TEACHER-LIBRARIANS CONNECT ... BY PUBLISHING ONLINE

DIGITAL SCHMIGITAL

Classroom time is a precious commodity: so many minutes for settling in, writing poetry or solving math problems, scanning the chemistry text, or discussing an ethical dilemma. It takes time to browse the shelves of a library paperback spinner; to chat with a student about the book they have just read, to find another one that is "just right".

Classroom activities can be enhanced with the aid of computers, but why bother if the lesson and learning takes place just fine without it? Students and teacher-librarians need to connect face-to-face. "Facebook" or even blog book discussions pale by comparison. Computers suck up time other-wise applied to the downtime, integration and reflection needed for learning and mental health.

Why have a screen "lens", like the image, above, between a child and reality? There are already plenty of screens in a child's day; television, cellphones, ipods, calculators for example.

A computer screen filters out the acrid inhale of a science experiment and the take anywhere intimacy of a paper volume. It reduces a warm summer day to a flat live-streamed facsimile; and the spiritual resonance a live loon to a mechanical replication.

We have a myriad of teaching strategies; integrating online computers into a class  or school library is just one of them.

photo:mantasmagorical@morguefile

When exactly is the computer the perfect tool for learning?

When is the computer a hindrance to learning?

What the BC Ministry of Education says.

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Digital Handbook

POST STUDENT WORK

DOWNLOAD (U.S.)EXAMPLE

WHAT CAN'T BE PUBLISHED?

• One-on-one relationships with students and colleagues

• Being present in your school library, an obvious, accessible resource for anyone who wants to find out anything

• Being present as an information conduit throughout the learning community and out into the larger community

• The precious moment you help connect a young person with a great, inspiring writer.

• Faces full of open-minded curiosity

• Consensus building

• Individual, creative, divergent thinking in children

• The feel of a leather-bound volume

• A warm vibrant learning environment: the library as heart of the school

photo: Darnok@morguefile

A TRANSPARENT PUBLISHED PRACTISE SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

POST AND SEND LINKS TO TEACHERS, ADMINISTRATORS, DISTRICT STAFF, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS, PARENTS, OTHER AUDIENCES.

EXAMPLES:

• Dr. Charles Best Secondary School Library

• A Database is Just a Less-Dusty Library

• BACK TO THE SOURCE

• BEST HOME ECONOMICS : FASHION, FOODS, FAMILY, FABRIC !

• Best Teachers

• CELEBRATING OUR SECONDARY TEACHER-LIBRARIAN COMMUNITY

• CHAS BEST STAFF MEETING; FIRING UP YOUR SHAREPOINT LESSONS

• DIGITAL HANDBOOK 

• DIGITAL HEART - THE SCHOOL LIBRARY IN AN ONLINE WORLD

• DIGITAL REFERENCE, DIGITAL PRESENCE

• DIGITAL RESOURCES FOR ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS

• INFORMATION LITERACY THREADS WITHIN THE SOCIAL STUDIES K TO 7 IRP (2006)

• KALAHARI LIBRARY EXPERIENCE

• KEYS TO QUALITY TEACHING RESOURCES 

• LAW, PSYCH, SOCIAL STUDIES. WELCOME TO MS. ANDERSON'S SITE

• LIBRARY GENRE LABELS

• PLANNING WHAT'S 'BEST' FOR YOU

• School library " without walls" ... online publishing for teacher-librarians

• SCIENCE NINE DIGITAL HANDBOOK 

• SEPT 8, 2007 IS INTERNATIONAL LITERACY DAY

• SMOKING: FROM COOL HEALTHY HABIT TO DIRTY BANNED SUBSTANCE

• SOCIAL STUDIES ELEVEN DIGITAL HANDBOOK

• SOCIAL STUDIES NINE DIGITAL HANDBOOK

• SOCIAL STUDIES TEN DIGITAL HANDBOOK

• Welcome to Mr. Ewert's Virtual Classroom

   

INFUSE YOUR ONLINE WRITING WITH INFORMATION LITERACY TEACHINGS

Teacher-librarians are teachers - spontaneous teachers.

