Thoughts...

As we continue on our journeys as teacher-librarians and future teacher-librarians, I believe that it is imperative that we continue to communicate, collaborate, and learn from each other.  IMHO, striving to be a life-long learner is the only way to be a teacher!  I plan to keep updating my blog with new ideas and inspirations!  I hope those whose blogs I follow and who follow my blog continue this as well.  This is perhaps more important to me as my husband and I are moving to the Gold Coast of Australia on January 2.  This move is most likely permanent and I am beside myself with excitement – as I am a “summer person” to the core - yet I am also sad to leave my family, friends, colleagues and beautiful Vancouver.  I will continue teaching in Australia and hope to teach in another teacher-librarian position.  I know I will learn new and wonderful things from my future Australian colleagues but it is very important to me to keep a link to my existing colleagues (some of them have even become friends!) as I learn best by discussing my ideas with others and digesting their feedback and new ideas. 

 Concluding Thought:

It is important to recognize that as teacher-librarians, we have the ability (more like the responsibility) to provide and guide our students and colleagues with the skills and resources to research accurately and effectively as they develop their information literacy skills!

Thanks,

Kristi

"Podcasting 101" by Kristin Fontichiaro

Podcasting 101

by Kristin Fontichiaro

Library Media Specialist at Beverly Elementary in Michigan

March 7, 2007

 

Fontichiaro’s article “Podcasting 101” has proved to be a fantastic learning resource for me.  The article is broken down into sections such as, “What is a Podcast?”  “Equiptment Needed,” and “Podcasting Projects for Beginners.”  The article is clearly written and includes all of the necessary information, including prices for the equipment necessary and the location of the websites that support podcasting.

 

The article begins by explaining exactly what a podcast is.  It is “an audio file recorded on a computer and later shared with others. (The term "podcast" comes from combining the words "iPod" with "broadcast.")”  Podcasts can be recorded using a microphone that is plugged into a computer microphone or USB port.  Spoken word can be recorded and then layered with sound effects or music.  Because podcasts are recorded digitally, errors are easy to edit out, sections are easy to re-record and it is very simple to add music and sound effects.  Podcasts can be downloaded onto an iPod, uploaded to a web space or blog, burned onto a DC, emailed to others or fed into podcast retrieving software such as iTunes. 

 

I plan to use podcasting with my students in the future in many different ways.  Fontichiaro writes that “[w]ell-designed podcasting projects help students develop oral fluency, write with an audience in mind, develop a "writer's voice," and increase confidence. Podcasting projects such as radio plays and mock news broadcasts invite high-level thinking and ask students to synthesize and showcase learning. Students are excited by this accessible technology and motivated to do great work for a real-world audience.”  I plan to use podcasting with my grade 4-7 students as they work on their speeches for the upcoming event “Speechfest.”  Students can not only practice their speeches, but will be able to play them back for themselves and note areas of success and areas to improve upon.  Another positive aspect of using podcasting for “Speechfest” practice is that students are always eager and excited to use technology and podcasting will increase student intrest and motivation in “Speechfest.”  I plan to borrow a class set of iPods from the Surrey School District Technology Department, (our disctrict technology department will loan out iPods and microphones / headphones for units of study that include things such as podcasting), in order to utilize podcasting in a way that is no cost to my school or students. Borrowing the iPods means that our school will not have to spend any money on microphones / headphones and will not have to spend any time downloading the  necessary operating systems.  I plan to teach groups of students to podcast effectively and them have them go back and teach their classroom teachers.  This way, I do not have to have a training sessions for classroom teachers who want  to use podcasting in their classrooms!

 

Other ways that Fontichiaro suggests using podcasting are creating a class CD of research projects or creative writing stories, conducting an audio tour on a field trip, conducting interviews with school visitors such as authors, parents or superintendents, co-hosting a school radio broadcast, completing tests orally for students with special needs who have difficulty writing, and for French teachers to record a series of questions for students leaving a pause after each for the answer.  

 

An important factor to remember is that in the interenst of personal safety and privacy, students should not include details such as their last names, addresses, or names of community organizations. 

 

In short, Fontichiaro’s article, “Podcasting 101” has inspired me to use podcasting in many ways with my students.  I notice that new ideas often do not get used unless they are implemented within 30 days or so of when they are learned.  To ensure that I will use my newfound knowledge on podcasting, I plan to request iPods from the district tomorrow and have students begin podcasting to practice for “Speechfest” as soon as the iPods arrive!

