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Hey everybody, I'm back and I have got a great friend from Texas.

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I am so excited. Across the country, we are going to get some awesome learning on today.

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So Deb, thank you so much for joining me today.

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Why don't you take a second, tell folks who you are, where you are, what's going

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on with you. thank you for having me. I'm excited.

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I am Deb Zieman. I'm a middle school librarian.

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I live in Frisco, Texas, which is about 30 minutes north of Dallas, and I am a

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librarian in Lewisville ISD, which is 30 minutes the other way.

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So I've been a librarian.

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This is finishing up my eighth year.

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Prior to this, I taught for 16 years English, like we all did.

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And then before that, before we moved from

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Dallas, we were originally from New York and I was in publishing for 10 years.

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So books have always been in my blood.

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favorite New York Texan, I tell ya.

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So you said classroom teacher, what ended up, what was the impetus to move from the

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classroom to the library? administration asked me.

1:07

So the when I went into my old district I was taking over for a woman that was

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transitioning to the library. She never did her degree they just it was a small district there you know it's one

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of these things in Texas where you can have one certified librarian and everybody

1:30

else is a para. You know how that works.

1:34

Yup. so when it was time for her to retire, after six years, they were like, are you

1:41

interested in going into the library?

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And I was like, yeah, let me look into it.

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Got into university in North Texas, all online, which was really nice.

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And I was able to work while working in a library while going to school, which was

2:00

nice because... You know, with that you have the practicum and you have to have so many hours.

2:06

My mentor was in a district one town south of me, so it was nice to be able to go

2:12

back and forth and text her and reach out and everything whenever.

2:17

And, you know, again, for those that have to take the library test, taking that

2:24

while you're working in a library, oh, because we all know how those tests are in

2:29

a perfect world. Yeah. So you have, you know, trying to get out of that mindset.

2:35

Like I have a friend, Sarah Sturman from Instagram, you know how we're all in the

2:41

same world. She's not working yet, but she's coming up to spend a day with me to just see what

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it's like, get her hours, but experience, you know, here's the lessons I'm doing

2:55

while I'm doing cataloging, while I'm running my library ambassadors.

2:59

while I'm doing ed tech, you know, all that kind of stuff.

3:02

So, I mean, originally I always thought I was gonna go more in the ed tech route,

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but now, you know, I'm an ed tech librarian, so.

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right. Well, and that's something I was sort of in the same boat.

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Like I was looking at EdTech as a potential like move away from the English

3:18

classroom. But like you said, library is tech, it's books.

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It's like, it's all the good stuff, all combined together.

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So hard to go wrong there. That's why my phrase is, it's not just books and bonbons.

3:30

It's everything, you know.

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We become those information go -tos for not just book talks, but here, try this in

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your classroom. It's working for me in the library, try this, so.

3:46

yeah. Well, and speaking of Ed Tech, you are also a Wakelet ambassador, are you not?

3:52

Wakelet trainer, my apologies.

3:54

No, I've been with Wakelet for, oh my God, since 2018 I think I've been using it.

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It's been so long. And, you know, gone up the ranks, community leader and then ambassador and

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then had the opportunity back in the spring.

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to become a trainer and myself and Kristi Starr were the only librarian trainers.

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So, excuse me, getting, that's the thing EdTech has to understand.

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You've got this whole other world of librarians.

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So, Kristi and I were able to go represent Weaklet at AASL and met hundreds of

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librarians who, surprise, surprise, never used it, didn't know what it was.

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Mm -hmm. being able to present and show all the different things we as librarians do with

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it. But it's like it goes for any ed tech, you know, Canva, Adobe, Book Creator, and then

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now all the AI, Brisk, Magic School, School AI, it's never ending.

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And for us, it's an opportunity more to collaborate with the teachers too.

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Here, this is how you can use this. This is how you can...

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integrated and like one of the things that I do is the library in the loo, your potty

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PD and what I've been doing is as I do those certifications I do every month a

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showcase of hey, like this month was magic school IA, last month was diff it, the

5:31

month before, you know now there's brisk, I wanna you know, it's not a bad thing.

5:37

Mm -hmm. integrate this stuff in your classroom, it's supposed to make things easier for

5:42

the teacher. It's making things easier for me, I know that.

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It's like, oh God, I need to figure out something.

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What's a quick lesson I can do? It gives you 10, so yeah.

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It's crazy. Can't keep up.

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So I have to say sometimes I feel like it's a competition with me.

6:03

Karina, cute librarian, and Amanda Hunt, the next gen.

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It's like, I did this, try this. I mean, my poor phone.

6:10

Hey, I got certified. You need to do, and I'm like, another two, okay, why not?

6:16

You know, so. see you three posting different badges you've gotten and stuff.

6:20

It's awesome, it's great. that was like at Christmas, we did the 12 days of tech and it was amazing to see all

6:28

these other librarians jump on the bandwagon and like Rachel Freiman every

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single day, she was jumping right on whatever we offered and she got all 12.

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It's like, okay. So we know we'll do that again at Christmas, cause who knows what ed tech

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will be out there. You know, it just keeps going.

