Developing World Libraries

I started this week looking at the challenges faced by school libraries in developing countries. Shonhe's (2019) study brings up the following deficiencies:
1) Lack of library policies
2) Poor staffing practices
3) Lack of adequate funding
4) Poor ICT infrastructure
5) Poor library facilities
6) Lack of awareness of the significance of libraries

Thinking upon these and of technology and developing countries, I remembered coming across One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) in my early years of teaching. I was looking up information for teaching my computer class and stumbled on an article. I remembered how intrigued I was by it and how amazed I was that such a formidable goal of providing a cost-effective device to every child in developing countries was generating steam. I am pretty sure I brought it up to my grade eight students and we discussed the magnitude and significance this might have for those learners. Then, it faded away and other things came up. From time to time, I would think about that little green and white computer with a hand crank but I never really followed-up.

OLPC's XO laptop, Creative Commons

This week’s blog post gave me the chance to go back for another look; an update to the story of that green and white laptop. Unfortunately, it hadn’t turned out as glorious as I had hoped. According to Robertson’s (2018) article in The Verge, it was too lofty a goal to attempt to keep the cost of each laptop to $100 each and that created a lot of hardware and software issues to overcome but I think the largest hurdle was as Robertson writes, “thirteen years ago, OLPC told the world that every child should get a laptop. It never stopped to prove that they needed one” (2018). As important as internet devices are in our daily lives, these tools are not miracle workers that will suddenly enable children to becoming lifelong learners; they still require much guidance. OLPC still exists today but on a much smaller scale than its beginning.

Following up on OLPC did lead me to two other organizations: Library for All and Room to Read.

Library for All does not focus on getting devices into the hands of children in developing countries, rather, the organization wants to “help turn access to tablets, smartphones, and legacy phones into substantially improved access to content at resource-starved schools” (Quillen, 2013). Their idea is to formalize a central repository of information curated from free resources on the web for teachers to use, many of whom may be in the early stages of learning how to use technology themselves. The repository features a simplified format with less graphics to save on bandwidth which is often at a premium in many remote locations. Their hope is to be able to tailor these resources to the specific needs of developing countries – teacher comfort, language, subjects, reading levels. The Library for All platform is designed to operate on devices already in the developing world, specifically mobile phones that are more prevalent and accessible and to that extent, they have worked with national telecommunications companies in each country to ensure that users incur zero data charges while reading on the platform (Stephans, 2015). The most important part in my eyes is that this organizations works with local educators to ensure that content is relevant and work with local curriculum and offered in the language of that region. They “believe having access to culturally and linguistically relevant information is crucial in allowing people to lift themselves out of poverty (Stephans, 2015).

Meanwhile, “Room to Read works with local authors, illustrators and designers to create and publish books that reflect the experience and culture of the children learning to read in their libraries. The stories have lessons from local life and culture, relying on fewer and fewer translations of Western stories about hot dogs and snow” (Truong, 2019). The child-centered, friendly and approachable setting of the libraries built by this foundation creates safe spaces for children to explore, develop a love of reading and invite their families into their learning. Further there is funding to empower girls by covering their basic needs so that they will be motivated to develop more academically. I love how in the Vietnam story shared by Truong, a field manager for Room to Read, after encountering a boy who was teased for loving flowers, she brought it to the attention of her team and they are developing more diverse stories, including one of a boy who loves flowers and others to deconstruct stereotypes.

Finally, I found an opinion piece for Tech for Impact, it was noted that COVID-19 has really highlighted a disparity of technology especially in low-income communities across Asia. In it, Sayres points to leveraging cloud technology to give more free access to education and using smart phone apps can be beneficial as those devices are usually most common for access in developing countries. The article also highlights some older tech; many governments and organizations are using broadcast technology, radio and television, to get lessons and educational programming out as well. The article finishes by stating “[a] layered response, of old and new, remote and physical, is the way to truly bridge the digital divide” (Sayres, 2020). I have found the need for this balance in my own school library. We need to be attuned to what our students have accessible to them in order to be able to facilitate what we can.

