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Assignment 1, LLED 462

Final Learning Log – LLED 462 Reflection

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For my final course towards my Diploma in Teacher Librarianship, I feel like this was a good course to end with. This course allowed me to delve deeper into many concepts and digital tools that I had come across in earlier courses but hadn’t had a chance to explore enough to feel confident to apply in my teaching practice. In addition, it was interesting to me that many of the modules coincided with what I was teaching, seeing or needing at that exact time.  For example, in having more exposure and exploring multi-modal texts, I started to notice different ways children were expressing their learning, including my own children. I think by being aware of the significance of ways that children express their learning and acknowledging what they are doing encourages them to build on their thinking and their creations. At the time of reading the article “Becoming Multimodal: Literacy In and Beyond the Classroom”, I noticed that my eight-year-old daughter was creating a “diary” in the style of “The Owl Diaries”. I’m not sure if I would have noticed exactly what she was doing or why if I hadn’t read that article. Additionally, I really enjoyed reading the blog post by  Shveta Miller,  “The surprising benefits of student-created graphic novels” as I really try to encourage classroom teachers to accept graphic novels as beneficial literature to students and teach students more skills in comprehension for graphic novels. After reading this article, I began talking to classes about graphic novels and realized that many teachers and students thought graphic novels and illustrated novels were the same. This sparked further discussion and I was able to apply some of the concepts presented by Miller such as the frame and gutter. I would like to read the book that she suggested  Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud to get more ideas to help with more graphic novel studies in classes. 

Through the readings, I also found and was inspired by different text suggestions such as “The Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed” by Mo Willems. At the time of reading the article  “The King of Denmark and the Naked Mole Rat: Teaching Critical Thinking for Social Justice ” by Danielle McLaughlin, I was featuring Mo Willems as the author of the month in the LLC for “Mo”vember. Of course, I purchased it for the school right away and I shared it with all of the classes. I know this book was suggested in relation to social justice issues, which can clearly be a discussion point, but I also found it great to discuss diversity and make non-fiction connections and inquiry lessons for!

As well, I previously found and heard about web tools such as Symbaloo and Padlet but I hadn’t had the opportunity to try them until this course. I am grateful that there was a learning log question to try out Symbaloo as after I created one, I shared it with classes through Microsoft TEAMS. In addition, for a student inquiry on owls with one class, I used a combo of Symbaloo and Padlet; I created a Symbaloo with specific owl sites and then posted a link to a Padlet in their TEAM so they could post their learning on the Padlet after finding it through Symbaloo. The students loved seeing their post come up on the Padlet and I liked the fact that I could approve it before it was posted. In using these platforms, I have had great feedback from teachers and students and have teachers who want to try and create their own.

In addition, I have always wanted to incorporate a specific maker space area in my LLC but I always felt like I wanted it to have a specific purpose.    The “StoryMaking” resource was incredibly motivating for me and I am excited to use the concepts and share it with my staff; I know specific teachers who will be very interested in it. I plan to use the ideas I outlined in my assignment 3 to create makerspace(s) in my LLC and try out StoryMaking units with many classes. I shared my assignment 3 with my principal and professional development committee as well and it is in future professional development plans for me to share with staff. I have always thought that I should do a professional development presentation to staff in connection with inquiry-based learning but didn’t have the time or opportunity to create a well-prepared presentation. So, I am also glad that this assignment motivated me to create a document that I feel confident and proud to share with my staff.

Teacher Librarian advocacy has always been a bit difficult for me. Of course I feel strongly that Teacher Librarians and the proper use of the Library Learning Commons are essential to student and school success. In addition, I know that Teacher Librarians need to be prepared to advocate for our positions and the importance of the LLC but I have never felt fully prepared with specific points to defend my position. After writing learning log #4 and thinking through my points, I feel like I would be able to support my position with evidence and research because when challenged, it is always best to have specific support.

At the beginning of taking courses towards the Diploma in Teacher Librarianship, I felt like I was technologically literate but I was only submitting my assignments in WORD documents! Then, in the first course where I was required to create a blog, I was terrified and didn’t want to do it, now it is my preferred way to submit my work, as you may have noticed! There were times when I felt like quitting but I am glad I completed all ten courses because I do feel fully prepared to be a Teacher Librarian who can be an educational leader. Now, I will be continuing to use all of this accumulated learning in my practice.

Works cited:

Compton, M., & Thompson, R. (2018). Storymaking: A Maker Movement Approach to Literacy for Early Learners [Ebook]. Redleaf Press.

Lenters, K. ( 2018). Becoming Multimodal: Literacy In and Beyond the ClassroomLinks to an external site. The Reading Teacher, 71( 6), 643– 649. 

McLaughlin, D. (July 5, 2012). “The King of Denmark and the Naked Mole Rat: Teaching Critical Thinking for Social Justice”. EdCan Network. Retrieved from:https://www.edcan.ca/articles/the-king-of-denmark-and-the-naked-mole-rat-teaching-critical-thinking-for-social-justice/.

Miller, S.  (July 21, 2019). “The surprising benefits of student-created graphic novels.” Cult of Pedagogy. Retrieved from: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/student-graphic-novels/. 

Quote Master. (2020). Teacher Librarians [Image]. Retrieved 29 November 2020, from https://www.quotemaster.org/teacher+librarians#&gid=1&pid=8.

Assignment 1, Assignments, LLED 462

Advocacy for Teacher Librarians: Learning Log 4 from Module 12

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Linking ideas for Teacher Librarian advocacy through the modules of LLED 462:

Over the years, there has been great shifts in the level of importance expressed for Teacher Librarians and libraries by the government. Before the BCTF collective agreement and numbers were reinstated, classroom teachers had gotten used to functioning independently and surviving without sufficient support from Teacher Librarians. When I first began as a Teacher Librarian, I quickly realized that classroom teachers were reluctant to work with me and rely on my support because there was a fear that it would be taken away again. Now, I feel like I have gained the trust and respect from classroom teachers as I have built relationships and proven that I have expertise to assist them in innovative learning endeavors in their classrooms. However, I also know that part of my job is to constantly display how essential my job is by continuously advocating for the importance of Teacher Librarians and the Library Learning Commons space to be used correctly. I have also realized that having specific research and data to back-up my claims strengthens my case when I am faced with a challenge. Therefore, I am thankful for this final module and all of the evidence advocating for the continued importance of Teacher Librarians.

In this final module of the course, the following issues were highlighted as areas of concern and reasons why schools cannot do without highly qualified Teacher Librarians and a designated Library Learning Commons.

Without a fully-functioning Library Learning Commons with an adequate number of books per student and a highly qualified Teacher Librarian, students cannot reach their full potential. If children are impoverished, they probably don’t have access to sufficient nourishment let alone books; however, as Stephen Krashen explains, “Access to a library with 500 books or more balances the effect of poverty ” (Krashen, 2020). In addition, a highly qualified Teacher Librarian knows how to aid in pairing individuals with resources to suit their needs even if they don’t know what they are looking for. Having extensive knowledge of the library collection, available resources and patrons makes Teacher Librarians  “Effective readers’ advisers [because they] understand that their success depends on familiarity with a range of books, as well as with their patrons” (Parrott, 2017).  As well, each time the Teacher Librarian “… sees the child, she’ll inquire about the selections, which titles the student enjoyed (or didn’t), further refining understanding of the reader” (Parrott,  2017). Connecting students to books that are of interest to them to promote the love of reading is essential to future success in that “The more people read for pleasure, the higher their literacy scores. Free voluntary reading (silent reading) is associated with higher literacy rate” (Krashen, 2020).  Therefore, Teacher Librarians and sufficient time for the Teacher Librarian in the Library Learning Commons is vital to student success because “The more school librarians per child, the higher the reading score ” (Krashen, 2020). 

