Little Lou Library

The effects of cyberbullying. Photo sourced from https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/cyber-bullying-in-social-networks-and-online-abuse-concept-vector-flat-cartoon-gm1213369038-352617628                Cyberbullying is a serious issue that affects many people at various stages in their lives. What I learned this week is that most cyberbullying initiatives are designed primarily for students in middle school and up. With my role as an elementary school librarian, it will be important for me to find ways to still address the severity of this issue in the context that applies to my younger students in an appropriate way. At this age, some of the upper elementary students might have cell phones and social media accounts, so I will need to discuss proper use, digital citizenship, and online safety with them. However, there are other programs that some of the younger students use within the school that could also be tools for cyberbullying, such as ...

     Over the years, social media platforms have become powerful tools for connecting with others in a digital space, sharing information, and promoting organizations. All the major social media platforms could be used effectively as an extension of the school library setting in one way or another. However, based on my intended audience, I believe Facebook would be the best platform for me to start with. In an elementary school library setting, most of the students are too young to use many of the popular social media platforms, therefore, this Facebook page would be utilized more to connect with families, members of the community, and other educators. This platform is ideal for sharing photographs of activities taking place in the library, promoting upcoming events, providing details about professional development opportunities for teachers, and sharing information about current trends and the latest technology (Davis, 2018). In the  10 Minute Teacher  podcast ...

  Photo sourced from https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/united-states-childhood-disability-rate-up-in-2019-from-2008.html      Many tech companies offer access to some great assistive technology resources. One company in particular that has a lot to offer is Google. Specifically speaking, one tool that they provide is the voice typing feature embedded into the Google Docs program. Similar to using talk-to-text on your phone, this program allows the user to speak directly into the microphone on their computer, and the Google Docs program will type up what they are saying with great accuracy. Personally speaking, when I use talk-to-text on my phone, it is usually riddled with errors, but when I tried out the Google Docs version, everything that I said was typed correctly. This alone is a very important feature as having a talk-to-text program that is inaccurate would frustrate the user and ultimately make the process more difficult for them as they w...