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So, mm -hmm. The Wakelet, so if I'm understanding correctly, you're gonna talk about how

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Wakelet can be used with the students and how the students can become Wakelet

6:57

ambassadors, certified student ambassadors.

7:02

Okay, so I'm very interested to hear sort of how this goes.

7:07

So. So, you know, learning about it in 2018 started to use it.

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And then I was helping co -teach an EdTech team.

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We had our students SWOT, Students Who Advocate Technology.

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And we had six, six kids, I think.

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It was myself and Tisha Poncio.

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She was the DLC. So she was the lead teacher, I was co -teaching and like they would, you know,

7:37

go back and forth or whatever. And we had been presenting for Wakelet and we helped, you know, we did stuff at ISTE

7:46

with them and then we were doing stuff at TLA with them and TCEA, well more TCEA.

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And so we started discussing the Student Ambassador Program.

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What are ways that we can get the kids to start using it?

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Mm -hmm. so with the student ambassador program, the end result becomes their digital

8:09

portfolio. So they're learning the, we always say it's the creativity.

8:18

Wait, the four C's, you know what I'm saying?

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Creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and I really should know

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this last one, communication.

8:28

And then the fifth one becomes curation, which is what Wakelet is, curation and you

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know, and then the sixth becomes citizenship.

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So being that information specialist, I'm teaching them how to find reliable

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resources. Don't. always rely on Google because anybody can post.

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Teaching them .edu, .org, looking at authority, who is the person, look into

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the person more, see what they've done.

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Are they really that authority where it's a reliable resource?

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So we started brainstorming with them and then got the six lessons.

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So you have the five lessons and then the sixth one is formatting.

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the portfolio because one of the things we came up with, oh God, 2015 or 14 when we

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started doing one -to -one iPads and then shifted to MacBook Airs, digital

9:35

citizenship with the kids. You've got to be a proper digital citizen in order to use this tool the right way.

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And one of the things we always said was,

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When you're building your resume and your portfolio, your resume is your promise.

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Your portfolio becomes your proof.

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You can't give that paper resume anymore.

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Colleges want to see, okay, you said you did A, B, C, and D.

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Well, where's the proof? Well, build your portfolio.

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And you know, kids have been using Google Sites, Bulb, what else is out there?

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All different kinds of things. Well, now we've got Wakelet.

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where you can curate everything into one spot so you have your collections.

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And when you pull it up, you've got this beautiful portfolio, which I'll share a

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couple of our former students who, you know, they, when they did this, we crashed

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this in two and a half weeks with these kids.

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It was my three, excuse me, library ambassadors and the six SWAT kids.

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and we built it and so it has the six components.

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So you have the program overview which introduces it and then you have curation,

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simple, all about me. Give us 10 things that are about you and this is where they can share photos,

11:00

videos, just descriptions, things that they like and the thing that's nice is

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with the integration of Canva and Adobe Express into

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Wakelet collections, they can create in those too and then just embed them right

11:17

in there in addition to uploading videos, uploading pictures, all that kind of

11:23

stuff. So it starts with the curation and all about them.

11:27

Then it goes on to critical thinking where it's a challenge, where it's your

11:31

perspective. And this is where student voice and choice comes into play because you don't want to

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just say, go use this, go use that, let them choose.

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So they're using Wakelet as that base for their collection, their platform.

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And then within each collection, they're using whatever they want.

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And so what I did to backtrack a little, this was the first time I was using it

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with middle schoolers. And so I set up all the modules, we use Canvas, and I set them all up and I taught

12:07

them here. This is how we did it.

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They... because they're 13 and over, they can have their own accounts.

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Whereas 12 and under, in your account, you can set up a classroom where they're

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joining and they have the freedom to create the collection and not have to

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worry with everybody with data privacy acts and everything.

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And then Wakewood is great about that. They've FERPA, COPPA, SIPPA, all that kind of thing.

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So I was like... Yes, they're learning the library, but let's get their portfolio going at eighth

12:41

grade because now they're starting to go in high school and only in three years is

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really when they're going to start. I need that resume for college.

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So I got them going with the first one, which was all about me.

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Then become second is the critical thinking where they compare things, but

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they're getting those reliable resources to back up their argument.

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Okay. is where we had so much fun.

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I did this a couple of years ago with high school students during COVID.

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They're not there, gotta give them something.

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So I had Apple versus Android, Chick -fil -A versus Popeyes.

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Like go ahead, literally apples versus oranges, which is better.

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To smoke, to not to smoke, vaping, don't vape.

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And they got really strong resources that backed up their argument.

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So that was the second. And again, you're teaching that citizenship where they would sit with me

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and say, okay, how's this for resources?

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Am I finding the right stuff?

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And teaching them how to find that, the authority and all that.

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So they're getting research skills inside of these these lessons that are helping

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them with critical thinking skills, which are also helping them put together a

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portfolio. And if you're starting at eighth grade, like I'm just I'm already jumping ahead a

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little bit. But like I can absolutely see how they work on this in eighth grade and then they

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can revisit it every every year, every couple of years and sort of do some

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compare and contrast. Like here's where I was. Here's where I am and sort of show that growth.

14:15

And that, to get to the graphic design, that is the thing.

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So we had Anora and Jill and Julie, the twins, those are the three, and then the

14:29

boys. Anora was very big into graphic design.

