Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Spark Your Conversations, Connections and Collaboration With A Cube!

We can't share enough from our libraries, classrooms and school communities. 

We need to share the stories, creativity and learning of our students. We need to share what we do and what our libraries, classrooms and communities have to offer.  We need to share and champion our skills, our specialities and awesome ideas....especially those of our students!  

We can share at events throughout the year such as back-to-school nights, professional development, fine arts and sporting events, school board meetings, book fairs, field trips, virtual visits and trips, school visits and more.  

We share through digital and paper newsletters, signage, bulletin boards, morning newscasts, daily announcements over the intercom, bathroom stall signs, PSA's, digital storytelling, video messages and projects, infographics and the list goes on and on. 
We share through social media accounts we have for the library, our classroom and ourselves. When we share on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and other online places, we are sharing our skills, stories and news with others around the world, not only our community.  How cool is that?

Even with all of these engaging, creative and fun ways to share our stories and make connections, the best way is still through conversations and collaboration. It is finding those experiences and tools that are just right for sparking these conversations and making connections that can make a difference for us, our colleagues, community and most of all...the students we work with everyday.  
A few months ago, my interest was sparked by something Lindsay Noll Kufahl posted in the Future Ready Librarian Facebook Group.  This lead to a lot of collaboration and creating this week for me too!   

Let me tell you the story.   
On August 2, Lindsay posted these fantastic cubes she created to share What can Lindsay Kufahl and the library do for you?  

She placed these on the tables during back-to-school inservice to spark conversations and make connections with the teachers and administrators.  

Lindsay shared, More Than Books, the Library has audiobooks, Playaways, DVD and (K and 1) book packs. The book packs haven't been used much, so come to the library and I will show them to you.  

Co-Teach During A Week...I would love to co-teach with you!  

How wonderful!  

She was not only sharing all of the important things she did as a librarian and teacher, she was also finding a way to spark conversations, relationships and collaboration on that day and throughout the year. 
You will find the cube that Lindsay Kufahl created here. She encourages us to make a copy and fill it in with our own set of skills and things to share. 

As I looked through all of the posts after Lindsay's, I found other ideas too. 
Nadine Bailey created this one from Lindsay's template and filled it in with images and text....even a QR code that will take them to what the library has to offer. 
You can get to the TK Library Infocube on the CIS (Canadian International School) here
Chris Haught did something super cute! She created a cube with neat graphics, even the Future Ready Librarian framework, and filled them with LifeSavers, because librarians are life savers as you know. 
You can get to the cube that Chris created here at Utah's Online Library
Moni Vega created beautiful cubes too with information on collaboration, signing up for the library and more. 
I also found ideas for getting your students involved in this process. 

Lib Sheri had her students put them together after using her Cricut machine to cut and score lines.
And Elissa Malespina had her students put them in the teachers mailboxes. 

That is a terrific way for our students to know what we do and have to offer too. 
After I thought about all of these cubes and create a few of my own for the Future Ready Institute this week in New Orleans, I started to think about other ways to create interesting cubes and conversations too.  

The first idea is creating a cube with one of my favorite augmented reality products, QuiverVision. 
On QuiverVision.com,
I found a cube in the Platonic Solids Coloring Pack.  
As with all of the QuiverVision coloring sheets, all you have to do is color the sheet, 
use the QuiverVision app to scan...
and up pops the augmented reality.  

With the app, you can take photos and even capture....

a video of the augmented reality experience too. 

This could be used in so many ways.  You can use it as a teacher librarians to share what you can do as a Future Ready Librarian within the library and throughout the community.  You could share resources and ideas.  And you can even share images to share the story.  When the cube is scanned, everything will pop up to life giving users a really meaningful experience and spark to the conversations. 
The second idea is using Buncee as a way to create amazing cubes! 
When I started to brainstorm ideas for using cubes to spark conversations, I thought it would be super neat to use Buncee to create my cubes so I reached out to my Buncee friends. 
They quickly created two new cube templates or stickers. 
Now I can add all of the things that I want to my cubes in Buncee.  I can include images, stickers, text and so much more. 

I am still working on mine tonight but can't wait to share the one I am creating for the public library in our town with you. 
Third, I would love to show you the Cube Creator from ReadWriteThink.

I was super excited to find this one from ReadWriteThink.  I love everything they have available for us to use for learning and projects. 
The Cube Creator lets you create your own cube filling in all 6 of the sides with questions (if you want) and responses (these can be alone on a side too). 
The Create-Your-Own Cube Planning Sheet helps you lay out each side before you start.
And once you are finished filling each side in, you can download, print, save and share your cube.
As you can see there are so many wonderful ways to use cubes within your library, classroom and community for igniting conversations, connections and collaboration. 

Not only are these powerful tools to use with your colleagues, cubes are also amazing tools to use with your students too! 

How can you see cubes being useful and meaningful in your conversations and collaborations? 

How can they be meaningful with your students? 

How will you use them?  

I can't wait to hear your ideas.  Please share them in the comments and I will make sure I share them with everyone too.

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