Louisiana Resource Center for Educators (LRCE) Internship: Summer 2019

    A common subject I've discussed on this blog is gamification - applying elements commonly found in recreational games to the classroom in order to promote better student engagement. However, gamification can be a rather vague area for many instructors, and there are many who don't know how to apply it not because they disagree with gamification, but because they don't how to apply it. Fortunately, there are many articles online, and helpful pieces of software that provide valuable guidance.     Liz Kolb, a teacher and proponent of gamification in the classroom, recommends the use of 3DGameLab and Gradecraft in order to implement game-based learning. Other recommendations are Classcraft and TheVirtualLocker. Two valuable things games employ, most often video games, are quests and experience points. The player completes quests - which can be any kind of task, both easy and challenging - and, in turn, receives experience points they can use to 'unlock' new privil...

    The Giver , first published in 1993, is an example of YA dystopian fiction and a long enduring young adult classic that is required reading in many schools. It tells the story of Jonas, a boy who lives in an isolated society where emotion is suppressed, who becomes apprenticed to an elder known as the 'Giver' who is able to transmit memories of the past to Jonas. Through these memories, Jonas learns about strong emotions such as love and hate, and the dysfunctional nature of the society in which he lives. The Giver and Jonas decide that the only way to fix matters is for him to run away, so that the memories will return to the people of the community. However, matters are never so simple...     The Giver provides all the hallmarks of YA dystopian fiction: a young person being selected for a special role, the dawning realization of the world around them that brings the protagonist in conflict with authority figures, and feelings of loneliness and isolation. Howe...

Dystopian fiction - a genre of literature exploring the nature and operation of dysfunction societies where the rights of the individual are often crushed by a powerful and malignant elite - has long since been present in the written language, and now in particular, in YA fiction. But how has this genre come about, and why has it become so entrenched in what young people are reading nowadays? The answer is complex, and it is difficult to provide a definite one. Throughout history, mankind has constantly been imagining future societies. As in Plato's Republic , some imaginative minds envisioned what the perfect society would be like, while others, such as Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, imagined the exact opposite. They wrote of societies that are specifically designed to crush the individual and civil liberties, where those who refuse to conform to the status quo and follow the stringent rules suffer for it. While Brave New World  and 1984  depict two very different kinds o...

    Gamification is exactly what its name implies:  the application of typical elements of game playing (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity, typically as an online marketing technique to encourage engagement with a product or service. While it can be applied to just about anything, we will be focusing on its potential to improve education by fostering such values as problem-solving, decision making, critical thinking, and storytelling. Proponents for gamification argue that games better engages students' attention and encourages them to use all of their mental faculties. Students who are normally bored and made lethargic by lectures and note-taking, become energetic and engaged through games, being able able to absorb more information and get more out of their time in the classroom. Their is real life evidence to support this. According to  an ancillary language teacher on Jeju Island in South Korea, gamificati...

    Last week and this week, my confidence as an intern has risen exponentially. Under my supervisor's direction, but acting on my own, I've created patron accounts and renewed their checked out items all by myself. I'm very proud of myself, by learning about Destiny, it will be easier for me to learn how to use other pieces of library management software. Also, I've been having plenty of opportunity to exercise my digital image editing skills. Recently, last week, I've received instructions to create three images advertising the Sip and Browse event hosted at the LRCE. Sip and Browse is held on a monthly basis, every Friday,   from   5:00pm-7:30pm CST. During this time, LRCE members are invited to the resource library where they can browse and check out materials while enjoying provided beverages, such as cocktails, coffee, and tea. Although the directions specified three images, I found that I needed to create four images in order to fit all the important text. Up...

    Although it is not yet over, I have found this week (6/17-6/21) to be very productive. I've conducted many new activities and learned how to do many more. Most of this involved Destiny; through Microsoft Teams and screen-sharing with my internship supervisor, Mrs. Cassidy Lee, I learned how to add new patrons, run weekly reminders, add copies of books to the catalog, managing call numbers, applying fines to patrons, checking library items in and out, and running circulation reports. We've met twice during the week - 12PM EST on Tuesday and Thursday - and will meet again next Thursday in order to continue my instruction in Destiny. Also, yesterday, I put my newfound skills to use by adding a patron to LRCE's online system.     While I am very grateful for this instruction, and have taken handwritten notes, I am still finding all this information to be a little overwhelming. I find it do be a lot to take in at once. However, through practice and much trial and er...

            Librarians are tasked with managing large amounts of information on a routine basis, and   connecting that information with interested patrons. These are no small tasks, but with the help of new technologies, librarians are improving services and ease of access for their patrons, and the same is being done in the classroom too. This is accomplished through technological integration. According to John Garland, digital librarian and independent consultant, libraries use new digital technologies to make services easier to use and access, inspire and inform, and help customers learn new skills. In many ways, school librarians are doing the same thing in the classroom by providing K-12 students with workshops that teach them new skills and by providing them with digital devices like mobile apps or smart devices that link them to online services provided by their school’s library. To better understand this process, it’s...