Blog Post 3

The following article discusses a study of teacher librarians as a gateway towards integrating technology into the classroom, specifically, gaming. The authors state that the majority of research surrounding this topic focuses on the teacher and their perceptions but rarely are studies conducted regarding the librarian, who has become the primary technology leader on many campuses. As the authors mentioned, teachers’ perceptions about digital gaming is predominantly negative but they surmise that librarians would be more willing to integrate these skills and present them to classroom teachers, thus integrating the technology of gaming into lesson plans. The study indicated that teacher librarians are much more likely to use gaming to teach various skills to students, such as Kahoot! for learning library orientation or Minecraft to make a movie. The authors acknowledged that teacher librarians probably use these games because their schedules are more flexible, whereas a teacher is on a limited time-frame. While teacher librarians were more likely to integrate gaming, the study revealed that their perceptions were just as negative as teachers. The reasons indicated included: lack of time, lack of support and lack of funds. The authors conclude that both parties face the same barriers, however, librarians are in a more advantageous situation, which is the reason they are able to integrate gaming. Therefore, teacher librarians are in the perfect situation to lead teachers into 21st-Century Learning Skill Integration. Minecraft is extremely popular among students and has many benefits of real-world problem solving. I would definitely use Minecraft as a hook to the library. Once students are at the library, I would host a game, allow students to strategize their way to victory. I would informally present the strategies used to problem solve their way and follow up by displaying books with similar subjects of the game. Another interesting tool is the use of Starfall for reading reinforcement. The problem allows students to build their way through reading skills such as letter-sound-recognition, blending, rhyming and sight-words. Even though it is not a complete reading program, the website is a wonderful way to reinforce the classroom teacher’s curriculum. Hovious, A.S., & Van Eck, R.N. (2015). Digital games for 21st-century learning. Teacher Librarian, 42(5), 34-38.