Being Interested

I attended the School Library Journal Leadership Summit last weekend and one of the main things that stuck with me is the idea that students learn more and stick to assignments longer if they are interested. The keynote speaker, Annie Murphy Paul, writes the blog Brilliant: The Science of Smart. She talked about libraries being perfectly positioned to evoke the interests of students. Libraries are, in fact, one of the few spaces in schools where children are able to self-select materials that align with their personal interests. After listening to the talk, I formed some questions that might guide our libraries as centers of interest for our students:

• How often are students using the library? Is use flexible and equitable? 
• Are students allowed to choose whatever they want to read without any parameters imposed? 
• What would help students have more and better access to resources related to personal interests? 
• How can we take personal interests and connect them to necessary learning?

I'm sure we could generate many more questions that might help us better understand the role of interest in learning and how we can help students connect these together. What questions do you have about student interest? 

Best APPs for Teaching and Learning

As a part of the American Association for School Librarians, I have had the opportunity to participate on several committees. My most recent service has been to the Best APPs for Teaching and Learning committee. We spent a year reviewing hundreds of APPs in order to create a list of 25 that are exemplars for use in education. At the American Library Association annual conference this summer, we revealed the inaugural list to our colleagues. As Maple Street and Milwood now have access to iPads for classroom use, you will notice the free versions of many of these APPs have been downloaded for your use. Please feel free to play around with them and get familiar with their function. I would love to co-teach some lessons using these APPs to help support your content. I am also interested in what APPs you would like to use-- and what you might recommend for our next list (coming June 2014!). The 2013 list is available here for your use.