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And she wrote an original blog for Buncey when Buncey was around.

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I think it was either her or Julie. I can't write.

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one of the two, found it, started playing with it by herself.

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Like we had been familiar with it, we had been using it, but they went and did it

14:52

themselves. And the thing that was great is then she learned Canva and in one of her

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collections, she literally has graphic design.

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And you can go in and she was smart when she revisited, like you were talking

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about. Originally it was just the graphics and that's it.

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She went back in and put... for the years.

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October 21, October 22, and you can scroll and go from the bottom up and watch her

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improvement and her progression in using these tools and how, you know, a basic

15:30

Google drawing to now these Adobe Express and Canva designs that she has done and

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it's like, okay, there we go.

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And so again, for photography,

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Jill, one of the twins, her whole thing during college was photography.

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So she had a collection where you could see the portfolio and the improvement and

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how she did it. And, you know, again, all the girls and the guys, Brady and Wyatt, they still use

16:06

their portfolios. When they were all in high school, they were getting jobs in the local town doing

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designing websites, doing graphic design for local businesses.

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Yeah, Julie actually has her own baking business that she started when she was 15.

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And I'll, again, I'll give you her link to her portfolio.

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She's called I am Madam Pastry.

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She's on Instagram. And you can go to the bottom and you see her basic cakes to what she does now.

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I'm like, How has nobody hired this girl?

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I mean, it's incredible. She did a Harry Potter themed cake with the snitch.

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I'm like, oh! So it's really good for the kids and of course their self -esteem and look at what

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you can do. Never ever put down, no, I can't do what I can't do.

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Look at your progress. Look at how you've improved over the years.

17:07

Well, and I think that progress is so, so many of the kids have a hard time seeing

17:12

their progress because they might get back like, here's a paper and you know, here's

17:16

a score, but like, you're not putting them side by side by side by side over the

17:21

course of years. So this project helps that.

17:24

Scan those PDFs. Get that writing in there, especially if you're focusing on writing.

17:30

You can see, okay, this is a basic short story.

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Now I've got a chapter for a novel.

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Look at how my writing has changed over the years and the improvement on it.

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And that's what's so nice about Wakeleth.

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Like I look back in some of the collections I've done and I was like, oh,

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I was so beginner.

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Now it's like, oh, okay. You know, like right now I'm updating my portfolio.

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Anora has changed her umpteen times, just the graphics, which makes a total

18:01

difference too, to grab whoever's looking at it, you know?

18:06

Which leads to lesson three, which is creativity, where they design a

18:13

flag or a logo for the Student Ambassador Program.

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So they're looking at the overview, they're looking at other examples of what

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kids have done, and they're creating it based on what they understand.

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It's global, it's learning to be a good citizen, it's all these things, and the

18:33

stuff that the kids come up with is just incredible.

18:36

Again, excuse me, being able to use whatever they want to design.

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And then what they can do is create a flip short explaining.

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So you've got that video of the kid explaining, this is why I created the logo

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or the banner or the flag the way I did.

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And it's like, oh, so there's that proof again.

19:04

Not the promise, but the proof, you know?

19:07

mean, they could do a flip video, which I think a lot of students would really be

19:13

into, but I think they also kind of have the flexibility with, you know, they

19:18

could, they could describe it in words.

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They could, there's. it out. That's the thing that's a nice feature.

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You can do a quick written response in there.

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You could record a video.

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You know, nowadays you can record in anything.

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So it doesn't have to be just flip. It can be Adobe.

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It could be Canva. Heck, you could actually do your design in Canva, record yourself doing it, and then,

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you know, instead of doing that final...

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okay this is why I did it. All right I looked at it.

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It's global. It's all about student voice and choice.

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So this is what I've done and do like a mini tutorial of why they chose what they

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did. And that's what's nice being able to integrate that into the collection.

20:07

And then you have collaboration.

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And this is a lot of fun because now you're tag teaming with two of your

20:17

classmates or whatever. and what it actually is, it's a playlist and you get 10 songs that mean something

20:25

to you, of course, school appropriate, we always tell them that.

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The thing that's nice with Wakelet, you as the educator, if you're doing it as a

20:34

classroom, you can control what they can use and what they can't use.

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YouTube, Giffy's, what was the other thing?

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Unsplash, you know, you wanna be careful.

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What wanna... what, I can't remember, it was Wyatt or Brady, they went and they took screenshots

20:53

on Spotify of the album cover.

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And that was their 10 songs.

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And then you share that, you invite your two collaborators, they get to see what

21:05

you put, and then they can do whatever they want.

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They can add the videos. Again, I always stress, school appropriate, guys.

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I don't wanna see any explicit.

21:14

Go find the clean version.

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But, Mm -hmm.

21:21

I didn't know you liked that group, so do I.

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Like during COVID, I did the, what was it everybody was doing?

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Like your social distancing playlist.

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What's it like for you to be social distancing, find 10 songs.

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So one kid, I remember I did it with middle schoolers, a seventh grader.

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created these little things in Canva and it you know had the artists and the Songs

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and then they would talk about the lyrics and link To the videos so they didn't put

22:00

the actual video and they just gave a link which I thought was great And so I was

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like, okay, and I was reading one of them and I was like, oh that sounds interesting

22:08

And I went to the artist page and it was of King and Country.