In our daily practise, we rarely give a child a book without showing them "how" to find that book; in the OPAC, using a spine label, searching in the index.

When students need answers, we look together online, and we teach them how find effective search words, narrow the choices, figure out what the site designer was thinking.

Giving students and teachers lists of resources is rarely effective. WHY?

Online is an in-your-face medium. Take advantage of the opportunity to communicate online with warmth and humour,  just like you do - in person.

Examples:

TRUTH SERUM OR ANOTHER NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF WIKIPEDIA?

DATABASES AND LIBRARIES CREATE ORDER OUT OF INFORMATION CHAOS.

CITIZENSHIP JOURNALISM ....."harnessing the wisdom of crowds" ; or a "cult of the amateur, killing our culture?" ..... what do you think?

BIG BROTHER LIVES AND HE IS US

THE  PERFECT BOOK FOR YOU ?

AN ONLINE PRESENCE ALLOWS YOU A DEEPER MULTI-DIMENSIONAL VOICE

Facebook goes far beyond talking to  friends.

Our students find images, music, stories they like - spin it into a narrative, and share it with their friends. They collect "evidence" of who they are by mining web resources and provide links for their friends.

This is a publishing pattern in which students are fluent. Building on this competency, we can do the same, not with a social, but a paedogogical purpose.

Our narrative: The learning goals of the teacher; our information literacy goals.

Our resources: Our links: databases, peer-reviewed journals, interactive simulations, video clips, primary-source documents.

BE A TOUCHSTONE FOR THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY:

USE ONLINE PUBLISHING TO PROMOTE INTER-DICIPLINARY THEMES AND CURRICULAR CONSISTANCY AND EXCELLENCE.

For example:

1. Promoting academic honesty

• theme
• practise ; citing sources

2. Curricular excellence ( linking to IRP's)

• Social Studies 10
• Social Studies 11
• Science 9
  

RECYCLE, RE-USE YOUR LESSONS ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE

SAVE TIME AND GAIN ACCESS TO CLASSROOMS YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE, OTHERWISE.

Once posted, anyone in the world can use your collaborative lesson. Generosity is built into a teacher-librarian's practise, but this enhances the possibilities.

Practically, however within one school it allows:

1) The same teacher to use a lesson more than once (really useful in a semestered year)
2) One teacher to see what another teacher is doing, to use or adapt the lesson (with your help of course)
3) A teacher who does not have the time or inclination to meet you physically, can communicate through e-mail and use library resources with information literacy advice built in.
4) The teacher-librarian can positively influence many lessons without a time or place commitment.

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF COLLABORATION WITH SCIENCE TEACHERS

MS. PAZIUK'S  BIOLOGY 11 FOOD WEB BIOME  PROJECT

MS. COWIE'S BIOLOGY 11 SURVIVAL BC PROJECT

MS. PAZIUK'S  VIRUS PROJECT

MS. TAYLOR'S   VIRUS PROJECT

MR. CAREY'S WONDERS OF THE LIVING WORLD

"Shift happened. Our response is not optional."

If our librarians are not viewed as leaders in information and communication technologies, we will lose the opportunity to teach information fluency skills and effect thoughtful change in these new landcapes.  But, if our librarians wait for formal training and do not opt to train themselves, we will find ourselves irrelevant and optional. More important, learners will lose. 

Shift happened.  Our response is not optional.

Joyce Valenza

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FACE 21ST C. FACTS

• UNDER 30'S ARE WIRED
• RACE TO TEACH ONLINE
• RACE TO DIGITIZE
• IF STUDENTS ARE PUBLISHING, WE NEED TO, TOO

Here is a model of students using blogs as part of the research process:

This ResearchLogTemplate will guide you on your journey and help you learn to navigate the rich information landscape in your selected area of inquiry. It is designed to help you reflect on the research process and to involve your peers, your teachers, and your librarian in collaborating in that process.  Use it to plan, manage, and organize whatever media you choose for communicaton."

PUBLISHING WORD DOCUMENTS

Tools:
Hyperlinked words and images