Lauren's Literary Tale

 This all-inclusive library floor plan meets ADA and UDL requirements and ensures that all students enjoy a positive and safe library experience.  There are double doors that are located on opposite sides of the library, with clear spaces surrounding them and utilizing lever handles. The doorway clear opening is 32 inches, and the door heights are 80 inches. The shelves are strategically placed throughout the library to allow for traffic flow and easier understanding of the organization of the collection. The shelf height is 40 inches, and the aisle width is 42 inches.  There are tables and chairs placed throughout the library for a variety of uses that all meet UDL guidelines, including building knowledge (tables and desk chairs in front of the Smartboard for whole-group lessons), emotional capacity (comfortable soft chairs in reading nooks that can be used in a common space for independent or partner reading), strategy development (tables and desk chairs with computers ...

  Universal Design for Learning is a way to design the learning environment to ensure that all students have experiences that are accessible and equitable for their learning needs. According to cast.org, the UDL guidelines aim to provide "learner agency that is purposeful and reflective, resourceful and authentic, and strategic and action-oriented"  (CAST).  Upon reflection of my current teaching practices, I recognized many of these guidelines that I am using in the classroom already. I often will adjust how I display or share information by using simple font, larger spacing that is easy to read, and provide descriptions or clarifications of information presented visually. However, I could add more means of representation for auditory information right now to my teaching practice. This could be providing written transcripts to videos or providing captions. Another UDL guideline refers to providing options for language, mathematical expressions, and symbols. I already pro...

 For this video, I will demonstrate how to perform a web search for healthy dinner recipes for beginners. The intended audience for this video is busy professionals, families, or others who are trying to maintain healthy eating but may not have a lot of time at the end of the day to prepare a meal. Also, the intended audience is anyone who is new to cooking who needs concise, easy recipes, clear photographs, and short descriptions of the meal.

This week I worked with my classmates Sarai and Lorraine to record a podcast discussing the achievements and legacy of Margaret Edwards, a true pioneer in expanding access to readers of all ages.  During this process, we tried out a few different podcast platforms, including Riverside, Podbean, and Podmatic, which was the platform we ultimately chose to record our podcast with, as linked above. It was fascinating to see how many amazing platforms there are to choose from when hosting a podcast, and it is encouraging to discover the variety of platforms available. This provides greater access to people who have information, thoughts, creative ideas, and more that they want to share through podcasting, and each platform might have factors that better suit different people's needs.  Podomatic, the platform we recorded our podcast with, was extremely user friendly, which made it stand out above the rest. While Podbean and Riverside fm were not necessarily un-user friendly, th...

This was the first time I have used ChatGPT, and I found it to be an informative and helpful experience. The prompt I used to create this newsletter was: "You are an elementary school librarian. Make a newsletter for students, families, and teachers that highlights new books, book talks, maker space events, and STEAM activities. Make it engaging and colorful." I was pleased with the layout it generated and the details that it added in, but I did make a few more attempts to add specific details to the prompt. I wanted to make the newsletter helpful to all library users, and I specifically wanted it to have information that teachers could use for classroom use, as this is something that I think can sometimes be overlooked when utilizing the school library. I also wanted to be mindful of the length and density of the newsletter, because it still needs to be pleasing to the eye and not so long and detailed that people will not read it. I added prompts to make it more colorful wit...

To be an effective school librarian, it is imperative to understand your community and the diverse make-up of the school around you. My goal is for the library to truly be the heart of the school, a place where students can find resources for academics, such as research projects, and for their own enjoyment and interest.  I work in a large and diverse school district, with people from many parts of the world. In my school district, many families work in management or other office jobs. The most common languages spoken across the district are English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, and Urdu. Every campus has a diverse population and students are able to learn about various cultures from a young age. Many schools celebrate this cultural diversity by hosting International Days where students can bring in items, food, clothing, or even put on performances that represent their culture. The elementary school that I work at is a bilingual campus, with students who speak Spanish an...