COURSE OVERVIEW
LLED 469 emphasizes skills in resource selection to support classroom teachers and others in the community who use an inquiry approach to teaching and learning; inquiry for all learners represents a shift from traditional methods of instructional delivery, assessment, and curriculum design. When engaged in inquiry, students and classroom teachers work together, often with the teacher-librarian, going beyond the standard textbook to find the best resources to pursue an inquiry question or topic of interest. All educators expect, and are expected to be able, to find and select resources that are appropriate for their curriculum; teacher-librarians, as part of their training and practice, evaluate, select, acquire, and manage resources to support students and teachers, both in curriculum and in reading for interest. The practices of resource-based inquiry can also be utilized in community contexts, either with community libraries or community resources.
COURSE READINGS: TIPS FOR
Plan to read about 30 pages each day for the following class. Note that many of the articles are short. You may find that you read some articles or excerpts or view some videos more deeply than others. That’s okay. You will draw on a broad base of readings and in-class presentations and discussions when you design your inquiry unit.
To find articles and readings, use keywords from the titles and author names to search the UBC Library online collections. You will need to use your CWL to log in. Search here by using unique keywords: UBC Library “Find the Best [Resources] here.”
Example: If the article title is “The futility of trying to teach everything of importance” by Grant Wiggins (1989), the best keywords might be simply Wiggins futility trying importance; in fact, keeping things simple, the two words Wiggins and futility are enough to find this very old article. Where possible, choose the pdf version as this will include any graphics; many information aggregators like EBSCO and GALE will pay for the text but will exclude the costs of purchasing images.
This above-noted article by Grant Wiggins is a great place to begin reading. With the overwhelming proliferation of data and information, Wiggins’ views — almost 30 years old — have only become more relevant.
Highly recommended are readings by Barbara Stripling (Inquiry), Grant Wiggins & Jaye McTighe (Understanding by Design), and Kristin Fontichiaro (Series “Nudging Toward Inquiry”).