In November of 2015, I went to the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) conference in Columbus, Ohio. Before going I had signed up for a pre-conference workshop on guided inquiry and the humanities project. After attending the workshop, I spent the rest of my time at any workshop or session relating to guided inquiry or research. This was the catalyst which eventually led to the decision to try a project in grade 9 study skills, which would allow us to embed a number of skills, which are taught through stand alone lessons at the moment. This workshop and the subsequent ones at AASL, also led me to reevaluate all my suppositions on the research process.
This is where I'm at today. I had already come to the conclusion that we are teaching research skills ineffectively. At the moment I try to fill in the 'blanks' and model to teachers during class visits to the library, for a research introduction, at the beginning of a particular unit or project. I use LibGuides as a pathfinder for topics, and include in them Internet resources, links to the best of our databases for the topic, instruction via google slides on the use of the library catalog, Noodletools and citation, links to other libraries, etc.
For two years I have been working with students on key words/search terms for their particular topic and other search assistance for using databases and search engines. My students are fully briefed in the correct answers to questions, such as the optimum number of key words to use in any search. Do they follow that advice in their own research? No, or at least not enough of them to make a noticeable difference. In fact they are aware of all the advice but continue in their old ways, habits established in primary school. To add to the mix, is the fact that many of the teachers I work with, have little or no understanding of how to effectively research or to use the Internet to find information. Therefore they are unable to model the process for their students.
We are a full IB school and approaches to learning should be at the centre of what we do. We talk a lot about the ATLs and ensure that they are in our unit planners but something is obviously not working out as it should. A few years ago, we introduced a 'study skills' course in grades 9 and 10 (last two years of MYP) to make sure that students did have the necessary skills, such as time management, exam preparation, note taking, etc. They should have acquired these in the years preceding but haven't. My feeling is that teachers find that teaching the content and skills of their subject and all that that entails, is time consuming enough. They simply don't have the time, energy or knowledge to come up with activities to embed in their curriculum which will ensure that the ATLs are taught effectively.
So where do we go from here? I have some answers to that question, which I will pursue in subsequent posts.
Monday, 6 June 2016
Friday, 3 June 2016
And once again I begin again!
How embarrassing to read posts what you have written in the past. It is rather like looking back at your teenaged self in your diary. Cringeworthy to say the least. I have decided to start posting again in this blog in order to give myself a place to write and think about what I am doing as a librarian. I have weeded out previous post, which really have no further relevance and may take down more. However, for the time being I think that the ones I have left will give me subjects to contemplate over the course of this next spate of writing.
Last year I was inspired to write as part of 28 days of writing on Twitter. I will put up some of those posts here and make further comments on them and well as exploring some of what has been written here in previous posts.
However, to start with I am going to write about and examine the "project" I am working on for next year's grade 9 study skills class. You will find this in the next post.
Last year I was inspired to write as part of 28 days of writing on Twitter. I will put up some of those posts here and make further comments on them and well as exploring some of what has been written here in previous posts.
However, to start with I am going to write about and examine the "project" I am working on for next year's grade 9 study skills class. You will find this in the next post.
Friday, 2 March 2012
Forging the Technology-Curriculum Link
Last night, I attended a webinar offered by Edweek, entitled “Forging the Technology-Curriculum Link”. It was described as “a webinar exploring the need for educators to be thoughtful and deliberate in aligning both technology and curriculum to develop the most successful programs for students.” The speakers were Noreen M. Walton, director of learning support services for the 33,000-student Poway Unified School District in San Diego; and Mark Hofer, associate professor of educational technology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va. In a few days time, a link will be available to the archived webinar and I will send that out to interested parties.
I found the speakers and the questions, which followed to be very helpful in my own deliberations on how to help teachers integrate information technology into their curricula. I have been offering workshops on various applications, which I have been using and which I felt would be of use to certain teachers in certain subject areas. The difficulty has always been to avoid becoming so enthused by the application or the technology that you try to find a place to use it, whether or not it is the best solution. In other words, one can end up layering the technology on top of the curriculum, rather than embedding it. One needs to learn to see each technology or application as one of a series of tools, which may or may not be appropriate to the task at hand. It is a sobering reminder of how carried away one can become when one offers a high-tech solution to a task, which only required a whiteboard and marker pen. I find myself guilty of this at times.
