Librarydoor

Information Architecture--express yourself!

2012-01-29T17:56:00.000-08:00

A new term has arisen for Infographics-- Information Architecture--data visualized. To capture and summarize the meaning of a bundle of information in visual form is truly an artform requiring higher level thought. This helps our heavily visual generation understand and remember details of data more readily.

Infographics have been around since sliced bread, but was brought into the spotlight during the summer of 2010 when the New York Times journalists ran a summer blog for their education following. Infographics actually is a higher order thinking activity that translates deep meaning of information into a picture representation. Be sure to check out those NY Times resources above. They are wonderful.

Data Visualization, information digestion, information architecture... either way, I like it. Students like it. Why not turn your assignment knowledge product into an Infographic challenge?

Create an infographic depicting the impact of a man-made disaster.
Create an infographic on the Civil War.
Create an infographic on the benefits of solar power.
Extrapolate data from the NFL website and depict five ratios you found.
Convince me to watch what I eat via an Infographic.
Defend your position on ___________ via an Infographic.

If you look at the Common Core verbs below, you can spot many instructional verbs from the CCSS which would be embraced by research project ending in an infographic:
Integrate

Evaluate

Comprehend

Critique

Analyze - think analytically

Address a Question

Solve a problem

Conduct a short research projects

Conduct sustained research projects

Students generate questions

Explore a topic

Draw evidence from texts

Support analysis
Research and reflection
Gather information from print and digital sources
Assess the credibility and accuracy of sources
Integrate information avoiding plagiarism
Produce and publish writing

Interact and collaborate

Debate

Write arguments to support claims

Formulate an argument

Comprehend

Prepare and participate effectively in conversations.

Build and express persuasively

Express information and enhance

understanding

For the ipad, there's a free APP in the app store called 'Iinfographics' by Column Five and is keyword searchable. A company that makes infographics professionally, places them out there for use. Wonderful. We like free.
Or, use their Visualized Data at their website; columnfivemedia.com
Displayed on smartboard, students can picture what their knowledge products should look like.

http://columnfivemedia.com/work-items/good-infographicwhat-americans-really-think-about-climate-change-3/

Thirteen Reasons Why --you should care about eBook lockdown

2012-01-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

Please convey my condolences to the Penguin marketing staff or CEO who made this awful lockdown decision-- not to allow newer titles to be sold to Overdrive customers. You may not have heard, but Penguin has just joined a growing group of Fortune 100 Companies who are pulling their title availability from online libraries. What a shame. Rather than retaining the availability of books for devices on public and school digital libraries, they are fortifying their financial walls.

I understand the financial concern, although I don’t agree with this. Penguin's Digital Marketing Director, Anna Rafferty, claims they are in the gambling business and gave a speech recently which touted how they reach out to the YA market to understand what book will be a hit. They use the teens who hang-out on their online site to: test the market, figure out what will sell, publish it--then lock out the public?

Penguin, as the publisher of recent hits such as Thirteen Reasons Why (Razonbill) gives us reason to worry. Other major publishers are brewing similar decisions and now is the time to express our concern. Here are thirteen reasons you should care:

This is one step close to supporting the American unofficial caste system. We live in a nation of Haves and Have-nots. The Haves will be able to purchase your titles via other booksellers. The have-nots will have to enjoy this in print (if they have a car to drive to the library—if they even have a library). The market we (schools who have digital libraries) predominately serve are the in-betweeners. Those with limited devices, or have school-owned devices provided to them. They do not have money to purchase these titles directly.
To quote from Anna Rafferty’s speech below, they “are a global billion dollar business now,” and worry about your bottom line--being “in the gambling business.” However, doesn't that support the position of all the Wall Street Occupiers? Conglomerates are growing greedy on the backs of all the regular people and libraries. how much is enough...To quote Rockefeller,"just a little bit more."
If we lock down etitles, one publisher at a time, what will be left? --perhaps poor quality, self-published books?
Steven Abrahms claimed in a paper posted at the SLJ eBook Summit, that somehow both the publishers and consumers have to come to realize that both interests have to be protected. I claim that via DRM, the interests of the publishers and authors are protected. This decision makes it appear that publishers are becoming anti-library. The publishers must want more books purchased, rather than loaned. After all the years, of keeping publishers in business, they don't want libraries.
If the DRM that is in place, via a digital library model such as Overdrive, is considered inadequate, then what will work? Therefore we can speculate that publishers are not as concerned about DRM as they are about loss of revenue.
If books migrate to digital dominance (as some say will happen), then without the ability to checkout digital books, what role will the library play?
Students want these books--in digital form. So, why would the publishers decide to lock them down.
The publishers are defining the market, rather than the consumer. This could become the de-facto standard.
To quote Penguin's Digital Marketing director, "They read loads online. They spent all of their time online. None of this is a surprise, I’m sure." Therefore, if they are locking libraries out of the online market, does that mean they want to sequester that to themselves, as opposed to libraries? -- Since, that is where the teens are?
This is a decision over money, not digital rights.
Money decisions which impact the common good of man, will only benefit stockholders in the long term.
We live in a free market economy, and this is locking vendors out of the free market.
This is another nail in the library's coffin. As we seek to redefine what the library is for the 21st Century, we have reason to worry when publishers don't want to sell to libraries.

May I suggest we boycott one of Penguin's titles to show our dismay? Let's not purchase Thirteen Reasons Why AT ALL. Nada -- no print, no digital. Let's show them the impact that a bad decision could have.

Other online curators for digital libraries such as myself, have a set budget (thousands annually) to spend. It is a shame that Penguin titles won’t be in that bundle. I will have to use that money to purchase Random House, Scholastic, McMillan and other publishers’ titles for our patrons. Penguin has hurt their own our own bottom line many times over. It’s not like we digital librarians won’t spend this money. I will spend it, but now it can’t be on new Penguin titles.

We will sail out this storm as publishers get their act together and realize that this is a growing behemoth market. By stepping outside the food chain, they may go hungry. The music industry fought this initially, only to realize that they had to sell online to everyone. In turn their market share eventually grew huge. I would ask you to reconsider your decision. You are apt to lose your “relationship with [your] target market,” Anna. Sorry… but some of that market won’t be able to read your books at all. There are my Thirteen Reasons Why you should reverse this decision.

Here is an email to which you can express your objection to this decision:

Erica.glass@us.penguingroup.com.

_______________________________________________________________________________
Sources: http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/insight/the-big-rethink/redesigning-business-summit/penguin-books/
Digital Marketing Director Anna Rafferty knows that consumers want more active engagement with the brands they love. At the Redesigning Business Summit 2010 she outlined how Penguin books is working to meet this demand.
Read the transcript from Anna Rafferty, Digital Marketing Director, Penguin

"Hello, morning everybody. I’m going to talk about working for Penguin Books. I hope you’re all very familiar with Penguin, but just in case you’re not, we’re a global billion-dollar business now. We’re a trade publisher and we’re part of the Pearson Group....

But one of the things that did strike me was that I’m very lucky. Because even though I do work for a group that is part of a FTSE 100 company, risk taking is part of the DNA of trade publishing, because actually we’re a gambling business, and in the 150 books that we publish every month, maybe 20 will really work, and you don’t know, necessarily, which ones they’re going to be until it happens...."

http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/01/ebooks/penguin-further-narrows-library-access-suspending-availability-of-audiobook-titles/
_______________________________________________________________________________

Text Complexity for Dummies

2012-01-17T13:59:00.000-08:00

Not that we educators are really dummies, but for those who are clueless on what the Common Core has to say about using "rich text" in the classroom, here is one of the best overviews that I have seen. NYC is a behemoth and therefore uses their resources to efficiently reach a great number of teachers. Once again, they have created a wonderful tool available to the nation. Click here to view.

They speak that the 3 key points in Appendix A for consideration when determining whether a text passage is appropriate for "rich text" classroom usage are:

Quantitative measures (algorithmic measures of complexity)
Qualitative measures (more subject to the teacher's appraisal (What is the vocabulary of text? What is the content - does it relate, enhance, build knowledge, etc.)   View the rubric in this video at this link. It is one of the better tools I have seen. Some of the considerations evaluated in the rubric are:     layout;
           purpose and meaning;
           text structure;
           language features;
           knowledge demands
           length?
           background knowledge required
           level of reasoning required & more.

Considerations of the reader and the task - What can you ask the students to do with this data? Can they investigate? Can they debate, dialogue, discuss, react, quote, generate further questions for investigation? Can I couple this passage with any of the "Power Verbs" below?

Whether you are a novice or expert in understanding the theme of rich text, this video and the rubric are worth investigating. See you school librarian for help in finding examples on how to mine for rich text, how to search for great primary sources freely available, or where to look on the web for resource within databases correctly lexiled for your classroom. (See older posts below on Lexiles, Mining for Rich text and more.)

Interactive Info Lit Bulletin Board Ideas

2012-01-09T17:28:00.000-08:00

Someone recently asked me for additional info lit ideas. Remember from earlier postings-- the movement for bulletin boards is to make them interactive, reactive--rather than static. Here are a few additional ideas to ponder:

We are living in the Age of Misinformation! Which one of the following is true?
(Place random facts both true and plausible--but not true.)

If you were diagnosed with a disease, where would you go for information?
(Place good and bad sources on the envelopes...Depending upon which source they choose, they would have a likelihood of getting well... "You lose... Placebo... Find a new doctor....Congrats! You will likely recover...etc.

What keywords would you choose to answer the following questions?
(Question on the outside, keywords under the flap.)

Library Lingo for Lucky Searching... "I'm feeling lucky" picture on Google.
Can they get a good hit on Google with correct Keywords? You provide the questions. (Personally, I don't like this feature, but your students might have fun with this.)

Information, Misinformation, Disinformation, Information Pollution & Information Overload.... Are you suffering from TMI?
Statistics for Google being a Garbage Dump of Information? (Make up the statistics and see who verifies any of them... prizes for those who find out! No sources cited?)
Sherlock Holmes style detective head with comment bubble, "What's your source?" Have random facts that open with the source underneath.
"You can ACCESS anything with your phone...but how do you know it's true?" Random Facts from the Internet. Cite your source!
It's plausible, but is it true? Investigate the source.

Have fun. Mix and match the ideas above to customize your own interactive bulletin board!

(image from Creative Commons: http://act1nowplaying.com/DickTraceyDetective1945.aspx)

See previous posts on InfoLit Bulletin Board ideas:
http://librarydoor.blogspot.com/2011/08/information-literacy-bulletin-board.html
http://librarydoor.blogspot.com/2009/11/information-literacy-bulletin-board.html

CCSS Superhero Verbs - ready to rescue!

2012-01-08T18:40:00.000-08:00

People all over America are trying to figure out the Common Core, when this is easy. Common Core is real teaching at its' best. Common Core is teaching in an old Socratic method, infused with information, embedded with technology. It is Socrates on steroids. It is not teaching to the test.

In the Anchor standards of the Common Core (which are no longer broken out separately on the CCSS website, but are now buried within "Key Points in ELA" and Key Points in Math), there are recommendations for pedagogy. Any seasoned teacher examining these recommendations will remember when they used to teach this way..before NCLB.

Below you will find all the recommended instructional power verbs from the CCSS. This is the ultimate abridgment:

Integrate
Evaluate
Comprehend
Critique
Analyze - think analytically
Address a Question
Solve a problem
Conduct a short research projects
Conduct sustained research projects
Students generate questions
Explore a topic

Draw evidence from texts

Support analysis

Research and reflection

Gather information from print and digital sources

Assess the credibility and accuracy of sources

Integrate information avoiding plagiarism

Produce and publish writing
Interact and collaborate
Debate
Write arguments to support claims
Formulate an argument
Comprehend
Prepare and participate effectively in conversations.
Build and express persuasively
Express information and enhance understanding
Sounds like a field trip to the library is in order....

Here's a sample recipe for cooking up a great student-centered lesson:

Identify content and learning objective
Pre-assess (authentically)
Activate thinking - hook & identify prior knowledge (pick verbs above)
Plan lesson ( pick a verb above)
Plan for student-self-assessment and knowledge product
Plan assessment for knowledge product
Integrate information
Embed technology
Define vocabulary of the discipline that you expect to see within knowledge products
(Refine your lesson with a gold standard UBD template, of course.)

Next week we will hold PD... Come with content leave with a lesson. Join us for our second full-house PD on Aligning Instruction for the Common Core Content. Here's a lesson plan organizer, if you don't live in "upstate NY."
Scorates would be proud. Don't let him down.

( Graphic creative commons. http://www.vectorilla.com/2010/04/vector-superman/)

RTTT or RTTB?

2012-01-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

Wow Listen to Seth Godin challenge everyone to examine whether we are racing to the top or racing to the bottom. As I listened to this award-winning idea guru, I couldn't help thinking that educators were like this. Either we are racing to the top, teaching via an innovative, technology-rich, Bloom's higher level thought method--or we are racing to the bottom teaching to the test.
CCSS are asking us to foster creativity and inspire lifelong learning in our students. What a great idea to transfer to our classroom: Encourage students to be risk-takers, innovators, believe in a great idea and create.

I did not agree with everything Seth Godin espoused-- if everyone walked to his own drummer we'd have a nation of occupiers and an atmosphere of entropy. But, we could also promote a little innovation in the classroom and life. Forget RTTB and trying to just be "efficient" -- Incubate a novel idea today with your students!

Link here for the video. (It was here but made the page load slowly, so this was removed.)

Wanted Authentic Assessment

2012-01-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

As the details of the RTTT assessment requirements are unveiled, dare we ask that the two major assessment options create authentic measurements for performance-based evaluations?   In a day-and-age where an employees' performance is measured by what we produce--the job we do--the things we create--the ways in which we perform-- dare we ask that the performance of students be measured the same way?
The CCSS ask us to graduate students who are college and career ready, who know how to perform--not take tests.   If employers wanted good test-takers, then they would likely not get creative individuals.   For some reason, I see a disconnect.
I love the Common Core. The content is scaffolded, well-developed, rigorous and relevant. The key anchor standards within the CCSS ask teachers to teach in an Inquiry based learning environment, challenging students to think, create, debate, conclude, investigate, synthesize, and problem solve. This is all higher-order Bloom's taxonomy. Good 'ole Blooms...Long live the King.

