Sorry. I posted my other class's wiki instead of this one. Sorry! Here's the real one. LJ
http://lorijaneswiki.wikispaces.com/Project--Library+Policies+and+Procedures
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Final Assignment--Intellectual Freedom Project on my wiki
Here is my last project on Intellectual Freedom. Hope you like it!
http://lorijaneswiki.wikispaces.com/Project--Intellectional+Freedom
http://lorijaneswiki.wikispaces.com/Project--Intellectional+Freedom
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Assessing Learning: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle by Violet H. Harada and Joan M. Yoshina
Assessing Learning: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle by Violet H. Harada and Joan M. Yoshina
Assessing if our students are really learning is very important and the authors offer five steps of assessment. The first one is to figure out what we want our students to learn. The second step is to create a means of measuring how well the students have succeeded in learning what we want them to learn. The third step is to determine what assessment tool will work best. This might be a rubric or something as simple as a checklist. The fourth step is to provide the students with a hands-on activity that will show how well they’ve learned what we want them to learn. And the last step is to evaluate how well the students have learned and whether or not we need to make adjustments to our lesson in order for them to learn better. I love this article because it gives concrete examples of how to assess a student’s actual learning in the library. For me personally, examples really help to solidify the concepts. Although I have to say I thought the rubric for the secondary school example could use a little work.
The authors end the article with some words of encouragement and some great assessment resources. They basically concluded that if librarians are going to be an important part of their schools learning and teaching environment, then they must be able to offer real proof that what they are doing works. “Assessing for learning cannot be an afterthought but must be a central part of our mission.” (Harada & Yoshina 2005, 144).
Citations:
Harada, Violet H., and Joan M. Yoshina. Assessing Learning: Librarians and Teachers as Partners. Libraries Unlimited, 2005.
Harada, Violet and Joan M. Yoshima. "Assessing Learning: The Missing Piece in Instruction. School Library Media Activities Monthly 22.7 (2006): Libraries Unlimited. 5 Aug 2009. Web. 7 Jul 2011. <http://schoollibrarymonthly.com/articles/Harada2006v22n7p20.html>.
Monday’s Homework July 11th—AASL and NETS Standards
Monday’s Homework July 11th—AASL and NETS Standards
In what way do the AASL and NETS standards represent a departure from education as you experienced it when you were in high school?
One of the first things I noticed when reading the common beliefs is that they talk about the student taking responsibility for their own learning and assessment in order to become an independent learner. We were asked to do our homework, but there was never any mention of becoming an independent learner. College was the first time that I ever remember having to use citations and I don’t really remember learning much about them except how to cite a book. And of course, the most technologically advanced piece of equipment I used in high school was a pen. I didn’t even get an electric typewriter until I went to college. Learning was not a social thing. You were lectured to in class while you took notes. You then went home and read out of a textbook, studied the notes and then took a written test. The most social thing about it was that I occasionally studied for a test with a friend.
There was not a lot of thinking for yourself, or drawing conclusions, or maked informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations and create new knowledge. Learning was a much more passive thing. You read, you memorized and you took a test and hoped you passed. The only class that I remember getting really excited about learning in high school was my freshman psychology class. It was a new and innovative school and my teacher was an amazing man who talked about hard subjects like abortion and apartheid. I remember some very raw and open discussions that were hard but exciting to me. I felt that my mind had expanded in ways that it never had before. And I don’t remember another class like it until I went to college. If I could see him again, I’d thank him for teaching us in the way that he did. I’m sure it was radical for the time—this was the early seventies. Sharing was not a big part of learning, other than the teacher sharing the information with us. You certainly didn’t assess your own learning. That’s what testing was for!
We're already 11 years into the 21st century. Are we already behind in implementing these standards? Using your own school (or a school you know well) as an example, how would your school measure up. Use specific examples.
I don’t believe that I can say Yes—our entire school system is behind the times because there are school out there that are very much 21st century schools, but as a whole, I would say that probably the majority of schools are still in the traditional 20th century teaching mode. I believe that my school district is and my school is. While the students learn to use technology in the computer class, and they know from their home experiences, the majority of the teachers don’t teach the students how to be responsible digital citizens. I’ve noticed that when the teachers bring the students in to use the computers that they don’t ask them to cite the photographs they use, or even teach them to find the photographs or clip art from the Creative Commons. Other than a few exceptions, most of the teachers have the children write their reports in Word and add a couple of pictures or clip art and then have them print them off. They don’t teach them to use things like Animoto or VoiceThread or even Prezi to do reports.
I’m not in the classrooms except to deliver papers occasionally, but I don’t see much collaboration except in the science classrooms where the students work together to create catapults as part of one of their units. And I was horrified by the teaching style of the home economics teachers. (I know it’s not called that now, but I can’t remember what it is called.) Her idea of teaching them about child development was to show them a movie made back in the seventies. She turns out the light, turns on the video and sits at her desk and hollers at the students while they talk to each other throughout the very boring and out of date movie. That isn’t teaching—that’s babysitting.
