Nancy Cussary 11/29/09
Cooper Moore, Anne and Wells, Kimberly A. (Jan 2009). Connecting 24/5 to Millennials: Providing Academic Support Services from a Learning Commons. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 35(1) 75-85. Retrieved from Wilson Web October 12, 2009.
Tags – users, search, assistance, learning commons, reference
Summary – This essay is a study of users’ “preferences for reference and technical support, services, and facilities featured in an academic library and learning commons”. A questionnaire was given to entrants in one 24-hour period; with the intent to find out more about the attitudes of users towards support services. The learning commons at UMass Amherst are described, as well as the various technical supports and services available there. The study found that the most preferred method of reference and research assistance was to receive face-to-face help.
Todd, Ross J.( June 2009). There Is Knowledge to Be Gained. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 25(10), 56-58. Retrieved from Wilson Web October 12, 2009
Tags – learning commons, knowledge-centric, library media center
Summary – This is a nice article about the transformation of the Chelmsford High School Library Media Center into a School Learning Commons. It discusses the conceptual and paradigm shifts that occur when a media center is transformed to a learning commons, “from being defined in terms of collections and instructional activities” … “to a focus of engaged learners in an active process of discovery, inquiry, and creativity, developing deep knowledge and understanding, critical thinking and problem solving; from information-centric to knowledge-centric”.
Added by Emma Moore
Hill, C. (2009, March). Inside, outside, & online: The question for today’s information professionals is not “Where is the library?” but “What is a library?” American Libraries.
Author Christy Hill discounts the theory that computing, particularly social computing, endangers the existence and use of public libraries. She argues that technology can and should bring the public library back to its core mission of service to the public community. Digitized collections, online social networking, and virtual learning resources offer libraries tools to reposition themselves as the center of the community.
“As materials and collections become ever more digitized, our collections and services become increasingly available outside the library,…our service, values, and the interactions we facilitate become even more important to our ongoing relevance. (Hill, 2009, p. 41).
Hill cites the concept of a document having a “social life,” encouraging information professionals to expand our notion of the document to include the social interaction (e.g. groups form, conversations begin) that a shared material initiates. Knowledge workers, as organizers and navigators of these documents, must recognize and embrace the very social nature of their profession and libraries. The social life of a collection should keep libraries focused on service, values, and interactions, regardless of where the material is accessed.
In the same vein, library media teachers are in a position to create and support virtual learning communities that thrive on the social life of information. Library Media Teachers can use a variety of social networking and Web 2.0 tools to facilitate the exchange of academic information and readers’ advisory dialogue between learners, educators, and caregivers.
Retig, J. (2009). “Frame of Reference: School Libraries and the Educational
Ecosystem.” Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning. Retrieved on April 17, 2009 from http://www.changemag.org/March-April%202009/full-educational-ecosystem.html.
This article provides a helpful perspective coming from universities and what would make students college ready. The failure of K-12 institutions to prepare students for college is relayed as a common observation by universities. In particular, students are observed to arrive without the information literacy skills necessary to conduct research in college. The teacher librarians are charged with spending 90% of their teaching day ensuring that students are prepared with the skills necessary to conduct research. The crux of Retig’s point lies in urging university faculty to stand up and make themselves heard for when NCLB is back on the table and explicitly demanding that teacher librarians and information literacy skills are required under any new national education legislation.
tags: information literacy, "college ready", NCLB
Submitted by Susan Marks 4/19/09
Beers, K. (2009). “The Genteel Unteaching of America’s Poor.” A Report from NCTE.
Beers relays observations made from an urban high school. The observations included: utterly low expectations being made of the students by faculty and administrators alike. The students were reported to need discipline and structure alone. Curriculum speaking, that meant test prep, fill in the blank, and breaking down material to objective items that could be memorized. In other words, no critical thinking skills, no problem solving, no higher level thinking skills were deemed necessary. This translated to text books and scripted teaching. I am currently working in an urban high school where the teachers and site administrators do NOT believe in this low level of teaching, but within the last 3 years, mandates from the district have been exactly along those lines: pacing guides, required use of textbooks, textbook trainings, and now a posted agenda that is aligned with a standardized method for approaching ALL curriculum. Not only is this offensive to teachers’ professionalism, it is detrimental to student learning. I appreciated Beers’ recognition of the creativity and innovation based in solid pedagogy that good teachers utilize. Accordingly, now as a teacher librarian, there is NO room to collaborate with teachers and work with students when textbooks and scripted teaching is being mandated.
tags: critical thinking, scripted teaching
Submitted by Susan Marks 4/19/09
Sargeant, C., & Nevin, R. (2008). Using the Library Learning Commons to Reengage Disengaged Students and Making it a Student-Friendly Place for Everyone . Teacher Librarian, 36(1), 43-5. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from the Education Full Text database.
The authors of this article discuss the essential role that libraries can play in student life, particularly for students who are dealing with “emotional, social, or behavioral issues” (p. 43). Often times, students dealing with these kinds of issues are not interested in school or motivated to work on their studies. The authors see the library as a perfect place to create a safe space to open up about their issue and get help with their academics. This was through the combined effort of the teacher-librarians and the student success specialist. They created an office for the student success specialist, a space for her to work with the at-risk students, in the library that had no negative connotations as opposed going to the main office. Students started coming to the library on their own, just to hang out, not just to meet with specialist. The teacher-librarian set up books displays close to her office as well to garner student interest. This is another illustration of what can happen when teachers and librarians work together for the sake of students.
Posted by Janice Hodge 4/16
Gilmore-See, J. (2009). Call to Action for Library Media Specialist. School Library Media Activites Monthly, 25(5), 51-3. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from the Education Full Text database.
This article discusses how many adults don’t know what Library Media Centers of the 21st century are really like. The authors discuss that since they adults who are also in charge of making decisions and allocating budgets. These adults need to be shown how library media centers have been transformed into a place of collaborative and hands on learning, a place where student learning really happens. They need to understand that a library media center is an essential part of a school that needs to be sufficiently funded. It is argued that library media specialists need to begin a PR campaign, get out of their office and even the library and raise awareness about all that the school library has to offer. Raising awareness can be accomplished several ways, the authors suggest, “news releases, press conferences, speaking engagements, and community service programs” (p. 52). It is so very important to let teacher, parents and students know what the library has to offer since so many people are of the mindset that Google can provide all the answers. Programs must be shown off as does student learning. The library media specialist should put together student showcases or other opportunities to show off student learning. The ultimate goal is to get members of the community to recognize the value of the library media center and make sure that it remains funded and valued.
Posted by Janice Hodge 4/16
Beers, K. (n.d.). The Genteel Unteaching of America's Poor: A Report from NCTE. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Press/Beers.pdf
According to Kylene Beers, many students that attend large urban schools in poverty stricken areas are not given appropriate opportunities to write. Writing, she argues, hones thinking skills and the ability to express thoughts and feelings. The author has visited schools where students who live in poverty are getting sub par education. It seems to be a common belief of many teachers who work in schools such as these to believe that rules and regulations must be strictly followed, schools must provide a very rigid structure. Many teachers seem to be of the belief that since their students have lives that are in such flux and chaos outside of school, school should be quiet and heavily regulated by teachers and administration. Classroom discussions are not even allowed. It is argued that since these schools can’t afford supplies, textbooks, and new technologies, they will have to make do with just the basics and that is the attitude that teachers seem to be taking in their curriculum, just teaching to the basics. Good and effective teachers not accept this mentality. They demand equity in public school education and work for it. It is important to recognize that there are good and effective teachers in the large, urban schools with the majority of the student body coming from impoverished homes. The author believe that these are the teachers that are going to lead us on an education revolution.
