Friday, December 16, 2016

Students in Action at the HST Library

Connecting students with others is so important!  As we seek to teach our students to be engaged citizens in our giant global society, here are a few highlights of what students have been doing at Highland School of Technology this week!  I have been reminded of just how special our teenagers are and this young generation has much to offer others!

I owe a huge thank you to author, Homer Hickam.  Today, he took time out of his busy day to FaceTime students in Mrs. Winecoff's Physical Science class and share his experiences from his book Rocket Boys.  Not only were the students excited, engaged and entertained, Mrs. Winecoff and I were delighted to connect students with Mr. Hickam, and to hear his stories as well!  





Always have a "Plan B"!  Skype and the big screen didn't work, so we FaceTimed with the iPad!

Students in Ms. Webb's English 11 classes have been busy reading and creating student book talks over the last few weeks.  I always enjoy listening to what our students have to say about the books they read.  Their willingness to share their insights with others is a great way to promote reading at Highland and encourage others to pick up a good book too!  Here are a few book talks to highlight some of the great things happening here at Highland ~ #HSTreads!









I really enjoyed these holiday-inspired book talks and wanted to share them with you.  I will certainly continue to update the blog with more book talks in the near future.  Meanwhile, to conclude my thoughts for today, I never cease to be impressed by my students.  This week was complex to say the least.  Let's just say that students are perceptive, and I was touched by my students' thoughtfulness and generosity this week.  Thank you to my RamTV student-staff for their kindness this week - it is always the thought that counts, and these students certainly showed just how great teenagers can be! 






Have a very Merry Christmas, a happy holiday season and a wonderful start to the new year!  See you in 2017!  #HSTreads

~Laura



Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Student Book Talks! #HSTreads!


Here are a few book talks from our very own HST students!  If you are looking for your next book to read, one of these student-recommended books might be just right for you!  Enjoy!

















Friday, October 28, 2016

The Power of Being a Connected Educator!



I just returned from NCSLMA's annual conference in Winston-Salem.  That stands for the North Carolina School Library Media Association for you non-library readers :-)!  The theme of the conference this year was "School Library Renaissance - A Cultural Rebirth".  It was one of those "mountain top" experiences where I was surrounded by like-minded, forward thinking media specialists who were sharing ideas and the energy was contagious.  Here are a few highlights:

1.  ESSA - Every Student Succeeds Act...Wow!  I knew about it, and knew that ALA.org, AASL and many others were involved, but this session was eye-opening.  To say the least, it was a call to action! So - if you care about school libraries...get involved!  If you are in North Carolina, visit the DPI website and leave your comments on the "Let's Talk" forum and do your part to share your library's story!

Meeting @Nikki D Robertson at our ESSA Session!

2.  I got to present - TWICE!  Dr. Jami Jones (East Carolina University) and I facilitated a session on the Dispositions of School Librarians Who Create Change.  I really enjoyed the feedback from the attendees and reflecting on my practice as a librarian is such an integral part of growing as a professional.  Also, my sweet friend and colleague, Edie Crook, and I got to present a session on what is near and dear to our hearts - being connected teacher librarians and connecting our students with others digitally!  The power of a PLN on Twitter, and social media in general, was a central focus of our session as we shared how we have connected with other teacher librarians, authors and educators, to impact student learning.  We are here to collaborate and share ideas, so if you ever want to Mystery Skype, join us via Google Hangouts, or if you need a high school student to be a reading mentor to your student(s), please contact me or Edie.


Reach on Twitter       @ediecrook          @laurablong


    3.  The highlight of the weekend for me was having Stony Evans, librarian extraordinaire from Arkansas, join us live, via Skype, to share his experiences as a connected educator through the lens of his high school library.   Stony is the library media specialist at Lakeside High School in Hot Springs, AK.  He shared his insight, his successes and how his PLN and Twitter has impacted his instructional practice and how being a connected educator is making a difference for his students.  He writes a great blog, Library Media Tech Talk and he can be found on Twitter @stony12270. .  





4.  So now what?  Now that I am back at school - how am I going to apply what was shared at the conference?  Well, I came back Monday to a full library of students first thing Monday morning, so that made my day.  I introduced a "News Station" and a charging station for students to use.  Both things are small, but certainly geared to students and their access of information.  

Now, for the bigger things...I am collaborating more with teachers this week!  11th Grade English students will be in the library soon focusing on primary sources, authentic writing opportunities and using Verso for student discussions as they analyze text and much more!  Rumor has it the Shakespeare is all the rage and the library may transform into the Globe Theater soon.    I will blog about that in the near distant future.   

