'Wild Imagination' video by Seth Dunlap | To Be Played While You Read this Fictional Story written by Lauren Stevens

THE ADVENTUROUS BRAINSTORMERS

James got the call in the early hours of a Friday morning, crickets buzzing, still feeling reluctant to peek outside at the spring weather. He heard the much-needed automatic coffee maker click on in the background.

"We are excited to offer you the position of library media specialist beginning this fall."

James sat up and tried to sound as if he had been awake, "Thank you so much. What are my next steps?" The secretary rattled off instructions to consent to release his fingerprints, but her voice faded into white noise as the shock of landing his first gig settled in. "Okay, I'll talk to you soon. Thank you so much again," he managed. He hung up the phone, and hollered out a victorious "whoop," before realizing he was startling his dog Juliet who was lying on the rug beside him. James whispered, "Juliet. I got a job... I got a jooob." Juliet tilted her head to one side and perked her ears up. He ruffled her fur on the top of her head, and decided what atmosphere he would like to sink into as he considered his next move. "We're going camping," he whispered, eyes sparkling in the morning light. 

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Before entering graduate school at Syracuse University, James was a freelance videographer, creating content for large editorial websites. During his career, he was hired to film a new library being built in Africa. This inspired James to work with young people in libraries to inspire them and prepare them to go after their dreams. His dream became their dream. He knew what it took to make things happen as a creative professional, and he felt confident that he had the technical, intellectual, and people skills to pass that on. He wanted his library to reflect that. 

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James dedicated his time to discovering what it meant to have a Literacy 2.0 ecosystem in his library. Upon entering his first job, he decided the projects he would do with the students would present them with simulated experiences they would soon face in the professional world. He knew what qualities companies hiring fresh-faces were looking for. They were seeking unique individuals who show awareness, drive, independence, and innovation. 

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When James introduced himself to the students on his first day, he announced their new library media center ecosystem: 'Literacy 2.0.' "Gone are the days where we sit writing assignments down in the silent vacuum called notebooks," he proclaimed to his wide-eyed students. He then announced the brand new project they would take on starting today: A school-wide, exclusively student-run blog called "The Adventurous Brainstormers."

Each student got an account and was encouraged to contribute to "The Adventurous Brainstormers." They would be able to work on the blog during library visits, study halls, for one hour after school, or at home. Whether they were interested in history, math, English, science, technology, or the arts, this would be their exclusive space to show off their work. Scientific experiments, mathematical challenges, book reviews, art displays, and much more would be posted to the blog. This would allow the students to express themselves using emerging technology. James told the students that he would be the one who would be there to guide them through developing and fine-tuning their skills.

James experienced several challenges as he introduced 'The Adventurous Brainstormers.' The first was motivation. James struggled to get the students out of their comfort zone, opening themselves up to their fellow students' ridicule. He combatted this by asking everyone to write their fears down on an anonymous piece of paper. He then collected the fears and handed them back out at random. Each student read them aloud, and the students were able to see that they either shared common concerns or there were fears for which they needed to be empathetic. Soon, the students began submitting more and more blog posts as the they began to feel more connected with one another.

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James' next unforeseen challenge was pushback from teachers who feared that the blog would distract from their courses. James approached the teachers who were reluctant, and expressed that he would like to sit down and discuss their curriculum, allowing him to align the blog appropriately. He adjusted the blog to remain relevant to coursework by allowing students to choose between various supportive prompts. 

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James began to notice that a lot of the content on the blog seemed to be bordering on plagiarism. James quickly taught a lesson on how to post and cite outside resources so that the students could become aware of precautionary steps when sharing others' work. He added a page that was solely dedicated to allowing students to post hyperlinks and encoding outside resources that they felt their peers would find useful or interesting. 

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The issues that James faced with a Literacy 2.0 ecosystem always seemed to present him with exciting challenges to teach the students what would be useful to them in the outside world. Each time he was able to give them a real-world experience, he felt he was adding another arrow to their quiver. By taking a risk and giving students freedom of expression, James felt he was taking a hand in developing the next generation of literate identities.