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They're from Australia. Ah, I got hooked!

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And I was able to have messaging conversations in that safe space with that

22:23

kid. Like, I can't believe how good this band is.

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I never heard of them before.

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And then of course, you're getting to know your kids, but when you do it with the

22:32

kids, they get to know you. Oh, she's an old fart.

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It's all eighth grade, eighties music.

22:38

Sorry, that's what I grew up on. Guys, all the music you got came from all the music we listened to.

22:44

It's like, Mm -hmm.

22:50

them interested. So that's a lot of fun, but again, it's also that learning how to collaborate and

22:57

then having a discussion right there, like they're back -channeling where they can

23:02

put all their songs and then they can comment or do like they have all the

23:09

reactions where you can, you know, thumbs up or party hat or whatever.

23:13

Right. And again, it's that one -on -one with each other too, which is really nice.

23:21

Mm -hmm.

23:23

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

23:26

Then came the communication, which is the fifth one, which is student choice, where

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they're expressing an opinion about something.

23:36

And again, that, like I brought up last, earlier, like, why you shouldn't smoke.

23:42

why you shouldn't vape or why is climate so important to us and what are ways that

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we can do that? And so they can, it's free reign, design it how you want, present it how you want,

23:55

get your, but again, citizenship, get those reliable resources, get your

24:01

research skills going, okay?

24:03

So then at the end, their sixth is setting up their portfolio, which on the main

24:09

page, you know, you can, have your little categories, which would be Wakeland Student Ambassador, and they

24:15

can embed each collection, but they're also, well, I'm gonna, that's, I'm jumping

24:21

ahead anyway. I'll talk about the next thing in a second.

24:24

So then they've got that final portfolio, which then, they're only eighth grade,

24:30

like you said, now they're gonna be going to ninth grade.

24:32

You're gonna be doing more things. Mm -hmm.

24:35

building that portfolio for when you go to college because now you're going to write

24:40

your resume. You could put that QR code.

24:42

You can put that link and the universities can now scan it, click it, and see what

24:49

you're all about. Right.

24:53

Mm -hmm. augment these what sometimes seem to be rather dry essays that, you know, yep,

25:00

yep. So that's really cool. Nice.

25:03

Okay. as they complete this they're getting a digital badge teaching them hey you can

25:12

create a graphic this is what mine looks like with all of my committees and all of

25:17

my you know badges and stuff to say hi I really do all this you know um attach it

25:24

to their signatures. Mm -hmm.

25:30

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

25:36

that's the thing that's nice too with Wakelet is you can change your address and

25:41

it all goes with you. So by the time they're graduating, okay, I don't need the LISD net anymore.

25:48

I'm gonna just transfer it to my personal and it goes with you.

25:53

And so now what they have,

25:55

is the portfolio course, which rolls into improving it.

26:01

Now they're going to really write a bio.

26:04

Now they're going to format the categories and it's like, okay, you have the category

26:08

that student ambassador, well, I'm in sports, put a sports category, make those

26:15

collections of your awards, of your videos, of your pictures, of what you've

26:23

done in that sport.

26:25

or no, I'm a singer, I'm in choir and I'm in bands.

26:29

So, Anora has collections of videos of her performing at church, performing with the

26:37

school band, marching band.

26:40

You know, she was, I think she was drum major or band president, one or the other.

26:45

So, it's like here, you're now getting those collections and you're proving to

26:50

them. Yeah, we were UIL, we got rankings of one.

26:57

Okay, what does that mean? Well, now you have the certificate, now you have the video to prove.

27:03

So now what my kids are doing this nine weeks is that portfolio course where now

27:10

they're improving, but they're also getting feedback from their peers.

27:17

In addition to me, because there's a rubric,

27:19

where they can follow the rubric to, okay, here's the initial setup.

27:25

Now, get that feedback from your friends, have them respond and you can fix it even

27:32

more and improve upon it.

27:34

So by the time you're applying to college, it's all grouped how you want.

27:40

You know, here's the stuff I do outside. Oh, I do community service.

27:43

I was a candy striper. I volunteered at whatever.

27:47

So that's the next step. after they set the initial portfolio up, but they're also learning the platform

27:56

where they can make their own fun collections.

28:00

It doesn't have to be just for school.

28:02

Going on a trip, put all the stuff that you want to go and visit so you know, oh,

28:08

I can refer back to that.

28:11

Or. Like with my son, when he got married, I put QR codes all over the tables.

28:17

People were able to scan it and upload their pictures.

28:20

So while the kids were on the honeymoon, they could click and go, I didn't know

28:24

that. Oh my God. I never got time to get...

28:26

So I'm like, here guys, this is everything you can do, not just your portfolio.

28:31

You know, and like as librarians, we're always curating resources.

28:36

Here, I give this to the teachers, Black History Month.

28:44

Yeah.

28:47

what we're teaching the kids. It's not just yeah, a portfolio.

28:51

You don't have to have 9 ,000 bookmarks guys, especially if you're doing research

28:55

for a project. Throw all the links right in there and you're good to go.