Dare we speculate how computer-based assessment will ever graduate from the bottom floor of Blooms triangle?   Rote and recall, here we come. The latest unveiling from the PARCC group doesn't inspire me to great confidence that we will move away from rote and recall.   Despite the threat of low-levels rote and recall testing, we need to teach at the top. I refuse to stoop to teaching to the test. If good instruction is planned and student-directed research assignments are prevalent, research shows that students perform better on rote and recall tests. Therefore, please encourage teachers to return to creative teaching, research-based investigations, Socratic questioning, debates, student-owned projects and more. This is the only way we will graduate career-ready individuals who are ready to perform--regardless of what form the assessments take.

See your ~~librarian~~ cybrarian today, and plan a student-centered inquiry investigation. This is 21st Century Learning. This is crafting instruction for the Common Core. This is how to foster student-achievement. This is real learning. Long live the King.

Whistleblowers and Winterwonderlands

2011-12-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

As I listen to the Polar Express train blow past my backyard, I can't help think that we Americans love a good story. The Polar Express is growing into one of those timeless tales about which this younger generation will reminisce. Why else would a family of five pay $100.00 to ride a train in their PJ's with make-believe elves, just to wave to Santa? It's not for the toys--its' for the memory.

So it should be with our schools. I hope that this generation will hold fast to a few memories of good teachers. Or, will they just say, "Oh she was so great...she prepared me for the test...it was so painful." I would call that the polar express. Freeze the brain and hurry the pain.

The Common Core (CC) has stated in their anchor standards that they want to see teachers cover less and dig deeper. We call that-- uncover and discover. In the library world, we are loving the CC focus on rich text. This is a librarians wonderland. We are totally able to provide these texts that teachers need to dig up to enrich their classroom pedagogy.

I have previously posted a guide to Lexiles and the CC, but this embedding of rich text is taking the recipe and enjoying the content. As you find great articles of rich text, correctly Lexiled for use in the classroom, please take a moment to consider how research and Inquiry Based Learning can be a companion activity to reading a document. For students to just "read" a document, there is no application or transfer of ownership and relevancy. When you ask the students to "do something" with the content of a rich text document, then you have the formula for student-centered learning activities. Here's the recipe:

Find a wonderful reading article in a database.
Check the Lexile via a database notation or on Lexile.com (Lexile Analyzer)
Identify core content, rich words that enhance the reading experience
Brainstorm an Inquiry based question to foster research and additional digging.
Create a lesson plan(s) which will encourage the asking of questions, digging for info, synthesizing of facts--> knowledge, and the creation or formation of new knowledge.

This week, the middle school librarian at Hudson Falls shared that she and a history teacher did this with their students. The article which was read was a piece on the Salem Witch Trials. After reading, examining, discussion and debate, the class was asked,"Where else in history, or today, have there been witch trials?"

A wonderful inquiry project ensued with collaborative working models examining historical events such s the Holocaust, "mean girls," Sri Lanka witch hunts, the Trail of Tears and more.  This was a wonderful way of examining whether "history repeats itself." This could go on and dig deeper. The class could hold trials for the events. They could discuss the Bill of Rights and why these things shouldn't occur in America. They could embrace mathematical learning objectives and create graphs and infographics.   The possibilities are endless.

So, use your databases, your creative brain, your marketing skills, and create wonderful, correctly-lexiled rich text lessons aligned with the vision of the Common Core. That would melt away the disbelief and warm the CC creator's hearts.   Let those students express themselves and share their knowledge. Give them something to get excited about--rather than prep for the test.

Helen Keller's letter to Alexander Graham Bell
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/P?magbell:25:./temp/~ammem_bFU0::

This primary source letter from the AmericanMemory.gov collection, is a letter sent to Mr. Bell. In the research endeavor that follows this letter, students discover and uncover secrets critical to the invention of the telephone (such as Mr. Bell was married to a deaf person and his mother was deaf. It was in his research to assist deafness that he invented the phone). The inquiry question could follow... How does promise come from adversity? Now, that's an educational wonderland.

Fishing for Lexiles?

2011-12-09T08:41:00.000-08:00

Fishing is a peaceful, boring, activity--unless you catch one. If you sit there and row your boat all day, you'll be tired, discouraged, your muscles will ache, and all you'll go home to make a PBJ. And for ice fishing?...I once heard someone say they'd rather get a root canal, than sit out in the cold.

Searching for Common Core complex text is similar to that experience for teachers. They don't know how to fish and they are coming up short. Listed below are a few tools to analyze text for Lexile levels. Use these to help find instructional resources for classroom use. In addition, I have a link below where where you can catch some primary sources.

The Readability Statistics within Microsoft Word

http://www.lexile.com/fab / Find a book's Lexile score at this link by either the title (upper right hand corner search box) or search for titles that are at the proper Lexile level.
Lexile Analyzer - http://www.lexile.com/analyzer/ Create an account and upload .txt files such as primary sources - This is the most reliable way to get a true Lexile. All the others are approximate substitutes.

http://juicystudio.com/services/readability.php#readintro - Will analyze URL’s readability.

http://www.readability.info/ - another place to upload a URL and get the readability of the URL/site.

In general, the “readability” ratings come in about 100 points lower than Lexiles per thousand. Therefore something with a readability index of about 850, you would likely add about 85 points to get the correlating Lexile. The Lexile.com resources by Metametrics are the most reliable. However, getting a Lexile is only one piece of the puzzle in understanding the Common Core and meeting the requirements to embed rich text with deep meaning. Teachers will want to also consider:

Does the piece have additional opportunities to enrich learning?
Does the piece use the vocabulary of the discipline?
Is the piece engaging for the learner?
Does the piece lend itself to additional research and learning activities such as debate, research, discussion, etc.

Find a list of sample Primary Source Archives here.

The Transliterate Learner & Common Core

2011-12-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

We have PD tomorrow for 100 teacher-librarian teams. I've created this "Spicynode" on the Transliterate Learner to demo one tech tool. This was one tool recommended by the AASL 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning team. Thank you team members for your excellent choices! We have had tremendous feedback from educators as we share these gems such as Spicynodes.org

As Pam Berger says, technology should be taught with inconsequential content. That way, when there's important content, the technology will be transparent. This Web tool, Spicynodes, has a little learning curve, and is an example where you would want this to be taught with inconsequential data. A teacher could ask their students to create one of these at the beginning of the school year to "tell me about you." Or, share via a Spicynode, what you like to read. After a simple homework assignment such as that, your students could use this for a knowledge product later in the year, and the tech tool would be transparent.

(GenY Image from centralitymedia.com)

Common Core Puzzle Pieces

2011-12-05T13:34:00.001-08:00

We are looking forward to our jam-packed full PD on Wednesday:

Come with Content, Leave with a Lesson Plan !

This session will focus on bringing the Common Core alignment details together.
We are hoping the one hundred attendees will feel they have successfully packaged their content for rigor, relevance, and student engagement.

After spending a great deal of time creating the template for planning, I thought I'd share this. Why reinvent the wheel? This template was designed with the principles of UBD in mind, and will make sense to those who are well acquainted with Backwards design.   In addition, you will see our local inquiry model embedded.

Contact your local librarian for additional information on PD the School Library System will be offering, and/or to find out what great resources are available for you.
(This material/document is copyrighted, please request permission to post, distribute, etc.)

Penguin's Polar Suppression

2011-11-29T10:41:00.001-08:00

What did Penguin Publishing Group expect when they announced that they would not be selling to digital distributors? What a polarizing decision. It's no wonder they backed down a bit. Do they believe that by denying the digital format that people will marching down to their library to check out the print version? Digital readers will just choose a different book that is available as digital users are generally married to their device.

Our digital library holds Penguin titles and they include hot best sellers, Pulitzer Prize titles, ChickLit, and more. They are successfully loaned to owners of Nooks, iPads, generic readers, and generic MP3 players, placed on hold, and sometimes sit idle. Most of our titles were purchased 2010, long before the Kindle format accommodations with Overdrive. Overdrive is caught in the middle of this because they are the biggest player--as a purveyor of digital content trying to equip libraries with a great solution for the masses.

We can look at history get a hint of how this will play out. It was only a dozen years ago that we had the same issue with music files, DVD's and the birth of digital piracy. Billions of files were transferred and the software pirates often sold their software to corporations who then developed legitimate products. Teens such as Norwegian Jon (dubbed DVD Jon) became wealthy. He makes a great claim when asked about "piracy":

"As far as I'm concerned, it has nothing to do with me," he says. "I support fair use, which means that when you actually legally acquire content, you should have the right to use that content on any of your devices, using any application." [Grossman, L. (2010). The Men Who Stole the World. Time, 176(23), 54. ]

As Steven Abrams put it at the NYS SLMS conference this past summer, "reconciliation has to be reached. Publishers have to be able to turn a profit, and users have to be able to use products they purchase. If publishers are circumvented, then where will the money come from to support development and publication?" He warns that if the publishers don’t make money, they will start to embed advertising within the book, and who wants that? Hyperlinks to a setting could lead to a travel advertisement for example.

We are not holding polar opposite views. The producers and the consumers need to both be comfortable with the solution. The music industry has worked this out to everyone’s benefit. It’s hard to believe that the print industry will boycott this need, as they will lose their market share. Someone else will rise to the occasion and will publish books. Where there are crooks, there will be a way to circumvent any law or DRM system that is implemented. Perhaps the current DRM model has flaws, but I still have faith in Americans and believe that most people are not into “stealing” access from the public library. They know they can just wait in line and read the book eventually.

Google Diet Alternative for the Digital Omnivores

2011-11-23T19:24:00.000-08:00

So by now you have probably heard Google is mining data and delivers biased search results. Many are asking, so then what do we have to offer our students in return? That's like saying vanilla ice cream is bad and what else can we dish up? Here's the scoop on other Google alternatives which dig a bit deeper into the information banquet for all those digital omnivores:

www.Yippy.com Clusty.com recently changed their name and they don't data mine. Results are valid, unbiased, unmined, and a good alternative to Google.
www.Sweetsearch.com is a great new tool to scoop information on an educational topic. (See widget below sample from SweetSearch.)
www.Sweetsearch4me.com is a great new tool for elementary learners - Try this too along with their other products such as SweetSearch Biographies.
http://www.blekko.com/ or Blekko "Slash the Web..." alternatives actually encourage teachers to model narrowing the search via major and minor words within the search engine structure. Kids might think this is "cool"
www.incywincy.com - Offers a search for forms and other deeper digging into the invisible web.
www.Scienceresearch.com & www.SciTopia.org are two search engines you might want to try with secondary science students.

How will students know they prefer vanilla, if they never venture to try another flavor?

NCLB - No Libary Left Behind in EASA

2011-11-18T13:03:00.001-08:00

School Libraries and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA):
Why YOU should care and what YOU can do!

The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations (ALTAFF) and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), along with the American Library Association’s Office for Library Advocacy and the Washington Office, is asking that every single person in the country who cares about libraries contact their U.S. Senators in Washington at 202-224-3121 about the importance of including school libraries in the reauthorization of ESEA. Please let us know when you’ve made your call by emailing altaff@ala.org .

For NY people --Gillibrand’s office is open Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM and the phone number is 1 202 224 4451 . Sen Schumer’s DC phone is Phone: (202) 224-6542)

Background: ESEA reauthorization, currently known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), will determine federal education policy for the coming decade. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee marked-up (voted out of committee) ESEA on October 20, 2011 without including school libraries! While no date has yet been set for a Senate vote, the American Library Association believes that it may come up after January 23, 2012.

Studies have shown categorically that children who go to school without libraries and, importantly, school librarians, fare worse in academic achievement than those who have them. Professionally staffed school libraries are a very small investment to raise academic achievement. And we all know that kids who read succeed!

We all pay the price of the academic failure of our youngsters. Crime rates, unemployment, social service costs, prison stays all go up when kids don’t succeed in school. We pay dearly for that. Not only are taxes higher as a result, but human potential is lost.

When school libraries are shut down or certified librarians are eliminated, public libraries and academic libraries also pay a price. Children without access to instruction by school librarians will miss out on learning how to find, identify and use information appropriately. Public libraries, community college libraries, and even four year colleges and universities see an immediate influx of new users (school children) when area school libraries are closed down. When one type of library is threatened, all libraries are threatened.

What You Can Do: call or email both of their Senators now!

• Let them know that ESEA must include a specific authorization for an effective school library program.

• Senators can do this by telling both Senator Tom Harkin and Senator Mike Enzi that they support including an effective school library program in ESEA.

• In addition, we ask that you spread the word. Ask your spouse, your friends, and your acquaintances to act now. Facebook, twitter, and email about this. Let’s start a school library movement! Your voice counts – please use it on behalf of professionally staffed school libraries.

ESEA Talking Points:
 Since 1965, more than 60 education and library studies have produced clear evidence that school library media programs staffed by qualified school librarians have a positive impact on student academic achievement.

 Spending for school library programs is the single most important variable related to better student achievement.

 At the elementary level, four out of five schools (over 80%) with full-time librarians had more students who earned proficient or above proficient test scores on the CAT5 tests for reading, language arts, and mathematics. In schools with no librarian at all, only about half had more high-achievement students.

 At the secondary level, nine out of ten schools (over 90%) with full-time librarians had more students who earned proficient or above proficient test scores on the CAT5 tests for reading, language arts, and mathematics. In schools with no librarian at all, only about half had more high-achievement students.

 Based on analysis from its first year of funding, 95% of local education agencies that received funding from the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries program have reported increases in their reading scores. In its second year of funding, grantees reported access during non-school hours increased in just one year from 30% in 2005 to 72% in 2006.

 This is the information age. Our leaders are starting to understand it’s not enough for kids to know how to read – they must also be information literate.

 Family literacy activities are supported by 42% of public school libraries strengthening the entire network of support for student learning and achievement.

 Students visit school libraries almost 1.5 billion times during the school year – about one and a half times the number of visits to state and national parks.

 Funding for school libraries comprises a very small portion of a school library’s budget but studies show that the return on this investment in terms of student achievement is high.

Letter originally received from :
Michael J. Borges
Executive Director
New York Library Association

Complex Text and Common Core

2011-11-14T08:39:00.001-08:00

When we were young, and reading was difficult, we would remark, "It's all mumbo jumbo to me." However, our generation had no alternative to print. It wasn't like we could substitute video for learning, pictures, infographics, or more. It was do or die...so we had to try. We built determination, focus, and fortitude. All three are lacking in the Millennials, according to the research behind the Common Core.

