Author: Kathleen Finn

Arriving at SFX in 2007, I currently teach library classes for grades PreK-5 and Digital Learning classes for Grades 3-8. These classes enable students to find, evaluate and use high-quality literature and information in all its forms for personal or academic use, and to develop the technical skills to create new knowledge and share that knowledge with others. A big part of the job is fostering good digital citizenship in students. I am a school library media specialist because I love helping students--and faculty-- find resources that speak precisely to their needs at just the right moment, whether it’s a picture book about lizards, a chapter book about best friends or a database article about DNA. To do this work at St. Francis Xavier brings the added privilege of helping students grow in their Catholic faith--and helps me grow in mine from everyday interactions with those in this wonderful community.

A case study in a 1:1 school

Screencast-o-matic on the Macbook: a step-by-step tutorial Our small school is blessed to have an unusually large library space: nearly 3000 square feet. Over the last eight years, there has been much refurbishment in our library, such as repainting and installing new carpet, new furnishings, ceiling, lights and window shades. Our library has become an attractive, much-used space by all ages, with an average of 600-700 materials circulating monthly.

In a perfect world, this physical library space would be in the center of our school, not on a lower level two floors away from the middle school classrooms. But with the integration of 1:1 tablet devices for all our middle school students, the distance between the physical library and these students has shortened considerably.

Continue reading “Digital access to library resources”

In a 1:1 Android environment

Fair Use. Public Domain.

The meaning of these concepts as applied to creative work, has broadened dramatically in our digital world. Students are some of the biggest consumers and creators of work created on digital platforms, but they don’t often understand:

what they may legitimately use

how they may use it

what protection exists for their own creative work.