Tag Archives: spotlight program

Programs

Spotlight Program: Lights, Camera, and an Idea Worth Spreading

TED wordmark

At CMLE, we so enjoy all our different types of libraries, archives, and other members! Seeing all the work you are doing is so inspiring; and we want to return the favor by helping you to find some of the great programming going on around the profession.

Each week we will share an interesting program we find. It may inspire you to do exactly the same thing; or to try something related; or just to try out some different programming ideas.

We are big fans of TED talks – there are ideas for everyone, with all kinds of topics covered! If you need inspiration, or suggestions, or just entertainment, TED talks have you covered. So it was very cool to read this article from the Programming Librarian about bringing TED talks into your library! This is by Donna Mignardi  & Jennifer Sturge, Calvert County Public Schools, Prince Frederick, Md.

“Most of us are familiar with TED Talks, a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas through short, often powerful, talks. As librarians, we can use the format of a TED Talk to engage students and teachers with research and encourage them to spread their ideas.

We chose to incorporate TED-ED into our ninth-grade programming — with excellent results. In fact, we are now hoping to spread it to eighth and fifth grades as culminating projects during those capstone years in our district.

TED-ED Clubs in the library

Imagine this:

Students are giving their final presentations.

They are enthusiastic about their topic.  You can hear it in their voices.

Students start their presentation with a great hook, drawing in the audience.

They engage the audience with impactful visuals.

The conclusion is strong.

That vision of research perfection was our experience with TED-ED Clubs. The club curriculum consists of 13 lessons that will help you and the classroom teacher to develop an idea/topic and coach students on how to present a topic.

Identifying interests 

As students work through the process of developing a research question, TED-ED helps them formulate the research question as “an idea worth spreading.” Students have to spend time really defining their topic, the importance of their topic, and dig into their reasons for choosing a topic. For example, one of our students was very passionate about horses. Through the lens of the TED-ED curriculum, she had to think about about horses and narrow her topic into an idea worth spreading. She ended up giving a very compelling TED talk on the therapeutic benefits of horses and horseback riding.

Once students have an understanding of what makes an idea worth sharing and have chosen a topic, we work with the students to identify the most compelling arguments for their idea/topic. What do they want their audience to know?  This exercise helps students direct their research and is a perfect time to have a research conference with each student.

Student in front of his Ted-Ed presentationTED-ED Club curriculum takes students through 13 steps to select and refine a research topic to present.

The TED-ED research project is authentic learning, helping students identify their interests/passions and turning those interests into an idea they WANT to research and share. Being part of the TED-ED Club also provides the opportunity to upload finished TED talks to the TED-ED Clubs YouTube channel. For the students, the possibility of sharing their idea on a global platform is enticing.

Getting started

Here are a few things we learned that may be useful as you get started.

  • Anyone (students included) may apply to be a TED-ED club facilitator.
  • The end of the school year is a great time for this project. Some of the topics students share are very personal. Students need to have trust in their classroom teacher and classmates.
  • In addition to a camcorder, we used a SWIVL to record the students. Using the SWIVL meant that we knew that we would have clear audio. Also, the videos are uploaded to the SWIVL cloud, which provides an easy link for sharing. Students were sent a link that day and were able to reflect on their presentation. The link was also shared with appreciative parents. The community and parent involvement with this project was strong.

Information literacy, media literacy, presentation literacy. Student generated TED talks can be a research project that covers it all.

Watch a sample student project!”

Programs

Spotlight Program: Thinking Money Jeopardy Game

At CMLE, we so enjoy all our different types of libraries, archives, and other members! Seeing all the work you are doing is so inspiring; and we want to return the favor by helping you to find some of the great programming going on around the profession.

Each week we will share an interesting program we find. It may inspire you to do exactly the same thing; or to try something related; or just to try out some different programming ideas.

Financial programming is always a winner for libraries of all types. Everyone needs more advice about money, and providing some information is useful to any kind of audience.

Check out this article from Programming Librarian website, and see if you can adapt it to your own library:

“This program was offered as part of Thinking Money, a traveling exhibit about financial literacy offered by the ALA Public Programs Office and the FINRA Foundation.

