Greetings from fabulous Austin, Texas - the furthest South I've ever been in the continental United States. (I was told by the Southerners Florida doesn't count. Must be its own beast.) The humidity/heat is destroying my delicate vampire librarian skin, but Texans seem to love frigid air-conditioning.
Anyhoo, my colleagues and I are here for the Texas IB Schools Workshop, because our school is an IB school! Because IB is super-nebulous, here's a brief FAQ.
That acronym stands for "International Baccalaureate" - an international school curriculum that "aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect." It emphasizes holistic learning, to produce students who are "world citizens" through the Learner Profile.
What am I here for?
Schools get IB-certified by the organization, and ours happens to be one of them. I am implementing the Technology content of the Middle Years Programme (soon-to-be-renamed as "Design") in my classroom.
Where does a librarian fit in?
I'm the only librarian in my session, but there are several different contents represented here: Consumer Ec, traditional Tech, Humanities, Math, and Science. How cool is that? School librarians are natural collaborators, and it's awesome to be in a room with of all these people to hear about how I can better meet their needs.
For the confused people, this content area isn't about necessarily about applying "devices" - it's about inquiry. (A librarian's natural domain!) IB's Tech/Design content is about using your brain to solve big challenges. It's about saying, "We don't know how to do this yet. So how can we collaborate, use prior knowledge, choose tools, and follow through on responsible action to solve the problem?"
Why am I excited?
I am SO pumped to bring this to my middle-schoolers, and emphasize more project-based learning in my Library. For me, it's about making my Library into a Makerspace. I get to completely redesign my practice and emphasize that Libraries are welcoming places for all ideas. I get to tell students, "When you find your passion, you're unstoppable. You can solve any problem if you look hard enough for an answer." What could be more exciting for an educator?
Things to Share/Best Practices
* We watched this brilliant short film called Solve for X, which was about problem-solving. The humanity-loving part of me gets choked up over these things. Great thing to share in a classroom.
* Colleagues showed off two projects: the Mousetrap Car and the Shoe Inquiry. Both of these are cool enough for their own blog posts, and I'm TOTALLY stealing both activities.
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