Teacher Librarians teach students how to think for themselves by teaching information literacy skills.  Teacher Librarians “… are building on the potential of school libraries to enable students to become informed and engaged citizens and effective contributors to our society and our economy, through the acquisition of life skills, of information literacy strategies, and of dispositions for flexibility, creativity, and innovation” (Oberg, 2014). Teacher Librarians teach student which resources to use to find the information they are searching for and how to combine those facts in order to make informed decisions.

Teacher Librarians address social justice issues. In Hillary Clinton’s speech to the ALA she states, “The third reason why we need libraries is because we need critical thinkers more than ever. …librarians were teaching media literacy…you help learners of all ages sort out truth from fiction and how to build an argument based on rational evidence” (CNN, 2017). She goes on to say “…as Librarians, once again, you have to be on the front lines of one of the most important fights we have ever faced…the fight to defend truth and reason, evidence and facts”(CNN, 2017).  Students need to develop critical literacy skills in order to be able to question their moral beliefs and not necessarily simply follow an individual because they are in a position of power because   “Democracy does not, in fact, depend solely upon the rule of the majority; it depends upon the understanding that the majority should be subject to questions and that minority values and views will be tolerated where they do not cause significant harm” (McLaughlin, 2012). Teacher Librarians expose students to resources and teach them how to navigate information to discern if it is the truth or not. 

Teacher Librarians foster community building. Hillary Clinton also emphasizes “Why we need libraries more than ever because they are places for communities to come together” (CNN, 2017). In a school, the Library Learning Commons and the Teacher Librarian are one of the only places and people that all students visit and they see through each grade. The Library Learning Commons connects all individuals in the school not only through books but also school wide events and initiatives. The Teacher Librarian is fortunate to be able to know all of the students and teachers in the school and see them develop and grow from year to year and this directly relates to my next point.

Teacher Librarians and the Library Learning Commons promotes wellness for patrons.  Many Teacher Librarians feel like they aid in the wellbeing of patrons by providing a safe space with a caring,  individual who they have built a relationship with over the years and connects them with books that make them happy. Unfortunately, this information is purely based on observations so in the article “How Can School Libraries Support Student Wellbeing?”, Merga argues that “There is also a need for more research around libraries as safe spaces to be subject to peer review, as searches of the literature around libraries as safe spaces are more heavily weighted toward anecdotal work rather than research” (Merga, 2020, p.663).  There is research to support that “The regular reading of fiction is associated with the development of prosocial characteristics such as empathy and perspective taking (e.g. Mar et al., 2009), and book reading can be used as both a mental health and social support by adult readers” (Merga, 2020, p.665). Therefore, if a Teacher Librarian is the individual who promotes and connects patrons with books of interest then “School librarians can also support students to engage with literature in meaningful and healing ways” (Merga, 2020, p.665).

Checklist of key issues for advocacy and how I will address these issues:

  • Provide equal access to resources and information. By giving all students access to books and digital tools, no matter their backgrounds or circumstances at home, it provides opportunities for students to see new possibilities for their future. For example, in “The Bookmobile” video, Julie Zammarchi explains that simply having access to books and hearing a librarian explain that “The more you know about something, the less you will fear it”, helped her learn that there was life outside of where she lived and so was able to leave it. Promoting the library and library programs through the school newsletter and a 24/7 online participatory library learning commons will help to inform all patrons of the potential of the Library Learning Commons and provide more opportunities for developing multiple literacies.
  • Continue to promote community building in a space that is safe and inclusive area for all learners. Offering school-wide activities and initiatives through the library connect all of the individuals in the school. For example, events such as D.E.A.R., Battle of the Books, Bookfairs and read-a-thons brings the entire school community together for a common purpose. One aspect that I will be incorporating into my Library Learning Commons space that all patrons will have access to is a makerspace because “Libraries and makerspaces serve the common goal of building community. Communities of interest and practice are brought together and maintained through the design of communal space to promote sociality and collaboration (while also providing spaces for individual work)” (Weisgrau, 2015). By providing a makerspace that has enough open-ended possibility allows all students access at multiple levels. By providing opportunities such as makerspace perfectly positions future-ready learning opportunities because “Proponents of maker spaces argue that such environments address a unique package of complementary 21st century skills and aptitudes such as creativity, innovation, transmedia navigation, visual literacy, and (if based in technology) computational thinking—the kind of skills identified by the Institute of Museum and Library Services in their report on museums, libraries, and 21st century skills (2009)” (Bowler & Champagne, 2016). 
  • Push for collaboration time with classroom teachers: Collaborating with classroom teachers and individuals throughout the school district promotes community and improves students learning because “Improved schools are collaborative in their thinking and practices” (Oberg, 2014). However, classroom teachers need to have specific collaboration time with the Teacher Librarian to co-plan units for optimum success. There needs to be administrator support for this release time and it is my job to advocate for the importance of the release time so that more teachers will be encouraged to work with me. I am thankful for the evidence that “Teachers, teacher-librarians, and principals – learning and working together – support and facilitate improvements in teaching and learning” (Oberg, 2014). Students need to see constant modelling of collaborative behaviours between adults in order to successfully collaborate as well. 
  • Constantly offer and highlight multi-modal texts and ways to express and communicate learning. Students may use digital platforms on a daily basis but that does not mean they are using it responsibly, productively and to its full potential. In addition, most times children use media resources in the same way each time. Without guidance and suggestions from a knowledgeable individual, students tend to communicate ideas in a similar fashion if they don’t know other possibilities.  For example, “The work of Ito et al. (2010) certainly suggests that young people can achieve a level of criticality with regard to their digital creations but that many struggle to do so without the support of adults. Maker spaces, where young people work side-by side with knowledgeable mentors, might be a powerful crucible for developing personal and social awareness with regard to the creation and use of technology” (Bowler & Champagne, 2016, p.119). This is another way that the issue of teaching students information literacy skills helps them to be successful constructivist thinkers by helping them find the tools and resources  to be able to solve problems with innovative solutions.
  • Promoting new ways of learning. Inclusive literacy involves teaching about and touching on all literacies including traditional literacies, media literacy, digital literacy and critical literacy. One way to touch on critical literacy is to practice inquiry-based teaching and learning techniques. Although inquiry-based teaching and learning has been in practice for a while now, many teachers are not sure how to implement the techniques. Therefore, “British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ long-standing engagement with inquiry-based learning, literacy instruction and information and communication technologies (ICT) potentially positions them to effectively assist classroom teachers and students navigate ongoing shifts in curriculum aims, literacy approaches and technological applications within changing school settings (Robinson, 2011; Ekdahl & Zubke, 2014)” ( Hales and Beaudry, 2018, p.13).  I find teachers at my school need assistance in implementing simple inquiry techniques that tweak the ways they are already teaching to make it inquiry-based. I feel like my expertise as a Teacher librarian can assist uncertain classroom teachers to begin weaving in these techniques because “As the new millennium continues, educators find themselves in need of new literacy practices and instructional approaches that will provide support for students as they navigate the challenges of multimodal texts, digital environments, and new forms of texts, for example, blogs, wikis, text messages, and hypertexts” (Serafini, 2012, p.29). As well, classroom teachers need exposure to new technologies and ways to promote new possibilities for student learning. Therefore, a Teacher Librarian needs to be aware of new research findings and affectively communicate and promote new ideas.
  • Print-based text just as important that ever! Although Teacher Librarians promote the use of new technologies, it is still as important as in the past to promote physical books and adequate physical space. When advocating for the Library Learning Commons and why a physical space is necessary, it is best to have specific evidence and research to back it up. For example, there is always the argument that book will become obsolete because everything is moving to digital platforms. As Teacher Librarians, we feel strongly about the need to maintain print-based books but I feel like I need to have specific evidence to back up my claims in order to be taken seriously. Therefore reading the article “Being a better online reader” gives evidence that “While the backgrounds of the writers varied, a theme began to emerge: the more reading moved online, the less students seemed to understand” (Konnikova, 2014). I found the examples given for why comprehension is less when reading online very compelling such as “On screen, people tended to browse and scan, to look for keywords, and to read in a less linear, more selective fashion. On the page, they tended to concentrate more on following the text”(Konnikova, 2014). Before reading this article, I had heard that information retention is higher when reading print over digital text but I didn’t have any specific evidence to that and now I do. 
  • Conduct my own personal inquiries and collect evidence for continued advocacy for the Library Learning Commons and Teacher Librarians: An inquiry-based research model is an effective method of collecting evidence for advocacy such as was used in the BCTF article ““Renaissance delayed: supporting early career teacher-librarians in British Columbia”. I like the idea of Action Research (AR) as explained as “… teacher-driven education inquiry that acknowledges the practitioner as “knower and agent for educational and social change” (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009, p. 8)—in this case, participating BCTLA and BCTF union members” (Hales and Beaudry, 2018, p.4). For example, Merga’s article ” How Can School Libraries Support Student Wellbeing?” concludes that “ Promising findings on how school libraries operate as safe spaces for young people; promote and resource mental health and wellbeing initiatives; and, support and promote bibliotherapeutic practices and reading for pleasure, suggest that these, amongst other areas of relevance, can be useful starting points for furthering this research agenda ” (2020, p.670).  I also believe that the Library Learning Commons  and Teacher Librarians promote student well-being and the only evidence that I have is anecdotal; however, as I stated in relation to promoting print materials, these claims would be better supported with evidence. Therefore, I was contemplating how to collect specific evidence for advocacy and, at the moment, I believe that something such as action research and a specific inquiry would be the most effective for collecting evidence for topics such as fostering student wellness in the Library Learning Commons.