References

Bernard, S. (2008). Room to Read: Building Libraries, Schools, and Computer Labs in Developing Countries. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/global-education-libraries-developing-countries

Cameron, J. One Laptop per Child. Retrieved 1 November 2020, from http://one.laptop.org/

Knight Foundation. (2015). Library for All [Video]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/135565695

Quillen, I. (2013). Mindshift Library for All: Free Digital Content for Developing Countries. Retrieved from https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/29339/library-for-all-free-digital-content-for-developing-countries

Robertson, A. (2018). OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world — then it all went wrong. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17233946/olpcs-100-laptop-education-where-is-it-now

Room to Read. (2014). Room to Read | Learn More in Under 3 Minutes [Video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/qNhLgn1VsG4

Sayres, N. (2020). Tech can drive equality in education. You can help. Retrieved from https://techforimpact.asia/tech-can-drive-equality-in-education-you-can-help

Shonhe, L. (2019). A consolidation of challenges faced by school libraries in developing countries. Library Philosophy And Practice. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/2467

Stephans, K. (2015). Library For All breaks down barriers to knowledge in developing world. Retrieved from https://knightfoundation.org/articles/library-all-breaks-down-barriers-knowledge-developing-world/

Truong, L. (2019). Libraries Changing the Margins of the World | Room to Read. Retrieved from https://bittersweetmonthly.com/stories/room-to-read#

Supporting Teachers’ ICT Curriculum and Pedagogy: On-going Professional Development

As the teacher-librarian at my school, I fully feel that a large part of my role is to support the teachers and aides at my school. I have always felt that I am in a unique position where I have the flexibility to see and visit different learning spaces around my school while also welcoming and working in my own LLC. I love being able to bring new ideas and resources with me to work with all these groups so that we can all learn and teach better.

This Infographic made the rounds a few years back but it still so relevant…

(J. Murphy, 2013)

In order to respond to the needs of our school community, there are a few things I feel need to be in place.

Accessibility

The most important aspect of being able to support teachers in their development and learning is to be easy to get to. I always ask the teachers at my school to shoot me a message if there is anything that is needed or that they would like a hand to organize for upcoming projects. I often get emails or texts during the day which keeps me in the know of what is happening. Being accessible means that the teachers feel comfortable and able to reach out to me when they need to. My library space is also always open for them to come in and peruse materials or to talk things out.

*A note about the “Professional Collection”: I used to have a section in the library for teacher resources and a parent section as well. Due to district and administrative policies, I am no longer able to offer those. I feel it is a real loss since we have new staff nearly every year, it can be difficult for them to get started or have materials at the ready right away. Having a central area for resources with someone at the helm who knows what is available is invaluable, in my opinion. I would always have a welcome back session at the start of the year to highlight and remind teachers of what amazing resources we had so that they would be utilized to their full potential. Housing professional readings and journals were also useful because I could see what was being circulated and it would give me a good indication on where to offer service.

 

Listen, listen, listen some more

The biggest part of my job is to pay attention and know what is happening in the classrooms so that when the students come to me in the library I can support or enhance their classroom learning. This can be great when a teacher lets me know ahead of time – at one of my past schools, my admin availed me to year plans at the start of the year so I could see at a glance what fell where. Other times, I have created surveys so that I can track monthly happenings. My district is on MS Teams so creating a Form to send out to teachers would be an easy method of surveying their needs. Beyond these more formal methods, simply listening (okay I may be a bit of snoop) when I walk down the hall or in the lunchroom, I often hear conversations that can alert me to trends that I can support. For example, a quick conversation with our pro-d chair where she said there were a lot of teachers going to outdoor learning sessions is leading me to create a Collection of books and resources to ease that transition.

 

Curating things that matter

There is SO much information out there! Thinking back to June and the amazing and fantastic resources flying at us left, right and center, I recall how overwhelmed so many teachers were. Our district had an amazing IT team who worked hard to put tools in place for us but there were daily emails from them, from our admin, from district resource teachers sharing helpful things but also too many things. Not all of it was relevant to my teachers, our level or our school. I became a gatekeeper of sorts, weeding out what was needed and helpful. Likewise, I do the same for many of the subscriptions we have to educational sites or organizations. I peruse them and offer highlights of useful items to teachers for their grades and interests.