In the appendix to the Common Core, the research is noted as to why the CCSS authors recommended increasing Lexiles and stressed the need for students to tackle complex text. As I sorted through the research, personally trying to find the "why" behind the increase in Lexiles, I stumbled upon the following poignant golden nugget of truth that are worth sharing:

K–12 Schooling: Declining Complexity of Texts and a Lack of Reading of Complex Texts Independently

Despite steady or growing reading demands from various sources, K–12 reading texts have actually trended downward in difficulty in the last half century. Jeanne Chall and her colleagues (Chall, Conard, & Harris, 1977) found a thirteen year decrease from 1963 to 1975 in the difficulty of grade 1, grade 6, and (especially) grade 11 texts. ...Average sentence length and vocabulary level in reading textbooks for a variety of grades declined. ...Carrying the research closer to the present day, Gary L. Williamson (2006) found a 350L (Lexile) gap between the difficulty of end-of-high school and college texts... What is relevant in these numbers is the general, steady decline—over time, across grades, and substantiated by several sources—in the difficulty and likely also the sophistication of content of the texts students have been asked to read in school since 1962.

Worse still, what little expository reading students are asked to do is too often of the superficial variety that involves skimming and scanning for particular, discrete pieces of information; such reading is unlikely to prepare students for the cognitive demand of true understanding of complex text.

Moreover, current trends suggest that if students cannot read challenging texts with understanding—if they have not developed the skill, concentration, and stamina to read such texts—they will read less in general. In particular, if students cannot read complex expository text ...they will likely turn to text-free or text-light sources, such as video, podcasts, and tweets. These sources, while not without value, cannot capture the nuance, subtlety, depth, or breadth of ideas developed through complex text. [p.4 -- This is the "transliterate" youth of today. As transliterate as they may be, transliteracy won't build lawyers, actuaries, or detail-oriented individuals who have the fortitude to change the world.]

The most important implication of this study was that a pedagogy focused only on “higher-order” or “critical” thinking was insufficient to ensure that students were ready for college and careers: what students could read, in terms of its complexity, was at least as important as what they could do with what they read.

The Common Core standards have asked us to raise difficulty of classroom content so that classroom instructional material would be considered, "complex." This fits very well into the Differentiated Instruction model, regardless of the students' abilities. We should be presenting challenging material to our students so that their level of reading skill will increase --regardless of where they are reading now.

As educator's hear this for the first time, they are asking, "Wheres the research behind this position?" I'm continuing to dig into the Appendix A reading research to find this, but the body of research presents a clear compelling picture that we've moved a long way from rigor. It's time to return. Rigor is not Google. Rigor is not reading for pleasure. Rigor is compelling content and a question to answer that required students to: dig, research, debate, find meaning, create, reply, construct, continue and collaborate....Inquiry based learning. Ask your librarian for some help in designing a unit for deep learning. Ask your Cybrarian to help you dig up a document from one of many primary source libraries or current databases that have articles filled with your content vocabulary and present problems that need to be solved. Increase rigor and increase relevance.

8 Tips and Take Aways from AASL 11

2011-11-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

I was sorry to miss the HVCC Inquiry Forum last week, but understand it was a huge success! It is so great to see that the Inquiry movement is really impacting our area for instructional reform. Delivering instruction that is more student-centered is one way to align delivery with Common Core Objectives. Steve Danna (RTTT facilitator for WSWHE) shared with me that he has not seen a model that is better than ours. When I shared that with Mary, she said “woo hoo!”

AASL 11 was a great opportunity to see that we are on the same page as everyone else around American. Below, I am sharing a bundle of tips that I received from sessions, vendors, and more. Please take time to consider these and try out the new 25 best web sites for Education.

The next AASL conference (2013) will be in Hartford, CT. So, please mark your calendars for October of 2013 and plan to attend! Even if your district won’t pay for the hotel or gas, it is worth is to carpool and split hotels. The conference really broadens your view into our national field. There will be a call for presenters next year, and we’ll be certain to share that. There are many things being done in our area, that we could share with others. I left the conference feeling that we are “right where we should be.” Between our eBook positions, our electronic delivery, our web catalogs as discovery avenues for all our resources, and our focus on Inquiry Based Learning, we are probably in better shape than many people.

John Brock, from NYSED, Barbara Stripling (from NYC) and myself presented a session on Friday morning to share our NYS School Library Media Program Evaluation (SLMPE) rubric with librarians from around the country. They were very interested in seeing what NYS had for evaluating library programs. This was very well attended, and I was frankly, a bit surprised. I wondered how many people would attend this, and yet we found that other states don’t have such a document, and NYS really came out smelling like a rose. In our age of budgetary cuts, librarian reductions, and financial oppression, people are comparing themselves to NYS and asked, “how can I get my state to value our programs be requiring a document like this?” “That is great that NYS has at least a minimum budget of $6.25, even thought is seems like little.” “Can someone please speak to our NJ governor?” “Can we see your APPR document too?”

We left feeling better about where we are teaching, working, and realizing that in NYS, we are recognized as a vital piece of the instructional pie.

Listed below are 8 quick tips from AASL11. Please read this as a little insight into the plethora of information you take away from a conference such as this. Hat's off to all the conference committee members who worked so hard to plan!

Tip 1: Download from the APP store “Puffin” browser to accommodate flash sites. This is .99 but will allow iPads to be used for more tools that we have.

Tip 2: The EBSCO browser that many people are complaining about… should be downloaded from the bottom of your EBSCO database pages. That way you get an authentication “key” which will allow for better searching. If you go through the app store, you won’t have the ability to access your databases. You need to get that authentication key.

Tip 3: Begin to focus your “avenue of discovery” for books by either your catalog or your catalog and your database page. The movement over the next few years will be through federated searching, (whether you like it or not). The amount of products that we will be subscribing to, and the varied locations, might compel us to actually insure that we have records within our catalogs for our resources. This is why you see both Follett and Opals, are beginning to craft their products to accommodate discovery via their homepage. … just keep this in mind.

Tip 4: Visit the newly announced 25 Best Websites for Education!

Check out the new list of the top 25 websites for Educational use. Some are easy, such as the new NASA resources, others are harder, such as Spicynodes.org There are some that are just simple archives that are now at our disposal… National Archives Digital Vaults

One of the most interesting, I found was Dipity.com - a Timeline creator (knowledge products).

Khan Academy Has caused quite a stir as teachers complain about the need for video instruction. Other math teachers are happy to have the resources posted on their teacher pages for at-home review. This Gates Foundation, funded site, has caused quite a stir in education.

There are so many to mention, and I will post a blog later today on some of the highlights. It was interesting to see that we had shared a number of these at our own tech smackdown here in September.

Tip 5: Get familiar with QR codes, and QR readers, and QR generators such as Microsofts’ tag.microsoft.com or i-nigma.com/createBarcodes.html This mode of data transfer is taking off like a jet. Via a QR, you could transfer your webpage to all your students smartphones. The easier we have our resources for students to access, the more likely the students will be to use them. Here’s an experiment: What are your usage statistics before QR codes, and after using QR codes? …

Tip 6: Start an i-Team in your school … Train and certify smart students to be tech-helpers. This has proven invaluable for equipping teachers with students who can help to troubleshoot tech problems. The students become technical ambassadors and can facilitate web-based activities.

Tip 7: Read Nicholas Carr’s book: The Shallows . Before we jump into hyper-connected mode, just as the digital native operates, he cautions against the total connected lifestyle and shared at the conference in his Keynote, that brain patterns have been altered. The few fringe benefits of the hyper-connected have come with a price. I had listened to this book (download mmp3 form Overdrive) the week prior as it was the ‘one book, one conference’ read, and found it fascinating. It actually placed words into the “hunches” we all have as educators. This will help balance your focus on technology and productivity.

Tip 8:

Don’t get stuck on Google (especially since they are censoring via data mining), but try out other search engines that are likely to prove effective such as: Blekko.com (“Slash the Web”), Yolink Education (Bring research into the 21st Century with Yolink Education by efficiently mining websites for information and enhancing the search experiences; cite resources seamlessly with Easybib; take notes and share with Google Docs.), SweetSeach.com (http://www.sweetsearch4me.com/, for younger learners) – widgets available on their site!

More to come, but for now… that’s enough.

Save the date… October 2013, Hartford, CT.

Sara Kelly Johns and I giving Barbara Stripling a thumbs up for ALA President!

Digital Omnivores ?

2011-10-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

Transliterate teens are consuming information in obese quantities with multiple utensils. In education circles we are now dealing with digital omnivores-- I love that term used this past week by a CNN blogger. It goes hand in hand with our transliterate MO. Not only do they read and react across multiple platforms (media, text, song, print, etc.), but their tools for the job are now more than one. We can call this a soup-to-nuts approach: phones, desktop, iPods, iPads, and more. Most teens are utilizing multiple tools to carry out multiple tasks. Therefore, we must be at the banquet table with information worth consuming. It is more imperative than ever to have your digital platform polished, easily accessible, and full of credible consumption.

These teens might be tech-savvy, but they are not as information literate as they need to be. Until they get there, it is imperative for CARS (credible, accurate, reliable, & supported) information to be in their face. That's akin to mothers wanting to feed their kids good food as opposed to junk. CNN Blogger Amy Gahran claims that publishers are going to be offering more multichannel cross-platform platforms in the future. We see that already with behemoths such as Google stating they are concentrating on their mobile market. We see this as our database and e-providers email their APP announcements daily.

Growing up on Long Island, we were always cognizant of the changing tides. Most people in my town knew the tide tables either for fishing, swimming, or flooding. It was common knowledge. The mobile device tide won't officially change until 2015, according to the Horizon Report which states in three years the majority of the students will walk into school with their own device. Right now we are experiencing a slow in-coming tide. Educators should have ample time to prepare for the change and get their digital platform content ready for the consumer. Educators will need to take on the role of the digital producer and provider for the digital hunter-gatherers.

We just temporarily come off the SLJ eBook Summit, but the conversation shouldn't end. As cybrarians, keep the administration abreast tools we have. We should be doing our best to keep the banquet table replenished and well-stocked. Don't keep your digital food in the cabinets, but add to the digital obesity. Your admin has enough to worry about with APPR, CCSS, RTI, and more. If you can take care of this for them then they'll thank you. Here are a few places to start:

Assess which databases have APPS, and list these on your site with a link to the download
Create bookmarks with directions to download database APPS.
Start a campaign for a digital download library - use data to drive the need
Create a Voki or Xtranormal or other avatar who could advertise your library's information is available in Cyberspace.
Embed marc records in your catalog with URL's for access to all digital content you own accessible on the web.
Define what your main channel of "discovery" is going to be in this digital tsunami.

Whatever method you choose....enjoy the feast!

Ebook Solutions - Sustainable as well as obtainable?

2011-10-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

In response to the many questions we fielded after the EBook Summit from SLJ, there are a few poignant thoughts to share that will help others create their solution for addressing the exploding need to embrace digital content via a virtual platform.

There are many models and when you talk with each vendor, each solution will sound like an appealing, viable option. If you survey your needs, and create a plan ahead of time, your plan will determine the solution, rather than the convincing voice of a salesperson. I've met most of the vendor sales people and I love them all. However, all the models have their own nuances, strengths and weaknesses and only you will determine which ebook models match your needs.

As you plan for funding, you need to address not only where to obtain your funds, but also whether the annual fees are sustainable. If you do your homework and plan accordingly, it is likely that annual fees can be budgeted for, if the tool is being used effectively. The annual fees we pay to certain vendors range from $50.00 per site to a many thousand. However, we are maintaining a number of eBook, virtual models for 84 libraries, 32 districts and over 30,000 students.

When crafting a plan for funding, keep in mind the following:

Your plan should be framed to support student achievement
Data should be provided from reputable sources, regarding the 'capacity' of the market to access the ebooks. The Horizon Report, for instance, says that we are within three years of students entering our buildings with their devices in hand. Make it a goal to have the virtual presence to accommodate their access with CARS (Credible, Accurate, Reliable and Supported) data and eBooks.
Align your eBook library presentation with district goals.
Align your eBook library plea with building or the Principal's goals.
Do your research and get some parents on your side.

We eventually chose Overdrive as a download library to support digital content delivery and they have been wonderful to deal with. This library is not isolated, but the marc records can be embedded into our specific library catalogs as well as our union catalog. That way the books are accessible and the marc record points them directly to the URL of the book.

Last year, I heard our former Commissioner of Education for NYS, David Steiner, say, "I am so tired of visiting schools and seeing their professional quality football fields. Why am I not seeing wonderful libraries?" (NYLA Conference Nov 2010)

If districts can find an extra million in their budget for a new artificial turf field, then why wouldn't they spend the money on a virtual library that will support instruction for every student? That would place us all on an even playing field. Let's go and try to get into this eBook game!

Growing Pains with EBooks ?

2011-10-12T01:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the day of School Library Journal's webinar: Ebooks the New Normal. We trust you can join us and attend one of the "tracks" (K-12, Public, Academic). If you can't, please inquire about the archived version to view at your convenience. It is likely that many topics will be discussed in detail, or from a different operating viewpoint then you currently have.

As I walked through the presentation with my co-presenters, I was excited to hear suggestions and I gleaned many new ideas and applications that I had not considered. Here we are operating in different parts of American, with common curriculum, common tools, and yet we all are applying devices and content in different ways. This is the benefit of tapping into a national webinar. It is an opportunity to share successes, discuss details, and envision how this would work in your own environment. When you tune in, you leave with take-aways to improve your program. For instance, I learned from a virtual colleague how they were creating content which could (in theory) be added to our collection.

