The Crisis Optimist by Meredith Farkas

The Crisis Optimist by Meredith Farkas

            Librarian Meredith Farkas always thought she was a pessimist until she spotted a quote from Winston Churchill—“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” She realized then and there that she really was an optimist, at least as an educator. Difficulties just bring the opportunity for change and getting out of the comfort zone. Change can be good. As a librarian, she has faced a lot of change due to people leaving and budget constraints. But she sees it all as a catalyst for change.

            She says that despite the obstacles, she is looking forward to improving their instructional program, share ideas about instruction with the teachers and learn from them. Even with budget constraints, she believes that she can still find ways to provide better “instructional outreach to faculty and distance learners.” (Farkas)

            I liked this article because I personally believe that everyone can do something in the midst of difficulties, even if it is only changing one’s own attitude. Obstacles help us come up with more creative problem solving solutions. Many innovations would never have been discovered without difficulties to overcome. This is a great lesson for all of us!

Citation:

Farkas, Meredith. “The Crisis Optimist.” Information Wants To Be Free 5 Jun 2011. Web. 17 Jun 2011. http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/feed/

So What Is It about Finland’s Schools? by David Warlick

So What Is It about Finland’s Schools? by David Warlick

            David Warlick read an interview between a Swiss educator and a Finish school principal and learned some interesting things about Finland’s educational system and I learned the United States should take a look too. Much of the success of the educational system is based on the fact that most people in Finland take their children’s education seriously and respect the profession. And everyone gets a free education for the first nine years of their life—after that they have to pay a nominal fee. (I saw an interview on television about Finland’s school systems and the one drawback was that the Finnish people pay out a lot in taxes, but they also receive higher pay and there is almost no unemployment.) Another aspect is that there isn’t a big divide between the haves and the have nots like there is in the U.S. There is scientific evidence that the great economic divide affects learning—brings it down. In Finland, they don’t test the teachers or students very often. They seem to trust that the teachers know what they are doing.

            The principal says that schools have to integrate technology into the classroom especially social media and networks. He says that the Internet gives teachers much more means of connecting students to the world’s knowledge, each other and helps them to create new knowledge. And it connects teachers to other teachers from around the world and they can share ideas and information.

            I would personally love to see our educational system modeled on Finland’s system, but until we can straighten out the economic disparities in our country, I don’t think it would be feasible. However, I do believe that we could change the way we treat educators, how high a priority we place our children’s education and how we test our teachers and students. Then we might have a model that works!

All of the bloggers seemed to love the interview and were excited about the fact that educators from around the world are talking to each other and sharing. (I know this article is a little older, but thought it was a very interesting one. Also, I’m not sure how long you want these reflections to be.)

Citation:

Warlick, David. “So What Is It about Finland’s Schools?” 2 Cents Worth 21 May 2011. Web. 17 Jun 2011. http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/?feed=rss2

Learning from the Masters by Jim Gates

Learning from the Masters by Jim Gates

            In this blog, Jim Gates talks about the fact that there is so much information available on the internet now, he wonders how relevant school even is to children anymore. He read comments from a young man who said that he learned to play the violin from the masters of the field by listening to them and watching them on YouTube. Children don’t seem to need an education anymore—they have the internet and how-to tutorials. When they go to school, the technology that they use at home and on their phones, they can’t use it or it’s blocked. He claims that school or a traditional education has no relevancy today to most students. Education has to be taught from the context of the real world, and most schools don’t seem to get that. You want children to succeed and do well in the world? Then teach them in the context of the world they live in. Gates believes that schools typically do what’s best for them not their students.

            He says that students already have access to all the knowledge that’s available in the world right at their fingertips. Help them learn how to use it wisely, correctly and responsibly. Like many educators, he’s frustrated with the schools that block the technology that is used every day by so many people. Schools are blocking not just YouTube and Twitter, they are blocking things like all wikis, blogs, even Google Docs. How are we supposed to teach our children how to live and work in the real world when we block the very technology they need to learn to be successful in the real world? I loved when he said, “I just wish public schools would somehow feel a sense of intense urgency for the need to be more than just the mediums for passing a state mandated test.” I agree with him completely. How can we teach them to be good digital citizens, if we take away the very technology they need to learn to be successful?

Citation:

Gates, Jim. “Learning From the Masters.” TipLine-Gates’ Computer Tips 14 Jun 2011. Web. 17 Jun 2011. http://tipline.blogspot.com/2011/06/learning-from-masters.html

Blogs as Showcase Portfolios by Kim Cofino

Blogs as Showcase Portfolios by Kim Cofino

            Librarian Kim Cofino loves to use blogs with her students as showcase portfolios. She helps them create their blogs, teaches them how to organize what they’ve posted to their blogs and shows them how to add links and media. She believes that it is the best way to showcase what her students have done all year, teach them to take responsibility for their work as well as teach them how to use the internet correctly and responsibly.

