2/18/2015 Federal Way Library Workshop Klarissa

Location: Federal Way Public Library

Time 5-7

Date: 2/18/2015

We were all in one room today, kids and adults. The planned theme was “Using Technology with Kids” as a family workshop, but the women had specific things they wanted to work on.

There were four boys around 6-8 years old present, which was a bit of a pickle as we had only three iPad minis. We tried to encourage them to share, to play games together, such as the word guessing game on the Osmo. The played the word game for a little bit, but then one broke off to play the chef game with the Tiggly, then another wanted to play that game and soon everyone wanted to play that game on their own tablet. It was not as easy to make that a work together game, and so one boy was left out, upset. Although Brad tried for a while, for some reason he was unable to get the other tablets to download games. So I let the other boy use my Surface tablet, though the only game I have is Jetpack Joyride. That started a commotion over everyone now wanting to play that game. It’s never fair with children, is it? I could probably say the same with adults though, we want what they have, not what we have.

Anyway, that didn’t last long as it was then storytime. I sat and listened, amazed with the librarian’s ability to keep the attention of the boys, who were not wanting to stay still. I talked to the storytime librarian for a bit afterwards about children’s programs, the ones she runs and the research she’s done with education. Meanwhile, Brad was playing with the boys in the children’s section, running around on all fours, which was funny to see.

2/18/15, Federal Way Library, Freddy Mora

Location: Federal Way Public Library
Date: Feb. 18th, 2015
Time: 5: 00 PM-7:00 PM

 

Reflection:

It was nice to be back at the Federal Way Public Library. As always, the staff members were very welcoming. Edna goes out of her way to make everyone feel at home there, and I notice how this branch is a community of its own.  It was great talking to Edna and hearing more about her background. Also nice to hear she is a UW alumni, and from the I-School! She sounds like she identifies well with the work that Casa Latina is doing, and I am sure she is one who would love to keep on partnering with this project.

 Throughout the work shop, I walked around and observed how people were interacting with one another, and with the resources that were available. Edna was working with a mom and daughter in ensuring she was knowledgeable of the free resources available to her, form scholarships to academic tutoring. The mom was very excited to hear all of that, especially. It was nice to see the kids playing on the tablets and interacting with the games. They really enjoyed a counting game that had you count the ingredients you needed (mushrooms, carrots, etc.) and upon getting a math problem right, you completed the recipe. Then they headed over to story time, which they were hesitant at first, for they were having too much fun with the tablets! It was a good chill day where people got to do their thing and ask any questions they had, and have us come in and help them find an answer J

2/18/15 Federal Way Branch Library Workshop Brad

Federal Way Branch Library
February 18th, 2015

This was my first time going with the group to help out at Federal Way Library. It made me sad that I had to miss the past two weeks due to class conflicts, but thankfully school winded down. I had no idea Federal Way was so far away from UW (I'm not familiar with the surrounding Seattle area just yet), but it gave the team plenty of time to talk, laugh and get to know each other during the car ride.

This workshop had a dis-proportionally large amount of children compared to adults, which was  a first for me. Fortunately I enjoy working with the children, so I appreciated this opportunity to just play educational games and laugh with the boys for a few hours.

We started playing iPad games with some of the boys, and they enjoyed the interactive word game we brought. I was impressed when they said they wanted to play on the setting with the most difficult words! I believe challenges like this are the best way to learn new things, even if they can be frustrating at times. Some of the words were difficult for even me!

I have to say this was by far my most enjoyable workshop to participate in. Playing with "Where's Waldo?" books and sitting in on (Spanish!) story time made me feel like a kid again, and the children's laughter was contagious the whole time. Here's to a productive last workshop with Federal Way!

2/18/15 Federal Way Branch Library Workshop Sarah

Federal Way Branch Library
February 18th, 2015
3:30 to 8:00pm

We had a group of about six kids and two adults. At the beginning, we were all kind of milling around. Since this sort of makes me nervous, I started suggesting to other volunteers that they take out this technology or that, or show this or that, which I hope wasn't too bossy. Sometimes it's hard to know what role to take in a project where there is a communal/decentralized structure.

I used the laptop from KCLS to work with an adult student on MS Word, while the other adult student was using tablets with the kids. After kids went to story time, the other adult came over. The lack of ability to download anything to the training laptop was difficult, but my laptop didn't recognize the mouse, which was more difficult. I'll be sure to bring a couple of laptops from Casa Latina next week, just in case they want to work on MS Word more. I'll also try to figure out how to change the language settings on MS Word.

I made a flyer with their input. Then I asked one of the women, who'd been working with me the longest, to make a flyer. She did it seamlessly. She took careful notes and was a quick study. Her daughter warned her that their version of Word at home was different, so hopefully she'll be able to translate the skills she learned to her computer at home.

Next week is our last week in Federal Way. These two women have been attending consistently. I will be interested to hear from them what worked for them and what didn't. It will be good feedback for our process at Douglass-Truth and Lake City.