Today we met in our small group (Sandy, Karen, Jennifer, Harj and Doni) to discuss How TLs Can Help Teachers with Inquiry-Based Teaching. We have varying levels of understanding and expertise amongst us, so spent some time defining Inquiry and how it could be used in our role as teacher librarians. We came up with a set of questions (our plan) which will help focus us, and placed that on a mind map on Mind Meister. This Mind Map will serve as a place for us to share our ideas on this topic, and from here we can create a plan to achieve our goals.

Other websites that may come in handy for this assignment (because they can be used to gather ideas form people and organize those ideas) are:
Twitter, Storify, Live Binder It, Pinterest, and Pearltrees
One thing that keeps coming up in this course is how to use ICT to do things better (or in different ways). I am trying very hard to learn new ways of doing things, in part so I can share with my teachers and students, because we all learn differently. As a TL, I want to support the staff, students and parents in my school.

Inquiry Based learning is important to me because it capitalizes on students’ innate desire to learn. It also allows for individualized learning, flexibility and the integration of technology, three key concepts of 21st Century Learning as outlined in BC’s Education Plan. This new plan designed by the provincial government to meet the changing needs of our learners, allows for more freedom from the traditional curriculum. Although still in it’s planning stages (with an ongoing call-out for blog contributions), I believe this Plan is a step in the right direction, to changing the way we teach and learn in the today’s environment. Here is a draft template of how the Language Arts 10 course will look:

As I understand it, Inquiry Based learning encourages students to explore an idea across multiple curricular areas, work as part of a team of learners, and use various technologies to research concepts related to a Guiding Question. What I hope to gain from this assignment, from working with a dedicated group of learners, is to understand how to create an Inquiry for a concept that I can use with my teachers. I want to be able to help teachers generate a guiding question, map out a plan of activities that ensure enduring understandings, and provide meaningful presentation and reflection opportunities.

Terminology!

This past week has led me to question the definitions that I had previously taken for granted.
‘Technology’ is no longer a tool, it is a medium, a process, and system in which we are learning.
There are many types of ‘literacies’ evolving as we challenge our understanding of ‘competencies in various concepts’; is literacy therefore ‘communicating an understanding’ about something?
I am wondering what it would have been like to have these conversations back in the 60s when Marshall McCluhen coined the phrase, “The medium is the message”. If Google had been around back then, I wonder how people would have discussed this radical thought to describe the pervasive forms of technologies of that time.

I searched a few websites (through the ‘suggested readings’ link in our course blog) and thought I would share the following:

According to William Kist, in Global Education (1), the concept of ‘literacy’ includes a broad range of definitions: new literacies, multiliteracies, multimodalities, media literacy, information and communication technology (ICT).

In his book, Kist offers a list of defining characteristics for classrooms that practice these new literacies.
Characteristics of New Literacies Classrooms:

Daily work in multiple forms of representations
Explicit discussions of the merits of using various symbol systems
Think alouds by the teacher, who models problem solving using various symbol systems
Collaborative and individual activities
Student engagement
Interestingly, the list does not mention digital literacy specifically, but judging by the 21st Century Learning focus of his book, it is inherent.

A US based organization, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills(2), stresses the inclusion of several interdisciplinary literacies (financial, economic, business, entrepreneurship, civic, health and environmental) in it’s call for curriculum reform. I found the discussion of these literacies to be quite comprehensive, for example the ‘Environmental Literacy’ strand included several headings that describe competence in understanding and engaging in environmental issues.

In our 21st Century Global Village, it is not surprising that various regional and national levels of government are calling for educational reform. BC’s Education Plan and Digital Literacy Standards (3) address the need for change in our educational institutions. Graduates of our system will need to be literate across many forms.

1. Kist, William. Global Education. Solution Tree Press, IL. 2013. Global Education site visited on July 6, 2013.

2. Partnership for 21st Century Skills, DC. P21
site visited July 6, 2013.

3. BCs Digital Literacy Standards (draft form) Digital Literacy Standards site visited July 6, 2013

The Connected Self, and Technology and Information Literacy

1. What would you say was your key defining ICT quality when you filled out the questionnaire at the beginning of the week?

