Book Review: We Are Water Protectors

 Pedagogy Before Technology 

Meghan Brewer 

LSSL 5391 01 Digital Technology for the School Librarian 

Dr. Gross 

June 3, 2024 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pedagogy Before Technology 

For many semesters in school at SHSU, we have been taught to be Future Ready Librarians, to embrace the changes and challenges that come with moving from a traditional classroom teaching position to being a part of the library, and all that it entails. It cannot be regurgitated information that we have swallowed from a lecture or textbook; it is crucial moving forward that we really believe in what we are learning and doing in order to best serve our campuses. We must embrace the idea more than ever that we are lifelong learners (especially when it comes to using new and unfamiliar technology), adapt with the evolving framework and changing role of Bloom’s taxonomy for today’s generation of students, and become active leaders and visible models for using technology to further our learning. Technology is NOT designed to completely wipe out the best part of what we know works for schools, teachers, and students. It is designed as a help or enhancement to deepen the learning of all involved. This is a new generation of students, with new skill sets, and this should be reflected in the educational practices surrounding them.  

At thirty-two years old, I was born at a time when tape cassettes were JUST going out, CDs were coming in, and we still used dial up internet. I saw the evolution of these things then being usurped by MP3 players, IPODS and now where most of us have Spotify, Pandora, or YouTube Music. YouTube still had very little content, and was not the absolute plethora of information, videos, and tutorials that it contains today. My view of the world had a time before technology entered it, but my students have never had that viewpoint. Their world as always existed with apps, digital content, and a perpetual state of evolution when it comes to technology. I think that as educators we must be aware of this, and rather than see it as a divide between us and our students, realize that it is a limitation that we must overcome and adapt to. We have to present information and engagement in a way that is relevant to the students of today, not something that worked ten or even five years ago.  

I feel like it is absurd to try to limit technology into trying to fit into ONE of the following two boxes, being a tool for learning or the foundation upon which we build learning, when it is closely tied to both. Absolutely, it is a part of their foundation. Most students had access to ABCya, ABC Mouse, or at the very least digital flash cards as a part of their preliminary stages of learning. It is ingrained in them. However, that is not to say that technology cannot also be a tool and medium to reach students as they enter their formative and secondary schooling years. They are constantly coming up with improvements, strategies, and applications that our students can utilize to better their education. Even constructs like Bloom’s Taxonomy have had to adjust to a digital age. As the Commonsense Media webpage over “Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy” mentions, the new verbs and tools that are available with the restructuring of the traditional pyramid are tools that “are vehicles for transforming student thinking at different levels.”  

It is important for librarians to care as much as any other educator at their campus because Future Ready Librarians are hubs of their school, as well as role models. We are often the ones that should be willing to take the initiative when it comes to innovative technology practices. I believe that this Library Science program includes classes like Digital Technology for the School Librarian because we are one of the first lines of defense when it comes to testing out technology and helping adapt it to curriculum. Teachers have full schedules, whereas we may have more flexibility to play around with a new concept or application and be ready to present it to our team with some hands-on experience under our belt. Many teachers are scared to branch out and try something new because they are stuck in the ways that have “worked” for them for years, or they fear the risk of losing time to a new technology that may not work the way they want it to without having practiced it themselves a lot first. We come in as being that help for them. I believe that staying up to date is beneficial for us so that we know how to engage our students, but it is also beneficial so that we are a help and a resource to our teammates when they have questions for a program. We might even be able to suggest different activities to combine digital technology with traditional learning. For example, some of the verbs that Andrew Churches suggests incorporating into the classroom to reflect the higher order thinking levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, a teacher and librarian could collaborate to offer students digital platform choices that allowed them to create a podcast, code a program, write a blog, remix a song or video, instead of more generic terms like creating, evaluating and analyzing. These terms can often feel limiting in the wrong hands, because educators do not often take the time to craft options that give way for digital availability. 

In short, I feel that there is always change on the horizon in education. If we are standing still and getting too stuck in our ways, we are going to miss opportunities for our kids. It is our responsibility to stay as up to date as possible so that we have the best chance of not just getting good scores for our kids, or helping them gain understanding on one assignment, but to create young adults who will enter the workforce prepared to be a part of society and contribute back with their understandings and ideas.