Advocating

The best thing I can do to help them meet the ICT professional needs of the staff at my school is to advocate for them. In my position, when I work in different classrooms and with every teacher, it becomes quite apparent where deficiencies lie. When I see inequity of tech equipment because a teacher was new to the school and did not know what was available, or that there is one classroom where the WiFi connection is truly deplorable, or seeing that moving more of our teaching online is really tough for a lot of my peers – I speak up. I ask for more tech and facilitate acquisition, I tell them that it isn’t normal to be constantly dropped from Zoom meetings and get IT to investigate, I ask for time and organize after school sessions to work with the teachers who could use some time acclimatizing to online apps and tools.

Going forward…

I know this year is not the norm. I know this year is not what I am used to. I know this year is very different and that my school needs me to operate differently. I know I can’t fully offer all the services I was offering before. I know I need to be patient and kind to myself and know that I am doing my best while working with the constraints placed upon me. It is hard and I have been frustrated but I know that my colleagues are all feeling it too. I have really made it a point to focus on the present and the half of the school I currently service – it has allowed me to get to know those teachers better and I think in the long-run, as I build these stronger connections, it will be beneficial to us all.

References

Murphy, J. (2013). I am a {social} librarian [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.elsevier.com/connect/infographic-portrait-of-a-social-librarian

Developing your own ICT Skills and Pedagogy

A large part of why I have so enjoyed taking the courses towards my TL Diploma is that it has kept me fresh and given me so many ideas to implement even as I learn. These past few years have been some of the most interesting and rewarding in my years of teaching. Most of this is due to having access to and new ways of thinking, conversations with peers and instructors and resources to engage with in my teaching.

When I had the chance to teach in a new district a few years ago, I made it a point to find out what local supports were in place for me. Once I was able to contact the teacher-librarian group in the district and joined their professional learning network (PLN) I found it much easier to learn about my role in the district and resources available to me, it also gave me the chance to get to know my colleagues a lot faster through meetings, sessions, and workshops that were offered. Provincial Specialist Associations (BC-list) such as the BCTLA offer the chance to attend conferences and get support.

I also make it a point to keep track of up and coming books or items of interest by reading publications such as the School Library Journal, it can be quite expensive for a subscription individually so when I first started in the library, I actually got together with a couple other schools to split the cost and we shared the print copy. However, they have free digital access right now due to COVID so it might be worthwhile to sign-up. A few other resource sites I subscribe to include: Edutopia, Common Sense Media Education, Brightly, and A Mighty Girl.

Access digital copies of current and past publications for free!

Personal development can happen at any time and I try to take full advantage when I can. Through word of mouth this past summer, I was able to participate in Pro-D opportunities such as STEAM Days of Summer at Science World. I spent two weeks learning about teaching computational thinking, coding and having the chance to have hands-on experience with coding hardware and software. It was intense but so worthwhile and I felt very lucky for the opportunity.

Edison Robot (Photo by author)

Micro:bits (Photo by author)

LEGO Education (Photo by author)

Most importantly, I get inspired by fantastic colleagues and other teacher-librarians who share the amazing work they do. I attended a workshop by Anna Crosland and follow her blog to see the engaging makerspace activities she does with students at her school: @crosland_a (Twitter). And this past June, I connected with another TL, Christopher Hunt @ExLibrisMrHunt on Twitter who was looking for resources for the teachers at his school and we collaborated to create resource lists.

As with every other course I have taken so far, I hope to gain new friends and follow more people as they continue their learning journey. We guide and inspire each other.

References

A Mighty Girl. (2020). Retrieved 18 October 2020, from https://www.amightygirl.com/

BC Teacher-Librarians' Association. (2020). Retrieved 17 October 2020, from https://bctla.ca/

BCTF. (2020). Provincial Specialists Associations 2020-21 [Ebook]. Retrieved from https://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/public/AboutUs/ServicesHandbook/15PSA.pdf

Brightly | Helping Parents Grow Lifelong Readers. (2020). Retrieved 18 October 2020, from https://www.readbrightly.com/

Common Sense Education. (2020). Retrieved 18 October 2020, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/

Crosland, A. (2020). [Blog]. Retrieved from https://annacrosland.edublogs.org/

Edutopia. (2020). Retrieved 18 October 2020, from https://www.edutopia.org/

School Library Journal. (2020). Retrieved 17 October 2020, from https://www.slj.com/

Fostering Reading Cultures in Schools

Ah! The joy of reading. I can’t think of time when books weren’t a part of my life. I think I am very lucky that my dad always encouraged my brothers and I to read by providing ample fodder in a very diverse range. He loved books himself, and they were one thing he was always generous in having available. Books for me were an escape and a source of wonder, my elementary school library and Mrs. Gowan (my librarian there), provided a safe and welcoming space that nurtured and developed my interest – I not only loved the reading aspect but the organizing and classifying and helping with the card sign-out was invigorating. I guess it comes as no surprise that I am now in the role of teacher-librarian, myself.

