I have been thinking hard about the choices our students make in the library. I am in year four in the library and I've worked to build quality choices for students once we've finished the lesson and check out. A big goal for students in their use of the library is to find tools and resources that match their need. As the tools of learning expand and grow, I want our students to see how many options there are for learning and to discover the tools that best support them as learners.
This graph was a Google Doc form that I filled out during each class over the course of a day in the library. I will look more closely at choices over time but wondered how kids were spending their time when given the choice. I found the results very interesting.
There seem to be enough quality choices in the library at this point that kids are all choosing well. There seems to be something for everyone and I try to introduce new options every so often. We have spent time as a school talking about the importance of quality educational games so I wasn't surprised to see that so many kids chose to play one of these on the day I observed.
I was thrilled to see the number of kids who chose reading during this time. Reading Online covered all reading that wasn't traditional book reading--so ebooks, websites such as Tumblebooks, researching a topic, etc. all fall under that category.
And I loved to take the time to see what kids are creating with the variety of tools we have available. From creating a new story about The Pigeon in a blank book stapled together by library volunteers, to creating a book trailer, kids are working to create project and to learn new tools. I am amazed at how quickly kids can envision what a tool can do- they don't hesitate to think about all that is possible and then to problem solve to figure out how to make it work. One second grader taught herself to add video to a Pages project on the iPad while another learned how to create stop motion on the iPad this week.
This was just a first step in looking at the choices in the library and how they work to meet the goals we have for our students in the library.