In conclusion:

I feel as if many classroom teachers are not used to having a Teacher Librarian at their disposal and therefore do not know how to fully utilize the resource. Each year, I need to promote myself and remind classroom teachers of the endless possibilities of ways that a Teacher Librarian can support them, their students and the school at large. I found this visual from another TL that summarizes the main ways that TLs can support classroom teachers. A poster like this would be beneficial to have displayed by the circulation desk or shared at a professional development day.

In the time we are presently in, I see it as more important that ever to advocate for Teacher Librarians as access to books, reading for pleasure and access to a knowledgeable individual that can connect all parts of the school community with suitable books, resources and other materials that meet their needs, promotes wellness by relieving stress for individuals.

I will continue to advocate for Teacher Librarians not only because it is my “dream job” but because I believe if we can actually achieve the vision that is set up for the Teacher Librarian, it will lead to higher student achievement, more classroom teacher satisfaction and overall school environment.

Works cited:

Bowler, L., & Champagne, R. (2016). Mindful makers: Question prompts to help guide young peoples’ critical technical practices in maker spaces in libraries, museums, and community-based youth organizations. Library and Information Science Research, 38(2), 117-124.  

CNN. (2017). Hilary Clinton full ALA Conference speech [Video]. Retrieved 28 November 2020, from https://youtu.be/S8OEAPSFp4c.

Hales, A.  and Beaudry, L..  (October 2018). “Renaissance delayed: supporting early career teacher-librarians in British Columbia.” BCTF.  Retrieved from: https://bctf.ca/uploadedFiles/Public/Publications/ResearchReports/RenaissanceDelayed/2018%20Renaissance%20Delayed-Research%20Report.pdf . 

Konnikova, M. (2014, July 16). Being a better online reader. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/being-a-better-online-reader .

Krashen, S. (2014, January 16). Dr. Stephen Krashen defends libraries at LAUSD Board Meeting [Video]. Retrieved 28 November 2020, from https://youtu.be/JAui0OGfHQY.

McLaughlin, D. (2012). The King of Denmark and the Naked Mole Rat: Teaching Critical Thinking for Social Justice. Edcan.ca. Retrieved 28 November 2020, from https://www.edcan.ca/articles/the-king-of-denmark-and-the-naked-mole-rat-teaching-critical-thinking-for-social-justice/.

Merga, M. (2020). How Can School Libraries Support Student Wellbeing? Evidence and Implications for Further Research, Journal of Library Administration, 60:6, 660-673,Retrieved from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01930826.2020.1773718 .

Mighty Little Librarian. (2020). Top 10 things your librarian do for you [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.mightylittlelibrarian.com/?p=1388.

Oberg, D. (2014). Ignoring the evidence: Another decade of decline for school libraries. Education Canada, 54(3). Retrieved from: http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/ignoring-evidence-another-decade-decline-school-libraries .

Parrott, Kiera.  (August 28, 2017).  Thinking outside the bin: why labeling books by reading level disempowers young readers.  Retrieved from: http://www.slj.com/2017/08/feature-articles/thinking-outside-the-bin-why-labeling-books-by-reading-level-disempowers-young-readers/#_ .

Quote master. (2020). Teacher Librarians [Image]. Retrieved 8 November 2020, from https://www.quotemaster.org/school+librarians.

Weisgrau, Josh.  (2015, September 24). School libraries and makerspaces: can they coexist? Retrieved from:http://www.edutopia.org/blog/school-libraries-makerspaces-coexist-josh-weisgrau.

Zammarchi, Julie. (April 13, 2016). “The Bookmobile.” StoryCorps.  Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11OvHcgh-E.

 

Assignment 1, LLED 462

Inquiry using makerspace in the LLC: Learning Log #3 – prompt from module 9

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Purpose:

Throughout the school year, I am constantly in conversation with teachers, dropping in on classes, talking to and observing students, to see what everyone is interested in or working on currently. The way I choose resources and activities for the library is usually based on how learning is being directed at the school at the time. Most times, resources that pique my interest connect with learning or interests that have been expressed in my school.