I realize that it is hard for teachers nowadays. They have a lot of expectations placed on them especially with all the standardized testing, but there has to be a way to inspire them to talk and work with the students more and not talk at the students. But it also means more responsibility for the students and the parents and unfortunately, sometimes neither care. Or the parents care, but they’re too busy working and paying the bills to help their children.
In the NETS, it says that students are supposed to be able to collaborate, even from a distance. Our school doesn’t have a library Web site, so there is no way for the students to retrieve any information from the library databases or to collaborate with teachers and other students outside of the school. This will change if I have any say in the matter! Some of the other bigger school districts are not as behind as ours. But, I don’t think there is any excuse for a small school district not to have the same advantages as the larger school districts. With some many free Web sites and tools available online, there is no excuse for not providing your students with the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century. Administrators, teachers and librarians have to work together to create this open communication and collaborative learning environment. It can be done but all parties have to be committed to making it work.
Works Cited:
“ALA | AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.” American Association of School Librarians. 27 May 2011. Web. 11 Jul 2011. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards.cfm
“NETS Student Standards 2007.” ISTE: Interenational Society for Technology in Education 2007. 27 May 2011. Web. 11 Jul 2011.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Five Blogs for July 8th
Five Blogs for July 8th
Rumors of “Its” Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated by David Warlick
By “Its” David Warlick is referring to books. He is a bit worried about future students and their ability to focus on longer stories or really dig deeper into complex issues. He says that he’s seen some research projects that support his concerns. But, he loves to read and usually has at least one printed book and one audiobook going at all times.
He has not always loved reading. He’s not a great reader—it’s work for him and so he didn’t do much of it when he was young. He got most of his information from television. It wasn’t until he went to college that he discovered the joy of reading. He credits some friends and teachers with introducing him to some great writers like: Arthur C. Clark, Robert Heinlein, Kurt Vonnegut and Herman Hesse to name just a few. Reading a good book is still work for him, but he says that it’s worth it because he learns so much and grows as a person because of it.
When his wife mentioned wanting a way to keep track of what she was reading and that she wanted to be able to write her own reviews, Warlick sat down and introduced his wife to his favorite site, Library Thing. While searching the site, he ran across a page called Zeitgeist. This page lists the largest personal Library Thing libraries—that is patron libraries. They also list the patrons who have the largest personal reviews. Seeing the number of readers, books cataloged and reviews written, Warlick feels very confident that books will be around (in one form or another) for a long time to come.
Citation:
Warlick, David. “Rumors of “Its” Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated.” 2 Cents Worth 23 Jun 2011. Web. 7 Jul 2011. http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/
The People Who Want to Get Rid of Tenure & Say Teacher Experience Isn’t that Important Should Read This by Larry Ferlazzo
In this blog, Larry Ferlazzo talks about an interview between Gary Klein, a thirty-year expert in decision-making, and The Edge (I’m guessing it’s a magazine, but not sure). Even though he was talking about his research with firefighters, Larry equates it to teachers. “That became part of our model — the question of how people with experience build up a repertoire of patterns so that they can immediately identify, classify, and categorize situations, and have a rapid impulse about what to do.” He said that in the case of fires, a senior firefighter would instinctively know whether or not to put out the fire, or to protect the buildings on either side. This instinct comes only with experience.
I imagine that it takes years of experience to totally understand how all students learn, how to interact with different types of students, how to handle bad situations and how to anticipate problems before they arise. Ferlazzo says Klein’s research directly relates to the fact that teachers make .7 decisions every minute. He says that teachers can’t push insights onto their students or explain the insights—they help them gain the experience they need to arrive at the insights on their own. So, yes, experience is important—it does matter.
Ferlazzo Larry. “The People Who Want to Get Rid of Tenure & Say Teacher Experience Isn’t that Important Should Read This.” Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day . . . 8 Jul 2011. Web. 8 Jul 2011.
Celebrating the Power of Open by Joyce Valenza
There’s a downloadable PDF book called The Power of Open that Joyce Valenza says everyone who is involved in any form of Creative Commons should read. Did you know that there are over 400 million Creative Commons licensed works available on the Internet? These are everything from songs, clip art, photographs, research papers and so much more. “Creative Commons created the legal and technical infrastructure that allows effective sharing of knowledge, art and data by individuals, organizations and governments.” And lots of people have taken advantage of this sharing culture.
This book shares the stories of all different kinds of creators who have all profited from the communal sharing of the Creative Commons. Teachers and librarians need to be teaching students about the Creative Commons and about digital citizenship. If we want to keep this wonderful collaboration community, then it is up to us to make sure our students are not violating the copyright laws and are respecting the many and varied creators who are willing to share their work in the Creative Commons.
As Valenza says, “As we look ahead, the field of openness is approaching a critical mass of adoption that could result in sharing becoming a default standard for the many works that were previously made available only under the all-rights-reserved framework. Even more exciting is the potential increase in global welfare from the use of Creative Commons’ tools and the increasing relevance of openness to the discourse of culture, education and innovation policy.”