Noreen Walton talked of the need to have members of her IT department go into the classroom to see how technologies are being used and to meet regularly with teachers to discuss their needs and problems. Mark Hofer discussed his work with identifying the activity types in each subject area and the possible technologies, which could be used for each. You might like to have a look at: http://activitytypes.wmwikis.net/HOME)
When the archived webinar becomes available, I will post a link. I think that any librarian or teacher, involved in the integration of technology would benefit from it.
I found the speakers and the questions, which followed to be very helpful in my own deliberations on how to help teachers integrate information technology into their curricula. I have been offering workshops on various applications, which I have been using and which I felt would be of use to certain teachers in certain subject areas. The difficulty has always been to avoid becoming so enthused by the application or the technology that you try to find a place to use it, whether or not it is the best solution. In other words, one can end up layering the technology on top of the curriculum, rather than embedding it. One needs to learn to see each technology or application as one of a series of tools, which may or may not be appropriate to the task at hand. It is a sobering reminder of how carried away one can become when one offers a high-tech solution to a task, which only required a whiteboard and marker pen. I find myself guilty of this at times.
Noreen Walton talked of the need to have members of her IT department go into the classroom to see how technologies are being used and to meet regularly with teachers to discuss their needs and problems. Mark Hofer discussed his work with identifying the activity types in each subject area and the possible technologies, which could be used for each. You might like to have a look at: http://activitytypes.wmwikis.net/HOME)
When the archived webinar becomes available, I will post a link. I think that any librarian or teacher, involved in the integration of technology would benefit from it.
Monday, 20 February 2012
Oh no! Number 11! Top 10 Revisited!
Did I really think that I would be able to stick to only 10 top sites for teaching and learning? I should have known better for within moments of making the post, I had already thought of another. Today I have to add number 11: RCampus, a site where I made a rubric this morning for the Prezi presentations a group of science students are doing tomorrow. I can see that this site definitely have the potential of being one of my top 10.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
I'm having a "what about" moment!
Having posted about my top ten web applications, I've just thought of another, which I really can't leave out. So, I am going to take out Twitter and replace it with
Jog The Web! When rethinking it, I decided that though I find Twitter really useful, it is probably less so for classroom teachers. So the list is now:
Top Ten
1. Netvibes
2. Diigo
3. Prezi
4. Noodletools
5. Jog the Web
6. Glogster
7. Wikispaces / PB Works
8. Blogger
9. Google Docs
10. Wallwisher / Wordle
Jog The Web! When rethinking it, I decided that though I find Twitter really useful, it is probably less so for classroom teachers. So the list is now:
Top Ten
1. Netvibes
2. Diigo
3. Prezi
4. Noodletools
5. Jog the Web
6. Glogster
7. Wikispaces / PB Works
8. Blogger
9. Google Docs
10. Wallwisher / Wordle
Diigo List for IL Workshop
One of my favorite web applications is Diigo. With it I organize my bookmarks and share them with others. Often, I will set up a Diigo list for a particular research project and the students are given the link so that they can use the sites on the list as their jumping off point. Today I discovered that I can put a list in a blog post directly from Diigo. Thus, the list below!
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Metropolitan Museum of Art curators talk about maps: voice over and images only. This would be good to show teachers in IT presentation.
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5 Fantastic Ways to Use Wallwisher in the Classroom – SimpleK12
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Class blogs: a better way to teach? | Education | guardian.co.uk
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web2 - what the Internet can do for you as a creator, a collaborator, an active participant
Finally I'm back blogging! My Top 10 Web Applications for Teaching and Learning
I know that this list will be different for everyone according to their need but here is my top ten for teaching and learning. I realize now that I have come up with the list, that they meet the criteria of the questions below.
1. Does it make my life easier?
2. Does it enrich or further enable learning?
3. Is it fast and easy to learn to use?
4. Is it sustainable?
Top Ten
1. Netvibes
2. Diigo
3. Prezi
4. Noodletools
5. Twitter
6. Glogster
7. Wikispaces / PB Works
8. Blogger
9. Google Docs
10. Wallwisher / Wordle
1. Does it make my life easier?
2. Does it enrich or further enable learning?
3. Is it fast and easy to learn to use?
4. Is it sustainable?
Top Ten
1. Netvibes
2. Diigo
3. Prezi
4. Noodletools
5. Twitter
6. Glogster
7. Wikispaces / PB Works
8. Blogger
9. Google Docs
10. Wallwisher / Wordle
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