In addition, I have been trying to find ways to foster a culture of inquiry in my current school as it has been sparse thus far. In my previous school, there was a very strong culture of inquiry and the grade 4/5 students would have a showcase at the end of the year presenting personal open-inquiry projects and it was fabulous! At my current school, there is limited inquiry and I have noticed that grade 4/5 students get easily frustrated and are afraid to make mistakes without having practice with inquiry-based learning starting in earlier grades. It is my goal to start teaching inquiry-type skills starting in kindergarten and continuing to build on the skills in the hopes that when those students reach grade 4/5, they will be more inclined to be successful with inquiry-based learning. As well, with teachers now being expected to teach ADST curriculum, many have expressed that this is a challenging area for them. Therefore, the module 9 reading and exemplars were very interesting to me as “Supporting Learners as Inquirers and Designers” is a particular focus in my teaching now and I will discuss the readings that I feel will help me meet my current goals for this school year.

Connections:

Just recently, in the week leading up to Halloween, for library storytime,  I was inspired by the multi-modal text examples and multi-literacy learning as of late so I decided to tell oral stories with paper props with primary students. The results were more than I could have hoped for! I was hoping to surprise and delight students with a different kind of story, which it did, but also, students were directly reporting to me that they were retelling the stories and trying to reproduce the paper props with others at center time or at home! So, I was already considering what other ways I could inspire students to create, re-create or retell stories using other types of visuals and then the module 9 readings supplied some answers and suggestions for me.

I found the example of “Story Studio” inspirational as I was thinking of creating an area of the LLC with loose parts for students to create their own stories. My school has an oral storytelling kit with loose parts such as small rounds of wood and small animal puppets but I have not seen it used in classes for a while so I thought it could be incorporated into my own “Story Studio”. I appreciate how the presentation states that the intention of the project is “….how this creative, ‘playful literacy’ structure can enhance oral language development and ALL children’s identity as author’s, artists and storytellers in other learning contexts, such as school libraries” (Good et al., 2019). It was just so great seeing the excitement and surprise from young students at their own success in storytelling that I want to keep the momentum going and foster that feeling for those students. In the presentation, I also like the suggestions for how to start because that is a part I was struggling with; deciding on where to go with this idea. I thought I needed more stories like the Halloween stories but I like how the “Story Studio” lays out “Providing prompts or provocations for storytelling through anchor books or a new material; setting an intention for the session; creating stories by gathering materials, playing with the materials and making a story through collaboration or independently and finally, sharing and/or recording the story” (Good et al., 2019). As well, I appreciate that a reflection is included because in my understanding, reflecting is one of the most important aspects of inquiry-based learning. Finally, with this presentation, I like how they shared the focus topics for different age levels and explained that the grade 5 students were just as excited as the early primary students to explore the story studio. The presentation explained that they used digital storytelling as part of the sharing process but I wish they had given some examples of what kind of digital storytelling or specific digital tools that they used.

Another useful reading from this module that connects to this idea is the book Storymaking: the Maker Movement Approach to Literacy for Early Learners. Even in the module notes it expresses that this book is already creating a buzz in BC Early Learning Networks and I also feel like there are teachers on my staff that would find this book very interesting and useful as well. Of course, most teachers already acknowledge the importance of learning through play especially in primary classrooms but I feel like the part that will be of particular interest is the sharing and communicating of “completed” stories. I found this book to be so full of great ideas that I would like to try and implement in the LLC. For example, with primary students, I already like to do “wonder” lessons with anchor texts and thought-provoking pictures so I can see adding in “wonders of the week” to a “story making” corner that could inspire story ideas for students. I like the chart on page 49 with suggestions for “Wonder of the Week”:

In addition, I can see teachers using the suggestions for how to easily incorporate “Story making” in the classroom such as students sharing stories from something that happened the day before while waiting for others to finish morning routine. 

One concern I had when thinking about how to use props in story making is how to make it structured so that it is not simply play but play with a purpose. Several times throughout the text, it reinforces the importance of students having a plan before beginning “Story making”, at one point stating, “One of the best strategies we have taught our early learners is how to imagine before they play (or make) their stories” (51). It seems so simple but it would seem to solve many potential problems and give students direction before “story making”. There are a lot of good suggestions on how to help students plan before making.

This text is so rich in information and suggestions about how to implement “story making” that it felt a bit overwhelming in reading it but it helped me come away with a better grasp about how I could purposefully carry out “story making” to practice inquiry in the library through story-telling in the LLC. The text also gives evidence to back up the claims which is always good to have if ever needing to justify why an activity is chosen.

The last article that I would like to reflect on is “Mindful makers: Question prompts to help guide young peoples’ critical technical practices in maker spaces in libraries, museums, and community-based youth organizations”. Like the two previous articles, this article focuses on maker space, which I have expressed is a current point of interest of mine. As I also expressed earlier, I find that without the opportunity to practice inquiry skills from very young, it can be difficult for older students; however, I like the suggestions in the article as ways to foster inquiry skills with those learners.  In this article as well, it makes good points to support the use of maker space activities such as “Proponents of maker spaces argue that such environments address a unique package of complementary 21st century skills and aptitudes such as creativity, innovation, transmedia navigation, visual literacy, and (if based in technology) computational thinking…”(Bowler & Champagne, 2016,117). In addition, I like how the article states that, “Production offers value beyond an end product for makers; they develop new literacies by engaging with tools and processes that may not surface in conventional learning environments” (Bowler & Champagne, 2016,118).  I found it interesting to read that the questioning process is important to the maker process and that there was found to be specific questions: “These questions can, collectively, serve as a tool kit for scaffolding critical practices in maker spaces for youth: • What will make me happy? • Who is my audience? • What resources do I have and need? • What will inspire me to give my time and effort to a project?• What do I know? • Can I let myself make a mistake? • How will my creation affect other people? • What kind of maker am I?” (Bowler & Champagne, 2016, 120-121). Like I said, sometimes it can be challenging to guide students that are a little bit older in inquiry-based learning if they do not have much prior experience and it can easily get frustrating for students and the teacher which can lead to giving up on the idea of inquiry. Therefore, it is good to have these specific focus questions for both teachers and students to keep in mind for any inquiry-based teaching and learning because, as the article argues, “The central instrument is the relationship and dialogue between mentor and youth maker. Although certainly not the only solution, question prompts that occur within the framework of a conversation can be a useful tool to help scaffold deeper thinking about making and support a disposition toward a mindful and critical technical practice” (Bowler & Champagne, 2016,124). These are the kinds of tools I need to supply teachers to encourage more inquiry-based teaching and learning at my school. 

Conclusions:

Over the years of being a TL, I have tried a few maker space and/or STEM activities in the LLC but I have yet to set up a permanent or even semi-permanent dedicated space. I am always considering where to put it, what it should contain and how to implement it for students to purposefully use. I think I have been putting it off because I knew I should do it but didn’t really have a concrete understanding. So, I am grateful that these articles are included as reading for this course and module as now I feel like I have a starting place and specific goals to begin my maker space. Finally, I feel like having a focus of oral storytelling for my makerspace will be more manageable than trying to create a makerspace with materials for every purpose imaginable.

 

Works cited:

Bowler, L., & Champagne, R. (2016). Mindful makers: Question prompts to help guide young peoples’ critical technical practices in maker spaces in libraries, museums, and community-based youth organizations. Library and Information Science Research, 38(2), 117-124.  

Canva. (2020). Four-panel photo montage store header [Image]. Retrieved 7 November 2020, from https://www.canva.com/design/DAEM3KU_plQ/DdMt5L6188HhxaVxVM5i_Q/edit?layoutQuery=story+website+header.

