Teaching alone has its own skill set. However, it is also ongoing and continuous in the content and pedagogy area. Professional development is essential in order to evolve as information becomes available. Teacher Librarians (TLs) have to keep up with the trends in pedagogy, and curriculum to foster lifelong learning with students and teachers. Teachers should be able to find assistance from the TL who can direct them to resources that help with implementing new practices. I have created ways to start my first year as the school TL. My steps to doing this are as follows: join the Professional Development Committee, establish a connection and gather input from each colleague by getting to know them and creating professional development opportunities.
Maria Kampen states that “time is not a commodity that you cannot avoid using - but you can spend it wisely… it means maximizing the time you have”. She suggests embedding Professional Development opportunities into the teaching day. For example, hosting a lunch and learn event or a drop in so that teachers can participate on their prep periods; facilitating time where teachers of same grade subject area can collaborate to plan or exchange lesson plans.
In the Cult of Pedagogy, Jennifer Gonzales has several Professional Development structures (e.g. I would like to use: Learning Walks, Unconferences, Professional Learning Communities, Peer Observation, and Lab Classrooms) that can be incorporated into the teaching day and save teachers time working outside of work hours.
I would like to try doing the following while I am part of the Professional Development Committee. The following are examples of learning opportunities I feel that I can easily incorporate without disrupting teachers days.
It is a community of professionals who have a shared interest or mutual commitment to growth. This is a community teachers choose to join. This would allow teachers to invest in what they need to know for their teaching rather than waste time learning things they don't need or already know about.
Teachers do a classroom visit. Watching colleagues teach. Sometimes a teacher demonstrates a strategy while visiting teachers observe.
As time passes and I gather more experience I would like to provide opportunities for teachers to use resources virtually so that they can share ideas, practices and experiences with each other. In addition, I would like to develop a folder on Microsoft Teams to put useful links and resources for teachers, students and parents.
References
Gonzalez, Jennifer (2018, March 4) OMG Becky. PD is Getting So Much Better!! Cult of Pedagogy. Retrieved from: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/pd/
Thanks to information and communication technology, there is a heaping amount of resources at my finger tips. I can access any of these without leaving my chair. I want continue to develop my skills, pedagogy and professional development for my practice and classroom through my own personal learning network which include:
Microsoft Teams, Blogs, Tweeter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Teachers-Pay-Teachers.
I will use the resources from our very talented District Teacher Librarian. Currently there are several files with information that is shared among all Teacher Librarians (TLs) in the district. I am fortunate to work for a district that has many experienced teacher librarians working together. This virtual resource is dedicated to communicating ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. In the application we have folders which contain relevant instructions, procedures and information regarding the Library Learning Commons. We can also ask questions and connect with other TLs in the district.
I will strategically monitor my social media accounts (e.g. Instagram, Twitter, and Blogs) to keep current and be alerted to the ideas from other educators. I will network with other district TLs and follow them on social media. There is also a district wide conference that I will be attending in September as well as a training session. Both events will give me a chance to add contacts to my social media. I have also added the district TL to my Instagram feed along with other district TLs so that I can see their developments and progress as it happens in their classroom.
Being a teacher I realize that teaching and learning go hand in hand. Not only do I have to teach the curriculum to my students but I also have to learn ways to create and optimize their learning. Going into this LIBE course I knew several acronyms like: TL, ELL, and LLC. Now I know about ICT and PLN. I have been so resistant to learning about information and communication technologies. However, it has surprised me how easily I have taken to it and learned to navigate various applications. I have been using other teacher’s resources for learning for some time but what I didn’t think was possible was to have people find what I have to say interesting or relevant. I read a quote by Chris Lehman which I will keep in mind when making my posts: “It’s no longer enough to do powerful work when no one sees it”. Domeier de Suarez, Lisa. (19 October 2012).
I enjoy using Pinterest because there is an abundance of options. The visual aspect is very appealing to me. I am a visual learner who does better by looking at how to do something rather then reading about it. I like to browse through resources that I can see and are visually easy to figure out.