The sense of safety and inclusion is what I most revere of my school memories and I have worked hard over the years to ensure that my classroom, the LLC, has that same atmosphere. Regardless of the size of the collection, the shape of the room, or the décor – I hope the environment I created in the six school libraries I have had the privilege of serving in has always been one where my students felt welcomed and happy.

A decade ago, I came across the book Igniting a Passion for Reading: Successful Strategies for Building Lifetime Readers by Steven L. Layne. It is a book I have returned to often over the years and it has really helped me to be thoughtful in how I present reading, books and myself to my students. There are plenty of strategies worthy of attention but three really stood out. I had not consciously thought about them until Layne laid them out succinctly.

1. Target alliterate students

The most powerful words, states Layne (2009), is “I thought of you.” Often our students who choose not to read do so because they have never had exposure to books that are meaningful to them or maybe they haven’t had positive experiences with reading. To take a closer look at these kids, get to know them, and connect them to a book that you have specifically chosen for them can be a start of a beautiful relationship. I have used those words many times and it is just as potent every time.

2. Know your students

I ask my intermediate students to fill out an interest survey at the beginning of each year. It helps me to refamiliarize myself to their likes and gives me good input, especially in a year like this one, to be able to tailor suggestions to classes. It also keeps me on my toes to the new fads that I may otherwise miss.

3. Read with your students

This one was so important for me when I was in the classroom. I would often feel guilty when my students were reading to pick up a book and read too. Shouldn’t I be marking or getting the next activity ready? Being a model for the behaviours we want our students to exhibit is so important, so why shouldn’t we model reading?

In the LLC, I do frequent book talks and create thematic displays.

Photo booth wall for "I Read Canadian" Day. (Photo by author)

I have “Books of the Week” where students put their names in for a draw to be the first to take out new books. I also ensure my students have tools at their disposal to find what they need. I teach how to use our catalogue system and highlight resources like Novelist. During remote teaching, I built a Padlet to keep my students connected. I am still adding to it as we have transition learners at home, it’s a fun space to highlight resources and activities.

Leigh LLC Padlet

For me, the best part of fostering a school-wide reading culture are the exciting events for the students and staff. There have been inter-school competitions such as Battle of the Books and Reading Link Challenge in collaboration with the public libraries. We are taking part in the Global Read Aloud again this year, joining schools around the world in reading books and sharing our thoughts. 

One of our postcards from our postcard exchange. (Photo by author)

There have been school-wide reads and LiTerrific Day! where I have author visits, guest readers, noisy reading in the hallways, classroom teacher swaps to share their favourite books and the whole school dresses up as their favourite literary characters. 

Noisy reading in the halls with parent participation. (Photo by author)

Local hockey teams and other guest have come in the past to read to students for LiTerrific Day. (Photo by author)

Reading is fun and though I am pretty good at emoting and bringing my reading of stories to life, it is always good to have goals to work towards. One day, I hope to be able to hardcore rap Dr. Seuss like Wes Tank:

I know this year is different and I will need to rethink and restructure programs that I have offered before. It has been overwhelming but I am approaching it a bit at a time. I do hope to make a bigger online presence this year. With our staggered schedule, it has been difficult to coordinate school-wide activities or have student gatherings – I would like to look at ways to facilitate online meets, clubs and sharing spaces so that we might continue reading together.

References

Layne, S. (2009). Igniting a passion for reading: successful strategies for building lifetime readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

NoveList K-8 Plus | EBSCO. (2020). Retrieved 10 October 2020, from https://www.ebsco.com/novelist/products/novelist-k8-plus

Percevault, E. (2020). Leigh Elementary LLC. Retrieved 10 October 2020, from https://epercevault.padlet.org/Ms_Percevault/LeighLLC

Ripp, P. (2020). The Global Read Aloud. Retrieved 10 October 2020, from https://theglobalreadaloud.com/

Tank, W. (2020). FOX IN SOX: Dr. Seuss Raps over Dr. Dre Beats [Video]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/hqIbEHNqbPs

Reading Review Blog Post #3

COMPUTATIONAL THINKING (CT)

I first took a step back to look at the three main questions I had:

“What is computational thinking?”