Fontichiaro, Kristin.  "Podcasting 101."  School Library Media Activities Monthly.  Vol. XXIII, Mar. 7/07. 

"Collaboration Practices" by Carolyn S. Brodie

“Collaboration Practices”

 By Carolyn S. Brodie

 Ph.D. Professor at Kent State University, School of Library and Information  

 Science

 October 2, 2007

 

In Carolyn Brodie’s article, “Collaboration Practices,” she discusses the elements of good collaboration and who makes a good collaborator.  Brodie focuses on collaboration between teacher-librarians and classroom teachers and introduces and explains how the Institute for Library and Information Literacy Education (ILILE) can enrich and support such collaboration.

 

The main goal of ILILE “has been to learn how to use library media centers and information resources (i.e., print, electronic, and Web-based) to more effectively enhance student learning.”  ILILE focuses on activities with PK-12 classroom teachers, teacher-librarians, and college students collaborating as peer-learner teaching teams. 

 

Brodie recognizes that the biggest challenge that faces teacher-librarians and classroom teacher who want to work collaboratively is finding the time to collaborate.  Finding this time is difficult but not impossible, as Brodie suggests that the school administrator can foster collaboration.  I have found in my own collaborative practices that supportive administrators make a huge positive impact on collaboration.  My current administrator had done many things to facilitate my collaboration with classroom teachers such as covering the classroom teacher’s class while we collaborate, covering my prep. classes while we collaborate and even taking all of the primary and then intermediate students into the gym once a month to allow those teachers to collaborate with myself and each other! 

 

Proactive behaviour by the teacher-librarian is another suggestions of Brodie’s to help facilitate collaboration.  I have had success with this method, as a simple recess conversation with a colleague on a theme that they are teaching is enough to steer me in the right direction to gather appropriate resources to support their theme and suggest ways in which we can collaborate on the theme.  A good understanding of the curriculum is helpful in such situations and I am constantly working to expand and improve on my knowledge of the curriculum. 

 

Brodie writes, “[a]nother quality that makes a good collaborator is a strong sense of professionalism and respect for one another. It involves a willingness to approach ideas in a new way. Certainly a mesh of personalities comes about as the collaboration grows, and it is almost essential to have a sense of humor.”  I have learned a great deal from each teacher that I have collaborated with.  The road to and during collaboration is not always smooth and it is nice to see Brodie recognize that fact.  I must call upon my professionalism every now and then when a collaboration hits a bump and opposing views and ideas emerge but sometimes, working through difference causes the greatest learning opportunities of all!

 

Brodie’s article lists some of the benefits that participants gained from learning from the ILILE:

 

• “Collaborating as a team.
  
•  Learning together about subject-specific resources in an instructional area.
  
• Gaining knowledge from other educators and teams working in the same subject area but from another part of the state.
  
•   Learning more about important links and resources such as the ODE Academic Content Standards and Ohio Guidelines for Effective School Library Media Programs
  
• Gaining skills together in using electronic resources to provide information for students and teachers.”
  

 

There is much that I can take from Brodie’s article to further my collaborative practices.  “Collaboration Practices” really spoke to my heart as I found reinforcement for some of my current practices and inspiration to carry these practices further.

Brodie, Carolyn S.  "Collaboration Practices."  School Library Media Activities Monthly.  Vol. XXIII, Oct. 2/07.

Geographical Resources

Marilyn Rivers-Bowerman attracted my attention with her discussion on geographical resources.  

She concluded, "I think that the "best" geographical resource is dependent upon the purpose and the type of research assigned. If I want quick and easy locations, I would use a print atlas, recently published, and that has a clear, alphabetized index. However, if I am looking for more detailed and specialty information, certain online sites would be an excellent place to start. The bottom line is to evaluate these reference sources for authority, scale, currency, index, and format."

Marilyn has hit the nail on the head as far as I am concerned.  It is important for teachers to know, as well as teach their students, exactly what the purposes of their research are.  Once their purposes are clearly defined, it is much easier to know where to start looking; print resources such as atlases, or electronic resources such as the CIA World Factbook database.  If a student is researching the geography of a country, they should look for resources that reflect this focus such as maps and population statistics.  If they are researching the culture of a country, their focus would not be to find maps and population statistics.  