Compton, Michelle Kay, et al. Storymaking: the Maker Movement Approach to Literacy for Early Learners. Redleaf Press, 2018. (ebook)

Good, S., Araujo, J., Shuster, L., & Meredith, A. (2019). Story Studio: Collaborative Inquiry. Presentation, Burnaby School District.

Assignment 1, Assignments, LLED 462

Online tools for the Teacher Librarian – Learning log 2 from module 6

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Introduction:

Over my time taking all of the courses for the Diploma in Teacher Librarianship, I have come across a variety of documents, website and webtools that I keep saying I will come back to explore more because I have only had the time to skim them. Symbaloo is one of those tools. I heard of SYMBALOO and found an example of one recently so it has been on my “to-do list” since then. Now, I am glad that I have the opportunity to explore it and create my own.

The process:

The first thing I did was watch the informational video and it was helpful to learn that there are two versions and I did not know about the edu.symbaloo.com. The video gave many good tips and I ended up watching it a few times.

I feel like a webmix would be very useful as a start page on a 24/7 Participatory Learning Commons website. On my Destiny Original homepage, we have a list of helpful links to websites but I have always found it very challenging for the students to look through all the text to find the site needed. I always felt that having a more visual collection of links would be more accessible for K-5 students and have asked for it before but it has not happened. Therefore, I feel like something like Symbaloo is an answer to this problem as it is a collection of weblinks but with more visuals which I feel will be more user-friendly for my patrons. Additionally, I think it would be useful to have separate ones for students, parents and teachers. I like the idea of the “lesson plan” tool in Symbaloo and think it might be a good solution to some challenges for our eBlend teachers in our district.

The kinds of Symbaloo I have decided to create this time contains a variety of webtools to specific areas that are highly used or in need at our school at the moment. The purpose of this webmix will be a quick access tool for students and teachers of high use sites.

In watching the instructional video, it reminded me of many tools that I have been meaning to use or had forgotten about. In addition, it made suggestions for new tools to me or how to find helpful tools in my desired area.

This is what I have added to my webmix and why.

Useful sites that I have been using and will be using more:

Office365 – District-wide for all staff and students.

Destiny homepage for my LLC catalog

Scholastic website has many useful areas

Common Sense Media – lessons for digital citizenship

Cool Math 4 kids – different than it used to be so I felt like we needed new math game sites.

ABCYA – good for our primary students with age-appropriate games in literacy, numeracy, and computer skills.

Starfall – I especially like the literacy tools on this site for early primary.

Kiddle – search engine for kids

Code.org – I find this a very useful site for teaching and applying coding skills for all ages, not sure if I can find one to top it. I did try to find a few others to add to the Symbaloo.

Wonderopolis – good for teaching inquiry skills

Sites/tools I have heard of and wanted to explore more:

Padlet – was suggested to me by an instructor in another course as a possible presentation tool and I looked at it but decided it was not what I needed at the time but think it could be useful for students and teachers.

ReadWriteThink – I have heard of good lesson ideas here.

Vimeo – I would like to play around with the video tools more.

Buncee – heard of this on a facebook group and want to learn more about it.

Voicethread – For making videos for book talks/book trailers or another way to share learning.

Flipgrid – I have heard of other educators using this tool and finding it useful but I haven’t used it myself yet.

New sites/tools to me:

eMaze presentation tool software

StoryboardThat – storyboard app for digital storytelling – I am excited to explore and use this with students.

Explain Everything – whiteboard app – teacher tool

Go formative – looks like a good teacher tool

Brainpop jr. – I like how this site appears to have tools for a variety of subject areas.

I was looking for some new, age appropriate free math sites and typing tools and online drawing sites so that is why I have added a few of those.

Rationale:

Like many other students in the class, in looking at the BC Digital Literacy Framework, I felt very overwhelmed. Although I have begun to teach technology lessons to intermediate students, I’m not sure how students are going to meet all of the outcomes listed in the framework. Also, like many classmates commented, I feel like many teachers are not aware of the framework. Even as the Media/Technology specialist, I only found out about NETS in my 9th course in the program but it seems like the most important aspect because, as the framework states,”The profiles are based on International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) NETS•S standards and a belief that all students must have regular opportunities to use technology to develop skills that encourage personal productivity, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration in the classroom and in daily life”(“Digital Literacy – Province of British Columbia”, 2020). At another staff meeting or professional development day, I would like to ask other teachers if they are familiar with it. 

What I found most useful in the framework is the suggested lessons for specific grade/age levels. For example, the lesson ideas for grades 3-5 such as ” Produce a media-rich digital story about a significant local event based on first-person interviews” and “Use digital-imaging technology to modify or create works of art for use in a digital presentation” and then connecting these activities to the competencies. The lesson suggestions seem simple enough to do and meet several competencies at once.

The way that the Symbaloo webmix meets digital and media literacies is in that “… kids need to develop skills and habits of media literacy. These skills include being able to access media on a basic level, to analyze it in a critical way based on certain key concepts, to evaluate it based on that analysis and, finally, to produce media oneself. This process of learning media literacy skills is media education” (“Media Literacy Fundamentals”, 2020). The tools that I have included in my webmix gives options of different tools for similar skills and I have noticed the best way to find out if a tool is useful is to get students to try it and they let me know if it is user-friendly for them and helps them to improve their skills in the desired area. So, they are given the opportunity to access, analyze and evaluate a variety of media tools.

Another aspect that can be covered in using the different types of websites is to teach students to be aware of how to maneuver sites when the site asks for log-ins or for upgrades to the program. Teaching students to read carefully before just clicking on OK: “For example, youth cannot fully understand why online services want to collect their personal information without exploring the commercial considerations of those services, a traditional concern of media literacy”(“The Intersection of Digital and Media Literacy”, 2020). Some of the tools ask for a log-in or ask if you want to upgrade but, if you read carefully, you can still use the site without taking extra steps. 

I like how our module notes point out:

“Where students need the teacher librarian the most is, to help them:

  • to think critically and to let them know when they are thinking critically;
  • to articulate and justify their use of digital information (Why did you include this?, What message are you trying to convey? Who is your audience? Why did you choose this tool?);
  • to model and scaffold the ethical use of information and behaviour in digital environments;
  • to provide discussion around students’ digital identities and provide opportunity to develop those identities” (UBC, 2020).

I agree that these are some of the most important aspects of the job in teaching students to properly use and decipher a variety of print and digital media. It is our job to expose students to educational tools even if they seems to be “digital natives” they are in need of guidance to be productive and responsible media users. 

Reflection:

Overall, I had the most fun exploring and playing with the different web tools that I am less familiar with and finding new ones in areas of need. I have split the Symbaloo into sections of math, typing, coding, presentation tools, art, reading, digital citizenship and teacher tools. After I felt like it was completed, I realized that I should have included more science tools but I think I will probably end up making separate webmixes for different subject areas.

Additionally, I had some unforeseen challenges such as I wanted to add Powtoon to my webmix and I tried to add the tile a few times but the link from the tile would not work. It kept saying the website doesn’t exist but it does. I tired it a few different ways but I could not get it to work! As well, I thought it would be easy to embed the Symbaloo into my UBC blog but it did not embed so that it why it is linked instead.

