20% Time and the library
Do you see the smiling face on the beginning of Marie's video in the previous post?
That's Glen Warren. He's a self-proclaimed "convert" to libraries and librarianship. In our audio story, we started with Glen's story because we had been wondering just what were the issues facing kids today in schools... and we loved his answer:
BACK STORY
Having visited Google several times, I absolutely love the idea of 20% time and how it cool it would if schools did, indeed, create a space of time for projects. Senior projects seem to me to be on the right track, but how cool would it be if students were allowed to think of their idea, and then advertise it to the rest of the student body? Then anyone who wanted to join in, or choose a project that dove-tailed with it could also work alongside, thus creating a deeper, richer experience for all.
I've been contemplating making a "20% space" or, if I can carve it out a "20% room" for students in the library. This space would house as many tools as possible for creating: the usual suspects like computers, video recorders, voice recorders, but also paper, glue, and paint.
Next time you go to your curriculum committee meeting, mention 20% time... and see if a conversation can build from there. I'm working on that one myself! :)
