledge that they are not yet reaching this goal: “significant differences exist between schools across the province.” 

The ministry identifies five principles to direct us to the goal of graduating “educated citizens.” Under the heading of “future orientation,” they state they “encourage the use of technology.” Notice the wording. It is not required. Because to require it would put the ministry in a potentially difficult situation: they’d have to ensure proper infrastructure. While the official line is to “encourage” technology, the curriculum clearly requires it- beyond the obvious Applied Design Skills and Technology. Literary Studies 10: “Access information for diverse purposes and from a variety of sources.” Obviously in 2022 this requires the internet. English Language Arts 12, a course mandatory for graduation: “Use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create engaging and meaningful texts for a variety of purposes and audiences.” Again, in 2022, this surely must include digital texts. 

In the world of inquiry, we start with a hunch. This was my hunch: There is tremendous inequity in terms of access to technology in British Columbia. I spent 16 years teaching in North Vancouver, then moved to Grand Forks for eight, and am now back in North Van. So I have experienced both ends of the socioeconomic spectrum.

However, after digging a little deeper— “new learning” in inquiry parlance— I find my hunch is only kinda accurate. This is why we dig deeper.😊

There is disparity across communities in BC. However, my hunch was predicated on disparities in spending by districts. But in reality, this disparity exists because of parents’ varying abilities to subsidize their children’s education. 

It turns out sucky access to meaningful technology use is widespread, because, as we said, the ministry only encourages use of technology. If you were to ask a ministry representative, they would tell you that they disperse funds to BC’s 60 locally elected Boards of Education who make allocation decisions based on “local spending priorities.”  Sounds like passing the buck. (Pun not intended.)

To move my research beyond my own two school districts, I decided to drill down on the 2021/2022 budget for Coquitlam (SD43). School districts can pay for technology either out of their general operating budget or from their capital fund budget. SD43 received $303,743,095 in block grant funding, and through other sources (international students, facility rentals, etc.) brought their operating budget up to $324,201,551. (This includes the regular per student funding as well as additional funds to support special needs, Indigenous students and adult education. There is also funding for “geographical factors.” For example, it costs more to heat and cool a school in the Interior. Rural districts also need to provide bussing to school.) However, salaries and benefits— the biggest expense in a school district— ate up $296,797,438, over 90% of the budget. (This was on the high side due to COVID-19 absences). That leaves around $27 000 000 to provide all remaining services and make all remaining purchases for the students of Coquitlam. That year they had around 31,147 students. This really doesn’t give school districts much wiggle room, or room to chase those “local spending priorities.” Beyond the block budget, the Capital Fund Budget specifically covers “land, buildings, computer hardware and software, vehicles and equipment,” but at just under $17 000 000, does not provide enough revenue to even meet projected expenses. The bottom line is that school districts do not have a lot of money, already have almost 90% of it committed to salaries, and have a lot of needs to meet with that limited money.

I also looked at Vernon’s (SD22) Technology Plan. It is a 50 page document and looks very much like the documents from my own district: a lot of committee work, planning, and recommendations (including a recommendation for an annual dollar amount of $845000). It all sounds good. We’re doing the work. We’re making a plan. It’s a three year plan. We want to align technology with our goals. We have bulleted points summarizing our practice. Ditto innovation. Blah, blah, blah…  I have been involved in this process too many times and have been in the BC education system for too long to think that this fancy report means the students in Vernon get enough technology from their school district.

The bottom line is, according to a look at school technology funding in The Vancouver Sun, “there is no equity across the province, both in terms of access to technology and teachers’ ability and willingness to embrace it.” Because the government does not “directly fund technology in schools,” a BC student’s access depends on where they go to school. Is it a school where the parents have the time and expertise to fundraise? Are the parents comfortable fundraising? Is it a community that has the financial capacity to raise adequate funds? Do they have a teacher who will even use the iPad cart once it’s purchased? Because there is “no baseline level for technology in classrooms mandated by the provincial government,” teachers classrooms vary widely, from no tech to some tech to lotsa tech. Some teachers don’t have access. Some teachers simply opt not to use it because they  don’t know how to use it or choose not to. As I predicted, the official government response is that they “provide operating grants each year to school districts, and they have the autonomy to decide whether to spend it on new technology” (Sherlock, 2015).

But is it a choice?!