Valenza, Joyce. “Celebrating the “Power of Open” ”. Neverending Search. 4 Jul 2011. Web. 8 Jul 2011.
SJ/SLJ eBooks Summit—October 12, 2011 by spolanka
Last year, the Library Journal and School Library Journal hosted a virtual summit on ebooks called EBooks: Libraries at the Tipping Point. More than 2,000 librarians discussed ebooks and how they are changing our libraries. This year the one-day event will bring all different types of librarians together, along with publishers, vendors and other experts to talk about ebook collections, marketing the ebooks, transitioning from books to ebooks and much more. You can register on this blog for the virtual summit but you must be a member of Library Journal or School Library Journal to do so.
(Because this was so short, I also included another ebook blog.)
World eBook Fair—6.5 Million eBooks Available Through August 4th by spolanka
The World eBook Fair company is offering free access to 6.5 million ebooks from July 4th through August 4th! The collection includes science books, reference books, all different kinds of reading materials and even music. Two other collaborators, Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive will be contributing some selections including music, movies and more. You can join the World Public Library for $8.95 a year. “Members can download a selection of about 2,000,000 PDF eBooks.”
Spolanka. “World eBook Fair—6.5 Million eBooks Available Through August 4th.” No Shelf Required. 5 Jul 2011. Web. 8 Jul 2011.
eBooks Top School Library Focus at ALA Annual by Wendy Stephens
At the ALA convention in New Orleans, librarians were excitedly? anxiously? discussing eBooks and their relationship to libraries. Questions were asked about the role of ebooks in recreational reading, and the “possibilities for annotations and markup in a digital environment.” Anxiety was expressed over choosing the wrong technology and about what happened in Kansas. (The state librarian dissolved her contract with the company that supplied her library ebooks saying that her library bought the ebooks instead of licensing them. So now, some ebook vendors are changing the way they do business with new pay-per-access models. This will change the way librarians budget their resources. “And everyone was tryng to figure out how we were going to leverage Pottermore for our readers.” Not sure what that means, but I was fascinated to see the Pottermore free Web site that offers online experiences that revolve around the reading of the Harry Potter books. It looks very cool. The Web site will be open in October but you can go ahead and enter your email so you’ll be ready to go in October.
Back to the topic at hand—the author of this article says that each library is different and each librarian will have to decide what to do with ebooks. She believes that there are limitations to only going with one format like the school that chose to get rid of all their books. But she says that it was a great experience and she was excited that for once the librarians were leading the discussion not following it.
Stephens, Wendy. “eBooks Top School Library Focus at ALA Annual.” The Ultimate Classroom Library: Your School Media Center AASL Blog. 28 Jun 2011. Web. 8 Jul 2011.
School Library Web Presence Webinar by Buffy Hamilton, et al.
School Library Web Presence Webinar by Buffy Hamilton, et al.
I thoroughly enjoyed this webinar. I thought each of the participants had some great ideas and it was interesting to see what they were using as their library Web pages. I agreed with one of the participants who said that we have to be a Public Relations person and promote our own Web sites. I loved the idea of using social media sites like Facebook to promote your library’s presence. I never thought of using Facebook or Twitter that way. I also love the idea of creating a wiki or blog for parents or other colleagues.
All the different tools and sites that were mentioned were interesting. I knew most of them but there were a few I didn’t know and I’m eager to find out more about them. I’ve used Google Docs with one of my classes, but I had a little trouble with it and found it a little frustrating at times. I think it was just me!
At first I found the online chat on the left distracting, but there was some good information there. I loved the discussion about what all was blocked and one of the webinar presenters mentioned that they should do a webinar on how to not take “no” for an answer. I really wish they would. Another presenter stated that they should not worry about what was blocked but focus on what wasn’t.
I loved the lib guides but I would have loved to have heard more about how to create and edit them. I didn’t really understand where Buffy found the one she clicked on when she created a new one. Suddenly there were a bunch of tabs. Where did they come from? I didn’t really understand it, but I’m going to see if I can find a tutorial on how to use the site. I wonder if the teachers would get more excited about the lib guide site as opposed to the wiki.
I want to go back and watch it again a few times and I want to try and just read all the online chatting to get Web site URLs and other information. I think this would be a good one to view several times at least.
Hamilton, Buffy, et al. "School Library Web Presence Webinar." TL Virtual Cafe.1 Mar. 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2010. http://tlvirtualcafe.wikispaces.com/Web_Presence
Teaching in the Learning Commons, July 7, 2011
Teaching in the Learning Commons, July 7, 2011
What is the Future of Teaching? By Josh Cantone
Online classrooms may be the classrooms of tomorrow according to Josh Cantone. He cites a recent study that shows students who had “courses with an online study component” performed better on tests than those students who had direct, in-person instruction. Online students “tested on average in the 59th percentile, compared to the 50th percentile for those who received only classroom instruction . . .”
