Lost Connections to the Past

As a librarian one of the hardest parts of my job is weeding books.  I alone am responsible for looking at lists of old books that haven’t been checked out for years and deciding whether or not this book deserves another year on the shelf.  On some occasions, books may narrowly miss the executioner’s axe based on their merit as an award winning book or the fact that it is on a popular topic.  But, sadly, more often than not even these books can suffer the fatal blow due simply to their age or appearance.  The old adage, “you can’t judge a book by its cover” really doesn't apply here.  Books that are yellowed, damaged, or have dated artwork are not appealing to young readers and must be sacrificed to make room for those books that will draw students in and transport them to another world.

Recently I was in the middle of this painful process when I came across something very interesting and exciting.  I pulled a book of Poetry by Longfellow that had no computer record of being checked out.  I opened the front cover to discover a long forgotten piece of library “technology,” the book card.  If you are older than 30 you may remember these.  Before computers were used in the library, the book card used to sit in the front of the book until it was checked out.  Then, when the lucky book was chosen, the card would be removed, the patron would write their name on the line and the librarian would stamp the due date on the card and the other card inside the book.

As a child, I was always fascinated by this card.  I would study the names and dates on the card being amazed that the book had been checked out by such and such a kid 5 years before...5 years!  That was such a long time ago I thought.  So, it was no surprise that I did it again, I read through the names, a short history of the life of this book.  Tammy had checked the book out on May 30th.  Heidi must have loved this book of poems because she checked it out on October 24 and then again on Feb 3.  Then, the surprise.  The last entry on the card was a handwritten date and name 1-15-88 SPENCER 55...wait, could this have been checked out by my wife’s grandfather?  January, 1988 was the first year the school was open and Grandpa Spencer was teaching seventh grade social studies in room number 55.  This book hadn't been opened for 27 years and the last person to open it was my wife’s grandfather.  For a moment there was this amazing connection between the two of us.  I felt as though I had picked up right where he had left off.  27 years later, the same book in the same school, in the same library.  

As I stood next to the beautiful all-wood checkerboard that grandpa had built for me to keep in the library to encourage students to learn how to play checkers and chess, I began to flip through the book and found the reason the he had probably checked out this particular book: Paul Revere's Ride.  I started to imagine Grandpa starting his class taking attendance and then saying, as to get their attention, “Listen! My children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…” Then going through the rest of the poem, mesmerizing the children with the tale of Revere alerting the colonists of the impending arrival of the dreaded British.  Then, after finishing it, passing out copies and having a class discussion about how the poem conformed with and varied from the actual historical accounts of Paul Revere.

Wow, this one little card acted as my TARDIS, transporting me 27 years into the past into the social studies classroom of wife’s grandfather, watching the reactions of 13 year olds as they were hurled back 163 years to a dark New England evening and join in with a lone rider racing from town to town as

The people will waken and listen to hear

The hurrying hoof-beats of that stead

And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

With all that the advancements technology has brought to the library, more sophisticated search options, home access to the catalog, ebooks, and electronic reports and statistics, something has been lost.  No longer are we able to feel that simple amazement of seeing the names of the the travelers who have gone before us.  Those who have already been down the road that the lay ahead of us, the journey that the pages will take us on.  That connection between us and the past is no longer there.  We now must travel the path alone, not knowing who has already trod down it.

A water stain in the gutter of the book violently jerked me from my 190 year journey back to the here and now.  I thought to myself, “Grandpa was the last one to check this out, and there are water stains, I think he owes the school $6.98 to replace this book!”

OER-CIES TLC class blog post

I was looking for a more interesting way to teach students about copyright and the use of media.  During the webinar about OERs I was introduced to the PBS Media website and thought I would give it a shot.  I found a lesson called "Who Owns a Sound?"

I used this lesson in conjunction with the Common Sense Media "a creator's rights".  I chose this particular lesson because of the video resources that it offers.  It also puts the issue in a context that students understand...music, specifically hip hop music.  The lesson goes into not only the why of copyright, but also the how.  It also gives students the opportunity to look at both sides of the argument and formulate their own opinions.  

This lesson, though fits into augmentation level of SAMR, fits more into the TPACK model.  It uses technology to better cover the content.  Since the issues covered in the content focus on music, the use of the videos and sound bites reinforce the concepts.  This resource allows students to work at their own pace and covers content in several different ways.  Finally, after the lesson was over, we were able to go into the Common Sense Media lesson with confidence, an opinion, and familiarity on the subject.  

I found that, in the end, this was an interesting resource to use.  I feel that the advantage of this was that students were able to go at their own pace and really spend the time they needed on each slide. I also heard students asking questions that I had not heard other groups ask before do to the higher engagement on the topic.   

A down side is definitely the use of video on the school network.  With limited bandwidth, this could cause problems. Another issue is the need for students to create an account.  The need for accounts students to create accounts for every resource used becomes confusing to students.  I have seen, in middle school, many students forget computer logins, passwords, even locker combinations on a regular basis.  Adding one more account could become an added source of confusion and frustration to some.  A final issue I see, which we, as teachers, face with self-paced assignments is that some may need more or less time to complete the assignment.  The problem with this is that students are required to have internet access at home to complete the assignment.