When I lived in Grand Forks, I wanted better, regular access to technology than I could get with the shared resources, so I applied for and received three grants: two each from SET-BC for 10 iPads, and then $10 000 from Best Buy to purchase additional iPads and a set of Chromebooks. So kids in my classes got daily, meaningful (I hope) access to and experience with technology. But what about the rest of the students in that school? Access wasn’t even equitable within a school: it depended on who their teacher was. Grand Forks is a community with considerable poverty and therefore limited fundraising capacity. (Of course I’m sure this helped with my success in receiving grant money.) Many kids don’t have access to devices at home, or have limited access because multiple people are sharing one device, as we learned when COVID hit. The district loaned out every laptop and Chromebook it had, but there were still kids without. Some didn’t even have wifi. I had one student who had to get in his truck and drive into town to a friend’s to access their wifi— and because of isolation protocols had to remain in his truck, learning on his phone.

Then there’s West Vancouver, “the richest place in Canada.” West Vancouver schools use the Google Suite for Education and therefore require students to have access to a Chromebook or laptop. In a community with “an average household net worth of $4.5 million” (Naraghi, 2019), this isn’t a very big ask. But for those rare West Vancouver families who cannot afford to purchase a device for their children, there is a process to borrow a device from the district. I attended a PSA day conference in West Vancouver a number of years ago where Superintendent Chris Kennedy was the keynote speaker. In a Q&A session afterwards, I asked him how many West Vancouver students needed to borrow a device. His answer was “one or two per school.” At that rate, it is obviously feasible for West Van to make this offer. Grand Forks, clearly, cannot. 

I’m old enough that I was teaching on 9/11, a school day seared into my memory. On that day I was lucky enough to have already scheduled my students to be using the iBooks (remember those bricks?!) and my students were able to watch history unfold live on the internet. We had school laptops in 2001, not because the school district had purchased them, but because the PAC had. Every year our family of schools PAC held a fundraising auction that raised around $100 000. So we had laptops. (And vans for our PE program.) When I arrived in Grand Forks in 2014, they still didn’t have laptops. 

I teach in a 1-to-1 program in North Vancouver where a personal iPad is required for every class. However, a family’s inability to purchase a device will not keep a student from being able to join the program; the district will loan one to a family in need. We currently have approximately 175 students in the program, and two require a device loan from the school. Again, Seycove can make this offer because, like West Vancouver, the clear majority of families have means. Innovative programs like ours can exist in communities with means because the schools themselves will not have to provide 1-to-1 device access. In a community like Grand Forks, a program like this simply could not run. Kind of makes the ministry’s proclamation of equitable access “regardless of [students’] background or where they live in B.C” ring hollow. 

Last year the professional focus of my school (GFSS) was on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), looking to focus on learning design and environments to plan for the success of all students. Technology makes this all the easier as it offers adaptive learning (such as voice to text), different ways of learning (audio and video to complement traditional text), and a wider variety of resources. However, many of my colleagues were really frustrated at this initiative because they did not have regular access to technology in the classes. I remember one colleague sarcastically saying something like, “Well, I’ll plan for the success of all students on Tuesday because that’s when the Chromebooks are available. Not sure what I can do on Wednesday and Thursday.” We can explore great pedagogy like UDL that seeks to offer equity in education to all students, but we need the means of implementing it. 

Anecdotally, I reached out to teacher friends in four districts (Burnaby, Kelowna, other North Vancouver schools, and Vancouver). Unsurprisingly, no one feels there is adequate access to technology in their local schools. Unfortunately, I am left largely relying on anecdotal evidence because it is virtually impossible to find hard numbers on access to technology in schools. It’s not published. No where does it say: this school with x number of students has x number of devices. It seems to me, if districts thought their technology was adequate for 21st century student needs, they’d be shouting it from the rooftops.  I would also love to know how much schools rely on kids using their own devices and how many students get left out because their families can’t afford devices. But that’s not published.

But you know what information kept popping up as I tried to find concrete information on tech in schools? Organizations that are trying to help subsidize our schools with donations of technology. Very telling that they exist:

If you were to investigate official policy in BC, you might get the impression that we were on track. The ministry website would have you believe every student has equal opportunity to become and “educated citizen.” I have always believed education has the potential to be the great equalizer, but we’re not realizing that potential in BC. We have all seen some version of this meme:

 

The reality in BC is, the tall kid is from West Van and he’s the one who has the boxes to stand on. The short kid is from Grand Forks and he is the one standing on the ground.