I’m not sure how much we can read into the study though. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. The curriculum was not the same and the online students spent more time online with their teacher than the students did in the classroom setting. Having been through a lot of online classes in this graduate degree program, I believe that the most important aspect of online classes is the collaboration of students with other students and students with the professors. As Cantone says, “Students spending three hours per day in an online environment under the guidance of a great professor are likely . . . going to be better prepared than those spending one hour per week in a classroom with a mediocre one.”
He goes on to say that online instruction probably wouldn’t work well for K-12 because they haven’t learned yet how to continue learning on their own yet. That is the job of the teacher—to equip them for active learning. I personally think it might work with some high school students who have enough discipline to work on their own.
With the constant advancement in tools, online instruction can now offer more active and interactive lessons that include collaboration between peers and professors. This can be used in place of regular classroom instruction or used to enhance regular classroom instruction. Will online classes replace regular classrooms? I don’t think so, especially in the lower grades. It might mean that more and more universities will offer online classes and that a college education might become more affordable for more people. But I believe that teachers and librarians will always be needed to teach children how to become active learners. I do believe that online classes and activities can enhance the learning experience of any student and should be considered as another great tool for teachers. Cantone believes that the only thing that separates the good teachers of today from the teachers of the future is great technological tools.
Catone, Josh. “What Is the Future of Teaching?” Mashable 31 Aug. 2009. Web. 6 Jul 2011. <http://mashable.com/2009/08/31/online-education-teachers/>
It’s Broken; Let’s Fix It: The Traditional Model of School Librarianship by Buffy Hamilton
In this article, she discusses her worry over the fact that so many school districts are cutting back on library media specialists and appointing aides or volunteers to run their libraries. For some reason, people assume that all you have to do is provide information and students will learn. Information literacy needs to be taught, just like reading and writing need to be taught. Cutting resources hurts more than the library, it hurts the entire school.
Hamilton says that we need to throw out the old model of school librarianship and create a new and bolder version. She asks the question, “How much more seamless and authentic would research, content creation and evaluation of information be if school librarians would be embedded in a team of classroom teachers?” With more, not less librarians, working with teams of teachers, think of the dynamic learning that would result. I believe that her Media 21 experiment proves this.
Hamilton’s model would not only provide dynamic learning opportunities but it would also help develop great relationships between teachers, librarians and students. We must cultivate meaningful relationships first before we can lead by example. And we can’t do this with one lone librarian handling every aspect of the library. If we wish to develop real learning communities, something must change—and that means getting everyone involved—teachers, principals, parents, school districts and even the community. It will take all of us to change the direction of education in this country and I believe that librarians need to be at the head of the line, leading the charge.
One blogger brought up an interesting idea that Buffy Hamilton needs to assess and present her findings in ways that everyday people can understand, and then make a plug for expanding the program. I thought that was a great idea. If there is concrete proof that children are learning more and better, then maybe school districts would listen to her model of librarianship. And if not, then maybe the parents will listen and tell the school districts what they want.
Citation:
“It’s Broken; Let’s Fix It: The Traditional Model of School Librarianship.” The Unquiet Librarian 27 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 May 2011. <http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/its-broken-lets-fix-it-the-traditional-model-of-school-librarianship/>.
(I had already written this review as one of my five blog reviews, but I did change it a little. I really liked what I wrote and so, I didn’t redo the whole thing. I will understand if you take some points off, for not rewriting the whole thing. I just didn’t think I could have done it any better.)
Tell Me What You Teach? By Joyce Valenza
Wow! I had no idea what was happening in the Los Angeles school district to teacher-librarians. It smacks of McCarthyism. I find it ironic that the one thing that librarians have protected for years—the rights of people, including children, to read any and all information—isn’t mentioned in any of the articles. I might have missed it somewhere. And, I know that Joyce was focusing on what librarians teach, but shouldn’t this be what we teach too? Shouldn’t students have to right to learn, to talk about important issues, to say what they believe without being censored? Who will defend these students’ rights if there are no more librarians? I believe that future historians will view these interrogations and all the layoffs of librarians as we do the McCarthy era—a shameful time in our history.
Meanwhile, like you have said before, Professor Pentlin, we better be able to explain why we are needed in the school system and why students can’t learn properly without us and why teachers can’t teach them what we can.
I loved the article about countries without libraries, probably more for sentimental reasons, but there was one issue that the writer brought up that I wonder if it will be proven true or false in a few years—that people who read printed books are able to concentrate more and delve deeper into a book’s meaning than if they read the same book on the Internet. Time will only tell if this is true. The Internet can be a huge distraction but it also has the power to make us question more and search more quickly for answers. I do find myself sometimes skipping around from article to article sometimes and not reading the whole piece, like I do with newspapers. I found reading this article harder because I had to keep clicking into other articles that led me to more articles and before long, I couldn’t remember where I had started out!
I love the poster that Joyce created but I agreed with the one blogger that said she should have said something about cyber bullying and identity theft. I think internet safety should be taught in schools. There is so much more though. With all the technological advances, we need to be teaching our students to be global citizens too, not just digital citizens. We are in the best position to help our students learn about things like prejudice, personal bias, global customs and so much more. What teacher is going to have time to teach all these things if they are having trouble just getting through all the curricular requirements? I think it’s time for librarians to stop whispering and to shout out about what we do and our value to society as a whole.