I am an avid user of Teachers-Pay-Teachers. I love the idea of teachers supporting each other and taking part in each other’s professional development. There is an enormous amount of beautiful and useful resources.
I realize that these digital platforms are not only important for my own personal learning networks but students’ as well. Therefore, it is important for us to know how to use these sources so that we can help our students safely navigate the applications. (Richardson, Will. December 7th, 2007).
What is most interesting about these technologies is that you learn aspects you didn't even know you needed to know. In an interview with Tom Whitby (by Jerry Pettigrew) he mentions: “not only can you direct what you need to know, you also find out that, which you don’t know”. We are fortunate to be able to choose the platform that best suits our needs for a particular task.
As a classroom teacher, I have taught Kindergarten for the last 6 years with the philosophy of exposing students to as much literature as possible. Firstly, I teach students what they can do when they pick up a book since Kindergarten is their first experience in school. I model this behaviour and later encourage the students to do it themselves. I demonstrate how to look at a cover to learn what the book might be about and whether it might be interesting to them, then I teach them to look at the pictures on the page to help them figure out the storyline, and I show them how to read from front to back.
Research suggests that the more exposed children are, the more successful they will be; not only in literacy but in other academic areas.
I start the day with a book, I welcome my class back from lunch with a book and I end the day with a book. When I read a book to my class I try to be as animated as possible to draw the students’ attention. When I read, I model reading behaviour out loud so students can learn to do this themselves. Since they are in Kindergarten, I focus on teaching the first two reading strategies from Adrianne Gear’s Reading Power. Before we start a book I have students use the picture on the cover to predict what the book might be about, then I encourage them to make a symbol with their hands to show me when they have a connection to the literature. Usually, we share those connections to deepen and further engage them in the book. As we read I model asking questions (e.g. I wonder why they’re going that way? Or what’s going to happen next? Or I’m worried, what are they going to do next?) and I encourage them to ask questions to confirm meaning and understanding.
After I read aloud after lunch I give students the opportunity to pick books and read to themselves or with a buddy. I try to emphasize the excitement of “getting cozy with a book”, using props (e.g. glasses, reading to stuffies, blankets for forts or cuddling with) and finding a nice spot to relax and enjoy the literature.
Reading a in a fort with Bear One and Bear Two.
Reading with funky glasses.
Since this fall will be my first year as a Teacher Librarian, I think implementing a strategy that is simple yet productive will be ideal considering the newness of the circumstances. Ideally giving students the chance to read will give them a chance to practice the skills they have learned in class. A program that I think would work school wide and bring together the school community is called Drop Everything And Read (DEAR).
I would also like to provide more information to students and parents on how they can promote literacy at home that is consistent with what we are doing at school.
Lastly I would like students to take advantage of the tools and resources in our library website. We have so many resources that don’t get used because they’re not advertised correctly. Our school library has various online magazines, Tumble Books and ebooks for students to dive into. I would like to make stickers and bookmarks with login information that students can put on their agendas. I think that the simplicity of having the information they need to access it will increase the likelihood that they will use the resource.
References
James Whiteside Elementary School, Online Catalogue. https://search.follettsoftware.com/metasearch/ui/9149
Inquiry, Critical Reading, and Digital literacy are crucial skills for students in the digital era. It is therefore instrumental in the success of students as they progress through the school age thus carrying their skills and building on what they know.
I feel that as an educator I can get carried away by the fancy gadgets and activities available for students. I enjoy watching children discover and explore a variety of software and applications. On the other hand, I think that teaching digital literacy should be a priority.
In my initial investigations on these topics, I have come across several resources to inform my research:
In this article Hodson states , "Teaching children digital literacy skills helps them navigate and respond to misinformation.” “Most public schools now teach students how to code, but we are not teaching students how to identify their own key triggers for misinformation or the organizational incentives for misinformation spread. As a result of these missing information literacy skills, our children may grow into adults who are not prepared to participate democratically in what is certain to be an even more complex information environment.”
