Google Classroom from a Librarian's Perspective

Google is everywhere! Really, it's everywhere. It's very commonly used as a verb now. "Just Google it." "Let me Google that." It's a popular tool in our every day life now.

Google has even found AMAZING ways to work their way into our everyday academic life in schools as well.

When I first started teaching 10 years ago I never would have imagined the type of technology I would have access to as a teacher, let alone a librarian. In my first classroom, the only form of technology I had was one computer that was shared with another class. I had a chalkboard to write on and no overhead projector. I also had to share the room with another class. We divided the class with cabinets.

I was only in that classroom for a semester because I graduated mid year from college. After that first semester I got the position at the school I am still currently teaching at. The first classroom I had here was a huge step up. Not only was it MY room, and only my room, but I had a dry erase board to start. I even had my own computer and a Promethean Board. It was great!

Over the years things have developed more and more. Now, our school is 1 to 1 with Chromebooks. I'm no longer just a classroom teacher, but I'm the librarian.

With our 1 to 1 initiative came Google.

We all learned how to use Google Drive, Docs, Forms, etc within our first year and slowly started infusing them into our lesson plans. Then came Google Classroom.

Google Classroom is a fantastic LMS (Learning Management System) and by far one of the easiest to use. There are others out there, but Google Classroom seems to be the one on everyone's mind.

As a teacher/librarian Google Classroom has been very beneficial for me to reach my students at anytime of the day in or out of the library.

I've set up a Google Classroom for each grade level on my campus (6-8) and at the beginning of the year I give them the code they need to join the class. I usually post a welcome activity and/or message on Classroom so the first thing they see is something fun and positive. I also post important information about the library and how it functions on a daily basis.

Since my schedule is so hectic I don't get to see classes for library time much this year. So, Google Classroom has become the outlet I need to communicate with our students when I can't see them in the library. Here are some other ways I use Google Classroom as a librarian...

1. Post a document about new books that have just been added to circulation in the library. On that document is the title, author, lexile level, reading counts quiz information (Scholastic version of AR), and any other information about the book such as a quick snip or summary.

2. Poll questions about new books to order. I like getting input from students as I'm creating a new order of books. I want to know what they want to read. I'm continuously trying to draw interest and to keep students coming back.

3. Reviews on books that I have read or other students have read. This is a great tool to get students interested, get them excited about a book.

4. Quick little book related activities for the students to work on (Use Google Drawing to design their own bookmark; Use Google Slides or Drawings to create an advertisement for their favorite book)

5. Reminders about checked out books, deadlines, etc.

There are so many ways for Google Classroom to be beneficial to a librarian. I know there are more ways out there and I'm still discovering them. Utilize Google Classroom almost as if it was your website for your students to use. It's a great communication tool for you as a librarian to reach your number one stake holders, your students.

If you use Google Classroom as a librarian, how else have you used it? Please share in the comments below.

Genrefication...Beginning of Change

I've finished my third year as the librarian/media specialist at my school. Each year I have some of the same questions that come up. "Where can I find the mystery books?" "Where are the funny books?" Students come in to check out books and are looking for a specific genre of book to read. Well, I couldn't exactly tell them where they were because they were all spread out. Our books are organized by authors last name, not genre on the shelves.

So, I would help the student look for books in that genre and guide them to the shelf it would be on, but it was a task. As I kept getting these questions, ideas continued to flow through my head on how I could make it easier for our students. For the past two summers I've wanted to re-organize the library. There was always something going on and I wasn't able to get it done, unfortunately. This summer I'm going to make it happen!

I've done a lot of reading on how librarians went about reorganizing their libraries so their fiction books were organized by genre. There are some great ideas out there! I've taken notes, saved links, participated in Twitter chats, and so much more. The information is a bit cumbersome, but it is so helpful. It was helpful to know that I wasn't the only one looking to do this and that many librarians out there have already done this with their libraries.

I know the task of organizing the fiction books by genre is going to be a big one, but it's one I'm willing to take for our students on campus.

I'm still in the planning stages right now. I'm working on the genres that I want to organize the books in, how I'm going to label each book and then how I'm going to organize the shelves to best display the genres and the books.

To begin this task I've downloaded an EXCEL copy of our shelf listing from Destiny. This tells me every book I have in the library. As I work through the books I will make notes in the actual document so that I can keep track of books that go in each genre, and color code them as well.

Below are screen captures of the process and the steps I've gone through to get the shelf listing from Destiny.

I will also make note of catalog updates or changes I need to make in Destiny using this document. I'm hoping by going through this and keeping a digital copy it will make things easier for when I start to physically move the books in the library.

As this process moves forward I'm going to continue to document and keep track of what worked for me and what didn't work. I'm hoping there's a lot that does work.