Databases

Its your friendly, neighbourhood teacher librarian here with some thoughts on databases and google!

When working with my partners for Assignment 3, Tosha and Jennifer Kennedy, Tosha inspired me with a resource titled, "Its google.com, not google.edu!"  Although this is something that, as teachers we all recognize, it is important to remember that our students will probably not make this distinction automatically.  When I ask my grade 6 and 7 students if they know that some of the information that they find on the internet is not true, they all answer yes, but they do not seem concerned with presenting false information in their projects.  The students of mine that come to the library to do research are quite used to me directing them to the Encyclopedia of BC online, or World Book online, (these sites are provided free by the Surrey School District), but the information they are looking for is often not in these databases.  In a perfect world, we would have access to fabulous databases on Freddy Adu (soccer star), Chris Brown (R and B singer and dancer - and boyfriend of Rhiana), and Trevor Linden (probably needs no expl.).  Unfortunately, when doing biographical research on people who are somewhat recently popular, students have no choice but to use a larger search engine such as google.  I have made an effort to stock my library with books on these recent popular icons (there is an awesome NFic series called "Hip Hop" by Mason Crest publishing that has titles such as Mariah Carey, LL Cool J, Chris Brown etc) but it is impossible to cover everyone.  In short, databases are best for the topics that they cover but we need access to more inclusive databases with current and popular topics and information to better serve our students.  Regarding the more current, popular topics I will continue to teach my students how to ethically and efficiently research on Google.

Library Navigation and Critical Analysis of found Information

“Collaborative teaching is awesome” you think, as you and a colleague give 25 students a carefully planned assignment that uses research skills, critical thinking, and has room for a creative spin.  Oops, one problem, you have been so busy with challenging your students that you have forgotten to give them the basics of navigating a library and evaluating the information that they discover and they turn into MONSTERS! AHHHH!

That is a dramatization of what happened to Barbera Ripp Safford one sad day and it inspired her to re-visit the basics!  Her article, “How to help students handle the information overload” speaks to the importance of teaching students to be self sufficient and knowledgeable in locating resources and to be able to determine the value of the information that the locate.  She states, “[m]ost important to the search process… is teaching students to critically analyze their search results and choose the best information for their particular needs."  It is vital that students know how to choose the best information for their topic of research.  To be effective teacher-librarians (media specialists), we must teach our students to analyze the information they find and understand that the top website, top article or first section in a non-fiction book may not be the best for their research needs.

In my school library, I spend a great deal of the month of September doing lessons with my students on how to successfully navigate all of the different areas of the library.  My lessons are hands on and very successful as I do not get many “where is -----” questions after students have completed them.  Safford’s article has inspired me to spend more time on teaching my students how to analyze the information that they are able to locate to determine the best information for their needs.  I will now spend more time teaching my students to look at all of the information they find with a critical eye and explaining how to determine the best information for their research needs.  

Safford, Barbara Ripp.  "How to help students handle the information overload."  School Library Media Activities Monthly.  Vol. XXIII, Oct. 2/06.

Re-thinking my Bias to a Reference Source

After reading section 4 of lesson 4, “References and Teacher-Librarian Bias,” I have decided to give some online sources that I discouraged my students from using another chance.  One example of a source that I will give another chance to is Wikipedia.  One of the reasons that I have steered my students away from Wikipedia in the past is that it is unreliable in the area of Accuracy, Authority, and Bias.  Because anyone can write into or change an entry in Wikipedia, it is impossible to know if the information is accurate and free of bias.  This area or accuracy however is only one of Reidling’s (and my) criteria for the evaluation of reference materials and although important may not be a reason to completely disregard an information source.  The accuracy of information on Wikipedia can be confirmed by simply comparing the information gained on the site with information gained from other sources and making sure that it is consistent.  The advantages of Wikipedia are its scope is often the perfect depth for elementary students, it is presented in a user-friendly layout, it is extremely current and it is free.  Those are a lot of advantages!  I will be recommending Wikipedia as a good source of reference to my students in the future but will be warning them about the accuracy problem and explaining to them the importance of comparing the information they glean from Wikipedia to other sources of information to make sure it is consistent.