In our library system here in upstate New York, we have a large virtual library available to our member school districts that is powered by Overdrive, packed with both popular and non-fiction information titles, available 24-7, and compatible with most all mobile devices. During our preparation for this webinar, I realized that I could help others avoid some of the growing pains which we encountered when we first entered this virtual playing field. I realized in the discussion that there is a plethora of knowledge that we have learned the hard way--our growing pains. If you are looking to get a grip on eBooks, now is the chance. Here are a handful of basic eBook vocabulary terms you may want to become familiar with, if you haven't yet:

DRM = Digital Rights Management This is the procedure that a virtual library needs to accommodate so that publishers will sell you eBooks. You can purchase your own privately for Nooks, Kindles, Sony Readers and other devices, but if you anticipate loaning these out...you better be able to accommodate the DRM. Chances are you can't. That's where you need a digital provider such as Overdrive Download Library. The entire cloud-based platform is to give you (the library) a place to host your books, stream your content, manage authority files, and manage digital rights.
Format -- File formats are important to consider when purchasing eBooks. You have to know what formats your devices will read. These file formats are about the only consistent thing in the eBook platform. They are also evolving, but have basically evolved into a standard few that are sold and downloadable. Popular file formats include: ePub, .MP3 (audio files), Kindle format (formerly known as MobiPocket - now having subtle differences), .PDF, .WM.
eBook -- an electronic form of a book that is an alternative to print.
ePub - standard format emerging for digital print
Adobe Digital ID's are necessary to download an ePub. Open and account today. AND-- if you are working with a class initiative, or 1-to-1 ipod initiative, you will want to track the number of devices attached to a particular ID. There is a limit of 10 devices attached to 1 ID. So, I could personally use my Adobe ID for my iPod, my iPad, my desktop, my eReader and my smart phone. That's five. However, if I loaded that Adobe ID onto a bundle of iPads for my library... the app will not work. It's all about tracking usage, digital rights, royalty payments and more.
Project Gutenberg and public domain - freely available eBooks in the public domain market that you can take advantage of today. Wonderful initiative that began years ago by the late, Michael Hart (who was worried about the common man who might not have money to purchase anything--and more).
Transfer - The act of moving the digital content from a desktop to a reader or .MP3 player (i.e. device). Transfer rights are tracked also via a digital download library such as Overdrive.
App -- a software program downloaded to a device (usually via the iTunes store or Android Marketplace) which will enable the user to access, play, or perform some function. Apps for eBooks are usually free, but point to content that may cost or be managed.

More to come as we discuss today and I add to this list!

Vacant Minds...Teaching Kids to Fill 'em

2011-10-05T19:19:00.000-07:00

Have you ever asked a student a question and seen this vacant stare back at you, as though you were speaking a foreign language?   There is nothing there. There is no one home. We call this vacant complacency.  Alf used to say, "Earth to Kate...?" There really is hope despite the vacancy.   Metacognitive research shows that you can model thought process and teach kids to think. It's a good thing.

Over the dozen years I have been a librarian, I have heard some fairly dumb questions.  Some claim that there's no such thing as a dumb question. I beg to differ. Here's a dumb one: "You have any good books?"  To which I replied, "Well, Johnny, I have 13,000 books. I'm sure one of them is good."

A couple of years ago I took a comical look at these [dumb] questions asked of librarians and really suggested that we need to model the thought process, rather than answer the questions. (Read this article here.) In actuality, I love these questions because it gave me an opportunity to banter with the student and point out how silly the question was. Here's another: "Do you have that pink book?" I pointed out that he had five minutes to find a book, there were about 5000 fiction books, so she would have to scan the spines of about 1000 books to find the pink one. She got the point.
As we address the learning needs of the millennial student, we really need to attack the ability to ask great questions. This is so imperative to a nation that is trying to retain it's cutting edge. We need a generation who can ask good questions--the right questions which will compel change, inspire investigation and encourage achievement. This metacognitive skill should begin in elementary school.

If assignments are answerable on Google, they are void of higher level thought. Ask yourself how many of the assignments that make their way into the library for "research" could be answered on a mobile device? We need assignments which require the kids to create the questions, driven by the essential question. So, you say... kids don't know how to ask good questions? They didn't know how to tie their own shoes, but we don't tie them for them when they go to school.   They need to be taught. Here is one tool that a local librarian and her teachers created to help the cause:

Librarian Laurie called this the Wonder Grid and it works to begin the journey of letting kids create their own questions for research. This document can be used to inspire kids to ask good open-ended questions. Notice how these question starters would likely lead to questions unanswerable on Google.

In our local Inquiry Curriculum, we encourage student-generated questions because the kids then "own" the task of finding the answers. So rather than assigning the old "mammal" report, the teachers now have a big EQ such as: What would your mammal say to the Bronx Zoo board of directors about living there? Or, "Who really deserves the national holiday on October 12th? What are the problems and perils of your country? What advice would you give to Abraham Lincoln? What would you pack in your conestoga if you were heading west via Manifest Destiny? If you were living in Europe in the 1700's would you have left the comforts of home for America? How does where you live impact how you live? If you could invite [braham Lincoln] to dinner, what would you talk about?

As the students approach the research task, if questions need to be generated--in a group-- they will use a grid such as this to guide them to good research endeavors. A by-product of collaboration is that the low-level learners benefit from the thought process modeled by their peers. Let's teach our students to ask great questions. Let's put our own assignments up against the litmus test for low-level thought: Is this answerable on Google?

I would speculate that Steve Jobs was a master at asking the right questions. Perhaps this is one way we can remember him. Ask the right questions and impact change.

Speeding Tickets for Millennials ?

2011-10-03T03:00:00.000-07:00

There's a paradigm shift occurring and communication is no longer B & W print. (See my blog on reading evolution.) Students are skimming and scanning at warp speed--sometimes successfully and other times in error. They are listening, watching, gathering, consolidating messages, concluding, reading and reacting.

I often believe that millennials are operating in an entertainment mode whenever they hold a digital device. I content that they have spend so much time trying to beat electronic games, that their MO online has fostered this fast-paced transient operation online. Therefore, we educators have a big issue to deal with as students lack:

Patience
Persistence, and
Focus

That is the profile of the transliterate generation. That is the educational issue of today. While books such as iBrain, by Gary Small M.D. do a good job of convincing us that the millennials are equipped to assess some aspects of online credibility correctly, and think outside the box, I believe that the transliterate generation must slow down and grab hold of a few metacognitive warnings. (The book is good and well recommended, BTW.) The Common Core requires us to embrace teaching models of rigor and complex text, yet our students do not have the habits of mind to embrace this. Guess what: They need to be told that. The first step in solving a problem is recognizing that you have one.
We are busy building a lexicon of the discipline and doing action research to determine whether students succeed more when they are specifically instructed to:

Stop--Time - Out
Slow down
Put on your magnifying glass and act like a lawyer.

Try it yourself. By doing a simple EQ investigation on learning habits of the millennials, the students themselves will come up with their own notorious impairments. [EQ: What are the characteristics of Millennials online and how might that impact your achievement?] Then, they might be ready to learn about metacognition. After they are aware of this new learning MO in the library or classroom, I actually suggest you should give out speeding tickets from time to time. If a student is caught in a wrong MO, drawing wrong conclusions, award a speeding ticket. I'll let you determine the consequences.

We joke locally about the habits of the online Millennials. They usually fit into one of these categories:

retreivers -- (hide 'n seek)
spiders (crawling all around)
Ants (piling it all up)
Super-Squirrels, or
Bee's - flying all over.

What we really need are K-9's! We need students who know the task at-hand and attack it and don't quit until they find what they were looking for. They don't get distracted by imposters and scrutinize the area they are told to investigate. How many classes can we get to operate that way?

My late grandmother used to say, "Everyone's business is nobody's business." Let's all work together to remedy this ailment...one class at a time. For additional ideas on reaching transliterate students, see my article in this month's Library Media Connection (LMC) issue.

Algorithmic Censorship--Beware of Filter Bubbles:

2011-09-29T08:01:00.000-07:00

It's not often that a teen tells their parent that they are correct about something. So, this morning when I received a posting from our son that said, "Hey Mom - This is what you were talking about," I was excited. He sent me a link to a disturbing TED video. I found it interesting that a millennial cares about the message of this video, and was concerned that his access to a cross section of material is actually biased.

This is another reason students should use databases over Google for research. If we are now receiving search results catered to our previous search history, then the results will be aligned with our own personal world view. We might personally like that for ourselves, but we should admit for educational purposes, our research world should be unbiased.

As information professionals, and teachers using information to create common core aligned lessons, please take 9 minutes to watch this video. Your knowledge of "filter bubbles" data mining, and biased results on search engines will be beneficial in teaching today's youth--tomorrow's leaders. A part of me is outraged that for the love of money, we are now subtly, or subversively censored. How could a corrupt government use this to change minds? Hitler and Stalin would have a heyday. China might actually open up their search engines after all-- they could now control the mindset.

Only the strong-skilled will survive the digital evolution!

2011-09-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

Ring the warning bells... the digital revolution is occuring. Which side are you on?

In case you hadn't noticed, there's a digital evolution occuring, and only the fittest will survive. If you are a librarian living in literature land, hoping that students will just continue to walk through your doors for a good book, or ask you which Dewey number holds books on "issues," then please read on and welcome to the 21st Century. I expect students to continue to read books in print, but I also expect their numbers to dwindle.   Recently I heard a librarian complain that this digital age, is "not what Isigned up for. It wasn't what I went to school for."

Well, we've come a long way baby and that same line was spoken by: the Elevator Operator, the Pinsetter, the Lector, the telephone switchboard operator, the lamplighter and the typesetter--to name a few. If librarians don't evolve into a digital purveyor of information and eBooks, they are likely to be replaced by their IT department, as only the strong skilled will survive the digital evolution.

We have wonderful librarians who have evolved into Cybrarians, meeting the needs of the digitally hyper-connected Millennials. They provide a webplatform for access and have embraced our Virtual Digital Download library successfully. Kudos to them.   In other profound words, this is not Kansas anymore. So you can see that everyone's world is changing. Llibrarians stuck in the ostrich syndrome,will find themselves in the same predictament as the dodo bird.  That is probably not you, because you are reading this blog. Congratulations. Reach out to a colleague and encourage them to evolve.

For the last four years in our area, we have purchcased and maintained a virtual digital download library through Overdrive for 84 schools and 56 librarians. The company has been wonderful to work with (although you might hear differently from one state caught in a landmark battle of copy ownership) and Overdrive has improved their infostructure to keep pace with the changing eBook world. We have gone from Mobi pocket books for Palm Pilot readers and .WMV files for computers, to recently released Kindle compatibility. We have supported special education needs, and provided audio books for dedicated track teams looking to make good use of their practice time. We have added any and every ELA core novel that was for sale and imbedded the Gutenberg Project public domain works. We are there. BUT -- where are the librarians?

I have IT people asking me for passwords, and teachers emailing to get added to the authentication file. I have students discovering our library, when the public library has no copies available and they refer the students to our school library.
We just launched our second Overdrive digital library, this one targeted at elementary students, and I find it inconceivable that some librarians have had this product for four years, and still dont' know how to check out a digital book. We are providing a first class virtual library to our 84 schools and some of those librarians haven't asked for a single student log in.

Ken Aluetta, author of GOOGLED: The endo fo the world as we know it, claims that there will be 5 billion handheld devices by the end of this year.   Now I really dont' believe that 5/8ths of the world will own handheld, but believe that probably 3/8ths will hold multiple devices. There is still a digital divide.   The point is, that  those 5 billion owners can access ebooks from a library, and never have to enter through the door of your building. What they get in the public domain is a mixed bag of great classics and free garbage, but they can still retrieve them. Most of what the public wants to read, they are paying for. That is the missed opportunity for the public libraries in our areas.

Benjamin Netanyahu last week addressed the UN, and in his speech he mentioned that when they released Gaza, they expected Gaza to be defeated. However, "they weren't defeated, they were devoured." That is likely the same environment we are currently operating in. Print will likely be "devoured" by eBooks, unexpectedly.

I will admit. I personally, love print. In fact, I love large print. However, I also love to read on my iPad and was very surprised to discover that I enjoy downloading and reading eBooks on my tiny handheld iPod touch. I'm a baby boomer and a hyper-connected working class American priveledged to live in a country with free access to information and a plethora of it available...in my back pocket. Let's join the digital evolution and evolve our collections to embrace digital formats. Where do you start?   Here are a few suggestions:

Locate "free" resources on the Internet and imbed them with marc records in your catalogs. Assuming your catalog is available on the web, then your free resources will be accessible via the web. Start with Google Books
Ask the students with smart 'devices' to be your tutors. Make yourself transparent and say, "lets experiment and download a book to our phones." Have an APP lunch. Host an Ebooks lunch and experiment together.
Sit down with your adminsitration and present a plan on how to fund a virtual library. Contact Overdrive, Netlibrary, or other provider to compare the costs and configuration. State all claims and needs in terms of "how it will benefit the students."
Face the music. Strengthen your digital knowledge, if you need to. Attend next months SLJ eBook Summit, online webinar.
Start small with a goal of big delivery.
Switch your focus from the device to the delivery! The device will change over and over again, but the content will be sitting there on a virtual shelf to be checked out.
Don't be defeated before you start. There are simple steps to take and small steps toward the goal of digital evolution.

I will be participating in the SLJ eBook Webinar on October 12th to share our success story and give some suggestions for improving digitally. Please join us and enlarge your understanding of digital eBook revolution.

Common Core Complex Text - Become the Go-to Source

2011-09-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

When I was young growing up in "shopping land," Long Island, NY there was a store called Fortunoff's. Their motto was "The Source." That's what we librarians are-- The Source.
This morning, as I fielded a 911 email from a librarian looking for resources, I thought it was important to share this with the greater Cybrary community. As librarians help teachers find appropriately Lexiled sources for students to read, there is no need to panic. The following simple steps will help teachers and cybrarians across America meet CCSS requirements for complex text:
• Databases can be searched by Lexile counts to grab correctly Lexiled passages for any grade level.
• Here is a link to a flyer that explains the importance, if you haven't heard.
• The correct Lexile ranges are found in Appendix A of the CCSS.

• The quickest and easiest source is by the NOVEL NY databases. See the following link for EBSCO's Searchasaurus as an example. This has a juvenile interface, but is super easy to use, and --includes higher level resources as well as lower level. In NYS this is part of our state-wide provided NOVEL resources and is available for ALL NY schools. Contact your librarian for access information. Other products such as GALE Academic Onefile and many other GALE products, also have the ability to search by Lexiles.

A simple search on immigration yielded these results:

I'd like a Staples "Easy button" for this moment. The teachers love you, and really...it's no big deal. This is what we do. We are trained to quickly provide resources, know just where to look and know how to provide them. Here's a GALE example and please notice the Lexile counts listed. This is an example of a higher level resource:

Check the advanced search, if you have trouble finding this Lexile search ability.