Valenza, Joyce. “Tell Me, What Do You Teach?” NeverEndingSearch 26 May 2011. Web. 27 May 2011. <http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/2011/05/26/if-they-come-for-you-what-will-you-do/>.
Reframing the Library Media Specialist by Allison Zmuda and Violet H. Harada
I found the poll interesting. I wonder if they gave the voters that list of areas or just asked them what they thought were the priorities for the schools. If voters understand the importance of these areas of study, then why do they allow school districts to do away with the one group of people who know how to help their children achieve in these areas? Do you think that the voters don’t understand the role of library media specialist?
What I got from this article is that the library media specialist needs to always be looking at how and what we teach our students and we need to be constantly asking ourselves, “Could I have done this lesson better? Did I help every child achieve success today?” And if the answer is, “No,” then what needs to change? These authors talk about “good business” as being the activities and assessments that help create active student learning. Students tend to do better when the library media specialist knows his or her role, works closely with the teachers and actively works with the students to move them from just reading and memorizing facts or information to delving deeper and helping them understand how this information relates to them personally.
I felt convicted when the authors talked about “bad business” and said, “These activities or assessments require students to collect information or resources in the library media center and then leave. The superficiality of this acquisition is doomed to fail.” This happened some when I was in the library this spring. The kids would come down to the library just as I was headed to the gym to do my locker room duty and they would ask if they could use the computer for research. I knew that some, if not all of them, would Google the information and some would just literally copy the information off the computer, so I hated to leave, but it was also my job to cover the locker room. I was so torn. Most times I didn’t know when they were coming; they would just show up.
I talked with a couple of teachers about letting me know when their students were coming and letting me know what they were researching and that I’d help them find the information, but most of the teachers said that the kids already knew how to research and that it wasn’t necessary. It was discouraging to say the least, but I’m working with the technology teacher this coming year, and we’re committed to teaching the children how to find and cite the information properly and ethically. We’re going to be working on research projects in small groups using different things like wikis and Animoto to create some of our presentations. I am hoping that I will be able to excite them to do more research and to really get creative about presenting their new knowledge to excite other students as well.
I hope to become the excellent learning specialist that these authors are talking about in their article. As to whether or not, the school district will understand that, despite the fact I don’t count heads or give specific children grades, doesn’t mean that I’m not a valuable asset to the school. Improved learning and hopefully improved grades will possibly help them to determine my value.
Zmuda, Allison and Violet H. Harada. “Reframing the Library Media Specialist as a Learning Specialist.” School Library Monthly 8 Apr. 2008. 27 May 2011. Web. 7 Jul 2011.
School Library Media Manager, Chapters 8 and 10
School Library Media Manager, Chapters 8 and 10
Chapter 8 On the Job: Managing Access to Information
Chapter 8 was a very interesting chapter, especially the part about the right to privacy. I knew about protecting the rights of our patrons and not handing over personal information without a subpoena because we had the FBI requesting customer information from our store one time and we refused. We told them they had to get a court order and they didn’t come back, thank goodness. But, I didn’t think there was anything one could do if a subpoena was issued. This chapter states that we are to go further—resist until they show just cause in a court of law. Wow! I hadn’t thought of that. I figured that once a subpoena was served, that was it. I do like that there is help through the American Library Association with issues like this. It’s great to know that a library media specialist doesn’t have to go through something like that alone. I also thought adopting a user-confidentiality policy was a great idea.
The area that I didn’t know anything about was the filtering process. I found this information fascinating. For instance, I didn’t know (until I read one of the required articles) that one of the ways that school district filters is by word recognition. In the article, it talked about how a teacher couldn’t pull up real World War II photographs because they were taken on Bikini Island and the word bikini is a no-no. I didn’t realize “often this process is managed by clerks who pick out words that are on a list of possible offensive terms.” (Woolls, 129) Filtering by word recognition is a ridiculous way to filter. Frankly, I don’t think schools should filter at all, especially in the upper grades. This may seem radical, but students are smart enough to get around filters, that it is more important that students and their parents sign an Internet usage agreement that puts the responsibility for proper use on them. The other type of filtering is when they don’t allow access to Web sites like You Tube and Facebook. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop any new Web sites that crop up all the time. Personally, I think it’s a waste of time and money. I’d rather use that time and money to teach digital citizenship to our students and teachers instead.
Chapter 10: On the Job: Managing Services
I have to say that after reading most of this book, I am a bit overwhelmed by all the things I’m supposed to know and do. Wow! It sounds to me like library media specialists should know how all the teachers think and teach, know how all the students learn and be able to solve learning problems in every grade level. Again, wow! At Riverbend, I’m not sure but I suspect that most of the teachers think of the librarian as someone who checks books out to students, keeps track of equipment they need and someone who sets up audiovisual equipment for school assemblies. I doubt any of them except the technology teacher have ever thought of asking the librarian to collaborate on curricular projects or units.