“Why should I teach computational thinking?”

“How do I teach computational thinking?”

In reading through and looking at the materials I collected last week. I am heartened to see that it is a skill that will prove immensely useful to my students as they continue their learning in upper levels (high school and beyond) and that these skills can and do lend themselves to be easily blended into my day to day activities and routines.

So, what is CT?

Its FOUR CORE COMPONENTS (BBC, n.d.)
Decomposition – breaking down a problem into smaller more manageable parts
Pattern Recognition – analyzing similar objects or experiences and identify commonalities
Abstraction – focusing on the information that is relevant and important
Algorithms – developing a solution to a problem

I pulled out some statements from Jeannette Wing’s (2006) article that resonated the most with me:

Why should CT be taught in schools? Simply because it is a valuable way of thinking that can be broadly applied to everyday life and will give students the ability to take information, break it down, consider the pieces, and gain a balanced understanding. In Will Richardson’s (2012) book Why School? – he quotes Tom Wagner:

“There's no competitive advantage today in knowing more than the person next to you. The world doesn't care what you know. What the world cares about is what you can do with what you know."

I strongly feel it is for this reason that we need to teach computational thinking to ensure our students have the capacity and ability to take all of this “abundance” of information and make sense of it so that they can use it meaningfully and accurately in whatever setting they find themselves.

How do I teach CT? I was recently reminded in a discussion post by a peer in the course of a series of articles by Kristin Fontichiaro called “Nudging Towards Inquiry”, where she takes elements of Inquiry and breaks them down into small, manageable nuggets so that teachers can integrate it into their classroom teaching and shift their mindset of adapting it slowly; gaining confidence as they built their understanding. I loved her column immensely; it was approachable and took away so many of the fears and concerns I had in what I thought was a huge undertaking. Couldn’t this same tactic be used in integrating CT? Of course it can! And in my collected articles, I found the same sentiments expressed: start with small parts, work it in and build from there.

Some examples:

From Ricketts (2018) – In kindergarten (Algorithms-sequencing)

Read a picture book in which a character travels to a clear sequence of locations.

Write a "program" for the character's movement.

Use a map and doll, run the program by moving the doll to each location on the map.

From Noonoo (2019) – In Social Studies (Pattern recognition)

List state/province names on the board in two columns and have students figure out why they are grouped the way they are. (By etymology, derived from European vs First Nations languages). Leading to learning about geography but also looking at regional toponyms.

I hope to continue my learning while introducing CT to my colleagues. Showcasing to them small parts and sharing activities that they can use right away, I look to pave the way to better understanding and hopefully give impetus to building these valuable computational skills into our day to day teaching.

References

BBC. What is computational thinking? - Introduction to computational thinking - KS3 Computer Science Revision - BBC Bitesize. Retrieved 5 October 2020, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zp92mp3/revision/1

Noonoo, S. (2019). Computational Thinking Is Critical Thinking. And It Works in Any Subject. – Edsurge News. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-05-21-computational-thinking-is-critical-thinking-and-it-works-in-any-subject

Richardson, W. (2012). Why School? How Education Must Change When Learning and Information are Everywhere [eBook edition]. Ted Conferences.

Ricketts, R. (2018). Computational Thinking for Kindergartners. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/computational-thinking-kindergartners

Thorson, K. (2018). 4 Early Learning Strategies for Developing Computational Thinking Skills. Retrieved from https://www.gettingsmart.com/2018/03/early-learning-strategies-for-developing-computational-thinking-skills/

Reading Review Blog Post #2

In venturing forth this week, I wanted to look for materials that would help me navigate and learn more about the topics from my first blog post.
 
I came across the statement from Canadian School Libraries on the role of school libraries during the pandemic:
1) To support reading and readers
2) To support inquiry learning
3) Connecting teachers and students to virtual learning and virtual resources

(Canadian School Libraries, 2020)

It made me very conscious of the fact that I am not currently able to sustain or do these important roles. I will need to re-imagine how I can deliver service in a different setting and without full resources. Though it does seem a daunting task, I feel it is my duty to try to the best of my abilities. Seeing this graphic also gives me a goal and breaks down parts that I can focus on.