THAT IS THE QUICK WAY. There are other ways to search also. Your teachers can find primary source passages at the LOC, on ABC Clio databases, etc,. and then copy the text and paste it into Microsoft Word. At that point, they will need to analyze the text via: Grammar, spelling and grammar, turn on “readability statistics” see picture below. You will get a Fleish-Kincaid level, which roughly equates to Lexile.

See the chart on my website. On this webpage , I have additional online sites to search for primary source documents, and have other downloadable conversion charts. The Lexile.com site also has a Lexile analyzer, but it too, has a learning curve to learn. The easiest way to start is with the databases shown above.

We give half day workshops in this for educators and librarians. Almost everyone leaves feeling they are more equipped to handle the Common Core Complex text issue. You may want to consider “Lexile-ing” your collection. We did this for ALL of our 84 libraries circulating on our automation system. Librarians can search by Lexile on any topic. The teachers could also do this and pull a passage from a book. Some book-jobbers will Lexile your collection for free if you order from them, others charge. Be certain to inquire what their match rate is for titles. We were able to obtain about an 80% match for fiction. Secondary collections come in at about a 50% match, while elementary collections match at the 80% rate. Some automation suppliers charge big bucks and do not have such success. Be careful.

For those who are unaware of what a Lexile is... well you better read the explanation at Lexile.com and become friends with their tools. RTTT assessments are to built upon Lexile passages. Make certain your school has aligned their ELA novels with correct Lexile ranges. That's a no-brainer. However, many teachers will be disheartened to learn that their sacred cow books are not in the correct Lexile range. Provide them with some exemplary alternatives! Become the go-to source.

One small backstep for Google-One giant punch for mankind.

2011-09-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

      Once my favorite search engine, Google, has just lost my respect. With all the money that Google has, why do they have to cut many tools that librarians have come to rely on? According to typical stock reports, (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=GOOG) Google made 33.3 Billion dollars this year, and it has a 36% growth rate predicted. Now why do they think they have to trim operating expenses?   They have enough cash to bail out a few small European countries and they have chopped, without warning, News Timeline?
      Google announced in August that they were removing the News Timeline from their Google News Archive search page. And... why? No explanation? This incredible resource for schools is now MIA.    Here's what it looked like when it was in its fledgling stages in 2009. As they grew, they added newspaper content that only helped teachers easily navigate primary sources. They seemed so proud of this new idea when they launched it in 2009.

        Google has just fostered a greater digital divide in America with this decision. Is it likely that someday the only free content will be fee-based? Will they cut their Google Books next? Will Getty images and Reuters be the sole source providers of quality images.   (Shout the wiki media cheer here. Clap for Creative Commons!)  History has been told in news form and we are likely to see our news sources disappear.
         Fast forward ten years: With the demise of print sources, it is likely that many archives will disappear. Where will quality resources be when they haven't been printed? At least the small publishers had an opportunity for a big behemoth such as Google to help them archive their print as long as they were printing.   Also on the Google chopping block were: Google Image Swirl, Google Squared and more as mentioned in this Larry Page, Google Post . Now while I understand the rational behind some of the recent chops, the News Timeline was a shock. Visit the Google Lab site and see which applications were casualties and which "graduated." http://www.googlelabs.com/
    While we know the APP market will continue to grow and the computer use will shrink, I believe there is merit to leave valuable products in existence that were for the benefit of mankind. After all, what else is Google going to do with the $33 billion which will grow to $44 billion next year?    Excuse my soap box, but in education we sincerely appreciated every great free source, Larry Page.

Google's Chopping Block: one small chop for Google, one giant punch for mankind

2011-09-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

      Once my favorite search engine, Google, has just lost my respect. With all the money that Google has (enough to bail out Europe) why do they have to cut many tools that librarians have come to rely on? According to typical stock reports, (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=GOOG) Google made 33.3 Billion dollars this year, and it has a 36% growth rate predicted. Now why do they think they have to trim operating expenses?
      Google announced in August that they were removing the News Timeline from their Google News Archive search page. And... why? No explanation? This incredible resource for schools is now MIA.    Here's what it looked like when it was in its fledling stages in 2009. As they grew, they added newspaper content that only helped teachers easily navigate primary sources. They seemed so proud of this new idea when they launched it in 2009.

        We are fostering a greater digital divide in America with these decisions. Is it likely that someday the only free content will be fee-based? Will they cut their Google Books next? Will Getty images and Reuters be the sole source providers of quality images.   (Shout the wikimedia cheer here. Clap for Creative Commons! However, the history has been told in news form and we are likely to see our news sources disappear.
         Fast forward ten years: With the demise of print sources, it is likely that the archives will disappear. Where will quality resources be when they haven't been printed? At least the small publishers had an opportunity for a big behemouth such as Google to help them archive their print as long as they were printing.   Also on the chopping block were: Google Image Swirl, Google Squared and more as mentioned in this Larry Page, Google Post . Now while I understand the rational behind some of the recent chops, the Newstime line was a shock.
    While we know the APP market will continue to grow and the computer use will shrink, I believe there is merit to leave valuable products in existance that were for the benefit of mankind. After all, what else are they to do with the $33 billion which will grow to $44 billion next year?

Visit the Google Lab site and see which applications were casualties and which "graduated." http://www.googlelabs.com/   Excuse my soap box, but in education we sincerely appreciated every great free source, Larry Page.

The Common Core Tsunami is About to Arrive

2011-08-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

6 Fundamental Shifts for ELA in the Common CoreThe Common Core tsunami has arrived --just as Irene leaves us! Next week, schools in the NE will open and the paradigm shift has begun. Over the next few days, I will spotlight a few of the instructional focus fields that our area librarians and educators will need to be apprised of. Some are great, and some will likely be met with resistance. Hey, we didn't make the rules so don't shoot the messenger! If librarians disseminate this news, you are likely to be the town crier taking a midnight ride in a sea of darkness, but you'll also be a valuable resource.   Remember, Paul Revere was not shot.

Section 4 - David Coleman - 6 Paradigm shifts....
1 -Literacy begins in the earliest grades, but needs more non-fiction focus (currently is 80% literature)
2 - Literacy is a K-12 Road (not just elementary)
3 - Text Complexity matters
4 - Text-Dependent Questions (Questions that require students to pay attention to the text itself).
5 - The ability to write an argument based on evidence and complex information
6 - Focus on Vocabulary

David Coleman claims that ..."we have evidence that in kindergarten through 5th grade kids read informational text 7% of the time."    Thus the new focus on complex text and searching for captivating articles that suck the reader in and make them want to know more.   Now, we as librarians know how to find those and could likely become the teachers' new best friend.    Take a look at EBSCO Searchasaurus and see how easy it is to find a correctly Lexiled article for classroom use!

"... the general knowledge that you [students and teachers] develop in those [early]years plays a crucial predictive role in not only your performance in those other disciplines...."   Thus the focus back to building common knowledge. Common Knowledge can't be built in the first two years of high school. Elementary grades have to return to activities such as current events and non-fiction content.   Listen to an additional quote from David Coleman's presentation to the NYS Education Department:  "the elementary school’s a magnificent place for students to learn about the world through reading. Whoever thought otherwise? So the core standards for the first time demand that 50% of the text students encounter in kindergarten through 5th grade is informational text, meaning primarily text about science and history, text about the arts, the text through which students learn about the world. That is a major shift and if you think about what’s happening in this country unintentionally literature and stories dominated the elementary curriculum. And then we expanded the literacy block. So we made the literacy block 80% of the time. Guess what that meant? We destroyed history and science in the elementary school." Once again, librarians can come to the rescue!   This is our moment... sound the bell, bring the books, show them how to find Lexiled non-fiction articles. Yippee - bring 'em on baby.

Read more from David Coleman's transcripts at the NYSED website:
http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/docs/bringingthecommoncoretolife/part4transcript.pdf

Educational Makeover Contest - bring us your "packets"!

2011-08-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

Bloom, Socrates, Gardner, Vygotsky , Hunter & = Danielson APPR
As I sat in an APPR seminar today, I couldn't help but observe that some of the basic precepts, or learning platforms of the past, are being resurrected as mandates. Blooms taxonomy wasn't mentioned once, yet teaching methods which foster the same objectives were cited, modeled, and encouraged. Blooms has been re-packaged in the Common Core. The difference? The CCSS are content, but the appendix, accompanying documents, and paradigm shifts cited all foster the top tier synthesis that Bloom's held up in its' pinnacle point.

With the parameters of RTTT to include teacher observation (APPR) come an onslaught of training for administrators on the Danielson model of teacher evaluation. Most are familiar with the Four Domains of Danielson: Planning And Prep; Classroom Environment; Instruction; Professional Responsibilities. I found it interesting that a tool originally planned to foster great instruction, was not really intended to be a tool for evaluation--no less reduced to a cumulative point system in NYS. However, the result should actually work to encourage good teachers to become great.

Bring us your "packets"
In the evaluation rubric were performance indicators which drew from the best of yesterday's educational experts. This is the perfect storm, synthesizing the premises of educational experts. This could very well be the change our students need to improve our current "stand and deliver" model. Librarians have been proponents of higher level research projects for years, but have often had a hard time getting people to jump aboard the Inquiry model. Now teachers are being told; "students should research, draw evidence from the text, draw conclusions, digest rigorous text, discuss with experts, evaluate, and present increasingly complex information, ideas, collaborate with their peers, create knowledge products that reflect deep understanding and more." (see http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/key-points-in-english-language-arts) This is the mode of learning in which librarians excel. We encourage people to bring us their bogus research "packets" so we can "repackage" them for higher level thought. We challenge you to bring us those "worksheets"! Give me a curriculum goal, and I can repackage it in a question that students will have to research, examine, digest, synthesize, conclude, and create to answer. (Global footprints= Paper or plastic? Support your decision with evidence from reliable sources, citing experts, give me data, and create an infomercial to inform the public.)

Educational Makeover?
If you are looking for great collaboration in your cybrary, or library, give the teachers a challenge: Bring me your packet and I will redesign a common core aligned assignment that will be student-centered, have assessment imbedded, and will increase student engagement and achievement. See how many teachers offer you a worksheet for an educational makeover. With all the pressure of APPR and the Common Core, they might just welcome your suggestions. Share an makeover model @ a faculty meeting so people can see the possibilities!
Find inquiry lesson links at this site, if you don't know where to begin: http://www.wswheboces.org/SSS.cfm?subpage=419

Healing the Search-Impaired

2011-08-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

It comes as no surprise to school cybrarians that this generation is more concerned with speed than accuracy. The recently released article claiming that this Google generation has a "gap" in searching success is not news to us. While terrific users of Google, they have barely just scratched the surface. This article has hit the Twitterverse in storm, but it really just points out the problem--which was nothing new to those of us who teach. Here's a sample conclusion:
"Regardless of the advanced-search capabilities of the database they were querying, “Students generally treated all search boxes as the equivalent of a Google search box, and searched ‘Google-style,’ using the ‘any word anywhere’ keyword as a default,”
Or, "Unfortunately, professors are not necessarily any more knowledgeable about library resources than their students are." The conclusions also mentioned that students felt disconnected from the librarians.

The message for teacher-librarians is two-fold:

to bridge the librarian disconnect, and
teach students to search Google, even if you don't like it. (Deal with it and embrace the advanced search.)

Our local librarians do a great job of both bridging the disconnect and teaching.

If students are swimming in Google, we have to throw them a life preserver.   While this article does a good job of pointing out what the issues are, it did not offer a great deal of advice for teaching proper searching techniques to students.   Each librarian out there probably has a few good models -- tricks of the trades so-to-speak-- which have worked well.

There was an excellent article published a few months ago in Multimedia & Internet@Schools which really offered some basic techniques for success.  It is more important to read the answers than to just read about the problem. Read below one paragraph from this article entitled,  How Google Works: Are Search Engines Really Dumb and Why Should Educators Care?   By Paul Barron Jan 1, 2011 "Using Google to Hook Students

Educators know that libraries provide access to more relevant information sources and that there are specialists in libraries who enjoy helping students with their research projects. The challenge is influencing the students to use the resources.

Students’ preference to begin their research with Google provides opportunities for educators to integrate the databases hosted in the school library into their research. After teaching a student to use the advanced search features in Google, educators can show how, with minimal modifications, Google’s advanced search syntaxes are similar to the features provided by the library’s proprietary databases. After teaching students to search using Google’s advanced search options, an effective leading question is to ask the student, “Would you like me to teach you a search method that saves you time, provides more relevant resources, and that will improve the quality of your research and earn you a higher grade?”

This approach works! Lori Donovan, a teacher-librarian at Thomas Dale High School from Chester, Va., noted: “I revised my lesson plan for teaching students how to search the Web and library databases. Students were frustrated using the Web; when we got to Gale and ABC-CLIO, their amazement in the difference of the quality of information was priceless. One student researching working women of the 1930s said, ‘Google is aggravating; I found much more in Student Resource Center.’”

Or, this piece:
Helping Google—Crafting Queries Using Advanced Search Syntaxes

The search query is the only control that a searcher wields over a search engine. However, librarians know that the predominant difficulty students experience while performing web-based research is conceptualizing the search topic and constructing effective search strings. 24 The inability to construct appropriate search statements limits a student’s success in searching for relevant information.

Unfortunately, most students have not learned that they can influence the accuracy of the search results by stating a search query at an adequate level of detail to help the search engine grasp the intent of the query. 25 The remedy is to first gain an understanding of how search engines work and then craft queries to exploit the factors Google considers when ranking sites, such as the importance of the web page title and the top-level domain of sites. Search engines users should also heed Greg Notess’ dictum that the more words you search for, the smaller and more refined your results list will be for the search query. 26 Also, the more words used in the query, the less likely that Wikipedia will be at the top of the results, if returned at all.

I dare not copy and additional text, less I border on being information ill-literate and copy a "material" part of the article. Please read the full text . This year, as school begins, make it a goal to equip our students for success.    Come up with a slogan to drive the message. This generation loves slogans. They work.
"Recipe for Success -- 4 words or more will give you a good score"
"Avoid the lies, narrow your search with 5"
You can probably come up with a better one-- Or, better yet, let your students create one!

Post your favorite teaching suggestion below! Let's all benefit from the experience of others.

