Evaluating: Video Presentation Supplement

    This blog post will serve to compliment my video (oral & visual) presentation in fulfilling the requirements of the final project rubric, as well as to represent the "evaluating" stage of my inquiry.

    My inquiry topic was boys' literacy. I explored the topic using the Alberta model of inquiry. My initial questions were:

1. How/why do boys read differently than girls?
2. When boys do read, what are they reading?
3. How have schools and libraries successfully increased boys' reading skills?
4. What are the best ways for childrens' librarians to implement these strategies?

    I found answers to all of these questions readily available in all of the sources I used...except for the fourth question. I decided to focus on that question in my presentation, and take it upon myself to deduce what public childrens' librarians could contribute to boys' literacy issues.

    A list of resources I used is available on the "Sources/Links" page of this blog. Most of the information I used was from government brochures and publications, a 2003 issue of Teacher Librarian, and two books written by male educators that provided a thorough overview of the issues regarding boys' literacy. Though the material cited is only a very small portion of the literature available on this topic, I felt that my reading satisfied the inquiry questions that I had posed and that my reading was therefore sufficient for me to move on to the next stages of my inquiry.

    I explained my choice of presentation software extensively in this blog post. At times I did find PowToon frustrating to use, but I suspect that was merely part of the learning process as I navigated an unfamiliar product. Overall, I'm happy with my choice and will probably use PowToon again in the future.

   The most challenging portion of the inquiry process was the planning stage, specifically finding sources. I don't currently work with children, so I don't always know what the best resources are for education topics, childrens' book lists, etc. The wiki post assignment was really helpful; without some of my classmates' suggestions I don't think my research would have gone as well as it did. Conversely, the most meaningful portion was the processing stage. I love to making connections between my reading and  my life/career, and my research led me to some very interesting and enlightening conversations with friends, colleagues, and even children.

    My findings are represented in my video presentation. Most of what I discovered corresponded with my personal beliefs about boys and reading, but occasionally my beliefs were challenged. For example, one of my readings made me question my long-held belief that teachers withheld attention from female students due to latent sexism. A conversation with a friend's son drew my attention to the role of humor in boys' books. Several of my readings made me wonder whether race and socioeconomic status are a much larger - and possibly more relevant - indicator of reading success. Most importantly, my research led me to believe that getting boys to read is not as hopeless a task as it might seem, and that there is a lot I can do to help them.

   As I explored in the post immediately preceeding this one, I have gathered many ideas about how to apply my learning to my future career. I have all kinds of activity-based storytimes in mind, from writing in response to books read aloud to integrating drawing and acting to simply having more active programming in the library space. I also intend to consistently display and booktalk humor books, short story collections, graphic novels, and other genres that appeal to boys and to encourage both boys and parents to consider "good" books that don't conform to what is traditionally seen as "quality literature". 

    In conclusion, I feel I've learned a lot from my inquiry and I'm looking forward to using my knowledge throughout my career.

Creating and Sharing Pt. 4: Nearing the Finish Line

Things are finally starting to come together. I think I've gotten the hang of PowToon, although I'm just going to have to live with the poor audio quality. Other than that, I think the video is turning out really well, and I'm looking forward to finding out what my classmates think of it.

As I conclude this inquiry cycle, I'm trying to think about how I'll continue studying this topic in the future. I feel that the information I've gathered will be crucial to my career as a children's librarian, and I already have lots of future boy-oriented program ideas gathering in my head. Dads-and-kids storytimes, acting out and drawing scenes from favorite books after we've read them aloud, book clubs that boys might actually show up to...although maybe that last one is dreaming too big.

Creating and Sharing pt. 3: The Struggle

After a few hours of video creation, I am becoming intimately familiar with the limitations of PowToon's software.