I did go to one of the history teachers and talked with her about some ideas I have for enhancing the Civil War unit and she was definitely receptive. We’re going to talk more in August. I’m hoping the new head librarian will be more in line with 21st century library media specialists than my last librarian. She was very content to just fix technological problems and check out books. She wasn’t into helping at all with lesson plans or helping the students learn how to do proper research or to cite properly. I am eager to work with the new librarian to change the whole school’s attitude about our library. I think we can use some of the suggestions in this chapter to find out what our teachers and students know about the library and the services offered. I love the “Sample List of Library Media Center Service” found on page 172. I think we can use a similar form to find out about what teachers think are most important for our library to offer. (Woolls/172)
I also love the idea of the library becoming a working classroom. We have a great computer lab attached to the library, so we can definitely hold some classes in the library without disturbing the rest of the library. And I want very much to work with the teachers to do in-service technology training. I love the idea of giving them new Web sites to check out or new tools to use and have them figure out how they could use them in their classrooms. I want our library to become such an integral part of the school that no one there can imagine living without it or the librarian. (Or at least the aide!)
Citation:
Woolls, Blanche. The School Library Media Manager. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited, 2008.
Empowering Learners, Chapter 3, pg. 33-36, 38-40
Empowering Learners, Chapter 3, pg. 33-36, 38-40
The Learning Space
This part of the chapter covers the learning space—both the physical space and the virtual space. It’s the library media specialist’s job to make sure the library is an inviting place that encourages students and teachers to come and browse, work on homework, have small group discussions, work on projects and even teach whole classes. The school library media program needs to be flexible and serve the needs of the students and teachers. The scheduling for use of the library and the hours of operation should be flexible and fit the needs of the students and teachers. A library Web site with easy access to databases, “instructional interventions” and other resources that students and teachers can access from outside of the library should be available at all times and should include access to other local libraries and academic sites. (Woolls, 33)
The physical make up of the library should include some comfortable seating for group discussions and projects, individual seating for homework or reading, a technology area for working on computers, a video production area, wireless access for students and teachers with laptops and shelved, organized material easily available for everyone to use.
The well-designed Web site can be a student’s best ally. It needs to be easy to use, with easy access to databases, graphic organizers, pathfinders, classroom reading lists, research writing guides and much more. There should also be links to other libraries and academic Web sites. If it’s possible, linking to a twenty four hours a day ask-a-librarian service can be helpful.
Collection and Information Access
The library media specialist works with teachers and students to ensure that the collection of materials, both print and non-print, is up to date, appeals to a variety of ages, ethnicity, reading levels and informational needs. Surveys are a great way to get feedback from students on their likes and dislikes and should be used regularly. They need to protect the rights of students to access information and they should ensure that the collection supports the curriculum and classroom activities. The LMS must occasionally weed the collection to make sure it stays up to date and fresh, as well as keep up with new updates in library inventory software systems.
It is important for library media specialists to do what they can to provide access to a wide range of information and to protect the student’s rights to access that information. That means the LMS must provide access to information for students who don’t have computers at home by providing other means of retrieving the information. The LMS must encourage the school district to support new technologies and to limit the filtering of said technologies. “The selection policy and collection development plans are used to regularly evaluate the collection. The SLMS uses data to build a rationale for funding and to evaluate the usefulness of the collection for promoting reading.”
Works Cited:
AASL. Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs. Chicago: American Association of School Libraries, 2009.
Empowering Learners, Chapter 2
Empowering Learners, Chapter 2
School library media specialists hold a unique position in the school. They teach, collaborate with teachers to provide a variety of learning experiences and they are technology and information specialists. The library provides a place for all kinds of learning—individual study, small group study and large class study. It’s up to the LMS to teach students how to appropriately find, collect and use information; and to help students become active learners.
With all the vast array of technology and access to so much information, library media specialists and teachers are active learners just like students. Active learners examine information against prior knowledge and experience, collaborate with other learners to build upon and create new information. Because of this, students now have a more active role in directing and assessing their learning experience. Collaboration is an important part of the learning process and it’s important that library media specialists work with more than just teachers—partnering with parents, field community organizations, public libraries and many more.
Citation:
Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs. Chicago: American Association of School Libraries, 2009.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Budget Project for July 5th
Three Year Budget Proposal
Statement of Need
The Riverbend School has worked very hard to establish a library learning commons—a place where students and teachers can come to work together in small groups, to ask important questions, search for information both in books as well as on the Internet and to formulate new answers through new mediums. To achieve this end, the library needs new tables and chairs that are more conducive to working in small groups. To enhance both the educational and technological growth of our students so they will become productive, life-long learners, to save money and keep the materials up to date and to provide more space for recreational reading and the small work groups, we propose purchasing online encyclopedias. And finally, to provide a well-rounded collection and to increase our circulation, we need to purchase graphic novels.