Collaboration
As a teacher and a learner, I value my learning network. For me, this collaboration is key to successful learning. I have always relied on the expertise around me, and I expect to be called on to help others. When I am connected to a relevant learning activity, I learn, remember, and transfer skills better. This kind of individualized learning promotes motivation, and that is when learning and teaching become easy.

2. How were your ideas about ICT in school settings influenced by Will Richardson’s book, “Why School”?

Learning Leader
Why School? was a refreshing read! My ideas about the need for an educational shift mirror that of Will Richardson. Like Will, I also feel that it is not enough to simply use the technology to do things better, but to change the way we have been doing things for the past 150 years. I feel that this change would not be possible (even though it is necessary) were it not for the pervasive reaches of ICT in our society over the last decade. I am looking to other pioneers in this movement (John Abbott, Alfie Kohn, Chris Kennedy, Sir Ken Robinson) to embrace the change and be a learning leader.

3. When you think about the cognitive, cultural, and technological dimensions of our connected selves, what stands out for you as a key concept?

Active Learning
Being active in a Learning Community (through collaboration and inquiry) aligns better with the current understanding of brain processes. Activating the different areas of the brain with learning activities that promote curiosity, focus, critical thinking, memory, and decision making strengthen and create neuron pathways, building a stronger, more resilient brain.

4. How do you define technology and information literacy today?

Technology: using tools to solve problems or do things differently (a fan moves air, creating a cooling breeze; a picture says a thousand words)

Information literacy: accessing, assessing, and sharing information using whatever tools are at hand (ITC: information – technology – communication)

5. What are the most important conceptual developments that you will take with you as we move forward in this course?

share everything
transparency
relevancy
just in time learning
learning mastery
TLs as learning leaders
“there’s an app for that!”

6. What issues, interest, or opportunity have you identified as a key topic for your inquiry work next week?

How TLs can create guiding questions of inquiry to help students navigate their learning (modelling netiquette, research skills and digital literacy)

Why School? by Will Richardson (Why School?, Will Richardson. Kindle, 2012.) A thoughtful, profound look at why the 150 year old education system needs to change.

Digging deeper into ICT and my Connected Self:

From Richardson’s blog, www.willrichardson.com (under the Ask Me Anything tab) a Digital Educator is “an educator who is networked, uses technology seamlessly to connect, and adopts technologies into the classroom when relevant and appropriate.” I aim to be a better Digital Educator each year; our students come more preloaded with skills, and society offers more innovative ways to access and use technology to ‘do stuff better’. But Face to Face connections with kids are also important. When I ask students to teach me things, not only do I learn something, but I believe it makes them feel valued, which strengthens their social skills, and our connection becomes stronger. Example: A few months ago, I really appreciated the gentle, direct way that Soheil showed me how to use the magnifying glass to correct text on my iPhone!

The first time I noticed Why School was in the The Culture of Yes blog, written and maintained by West Vancouver School District superintendent, Chris Kennedy. Like Richardson, (whom Chris has been following for the past decade), Kennedy writes about the changing face of education, and the relationship between technology and learning. I have been following Chris (my own superintendent) for the past couple of years because I often find his writing inspirational and empowering. One post, 25 BC Influencers http://cultureofyes.ca/2011/03/13/twenty-fivebc-influencers/ resonates with me as I take stock of Educational Reform supporters. Both John Abbott and Sir Ken Robinson have been brought to our district and have inspired my teaching by giving me hope for a new direction. I have been a teacher in the West Vancouver School District for the past 20 years, and appreciate the vision Chris has of change (innovation, collaboration, and inquiry), and TLs as learning leaders in this change.

I believe teachers, especially teacher librarians, need to lead the change in educational reform. Not only is it our profession, for many of us, it is our passion. There are many influential advocates (Moira Ekdahl, Gordon Powell) out there, and we need to continue to tap into our areas of expertise through our various networks and share with each other. Not only advocating for ourselves in the changing state of education, but seeking out opportunities to create/co-author that change.