The Project Begins

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.