Posted by Janice Hodge - 4/16
Franklin, P., & Stephens, C. (2009, March). The Inner Teacher-Leader The Staff Developer. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 25(7), 44-45. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text database.
The authors discuss how valuable it can be for a library media specialist to take on the role of professional developer in her school. They advocate being proactive, asking to be involved, and determining how best they can support the teachers in the form of training. The benefits include, teachers being able to teacher information related skills better, more productive use of the library and becoming a more integral part of the school community as opposed to an occasional collaborator. Also suggested was starting a “book club” for teachers using a professional book (Marzano books were suggested) that the teachers would read and then discuss together.
posted by Jessica Gillis 4/15/09
Simpson, C. April/May 2008. Five Laws. Library Media Connection. (26) 7. pg.6.
In 1931 S.R. Ranganathan wrote “The Five Laws of Library Science.” Those laws were as follows: 1. Books are for use. 2. Every reader his book. 3. Every book his reader. 4. Save the time of the reader. 5. The library is a growing organism. Seventy-five years ago, books and magazines made up a library’s collection. Carol Simpson has rewritten those laws for 21st century libraries, including what we now know about learning styles and a rich media environment. Her new rules are as follows: 1. Media are for use. 2. Every patron his information. 3. Every medium its user. 4. Save the time of the patron. 5. The library is a growing organism. She then goes into detail, explaining more about every one of the five ‘laws.’ As learning facilitators, we should make sure that all types of media are available to students on a daily basis. Media shouldn’t have restricted use for faculty only. Students should be allowed to check out the videos, DVDs, etc. Students learn through a variety of modalities, and books aren’t necessarily the preferred mode of learning for all students. Knowledge acquisition should be as quick and easy as possible: pathfinders are just as effective as books for gaining information. As Media Specialists, our goal should be to expand the library as new media emerges and to acquire more resources and gain new patrons.
Susie Huber, 15 April 2009
Hernon, Peter and Dugan, Robert E. (March 2009). Assessment and evaluation: What do the terms really mean? College and Research Librarie News. 70(3). Retrieved April 2, 2009 from Library Literature & Information Science Full Text
Hernon and Dugan discuss the difference between evaluation and assessment. The article explains that “assessment is a type of evaluation that gathers evidence perhaps from the application of evaluation research” (p. 146). These are normally performed to discover the effectiveness of a program that helps student learning outcomes.
Student outcomes are measured by a combination of things like graduation, retention, and employment rates. These measures can be used to compare institutions. Assessments determine how well goals, objectives, and missions are being met and use evidence gathered to improve methods.
The authors explain that educators must agree on learning goals for all students in a program. This assists the ability to gather relevant evidence for learning-enabling improvements to be made as necessary. Assessment needs to be based on feedback in order to help examine a program’s effectiveness. The authors illustrate that the feedback must be based on student products that display evidence of learning.
The article states that “evaluation at the course level involves judging the extent to which students grasp course content” (148). Assigning grades to products that demonstrate student capability to master content is one form of evaluation. By analyzing students’ grades one can measure how effective programs, services, or policies are implemented and determine their effectiveness. The author also mention evaluation as a tool for making policies and allocating resources.
Understanding the difference between assessment and evaluation is essential to planning and measuring meaningful programs and services that affect education. The purpose of education is to improve learning and, without a clear grasp on how teaching strategies affect student learning, changes cannot be made to improve learning.
submitted by: Shanin Fox
Valenza, Joyce. (2007) You Know You’re a 21st-Century Teacher-Librarian If… as published in Rosenfeld, Esther and Loertscher, David. (Editors) (2007) Toward a 21st-Century School Library Media Program. Lantham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc., p. 104.
Out of all the articles included in this book (see description below), I found this article interesting, as it sort of summarizes where school libraries are headed in the 21st Century. Here are some of the highlights.
You Know You’re a 21st Century Teacher-Librarian if….
• You organize the Web for learners- learn how to tag and classify to help learners access material
• You think outside the box in terms of collection development- include what kids want to read and in what format they read/experience it
• You think about the potential for new technologies and their use in increasing learning
• You constantly strive to be better
• You think about equity
• You rethink the library space
• You read professional literature and seek out professional development
There’s a lot more there than just the above list. This is worth taking a look at and pondering.
The book this is included in is very cool, though I did not read all of it. It is a collection of previously published articles, many written by SJSU SLIS faculty that looks at the school library media center in the 21st Century. The following topics are included: Collaboration, Curriculum Design and Assessment, Technology, 21st Century Skills, Literacy and Reading, Partnerships, and Issues and Management. This is a useful resource.
Submitted by Michele Gilchrist, 4/13/09
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General
LISNews, Librarian and Information Science News (2009). School Librarian Susan Kowalski Basking in the Glow of Victory.
Kowalski, a school librarian at Pine Grove Middle School (East Syracuse, NY), recently took third place in the Smart Poodle Publishing "What I Wish Everyone Knew About Librarians" writing contest.
Please read: here are the winning essays in their entirety. (posted March 12, 2009). If you want to be inspired, please read these essays submitted by librarians about their jobs. They are eloquently written and true beauties!
Retrieved April 13, 2009 from http://smartpoodlepublishing.com/blog/?page_id=687
Barbara Bulkin 4/13/09
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McKenzie, J. (2000). Making good change. In planning good change with technology and literacy. Bellingham: FNO Press. Retrieved April 12, 2009, from http://fno.org/jun00/goodchange.html
Although this article was written eight years ago, the concept still applies today.
Changes are bound to happen. There is a trend to have every classroom wired. Technology is a tool, but it does not solve everything. Just because there are computers in the classroom does not mean that students will use computers or that there is an impact on learning.
McKenzie outlines that good changes can happen. In order to make good changes happen in schools, he mentions that these basic principles must follow:
1. Making good change requires a focus on a purpose likely to win broad acceptance.
2. Making good change demands the cultivation and engagement of the key stakeholders within the school community, especially the classroom teachers.
3. Making good change involves a strategic and balanced deployment of resources.
4. Making good change necessitates time away from the “daily press” of teaching. (Principles 1-4, from chapter one of McKenzie’s Making good change)
Kim Leng, 4/12/09
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McKenzie, J. (2008). Beyond mere gathering: converting social networking into collaboration and synergy. In Beyond cut-and-paste engaging students in making good new ideas Bellingham: FNO Press. http://fno.org/sum08/synergy.html
McKenzie makes a great point that just because there is a class wiki doesn’t mean that the students are collaborating. There still needs to be a facilitator in those forums. Students still need guidance. Working together and collaborating is not a new concept. He presents models from Peter Senge and Edward de Bono. Senge focuses on team learning. According to Senge, team learning involves groups being open-minded and having a dialogue rather than a discussion. He refers to discussions as being “adversarial” and discussions to be more “collaborative.” Teaching students to be open-minded allows them to leave the meeting learning something new.
