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School-Wide Initiatives
As the Digital Literacy Specialist, I currently have two main goals that I am working on achieving.
The first goal that I am working on is developing a school-wide culture that embraces reading. This will help increase students' vocabulary, empathy towards others, imagination, and knowledge and helps to sharpen their memories. Allowing them to become better readers, score higher on standardized tests, and have greater content knowledge. To develop this reading culture, I provide students and staff with numerous introductions to a diverse collection of books.
The second goal that I am working towards is to build a larger makerspace, increase its usage, and find ways to connect making and the makerspace to classrooms. Makerspaces provide many benefits to students. They challenge students to create and learn through hands-on, personalized experiences and provide:
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The opportunity to innovate
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Real-world applications for classroom concepts
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An outlet to learn to take failure in stride
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New opportunities for students
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An opportunity to build critical thinking and problem-solving skills
To help drive the importance of the makerspace to help all students and staff see themselves as makers, I provide free-choice activities in the makerspace daily and sponsor school-wide maker competitions.
School-Wide Reading Initiatives
FIRST CHAPTER FRIDAYS
During Advisory time on Fridays, students listen to a staff member reading the first chapter of a book. While they are listening, they have the opportunity to complete Doodle Notes where they draw or write words that come to mind as they listen to the chapter. If there is time, students are able to share their doodles if they want.
TOILET PAPERS
Once a week, featured books can be found in all of the bathroom stalls around the building.
SOCIAL MEDIA
On Instagram, I post a weekly featured book.
On Tik Tok, I promote different books by creating Book Toks about interesting books that I have recently read that would appeal to the students.
BOOK TASTING
I collaborated with Language Arts teachers to bring all students into the iCenter during their class time to participate in a book tasting event. Students had the opportunity to sample 4 different books that were "served" up to them during their visit. They were asked to sample a book that they thought they would like to read, a title that was new to them, a book that they would never pick up off the shelf, and a book of their choosing. They spent three minutes looking over the cover, checking out the title and author, reading the summary, and then finally opening the book and starting to read the first chapter. They then had two minutes to fill out their "menu" with their thoughts about the book after having the opportunity to try it out. The session ended with students having the opportunity to talk about the books that they just had the chance to try out.
MUSICAL CHAIRS
I collaborated with Language Arts teachers again to bring all students into the iCenter during their class time to participate in another book tasting event. Once again, students had the opportunity to sample 4 different books. This time, books were placed in envelopes under a group of chairs set up in a circle. We then played Musical Chairs. Students moved around the circle while the music was playing. When it stopped, they sat down in the closest seat, this was a modified version where everyone was a winner and had a seat in the circle. They then had 3 minutes to sample the book in the envelope under their seat. They looked at the cover and read the title and author, the summary on the back, and began the first chapter. When the time was up, they had a few minutes to complete a bookmark indicating if they liked the book and giving a thought about the book.
TOURNAMENT OF BOOKS
As part of March is Reading Month, I pull the top 16 circulated books from the iCenter and give all students and staff the opportunity to complete a Book Bracket predicting which book they think will be the top book of the school year. Students then have the opportunity to vote in the Sweet 16, Elite 8, Final 4, and Championship to determine the top book for the school. I then collect the top bracket from each class and give out a prize to the top 3 brackets in the building.
YOU'VE BEEN CAUGHT READING
To build excitement for our November Scholastic Book Fair, I gave staff "You've Been Caught Reading" tickets to pass out to students. Students could get a ticket for reading at any appropriate time, before school, during lunch, during free time in class, between classes, or actually reading during reading time when they normally do not. Students could turn in tickets during the week of the Book Fair. At the end of the week, I drew students' names to come down and win a prize from the Book Fair.
I ran this event again during March for March is Reading Month and drew three tickets every Friday for the month to come to the iCenter for a prize. Due to overwhelming requests from staff and students, I continued the program through the end of the year!
SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR
Every year, I run one Scholastic Book Fair. For the past two years, I have been extremely successful and surpassed my goal of selling 438 books. This past November, I sold 878 books!
To help increase excitement for the book fair, I put together teaser videos that are shown during Advisory and in Language Arts classes, have students vote on which book they predict to be the top seller from the flyer and raffle of copies to those students who picked correctly, run a special teacher preview, setup up previews for all students through their Language Arts class, and promote the event both within the building and on Social Media.
DROP EVERYTHING AND READ (DEAR) DAY
Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) Day is celebrated nationally in remembrance of children's author, Beverly Cleary, on her birthday, April 12th every year. I organized for the entire school to participate in this event at the same time during Advisory. To help students and staff be able to get cozy with their books we gave them the opportunity to wear school-appropriate pajamas for the day.
School-Wide Maker Initiatives
LUNCH & LEARN
The iCenter is open daily during all lunches. Students are able to stop by the iCenter before school or in between classes before lunch to sign up for a pass to the iCenter at lunchtime. When they have finished eating, a staff member in the cafeteria signs their pass and they are able to come to the iCenter for the remainder of their lunch period. They can use this time to play games, work on classwork, utilize the makerspace, or hang out with their friends.
We do offer weekly specialized sessions:
Tuesday - Tech Tuesday
Wednesday - Reading Appreciation Program Book Clubs
Thursday - Game Day Thursday
Friday - Maker Friday
MAKERSPACE IS OPEN EVERY DAY!
The makerspace is open every day for students and teachers to use. It can be used before school, during lunches, and during class time with a teacher's permission. Items that are available for use in the makerspace include:
Cardboard
MakeDo Cardboard Cutting Tools and Screws
Beads
Friendship Bracelet Supplies
Duct Tape Craft Supplies
Shrinky Dinks
Origami
Cricut
Sphero Bolt Robots
Bloxel Video Game Making
Raspberry Pis
Legos & Kinex
3D Doodler Pens
3D Printer
Coloring Pages and Coloring Supplies
Various Arts & Craft Supplies
THE GREAT PUMPKIN CONTEST
In the Fall, the iCenter hosted its first school-wide maker event with a pumpkin decorating contest. The contest was broken into 5 categories: 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, staff, and a collaborative Advisory category.
Participants were able to "dress up" their pumpkins at home and bring them in to be displayed. The whole building then had the opportunity to vote on which was their favorite pumpkin from each category. Winners were awarded to the top 3 pumpkins in each category.
GINGERBREAD HOUSE CONTEST
Leading up to Winter Break, the iCenter hosted another school-wide maker event with a gingerbread decorating contest. The contest was broken into 5 categories: 6th grade, 7th grade, 8th grade, staff, and a collaborative Advisory category.
Participants were able to create a gingerbread house out of cardboard. We had an amply supply of cardboard if it was needed, but again, participants created their houses at home. Due to having to shift learning from in-person to remote for part of this time, participation was low, so everyone who participated received a prize.
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