Author: Kristie Ennis October 16, 2015 0 Comments

Today marked the first conference presentation of the year for me as a pre-service Library Media Specialist.  I found that I had a much different approach to presenting because I focused on practical methods for teachers and the LMS to partner with students to implement and maintain successful independent reading programs, rather than just giving strategies to teachers.  It was hugely successful!  I took two of my 12th grade students with me, both of whom had been struggling readers at one point in their academic lives, and now appreciate the opportunity to read and grow.  They spoke briefly about their experiences with independent reading and their presence added to my presentation in a big way.  I received positive feedback from the audience on my evaluation forms, so I guess I did something right!

This week I also taught my first lesson on using KYVL and the OPAC for research in the Sports Medicine class. It was difficult to teach using the Surface Pro Lab because they just don’t always work well for the kids.  The Surface for teachers is not yet formatted, so I had to bring my own laptop down and plug it in with a cable for mirroring.  The Surfaces themselves kept trying to update randomly, and the kids were unfamiliar with how to use them.  As a result, we won’t be using that lab for our subsequent lessons.  It will be me traveling to the kids with the iPad cart or the kids coming to the PC lab in the library media center.  The technology took away from the lesson in time and frustration, so I cannot recommend it.  However, I did roll on, and dealt with it patiently.  My full lesson is on video and can be viewed once it is all compressed.  I forgot how terrible it is to watch yourself teach!