De Bono’s model is called Thinking Hats and it involves the various ways of thinking. There are six hats with six different colors. The white hat refers to thinking skills that are based on facts. The red hat refers to emotion, intuition, and feelings. The green hat refers to creative thinking and so on.
All groups need a moderator or there will be no focus. The teacher still needs to act as a facilitator and ensure that students are on task. We cannot just create a group page and let them loose online.
Kim Leng 4/12/09
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McKenzie, J. (2008). Beyond cut-and-paste. In Beyond cut-and-paste engaging students in making good new ideas Bellingham: FNO Press. Retrieved April 7, 2009, from http://fno.org/sept08/cut.html.
What a great insight about how to best engage students when the right questions are asked. Asking students to find out about certain topics and having them look for answers only allow them to do just that, cut and paste their answers. It does not involve critical thinking. They are not evaluating anything by just finding the answer. He devised a way to question called “question of import” which makes students evaluate their answers. The following is his example:
Example: Which of the following captains was the best at navigation?
* Captain James Cook
* Captain Matthew Flinders
* Captain George Vancouver
* Captain William Bligh
This way of questioning allows students the opportunity to explore the various topics and evaluate. It involves critical thinking.
Kim Leng 4/12/09
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Nichols, L. (2008). Pushing your IL program forward: five lessons from my immersion experience. Kentucky Libraries. 72 (4), 4-7. Retrieved March 29, 2009, from Library Literature & Information Science Full Text.
The author shared her experience at an Immersion program (summer 2007) and reflected on its many benefits that she called the five lessons. The first lesson taught her to “create a shared vision”. Information literacy has many definitions depending on the institution. She took this lesson and started a committee at her school to define what information literacy means to them. The second lesson she learned was to “shift the focus from teaching to learning.” Learning should be more collaborative and student focused. The third lesson is to tackle assessment. How will she know that the students have learned something? She needs to think about what she is measuring in terms of assessment. The fourth lesson is to lead the way and be a leader. The fifth is to take action. She concluded that she learned a lot about information literacy and got the opportunity to meet many in her professions.
Kim Leng 4/12/09
Zauha, J. M. (Fall 2008). Teaching Matters: Developing as a Teacher/Librarian. The Importance of a Philosophy of Teaching Statement to the Teacher/Librarian. Communications in Information Literacy, v2 issue 2
Author starts by defining what a teaching philosophy statement is and how it can keep teaching fresh and relevant by revisiting it. She supports reflection as an important component of teaching. Taking the time to discover your priorities and intended practices will improve your teacher and give it more meaning. It is important that the statement be written out and not just in the mind as that will give it more structure and weight as well as the ability to share it. This will also help with collaboration and team work as everyone will be aware of each others different styles. It can elevate the importance and respect of the library by making the teaching philosophy of the librarian(s) public documents (ie. on the web). This document is a living evolving piece of work that is continuously refined and revised.
Author then suggests some ways to get started including searching google for “sample teaching philosophy statements” and two documents from other universities as well as looking at your institutions guidelines and resources.
Jessica Gillis 4/9/09
Cooper-Simon, S. (2008). Rethinking Collaboration: Transforming Web 2.0 Thinking into Real-Time Behavior. Teacher Librarian, 36(1). Pp. 34-8. Retrieved from LISTA on April 8, 2009.
Web 2.0 thinking means sharing, creating, letting go of singular control, etc. In order to create a functional learning commons, librarians need to make this shift from "Web 1.0" thinking, which is solid, isolated, and protected to a web 2.0 mindset. As technology 2.0 changes more and more quickly, the gap between digital natives (kids) and digital immigrants (us!) narrows--everybody has to learn new stuff. There is not time to fully integrate teaching in a learning commons setting while maintaining all the traditional roles of finding and keeping knowledge. Web 2.0 is about creating, and collaboration is the key to time management. The librarian must leave the library sometimes to network, like 2.0. Because there is never enough time, "reality must be pulled towards vision, or vision must be pulled towards reality". The author gives us some ideas on how to accomplish the former. She equates deleting (read, delegating) outdated activities such as storytime with "weeding" to keep a healthy collection. Although she advocates a website, the librarian should gradually transfer much ownership and work of website/vlc over to students, maintaining only a managing editor's role.
It is important to focus on the staff who request collaboration, because collaboration equals time management. The better the information literacy and units match the goals of school and curriculum, the more time the librarian should spend with those collaborators. She gives us the image of a "spiraling curriculum" everybody gets a little time, with more focus on the inner layers. She encourages us to keep in mind the big picture, and that you can't collaborate intensely with everybody in one year. Assessment is a crucially important area, and should be a continuum throughout days, along with the bigger, more formal ones with teachers. If the teacher-librarian plots on a spreadsheet, either random or types. When the librarian can show the patterns of learning that are taking place and shares this info, teachers will feel less isolated.
contributed by elizabeth waterbury on April 8, 2009
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Zmuda, A. (2008). What Does It Really Look Like When Students Are Learning in the Library Media Center. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 25(1), 25-27. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from the Education Full Text database.
This article is right up the alley of what we have been discussing all semester. Sure, you can walk into a school library and see students working, but how can you tell what they are working on and if they are learning? The goal of this article is to get school library media specialists to figure out ways to ensure that students are learning in the school library. The first step is to collaborate with colleagues, the classroom teachers.
Often times, assignments in the school library media center are restricted to checklists or simple worksheets. This kind of work teaches students to become passive learners. The author argues that passive learners are not well prepared for life beyond high school, especially if they plan on pursuing further education. When teachers and library media specialist collaborate to get students in the library media center, conducting research on their own on a topic they are interested in is likely to create more enthusiastic and active learners. They need to be given assignments that make them want to search for information, to find the truth to an issue, to find out what really happened or how something works. There should be a real issue they are interested in behind what they are researching.
Library media specialists need to ask themselves what they think student learning should look like and come up with creative and collaborative ways to get that vision into reality. Take that vision and share it with other teachers or administrators and get them on board to change the kind of assignments that are given to students, making sure they are engaging, interesting, applicable to real life and collaborative.
Added by Janice Hodge 4/6/2009
Zmuda, A., & Harada, V. (2008). Librarians as Learning Specialists: Moving from the Margins to the Mainstream of School Leadership. Teacher Librarian, 36(1), 15-20. Retrieved March 31, 2009, from the Education Full Text database.
The article begins by Zmuda and Harada discussing common problems that teacher librarians face in public schools. The first of the problems is that many teachers and school administrators do not understand what is possible in the library setting and in collaborative environments. With teachers creating curriculums that only include information that will show up on standardized tests, they are doing their students more harm than. Students that do graduate from high school are taught to memorize material and repeat it in a test setting. The authors refer to these students as “passive processors.” This is not setting up students for success, especially if they continue on with higher education.
The authors stress the importance of creating learning environments that focus on the students, on collaboration, creating lessons that relate to the real world and allow them to ask questions and work for deeper understanding. There must be lines of communication open between teachers and students, where teachers can let students know how they are doing and give them more opportunities to improve and where students can ask teachers questions and receive support.