Overall, I feel like this is a useful tool that I am looking forward to trying with students and I enjoyed having the opportunity to explore new webtools. I feel like the webtools I have carefully chosen will enhance students’ digital and media literacies by exposing them to a variety of tools that gives them the opportunity to make choices about tools that work for them but all educational focusing on specific skills.

Works cited:

Digital Literacy – Province of British Columbia. Www2.gov.bc.ca. (2020). Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/k-12/teach/teaching-tools/digital-literacy.

Media Literacy Fundamentals. MediaSmarts. (2020). Retrieved 17 October 2020, from https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/media-literacy-fundamentals.

The Intersection of Digital and Media Literacy. MediaSmarts. (2020). Retrieved 17 October 2020, from https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/general-information/digital-media-literacy-fundamentals/intersection-digital-media-literacy.

UBC. “Supporting Learners Through the Library – Digital and Media Literacy”. Module 6 in LLED 462 Canvas online classroom, Winter 2020.

Assignment 1, Assignments, LIBE 477

Resource Exploration for Teaching with Digital Technology-Reading Review B

2 Comments

Introduction:

From the key words I identified from Reading Review A, I felt like the concept that should take priority is Digital Citizenship. Digital Citizenship is the first thing I want to teach students in the fall because students cannot really progress productively with other aspects of digital technology unless they know how to use technology responsibly. I want to find new resources that make learning Digital Citizenship fun and meaningful to students in the hopes that they will understand the importance of it. However, I have such an interest in Inquiry-based teaching and learning I found it difficult not to gravitate towards new inquiry lesson ideas. Therefore, the resources I found are a combination of  Digital Citizenship and Inquiry-based resources.

Resource 1:

International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education
Editors: Joke Voogt, Gerald Knezek. Springer International Handbooks on Education, Volume 20 2008

This is a very information-rich document that could be a little overwhelming upon the first look as just the Table of Contents is 21 pages long. I chose to look at this document from the course resources because the title seemed more specific to what I thought I was looking for. At first, I was looking for ideas for teaching Digital Citizenship but found I was more drawn to the sections that related to inquiry.

The sections of this document that I found most useful gave suggested lesson ideas, websites and teaching documents that I feel I could use right away with students of my target age level (grades 4/5, ages 8-10). The following sections of the document are where I focused:

3.2 Interactive Learning Environments: Review of an Old Construct with a New Critical Twist (p. 231)
Mark Brown 

In this section, Brown explains “Mind Tools for Inquiry” as ways to teach students skills needed to perform successful individual inquiry. I agree that most students are missing the background knowledge, skills and digital literacy necessary to be productive on-line learners.  Therefore,  I constantly seek simple lesson ideas for students to start practicing the fundamental inquiry skills. For example, “The use of mind tools for inquiry might involve students conducting critical internet-based investigations” (p. 243).  I like the suggestions that students “… could use the Web to research a genuine problem or controversial issue and then publish their findings for a wider audience” (p. 243). By doing some searching online, students practice digital literacy in that “Conflicting information from a variety of sources will require students to determine which ones are not only factual, but also trustworthy. Thus, the emphasis is on knowing as opposed to the acquisition of factual knowledge” (p. 243). This relates to Richardson’s point about how school should be changing in that students should be taught how to properly find information from trustworthy sources. I find this to be one of the biggest challenges in students conducting internet research because they usually just choose the first result instead of looking at the title and source of the information to see which one really suits their needs.

3.3 Online Learning Communities in K-12 Settings (p. 249)  
Seng Chee Tan, Lay Hoon Seah, Jennifer Yeo, and David Hung 

At first I wanted to look at this section for “Comparison of the Four Online Learning Communities” (p. 258) but the most useful part of this sections ended up being the suggestion of The Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) (p. 257). Tan et. al. describe WISE as “a free online environment, where grade 5–12 students can log on to participate in inquiry projects jointly developed by classroom teachers, technologists, natural scientists, and pedagogical researchers” (p. 257). Right away, I liked that it is geared towards my focus age-range so it makes me hopeful that it will be a usable website. In addition, some features of the website are explained:

“1. Cognitive dimension “ It aims to make thinking visible, make science accessible, help students learn from each other, and promote lifelong learning” (p. 257).

“2. Social dimension: Discussion tools such as online asynchronous discussions allow students to interact and learn from each other” (p. 258).

“3. Technological support and infrastructure: In addition to the tools to support social interaction, other tools include Inquiry Map, a step wise procedural guide that serves to scaffold independent students’ inquiry and learning”(p. 258).

The description makes it sound like it would be a useful site that I could use with students so I will review it separately as another resource.

3.5 COMPUTER CONTEXTS FOR SUPPORTING METACOGNITIVE LEARNING  (281). Xiaodong Lin  Florence R. Sullivan

In scanning the document looking for a different section, this graphic caught my eye:

In this graphic, it has many of the same “Steps of Inquiry” that I am familiar with so I read up a bit more on Inquiry Island (http://www.thinkertools.org/Pages/sciwise.html) (White and Frederiksen, 2005). It is explained as “…a science-learning environment that also utilizes a number of design elements to enhance metacognitive understanding including process prompts, model prompts, and collaboration. Inquiry Island is a multiagent environment featuring software advisors related to tasks involved with inquiry, general cognitive, metacognitive, and social aspects of science learning and systems development issues (see Figure 1). (p. 288). This seems like it might be a good way to reinforce the importance of the steps to inquiry and how inquiry is a process that should be followed and skipping steps may result in disappointing results. I did go to look at this site thinking that it might be another good resource but in my explorations of the site it was not obvious how Inquiry Island might work and many of the links that seemed interesting did not work. I still think the graphic is cool and would possibly use it as another visual for students to understand the inquiry process. Maybe by making the steps to inquiry into more of a “journey” students would understand to “follow the path” and avoid skipping to the end.

6.2 Framing IT Use to Enhance Educational Impact on a School-Wide Basis (p. 555).
Peter Twining

What I appreciate about this section is the suggested assessments for ICT because I have found it difficult to concretely assess student learning in this area. I can especially see myself using the “Achievement frameworks” which “… provide a means of ‘measuring’ the quality of learning with ICT” (p. 557). Figure 2 below gives a good idea of simple skills to look for when students use digital technologies.

Overall, I found this a useful document that I would come back to for directing my professional practice.

Resource 2:

WISE (http://www.wise.berkeley.edu/)

I had high hopes for this site as the International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education explained it as a grade 5-12 resource, it comes from Berkeley and is supported by the National Science Foundation. It is explained as “An Inquiry-based Science Tool” so it would seem to fit with my goals for digital literacy incorporating inquiry-based teaching and learning. Immediately, I was able to register for a free teacher account and start browsing. Upon first glance, I only see units for grades 6 and up so this is a bit disappointing to me; when I registered, there was even an option for Elementary school but maybe Elementary school goes up to grade 7 in many areas. With a teacher account, it seems like there is an option to add a unit to a “class schedule” and in the International Handbook it alluded to the fact that it could be shared with students but it isn’t obvious to me how to do that. In browsing the units, they look good and may have the flexibility to fit with grade 5 curriculum however I think students would need more background knowledge before starting these units. Or, I was thinking the units might be adaptable to fit with Canadian content. In addition, there weren’t as many units to choose from as I thought there would be. There is a “Community built library ” section that  “…contains units that were designed and contributed by WISE community members”(WISE 2020) which is an idea that promotes globalization which I like but again, there were not as many units to choose from as I had hoped .

