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.