Goals and Objectives
The first objective is to provide a more comfortable learning and recreational environment in the library learning commons to increase collaborative learning and recreational readership by 10%. The second objective is to purchase online encyclopedia subscriptions. By purchasing online encyclopedias that are updated yearly rather than purchasing paper encyclopedias yearly, the materials are more accurate and up to date; the students learn to use the computer to research subjects and the school saves money. An entire set of the Encyclopedia Britannica costs $1175.50 after the educational discount, but the Britannica Learning Bundle (Britannica Online for Kids and Britannica MathSmarts) costs only $99.59 a year or for just the Britannica Online for Kids, it’s $69.95 a year. The World Book Encyclopedia print set is $1044.00 and the online version is only $49.95. The last objective is to increase recreational reading and increase circulation by 10% through the purchase of graphic novels.
Plan of Action
The first plan of action is to get rid of the old library tables and bring in soft chairs and smaller round tables and group them into small groups throughout the library. We will then set up an online calendar and have the teachers sign up to use the library for some of their class projects. The second plan is to discard the old print encyclopedia and purchase online encyclopedia subscriptions. The second phase of this plan is to make sure that all students know or learn how to access the Web site and to make sure they know how to use it appropriately. The third plan is to purchase over the course of the three years, approximately one hundred graphic novel titles. We will prominently display some of the new graphic novels and create signage to prompt the new titles and to encourage more recreational reading.
Planning for Evaluation
We will track the classes that use the library for their classroom small group projects and track their learning progress over the course of the year as well as track the circulation number. The cost of the online encyclopedia subscriptions can be compared to the yearly purchase of print encyclopedias and the savings over a three year period calculated. The library will track the circulation of the graphic novels over the course of the three years to see of the objective was met.
Budget Considerations
TLS the Library Store Single Side Upholstered Booth $409.95 2
TLS the Library Store Modular Lounge Seating* $530.95 24
Hertz Furniture Systems Round Cafeteria Table $149.00 6
Demco Fatboy Soft Seating $289.99 4
*I found chairs that I liked better from a manufacturer called Agati but there were no prices listed.
Britannica Online Bundle E.B. for Kids/MathSmarts $99.95 a year 1
World Book Encyclopedia Yearly Online Subscription $49.95 a year 1
100 Graphic Novels** Purchase approx. 33 a year $7-19.95 33
**Need to research titles and reviews first before I can give you a full list of titles and prices. I took the highest price and multiplied it by 33 to reach the top amount that would be spent.
Approximate Total Cost over 3 Years: $16,424.91
That works out to approximately $5,474.97 per year. If you factor in the cost of purchasing printed encyclopedias each year, the savings with online encyclopedia saves the school $2,069.50 a year.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Learning Landscapes Webinar
Learning Landscapes Webinar
Lori Jane Perdew
LIS 5240
Joyce Valenza started off the webinar talking about how the learning process should be transparent, interactive and more meaningful or personally relevant. She showed some fantastic examples of the work her students are doing. They were amazing. I loved that she had her students show the process of how they got to the final process. I think the learning process is as important, or maybe even more important than the final presentation. I’ve learned from Joyce that students work better in small groups where they can interact, share knowledge, exchange ideas and create new information. If the samples Joyce shared are any indication, I say the small groups are working! But it takes more than just small groups, the learning process has to be personally relevant—that means that we don’t just teach them history, we make them a part of it. We have to make them care. That is what I learned from Joyce.
I want very much to work with the history teachers on their Civil War units and help the teachers to set up wikis for each student. I would help them teach the students how to track their learning progress, develop pathfinders and create some fantastic presentations using Web 2.0 tools like VoiceThread, Animoto and Glogster. A lot of the examples she so graciously shared have already given me ideas for history, science and communication arts—even art and music. There are so many ways to make the subjects we teach more relevant through personal stories, photographs and journals shared in audio or video. Sounds and pictures can effect a student deeply—make it more real and alive.
From David Loertscher I learned that he sees learning commons as one giant conversation and collaborative workspace. I really liked that! He sees the library and the computer lab as one big learning commons with both physical and virtual space. School libraries have gone from no Web site to a school Web site and now, hopefully, to a virtual learning commons. The virtual learning commons will be a place for the giant conversation, and it will be a collaborative workspace—a place for experimenting; a place for building knowledge. I see it like building blocks—one piece of knowledge adds to or stands upon another and another until eventually you have a structure—a new idea or concept based on all the ideas and knowledge that were shared and meshed together before. Loertscher says that it is “personal expertise meshes with other personal expertise to form collaborative intelligence and 21st century skills mesh to form content deep understanding.” The students don’t just learn facts—they learn the processes and they learn how to use the tools. They learn how and why things work, so they can build upon that knowledge. That is what I see as a Knowledge Building Center. It reminds me a little of the “think tanks” of a few years ago (the concept, not the building).
He says these knowledge building centers or KBCs can be used in many different ways: in individual classrooms; with more than one class, throughout the district, state, even the world; in school projects; in professional learning communities and more. He says there has to be sound instructional design in order for the KBCs to work. He listed the UBD (Wiggins and McTighe) and Think Models (Loertscher/Koechlin/Zwaan) but I didn’t catch what they were. The two I did understand were the 1) the best technologies that will boost learning and 2) co-teaching—teachers, librarians, teacher technologists and other specialists in their field, all working together to build a knowledge center. Remember It Takes a Village . . . ?
