also bring laptops to access the library’s wireless
network. Two part-time library assistants and
volunteers help Valenza keep the library actively
serving students.
U.S. history students recently engaged in a
project to help them develop empathy and a
better understanding of the Great Depression.
They used primary source documents and online
analysis tools from the Library of Congress to
examine photographs of the era. To develop deeper
contextual knowledge, they explored resources
that Valenza vetted and compiled in a companion
electronic pathfinder. This crosscurricular project
also involved language arts components in which
students created “found poems” that integrate
lines and phrases from existing text and remixed
them with the students’ own language. The
assessment artifacts were digital Voice Thread
stories and an online anthology of their found
poems, which debuted during film-festival and
live museum experiences. Valenza used a wiki to
house all aspects of the project (see Resources on
page 19).
In another project called Hamlet Remixed,
English honors students prepared personal
interpretations of selected passages of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Using The Oxford English
Dictionary, they studied the pronunciations and
meanings of the passages and developed an
interpretive analysis of the selections. Valenza
advised them about copyright law and properly
citing resources. Students viewed You Tube videos
to see how professional Shakespearean companies
have produced and performed the passages. Next,
students located Creative Commons images that
reflected the meaning and mood of their passages
and used these to create Voice Threads with their
own voice narrations.
“It is the most exciting time to be a teacher
librarian,” Valenza says. “In the past three years,
the information and communication landscapes
have shifted entirely, making continual retooling
a professional essential.”
several laptops, and digital and video cameras.
Approximately 14,000 volumes make up the
collection of books. A paraprofessional also works
in the library. The school’s administration has a
strong track record of supporting the library in the
allocation of the school’s technology resources.
Stephens suggested that the students create
podcasts using their cell phones. She also pointed
out that by using an RSS feed, the teacher could
listen to all of the student podcasts at her desk.
Wendy worked with the students in the library to set
up Gcast accounts (see iLike in Resources on page
19) and showed them how to record the podcasts.
It’s no surprise that many students completed their
assignment that very night.
Stephens credits the collaborative nature of
her colleagues as a key to the success of her
library program, and her advocacy for the use of
ed tech helps foster those relationships. “Knowing
that I will be willing to provide a safety net for the
technical aspects definitely allows members of
our faculty to take more technological risks with
their instruction, assignments, and assessment. I
think there are lots of librarians out there willing to
support the same types of projects.”