29:01

So...

29:04

Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

29:07

help the kids build these portfolios.

29:10

And I, even better, this second part that you're talking about where they're giving

29:14

each other feedback. Like so often I feel like student work is they get like educator feedback.

29:20

Mm -hmm. Yeah.

29:27

do a portfolio and then so many of them are gonna be like, okay, done, like, wash

29:31

my hands of this, but continuing it on and getting that feedback on, well, okay, all

29:35

the stuff is here. Can people understand it?

29:39

Can people interpret it? Is it visually pleasing?

29:41

Like those are things that, yeah.

29:44

there that becomes, excuse me, learning how to curate proper resources, graphic

29:51

design. That's key nowadays, because everything is done on the computer.

29:57

Look at what you can do. You're taking that skill you didn't even know.

30:01

And like the funniest was a couple years ago, Jill did a video for me while she was

30:08

in college. she actually took a portfolio class and the professor was using some other

30:14

platform and she went up and talked to, she says it in the video.

30:18

I went up and I talked to him afterwards and I showed him, listen, this class is a

30:24

waste of time. I've already done this.

30:27

Showed, I mean, didn't say that in so many words, but showed him her portfolio.

30:33

He scrapped everything, used Wakelet and had her,

30:38

help teach the class how to use Wakelet.

30:42

And like, professors use it all the time.

30:46

Christy Starr, she's an adjunct at UNT.

30:49

The thing that's great is when you make those Wakelet collections, the class might

30:54

be closed, but they still have the collection of all the posts.

30:59

So she would have the kids submit their posts for discussions.

31:05

in the Wakelet collection that was part of the assignment, but when they're done,

31:11

they could take it away. Like I think back to when I was in school at UNT, all those posts, because so many

31:18

people had such great things, I wish I had used that because I can't go back in, it's

31:25

all closed, it's been years, and it's like you sit there and go.

31:32

Yeah. they have that resource that they can take with them.

31:35

And again, taking this portfolio and they'll have it 15, 20, 30 years from now.

31:42

You know, because as we know, we constantly change.

31:45

I'm like, guys, when I went to college, I changed my major three times.

31:51

But I still wish I had those resources from that different thing.

31:56

I said, now you have that. You can take this with you anywhere.

32:00

And like the kids are starting to get it, especially when I show, look, this was a

32:06

Nora as a sophomore. Look at what she's done.

32:09

I'm like, I always, when I use her example in the Jill and Julie's, this is not what

32:16

it started out as because it's always a learning process.

32:20

You're always changing it because things are changing so fast.

32:25

You know, like when I create collections for teachers,

32:28

I was always like, oh, Black History Month 22, 23.

32:31

And then I'm like, no, let me take off the date because you could still use the stuff

32:37

from three years ago.

32:39

You just have the new stuff at the top. That's all.

32:44

Right. And that's what's nice about this.

32:47

It's live. It's always, you know, if you want to change something, go ahead.

32:53

But then your people, the people who have...

32:57

you've invited to collaborate, they can see, oh, that makes sense.

33:02

You know, you put in whatever, you can change it, that's okay.

33:06

Nobody's gonna yell at you for changing it.

33:09

It's again, it's a constant where, you know, I'm like, they're always shocked.

33:12

Wait, you still go for like, professional, you know, learning?

33:16

I'm like, yeah, we're constantly learning.

33:19

And that's the thing, you've got this platform now.

33:23

I, you know, I always talk about when you've seen it.

33:27

Karina makes that giant collaboration collection for TLA.

33:33

Oh, I couldn't get to Steve's presentation, but his stuff is there and I

33:38

can go back and I can look at it. So like when you're presenting, you know someone else is presenting, you can't see

33:45

it, but you now can go back in and look and I tell that to the kids, you know, we

33:50

might work on something and then a year later you might go, whoa, wait a second.

33:56

go back I still have access to that.

33:59

It doesn't go away unless somebody takes it away that's all.

34:03

But I always get smart and make a copy just in case because it could get lost or

34:09

you know that person doesn't use that anymore and deactivates.

34:13

No I'm good I got that copy.

34:15

And I always tell them too again with a citizenship if you get access to a

34:20

collection and you make a copy it's still going back to that original person for

34:25

credit. right. teaching them, especially with research, guys, you've got to give credit where

34:31

credit is due. That's not fair to that person.

34:35

So if you take Susie's collection, make a copy, even though you're tweaking it, it

34:43

still says copied from.

34:45

It can be copied 1000 times.

34:48

It's still gonna go back to Mrs.

34:50

Eamon, Mr. Tetrell. It's there, you know?

34:54

Yep. Oh, totally. Yeah, no, it's great.

34:57

It's a great, I mean, that's an incredibly important lesson to get drummed into their

35:01

heads, especially in this digital world where it's so easy to make copies of

35:04

stuff. And they, I think sometimes they lose track of the fact that

35:09

Although it's easy to make a copy of it, someone had to spend time and effort and

35:14

energy creating this thing. So you're stealing if you take somebody's stuff.

35:26

Yeah. Right, right.

35:30

Yeah. that's the most important thing.

35:32

And that's what's so nice about this is you, you will still give credit to

35:37

whomever it was that originally created it.