Information Literacy Bulletin Board Ideas

2011-08-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

The movement for bulletin boards is to embrace "interactivity." Don't just post something that is "readable," but rather design a display that requires participation. Pick a theme and see whether your students can:

Suggest a contribution (great books, best non-fiction, best summer read, etc.)
Find an answer to the question (How can I find a book? Why do you like the library? Why should you learn to read? etc.)
Identify a date, time, theme, etc.

You get the picture--not just read, but react. Here are a few information literacy themed bulletin board ideas that require student interaction:

"2 Truths & a Lie" theme-- Place three pictures on the board with correct and incorrect usage according to [MLA] citation and ask the kids to identify the incorrect -- place the answer underneath the original as it could flip up.
"2 Truths & a Lie" theme-- Place a few samples of correct/incorrectly usage of intellectual property (according to Carol Simpson - Copyright for Educators) and ask the kids to identify which is not kosher.
Ethical Use of Information Scenarios... this might be more appropriate for secondary students, but if you use music, video, quotations, common knowledge, etc., you could really drive home one piece of AASL & ISTE standards.
Which Source Would You Use For... Place color photo-copied covers of reference books or online information sources and underneath the cover place scenarios for which you might use the book. Have a list of questions in the middle that might require the student to consult a source.
Why should I care? - Ask a question and invite students to thumbtack up the answer on your board (anonymously). The questions could change weekly. Why does it matter if you cite your source? Why should I care whether I received my information from a credible source? These essential questions might actually be a "learning objective" of your lesson and you could require the students to complete an index card on the way out with the answer (ticket to leave). This will display evidence of student learning and will score you points on an observation. You will have displayed evidence of student learning. In addition, you have displayed student work, and can fill you bulletin board. If you use a differing color index card each week, you could build a multi-colored display.
Is this source credible? - Find bizarre stories online at Google Magazines (http://books.google.com/books/magazines/language/en?hl=en&source=gbs_slider_gbs_user_shelves_1004_homepage) and perhaps choose some stories from Weekly World News such as:

Ask the students why they would or wouldn't use the sources. Be sure to include credible, accurate and reliable info in addition to wacky, questionable, etc. If you have some weirdo stories, they'll be more apt to stop and read your display! Enjoy.

Engage NY - Don't Be an Educational Ostrich

2011-08-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

NYS Education Department has launched a teacher's resource center that is a must-see.   engageny.org is intended to help teachers in all disciplines meet the requirements of the Common Core Learning Standards. There are wonderful links that actually spell out the instructional paradigm shifts, provide curriculum exemplars, links to videos for understanding and more. Please take the time to wander through this virtual self-help site.
One example of a resource to wrap your head around is the explanation of the Instructional Shifts of the Common Core. This PDFprovides an overview of the rigor that has been embedded into the standards and changes expected.   To ignore the CCSS focus on change, is to be an educational ostrich.
The language keeps returning to showing evidence, embedding complex text, and making students accountable for their claims.   Here are two examples from page 4 of the Instructional Shifts:

Students have rich and rigorous conversations which are dependent on a common text. Teachers insist that classroom experiences stay deeply connected to the text on the page and that students develop habits for making evidentiary arguments both in conversation, as well as in writing to assess comprehension of a text.
Writing needs to emphasize use of evidence to inform or make an argument rather than the personal narrative and other forms of decontextualized prompts. While the narrative still has an important role, students develop skills through written arguments that respond to the ideas, events, facts, and arguments presented in the texts they read.

If you are worried about what the APPR will look like, check out these new guidelines. Pictured below are two slides from the evaluation timeline. This concurs with the advice we have given to start your archive of teaching effectiveness from day one this year. Start building your instructional portfolio and try to embed assessment for learning along the way. Innovative assessment--not tests, per say; Performance based assessment that is tracked; EQ's that reflect student learning; Be aware of what is required.

Review more of these slides

RTTT, CCSS, the Library & Classroom Resources

2011-08-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Many librarians find it disheartening to hear literacy programs such as Fontas & Pinnel mandate the existence of a classroom library to enrich the student's choices. Do we really need to replicate the library in every classroom?   If a standard elementary school has 6 grades, and let's say 4 classes in each grade, we have 24 classrooms each with 500 books, yielding a total of 12000 books in the school--which are not lexiled, indexed, cataloged for easy access, and more. The students are merely able to easily grab a book when they want. They might have been chosen by educators well acquainted with good literature and the premise might be all well and good--but they now come with a long list of new caveats.
      Along comes the Common Core with reading rigor now required. These classroom libraries are not apt to meet the Common Core mandates for reading with targeted complex text.  While these classroom libraries might be convenient, we should turn our attention to the reading requirements of the CCSS. The framework for the PARCC assessments has just been released. Here are some interesting statements:
* "To succeed on the PARCC assessments, students need access to a wide range of materials on a variety of topics and genres...to ensure that they have opportunities to independently read widely among texts of their own choosing during and outside of the school day.... Such independent reading needs to include texts at the reading level of students as well as texts with complexity levels that will challenge and motivate them." (p.6)
* "Leveled texts that are below grade band level in complexity are not a substitute; the standards indicate students should be reading grade band-level complex text. ( from: Draft Model content Frameworks for ELA/Literacy PARCC p.6)
* Writing expectations: "Present credible evidence from texts,..." (p.8) "practice of students learning how to read closely...."
So under carefully planning, teachers need to be cognizant of not only good books, but the content, lexiles, text complexity and more. Librarians can help classroom teachers with this difficult task.   Most book-jobbers and third party automation hosting solutions offer a recon for catalogs which will embed Lexile counts on all library books. (Mackin, Perma-bound and Follett are three. Compare the fees as they are vastly different.) We just finished Lexiling all our our 84 school library catalogs with Lexile counts. These 84 school librarians will be able to assist classroom teachers with identifying correctly matched reading material for students and classroom materials.   I ask: are those 500 book classroom F & P collections matched to challenge the readers with the recommended Lexiles for each grade?
      At the site www.Lexile.com librarians and teachers can quickly assess the level of a book, title by title. This site by Metametrics, also offers many explanations as to why complex text is important and the role that Lexile plays in assessment and instruction.
Happy reading, and remember.... ask your school librarian to assist you in finding great books to match reading interests., ability, and instructional mandated levels.

APPR, Assessment & RTTT - Ready or not!

2011-08-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

As part of the RTTT requirements, states must find a way to evaluate all certified teachers (and principals) for efficacy. NYSED just announced the "approved" assessment tools for the 40% local assessment. We know that part of the 40% will be comprised of formal state assessments for "tested" areas, but for many certified teachers in non-assessed areas, this 40% becomes locally defined. NYSED just announced the list of approved 40% tools

for local use: http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/teachers-leaders/assessments/home.html On the page, please note on part "2. Locally-selected measures of student learning"-- "If a district or BOCES decides to use a district-wide goal-setting process as part of the locally-selected subcomponent, a district or BOCES may use an assessment on the List of Assessments; a State assessment; or a school or teacher-created assessment, provided that the district or BOCES verifies that the goal-setting process is rigorous and comparable across classrooms."

This could very well be what we all see as this is not apt to cost each district money. Most of the options on the approved list of assessment providers cost considerably. This might be the time to start thinking about goal setting. To review a principal of goal-setting:

SMART goals = Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely.

What does this mean? Ask yourself the following questions:

What can I do that will enhance student achievement and meet building goals?
How can I measure this (2 points of time...specifically defined)
Are these attainable? Can I reach these students? Are these EQ's on my curriculum maps?
Is this relevant to the common core (remember, Dewey is no where in the Common Core, but finding information is. Synthesizing information is. Fostering information literacy and technology skills is. Increasing a students ability to evaluate information for credibility is....and more.
Can I assess this between two points of time - probably September and June

You will also want to start day 1 this year building a portfolio of teaching efficacy. Start by preparing simple folders with the seven areas of NYS teaching standards labeled:

Knowledge of Students & Student Learning
Knowledge of Content & instructional planning
Instruction - teaching for learning
Learning Environment
Assessing Student Learning
Collaboration & professional responsibilities
Professional Growth

These folders will help you archive evidence of student achievement, teaching effectiveness, and provide artifacts for evaluation. Here are some thoughts to help you figure out what to concentrate on: What are your building achievement goals and how can you support them? Can I help certain grade levels achieve better by collaborating? Are there data analysis reports that you can review to determine whether you can influence student achievement withing your library time? Are your curriculum topics closely aligned to the curriculum that is tested? Can I help teachers with inference? Can I begin a boys book club (if stats show that your male readers are falling behind)? Can I communicate with caregivers to insure that they are aware of our resources that are available 24-7 from home? This list could go on and on....

You may want to increase your knowledge of authentic assessment and how to capture assessment to demonstrate student growth. Traditional focus has kept a focus on "measuring" summatively, student knowledge -- recall. Truly effective assessment will measure at the beginning (diagnostically) to inform instruction. We can measure along-the-way, also (as knowledge is forming) to monitor and adjust our instruction. Or, students can self-assess and re-direct (also formative). The current shift in summative assessment is to create rubrics for knowledge products that concretely demonstrate that your students have created new knowledge via synthesis of information, ideas, technology, tools, and skills.

Between the locally chosen methods of assessment, goal-setting and achievement, and portfolios that you may be required to create, you will be evaluated. Why not give it your best shot to be a "highly effective" educator? This is our time to shine. We librarians and cybrarians are well-acquainted with Inquiry, Collaboration, and supporting the learning goals of the buildings in which we work. Never fear... with thought, planning, and determination, we can support the Common Core and our buildings' achievement.

Looking to Track your Time?

2011-07-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

With the onset of accountability, some librarians have asked, "how can I track what I do and document everything that I handle in my library?" Well, adding time tracking to your day is just one more task in your otherwise busy schedule. However, if you'd like to do this for a week or a month, to visibly document where your time is spent, then I would suggest the free tool: myhours.com Tracking your instructional hours might be interesting to view reports and see where disparities may lie.
On myhours.com, one can define "tasks" "projects" and more to be able to estimate the time spent. At the end of the month it will aggregate the time you have devoted to both bigger "projects" and smaller "tasks" within those projects. (Ignore the costs variable and opt not to show that on your reports.) You could label a project as "Inquiry" units and then define the tasks as sub-steps of the Inquiry Cycle: Wonder, Investigate, Synthesize, and Express. There is a spot where you can note anything you'd like to track such as ah-ha moments, great student quotes, and more.
Or, if you wanted your myhours account to be focused on educational accountability, you might want to have an account for instruction. There you could define "projects" as a curriculum project, or a grade level, and then track the amount of instruction you had spent at each grade level, or classroom.
See some of the samples below to demonstrate how this could be used. Why not spend some time this summer familiarizing yourself with this tool, in case you find a vital use in September. New York teachers or librarians, may wish to define the "projects" as the three areas of the NYS SLMPE (School Library Media Program Evaluation) adding tasks for each line item. This way you could analyze where your time is being spent in relation to the three focus areas. see: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/technology/library/SLMPE_rubric/

This tool could be used to help build a portfolio of instruction. Are you ready to compile your portfolio of instructional efficacy? This would only track time and learning objectives, not achievement. Student Achievement needs to be documented by "evidence" rather than time on task. (See previous & future blog postings on assessment.)

All's a Buzz Over Transliteracy...

2011-06-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

Transliteracy has been evolving for thousands of years. It just did not have a name until about 2005. So, now that educators are trying to figure out why students habits have changed, they are all scrambling to diagnose the problem, find a cure, prescribe some medicine and go back to the original form. It won't happen.

I like to think of transliteracy as the ecosystem of literacy. Someone said transliteracy was the ecosystem of information literacy, but I think literacy alone is more accurate. When you grasp that analogy, you almost have it.

Just as the Gutenberg press changed the direction of literacy, the evolution of technology and mobile devices has also redefined reading, communication, and knowledge content and collaboration. The literacy umbrella now embraces communication the melds ancient modes and digital codes into a recipe for millennial success. (Read http://tinyurl.com/ykchfpj to fully understand the evolution of reading and sociological change -- this is an article which summarizes the book)

Educators should embrace this change, need to embrace this change, and must embrace this change for optimal success. Our world has changed--if you deny that, you remain in the past and will be out-done by your younger colleagues. (However, the younger colleagues could learn a thing or two about manners, humility, and ethics from the more mature....)

How do we embrace transliteracy and yet keep rigor in our curriculum? The CCSS does a good job of defining the collaborative nature of pedagogy. Students need to:
* be driven by a research question

* solve real-world problems, aligned with curriculum content

* embed technological working platforms

* be given ample opportunity to express (and write) in varying formats including media, original content, debate, authentic writing experiences, and more. Attend a good INQUIRY based learning professional development session and you will walk away with another recipe for success.
Caveat: Just because one becomes digitally literate, does not mean that person is transliterate. I believe the person who is digitally literate (or mobile literate) still needs to understand. No longer is "reading" enough. We must be able to find meaning and react to the information -- to complete the cycle. Literacy now includes understanding, just as reading scores included comprehension. It is not enough to be digitally literate. Therefore, thinking critically is now part of the equation.I will be presenting at NYLA this November in Saratoga Springs on this topic. Perhaps you will attend and get a few concrete tips for instructional application.

Here is my favorite Transliteracy quotes:
Transliteracy is a mix of: “inherited conventions and recent inventions, expectations and improvisations.” Alan Liu, thank you.

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Ken Robinson's diagnosis on our educational system:

2011-06-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

This 11 minute video is well worth viewing to see a summary of the current epidemic plaguing our educational system. Even though he diagnosis our over prescripted ADHD system very aptly, he offers very little alternatives in this 11 minute video. This is a perfect Hors d'œuvre for a PD session on Inquiry Based Learning. It took years for our educational system to evolve into "public education" for all, to meet the "capacity" that Ken Robinson claims we all have. I suppose we shouldn't expect that the paradigm shift won't take years to accomplish, either. However we have a professional responsibility to do our part to encourage that change.

We hold about 12 Inquiry Based learning PD sessions annually, and take our presentation to another 15 within school buildings. This change is exciting, convincing "older" teachers of its efficacy and waking students up to the excitement of learning new material. Their brains have been stimulated by video games, and it's time they are stimulated to inquire, find information, synthesize that material, create new knowledge and share discoveries. Be a part of this change -- wake up your classroom. Collaborate with your cybrarian, inter-disciplinary teachers and plan rigorous assignments that engage, challenge, include creativity, and student collaboration.