 

References:

AZ Quotes. (n.d.). Victor Hugo quote. AZ Quotes. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.azquotes.com/quote/613172 

CAST. (2022, September 2). The UDL guidelines. UDL. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://udlguidelines.cast.org/?utm_source=castsite&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=none&utm_content=footer

Coquitlam School District. (2022). Learning for a Lifetime- Budget and Fiscal Plan 2022/23-2024/25. Budget 2022-2023 – School District no. 43 (Coquitlam). Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.sd43.bc.ca/budget/Pages/Budget-2022-2023.aspx 

Gill, A. (2019, October 30). An answer to that viral equality meme. AIER. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.aier.org/article/an-answer-to-that-viral-equality-meme/ 

Naraghi, A. (2019,  August 8). Canada’s richest communities 2019. Macleans.ca. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.macleans.ca/economy/money-economy/canadas-richest-communities-2019/ 

Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education. (2022). Spiral of inquiry. Networks of Inquiry and Indigenous Education. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://noiie.ca/spiral-of-inquiry/ 

Province of British Columbia. (2022, May 5). Ministry of Education and Child Care. Province of British Columbia. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/organizational-structure/ministries-organizations/ministries/education 

Sherlock, T. (2015, October 2). Standards lacking in public schools’ use of technology. Vancouver Sun. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://vancouversun.com/news/education/standards-lacking-in-public-schools-use-of-technology 

Vernon School District. (2020, April). SD22 technology plan – update 2020 revised – school district 22 Vernon. School District No. 22. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://sd22.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/SD22-Technology-Plan-Update-2020.pdf 

West Vancouver School District. (2022). Digital Resources for Students. West Vancouver Schools. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://westvancouverschools.ca/digital-resources 

LIBE 477 Inquiry Project Part One: If you build it…

emadsen2 Comments

Baseball and books are two of my favourite things, so I am STOKED at the opportunity to bring them together in this post.

One of the fundamental questions for the Teacher Librarian (TL) and the English teacher is “How do you foster a reading culture?”

I am  a “start with why” thinker. It seems obvious, but it’s worth stating that we want kids to read because literacy is the gateway to all learning. If we foster reading, we increase academic success.

So now we know our mission 🚀; how do we get there?

I am going to tell you about one of the greatest resource videos I ever came across: The Power of Reading, a lecture by Stephen Krashen, Professor Emeritus at USC. You know how you feel when you find something that you really love, and you feel like you have discovered some amazing, world-changing secret, and you just have to tell everyone? And then you find out everyone already knows about it? Such was my Stephen Krashen experience. Turns out I had “discovered” someone everyone else already knew about; the man is an oft-quoted expert and educational and linguistic legend. Yet he had somehow escaped my detection until a few years ago. If you are in the same boat, you’re welcome! If you are shaking your head in horror (How can you be an English teacher and not know who Stephen Krashen is?!)…

For the purpose of this post, I want to focus on one aspect of the Krashen video. It is simple, but it is brilliant: “When you give kids interesting things to read, they will read them” (UGACOE 2012). Quite simply, reading for pleasure improves reading.

Now for the baseball part! 🤗🤗🤗 Krashen talks about the concept of “the home run book.” Like a person learning to play baseball who falls in love with the game after experiencing the rush of their first home run, Krashen says one strong, positive reading experience can turn you into a reader. This rings true for me; I remember a student years ago who struggled to read. I gave him a high interest book called Suspicion Island. He loved it and came back asking for “more books like that one.” The next day I saw him in the library. He’d found his “homerun book” and he now knew he could read for pleasure.

So if reading leads to reading, how do we increase reading? Some ideas that I (or people smarter than I) have tried:

  • As a TL, establish a collection that is diverse in every way—subject matter, ability level, fiction versus non-fiction, representation, genres, and text only versus text with visuals—so there are truly options for every student. As an English teacher, I suffered from the “this is what students should be reading” mindset. I now get that we need to focus instead on “this is what students want to be reading.”  Field of Dreams famously taught us, ” If you build it they will come.” If you build a collection, they will read. (Baseball analogy #2, for those keeping score. Is that #3?)
  • If you have a great collection with something for everyone, you need to get that message out. In my previous school, I was gifted prime bulletin board territory across from the office. I used it to make colourful displays to catch people’s eyes and let them know what they could find in the library. Sometimes I had a theme (scary books for October), or sometimes I simply built a display of new titles. Other times my bulletin board had a message so students knew they could find voices that spoke to them (or for them!), like the time I made a display of LGBTQ titles. It’s important, if your collection represents and includes all students, to tell them that. Of course some schools are blessed with display cases at their library. Use those too! And change them regularly so all kids can see the diversity in your library. And this is so important: include those high interest books and graphic novels so kids feel that they are valued and not just the lesser cousins of “the real books.” Krashen gives the example of Bishop Desmond Tutu who professed that his love of reading came from comic books. He also recommends Captain Underpants and Garfield to encourage reading. Personally, I have found that the most popular books in the library are the yearly Guinness Book of World Records, which feature spectacular visuals along with printed text. Bottom line: all books are cool! 😎
  • A library should, of course, have a good digital presence. Not only is it a source of useful tools (databases, citation help), but it’s a great way to advertise the books. And Tweet. And post on the school website and Facebook page. Meet kids where they are.
  • Now that you have your awesome inclusive collection and you’ve told people about it, you want to help them get their hands on the books they’re going to love reading. The best thing I’ve seen is genre-based filing. Books are sorted according to categories (and then filed alphabetically by author within that section) and colour-coded. If a kid knows they want to read about history, they know where to find books about history. If a kid wants to read comics or graphic novels, they know where to find comics and graphic novels. If a kid knows they like science fiction, but the science fiction is lost in a larger sea of fiction, it’s harder for that kid to connect with their “home run books.” The easier it is to find something they want to read, the more likely they are to read.

