Keeping a collection Fresh: My annual Weeding

About two weeks ago, my assistant and I decided it was time to start our yearly book weeding session. It is such a long process, but we know that the final outcome is best for kids and the library.

Our plan was to clear out some books that hadn't circulated since I took over in 2010, even after we moved them and reorganized the collection.  We found over 600 books have sat on shelves, collecting dust and getting more and more outdated.  We did a lot of evaluating and discussing to decide what to do.    We decided after a lot of thought and discussion that weeding was the ultimate conclusion.

I hate getting rid of books.  I am a book hoarder.  Upon a visit to my house, it is evident, but, sometimes, getting rid of a book is the best thing for it, especially if the topics are so antiquated that they are useless to keep.  It is hard to write an accurate research paper with a book that talks about information relevant in 1995, as many of my science books were.


With our weeding, we focused heavily on the Science, Health and Geography books and VCR tapes (yes, I had a huge collection of these) after all, who needs a book about Burma when it hasn't existed in ages.  We looked at our historical books and political books and determined what was available online via databases and more current sites.   Our method to weeding is probably typical of most districts, but, I did a few things a little differently.  I asked the staff.

We have a few teachers who require students to have book sources for their research papers.  I relied heavily on these folks, as they know what their students need.  I invited them in, handed them a cart and asked them to pull unneeded materials.  I got a lot of response from them.  I also had several come to me telling me they would take the copies to their room as a reference.

Despite my efforts of encouraging staff to use other sources, I still see a few of our teachers rely heavily on books, even if the material is outdated. We decided that history doesn't change, much.  We didn't weed much unless we have multiple books on the same topic and some of them were in bad condition.

The exciting thing is, teachers came in after I announced the weeding and started grabbing books for their classrooms that have been sitting in the library, unused, for four years. What do we do with the balance?  We donate them.  One of my former students is at a very low funded school with a 98% free and reduced rate.  I am going to let him look at them.  I also send some to a program founded by that same student called Refugees Read.  It ships books to African countries and builds libraries.

Acceptable Use Policies

My area tech discussion council had quite a lengthy conversation last week about Acceptable Use and Privacy policies and how to handle them with students. We learned that technology is so far ahead of the times that it's hard to keep up, but, we must attempt to keep up. Even attorney's are having trouble deciding how to handle policy for kids.

Here is my thought:  Require teachers to read the terms of use before adding things to the classroom.  Check for the age permitted, check for the regulations and expectations.  Once you have read this, share the information with parents.  Develop a general Web 2.0 tool database with specific notations about the AUP and the regulations.   It could be set up in a table format like this:  (I chose Animoto because we are looking at using it for a project in school)

Name of Tool	Link	AUP Link/ Privacy Link	Age Restriction	Teacher (s) using
Animoto	www.animoto.com	http://animoto.com/legal/terms http://animoto.com/legal/privacy_policy http://animoto.com/legal/education_terms	13 or over with permission (educational site permits those under 13)	John Doe

I think if teachers are diligent and investigate the policies, they will see some of the programs are really geared for older people. It makes teachers think before they use something.  I am as guilty as others of trying sites, but, I have started reading the terms before kids get online. It is important to think about.

Choosing an online education platform

The last few weeks, I have been spending hours upon hours searching for the right solution to online learning for our students who need credit recovery and courses due to scheduling conflicts.  I never realized how difficult it is to evaluate and how many platforms there are out there.

Of late, we have had our regular education students doing a program with live teachers through a state program. Our special education kids have an online platform that self grades.   We pay the live program per class and each student does their work and have someone grade it.  I have been really frustrated with this method lately because our students are being expected to keep working but don't get a direct response or grade.  They never know how they are doing and how far they have progressed because the teachers have teaching jobs and do this as an extra special.  Face it, they are all busy too, we all are.

So, I started looking for something that can be controlled in house and is comparable to the classroom environment, especially with content.  The online platform we have been using for our special education students isn't as content heavy and the kids who are stronger students won't get a challenge from it.

My process began by starting a thread in several state tech forums.  I wanted to know what others have found to be helpful and what others are using.  I needed to know what people thought and how the programs worked for them.  I understand that every situation is different, but there are a lot of schools out there using online education and a lot of them are finding great success with it.

My endeavor has led me to about 4 programs that meet our needs.  I have spent a lot of time doing meetings with their representatives, pilots, sample classes.  I have found that there is a lot of great stuff out there.  Some of the platforms are very user friendly and can be modified and edited to accommodate the needs of every student. It can be edited to match the curriculum the school district is using.  A lot of these tools are very impressive and exciting.  The cool thing is the cost difference!  We can get kids in online classes every class period for a site license fee and save a lot of money on online learning.  We can do great things offering this.  With so many colleges offering online classes and so many options in life being online, doing this makes for a lot of opportunities for kids to build needed future skills.

I am excited to be a part of the evaluation process.  I look forward to seeing the outcome.