It's clear to me now that this is meant to be an upgraded Powerpoint with the capacity to animate a few things, not a straight-up animation software. The options for graphics, transitions, and animations are very limited, especially in the free account. Often the effect or picture I want simply isn't there. There are groups of "styles", only a few of which are available to non-paying users, and if I want a graphic that is in another "style" group I can't change the color of it at all...meaning that if I'm using all-white graphics in my main style, and I want a graphic that is only available in another style and it happens to be black, I can't simply make it white. This might make my video look a little scattered...but whatever. I've done my best to make the colors and design cohesive, there's not much I can do about it now.

Recording the voiceover was also a pain. I quickly discovered that the voiceover must be one long file, rather than a separate voiceover for each slide, which made the recording much more difficult as I had to restart the whole thing if I made a mistake. The quality of the recording was also not good, despite my best efforts to find the quietest possible place in my home. I tried to use my laptop's audio software and just upload the file, but it kept "buffering" for so long that I just gave up. Instead, I had to record myself using PowToon's mic recorder, which (as already mentioned) resulted in poor sound quality.

I also found out that the maximum length for each slide is 20 seconds. This has been my greatest challenge of all, as it forced me to break up my slides into smaller sections than I wanted to...in some cases, I need a separate slide for each sentence of my script. I am not pleased.

Despite these challenges, I continue to plug away at this video, and look forward to finally turning it in tomorrow.

Creating and Sharing pt. 2

I've started playing around with PowToon quite a bit, and I think I have a good feel for how it works. Before I actually start making a video, I'll need to record the oral part of my presentation so that I can line up the animation effects with my voice. I've typed up a script in Google Docs, but thought it would be a good idea to post it here as well so that my whole process is represented in the journal.

The finalized script:

For decades, librarians, teachers, and parents alike have shared a common struggle: getting boys to read.

National statistics show that female students consistently score higher in reading than males. However, that gap has begun to close in recent years as teachers and school librarians put forward countless strategies to help struggling male readers in the classroom.

These solutions are often applicable to schools, but not to public libraries, where childrens’ librarians much assist frustrated parents who just can’t find books their sons will read.

So what can public librarians do to help?

One of the most basic ways to encourage boys to read is to simply promote the sorts of literature they enjoy. Often, the books schools and libraries deem “good” are limited to character-driven fiction while graphic novels, short stories, and magazines are dismissed. Including the latter types of stories in displays, recommendations, reading lists, and programming sends a message to boys that “good readers” read all kinds of materials, not just fiction novels.

Teachers have also found success with male students by encouraging active learning. Incorporating writing, drawing, and acting and other hands-on activities into traditional reading programs offered by libraries can help boys associate reading with the types of learning that come most naturally to them and dissipate the belief that being a “good reader” means sitting perfectly still and silent.

Having male role models who enjoy reading is also crucial to boys’ literacy development. Children model what adults do, so it stands to reason that boys who don’t see men reading might simply assume that reading is not a masculine pursuit. Male librarians can challenge this idea by discussing book's with young patrons; female librarians can encourage fathers, older brothers, and male teachers to be seen reading often and with pleasure.

Guys Read, an ongoing project to encourage boys to read, lists book recommendations submitted by young readers. This is an excellent start when providing readers’ advisory for boys and their parents.

Some of my personal favorite boy books are listed below. (This slide will have pictures of some "boy books" I like.)

When looking for books for boys, consider some of the elements they tend to prefer. Is the book funny? Is it fast-paced and narrative driven? Are there visual elements? And, most importantly, what do other boys say about it? When in doubt, boys themselves are the best sources of information about what they and their peers want to read.

For more information and a list of sources used in making this video, please visit boyslitinquiry.blogspot.com.

Processing, Creating, and Sharing.

Now that I've finished Smith and Wilhelm, I'm declaring my processing stage over and moving fully into sharing.

Smith and Wilhelm's research wasn't necessarily eye-opening, but as I expected, it confirmed much of what I already knew. I focused on some of the later chapters, because at this stage of my process I'm looking for conclusions about how to solve the problem of boys' literacy rather than a foundational knowledge of the issue.

I've created my PowToon account and will soon be diving in to the video tool. I'm hoping it's as fun and easy as it claims to be...