The role of the teacher librarian, according to the authors, is to provide the regular classroom teacher with additional support. They are responsible for raising student achievement levels, through program development and coordination, collaborative efforts between teacher, parents, students and administrators, and creating a learning commons. They are there to do whatever is needed to help the students learn and the teachers teach more effectively. It seems as though they need to be a ‘jack of all trades’ so to speak. They need to be available to all teachers from all subject areas and help get the right groups of people together to get programs going. The authors give several examples of what teacher librarians have done in the past to work towards the goal of raising student achievement:
· Work towards making your learning commons a place where students can have conversation – where they can freely ask about anything that they are curious about and where other students and teachers can answer and provide feedback.
· Promote interdisciplinary teams. Try to get teachers from different disciplines to work together on program development and students to work on projects that bridge the subjects they are studying.
· Promote technology, which is especially crucial in more rural schools. This can be done in many different ways – blogs, online forums, social networking sites, online library catalogs and so on.
Teacher librarians can play a hugely beneficial role in a school if given the support of other teachers and the administration. With support and reasonable resources, a motivate teacher librarian/learning specialist could really help improve student achievement. This article was encouraging because it supports everything that we have been discussing throughout the semester.
Added by Janice Hodge on 4/6/2009
Cha, Eunah and Cranz, Galen. (2006). Body-Conscious Design in a Teen Space: Post-occupancy Evaluation of an Innovative Public Library. Public Libraries, 45(6), 48-56. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text database.
This study looks at the effect of body-conscious design on kids’ interactions and comfort level in a library space. Although specific to a public library, it is clear that the findings from this study are useful to school media centers as well. The premise of the study is that teenagers are not inclined to sitting upright and still in the same position (nor are adults). Providing a variety of seating arrangements allows for changes in posture and movement, as well as accommodating different sizes and shapes. The library studied here, Cesar Chavez Library in Oakland, CA, has stools of varying heights, benches, carpeted platforms, and more.
One of the main purposes of this evaluation was to determine if teens would use the space as it was intended. Interestingly, teens did not immediately relinquish their social training which viewed libraries as more strict spaces. However, over time and through successive visits, researchers saw increased usage, movement, comfort and ultimately ownership of the space. One of their recommendations was to post invitations (as opposed to instructions) on the ways in which the space would be used.
Submitted by Alegria Barclay April 6, 2009.
Gilmore-See, J. (2009, January). Call to Action for Library Media Specialists. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 25(5), 51-53. Retrieved March 30, 2009, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text database.
This article addresses the need for library media specialists to step forward and advocate for the importance of library media centers in students’ lives. The author is both persuasive and enthusiastic while also providing concrete steps to advocate for one’s library. In particular, Ms. Gilmore-See emphasizes that creating quality programming and services are an essential part of advocacy; hopefully, the results will speak more eloquently than an email or speech can. Furthermore, successful advocacy is most often done not by the librarian but by the populace s/he serves as well as those s/he works for and with. Finally, she mentions at various points that updating the image of the library in our culture is essential to its continued success.
One of the valuable aspects of this article, I found, was the questions she posed about the libray, its services, and its needs. I felt that answering those very questions would help me to determine how best to start, where to focus my energies and whom to contact in my efforts to draw positive attention and funding to one’s library.
Submitted by Alegria Barclay April 6, 2009.
West Virginia Department of Education. (2009). Teach 21 Website. Retrieved on
March 15, 2009 from: http://wvde.state.wv.us/teach21.
- This website coincides with West Virginia’s Department of Education push to elevate standards and expectations for students along with 21st Century Skills.
- An array of resources available here including:
- Project Based Learning – Detailed, standards based, lessons and backward mapping provided K-12
- Technology Tools page provides great links to help integrate technology across the curriculum
- Strategy Bank: Will lesson, templates, links to support deeper learning activities
- Background information on 21st Century Learning
- The variety of searchable resources on the website is incredible
- Additionally, the fact that a whole state’s department of education has reinvented itself to embrace 21st Century Skills is reassuring
tags: project based learning, 21st Century Skills, standards, management
Submitted by Susan Marks April 5, 2007
Varlas, Laura. (2009, January). “Creating Critical Thinkers: A conversation with Carla
Williamson, Executive Director of West Virginia’s Office of Instruction.” Eudcation Update, ASCD, pp. 2 – 3.
- Carla Williamson started Teach 21, promoting and supporting 21st Century teaching in West Virginia
- When rewrote state standards looked at having higher expectations and ones that matched 21st century skills
- Started Teach 21 website in order to become cohesive with standards, instruction, and assessment that all match up and support high expectations
- Professional development essential – backward mapping, move away from multiple choice tests to performance and product assessments; project based learning
- Project Based Learning in all classrooms in their ultimate goal
- This article helps remind us all of the point of assessments … not about bubbling in answers that leads to teaching students how to take tests, but to truly see what students can do in the real world. Backwards mapping ensures that students will be successful at that final assessment by providing opportunities to use and apply real skills.
tags: project based learning, critical thinking, backwards mapping, assessment
Submitted by Susan Marks April 5, 2009
Lemmons, K. The International Children’s Digital Library Enhances the Multicultural Collection. School Library Media Activities Monthly. (25) pgs. 28 – 30.
The International Children’s Library (ICDL) is a website that allows children to read books online. These books are carefully selected for their literary and cultural merits. It’s a collection of thousands of books in hundreds of languages. Special collections and award winning books are included. Each month, three different books are featured on the home page. Believe it or not, children, aided by adults, designed this website. The search feature allows students to search by type of book, intended audience, content, subject and the appearance of the book. Simple navigation buttons are included to help students with their searching.
Students can read books in several different languages. Also included are student-written reviews of the books.
Ideas for integrating these on-line books into the curriculum were provided. Books can be matched up to different themes in your language arts program. Books can be read from the computer individually by students, or to the entire class using an LCD projector. Writing skills can be improved by writing reviews for books.
Because the books are multi-cultural, students can truly ‘travel the world through reading’ using this website. Also, with sparse funding, these free books are a great way to supplement your library's collection.
Susie Huber, April 1
Kearney, Carol. (2000). Curriculum partner: redifining the role of the library media specialist. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. p.180.
This book I began shortly after I started as a library media specialist in November 2008. I was still working a 48 hour job, and going to school full time, so reading was slow and stopped completely when I got the reading list for 233, but once I was done I picked it up again at the end of February. There was no training offered for the new position, and the education I received in the MLIS program at SJSU was all I had to fall back on. I had worked in a library in high school, but that was more than a decade ago. The library hadn’t had a LMS for 2 years, but to put it back into order didn’t seem like a challenge, just time consuming. What I was worried about was working with the teachers and students. The principal asked me to develop a flexible lesson plan for information literacy that would work with all grade levels and subjects. Naturally, my library instincts told me to find a book that could point me in the right direction. The first thing I did was search the catalog at MLK; and Curriculum Partner’s title and description was the perfect match. Reading and contacting others in my line of work was all I could do until I could register for 233 in the spring.
Curriculum Partner is a great resource for a number of reasons. The author covers the wide range of LMS responsibilities, like leadership, goals and objectives, collaboration at all levels, assessment, staff development, and library advocacy. The book didn’t give me much information on developing a lesson plan as I had hoped, but it gave me a lot of other useful information. The author’s advice on strategies and techniques to develop partnerships at all levels (teachers, principal, and parents) were extremely helpful. I have used them to develop good working relationships with two of the teachers at Yavneh. I am still working on my principal. I email her ideas and articles, I try to schedule meetings with her, but every other week she is going out of town for some conference or staff development program. I am not giving up though, I have big plans she needs to support!