35:41

You can't take that away, you know, so.

35:47

Mm -hmm. I mean, I usually ask about how you might adapt it, you know, for different ability

35:54

levels, but it's really made to work for whatever, yeah, whatever the individual

36:01

student doing it is, it's gonna be their work and it's gonna be their reflection

36:06

over, especially if they do it over time.

36:08

I mean... the thing.

36:11

When I created this in my modules for Canvas for my kids, I gave them like two

36:22

weeks. You don't have to throw it all at them.

36:25

So first I wanted to show it to them.

36:28

Here, this is what you're going to be using. And they're like, whoa.

36:31

So then I assign, okay, here's the program overview.

36:34

Just take a look, watch the videos.

36:37

Then here's lesson one. Well, the all about me is so easy.

36:40

They can get it done like that. But then when you really have to get into the critical thinking and the

36:48

collaboration and the communication parts of those lessons, you need that extra time

36:54

because you're researching reliable resources.

36:58

You're like. question it, you want to come to me and ask me questions, you know, did I do this

37:03

right? It gives them that time.

37:05

And so this really was all of September, October, November.

37:11

They fit and what I would do is I have, I can share it to a friend of mine made it

37:17

in Canva. It's like a score chart where it has all six badges.

37:24

And then it's just a chart where we use the

37:28

race where I wrote all the kids names and as they finished each lesson I would check

37:35

it off. Meaning they finished it, they submitted it, they got their certificate, they got

37:39

their badge. Because they get one for each and it keeps them on in check really.

37:45

They're like oh they've already oh I'm late I got to get cracking you know and

37:50

then at the end it's all done so it was a really cool graphic I need to throw that

37:54

in there too and they you know they had fun with it.

37:59

they're gonna hopefully use it for other things.

38:01

I'm like, just, I think you can scan with your phone, your document and send it up.

38:07

You guys have iPads, you have it, you can just add it right in to the thing.

38:13

And they're like, oh, so now next is that portfolio.

38:19

But they also have the pre, I did it flip with them.

38:24

They have the Wakelet,

38:29

just a certified course for kids to get them going.

38:33

So that was what was great about this is after we did this, I had them do the

38:38

Wakewood certified student and I said, guys, I want your feedback.

38:43

What did you think? And all of them are like, we should have started with this first, then do the

38:49

student ambassador program. Because they felt like they were repeating themselves, but they were also improving.

38:57

So they were able to tweak and fix and whatever.

39:00

So I was like, okay, so next year with my next group of ambassadors, first I'll do

39:06

the Wakewood certified, then I'll do the student ambassador and then do the

39:11

portfolio course where they're really fixing it up in the spring.

39:17

So yeah. And it's, I mean, it's, we should always be trying to get that feedback from the

39:22

students and think about what can we do to make the lessons, you know, we don't want

39:26

to just repeat the mistakes of the past if we can help it.

39:43

Here we go.

39:45

was like, whoa, you froze. I said, it's important to get used to getting feedback from others.

39:52

That's what you're teaching them too, because you're going to get feedback all

39:56

through your life, not just your teachers, your bosses, your friends.

40:01

And you need to learn to accept that constructive criticism.

40:06

It's not to put you down. It's to teach, though, oh, all right, now I see what I have to do.

40:13

and how to not, I don't even want to say the word fix it, just improve upon it,

40:19

that's all. Yeah.

40:21

So clearly the students are getting a lot out of this because you've got students

40:25

that have been using this now literally for years.

40:29

So they clearly, yeah, they clearly are finding this a valuable tool and lesson.

40:35

Are there, I'm just curious, have any teachers had any feedback about students

40:39

using Wakelet or have you?

40:42

not had in this in this school not yet but in previous might where we started they

40:50

loved it they were like oh and then we got them all using it in their classrooms to

40:55

share stuff with the kids so it ends up you know it's also showing the teachers

41:02

don't take these kids for granted look at what they can do like the SWAT team that

41:07

we had They all were level one and two Google certified educators.

41:14

Not the student one that they had.

41:16

They legit, because this was a true EdTech team where it took one semester to like,

41:24

listen, don't just call on the phone and automatically ask for Tisha.

41:29

The kids can answer this stuff.

41:31

So now the kids were able to go into the classroom and teach the teachers Google

41:37

stuff, wake it. help them with their portfolios.

41:40

And it's like, if you want to go and look for a job, let these kids show you how to

41:46

create your portfolio. So now, like, I shared it with the district.

41:51

I'm like, these are the first middle schoolers.

41:53

This is a big deal. You don't understand.

41:55

This is a global program.

41:57

Look at what they've done. Now they could turn around to their friends and go, wait, let me show you

42:03

this, because we're all going to start looking at colleges.

42:06

So. I do know one of my other friends, she's at a ninth grade campus.

42:12

She does this with her ninth graders and this is a school that's on the other side

42:17

of the district in a different theater pattern.

42:20

So now her ninth grade library ambassadors are doing this and bringing it in to their

42:27

stuff and their school. And it's like, let's build that interest because look at what the kids can do.

42:35

Never underestimate. yeah, oh absolutely.

42:38

I realized that I skipped something very important way back in the beginning of our

42:43

conversation. So I'm gonna pretend that we're rewinding for a second.