Bringing the Common Core to Life - David Coleman

2011-05-13T11:18:00.000-07:00

http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/resources/bringing-the-common-core-to-life.html

At the link above is a long (2 hour) webinar which I would strongly encourage librarians in Common Core states to watch. There are so many references to our library resources within this program entitled Bringing the Common Core to Life, that will help us be prepared when colleagues approach us with questions. Don't get caught off-guard. This seminar was attended and watched by administrators all over NYS. The caveat rang out loudly that we are to challenge students a great deal more than we do currently.

The video is long, and we obviously don’t have time during the day. As I watched this, I tried to document library-related points for dissemination. You can read the cliffs notes below, but the text is lacking the “punch” behind it without the voice and personal delivery of David Coleman (I too, watched this after hours as we are all swamped). At the end of the video, there is a message from John King (who is rumored to be the incoming Commissioner of Education for NYS).

I would speculate that most teachers haven’t received this message yet. Most administrators are still trying to understand this shift. The rug has been pulled out from under us. However, this is our Kodak moment -- let’s make the snapshot a good one. Librarians can help teachers here.

David Coleman's Literacy Points:

• Please note the extensive reference to non-fiction reading.

• David Coleman actually points a finger at “leveled reading” programs.

• Coleman refers to the elementary grades reading too much fiction.

• Schools all over are writing too much personal narrative

• Research speaks that to increase fluency and accuracy in reading, students should not read leveled books at their level, but rather read difficult text (over and over again) at a higher level.

• National directions of ELA for literacy is flat.

• We have doubled our expenditures.

• If kids can’t read well, they cannot be successful in either college or careers.

• Less than 50% make it through HS. If you break that fact down by race or poverty, it is terrifying.

• You are not “already doing” what we are asking you to do. That better be wrong, because what is being done is not working.

• There should be an underlying shift (30 minutes into… )

• Elementary assessment is and curriculum currently focuses 60 % on stories - evidence shows that general knowledge needs to be increased during early years. Greater focus on non-fiction needed.

• 50% of texts need to be non-fiction – CCSS wants prior knowledge built. This is required by the standards and the assessments that will be driving them.

• ELA, history, SS, Science - the reading of texts plays a big role in building the knowledge of the content area. Difference? – Now, kids are reading information text only 7%

• Only 24% of those who take the ACT can read a college level text.
• Text complexity matters. So typical of state standards is that they create a staircase of … (appendix A is the research – level of text is systematically below what they are reading today). Standards realign the complexity (Leveled readers are not supporting the necessity to raise level of complexity)

• The two most common forms of writing in education today are: Personal narratives & Opinion. The problem with that is that no one cares in the workforce what you think. Can you write an argument based on research/text ?

• 97% of what submitted in a Minnesota pilot was not “ready for college” Need argument based on evidence and compelling content.

• What is the difference between a fable, tale, myth or legend. No one really cares and there is no need to have a separate study.

• Get to know 3 levels of vocabulary.

• Read like a detective, and write like a reporter.

• The confrontation of difficult complex text – time is the leveling, not the text. Core sets of complex text.

• Text needs tension… for attention?

• Don’t summarize letter beforehand…. Just read. Dispense with prior understanding… let kids have the challenge of understanding. … Don’t

• Academic vocabulary should be rich lively

• Don’t rush – we need time.

Once again, I would speculate that most teachers haven’t received this message yet. Most administrators are still trying to understand this shift. The rug has been pulled out from under us. However, this is our Kodak moment -- let’s make the snapshot a good one.

From: http://www.corestandards.org/assets/Appendix_A.pdf

Notes from the Horizon Report 2011

2011-04-25T16:48:00.000-07:00

Every January Educause publishes their "Horizon Report." This year's report was especially interesting as it portrayed a changing culture along with noting the educational impact of technology.   It is well worth the tedious reading and digesting of its forty page content, but if you don't have time in your work-a-day-overload-MO, here are some of the highlights:
* I loved the new verb "credentialing" that was used to describe the imperative need to scrutinize the over-abundance of resources available online.   This was ranked very high as an educational imperative to encourage educators to heighten awareness in students.
* People / students now have an "expectation of access."   We knew that, but to actually see this in print and broad- casted as an MO that permeates all aspects of our life was frustrating as an educator. We know that students expect it and schools deny it.
* Collaboration has always been stressed, but now we are told that it will actually be the working world's MO via the cloud in our flat world workforce.
* Privacy was labeled as a growing concern. It has always been there, but the problems are now magnified and harder ...via the cloud.
*Digital Media literacy is of vital importance, but the rate of change is almost faster than the learning curve. Wow. Never thought about that. That means that those turtles... will never outpace the hare. Slow and steady won't win the race.
* 12 month Horizon includes: Books and mobiles for educational adoption.
* 2-3 year Horizon includes: Augmented reality and game-based learning.
* gesture-based computing and learning analytics...i.e. data-mining, assessment to direct instruction, and more.

Innovative Assessment #2

2011-04-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

There is no lack of assessment tools, if you use your imagination. One of the most effective way to capture pre-assessment in a low-tech, or no-tech way is to have students begin your lesson with a "graffitti placemat." I used to call these graffitti walls and this can be done in a group with bulletin board paper, but a better artifact, down at the student level, would be to use this as a "placemat." (Thanks to Karin in Fort Ann for adding this new twist.) With an 11 x 14 piece of paper, each student can name & date that placemat.
In theory, at the beginning of a lesson the placemat might be weak, anemic, sparse, or blank. Hopefully after your instruction, in a different color pen or pencil, the student will be able to answer the same question with a deeper level of understanding. Thus you have your assessment artifact-- name and date.

This can be replicated via Mind Mapping software also.   Mindmeister.net is a wonderful tool that can be used to mind map knowledge and visibly show student growth.   However, technology like this has a big learning curve, and you might now want to eat up your instructional time teaching "mapping software."
That is when it might be advantageous to use the 'ole pencil and paper trick.   Hit your Staples Easy button... a very successful, visible way to pre and post assess your instruction.
* Another web 2.0 tool you could use for assessment could be Doodle.com Most people think of this site as a "scheduler." However, with innovative creative thought, you can create multiple choice questions that would archive student knowledge.   Next time you log into Doodle.com, you might want to choose "make a choice" rather than "schedule".
Just think "content" rather than "food." How's that for food for thought?

Innovative Assessment

2011-04-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

Innovative Assessment? How does that differ from what I've done before? Well... hopefully it doesn't. Then, you could consider yourself a master teacher and can help those around you. However, with the Common Core Standards (CCSS) arriving on July 1st, we should all be ready to archive "Assessment Artifacts."   That is, artifacts that measure students' growth and your efficacy of instruction.

At a data conference last week, I presented a session on Innovative Assessment. This was not rocket science. This was not anything relatively new. However, it surprises me that people react to what is presented as though this is novel and noteworthy. All it really was, is a new way to use old tricks.   I had 10 new uses for older tools. These 10 tools are high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech ways to pre-assess and post assess your instruction to prove you are impacting student achievement.
Let's face it: Information Literacy is not a "tested" area. Therefore, is we want to show our impact, we have to create the data and share or spotlight our impact.
In a perfect world, we will have our curriculum mapped and will have all our EQ's ready to roll. Therefore, we could in September, give our students a pre-test with every EQ on a sheet, computer, questioneer, performance based example, etc.   In theory they will flop.   Then in June, we should be able to give the same EQ's on a list-- basically the same test--and they should Ace this test, if we've delivered instruction in such a way for achievement.
If that seems out of reach, then I would suggest creating "Assessment Artifacts" that can be filed and brought out upon review with any Administrator.   Plan your lessons with an innovative pre & post assessment, and your building administrators will think you have your act together.   The biggest word for next year will be assessment. Start planning your assessment portfolio now. Listed below are teo ideas for innovative pre and post assessment. Stay tuned this week for additional INNOVATIVE ASSESSMENT IDEAS.

* WORDLE as pre & post assessment - If I were teaching research skills to a class, I might have my smartboard open to the Wordle.net site. I could ask the class: "What do you need for research?" Assuming they know a little, their responses might look like this:

After instruction, you could ask the same question. Their responses should visually show growth as above. This wordle assessment was suggested by Laurie Alden in SGF after she used this with her 3rd graders on their Rainforest project. If your students did this individually, they could archive their wordle at the beginning and the end of their research projects. -'Even on their blog, if you are working in a digital research platform. This is homework they will do!

* Polleverywhere.com - I like to call this "covert assessment." In schools where children are considered petty criminals if they whip out their cell phone, I would speculate that you would have 1000% participation if you created a pre-assessment poll in which you allowed them to answer questions via texting. Polleverwhere will even give you the disclaimer language to read before you open the poll "text messaging fees will apply...blah blah." However, we all know that most all teens have unlimited texting.

The simple poll results can be archived as your pre-assessment. After the lesson, ask the same question and archive your post lesson results. Here is what the pre-assessment might look like:

A librarian might choose to ask a question such as, "If you wanted to ascertain whether a website was credible, where should you look?" or "Which of the following is not important when evaluating whether to use a website?"

All your archived assessment artifacts will be ready to share with administrators looking for your efficacy of instruction.

Two more tomorrow....

Grover's Come a Long Way Baby!

2011-03-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

When our sons were home watching Sesame Street years ago, Cookie Monster still ate cookies and Grover wasn't too smart. Who would have thought that they would evolve Grover into a STEM superhero? One of our lovely librarians with young children informed me that Grover now has ther persona of a heavy duty thinker.... who would have thought?

This and other fun Grover videos are easily found on YouTube for your viewing pleasure. Don't miss Ernie singing the Inquiry Tune called "I Wonder."

Caveat for Taxpayers & Parents

2011-03-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

Research shows the 2 factors that affect achievement most are:
* A highly effective teacher, and
* A teachers who care.
While state departments are crying for rigor and relevance, districts are enduring cut after cut, and we fear what the future face of public education will look like. This video is a stark warning of dark days ahead for classroom sizes. I wonder whether the same property owners who are crying in NY for a "tax cap" will be crying about poor performance when their children's class size rises to over 30, their kindergarten programs are cut or shortened, music art PE library and other non-assessed areas are reduced or eliminated.
What "tax-cappers" don't understand is that certain fixed expenses are increasing often at rates of 20% per year. That means that in order to fund the additional 18% additional funding, it has to come from the elimination of programs (or concessions from employee benefits rather than the elimination of those employees). So, which alternative is your choice?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Fotobabble for Assessment

2011-02-03T11:50:00.000-08:00

Here is another web tool which will engage students and assess their understanding and deep learning. If they can tell you about a picture, then you will know they haven't guessed the correct answers on a multiple choice test. Listen to this (slightly lame) sample I created to show you how the First Person narrative could be used to assess whether your students had authentic deep learning regarding the Civil War:

BOCES program guides students in seeking, understanding information online (with video) - saratogian.com

2011-01-30T09:46:00.000-08:00

BOCES program guides students in seeking, understanding information online (with video) - saratogian.com

We received some good press in today's local paper for our new Inquiry Based Learning experience. Good photos of SLS members and local teachers! Thank you Saratogian!

Bekko in Beta is the Bomb

2011-01-11T13:30:00.000-08:00

Beta Blekko is gathering attention from the high-end smarter searchers. 'not sure Granny would bring it up and render the slash tags as interesting as we informationistas, but this product is worthy of sharing with your friends. Just this morning a colleague posted this beta tool on our listserv for discussion.
Not only did I find the slash tags a wonderful addition to easy Boolean logic, narrowing my search instantly, but it was easy to figure out. Blekko struck me as a cross between a search engine + Boolean logic + social bookmarking site. This could be a valuable tool to use for a class research project (s) with slashtags for projects, narrowing, etc. Blekko struck me as a cross between a search engine + Boolean logic + social bookmarking site. This could be a valuable tool to use for a class research project (s) with slashtags for projects, narrowing, etc. The spell check appears to need improvement, but be an earlier adopter and wait for that!
Don't miss the wonderful tutorial...done right! View here:

blekko: how to slash the web from blekko on Vimeo.

2011-01-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of why education needs to change. Although I do NOT agree with everything in this short video, such as that they are receiving a "better" education than the Boomers, there is much food for thought.
Research tells us that the Millennials, or generation WE, as they say in this clip, are beginning to look more like the Boomers in character traits than they look like the Gen X'ers. That's a good thing. They are hard working, idealists, they like to "own" what they work on, want to know "why" something is important and more! To reach the Millenniala, or Gen Me, try designing a collaborative unit with student choice embedded. It should be "their" assignment, not yours.

Generation WE: The Movement Begins... from Generation We on Vimeo.

We don't live in a "multiple choice world" !

2010-12-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

Take a moment to view the first 2 minutes of this video and you will understand why we need reform and freedom from all these multiple choice assessments. Authentic learning is not preparing students for tests. Authentic learning is fostered when a student is asked to find the reasons behind the content. Inquiry based learning is one vehicle to accomplish this.

Doodle for class engagement ?

2010-11-30T13:48:00.000-08:00

To activate thinking, you may want to Doodle. This polling device could actually be set up to check for understanding. Just another cool web tool for student engagement.
Click on the "participate" button and experience what you could do in your classroom.

Infographics & Literacy

2010-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

We have hit a new tipping point in society where journalists have realized that images are as prominent as text for conveying information. The term is: Infographics. This is a perfect match for reading, higher level thought, data analysis, and summarizing keypoints. We all grew up hearing "a picture's worth a thousand words," but now in our age of media dominance, that is becoming the mode of operation.

Universities now have departments devoted to Infographics and communication. Journalists now have to work with graphic artists to convey messages of greater importance than advertising.

If you haven't caught the New York Times blog on this topic, visit: Click here for New York Times Infographics page.

What a great opportunity for research projects to collaborate with math teachers to strengthen a student's ability to comprehend data represented in visual format. Connect with the math silo, and talk literacy! Information literacy takes another step of development.

