Creating a modern school library: Back-to-School educator series post #12

Two elementary students collaborate on a digital assignment at their school's library.

Teaching and learning online were big challenges for teachers and students during the pandemic. Now that we are back to in-person teaching and learning, myself and my fellow teachers are eager to work on our relationships with students, the group dynamic, and finding new ways to use classroom space in the best way possible to create an engaging educational experience for our students.

A school library for modern times

My goal this school year is to transform my school library into a modern, student-oriented center of literature, media, new technologies, and projects. I’m designing a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) laboratory inside the library. The plan is to divide the library into two spaces: one with devices, books about technology, gaming, science, and so on, and the other with the traditional library components like book-lined shelves.

This is a new idea in Poland, and the idea is to treat the school library like a future classroom laboratory.

Library class

In my class, we work on tablets and laptops and learn programming and robotics with a variety of technology tools. A real game-changer for my class was the installation of a SMART interactive display! Special thanks to Image Recording Solutions, Magdalena Krupińska, and Arkadiusz Stefan for their support in making this a reality!

Some people asked, “Why do you need an interactive display in your library?” They thought it was something that could be useful only during regular classes. They were wrong! Installing the interactive display proved extremely useful, especially now, when we need to work more on digital literacy skills.

Helping students develop digital literacy skills is a must in today’s world. One recent activity I’ve used with students involves creating digital bulletin boards. We traded traditional bulletin boards for amazing, interactive presentations that could be shown on the interactive display. Students loved this activity and learned so much by reading, clicking, listening to recordings, and interacting with educational resources.

Special thanks to SMART Ambassador Agnieszka Halicka for this post! To learn more about SMART’s interactive display offerings, click here.