Overall, this doesn’t seem like an immediately usable resource like I thought it would be. If I were to use it, I would have to do some preparations and adaptations to make it work for my students and situation.

Resource 3:

Common Sense Media for Educators https://www.commonsense.org/education/

Although I looked at some different sites to see if I could find a new site that could be useful, I came back to the Common Sense Media site because it seems to have the most resources that I think students would find the most engaging. With this site as well, I created a free educator account and then could access an assortment of lesson plans in different areas of digital citizenship.

Here are some of the aspects of the site that I like:

  • Variety of lesson plans in many different areas of digital citizenship
  • Grade level choices
  • Interactive activities which include student involvement
  • Engaging age-appropriate videos
  • Options of “quick lessons” and extensions
  • Graphics/slides for visual accompaniment for lessons
  • Acronyms to help students remember important concepts

One lesson I would like to highlight for example is one I found under

Essential Digital Citizenship Lessons for the Coronavirus Pandemic

I was then drawn to the lesson The Power of Words which is supposed to be a grade 3 lesson but it would be useful for grades 4 and 5 as well. Again, there are options for a quick lesson that I find useful because one never knows how much time you will have to teach a lesson as a Teacher Librarian!

Students would find the video engaging although grade 3 students may need some parts read aloud while watching:

This video also introduces that acronym S.T.O.P. that would help students find appropriate ways to deal with online behaviour for themselves and others. This would make sense to students at my school because we also use W.I.T.S. (walk away, ignore, talk it out, seek help) for ways to independently solve in-person conflicts.

There are also interactive activities with accompanying visuals such as this activity that asks students which emoji would fit if “when you walked in, I said to you [in a friendly tone, with a big smile] “Hello!” 

Then students hold up the number of fingers of the corresponding emoji.

I would use this particular lesson first because this is the exact problem I had when I was teaching online; some students think what they say/type is a joke and others take offense and then the situation gets blown out of proportion! As well, I know that situations can get even worse if an individual feels like they are anonymous online and I would hate for any students to get themselves in trouble.

Finally, there seems to be almost an endless assortments of lessons concerning countless aspects of digital citizenship which can be used in succession or stand-alone. I can definitely see myself using this site and lessons in the future.

Resource 4:

Making It Personal: A New Approach to Teaching Digital Citizenship.

 By Alecia Berman-Dry

This periodical discusses using the technique of debate as an approach to teaching digital citizenship for 6th graders. Students come up with different topics or situations relating to digital citizenship and argue their side. For example, “Sixth grader Ryan Martin…argu[ed] that his parents bear no responsibility for his behavior online. Fellow classmate Sophia Kurnot says
that parents should make it their business to manage their children’s online habits, even if it means they have to invade privacy” (p.24). I agree with this author when she states, “As the director of academic technology, I felt that mastering all of the other NETS was not as important as knowing how to use the tools responsibly” (p.24)*. This teacher developed this technique because of the need expressed by parents and the students. By using debate she felt it would ” help
students develop a personal relationship with the issues” (p.24). By making it personal, I think it has more lasting effects on students rather than simply telling students how they should behave. I like how introductory lessons posed thoughtful relevant questions and incorporate actual articles in support. The question example given in the article is “Should a 12-year-old be allowed to have a Facebook page or Instagram account?” (p.24). I think grade 4/5 students would also have strong opinions about questions like this one and enjoy debating. The author expresses that ” Debate allowed us to tap into that desire so students could connect personally with the content” (p.25). As well the author comments that even while focusing on other areas of digital citizenship, teachable moments come up such as a “…student who posted [a] comment admitted that she did not realize what she was doing was cyberbullying, and that allowed us to make a meaningful distinction between the impact insults can have online versus in person” (p. 25). I feel that this is one of the biggest problems that I have encountered with students using social media-like programs where they can interact with others.

Although this technique is geared towards using with 6th graders, I think it could be adapted for grade 4/5 students. There are so many skills that students practice with a technique like this aside from critically thinking about digital citizenship such as supporting their opinions with facts and opinion writing techniques. In addition, students are learning how to “disagree agreeably” and take turns speaking, which is a difficult skill to master even for some adults! I can see using this technique as follow-up to lessons such as the ones found on the Common Sense Media site and then having some of these topics as inquiry.

Resource 5:

ISTE STANDARDS FOR STUDENTS

https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students

In reading the above article, I noticed it was published by ISTE mostly because there was quite a large “advertisement” at the end of the article. This looked important so I decided to check it out.

*I had to look up what NETS is in order to understand which standards Alecia Berman-Dry was referring to in her article. It stands for National Education Technology Standards; it seems like there are technology standards for students and teachers and it is connected to ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). Surprisingly, this is the first time I have ever heard of any of NETS or ISTE! Maybe it’s because it is based in the U.S.?
The graphic below displays the standards for students.

These standards reminded me of the NTCE 21st Century Literacies that Richardson discusses (p.177) and I feel like they could be connected or possibly by meeting these stardards, students could achieve the literacies.

I’m glad that I decided to look into this site because I feel like it is another good resource. Not only does it give the standards but it also gives ideas for ways students can achieve the competencies. This is yet another resource that could take ages to explore and I plan to look more deeply at it. For each standard, there are lists of resources and ways to understand more about each; it also includes  more information on my personal topics of interest such as Digital Citizenship and Knowledge Constructor.

Conclusions:

These resources incorporate two of my key interests of Digital Citizenship and Inquiry-based teaching and learning. The resources I like the best can be adapted to combine teaching Digital Citizenship with Inquiry-based skills.

It seems like all of the lessons I am finding can be carried out in classrooms if the library is not available for student use in the fall; however, if learning returns online again, some of these lessons might be difficult to distribute or need quite a bit of modification.

Even with a quick glance and by skimming these resources I can see myself using them. In addition, as I have addressed, these resources are information-rich and I feel like they could be explored more extensively and find more useful components.

References:

Apple Images. (2020). ISTE-NETS-students [Image]. Retrieved from http://images.apple.com/education/docs/Apple-ISTE-NETS-Students.pdf

Berman-Dry, A. (2013). Making It Personal: A New Approach to Teaching Digital Citizenship. Learning & Leading with Technology, 41(1), 24–26.

Essential Digital Citizenship Lessons for the Coronavirus Pandemic | Common Sense Education. (2020). Retrieved 16 July 2020, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/essential-digital-citizenship-lessons-for-the-coronavirus-pandemic

Common Sense Media. (2020). The Power of Words [Video]. Retrieved from https://d1pmarobgdhgjx.cloudfront.net/education/PowerOfWords_NewBumper.mp4

Common Sense Media. (2020). Which emoji fits? [Image]. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LC3dpRP6mXBZkB8oe3hGMWkJUhunO9e5gU6g8WlUQsk/edit#slide=id.g3da8846a99_1_0

ISTE Standards for Students | ISTE. (2020). Retrieved 19 July 2020, from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students

Needpix.com. (2020). Header, banner, head, display, dummy, board, face, technology, think, human [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.needpix.com/photo/439241/header-banner-head-display-dummy-board-face-technology-think-human

Richardson, W. (2012). Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) . TED Conferences. Kindle Edition.

