Dear Dr. Laura,
It’s school board appreciation month and I’m lost! My principal wants me to do something on behalf of the school. We just got back from winter break and I have no time! Do you have any quick and easy ideas?
Signed,
Frazzled Librarian
Hi!
Love this question! But, first! Welcome back to school and the year 2020! Did you settle on your #OneWord for the year? Now, on to your question! School boards are so important to the work we do with our students. So, let’s put on our thinking caps and consider the school board’s role.
I’d like to think that your school board members are there because they love students and believe that education can positively impact a community and its members. We know that school board members set the vision for a district and then lay out goals to move towards that vision. They are passionate about what they do and love seeing the great things that happen because of the decisions they’ve made as a board. And have you ever seen their faces light up when students are at the board meetings or when the board members visit campuses? Priceless!
So, start with a little digging. Look at your campus improvement plan (CIP) and district improvement plan (DIP). Look for things that you can tie back to your library and your campus. Now start thinking about how you can make these items visible to your school board.
In my case, I gathered a bunch of photos that showcased our students engaged with things tied back to our CIP and DIP. We had a big technology rollout and I was able to grab some candid photos of the kids using all of the things the board approved for purchase. Be sure to use students who have their media release forms cleared for your use.
Then, I took all the photos and made a 1-2 minute video collage that opened and closed with a thank you slide identifying our campus/library. Our board members all have district-issued email addresses. So, we were able to send the video directly to them during school board appreciation month.
There are a lot of tools you could use to make a short video:
Adobe Spark - This is an online and mobile device design tool.
Animoto - Free educator account.
Biteable - More than just animations. You can add your own photos.
Clips - This is an iOS mobile video editing software app.
FlipGrid - If you want the students to speak about what they are thankful for.
iMovie - Use this if you have Apple devices.
WeVideo - Use the free version to edit short videos.
I hope this sounds simple enough for you. It might even be fun to use photos submitted by your students. Do you have a newspaper or tech media club that could take the lead? Our students are pretty tech-savvy! They know so many tools that we’ve never even seen before!
If any of our readers have some other simple ideas, I hope they share their ideas on social media where this blog is posted.
Dr. Laura
The Librarian Influencer of the week is Sandra Koenig. You can hear her interview at https://www.laurasheneman.com/post/working-with-others-helps-us-go-further-with-sandra-koenig.
You can follow Librarian Influencer Sandra Koenig at:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sgk68/
Work email: s.koenig@lajoyaisd.net
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