42:47

And so this lesson that you're sharing is on the Wakelet website, but you built this

42:54

lesson for Wakelet, didn't you?

42:57

Yeah, yeah, okay.

42:59

So yeah, when people go to use it.

43:01

Yeah, we crashed it through with the kids in two and a half weeks.

43:05

Like, that was December.

43:07

Let's see what you can do. We tweaked it.

43:09

And it has been tweaked, but not to the extent where it's completely different.

43:15

It's really the same thing from five years ago.

43:20

And it works. Yeah.

43:22

it's like, you know, you can go on there and you can see all these kids from all

43:27

over the world and their responses and what they think about it.

43:31

And we're talking 12, 13 year olds, not just high schoolers, you know, and there's

43:37

littles that are using it. I know people that are using it with their kids in elementary, setting up the

43:43

classrooms and teaching them curation, the research skills in second and third grade.

43:50

That's what it's for. Yeah, yeah.

43:53

I always have said, we've always said it is play.

43:58

You as the teacher, go do this program yourself.

44:02

Get used to it. Do all of them. Do the portfolio, do the certified and do this.

44:08

That way you can now show the kids, look, this is what it's going to look like when

44:13

you're done. I did this. It's not like, oh, here you go.

44:17

Like I know my friend, Madeline at her school.

44:20

When she assigns it, she added me as a whatever in her Canvas course so I could

44:27

see how she did it. She's like, see Mrs.

44:31

Johnson's example, click, there's her example.

44:35

It's not something that's just being thrown at the kids.

44:38

They see, oh, okay. Yeah, we've been there since the beginning with the iteration of this.

44:45

We did it. It wasn't like, oh, now we're just going to build it or whatever.

44:48

And then Wakelet turned around and added the student certified and the portfolio as

44:55

an extension to this actual program.

44:58

Yeah. So it sounds like the advice you have for people who are going to maybe play with

45:03

this is to play with it.

45:05

Try it out, play with it, get used to it.

45:09

Do the program yourself. And the thing is like, I shared with you my collection, but when you actually go to

45:17

Wakelet, what happens is you enroll your kids.

45:20

Well, whatever you enroll, they give you access to everything.

45:27

The badges, the certificates, the different collections, and then you just

45:33

pace it out. Can you do this over a year?

45:35

Absolutely. You could do three in the fall and three in the spring.

45:40

It's all however you want to do it.

45:42

But again, the advice is play.

45:44

Try it out. Kids like to see that you're actually doing what you're showing them.

45:51

Oh yeah, absolutely. And not only that, but I feel like when we, not only when we know it, but when we

45:57

are interested in it and excited about it, that comes across and the kids are more

46:02

likely to be interested and excited. You know, if it's just, okay kids, I'm gonna, here's another thing to look at and

46:07

we're dead behind the eyes, so are they.

46:09

So. Yeah. I mean, you know, when you go to the one where it's the collaboration, that's the

46:16

one they have, that and the creativity is the one that they have the most fun with

46:21

because one, it's music.

46:24

If there's a kid out there that doesn't like music, something's off there.

46:28

But just to learn what each other likes, getting to know each other, that's what

46:32

the all about me is. Kids, you have a dog.

46:35

You've traveled there, I didn't know. You really want to do that someday?

46:39

I had no idea. So it's like they're getting to see what their classmates are doing and learning

46:46

about them too. But again, you as the educator are also learning too.

46:51

Like, well, I didn't know you traveled there.

46:54

I didn't know you were liking that. I didn't know you liked to read this, you know?

46:58

And again, yeah, it could be collaboration for music, but you can do it with books.

47:04

go do the book trailers. You could, as a librarian, I could turn around and go, you know what?

47:09

I'm gonna tweak this so it's, tell me your favorite 10 books.

47:13

So they got the picture and then they're explaining why, not the, well, I really

47:17

like this book. No, get into it because that's what we have to do as librarians when we book

47:23

talk. It's just like, yeah, it was a cute romance and you know, the guy and the

47:27

girl, no. How can it relate to this kid?

47:31

You know, how can you hand this, you know?

47:34

I can hand this to you because it could be grief, it could be anxiety, it could be

47:40

first love, it could be being a new kid.

47:45

So you can have that freedom to change up some of that stuff too.

47:50

right, well, I love this lesson.

47:52

There's so much great stuff going on skill wise, community building.

47:56

I mean, it's awesome. We are now gonna go in a completely different direction.

47:59

We're gonna take our book break.

48:03

So. Let me pull up my Goodreads!

48:08

So the book break, any book, I mean it can be more than one book if you've got a

48:13

couple of them, because I know that you were having a little bit of a difficulty

48:15

kind of picking out maybe this one or that one, but it can be for school, it can be

48:20

for home, it can be you know adults, kids, whatever.

48:23

There's no such thing as a bad book. What's a book that you think people should know about?

48:29

Well, one of the things that I did last year was collaborated with six Texas

48:36

authors where I have the three by eight foot bookmarks of their books that's

48:42

promoting them and Lisa Phipps Starfish, wish that was around when I was a kid.

48:50

Perfect for 11 year olds, body positivity.