As for ESSA - I have been sharing our library's story this week with whoever will listen.  I have Tweeted to my state senators and I have reached out on the local level to be a part of the ESSA conversation.  Get involved, share YOUR library's story and let's make sure that school libraries are fully funded and we can provide the resources our students need each and every day!








Saturday, August 13, 2016

A New School Year ...Another Opportunity to Make a Difference

So, here I sit, in my favorite purple overalls, getting ready to go outside on this Carolina blue-sky Saturday, to work on the farm.  I am helping get the pond house ready for a special HST staff development outing HERE, on Wednesday!!  Some team building activities are planned for a fantastic start to the new year.  I LOVE new school years!  To me, each August is another opportunity to make a difference for my students, to begin again, try  new strategies, further develop and improve the HST library and to expand my PLN.

Which brings me to the focus of this blog!  What a week of connecting with others!  @EdieCrook and I had the privilege of sharing with a group of educators on Tuesday at the Gaston County Schools Teaching & Learning Conference #gcstlc2016!  We shared ways to "Get Connected with Books and our wonderful PLN friends on Twitter helped make it possible.  The power of being a connected educator is immeasurable!  Special thanks to Stony Evans, Terry Shay, Kyle Wood, Peter Reynolds, Julia Claiborne Johnson, Craig Smith and all the others authors, illustrators, teachers and media specialists who gave us feedback and shared insight into the importance of digitally connecting our students with others locally, nationally and globally!  What a powerful network of support we have!  I can only hope the session was as entertaining, purposeful and helpful as it was fun to prepare with Edie and all our Twitter PLN collaborators!


As I reflect and prepare for the 2016-2017 school year, I want to make it my goal to grow my PLN, in a purposeful way, to make connections with other teacher-librarians, so that we can impact our students and provide meaningful instruction and library programming that meets their needs, and to try new ways to connect.  I am intrigued by #MysterySkype and want to collaborate with my teachers to give it a try.  There are so many ways to connect our students with others and I am excited to share these opportunities with the colleagues I work with each day!  So, International Dot Day, Global Read Aloud, Mystery Skype, Book Club, Rock Our World and all things reading-related...here I come...#HSTreads is ready to begin again and to make this year a fantastic one for my amazing students!  

If you are starting back to school soon, I wish you all the best!  If you want to collaborate with a high school librarian in North Carolina, find me on Twitter @LauraBLong or email me at lalong@gaston.k12.nc.us!  Oh, and meet Blue, the newest addition to Long Family Farm!  He is making the end of summer so much fun!  I am sure you will see him again soon!  

  




Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Loving Smore.com for a LMC Newsletter for our HST Staff!

One of my second semester goals is to make sure that I share a LMC newsletter with our staff.  So, I decided to use smore.com to create the first "test" newsletter.  I hope this grows into something bigger and better, but this is a start.  Other than a few blurry pictures, I am happy with the flyer.  The pictures looked clear on the computer screen, but in the embedded flyer on the blog, there are a few issues with quality.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

~Laura




Thursday, February 4, 2016

Time for a New Post from the HST Library!

Well, I realized that I am long overdue for a post to my blog, but I have been wrestling with the fact that I am not sure I have anything new to say or share!  My dilemma, what to blog about concerning instructional technology for Pinnacle?  Well, I had a realization last night that as an educator, I am charged with so many things, but one thing is to empower my students to be independent thinkers and doers!  Well, since the new semester has begun and my Video Broadcasting class is full of eleven new seniors, I was thinking about how well they have been prepared for the "real-world" here at Highland.  My students come to me as fluent users of multiple technologies.  They get to apply what they know in my class, and often, they are teaching me something new.  What a beautiful model of a successful education, when these second semester students can indeed take the proverbial bull by the horns and work either independently or a group to plan, create and edit digital productions for the school audience and beyond.  They are well-versed and experienced using Google Classroom now - it is second nature to them.  They use digital cameras to film video segments and edit them with advance Adobe software.  I have the privilege of guiding them, but they are the "hands-on" doers!  So, what am I doing with instructional technology as a Pinnacle leader?  I am sharing ideas with colleagues and pleasantly watching eleven soon-to-be high school graduates prepare for life after high school.  I am the facilitator and they are the creative minds behind video projects with purpose!  I feel fortunate every day to be their teacher!

I get to wear two hats here at Highland, teaching video broadcasting and serving as the school librarian.  One of my projects this school year is upgrading our workroom to a Makerspace for the students and staff at the school.  So, we now have our S.T.E.A.M. Room, ready for students to use to create, well...whatever they want to create.  Of course I need funding for supplies and equipment to continue to improve this space, but it is a start.  Here are some pictures of this work in progress:







Happy February!  And, if anyone knows of a local business or two willing to partner with me here at Highland for improving our S.T.E.A.M. Room, let me know! :-)