The book also gives wonderful tips on assessing the current state of your library, staff involvement, and the needs of the school. The author suggests giving out surveys to parents, students, and teachers to discover current use and needs. The book provided an overview instruction on how to assess the current collection, determine the future demands on the collection, and developing a plan or budget to meet those needs. The author only touched on the importance of technology, but I wasn’t looking for that at the time; however upon reflection, the author could have added another 30 pages to the book’s 180 pages to deal with technology.
submitted by Shanin Fox
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REWRITING OUR LIBRARY STORY
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Knowledge Quest 37 no1 64-8 S/O 2008
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Hillary Wolfe
We have learned this semester that the wave of the school library future is the learning commons. However, I don’t think that I stand alone when I think of graduating and taking over a library that is a long way away from a learning commons. The task of transforming the space, the tools, and the attitude associated with these is daunting. Hillary Wolfe has broken this process down into a few steps from her own experience of bringing a newly acquired school library back from the dead. Just like us, Wolfe relied on the vast array of publications out there to learn what needed to be done. This is the strategy she chose to use. Preparation was the first step. The preparation period began with going to a student for help with evaluations. This is exactly what we want to do in the learning commons. We learn from the students and we learn from us! I love this example. The librarian and her student helper made the library what it should be. The library should be welcoming. It should have a professional atmosphere, but at the same time it should be empowered by students. Students should be empowered to help themselves. To make a learning commons what it is supposed to be, a teacher librarian must look at the welcoming environment as the number one goal. The number two goal is to make the place professional so that students know they can be a liberty to get their work done in comfortable professional place. Last but certainly not least in the process of resurrecting an old library from the dead is empowering the students who use. This is their space- not yours. You are there to help them, so help them help themselves. Soon your library will be the “live center” of the school.
Laci Henning
McKenzie, J. (2004). Why Question. In McKenzie, J. Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn. Bellingham: FNO Press. Retrieved March 26, 2009, from http://questioning.org/nov04/whyquestion.html.
In the first chapter of McKenzie’s book Learning to Question to Wonder to Learn, he points out the difference between thinking and questioning. Anyone can think, but that does not mean that learning is taking place. In order to have a true learning experience, students need to learn questioning skills. He illustrates the different types of thinking in the section titled “Mapping Out Zones of Thinking.” According to the thinking zone map, many schools focus too much on the left side of the zone. The left side represents thinking that involves memorization instead of creating. It lacks creativity and originality. Taking in information without questioning involves a lesser degree of thinking. He gave an example of several classes he observed while in Paris. One class listened to the teacher’s lecture about the painting and took notes. The other group did not have a teacher lecture to them, but the teacher asked one question to the group. The question was ““What questions come to mind as you consider this painting?”” The teacher’s question led the students to wonder and question. It is a higher zone of thinking than just absorbing a lecture.
Kim Leng (March 26, 2009)
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April Gilbert Submitted to synthesis wiki 3/24/09
Jensen, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
This book turns common education practices on their head by using brain research to see what really motivates learners, increases recall, and creates lasting memories. One of the findings is that the brain consumes 20% of the body’s energy and needs plenty of nutritious food and water to function. Diet plays an important part in helping the brain do its job. Green leafy vegetables, salmon, nuts, dairy, and fresh fruit help increase recall in the brain. They keep students more alert and attentive. Even a spoonful of sugar was found to improve memory after a learning event. Unfortunately few schools serve this type of food. Better air quality as well as improved circulation also improves the function of the brain.
Physical activity is particularly good for the brain. It increases blood flow to the brain which improves attention. Learning new movements also helps. The author recommends integrating activity throughout the curriculum. Aerobic exercise helps memory. Students who rock back in their chairs are viewed as stimulating their brains with a vestibular activating motion. Swinging and spinning motions can also help.
Instead of dwelling on performance educators should focus on activities which help the brain grow more intelligent. The process of learning makes the brain smarter whether the outcome is right or wrong. Novelty activates the brain, so variety is proposed. Standardized tests are not good for the brain. Good education encourages alternative thinking and insight. Thematic instruction was found to double the amount of learning.
Stress impairs learning and weakens memory. The feeling tone of the classroom and library can create a stressful or boring environment which can lead to behavior problems. Early exposure to stress can leave a child constantly checking and reacting to supposed threats as their method of survival. Children of mother’s with stressful pregnancies were also found to be more likely to have language problems later. Stressed out students should drink water which lowers stress hormones and learn relaxation techniques. As librarians we should consider the feeling tone in our interactions with students. Harsh words, or public humiliation, even our expressions can create stress which goes against our objectives of teaching our students.
Children should be read to beginning in infancy. This will improve their language development. Language development is critical for learning to read. Children need parents to speak to them with a varied vocabulary. TV viewing doesn’t not have the same effect. A developing brain needs three dimensional things to view.
Drowsiness also has a negative affect on the learner. In the middle and high schools later start times are prescribed because the teenage brain cycles deep sleep later than younger and older brains. Test scores rose in teens that went to school later.
Boredom can be combated by variety which is a great brain stimulator. Changing room decorations, speakers, location of the teacher, cooperative learning, problem solving, singing, and use of technology are recommended. Teachers also need to take into account students’ normal attention cycles are around 10 minutes for intense concentration. We need to build in journal reflection time, or sharing with a classmate before expecting their focus once again. This explains some behaviors during story time. It also helps students retain what they have learned.
Apathy in learners can be due to a feeling of helplessness. Students may make excuses for why they don’t bother in school. These students need choice and repeated attempts 30-50 for their brain to be rewired into thinking they have control of their destiny and education. Yet they are the ones we so often decide aren’t worth the effort proving them right about their attitude all along. Personal relevance can help students follow what is happening in school. Discussions, concept mapping, even sharing stories can help students make connections between school and their lives.
The chapter on motivation and rewards was particularly informative since most libraries have reading incentive programs. Novelty was more prized than concrete rewards. It was found that the human brain does not respond to rewards. The formation of students’ self chosen goals helps them feel good about accomplishing them and that is reward enough. External rewards are subjective and would need to be ever increasing to create the same impact over time. Affirmations, positive non-verbal’s, and team work encourages students to do their best. Enthusiastic feedback from the computer, teacher, but especially from peers was very powerful.
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Schiff, S. (2006). Know it all. The New Yorker (82), 23. Retrieved March 13, 2009, from the Wilson Web Database.
This was such an interesting article about the history and creation of Wikipedia. I am not a huge user of Wikipedia but sometimes I do use it to define words. I do believe that Wikipedia was and still is a cool invention that probably did get a bit out of hand in regards to material being correct or incorrect.
Wikipedia was launched in 2001 and at one time it was considered to be the 17th most popular site on the Internet. “…generates more traffic daily than MSNBC.com and the online versions of the Times and the Wall Street Journal” (Schiff, 2006). This online site was founded by Jimmy Wales, who at the time was 39 years-old. Wale’s mission when creating this site was to create a site that didn’t include advertising and was a free encyclopedia to every single person in the world. Anyone can enter a piece of information on the site which in turn has caused many issues over the years but also been a great learning experience for the small staff of Wikipedia.
