Why School?
When I first started my library and teaching career we were using card catalogs and the computer wasn’t even a part of my daily life. Teacher librarian training was typing out those god awful cards used in the catalog. The prof used to measure how far our indentations were off. That’s what we got marked on. I don’t think I can call those days the good old days. I never want to return to those times.
This is the exact opposite of what is available to our students. They have computers, cell phones and unlimited access to the internet which has so much information available to them at their fingertips. I would have to argue that not everything out on the net is valuable, but that is another discussion. They have devices and access to help them learn and make an impact on their lives and how they go about learning. However in reality at our school we haven’t changed much, the culture that has been created by teachers and how they view learning is rather the same, but I feel that it is changing. In our school, we have a high ratio of students who are all keen to go to university, and not just any university-UBC.
They will drop out of a course a week before the end if they know that they didn’t get a high enough mark. They only take courses they know that will boost their GPA. They will try various methods such as retaking courses at summer school or online to boost their GPA. They know how to play the system for everything it has to offer. Some don’t care about learning and won’t take risks because that could lower their marks and thus their chances for entry into UBC. They need to be told of every detail in the assignments, if not they will drive you crazy. These are students who know how to jump through the hoops, but I really wonder how they will survive in the real world. Seems to me these are the students Stephen Downes sees education/learning as something that is delivered. Having provincial exams doesn’t help because often teachers will spend a month preparing their students. Our principal isn’t happy when we score below the district average. What doesn’t help is when the students I described earlier apply to UBC and most get in. For example, one year we had 210 applicants to UBC and about 189 got accepted to various faculties. Will students want to taught in “old school” ways? Of course-it got them into UBC. This is what most people believe is “academic”. Change is gonna come painfully for our school.
Our Changes
We were one of the first schools in Richmond to assess students using “Essential Learning Outcomes”. It first started with the science department who identified the essential learning outcomes for their junior science. In the first term students got no grades and it confused a lot of people including parents. Students had three tries to pass an “ELO”. Eventually the ELOs were turned into percentages or grades.
The ESL department for the past year and a half has been working on a rubric that covers the ELOs for all 4 levels of language learners. We found that students were always trying to cheat to get into the next level. The rubrics are based on “I can” statements that cover speaking, reading, writing, and listening and is written in simple language that students and parents can understand. We will be fully implementing this assessment model in September. Other departments such as English and Social studies are also trying to make changes to their assessment models.
The Connected Self and Students
I think students connect themselves to technology quite well. It is what they know and how they see the world. However, I find that they can use their devices for their social presence, but know little about connecting themselves in a way that would help themselves become 21st century learners. They need to learn technology not only for their social lives, but how it can enhance their learning.
As far as research is concerned with students, Wikipedia rules. I’ve tried to be persistent with teaching students how to use online databases. The students who finally “give in” are so much better off in terms of the product they are able to produce. Quality of information is important. I sometimes tell students about my nephew who works at a law firm and the senior partner who didn’t think he could win a particular case. My nephew offered to do the research and it was enough to win the case. Senior partner gave him a $10,000 bonus.
When I was explaining how to use the database, students were shocked when I asked them to bring out their smart phones to access the catalog and to create a working book list for their research. Their own personal that they normally use to text their friends was now being used to learn something. A different perspective on the “connected self” for my students. Here is another short anecdote about a Business Ed teacher who wanted to projects on countries and their economies. One of the other criteria for the project was to find out what it was like to be living in their country of choice as a teenager. My suggestion was to go to a website that had teenagers from different countries looking for pen pals. Correspond with them via email, skype to get some real first hand knowledge. I think the possibilities could have been creative and endless. I think it fell on deaf ears even though every student had access to a computer in the Business Ed room.
The connected self, be it teacher or student needs to know what technology can do for them and how it can bring challenges, push boundaries to move students and schools from content mastery to learning mastery.
Many of the things you mentioned in your post resonated with me for example that the culture of the teachers and how teachers view learning affects the way that students view learning as well.
At our school a number of teachers been there for 17-ish years and I have heard one of them say I’ve been doing it this way for 17 years and I am a master teacher and this is the way I’m going to continue to do it and I am not going to change. The particular teacher I’m thinking about has a hard-core stand and deliver when doing things. It is ironic that he is one of the first teachers to have created his own website and has been involved in using WebQuest. I believe he sees himself as being innovative because of these technological aspects of his practice. But in reality the only part of his website that’s been updated in the last 10 years is the homework assignment section the rest of the links the information is all the same as it was when he first made his website in the 90s. In the school with that kind of culture I think it’s down to the teacher librarian to keep up with new trends and work on educating other teachers and encouraging growth and development and change among the staff.
It sounds like you’re trying to do that in your school in Richmond which is fantastic. I love the idea of encouraging students to find penpals in their countries to contact real young people in the outside world. TLs are ideally placed to find those resources and to share them with the staff. A lot of teachers don’t do a lot of professional reading during the school year; they’re busy reading assignments and assessing and planning their units. They don’t have time to look outside of their immediate circumstances until the summer (like I’m doing now). The teacher librarian, on the other hand, as a search expert spends more time connected to other TL colleagues, other teachers, and the world outside the school and perhaps can discover more ideas that can then be brought back to their own staffs. The TL, more than any other members of staff, collaborates though they may have to focus first on the people who are willing to change their practice and is willing to work on these ICT ideas. Success breeds success and hopefully the more reluctant members of staff will begin to see the benefits of incorporating ICT into their students’ learning. Even if the classroom teacher doesn’t demand it the TL can help guide students towards ICT solutions to problems that are put to them by their teachers, such as in the case of the Business Ed class you described.
As part of the library program I envision the teacher librarian planning several workshops that they would then advertise to teachers and allow teachers to choose which to do with their students. One of those workshops could be using the Internet to find experts as part of their research.
Imagine your entire future grade point average coming down to indentations on catalogue cards that would one day be obsolete. I suppose this speaks to the librarian’s role – to set up and manage card catalogues (clerical) or to manage information resources and facilitate research (professional, instructional). Although students today have unprecedented access to information, they are not receiving the training they need to discern the value of the information they are finding and using. Much less understanding how their access to the Internet is organized by society and government, and how they must play a role in ensuring the quality of information we have access to is truly useful for shaping future societal values and practices. When we change the criteria and methods of assessments, students will respond accordingly. If high value is placed on risk-taking and discovery, students will participate. We need to talk beyond the connected self, and also look at connected schools – from K – university – the ways students are taught to learn influences what they are capable of thinking. Rote learning leads to rote thinking. Wikipedia can be useful as a jumping off point, but it is not an end in itself. Teachers have an important role to play in changing the course of education in the 21st century.
Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge as a TL! As someone trying to get into the TL field, I always love hearing about the different perspectives from the school library.
This is the first time I’ve heard about ELOs, but I sounds like a really interesting concept. Do you know where I could get more information? Especially some strategies and ideas on how to put it into practice? (Is it related to Liberal Education and America’s Promise? Because it seems to be popping up in my search results)
Your idea about student pen pals for the Business Ed teacher was brilliant. You’re right, there are so many creative possibilities with that. Too bad it didn’t work out. I know teachers are sometimes reluctant to collaborate with the TL, giving excuses like it’s too much work or time. If it didn’t work this year….maybe he/she would be open to trying it out next year when they do the assignment again? It’s hard to deviate from a plan especially if you’re halfway through it. Giving that teacher some time to consider your idea might make him/her more open to the suggestion and collaboration.