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A reflection about one school library faculty's goal of creating a positive learning environment with space that would help students and teachers develop real-world connections and the approach they took to creating it. The ideas for the space included housing the collection, helping students and teachers collaborate, being a hub for learning with a flexible floor plan and supporting newly developing areas in educational technology. The school decided to create a learning commons to move beyond traditional thinking about libraries and respond to what the kids and teachers really needed. The faculty envisioned their environment to be developmentally appropriate for their young students, as well as to foster a sense of creativity, inspiration, and encourage dialogue and a sense of community. The new learning commons library offered more space for stacks, added conference rooms and a lounge area, but the learning commons concept informed more than the library. These design changes increase opportunities to be inspired by student work and performances and create stronger interpersonal connections among students and faculty.

The American Association of School Librarians supports the position that an effective school library program has a certified school librarian at the helm, provides personalized learning environments, and offers equitable access to resources to ensure a well-rounded education for every student

"Digital Compass is a choose-your-own adventure, interactive game developed with 6th to 9th graders in mind, in which students step into the shoes of one of eight characters to experience the twists and turns of daily digital life. Invite students to explore digital dilemmas, make good (and not-so-good) decisions, and try out possible solutions through stories and mini-games â€" all without risking their real-world reputations. Discover how Common Sense Educational's award-winning digital literacy and citizenship curriculum seamlessly integrates into blended-learning environments."

The list is suitable for teachers and students. A plethora of tools that you can explore the inquiry learning phases with the web tools listed below to work out which ones are best any particular classroom environment.

" What should the tech requirements be for a 21st century school?  When considering this, it is important to remember that the physical space of school is just a part of a student's learning environment.  The reality is that to live is to learn.  School should be an extension of life with the same tools and access"

"Some good Chrome apps to help you enhance your online reading experience. The extensions we curated for you today allow you to create a comfortable reading environment where you can enjoy your reading with no distractions and no eye strain. Using these apps will enable you to eliminate  ads and flash animations from your page, browse multi-page articles in one, seamless view, disable surrounding webpage noise and clutter and many more."

"The English hallway transformed into a brightly colored Avenue of Literature by teachers. Each of the 189 lockers that line the hallway - unused for more than a decade - has been painted over to look like the spine of a popular book. The project was spearheaded by a group of teachers, who decided to devote their summers to creating an environment more conducive to a love of learning than a procession of defunct storage units. Teacher Elizabeth Williams explained, "We want students to come back to school in August and walk on the hallway and be absolutely amazed with what we've done and be curious. We want that to be the driving spark for reading in our classrooms." In deciding which titles would earn a spot on the Avenue, the Biloxi teachers tried to draw on a wide range of genres, interests and reading levels. Each novel in the Twilight series is represented, but so are Watership Down and Johnny Tremain"

"The web is increasingly one of the places in which we live and work and in the future it will be where many aspects of life will converge. People are likely to become more resident over time and to conduct more of their lives in the online environment - the web can empower the individual with a voice, with potential benefits and risks that entails. So it's better that we begin to understand in detail now those motivations to engage, act and interact online that will grow in the future."

Descriptors: Learning Culture, Learning Environments, Deeper Learning, Partners in Learning

"Makerspaces are collaborative workshops where young people gain practical hands-on experience with new technologies and innovative processes to design and build projects. They provide a flexible environment where learning is made physical by applying science, technology, math, and creativity to solve problems and build things." Ideas, costings and discussion about makerspaces.

"Social media can be an incredibly useful teaching tool. The social networks students use are conducive to so many facets of modern learning such as collaborative planning, data and resource sharing, and progress updates concerning group work. It appeals to our digital natives, and social media is very easy to use. The prospect of teaching with social media can be alluring or repulsive, depending on your understanding of it, and your experience with it. The truth is, it doesn't need to be difficult or stressful. For any teacher wanting to broaden connections with students through different teaching strategies, social media is a terrific choice. That said, it pays to do a bit of homework on the subject before diving in. Let's look at some of the things that are worth considering before making the move to teaching with social media in a classroom environment."

"The most successful makerspaces include tools, materials and resources that inspire and allow for an environment rich with possibilities, allowing all students the opportunity for open-ended exploration.  In addition to tried-and-true favorites such as Spheros, Makey-Makey kits, littleBits, and Legos, there is now such a vast array of makerspace-related products available. As this year draws to a close, we can't help but reflect upon some of our favorite makerspace things. "

Hi Andrew, The ABC has a page to support Media Literacy Week (24 -31 October 2022). There are a range of resources they have put together (some produced in 2018 but still valid) to help teach students to navigate the modern media environment, addressing issues such as bias, misinformation and fake news. Some might be useful resources for anyone wanting to teach about bias, persuasion and manipulation in/by the media.

ool Australia promises to make learning about our natural world exciting while making the teacher's role easier. We bring sustainability into the heart of the curriculum by incorporating themes such as Energy, Water, Waste and Biodiversity into learning activities and units of work across the entire curriculum. "Cool Australia empowers students to construct their own vision of a positive future. Cool Australia is for all teachers especially those who thought that sustainability was not in their brief or was too big to tackle."

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