To celebrate the unveiling of the exhibit, we wanted to throw an opening night party. To complement the party, we developed a fun but educational financial literacy Jeopardy game using a free online program called Factile.

We hosted the game at 6:30 p.m. that opening night, Dec. 13, 2016,  with mostly middle school-aged kids and their parents. Later, we had the opportunity to share it with two classes of high schoolers from a local vocational school who came as a field trip. Continue reading Spotlight Program: Thinking Money Jeopardy Game →

Programs

Comicon draws costumed crowd to Tempe library

Cosplayers (5778411680)
(not at the library, but clearly they are in the spirit!)

I know some of our members have been to assorted Cons, and enjoy working with the costumed fun that can entail. This program, at the Tempe, AZ library, sounds so fun – I really want to see it here in Central Minnesota!! (I’ll come to your event, and find a fun costume!!)

Check out this article from the local paper: (You will want to see all the photos!)

“Superheroes, wizards and Jedi gathered for the fourth year at the Tempe Public Library for the library’s annual Comicon.

The all-day event Saturday featured panel discussions, comic and figurine vendors — and at least one shark.

“I had this in the closet, the left shark costume,” said 21-year-old Zack Tucker, wearing the full-body shark costume made internet famous after a Super Bowl dance routine. “I figured people would like a dead meme.”

Tucker came with friends, all wearing different costumes.

“I’ve never been to a Comicon before,” he said. “It’s fun so far.”

Jason Price was “Star Wars” hero Chewbacca for the day, and his young son, Luke, had a costume of his favorite character from the movies: Kylo Ren.

“We live here, but this is our first time coming,” Price said.

With high temperatures in the 70s, families enjoyed the pop-culture displays that filled the area outside the library.

“Just coming out and enjoying the weather and being out here, participating in the community,” Price said. “We definitely want to be here and check out all the vendors and see what’s going on.”

“We just won the scavenger hunt,” Luke added. “Fun!” “

Programs

Spotlight Program: Beginning Street Art

Banksy 28 October installment from "Better Out Than In" New York City residency

I love to see art and art programs in the library – and this one looked really interesting! Check out this report by By Lisa Fipps, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement, Kokomo-Howard County Public Library, Ind.

“Beginning Street Art was an active companion program to Banksy Booked @KHPCL, the theme for a number of active and passive programs to coincide with a six-week exhibit of Banksy’s “Haight Street Rat” street art.

YA author Shannon Lee Alexander’s work-in-progress is about a character from an abusive home in a stagnant, some would even say dying, Appalachian town. She’s done a lot of research about street art for the novel, and it’s now become one of her passions. I asked her if she would lead teens in a workshop to explain graffiti and give participants an opportunity to try the various types of street art.

I assumed only teens would be interested, but quickly realized that adults wanted to know more and try it, too. So I opened up the program to both audiences. The program was informational and skill-building. It also brought generations together. I worked with Shannon to make it a two-fer by asking her to talk about her two published books, and sell and sign them at the event as well….

Just having a Banksy piece helped draw a lot of attention to KHCPL and, therefore, I received a lot of word-of-mouth marketing for Beginning Street Art and all the programs associated with the exhibit.

I emailed the flier to all the art teachers at the five high schools in the county. I met with the Visitor’s Bureau to market Banksy Booked @KHCPL and the passive and active programs associated with it to cities in Indiana and beyond. That marketing led to a listing in the Visit Indiana’s August Festivals & Events newsletter and travelindiana.com, with an audience of at least 50,000. The Visitor’s Bureau also paid for social marketing ads.

I also created paid social media ads. I pay for monthly radio advertising and included information about Beginning Street Art in the month leading up to Banksy Booked @KHCPL. I sent out press releases to all three local newspapers, which published stories about it. Since the Banksy Booked @KHCPL story was picked up by the Associated Press, it further marketed Beginning Street Art.

I worked with graphics to get a sign up near the Banksy that provided the history of the “Haight Street Rat” and explained the various companion active and passive programs, including Beginning Street Art. I included information about Beginning Street Art in our newsletter that is mailed to 40,000 homes in our taxing district. I wrote about it in our enewsletter, which goes out to about 5,000 subscribers. I asked the graphic artist to create fliers for all three locations and our two bookmobiles. ”