48:53

You have... Aniana Del Mar jumps in, that's Jasmine Mendez, where it's about a girl, I think,

49:00

I wanna say it's Cystaphibrosis, I don't wanna say it wrong, but it's a beautiful,

49:05

both of those are beautiful novels in verse.

49:08

Rex Ogle, that man can write the phone book and I will read his stuff.

49:14

Like he did two graphic novels, Pizza Face, which is his upcoming one, and Four

49:21

Eyes. I love Four Eyes, because I was like, where was this when I started wearing

49:26

glasses? I mean, I was 19, but still, kids that have to wear glasses can relate.

49:32

Oh, Four Eyes, you know, the teasing.

49:36

Rosebrock, Hope Wins, great short stories from authors all over the United States

49:42

about every topic you can imagine.

49:46

Rex is in there. I don't know, there's so many people.

49:51

What else? Oh, Rebecca Barclay, I can never say it, Bal Carcel.

49:58

She wrote Shine on Luz Valise, and I love that because it's about coding for girls,

50:05

but it's also about family and adapting to this change that she does not see coming.

50:13

So again, here, we're a STEM Academy.

50:16

It's a perfect book where I could turn around with that book and partner up with

50:21

the Gateway. STEM teacher when she does coding, let's do a project where they're reading the

50:28

book but then they're building their coding, you know?

50:34

See, you got me because I'm on three reading committees.

50:38

It's really, really, really hard to choose because I'm on a graphic novel one, I'm on

50:44

Spot, which is Spirit of Texas. I mean...

50:47

Hahaha! many fantastic books out there.

50:51

I just read, I read it for the Sybil Awards and I had to reread it for a spot.

50:57

Plan A by Deb Coletti.

51:02

Oh, it's all, it has to do with a girl that gets pregnant.

51:08

It's very unusual how she gets pregnant.

51:12

It was, well, I didn't know you could get pregnant that way and how.

51:16

She's chosen to get an abortion, but you know how all the laws have changed and how

51:21

she has to road trip across to go to her grandmother's in Oregon where she can get

51:27

it. So that was really good.

51:31

I'm one that I absolutely love novels in verse because I think that's a gateway for

51:38

kids between graphic novels and regular fiction chapter books where...

51:45

I'm like, guys, think of it as lyrics to a song without the music.

51:50

And like I've done, what do you call it?

51:53

Book tastings, just novels in verse.

51:57

And I set it out like a restaurant and I put different genre, because I did make a

52:03

whole novel in verse section where it's also genre -fied, so you have the

52:08

realistic sports and all that.

52:12

And I did the typical, you know,

52:14

read the blurb, what caught your attention, what's the hook, all that kind

52:19

of stuff, and where they have to read it.

52:21

I had kids checking out two books because they're like, I had no idea.

52:26

And I'm like, yeah, so if I were to pick favorites for a genre, it would be novels

52:32

and verse. Whereas, you're killing me.

52:36

I can't. There's just, Ashley Schumacher, she's from Denton.

52:42

She wrote In the Orbit of You, blew my mind, loved it.

52:45

And then the other one that she wrote was, I have to think, I sobbed, Amelia

52:52

Unabridged, and it has to do with books.

52:56

And, oh, so good.

52:59

If I was gonna say one of my favorites, that's probably one of my favorites.

53:05

Adult stuff, it could be, I mean, one I have a chance to read, because I do.

53:11

I can pace myself where I can read for the committee, read for the committee.

53:16

I need to read an adult book now. I need a break, so, you know.

53:20

Well, you just added about 30 books to my TBR list, so I'm gonna say...

53:25

to my, well, you know, I post everything on Instagram.

53:28

So just you go check my Instagram. You'll see all the different ones, you know?

53:35

Yeah. book recs, what is your Instagram so they can find you?

53:39

So Instagram, Twitter, Blue Sky, threads, am I forgetting any?

53:45

I don't know.

53:48

It's z underscore brarian.

53:52

Zebrarian, you know.

53:54

And that's what I use on all social media.

53:57

And that's where you can find me. You know, I'm kind of phasing away from X, because you know how crazy and toxic it

54:06

could be. And then I like Blue Sky because I'm really connecting with a lot of authors on

54:13

there. You know, and it's like, oh, okay, this is cool.

54:19

And then they like it because when I post, I tag them as, you know, cause again, Blue

54:24

Sky is, you know, you, you know, it's still in its early stages with the tagging

54:31

and the hashtags and whatever, but you know, that's really, that's what I.

54:37

Mostly Instagram and Twitter still.

54:41

Yeah, yeah. I know.

54:43

I keep trying to move away and I keep trying to go back.

54:45

It's like an abusive relationship.

54:48

it they say in like the Godfather?

54:51

Just when I got out, they pulled me back in.

54:56

So yeah. if we had had a whole conversation where I talked to you and we didn't bring up the

55:01

Godfather I feel like we would really missed a an opportunity there my New York

55:06

Texan. All right. Well Deb, thank you so so much.

55:10

I truly appreciate your time this amazing lesson these great book recommendations.

55:14

I mean and you are just a font of knowledge and fun.

55:19

So I really appreciate you being here.

55:22

having me, this was fun.