Blog 3: EXPLORE

     

    I interviewed Macedonia Middle School Librarian Chris Matthews about her implementation of the shared foundation Explore in her library program.  Mrs. Matthews shares that in her middle school she finds that students are either fiction readers or nonfiction readers but rarely are they readers of both.  To encourage students to read widely and deeply in multiple formats by talking to them individually and by doing promotions such as book talks, book passes, and displays.  One display is called “pick a pair” where she takes a fiction book and pairs it with a non-fiction book that relates to it.  In her experience, if she can just get the book into a student’s hands they will often give it a try.  She helps expand their interest in learning about other cultures by incorporating this into her library lessons.  

She uses STEM activities to teach problem solving and the cycle of design, implementation, and reflection.  STEM activities give all students a chance to experiment / tinker and to work collaboratively with others.  Mrs. Matthews tries to center her STEM activities on the time of year or what the teacher is teaching in the classroom.  In the Fall she has a Pumpkin Tower Challenge where students work together to create a pumpkin tower.  The group that creates the tallest tower that still holds the stuffed pumpkin weight wins.  In the Winter she has students build a Lego mug that holds hot cocoa.  Another popular STEM challenge has students create a penny bridge that must stand for 10 seconds with no assistance.  Besides the STEM challenges, she also has maker activities for students.

The resources she uses to support Explore are having a diverse collection of books in both fiction and non-fiction, Legos, and lots of odds and ends material for students to use for maker projects.  Additionally, Mrs. Matthews points out that the library setup is another important resource for Explore.  You have to have the library set up in a way that will help students to be successful. There should be places where groups can spread out for collaboration.  Sometimes they are going to need to be able to move chairs and tables.  Library furniture should be easy to move.  

    Macedonia Middle’s Library is on a semi-flex schedule.  All ELA classes come every two weeks on a day that their teacher has selected.  This visit is their ELA class for the day so the teacher stays.  Non-ELA teachers can sign up to bring their classes during available times.  An annual collaboration with a science class is the build a bird activity.  Students learn research skills while they are learning more about biomes and habitats.  Then they create a new bird from maker materials designed to survive in that biome.  They explain why they made material choices for that biome. For example, their bird might need talons for hunting because it’s a bird of prey.  In another science collaboration, they read the Lorax and then create an invention to solve one of the environmental problems from the book (air pollution, water pollution, deforestation, etc.).  They have to build it out of maker materials and then write a brief explanation of what they built and how it would work. 

Mrs. Matthews shares that one big challenge is finding time to collaborate with teachers.  Teachers are so busy and often do not have time to put one more thing on their plate so she has to get creative.  A lot of the collaboration is done via email and sharing files.  A teacher might share their idea and she’ll send an idea / example and ask “does this look like what you’re thinking?” or “what can we change about this?” because there is just not a lot of time to sit down and discuss in person.  

Engaging students can also present a challenge. Middle grade students have a unique set of challenges - Mrs. Matthews advises having thick skin.  Some students are tough to get to be creative.  Post covid, they are used to getting instructions, doing the task, getting graded and moving on.  They are not used to having to stretch that part of their brain so some are reluctant to do this.  Sometimes this can be solved by pairing them with the right partner but you have to lean on your teachers for this because you might not see the students enough to know who works well with who.  Additionally, sometimes Gifted and Talented students struggle with “failure.” Even though the library isn’t graded, they don’t want to get it wrong and can have a hard time when things don’t work.  

I was fortunate to be able to visit Mrs. Matthews library in person and spent a day observing her teaching.  I love her STEM ideas.  STEM and STEAM lessons seem to be a very popular way to help promote AASL Standards and engage students.  I appreciate her practical advice on how middle school students can be blunt but a very rewarding group to work with.  Her advice on flexible furniture was also important.  I had not really considered the furniture / arrangement as a programming resource but especially after observing her instruction in action it is definitely important.