"Madame," Preston calls, "je veux te montrer mon plan pour Bot Bleu."  Preston waves me over to the hand-drawn community map he drew on a poster board marked with 15 cm squares, a community which features three airports, a fire station that has apparently caught fire,  a hospital (are those firefighters in the emergency room?) and a supermarket, all connected by a railroad track.   

Poised on one of the squares ("Il est à l'aéroport," Preston announces), the Blue Bot awaits the algorithm that his programmer has designed in pencil on a long strip of paper.  The algorithm is a series of arrows designed to move Blue Bot 15 centimetres at a time en avant, à gauche, à droit and en arrière.  The programmer is a 6-year-old grade 1 student in a French Immersion program and he has been writing strings and strings of code for the adorable robot.  

FutureReady.org describes a future ready teacher librarian as one who empowers students as creators, encouraging and facilitating students "to become increasingly self-directed as they create digital products of their learning that engage them in critical thinking, collaboration and authentic, real-world problem solving."  The Blue Bot lesson suite I designed for Kindergarten and Grade 1 students does just that:  asks our youngest learners to work in teams of 3 to create codes that move the Blue Bots from place to place on maps they create based on curriculum studies.  Whether it's getting to know our community, associating animals with their habitats or segmenting phonemes, adding Blue Bots to the learning increases engagement--and thrills teachers as they watch their students' executive functioning skills kick into gear.  Students plan as many as 10 to 15 steps in advance to program Blue Bot, and patiently debug and reset when something goes wrong.  

Is this an example of future ready instruction?  Honestly, Blue Bot, Sphero, Scratch and Raspberry Pi along with several more hands-on interpretations of makerspace (woodworking; design challenges) are bandwagons I've jumped on because I associate them with future-readiness; however, I haven't ever spent any time creating my own working definition of the notion.  The fact that students revelled in these activities was enough.

So let's say revelling isn't enough.  Not all of the Kindergarten and Grade 1 teachers are bringing their classes to the library to play with Blue Bot. How do I talk to them about future readiness in a compelling way?  One way may be to attain a strong personal awareness of how future ready librarians prepare students for success in learning, career and life.  Here are some journal articles I am exploring to help me become a stronger proponent of student empowerment in a digital age.

Atkins, C., Burns, C. and Burress, R. (2018). Learning commons as a catalyst for instructional 

partnerships. Teacher Librarian, 45(4), pp. 28–31. Retrieved from https://umasslowell.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=129318057&site=eds-live 

The authors describe the opportunities for increased student achievement created when teachers--the classroom/curriculum experts--and librarians--the digital information experts--work together. Their studies of co-teaching are intended to demonstrate how future ready teacher librarians build instructional partnerships.

Davenport, A. and Mattson, K. (2018)  Collaborative leadership as a catalyst for change.             

Knowledge Quest, 46(3), pp. 14-21.   Retrieved from https://umasslowell.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=126935204&site=eds-live  

The authors state that districts which promote the expertise of school librarians while encouraging the role to evolve are having more successful transitions into digital-age teaching and learning. They describe the challenges and successes practicing teacher librarians experienced as part of a district librarian leadership team.

Easley, M. (2017) Personalized learning environments and effective school library programs." Knowledge 

Quest, 45(4), pp. 16-23. EBSCOhost, umasslowell.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=121512457&site=eds-live.

This article focuses on ways school librarians can maximize learner achievement by personalizing learning. It mentions principles of personalized learning such as just-in-time direct instruction as well as transformed library spaces and curated multimedia and digital resources.

Noel, Lesley-Ann and Liub Tsai Lu. "Using Design Thinking to Create a New EducationParadigm for 

Elementary Level Children for Higher Student Engagement and Success." Design & Technology Education, vol. 22, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 1-12. EBSCOhost, umasslowell.idm.oclc.org/login url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=vth&AN=121967996&site=eds-live.

The authors explore the ways in which design thinking principles such as empathy, collaboration and facilitation, human-centeredness, and creativity provide a sound base for children seeking to enter any profession in the future.  They cite research showing that design thinking leads to higher engagement at school and greater success in life.

#FutureReadyLibs: Showcasing the vital work of teacher librarians in the digital age.

The Library Voice Blog. 10 Future Ready Librarian Collections filled with resources such as articles, case studies, helpful tips, online communities for librarians, tools, and much more.

Future Ready Librarians: What’s Not to Love? (Youtube webinar)  This 1-hour video introduces viewers to the Future Ready Librarians (FRL) program and includes ten ways to be Future Ready.