This article is very interesting because it also describe Wales life as a child, his first very own encyclopedia as well as his educational background and how he came to create this magnificent tool on the Internet. Work on Wikipedia occurs all over the world, even though Wales lives in Florida with his family. “Perhaps Wikipedia’s greatest achievement—one that Wales did not fully anticipate—was the creation of a community” (Schiff, 2006). Statistics say that 80% of wikipedians are male and they usually sign in as anonymous names. Another important aspect of Wikipedia is the arbitration committee that Wales needed to form to handle disputes of any kind when incorrect information was posted. “Wikipedia remains a lumpy work in progress” (Schiff). Entries can be written by anyone and sometimes the facts can be incorrect. “Wikipedia is to Britannica as ‘American Idol/ is to the Juilliard School or Wikipedia is to Britannica as rock and roll is to easy listening” (Schiff).
On March 1, 2006, Wikipedia became the first online interactive encyclopedia to hit the million article mark. Even if it isn’t the most useful tool on the Internet, it sure was a creative endeavor that will go down in the history books.
Lisa Katz, March 23, 2009
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Martin, A. (2009). Leadership: Integrity and the ALA code of ethics. Knowledge Quest (37) 3, 6-11.
“Integrity with knowledge as its base forms the infrastructure of library professional leadership” says author, Ann Martin. There are many new ethical dilemmas for school library media specialists these days. Library media specialists need to know, understand and follow the 8 principle code of ethics that are the foundation of the profession. The principles are: service, intellectual freedom, privacy, intellectual property rights, safe work environment, good of the whole, professional responsibility, and professional development. Those who follow these principles foster learning in children. This is the 21st century learning and it is important to create life-long learners. This is an informative article that shows how students are and will continue to create new knowledge by merging print materials and web tool materials, and we as library media specialists have an opportunity to help engage students in this type of learning while at the same time teaching ethics in the use of these materials.
Lisa Katz, March 2009
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McTighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (1998) Understanding by Design. Alexandra, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
McTighe, J. & Wiggins, G. (1999) The Understanding by Design Handbook. Alexandra, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
These two sources are very useful in creating lessons based on the theory of “Backwards Design”. It is an excellent source for Teacher Librarians who have to design information literacy lessons. These authors want teachers to focus their lessons on having students really understand what they are learning rather than just regurgitating factual information. They take the approach that lesson planning should be done backwards and that teachers should focus on the big ideas and concepts of what students should take away from the unit being taught. This contrasts to the traditional approach which has students do more product based activities that don’t really focus on an underlying big theme. The traditional method has students do a lot of activities that look good but aren’t really teaching big ideas. Students from the start of the unit know the big ideas and work towards understanding them. They also stress that teachers should only teach skills that are worth in-depth learning and understanding. Teachers need to focus on assessing students for these big ideas and on how students apply this knowledge. Curriculum should be designed based on understanding rather than on unconnected content and surface level skills that are rushed through.
Wiggins and McTighe use an approach that has six facets of understanding. These facets work with the Backwards Design theory so teachers can create meaningful curriculum, assess students, and carry out good instruction. The six facets are explanation interpretation, application, taking a perspective, empathizing, and self-knowledge. Each unit should be designed so that students can do all six facets. The chapter on Assessment was very useful to me because it stressed that teachers should only assess the student’s understanding of each facet. They provide excellent charts and examples on how to do this. The examples in the back of the book are very useful because they provide templates on the overall understandings of the unit, the essential questions, what students will understand at the end of the unit, the evidence that shows their understanding, the type of assessment used, other evidence, and student self-assessment. The Handbook also offers very concrete examples of unit plans and how to implement this theory. It has excellent graphic organizers and templates.
They offer suggestions about how to design engaging curriculum using the “WHERE” acronym. This stands for where is the student headed, hook the student, explore the subject, equip the student, rethink our work and ideas, and evaluate the results. The emphasis on spiral curriculum rather than on linear curriculum helps students focus on the big ideas and essential questions in a lesson. Students are more engaged because they are using inquiry and constructivist approaches to learning. Besides the theory which is fascinating to read, both books give good tips for creating criteria for choosing what big ideas to teach. They also give good strategies for creating units and provide examples of the essential questions that students need to answer. I can see how creating essential questions for information literacy would be very useful for students to answer rather than a series of information literacy lessons. By applying this theory to information literacy concepts, students would get more meaning out of why information literacy is important. For teachers and Teacher Librarians who want to create meaningful curriculum and lessons, McTighe and Wiggins have written two excellent guides for curriculum planning. Submitted by Joanne Maher on March 23rd, 2009
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Book Review by April Gilbert
March 2nd, 2009
Loertscher, D. V. & Achterman, D. (2003). Increasing academic achievement through the library media center: A guide for teachers. Salt Lake City, Ut: Hi Willow Research and Publishing.
This practical guide shows teachers and librarians how to collaborate with one another. Lessons are created which help teachers focus on outcomes instead of assignments. A constructivist approach to teaching is advocated. Student’s products are altered so that they can’t cut and paste work but must analyze and synthesize it in order to turn it into something original. The focus is interdisciplinary so many skills in a variety of subject matter can be covered at the same time while addressing state standards. Rubrics are encouraged in assessment as a method of crystallizing expected outcomes.
Research supports collaboration with the librarian. An overview explains how the process might work. Ideas for working together to make a research unit together are outlined. A planning sheet is provided as well as a self evaluation form which can be done during the unit and at the end to learn from what worked and what did not. A sample unit illustrates common practices reinventing it into best practices in education.
Another great idea for students is the creation of web quests. These seem like the perfect blend of Information literacy skills embedded in curriculum that would motivate students. Ideas are given for the ways the teacher-librarian can work with the classroom teacher in their creation.
The librarian is principal in teaching students information literacy. Diagrams display the stages of the research process. Since students often don’t know about a subject they are researching, they must build background knowledge before they know enough to discover what aspect they would like to pursue with research. Ideas are given for how the teacher librarian can do just that. Sample lessons include; asking the type of questions which drive research, choosing resources with various points of view, and criteria for limiting the information available on the Internet- relevance and quality.
Teacher librarians also should be the driving force in the school’s reading program. Students who read more do better in school. Ideas for motivational activities, letting students choose books for the library and classroom collections, purchasing reading materials in varied format are all addressed. A great idea to encourage early literacy was book bags which go home each night. Each class selects books for the month which are rotated through the class. Each bag contains a book that the child wants to hear an adult read as well as a book the student can read.
The IMC is a resource for content area required reading for students. When the text book is too difficult for the student, the teacher librarian can find related material at the correct level for the student to read or books in their home language. Students feel empowered by having some choice in the materials they use on a topic. Reading historical fiction to students can create interest in a difficult to understand period of history. Reading poetry or prose like Ruth Heller’s Chickens aren’t the Only Ones can teach content while being a very entertaining read aloud. A sample reading log for students can help the librarian and teacher see where the student’s information was gathered throughout a research project.
The first libraries in schools were created from centralized classroom collections. There is still a need for interesting books in the classroom as well as the library collection. Teachers can maximize their collections by rotating with other classes at the same grade level providing students with greater variety. These collections can be built using library materials as well. Some materials can be for a specific curricular unit while others should be for pleasure reading. Other ideas for building classroom collections include; book orders which offer teachers free books based on the books ordered by students, asking community members for donated books, buying books at garage sales, thrift stores, and Friends of the Library sales.