With that in mind, here are some resources, articles and websites that I hope will help guide my learning:

Collection of resources and articles

Common Sense Education. (2020). Retrieved 25 September 2020, from
https://www.commonsense.org/education/
Online resource of lessons, review of EdTech and distance learning resources. I will be looking at the digital citizenship lessons and using the reviews to help navigate potential apps and technology to assist in my teaching.
 
EVERFI. (2020). K-12 Overview | EVERFI. Retrieved 25 September 2020, from https://everfi.com/k-12/
Digital platform offering self-paced game-based lessons for students. For all grades and covering topics ranging from financial literacy and SEL to digital citizenship. Of particular interest is the Ignition: Digital Literacy program.
 
Noonoo, S. (2019). Computational Thinking Is Critical Thinking. And It Works in Any Subject. - EdSurge News. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-05-21-computational-thinking-is-critical-thinking-and-it-works-in-any-subject
Article examining the gaining popularity of computational thinking and its ability to be integrated into all subjects in schools. Anecdotal experience from a high school Social Studies teacher showing its usage in his classroom. A look at the core of computational thinking - three main parts: looking at the data, looking for patterns, decomposition. Discussion of how to blend these skills into the curriculum lesson by lesson and as needed.
 
Ricketts, R. (2018). Computational Thinking for Kindergartners. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/computational-thinking-kindergartners
Article offering approaches to teaching computational thinking to our youngest learners. Incorporation of algorithms, sequences, conditionals, and repeat loops can be easily worked into daily routines and tasks. Activities can all be accomplished without the use of technology.
 
Wing, J. (2006). Computational Thinking. Communications Of The ACM, 49(3), 33-35. Retrieved from https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~15110-s13/Wing06-ct.pdf
Article espousing the merits of computational thinking as a fundamental skill for everyone and not just computer scientists. Shows how it is already ingrained in our day to day life just not properly labeled for our awareness. Computational thinking is not computer programming, it is much more and involves decomposition, algorithmic thinking, patterns and generalization and abstraction. Wing showcases how all these skills are involved and how teaching and exposing learners from a young age will allow for a much grander scope of possibility in their future enterprises.

References

Canadian School Libraries. (2020). Statement on the Role of School Libraries During the Pandemic [pdf]. Retrieved from https://www.canadianschoollibraries.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/CSL-Statement_SchoolLibraries_Pandemic.pdf

Editor, W. (2020). Leverage Your LLC – Canadian School Libraries. Retrieved from https://www.canadianschoollibraries.ca/leverage-your-llc/

Reading Review Blog Post #1

I will not lie, things are a bit confusing right now. I feel like I am at a bit of a stalemate this year coming into my LLC. I am currently still waiting on district protocols on how and when I am allowed to proceed with using my space and the resources therein contained. There are many details my school is still organizing and things are just not normal! If this were a regular year, I would have set-up the shelves in my library to display new books in the collection, I would have pulled the "welcome to school" titles and had my kindergarten book bags ready to go. Instead, I have pivoted and tried to acclimatize myself to the changes needed for this strange time.

So, my foci this year at its heart will be familiar but in looks may be a little different. I want to engage my students and continue to build their love of reading (even while operating outside of the LLC), I want to build community in my school (even while we are in class bubbles) - looking at online collaboration, I want to navigate, investigate and evaluate many of the digital resources touched upon during remote learning that excited my learners (even if the opportunity to use devices may be limited). Digital literacy will continue to be a focus for me as well. Many of my students were called upon to navigate online in June; I saw a lot of discrepancies in levels of ability and I really want to make sure they have a basic understanding of safety and practical skills should the need arise again.

For fun this summer, I attended a STEAM workshop at Science World and had the opportunity to try my hand at a myriad of different coding tools. We also discussed the the importance of teaching computational thinking beyond just teaching students to code. I would love to delve into this a little more, especially in the work I do with my Challenge (gifted) students. This will apply especially to the ADST curriculum.

I am oscillating between feeling a bit overwhelmed right now but also hopeful and excited to work with my students again. I know that as things regulate and we get more into the flow of things, it will come together. Just as this is a brainstorm of big ideas and many parts, pieces will float to the top and solidify and I know it will be good to learn and share as a group. We are in this together!