Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paci Hammond on July 31, 2007 at 7:10pm

Hi Joanna-

I'm taking SLL2.0 and am quite engrossed for myself. I am constantly questioning how much should be taught at the elem level, as this is such an age for concrete, hands-on learning, and I find the computer very intrusive and harmful to that essential form of learning. But there are things that could be done...

I'm in Oakland, at a well-funded school with academically-oriented students. For my dollar (the PTA's, actually), I'm most effective when I'm pushing literature and non fiction, giving them a foundation in reference materials, showing them how to use the online catalog, and getting them to be independent library users. I use manipulatives, scavenger hunts, and some reusable work sheets. I find this works best with 3-5 graders; before that, most students aren't ready to learn library organization in my experience. Someone else teaches computers.

Technology and access: our district is trying to improve technology for all schools, with limited success. Our school is well set up. What with a very strong buffer, I don't know if I will be able to share much of what I've learned this summer. What has occurred to me is using blogs as a tool: book reviews, a place to record ongoing research, collect images. I was thinking of showing some of the teachers how to set up classroom blogs for some of their work. And see about Wikis, too, tho I haven't tried it myself.

Permalink Reply by Joanna Freeman on August 3, 2007 at 3:30pm

Hi Paci,

I have the same concerns you do about how much technology should I be teaching. I was in the position of having a half-time technology specialist for four years, then last year that person was pulled to the secondary level. So my teachers were used to having a staff technology person and when they needed help they would come to me first. I would have preferred being able to integrate more library lessons with their technology objectives, but I lost planning time with teachers at the same time, making integration very hard.

I have seen some great examples of library lessons done with technology that I would like to emulate this next year when the older students will have laptops to bring to the library. One librarian in my district had students do an Inspiration web of genres and they could add titles and descriptions to it throughout the school year. It was a growing document instead of being a static worksheet which I have done.

I feel I am more qualified to teach searching strategies and information skills that students will be using their computers for, so I will continue to teach those lessons using the lab and laptops. I also use these lessons as a time to talk about copyright. I am concerned that some technology-specific teachers haven't had the training I had in my MLIS and I want to be the point person for these lessons, and technology lends itself to this very well.

So, I don't plan to use computers for every lesson, but where they are appropriate and fit with my objectives in the library. It will be nice not have to fight for the computer lab time as much.

I tried to use a wiki with a group doing a Battle of the Books through our public library, but I didn't spend enough time training the kids and the time sped by. I will try the same tactic this year as a way to share questions about the books and to track who has read them.

A librarian in my district has used blogs very successfully as a conversation about books, so I want to try that this year, as well. It can be overwhelming, but I want to only integrate with what I already do, not start from scratch. I hope we can share some more ideas here!

Permalink Reply by Paci Hammond on August 6, 2007 at 1:09pm

Hi Joanna-

Thanks for the reply. You give me lots to think about. Laptops-wow! I was just feeling very fortunate to have 5 new LCD Dells for searching and other library work. The kids will have to rough it and take turns. We try to teach the whole child...

A while back I did a genre spreadsheet, but it was kind of dry. What's an Inspiration web?
Where did you see those lessons?

If you were to have students work in teams, would you have them use a wiki or a blog? I haven't gotten to the wiki section in SSL2.0 (I think that's this week). I wonder about the logistics of setting up 16 different blogs-is this possible if you only have one email address? How does one set up a number of user ids?

The more I learn, the more there is to learn, and the more I know I don't know enough. The plight of the life-long learner.

Paci

Permalink Reply by Ernie Cox on August 3, 2007 at 12:49pm

I've been doing SLL2.0 too. Nice lessons to run through and think about. I am collaborating with a 5th grade literature teacher this year to redesign one of her literature reports into a wiki...along the lines of this one. During the 06-07 school year I worked with the 5th graders on several units comparing and contrasting wikipedia to World Book. We discussed publication differences, authrority, currency etc. The goal was to guide them toward making informed decisions about when to use each of these resources. Wikipedia is the first resource many of them use to explore questions - I want them to understand what it is. Media Specialist also have much to share with classroom teachers about how these technologies work and why they might be of use in their classrooms.

Permalink Reply by Paci Hammond on August 3, 2007 at 3:03pm

Hi Ernie-

I just looked at the wiki you noted. Great! did you set it up for the teacher, and then did she work with the students, or did you work with the students?

what technology did you use for recording the readers' theater?

I like the comparison wiki/World Book. I'd like to know how you approach this, how much time you give it, etc. If you don't mind...

Permalink Reply by Stephanie Chasteen on November 2, 2009 at 12:17am

Ernie,

I realize this is an old discussion thread, but it pertains very closely to something that I'm trying to find out. You say that you collaborated with a teacher to design this unit for students, and how LMS can work with teachers to help them use these online resources. There are many online resources for teachers, in particular, with great content for them to plan their lessons. I'm trying to understand how library media specialists can help teachers access this content -- in particular science content -- and what the challenges are to this kind of collaboration. How can we help librarians find the good stuff in digital libraries for science (in particular NSDL.org), and how can librarians work with teachers to help provide science content? Any thoughts you have on this would be *greatly* appreciated, and I'd be happy to call you (or anyone else who has experience and thoughts on this topic).
Many thanks,
Stephanie Chasteen