He says it’s important to end with what he calls The Big Think. He says there are three student activities to the big think. The first activity: What do I know about this subject? What do we know as a group? The second activity: How I learned this and then, how we learned this. This is followed by the conclusion: So what? What’s next? Then activity 3 is done with the adults: What they learned; how they learned it. So what? What’s next? He says it’s important for the administrators to participate. I could see even some parents participating especially on projects that the students can also work on at home.
He then asks, “Who is assessing?” And his answer is: Everyone! That is what makes it so great. (I think. Everyone is scrutinizing the information, the process and the conclusions. This is what great learners do.)
His final thoughts are on making connections—look at what other districts, states, even other countries are doing and how they are doing it. Read great books on the subject. He gives a list of books that he thinks are pertinent.
In a way, he’s looking at learning in much the same way as Joyce—it’s just a slightly different approach. They both believe in collaboration and personal relevance. They both talk some about the process and he talks about assessment. I definitely want to take the whole knowledge building center idea back to school with me this fall. I think if I can help inspire at least some teachers to take a much more collaborative approach—both in how they teach (more small groups) and in what technology they use (shared learning sites like Google Docs and Zoho)—and incorporate aspects of the knowledge building center into their teaching, then we might eventually become a real learning commons.
I definitely would like to introduce some great learners with specific skills to collaborate with our students on projects rather than just have them come out and talk at the students on Career Day. They might just learn a thing or two while working with the students. It might be a challenge in these hectic times, but I am hoping there will be some visionaries out there who are willing to give it a try. I would really like to try and get more parents involved in the learning process too. I’m not exactly sure how to do it at this point, but I know that it is vital for parents to participate and encourage learning at home, not just at school.
I had a little harder time with Doug’s part of the webinar because of the distractions with the technological glitches. I felt he was a little distracted while delivering his presentation but he had some good points. He says that there are five essential conditions for creating and sustaining what he calls, new learning landscapes. These are: 1) use clear language and terminology. Think about the words you use. An example he gave was the word social networking. He says it has a negative connotation—people think it is just fluff—a way to pass time. He says call it something like educational networking, so people will take it seriously. Social networking is not just Facebook and even Facebook can be used as an educational tool. 2) Support best practices not best technologies. We don’t want to just teach them newer, faster technology; we’re trying to teach them how to be better learners. That is a building process, not a technology. Students need to learn how to learn, how to build on the knowledge they have, how to collaborate with and incorporate other people’s knowledge into the learning process. They must then know how to take all that knowledge and information and create something new out of it. I believe that this is what Joyce, David and Doug are all saying. 3) Try a large variety of Web tools/technology, but be selective and universal. There are so many choices out there, but if I understand Doug, he thinks librarians should consider the pros and cons of each collaborative tool and then pick one that will work for everyone in the school. I know he mentioned that his group is only using Google Docs right now. I like that idea because everyone is on the same page, so to speak! They can all collaborate on anything and no one is confused as to what program or tool they are using. I am definitely taking this one back to the school. Every staff member seems to use a different program and it can be confusing, 4) Another way to keep everyone on the same page is to create reasonable policies, guidelines and procedures. I think some people probably groaned on this one! But it is important for everyone to know what the school or district expects from their staff, and as long as they are not so restrictive that teachers and librarians can’t share or collaborate or create a dynamic learning commons, then I think they are necessary. I personally think the same thing needs to be stressed to students. There shouldn’t be a long list of do’s and don’ts but a few good rules of conduct. I personally think it helps the students if right at the beginning you state what you expect from them and what they can expect from you if they behave or not behave. I have found that this works with the eighth-graders at my one school. And his last is: 5) Empower your staff! That is a great one. If you give them the tools, the support, the enthusiasm and the means to do their best—they will.
Doug is a big believer in small study groups. People seem to learn more when they work together. I do believe that, however, I learned as an overachiever student that those who weren’t were usually very happy to let you do all the work! But I know that I learn an awful lot through our class’ Skype sessions. I can read the information and process some of it, but it’s through the discussions and sharing of ideas and thoughts that really puts it all into perspective for me. I think that is what Doug is talking about here. And again, that is what I want to communicate to the teachers at my school. I will work to incorporate all five essentials into my school’s learning environment. I am excited to pass on this information and using it to build new knowledge building centers within my schools. I know I will keep coming back to their examples. I would love to share this webinar with my principal. I am definitely going to email her Joyce’s and Doug’s blog URLs so she can see what great things are out there that we can incorporate into our school.
Citation:
(I don’t know how to do this citation, so I’m just going to list what you had listed.)
Valenza, Joyce, David Loertscher and Doug Johnson. "Learning Landscapes Webinar." Schoollearningcommons.23 Mar. 2010. Web. 1 Jun 2011. <https://schoollearningcommons.pbworks.com/w/page/24592888/Learning-Landscapes-Webinar>.
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