Technology is increasingly at use in the library for research and presentation of projects. Teachers and students need to be taught how to use it safely and effectively to meet their needs. The librarian can help select software and online resources to support the curriculum at the appropriate level for the students. Librarians must be prepared to provide just-in-time instruction when students need it to complete a new task. One way to do this is to train a team of students who then train other students and staff in the new application or technology. A checklist is provided which can be used by students to assess their use of technology and electronic resources after a research project. Ideas for integrating technology into curriculum are provided.
A chapter on how staff members can support the IMC is especially relevant during the current financial crunch in Sacramento. The difference between a LMT and a clerk is huge though many elementary teachers have never been at a school with an LMT. With a teacher librarian there is collaboration, a dynamic school wide reading program, teaching information literacy, an information rich environment, educating students and staff in the use of technology to meet their information needs.
The book helps readers reflect with a checklist of successful practices with the page numbers that relate to them. The reader is encouraged to write on and think about the charts, graphs, and forms in this book. It is impossible to read this book without being inspired to improve your library media program. This book gives you actual lessons, ideas, and research outlines to support your first attempts. It would make a wonderful addition to your staff’s professional library. It would help teachers and administrators envision what an impact a vital Library Media Program could have.
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Article review by Erica Dietz
February 8, 2009
Shenton, A. & Dixon, P. (2003). Just what do they want? What do they need? A study of the informational needs of children. Children & Libraries, 1(2), 36-42.
King Library URL for the article:
http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/jumpstart.jhtmlrecid=0bc05f7a67b1790e4741fae46b91d0b701219e99095d351f79bb7a574b4b5e49b054dd1746702af0&fmt=H
This article written by Alexander Shenton and Pat Dixon attempts to define children’s information needs and categorize them based on type of need and age group. As the authors explained, the information needs of children are not like those of adults; children have different interests and very often require information for educational purposes. The purpose of this study is laid out very clearly in the introduction, “A greater awareness of children’s information needs is essential if staff in both school library media centers and public libraries are to satisfy their clients’ requirements” (Shenton & Dixon, 2003, ¶ 4).
Previous studies on children’s information needs have usually concentrated on either young children or adolescents. The authors of this study aimed to discover children’s information needs as the children defined them. Therefore, the study consisted of drawing children from ages four to eighteen from six schools in England. The children were interviewed individually and in focus groups and asked about a recent example “when he or she needed help making a decision, when he or she was worried about something and needed to learn about it, either for school or personal interest” (Shenton & Dixon, 2003, Empirical Research section, ¶ 2). The question posed to the children (the subjects of the study) is very similar to how the authors defined the variable of an information need. They do make it clear, however, that an “information need” in this study includes children’s needs and wants.
The results of the study were broken down into types and subtypes of needs, each followed by an indication of which age group predominantly expressed the need. In this study, young children had a need for information on: advice, response to problems, personal information, affective support, empathetic understanding, support for skill development, school-related subject information, interest-driven information, and supplementations of information (meaning explanations of information, usually for homework). (Shenton & Dixon, 2003, Project Results: The Typology section). Older children and teens expressed the same needs but also desired information from a few other categories, mostly related to work skills and personal planning. The authors concluded that since many of the information needs were related to skill building, that perhaps this is an indication of inadequate or inefficient instruction in the schools. They suggested an investigation into the use of more effective teaching strategies, the instruction of study skills (such as time management), and increased support in the classroom.
I find the results of this study to be particularly interesting, especially after having read our textbooks for this class. It seems that the very things that Dr. Loertscher, other teacher librarians, and teachers (many of them constructivist) are pushing for – emphasis on building critical thinking skills, implementing practical and effective teaching strategies, helping kids to help themselves, etc. – is exactly what this article says is lacking in the schools they surveyed. My only complaint with this research study is that there wasn’t enough of a distinction in the results between what the students wanted out of personal interest and what they wanted for academic purposes.
By Shanin Fox
ePaLs (2008). ePaLs tours. January 24, 2008 from http://www.epals.com/groups/about/pages/schoolblog.aspx
ePaLs
ePaLs is a global online collaborative learning community of students, teachers, and academic professionals. A parent’s recommendation helped me stumble onto ePaLs. She actually shared with me the great volunteer experience she was having participating in a reading program called In2Books. Her positive description encouraged me to learn more about the program, and I am now contributing to a child’s learning development. While I was exploring the In2Books website I encountered the link to the parent site, ePaLs.
ePaLs has a wealth of online learning tools in a social networking community that creates an exponential learning curve in a protected environment. The site is built around the latest research and emphasizes effective Internet-based learning. The program unites the important elements of a school library media program outlined by David Loertscher (2000) “collaboration, reading literacy, enhancing learning through technology, and information literacy” (p. 15). The design allows tailored blocking solutions, ability to suspend or change student accounts, and to block inappropriate outside content. This safe environment fosters verbal and visual literacy through dialogue accessible on different levels.
The Classroom Match brings together a diverse community of cultures for learning collaboration on a variety of subjects, generating deeper cultural understanding. ePals states that “research by Doctoral candidate David Huffaker:
…enables school and district communication and collaboration to build 21st Century skills, promotes verbal and visual literacy through dialogue and storytelling, and are accessible and equitable to a variety of age groups and developmental stages in education” (ePaLs).
The site draws on several different online learning tools to implement Classroom Match, which connects classrooms more than 6000 miles away. The program provides forums for sharing ideas through email and blogs. It also offers the ability to participate in a variety of learning projects, as well as the ability to customize projects. Being able to customize fits into David Loertscher’s (2008) client-side service of “if they build it, they will use it” (p.2). Classroom Match’s success stems from participants’ ability to rate units and provide input that enables improvements. Teachers maximize learning by creating a classroom profile of students’ needs and academic targets, allowing the program to match classroom.
The SchoolMail and SchoolBlog programs support diverse cultural collaboration through supplying user friendly multilingual internet connection. The instant language translation breaks down language barriers, making learning through instruction, collaboration, and sharing of ideas and experiences possible. Internet access allows learning tools to be used outside the classroom, strengthening and extending students’ ability to learn. ePaLs fosters each students desire to read and write, using 21st century tools to enhance literacy skills. These tools include searchable blog archives, multimedia capabilities like PowerPoint, and streaming media, surveys, and rich text editors. Manuals and tutorials are even provided to ensure success. The electronic environment also makes tracking, analyzing, and interpreting student achievement easier and more accurate. Most importantly, parents have the ability to actively participate in their child’s learning.
ePaLs also has a great program which increases children’s desire to read: In2Books. ePaLs quotes two journals that “reported recently on the positive effect In2Books has had on student literacy,” The Reading Teacher and Phi Delta Kappan. The program matches children and adults and strengthens both reading and writing skills through email discussions about books. Each book is carefully selected to match key curricula. Training and development resources are available online for both student and adult. The relationship built is intellectually challenging and expands learning. The communication and collaboration with adults helps motivate children to actively participate in improving their learning skills.
