Week 5 Post

This week was about coloring in the lines. I was lucky enough to be able to help a room full of "mid-kids" learn how to use Ozobot robots.  If you'vve never seen one of these little dudes in action, you are missing out.  You draw a dark black marker line for a track, then add in some colorfull boxes for it to stumble upon and read with the "eye" under its body, and it's programming changes depending on the order of the colors that you gave it. It's an ingenous way to introduce kids to the basics of coding.  But watch out, or they'll be drwaing on the tables, carpets, and themselves to see just what they can convince theit Ozobot to do. Really, stay wtihin the llnes, Kids.

Since that program was only an hour long, the reaminder of my time was spent working the the youth services desk on the second floor. The basic duties include scanning out books to families who don't want to use the self-checkout stations,  answering any and all questions that come your way, givinng out Dum-Dum lollipops, and making sure that the teenagers in the teen area behave themselves.  The Indian Prairie Public Library is a very open and welcoming spacce, so it is no suprise that the local teen population  enjoy spending time there any time they don't have to be across the street in the high school -it's very convenient- but sometimes things can get a  bit more rowdy than one might like. I found myself instructing them to keep voices down, hands to themselves, and feet and a walking pace for much of the evening. But keeping our teen patrons within the lines is part of the ALSC's belief  "that all children and their caregivers need and deserve the very best opportunities." Teaching these patrons up front anbout how to act in a chared space will help prepare them going forward...hopefully. 

Comments

  1. GabrielOctober 2, 2024 at 10:56 AM

    I actually laughed reading about your Ozobots. Can you reference the following as part of this days work?
    III. Programming Skills
    2. Acknowledges the importance of physical space to engage and foster learning and establishes appropriate environments for programs that respond to developmental needs and abilities of children and families.
    3. Acknowledges the importance of the caregiver-child bond to early learning and establishes appropriate and effective environments for programs that respond to the social and emotional needs of children and create opportunities for families to engage in programming together.
    4. Integrates technology in program design and delivery appropriate for children and families.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 1 Post

My first week as an intern at the Indian Prairie Public Library has been everything that I had hoped that it would be. The staff was warm and knowledgeable, the patrons were engaged, and the facility was clearly well used and appreciated. Upon my arrival I met with Amy Merda, the head of the Programming and Outreach (P&O) department. Her team is in charge of all of the fun events that the library puts on for the community, as well as venturing out into said community to raise awareness of library services, facilitate book checkouts, and engage with educators.   As my current role as a library assistant at a high school limits me to working with those in grades 9 through 12, I am particularly excited to learn more about library programming for other age groups. One of the activities that I assisted with during my shift was a library managed Dungeons and Dragons gaming campaign. Sara, the librarian in charge of the event, was able to build a dedicated group of role-players t...
Read more

Week 2 Post

Anyone who has ever had to come up with a username - which is everyone -  knows how difficult it can be. You want it to be fun, but not too fun, relevant, and understandable. We've all been through the cringe-inducing college aged usernames, the professional level first-initial-last-name usernames, and anything related to our favorite pop culture, but after I've finally myt recent week of working in the Technical Services Department of the Indian Prairie Library,  my new username is TacticalLibrarian. You probably want to know why it isn't TechnicalLibrarian. Tactical calls to mind a me wearing a bandolier of Demco supplies; book tape, spine glue, barcode labels, vistafoil, anything I would need to keep the operation running smoothly.  And isn't that what Technical Services is all about? TechnicalLibrarian makes it sound like “well technically she's a librarian…” which I'm actually not…at least for a few more months. Thank goodness usernames aren’t legally bindi...
Read more

Week 3 Post

Week 3 of my Indian Prairie Public Library Practicum was Doggone wonderful..literally. I was back with the Programming and Outreach team for one of their fantastic evening offerings. “Read to a Pet” is geared towards emerging readers who are developing confidence in the skill. Reading to a friendly registered support dog in a judgment-free environment can be hugely supportive. I assisted Chrissy for this program. Chrissy often works with programming for “mid-kids,” meaning those from approximately grades 1 to 8. They're not little enough for the board books and guided storytime, but not ready to be fully unsupervised either.  Chrissy had an excellent system for keeping the kids, dogs, and parents organized, which is vital as this is a very popular program. The dogs (normally at least 3 are scheduled) arrive about 15 minutes early to sniff out each other, the meeting room and get settled. Then the kids begin to arrive in waves about 15 minutes apart. If they don't bring or selec...
Read more