  • I take a similar approach as an English teacher, such as with a recent challenging Literary Studies 11 class. Because I had control of the library budget, I had the luxury of ordering books that would eventually go to the library but could start in my classroom. I purchased $1000 worth of a wide assortment of graphic novels, covering hopefully every interest (superheroes, LGBTQ, history, technology, sports, family drama, high level literary fiction– don’t forget about the kids who already love to read!) and let my students select what they would read, without judgment. The kids who struggled with reading loved that there were high interest, accessible options. I remember one boy in particular who enthusiastically approached the selection of graphic novels and couldn’t help but say, “Cool!” when he saw Batman Returns was an option in English class. I didn’t need to prod, bribe, or threaten them to read, and to a kid, they all expressed how much they liked their books. I even had kids ask for another book! Grand slam! 
  • Of course building the collection isn’t the only infrastructure you need to create. You need to think about the space too. You want it to be inviting. You want it to be comfortable. You want people to want to come there. And like your collection, you want it to meet diverse needs. Some people want to curl up in a beanbag chair in the corner. Some want to chill on a couch. Some want to sit with their friends at a table. I love my current school library for this reason, and it is very much the heart of the school precisely because it offers something for everyone. Take a tour:

https://animoto.com/play/BLDc1aXxK6ptiCsvtOK12Q

  • The most effective English teachers and TLs embrace technology as a partner in literacy. Last year in my classroom, my pedagogical focus was on UDL. If I want all students to succeed, I need to build my practice in a way that allows them to succeed. For literacy, this included embracing technology. Again, the traditional English teacher voice in my head was shouting at me about what reading looked like (a kid with a book in their hand). But all that mindset does is throw up a barrier for so many kids. Remember that kid whose face lit up when he saw Batman Returns? I’d seen that face before: for the first assigned reading in the course, I told them I had shared a YouTube link with them of an audio version of the story we were reading. Relief and joy. He put on his headphones and  listened as he followed along with his book. At the end of the course, he thank me for “always letting him use the computer.” (Later I fumed that this was even worth mentioning for him; who wasn’t letting him use his computer?!) This kid was successful in my Literary Studies 11 class when he very well might not have been elsewhere. Likewise, I am now teaching with 1-to-1 iPad use, and kids are given access to eBooks, allowing use of a suite of handy tools: kids are encouraged to interact with the texts by highlighting key passages and making notes, they can instantly look up words they don’t understand, and they offer the read aloud feature. Interestingly enough, the 1-to-1 environment has meant that my UDL self was offering traditional paper books to the kids that wanted them. 🤪 The iPad tools may allow them to do more, but the most important thing for me is for them to be comfortable reading. And if they’re more comfortable with a “dead tree” (as my TL calls them), then give them a “dead tree.”
  • Finally, when talking about “a culture of reading,” don’t forget about the culture part, the customs and habits of a group of people. You want reading to be a shared custom or habit. One great way is to leverage the technology. I have a colleague who gave me the great suggestion of using the app Goodreads with my students. This puts them right into a community of readers and allows them to interact with people who share their tastes and interests as well as to get recommendations for other “home run books.” There is also a book club in my school. They have a presence in the school via posters, school announcements, a table at “club day, and meetings with food (peanuts and cracker jacks?) to attract new members.  Their interests are just as valued as athletics and the green club.

As baseball legend Willie Stargell once said, “When you start the game, they don’t say ‘Work ball!’ They say, ‘Play ball!’” (Bailey, 2022). If we want kids to read, there needs to be joy in it. Even I (with a degree in literature) feel like it’s work when I have to read something I don’t want to. But let me pick my book and I’ll get lost in it.

References