The Challenges and Realities of Inquiry-Based Learning
By Thom Markham Teachers in a rural southeast Michigan high school were recently discussing the odd behavior of the senior class. It seems the 12th graders were acting more civilly toward the junior class in the hallways. The prom was also quieter and more well-mannered than in previous years. More perplexing, prom was over, it was mid-May, and the seniors were still engaged in learning. The teachers’ explanation: Project-based learning.
Dear School Administrators Lets Talk About Flexible Library Schedules.
It’s time we had a frank discussion about flexible schedules for your school librarians. I often hear administrators talk about how the library is the heart of the school and how they truly value librarians. That is awesome. I love to hear that librarians and libraries are valued, but when I dig a little deeper, I often find out that librarians are put on a fixed schedule and as a result, libraries are not open to all students and teachers on a daily basis. The ALA’s 2014 position statement on flexible scheduling makes it very clear that “open access to a quality school library program is essential for students to develop the vital skills necessary to analyze, evaluate, interpret, and communicate information and ideas in a variety of formats.
The importance of having a school library
Lisa Kent, the chapter leader at PS/IS 155 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, has taught there for 22 years. In all that time, the school has never had a working library. That finally changed this spring, thanks to the school’s current and former principals, community grants and donors, PTA volunteers and the tenacity of art teacher Lisa Ryan. On March 6, the school community gathered for a ribbon-cutting to unveil a library stocked with $10,000 worth of brand-new books. What will it mean for students and teachers to have access to their school’s own library?
Navigating the information landscape through collaboration
Elizabeth Hutchinson, Head of Schools' Library Service in Guernsey, writes that information literacy is at the centre of student learning, making the role of library staff as important as ever. School libraries and school library professionals have a huge role to play in supporting teaching and learning within a school. I often hear visiting authors comment on being able to identify a good school by how well the library is used. School librarian Caroline Roche penned the phrase ‘heart of the school’, which is used to describe schools whose library is at the centre of learning.
How To Spot Fake News
Critical thinking is a key skill in media and information literacy, and the mission of libraries is to educate and advocate its importance. Discussions about fake news has led to a new focus on media literacy more broadly, and the role of libraries and other education institutions in providing this. When Oxford Dictionaries announced post-truth was Word of the Year 2016, we as librarians realise action is needed to educate and advocate for critical thinking – a crucial skill when navigating the information society. IFLA has made this infographic with eight simple steps (based on FactCheck.org’s 2016 article How to Spot Fake News) to discover the verifiability of a given news-piece in front of you. Download, print, translate, and share – at home, at your library, in your local community, and on social media networks. The more we crowdsource our wisdom, the wiser the world becomes.
Beyond the Collection Diversity Audit: Inclusion is More Than a Book, Why we should be auditing all of our library services for inclusion and best practices - Teen Librarian Toolbox
When I first began doing collection diversity audits, I had no idea that was what they were called. It was actually SLJ editor Kathy Ishizuka who gave me a name for what I was doing. I had Tweeted out pictures of me trying to figure out how inclusive my collection was and she said, “Oh, you’re doing a diversity audit”.
Every School needs a School Library
Full Title: Every School needs a School Library with a School Librarian – By Elizabeth Hutchinson I love school libraries! Well you would, I hear you say, you’re a librarian.
Bloomin' Apps
This page gathers all of the Bloomin' Apps projects in one place.Each image has clickable hotspots and includes suggestions for iPad, Android, Google and online tools and applications to support each of the levels of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy.I have created a page to allow you to share your favorite online tool, iOS, or Android app with others. Cogs of the Cognitive Processes I began to think about the triangular shape of Bloom's Taxonomy and realized I thought of it a bit differently.Since the cognitive processes are meant to be used when necessary, and any learner goes in and out of the each level as they acquire new content and turn it into knowledge, I created a different type of image that showcased my thoughts about Bloom's more meaningfully.Here is my visual which showcases the interlocking nature of the cognitive processes or, simply, the "Cogs of the Cognitive Processes".
In the war on fake news, school librarians have a huge role to play - The Verge
Concern about the prevalence of fake or sensationally biased news sources has escalated in the days following the presidential election, with many citing it as a factor (some even the primary cause) of Donald Trump’s win. The central focus of the concern is Facebook, which has grown beyond a social platform and is now a key information distributor from which 44 percent of Americans get their news. Though Mark Zuckerberg stated publicly that the idea that fake news on Facebook influenced the election was “crazy,” a BuzzFeed News report uncovered that people within his own company consider this response flippant and are busy organizing in secret to dig into the data and make recommendations to senior leadership. This news came out after a Gizmodo report stated that Facebook had already built a system that could weed out fake news but had chosen not to deploy it because of the undesirable optics of the tool going after mostly right-wing “news” sources.
10 Tips for New School Librarians! – Don't Shush Me!
So you’ve been hired as a school librarian? Congratulations! What an exciting moment! I was hired for my first school librarian position 3.5 years ago, and I vividly remember how excited I was. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably already dreaming about all of the things you’ll do, ways you’ll decorate, books you’ll purchase, etc. You also may be feeling a smidge anxious or nervous.