ThinkerTools Research Group. (2020). Inquiry Island [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.thinkertools.org/Pages/sciwise.html

Voogt, J., & Knezec, G. (2008). International handbook of information technology in primary and secondary education. Berlin: Springer.

WISE: Web-based Inquiry Science Environment. (2020). Retrieved 19 July 2020, from https://wise.berkeley.edu/

 

 

 

 

Assignments, LIBE 477

So many interests, so little time, where to begin? Reading review A

1 Comment

Introduction, context and background: 

I am the Teacher Librarian at a K-5 English language Elementary school of just over 300 students. The school is located in a semi-rural area south of town with most student coming from a higher socio-economic background. I was the Teacher Librarian from September 2017 until February 2019 at which point I went on maternity leave. In January, I returned to work as a grade 4/5 teacher but will be returning as the Teacher Librarian in the fall. For digital devices at the school, in January we received student devices, which are essentially two class sets of laptops, and dismantled the computer lab. These devices are stored in carts on wheels which make them easy to move to any area of the school where they are needed. In addition, we have 12 iPads that can be used. As a Teacher-Librarian, I believe it is my job to support student learning in multiple ways, with one of the main ways being teaching about and with digital technologies. This is an area of focus for improvement in my professional development and has been since starting as a Teacher Librarian. I have improved and learned a lot but still feel like I have a long way to go. The following are areas of focus in the area of digital technologies that I would still like to work on. 

 

Areas and issues of personal interest: 

  • Digital Literacy and it’s connection to Visual Literacy.
  • Digital Citizenship
  • 24/7 Online Library Learning Commons website or blog.
  • Creating a culture of inquiry-based teaching and learning in the school community.
  • Developing lessons that can be carried out without the use of the library (if it cannot be used in the fall due to the COVID 19 pandemic).
Curricular connections:  https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/adst/5/core

Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies 5

Applied Skills:

  • Use materials, tools and technologies in a safe manner and with an awareness of the safety of others in both physical and digital environments. 

Applied Technologies:

  • Use familiar tools and technologies to extend their capabilities when completing a task.
  • Choose appropriate technologies to use for specific tasks.
  • Demonstrate a willingness to learn new technologies as needed.

Connection to digital technologies: 

With the introduction of the student devices, we spent time teaching students how to use the devices with their personalized log-ins and how to save their work but we didn’t have the chance to teach digital citizenship. Therefore, because I was teaching grade 4/5 from January until June, I dealt with some instances resulting from these deficits when students were thrust into a digital world. So, I feel like I want to start in the fall, as soon as possible, with Digital Citizenship lessons; these can be done in the classroom or the library and will help in the proper use of digital technologies whatever or where ever that might be! 

In relation to Digital Citizenship, I feel like students need to be taught Digital Literacy. I had noticed it before but it became more obvious during “online remote learning” that although students may use technology and digital devices frequently, their skills are limited to only a few that they use repeatedly. My beliefs were reinforced when reading Will Richardson’s book Why School?, especially the chapter “Our kids are illiterate”. Although I have heard other statements similar to what Richardson says; that future employers  “…cited creativity and ‘managing the growing complexity of the world'” (2012, p. 144) more important that stored facts. However, in reading his book, it is the first time I have seen the “21st century literacies” from the NCTE and the fact  “…that, if we applied those benchmarks, upward of 80 percent of students graduating from private, public, parochial, and home schools were illiterate” (2012, p. 189). The number is both surprising and it’s not considering my recent experience with online learning. It still remains that students need guidance to use digital technologies productively if only in the way of exposure to useful programs, software and apps. Additionally, students need more skills to comprehend and critically analyze what they are reading online. In this vein, I am interested in the connection between Digital Literacy and Visual Literacy and how becoming more visually literate can help students become more digitally literate.

As well, if I have a 24/7 online Library Learning Commons, students can access it at any time, from anywhere. I am hoping to make it interactive with activities and events that might be connected to the library. My biggest challenge here is to find a format that is approved by my district that I also find user friendly. In the past year I have been getting more comfortable with blogging so it might not feel like as much of a hurdle now. 

Finally, before teaching at my current school, I taught at a school that had a very strong culture of inquiry starting in Kindergarten. At my current school, there is almost no inquiry-based teaching and learning. I have been trying to slowly integrate inquiry skill  lessons through the library but now I have a bit of a set-back with my leave so I would like to start again in the fall. I find it to be quite a slow-go in this area but I believe it would be a huge pay-off if there was follow through from year to year. Students can use digital technologies in practicing inquiry skills and then choose an appropriate way of presenting their learning by using various digital tools. In addition, these are lessons that can be carried out in the classroom if need be. Students also need to have digital literacy skills in order to adequately answer their inquiry questions and have more options of  presenting their learning. 

 

Key words: 

  • Inquiry
  • Digital Citizenship
  • Digital Literacy
  • Visual Literacy
  • Online Library Learning Commons
  • Remote learning

 

Context: 

Students are in grades K-5, age ranging from 5 to 10 but I feel like I would focus most of my attention on the grade 4/5 (8-10 year olds) to begin and then work down. The administration at the school are very supportive and are also in line with my beliefs especially about  starting digital citizenship lessons in the fall, we have already had discussions around this topic. The school is of a higher socio-economic standing with a very active PAC so access to technology is not lacking. The student devices and iPads can be used in the Library Learning Commons or the classroom and work with a variety of digital technologies. 

 

Potential lesson and professional resources: 

 Common Sense Media has educational resources with lessons and videos for teaching digital literacy and digital citizenship. https://www.commonsense.org/education/.

 

As a government resource, the Keep Learning site
 https://www.openschool.bc.ca/keeplearning/ offers and Online Safety section https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/erase/online-safety which also have links to videos. 

 

A great resource that I would like to try and follow all the way through is Coding Quest  which uses the Scratch program for students to create their own game as a way to present their learning of a inquiry topic. https://www.thelearningpartnership.ca/programs/coding-quest.

 

These are some professional literature picks that were suggested by our district professional development committee that I am interested in:

 

Launch: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring Out the Maker in Every Student by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani (grade level K-12)

Inquiry-Based Early Learning Environments: Creating, Supporting, and Collaborating by Susan Stacey (grade level K-3)

Conclusions (for now):

All of these ideas are what I would like to achieve in the next few years but it is mostly a question of what should take the priority at this point. Many of these issues and areas of interest can be interconnected and lead from one into another, so I just need to decide where to start!

References

Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies 5 | Building Student Success – BC’s New Curriculum. (2020). Retrieved 11 July 2020, from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/adst/5/core

Free images. (2020). Question mark, answer, solution [Image]. Retrieved from https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1586349

Richardson, W. (2012). Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) . TED Conferences. Kindle Edition.

Spencer, J. (2020). Launch book cover [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.ca/Launch-Design-Thinking-Creativity-Student/dp/0996989544

Stacey, S. (2020). Inquiry-Based Early Learning Environments: Creating, Supporting, and Collaborating [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B078XK3X9X/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Wallpaper Flare. (2020). HD wallpaper:Digital marketing – with copysack – dark version [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.wallpaperflare.com/digital-marketing-with-copyspace-dark-version-business-communication-wallpaper-agmyn