Course+Content


 * Course Content Page:**

It is part of the librarian's work detail to provide students with the opportunity to become 21st century learners. Librarians are the media specialist on campus and it is our job to collaborate with teachers to also provide engaging, inquiry based and information rich lessons. According to the AASL, "school librarians collaborate with others to provide instruction, learning strategies, and practice in using the essential learning skills needed in the 21st century." When teachers and students collaborate with the librarian, learning is going to be focused on a specific skill, students involved will be exposed to higher levels of thinking, students will display responsibility for their learning and students will recognize their strengths and weaknesses so they can become independant learners in the 21st century.
 * The 21st Century Learners**

21st century learners need to learn how to work together in person and online. They love "remixing" content online and see the Internet more like a delivery system than they do as a learning tool. Teens and children are also effected by the "digital divide." There are many students that do not have access to computers anywhere other than school. We tend to think of this kids as more tech savvy than adults, but that is simply not true. There are many times where students need help and need to learn how to use web resources and technology resources.


 * =====//Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs //. Chicago, Ill: American Association of School Librarians, 2009. Print. =====
 * =====Lance, Keith Curry, Marcia J. Rodney, and Bill Schwarz. “The Impact of School Libraries on Academic Achievement: A Research Study Based on Responses from Administrators in Idaho. //School Library Monthly// 26.9 (2010): 14-17. Retrieved August 23, 2010, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text database. =====
 * =====Standards for the 21st Century Learner. Chicago: American Association of School Librarians, 2007. 21st Century learner=====


 * Information Literacy**

In today's society we are bombarded with information everyday. it is really important to teach students how to identify the information they need in all of that overload. They need help learning how to find information, how to evaluate sources of information, and how to think about the information in a new way and then share that information.

Reading nonfiction now encompasses analyzing visual information, reading articles, blogs, wikis, tweets, tumblr, video tutorials, slideshows, mapquests, product reviews, text messages and following directions online. In this course we studied how to help students with understanding and analyzing mulitple literacies.

We really loved the Abilock article and how it went into depth with reading a visual like a documentary photograph. Many students can "read" a visual, but they have a hard time understanding it and "using" it beyond the surface level. These photographs also represent more than time period. They represent the artist behind the work and there are many great inference lessons to be had with the projects outlined in the article. In addition, Colleen loved this because it related so well to her "Powerful Photograph" research wiki.

The Considine article was very pertinent as it referenced how teachers need to combine the "social environment" literacy with the school's "literacy environment." It also discussed how our "media savvy" kids have problems transferring the skills from their social environment into the school environment.

Dr. M's web 2.0 tools are great ways to combine the environments listed above. Students love creating Vokis because they bring in that social environment and mesh it with visual literacy and textual literacy. They are easily able to create and share, which are some of their favorite things to do right now.

Lastly, Dr. M's article about co-teaching reading comprehension skills from the library is a great resource for advocating to admin about the importance of a skilled, knowledgable librarian.

Best articles:
 * Abilock, D. (2008, January). Visual Information Literacy: Reading a Documentary Photograph. //Knowledge Quest//, //36//(3), 7-13. Retrieved January 8, 2010, from Academic Search Complete database.


 * Considine, D., Horton, J., & Moorman, G. (2009, March). Teaching and Reading the Millennial Generation Through Media Literacy. //Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy//, //52//(6), 471-481 . Retrieved January 8, 2010, from Academic Search Complete database.


 * Moreillon, Judi, and Liz Sikes. //__Web 2.0 Thinking Tools __//<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">. 25 Jul. 2011. PPT. 3.1.PPT_Web2.0_Thinking_Tools.pdf


 * <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Moreillon, J. (2008, June). Position Yourself at the Center: Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies. //Teacher Librarian//, //35//(5), 27-34 <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">. Retrieved January 8, 2010, from Academic Search Complete database.


 * Inquiry vs. Research in the Library**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Tired of the same old research projects? Want a new way for your students to present their findings? Ready to see your students exciting about learning? Then, I have the answer for you! Work with me to develop more relevant and interesting lessons based on the inquiry process. Not sure what the Inquiry Process is all about? Click [|here] to read more about it. No time today? No problem! Here it is in a nutshell: According to Sabrina Carnesi and Karen DiGiorgio, The Inquiry Process engages students in a way that promotes critical thinking, higher-level processing, and the use of more varied and appropriate sources. (32) Inquiry process allows our students to use higher level thinking skills to develop their own understandings for areas that are interesting to them. As the we work together to develop these skills, they will be one step closer to becoming a 21st century learner. One common belief from the American Association for School Librarians states that "Inquiry provides a framework for learning." Therefore, we must begin to teach our student to inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge. Using the Inquiry Process, we can do this! This method will help us utilize our newly acquired cooperative learning training. The process allows us to use one inquiry to expand to various subject areas in the curriculum. We can adapt the use of materials for different learning styles in our students. Inquiry process allows students to work together to find multiple ways to solve problems. Web 2.0 tools are great instruments to help our students connect to the web world and present their inquiries to others. We can have them use Voicethread, Skype, Google Docs, Animoto and many more to capture their learning. This [|article] really demonstrates how the tools connect with the learning skills we want our students to acquire. And best of all, the inquiry process incorporates many different levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy throughout the process! Ready to throw out your “fill in the fact” books? Ready to dump PowerPoint and find exciting Web 2.0 tools to use for student presentations? Then, let’s get collaborating! See me soon for a planning form that you can fill out before we meet to help get us started on this new path of discovery.
 * <span style="color: #14456e; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Berger, P. (2010, January). Student Inquiry and Web 2.0. //School Library Monthly, 26//(5), pp. 14-17. <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Retrieved May 1, 2012, from Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text database.
 * <span style="color: #14456e; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Carnesi, S., & DiGiorgio, K. (2009, March). Teaching the Inquiry Process to 21st Century Learners. //Library Media Connection//, //27//(5), 32-36. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;"> Retrieved May 1, 2012 from Academic Search Complete database.
 * Standards for the 21st Century Learner. Chicago: American Association of School Librarians, 2007.