carmen gong | MsCGong

Curating Online Tools for Teaching Digital and Media Literacy to Young Primary Students

Learning Log (Module 6) Introduction As a classroom teacher who teaches early primary students, it is difficult to consistently use technology in the classroom due to many reasons including the lack of technology resources in our elementary school, the young students’ developing (and sometimes lack of) reading skills to use online tools independently, and taking the time to teach them how to operate technology along with teaching many other skills at this age. Although it seems more difficult to teach young primary students about how to take care of this…read more

The Best of Both Worlds- The Online and Real World Experience

Growing up, I loved going to public libraries and enjoyed reading many story books and novels as kids do. I even have memories of reading encyclopedias, biographies, almanacs, and atlases which at the time, I did not know were considered “reference materials”. Reference materials typically are not “checked out” of the library but these books that I borrowed were subject-focused and kid-friendly. At home, I had my own large dictionary that my mom taught me how to use and encouraged me to use. I had a Roget’s thesaurus as well…read more

Collaborate and Advocate! Then the Library can be Great!

Chapter 9 of Riedling’s book Reference Skills for the School Librarian (2013) barely touched on how important collaboration is to the role of a teacher-librarian. So far, each school that I have worked at had several blocks in the library which were dedicated to ‘collab’ time but truthfully, I have not used this service too much myself. This made me wonder what are ways that the teacher-librarian can include collaboration into their library services and how can I incorporate and promote these strategies when I have my own school library….read more

References, References, References! – What I Thought I Knew and What I Think I Know Now (Blog Post 1)

Posted by carmen gong in LIBE 467 Blog

To be very honest, I was having difficulties with finding a definition for “reference sources” as well as the proper terminology. Before taking courses for my teacher-librarianship diploma at UBC, I knew reference sources as a section of a library that contained giant, heavy books which included dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and atlases. According to Riedling, “reference sources” are, “materials from book to computer to periodical to photograph, that can be found anywhere in the library or online” (Riedling, Shake & Houston, 2013). This can include a large range of materials as…read more

Technology and Inquiry in the Primary Grades + My Reflection

For my Final Vision project, I researched the topic that I mentioned in Reading Assignment Part A because I was still curious and wanted to find out more about it. I wondered how to prepare primary students to be 21st century literate and be proficient in technology while engaging them in inquiry-based learning. Inquiry-based learning requires students to search for information and solutions to their questions but how do students who are beginning to read and write do that? How do students with developing fine-motor skills operate a computer and browse…read more

Mobile Technology and Developing Nations (Inquiry Blog #4)

Visualizing and creating a school library learning commons (SLLC) can be quite exhilarating because there is learning potential for all learners but it can also be quite costly with the integration of various programs and technologies. This brings up the issue of whether access is the same or similar in developing nations because there are students who have the right to education as well. A study from Botswana observed school libraries in various developing countries and noticed that the physical space of the library is quite small, computers and Internet…read more

Virtual SLLC (Inquiry Blog #3)

Teacher-librarians are leaders in supporting reading promotion, information literacy, and technology support. However, the responsibility of the teacher-librarian often goes unknown which may affect the stability of this role. Teacher-librarians can make their library programs known through staff meetings, bulletin boards, or even emails. It is important to not only establish an approachable physical presence at your library but making an online presence is also important for the 21st century students. Not only do students have constant access to the web but teachers do too. Online platforms like the school…read more

Professional Development Through Connections (Inquiry Blog #2)

My teacher colleagues and social media apps are where I often get resources, tools, and strategies to improve and develop my profession. What these resources have in common is that they involve connecting with other people. There is no better way to learn about teaching than from other teachers! Teachers and teacher-librarians at your school are important people to connect with because they cater to the same school community as you and are accessible because they work in the same building. Admittedly, I was nervous to ask for help and…read more

Thinking About Improving the Reading Culture… (Inquiry Blog #1)

As a relatively new teacher, I am always wondering how can I foster a better reading culture in my class. There are some strategies and routines that work well in my class but I am always looking for new ways to further encourage the love of reading. CURRENTLY Read aloud is an engaging way to learn as well as to promote dialogue about social issues (Kesler et al., 2020). Some books I have used include, I am Not a Number by Jenny Kay Dupuis and Meet Viola Desmond by Elizabeth…read more

Reading Assignment Part B

As I think more about integrating technology into inquiry-based learning for primary students, I became curious as to what other teachers around the world have been doing. In my first blog, I looked at research articles to find out more about using technology in the classroom with younger students. In Escoda’s article (2014), she found that children are already daily users of the Internet and that 95% of children in Spain have computers at home. Since students as young as 6 years old are already exposed to technology, this welcomes…read more