Hodson states that “It is also important to teach children that platforms such as Google, YouTube, Twitter or Facebook are not neutral. Rather, they are designed to maximize engagement, which short-circuits our brain's natural defences and leads us to share misinformation with others. Students need to develop both critical thinking and reflexivity — critical thinking to be able to assess content and sources, and reflexivity to understand the role their own unconscious biases, social connections and emotions play when processing information.”
Ciampaglia, Giovanni Luca and Menczer, Filippo, June 20, 2018. Updated January 10, 2019.
In this article, Ciamaglia and Filippo state that misinformation on “Social media are among the primary sources of news in the U.S. and across the world. Yet users are exposed to content of questionable accuracy, including conspiracy theories, clickbait, hyperpartisan content, pseudo science and even fabricated “fake news” reports. It’s not surprising that there’s so much disinformation published: Spam and online fraud are lucrative for criminals, and government and political propaganda yield both partisan and financial benefits. But the fact that low-credibility content spreads so quickly and easily suggests that people and the algorithms behind social media platforms are vulnerable to manipulation. Our research has identified three types of bias that make the social media ecosystem vulnerable to both intentional and accidental misinformation.” The good news is that we can educate students to filter through the misinformation and reach the correct ones.
Silvestro, Steve. “Teaching Internet Safety to Kids & Teens.” YouTube, Sept. 2018.
In the video by Steve Silvestro “Teaching Internet Safety to Kids & Teen” one can learn how to teach internet safety to children and teens. As a Teacher Librarian I believe that it is important to teach students about the validity and reliability of resources online. Students will use the Google engine to search their interest. Doing this can put students at risk of encountering the wrong information and meeting the wrong people. Therefore, it is my responsibility to inform and direct the school community towards resources with accuracy, validity, content, etc.
Another popular resource that a Google search will lead to is the citizen built encyclopedia, Wikipedia. Teaching students how to use Wikipedia wisely is crucial since they will undoubtedly use this search resource to collect their findings. Teaching students about evaluating websites, checking for accuracy and reminding them to also look for other sources to compare and extend their knowledge on a given topic is critical. Students have to be taught to determine where the information originated from by reading footnotes, looking at the webpage’s references and then investigating the source of the material.
Mike Caulfield has come up with a tool educators can review and utilize “a short list of things to do when looking at a source, and hook each of those things to one or two highly effective web techniques. We call the “things to do” moves and there are four of them:”
Fig. 1 Below is an example of a tool students can use when searching online.
In closing, educators need to consider several components when teaching digital literacy while highlighting online safety. It is important to direct students to resources with excellent accuracy and validity. As well as teach students to be skeptical about the resources they come across and look further to confirm their findings by cross referencing their sources.
I don’t consider myself a “tech savvy” person. In fact, I have avoided as much technology as possible by using it as little as possible but I know that I have to learn more about 21st century teaching and learning in order to keep up with the interests of my students and the rest of the world who have adopted this new forum of learning and teaching. I get overwhelmed by the availability of resources online through social media and online platforms. I started thinking about my experience with technology and when it served to inspire and motivate my students to dig deeper. It all started during our daily nature walks. Yes, outside. Who would have thought.
Going for nature walks outside with my class gave me time with students to explore freely while answering and directing their inquiries. Often questions would arise from observing their surroundings. We took pictures to record their inquiry and to help us look further. I used an application called “Google Lens”(https://lens.google/).
The application allows you to take a picture of something and search for information based on what is in the picture (please refer to Fig. 1). This led to all sorts of inquiry and knowledge. Students were always engaged when they would discover something and want to find out more.
Moreover, students are able to learn more about the physical world around them.
I believe that the self-directed inquiry process and open-endedness is a pedagogy that allows students to find their own interests by coming up with their own questions and answers.
There are a variety of digital technologies that can enrich, enable, and enhance learning. For example, Google Lens leads to finding more information from sources like: Wikipedia, Britannia and other specialized websites on any given topic.
Keywords that I want to explore further are:Inquiry, Critical Reading, and Digital literacy.
Using this application has shown me how engaging technological tools can be in the hands of students. I want to learn more on how to amplify this learning so that my students can learn transferable skills and become lifelong learners.