The variety of programs at ePaLs brings together essential learning tools for children in the 21st century. The combination of Classroom Match, SchoolBlog, SchoolMail, and In2Books helps children excel at learning through the technological tools used in today’s world. ePaLs technology tools can help educators meet American Association of School Librarians’ (1998) information literacy standards, such as “The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates in groups to pursue and generate information” (p.39).
The success of the youth depends on educators’ ability to instill information literacy in the youth, and ePaLs meets this need.
Works Cited
American Association of School Librarians. (1998). Information power: building partnerships for learning. Chicago: American Library Association.
Loertscher, David V., Koechlin, Carol, and Zwaan, Sandi. (2008.) The new learning commons where learners win! Salt Lake City: Hi Willow Research & Publishing.
Loertscher, David V. (2000). Taxonomies of the school library media program. Salt Lake City: Hi Willow Research & Publishing.
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Asselin, Marlene. (2008). Towards a Transformative Pedagogy for School Libraries 2.0. School Libraries Worldwide, 14(2). Retrieved March 7, 2009 from Library Literature & Information Science Full Text.
Asselin discusses the the new learners that are currently in school and how libraries must adjust to meet their needs or be considered obsolete. These new learners take advantage of all that technology offers them, including the very interactive world of Web 2.0. This creates exapanded information literacy needs and means that school libraries must reconsider the services they are offering, and place more epmhasis on helping students succeed in the technologically advanced world in which they find themselves.
Research put together from the extensive study of previous literature (the majority from 2000-2008), interviews with students in Canada and Switzerland, and field testing of literacies concepts led the author to 10 attributes of new learners. The new learners are :
· Interactive participants,
· Have a take action approach,
· Early adopters of new technology,
· Personal landscape creators,
· Multi tasking, multi-modal, multi-resourcing
· Learn by doing
· An economic force
· Connectivity and Community
· Passionately tolerant
· A force for social transformation
Knowing these characteristics of the new learners assists library educators in creating a pedagogy for how to teach them as effectively as possible. It would not make sense to ignore that they are communicating and creating in a web 2.0 environment and will continue to do so, nor would make sense to ignore what will likely be expected of them in the work force as the use of technology expands and moves forward.
This understanding of the new learners helps to identify the literacies that will help these learners succeed. These literacies include technological literacy, inquiry and problem solving, critical literacy, ethics and social responsibility, as well as creativity and representation. These literacies seem all the more important when one considers how common it is for today’s students to immediately turn to Google when posed with any kind of research question, without thinking critically about the results rendered. Another common problem is that students collect information online using copy and paste, rather than rewording what they read in order to full absorb and learn the information.
In order to assist new learners with these literacies library educatucators must change the way they function in the “new” school library. These library educators must focus on helping students learn to learn, build colaboritive learning situations, and capitalize on new learners’ social conscience and global perspective. Students must be given more control over their learning environments which is a move away from the teacher being in charge. The author states” We must use these principles to help us move away from the limiting metaphors of the past where we saw the school library as the ‘hub” or “heart” of the school; it is better though of as the ‘brain’ and ther ‘ nerve center’ of the school where learners gather in a ‘learning commons’ (p.11).
-Katie Gallagher, March 8, 2009
The Role of the Media Specialist to Improve Academic Achievement and Strengthen At-Risk Youth.Preview By: Jones, Jami L.; Zambone, Alana M.. Library Media Connection, Apr/May2008, Vol. 26 Issue 7, p30-32, 3p; (AN 31853632)
This article discusses the major flaws we have with our education system and offers some insight into how to approach these problems. In particular this article focuses on the at risk populations of students from low income families with limited english proficiency. By focusing on the responsibility of a turnaround teacher or mass media specialist to improve the academic achievement of underperforming students and to strengthen at-risk youths, this article underscores the importance of the library to student success. Furthermore, it states that teachers must develop programs that establish connection between students and improve self-esteem. Programs that use research-based instructional strategies to instruct students will make them more competitive in the long run. Moreover, it challenges librarians to understand the positive impact they have on students' performance and to help advocate the importance of this role to others. This article encourages library teachers to focus on the three Cs, connection, competence and contribution in order to reach these disadvantaged students. It also questions why all school libraries haven't implemented a strong library media program since it is so clearly linkied to student achievement.
Cristina Johnson - March 11, 2009
This article focuses on having a "mission-centered" mind set in the school library. This means that librarians must always question whether what they are doing is having a positive impact on student success. Feedback is extremely important in making improvements. Librarians, as well as other teachers, have to be willing to make changes and take different approaches while staying mindful of long term goals. Librarians should be willing to reframe themselves as learning specialists and claim the recognition and respect that is necessary in their position. This article helps librarians question the insights and issues of a library specialist as a learning specialist by examining what learning specialists do. This article summarizes the role of learning specialists in regard to assessment and instruction with students and staff, program development, leadership and management and helps point out what an important role librarians can play into student success. When librarians understand that their role is to enhance student learning and collaborate with other teachers to add value to lessons, they will be rewarded by watching the library transform into the most resource rich and teaching rich classroom in the school.
Cristina Johnson - March 11, 2009
Lamb, A., & Johnson, L. (2008, April). The virtual teacher-librarian: Establishing and maintaining an effective web presence. Teacher Librarian, 35(4), 69-71. Retrieved
March 10, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.
Lamb and Johnson (2008) realize the need to harness the power of the web to meet the needs of users when a librarian is unavailable. They suggest seven steps to building an “effective web presence.” First, identify the services you offer that can be recorded and offered to students via online video. Think of the repetitious library skills classes you give to high school freshman at the beginning of each year. So much time could be saved if those same classes were offered as video tutorials. Second, make as many library services as possible available online. Students need access to library materials at all hours of the day. Create simple tutorials that help students answer common questions. Third, identify the diverse needs of the student population and tailor the online resources to meet those needs. Collaborate with as many teachers as possible so that you can offer resources that match their curriculum. Fourth, promote library services to staff and students via electronic announcements, blogs and other web-based applications. Encourage communication to gauge the needs and interests of the school community. Fifth, promote collaboration by using the library web space to display student work and teacher lesson ideas. Sixth, Use a variety of computer applications to effectively model technology for the staff. Encourage the use of Web 2.0 applications such as blogs, wikis, and podcasts. Start your own Web 2.0 blog where you describe your own experiences with new technology. Finally, don’t forget your physical space. Use your virtual space to promote the events and services offered in your physical library. Start working on these steps today. Try things you have never tried but also gather resources and ideas from trusted colleagues and experts.
Matt Souza - March 20, 2009
Social Networking and Your Library OPAC!Preview By: Fiehn, Barbara. MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, Sep/Oct2008, Vol. 15 Issue 5, p27-29, 3p, 5 color; (AN 34689396)
This article is right up our alley and discusses some of the same issues that we have delved into in LIB 233. For one, this article focuses on social networking and educational technology. IN particular, this article promotes the benefits of Web 2.0. It also discusses the fact that many schools are blocking access to social networking applications on the Internet since they are difficult to oversee and can provide distractions, but some school library automation OPACs are beginning to take advantage of these tools and provide such applications to students and staff. The article also adds that the people are very enthusiastic and cautious at the same time in incorporating new technology in schools. Lastly, this article also provides some reference information for some of the first groups that have incorporated this technolog including Follett, Fish4Info, Amazon and Mandarin and discusses their successes.
Cristina Johnson
March 27, 2009
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