            The thing that sets the blogs a part from some other portfolio methods is the connectivity to other learners around the world. They can share what they are doing with other students and in Kim Cofino’s words, “build a global classroom.” (Cofino) The really great part is that when a student moves, the blog can be exported. Because blogs have become so popular, they have immediate relevance for the students. She has been working with the middle school teachers to help them teach the students how to use a blog effectively as a showcase portfolio. Cofino then goes on to describe a simple blog assignment and provides some links to blogs that her students have created. She makes sure to get the parents involved in the project by emailing them and encouraging them to talk with their children about what they are learning in school.

            Personally, I think it’s a great idea because it not only allows the students to take responsibility for their own learning, teaches them how to use the technology, but gets them excited about showing and telling others about what they have learned. I believe that this will hopefully inspire them to learn more and get into more learning conversations.

Citation:

Cofino, Kim. “Blogs as Showcase Portfolios.” Always Learning 12 Jun 2011. Web. 16 Jun 2011.

http://kimcofino.com/blog/feed/

Librarian 2.0 Buffy Hamilton

Librarian 2.0: Buffy Hamilton by Howard Rheingold

            Librarian Buffy Hamilton has revolutionized student learning at Creekside High School in Canton, Georgia. She collaborated with teacher Susan Lester to create what they call Media 21. Using Netvibes, an RSS aggregator, the students set up their own personal learning environments, created their own online dashboards, studied and installed widgets and created what they call a “Veterans’ Issues Project Portal”. Instead of writing a paper, they created a multimedia presentation about the issues facing veterans today. They interviewed veterans, created their own tutorial videos about how they used the online tools to find the relevant information they needed. Some students interested in the bionic limb replacement program branched off from the group with their own presentation.

            Most of the students used Evernote to bookmark their favorite research sites and used Netvibes to create their own personal learning environments. They could customize their pathfinders in the way that they thought was appropriate to their needs. They could then share their bookmarked resources with their classmates. They can sometimes meet professionals in the field through social networks like Twitter or blogs. It can make for a very dynamic and rich learning environment and, hopefully, it will make the students want to do even more research. It also helps the students to become transliterate—able to read, write and share information through various technologies. But it takes good teachers and librarians to nurture, support and guide the students on their learning journeys. The end result is students who are able to find, utilize, evaluate and create exciting learning platforms that they can share with other students.

            Watching his video interview with Buffy Hamilton and reading about her Media 21 project makes me excited about becoming a librarian. We need more out-of-the-box thinkers like Buffy Hamilton running our libraries and our school districts. Our student would then have the chance to become the learners we know they can be.

Citation:

Rheingold, Howard. “Librarian 2.0: Buffy J. Hamilton.” DML Central 3 May 2010. Web. 28 May 2011. <http://dmlcentral.net/blog/howard-rheingold/librarian-20-buffy-j-hamilton>.

It's Broken; Let's Fix It

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. With the ever-increasing amount of online information that is available to students, librarians are needed now more than ever. 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?” (Hamilton) 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 and librarian and students and librarian. 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. That means mobilizing librarians, teachers and principals to take the new model to school administrators, parents and 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 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.

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/>.

A Long Look in the Mirror

A Long Look in the Mirror by Jennifer LaGarde.

            Jennifer LaGarde says that with all the budget cuts happening, programs that can’t show specific results , a lot of times get cut. The bottom line is that school districts will cut librarian positions because they don’t see the need for librarians. Volunteers and library aides can check out books and shelve, so why does a school need a librarian? They want to know how librarians affect things like reading scores, or raising reading levels or helping students who don’t have computers at home learn to use today’s technology. Librarians today are being asked to prove that they matter. We need to be the solution to their problems or they won’t support us. How to quantify the impact of librarians on student learning seems to be the sixty-four thousand dollar question.

            It’s time for librarians to become advocates, not only for their jobs but for libraries in general. No one else will do it.

            All the bloggers said that they agreed, but no one seemed to know how to quantify the impact of librarians on student learning. One blogger asked LaGarde what assessment tools she was using to quantify her impact.

            Personally, I don’t think much will change unless we adopt a model of librarianship much like the one Buffy Hamilton outlined in her blog article, “It’s Broken; Let’s Fix It.”

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/>.

LaGarde, Jennifer. “A Long Look In The Mirror.” The Adventures of Library Girl 8 Nov. 2010. Web. 27 May 2011. <http://lib-girl.blogspot.com/2010/11/long-look-in-mirror.html>.