Created By DegreeScout Online Schools

Common Core Standards and Curriculum Mapping

2010-11-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

If you are finding yourself caught in a state (RTTT) migrating to Common Core(CC) Learning Standards, take heart. The mission of the library, information literacy, inquiry-based learning, and authentic learning is rising to the top! Throughout the CC standards, there is inquiry language, 21st Century Learning models, and the need to produce students who can think, create, and solve problems. Therefore, learning will return to meaning-focus, rather than rote focus. Here is one action plan a librarian can take:

Print out the CC standards. This is long, so you may want to merely print the grade levels you work with.
Highlight what you are currently doing.
Make a list of what you need to tweak.
Itemize what is totally missing and which teachers you may have to collaborate with. Take a moment to share your observations with those teachers. Use your 21st Century Vocabulary such as: authentic learning, technology knowledge products, information infusing for data collection and analysis, synthesis of information, etc.
Hold a lunch-time digestion session in your library to point out how you can help teachers create units which will meet the CC objectives.
Start now -- the states awarded RTTT monies need to be ready to operate/teach in a different paradigm by July 1st.
Click here for a link to the Common Core Standards

2010-11-17T19:06:00.000-08:00

     This Cornell University Prof not only needs PD for instructional delivery, but also needs therapy for his anger management.
     There is a higher education survey administered all over called the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE). Higher Education institutions across the country administer this to collect feedback on the efficacy of instruction. The organization also provides advice on pedagogy for the 21st Century learner.    If their students are not satisfied, they vote with their feet. To combat student dissatisfaction and instructional decay, this survey keeps higher ed focused on student success.
     Public schools don't have the same student attrition problem--yet. By and large taxpayers send their kids to public schools hoping the instruction is good. Little do parents know that the instruction is often lacking also. Teachers are merely content conveyor belts creating budding bureaucrats who know how to complete papers.
     Common Core standards will help focus instruction for authentic learning. The School Library Systems in NY are ready to lend PD to districts on "How to Repackage Content for alignment with the Common Core Standards." Throughout the CC document, the premise is on:* Fostering authentic learning
* Not focusing on the facts or content, but focusing on meaning and knowledge products.
* What do you want the student to be able to do with the curriculum content? (Not just repeat)
* 21st Century, globally flat, collaborative world ... collaborative classroom.

Does this professor below reflect your instructional style?

Cornell Professor Freaks Out Over Yawn - watch more funny videos

More on Transliteracy

2010-10-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

      While speaking with a colleague today, I was amazed at the lack of confidence the Boomer generation has in themselves. They believe they are technologically behind the Millennials and will never catch up. I beg to differ.   In actuality, the Millennials trying to find info on the Internet is akin to trying to drink from a fire hydrant.
      We Boomers on the other-hand, may not be technologically savvy, but we are information literate (for the most part). We can spot bias, assess whether an article is credible, we take the time to read the list of annotations before we click (we "pick, don't click").   We were raised to evaluate resources and took time to read them. This generation doesn't evaluate them, let alone read them carefully.
In steps TRANSLITERACY.   As Boomers become more technologically savvy, their skills will exceed the Millennials because they are transliterate. We can take our literacy and translate it onto a new medium. We can transfer our information literacy to a different operating platform.   We can readily ascertain whether a website or article is Credible Accurate, Reliable or Supported.

Give yourself more credit and show those young'ens a thing or two. Have them visit http://www.wisegeek.com/ and ask whether the info is valid or credible. How do they know. Scroll down to the bottom and look for the authorship. Ask them what they think about that corporate ownership name?

Assessment Ideas for Back-to-School lessons

2010-09-28T06:45:00.000-07:00

So... RTTT is coming, and I understand I will be evaluated on my instructional efficacy? Ugh. No one likes additional tests, so this posting will challenge you to try alternate forms of assessment that are easy, quick and directly linked to student achievement.    Pre-assessment? Why do I have to do that? Well, duh. If you haven't determined what they do or do not know, how can you proved you taught them anything at all?   Thus the need for pre and post assessment.   The following web 2.0 tools offer a quick way to capture data on the incoming and outgoing student:
* Wall Wisher - Virtual Sticky notes! (Ask your EQ on the way in. Can students answer a vital question? Have 2 questions ready for posting.   Ask the same question after instruction and see the notes learned. Archive the site. Print for portfolio or sample report to administrators.
* Polleverywhere.com (Use cell phones for covert assessment....Shhh--Don't tell anyone you are using contraband in the school.)
A non-Web 2.0 tool that is effective is to use "butcher paper" frequently. Catch the students on the way in the door, and ask them to write the answer to your EQ on the way in. Chances are that they do not know it. Or, their understanding is slightly flawed.   After instruction, give them a different color pen and tell them to modify their answers. Chances are they know the correct answer and you have archived direct data for student success.
Stay tuned over the next few days as we share innovative ways to assess, document and archive evidence of student learning in the library.
* Posting Video assessments. Way out there, but this captured student learning:

What is transliteracy and are you addressing it?

2010-09-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a short video intended to make you think.
I like to say -- get on the train, or you'll be run over on the track!
It is imperative we teach our students to transfer knowledge to any medium.

NYS SLMS Leadership Conference, Cornell University August 2010

2010-09-03T12:11:00.000-07:00

Over 100 librarians collectively shared knowledge, forged friendships, and prepared new units of instruction in accordance with AASL standards this summer. In case you are wondering whether it was all work and no play, please enjoy this video. Great minds from the Saratoga BOCES worked hard to give you the picture of the 21st Century Librarian!

Get to know your new tools and old friends!

2010-07-20T20:03:00.000-07:00

Every year tools change for good and bad. A few minutes getting to know the new tools, can sometime leave you surprised. That is what happened when I purchased a new computer. Missing Microsoft Moviemaker, I tried the new Windows Live Moviemaker. I was pleasantly surprised as I thought this might be a bit more user-friendly for the elementary student. I still downloaded the old, larger file, version from CNET downloads, but found this newer streamlined version easy to use (That means I didn't have to read the directions, but was able to click and learn).

Please enjoy this 1 minute video of free advice from retiree Carol Davis, Mechanicville Elementary! We will miss you Carol.

Sloganizer.net

2010-07-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

How many educational uses of this product can you brainstorm?

How about movers and shakers?
DNA -- poison or wonderful?
Fractions? - slogans for math?
ELA make slogans for the[patriot]while SS does research. For example, Patrick Henry--When I placed in "liberty from taxes" they gave me: "liberty from taxes - today and tomorrow" How appropriate.

Information R/evolution

2010-07-06T19:15:00.000-07:00

This video is not new, but still poignant.

Yahoo Conduit for Images Better than Google?

2010-07-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to professional Gary Price from ResearchShelf.com we have a suggestion to check out Yahoo's image search because it is more convenient and easy than some of its competitors. How true I found his advice. When I posted about Google's new narrowing search ability, what I did not know was that it was in Beta format and will disappear without warning.

As pictured below, Yahoo has a convenient, easy to use image search that allows for public domain (or "creative commons") photos to be searched without having to link to advanced search features. Please check this out at Gary's suggestion -- which was a blog comment-- thank you Gary. We are all in this business together and this is just one example of our own PLC!

When Yahoo, Google, and other engines search for creative common images, they are searching Wikimedia, Flickr, Creative Commons and other archives for us. This is one-stop shopping. We no longer to drive the Internet superhighway and stop at all the stores--unless of course you prefer the specialty shoppes.

When I Become a Teacher... Please stay away!

2010-06-28T20:21:00.000-07:00

At a graduation party this past weekend, I asked a fellow adminstrator is she had seen this video. Thus, I post it here as her answer was "No".
Everyone stuck in a rut, who received the NYSUT retirement incentive letter this past weekend, needs to watch this video and ask, "Is this you?" If you're reading this blog, you probably don't fit this profile. When I Become a Teacher...

Do you know what you're missing?

2010-06-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

What you don't know, might hurt you....If your budgets are shrinking and your needs are increasing, then take the time to examine what is available for free on Google Books and Google Magazines. Popular Science used to be an add on feature to Scholastic Grolier’s products. Yes, once again Google comes to the rescue. Now you can read and search all archived copies of this and other magazines. For Google books click here...

Please note the Weekly World News on the left... Now that magazine is a great tool for teaching "Fact Fiction or Opinion" . I used to have to pay money for that rag -- but now I can capture just the articles I want -- public domain!

Google Promotes Information Literacy - Check it out!

2010-06-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

Staying current is tough if you don’t read professional journals, follow colleague leaders on Twitter, read industry leader blogs, or following BLOGS sponsored by corporations that have more time than you and I have. Tyranny of the urgent often wins-out for self-preservation. That’s the MO I have been in for the last two months.

Today I picked up a journal and bingo! On the first few pages there were new ideas to implement.
Then, while showing a colleague a way to embed info literacy into her instruction, I stumbled across a new improvement on Google. This, while not revolutionary, was convenient!
While image searching on Google, previously, we would have to click on the "advanced search" option to specifically find images that were public domain (that is, o.k. to use for your own purpose). They have now moved those options to the left-bar just below the limiters (see red arrows).
In the picture, I was searching for japanese art. I could limit this to "find similar images" as the type I really wanted. That is one way to narrow the search. On the left bar, notice the narrowing to "labeled for reuse", labeled for commercial reuse, labeled for reuse with modification, etc. This little tid-bit of information literacy is no longer a click-away. It's in our student's face.
BTW -- Google's reuse search, searches places like Wikimedia, Creative Commons, and Flickr pictures uploaded with tags for public domain. That's one-stop shopping!

SLMS 2010 - Inquiry sites as requested at the GenY Students = GenY classroom breakout session

2010-05-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the great Inquiry sites that are out on the web. We have a growing number of local librarians who have embraced inquiry with gusto and are polishing their ability to transform hide 'n seek research assignments into true authentic learning experiences. Please call me, if you'd like to discuss how you too can transform your research project, into a 21st Century Model. There are great sites all over the web. These are just a few:
___________________________________________________________________
State Education Department-- K-4 Elementary Science Curriculum-- See Living Environment and Introduction.
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/pub/elecoresci.pdf
Foundations -- National Science Foundation-- Inquiry -- K-5 classroom- What dos it Look Like?
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf99148/ch_10.htm
Foundations-- NSF-- Inquiry Process Steps
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf99148/ch_10.htm
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf99148/pdf/nsf99148.pd f
NCTM—Illuminations site—Math Inquiry
http://illuminations.nctm.org/
NASA GLOBE Project
http://viz.globe.gov/viz-bin/home.cgi?l=en&b=g&rg=n
VirtualInquiry.org - Inquiry Snapshots
http://virtualinquiry.com/cases/index.htm

NY SLMS - Media Samples, as requested.

2010-05-03T18:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a Crazy Talk example of media that can be created to embed in your library homepage.
This giraffe example is about choosing a research topic. Remember for an assignment to embraced as the "student's" assignment, rather than the "teacher's" assignment, it typically should have an element of choice. This sample is less than perfect, but shows what you can do with a little imagination. A teacher could use this program to create homework instructions, give advice for studying, etc.

Or, perhaps you'd like to see what was done with a little parody. Information Literacy- Cite your source...no plagiarism allowed.

Don't answer your students questions...

2010-04-29T19:34:00.000-07:00

Let's take a moment to think about thinking. That's called metacognition. This is an intimidating word, rather sounds like educational rhetoric, but in actuality, we need to produce thinkers out of a generation of students who do not think much at all. In fact,this generation almost feels they are entitled to the answers without thinking.

Last week, I visited many libraries and observed a rather enabling behavior. All the students questions were answered without giving the child to think through the answers for themselves. Where do I find this book? Under the guise of efficiency, we too often mirror the Google box, or the Ask Jeeves man and provide a quick answer.

Socrates would have answered the question with another question. If Socrates was asked where can I find this book, he might have said, "Well, Johnny--what's the call number? Who is the author? Where is the fiction section? We need to model the thought process so that the students can answer their own question the next time.

Actually, Socrates was anti-print, now that I think about it. So, he might have said, "Scrap the papyrus Johnny and use your brain." Use it or lose it. Same motto today as 2000 years ago.

MORE Web 2.0 Tools for teachers and student knowledge products!

2010-03-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

A goldmine of new ideas: Check out how many you know of or have used. I thought I knew most all out there, but there are obviously new tools evolving daily. thinkature.com, mindomo.com, visualthesaurus.com, xtimeline.com, fora.tv ... to name a few new ones. It is easy to imagine how these could be used in our education environment! - Keyword searching with the visual thesaurus.com? -- Fire up those Smartboards!

Web 2.0 Tools to Inspire

View more presentations from tippydawn.

GoodBye B & W...Goodbye 2 Dimensional Reading... Goodbye Control

2010-03-16T17:26:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, back in the Neolithic Age, TV was B & W. That was only yesterday--it seems. Yesterday, reading too was black and white, predictable, 2 dimensional, top-down, left-right and embellished with pictures if you were lucky.

Just as television turned to color, so did the 5 color print process invade publishing and our world was a more exciting place to learn. What we have experienced over the last ten years is a parallel evolution of print resources from paper --> electronic text and a metamorphosis of content. It is more exciting to learn on the Internet, but we educators have abdicated control of reading in the process. Reading is no longer: predictable, 2 dimensional, or even controllable. Study the photos below, as a picture is worth a thousand words:

As educators, we need to infuse our instruction with web evaluation whenever possible. Now more than ever do we need to train our students to read critically, evaluate content, detect bias, evaluate credibility and find meaning. Otherwise we are embarking on assignments that mirror hide 'n seek --on the Internet.
Here we go ready or not.
Here's a link to a great article from ASCD on creating real readers: http://tinyurl.com/yjvd57h

Widgets for Webpages: Medline Plus latest to announce widget.

2010-03-11T16:43:00.000-08:00

If you maintain a research webpage, or usea teacher page for health products, then you'll want to check out the new widget code from Medline Plus (government sponsored medical website) to copy and paste on your page: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/linking.html

You ask, "What's a widget?"
     I like to think a widget is a visual hyperlink with power.  A widget provides a direct path from your webpage to some other page, or product (such as a database) while at the same time, ties a link to what you are looking for in the other location.
   You have probably received widgets embedded into an email that will let you search (or shop) in a catalog for some necessity you were looking for-- perhaps flights downsouth to escape the winter snow?
   Some EBook publishers are starting to release widgets for webpages that will lead the reader to their EBook.    Contact your favorite database vendor and ask for a widget for your teaching page, library page, etc.

10 Minute Video on teaching for the 21st Century

2010-03-09T17:19:00.000-08:00

Stick with this 10 minute video. The last two minutes are poignant!
Teaching to the 21st Century Student - You Tube

National Woe...Where will the librarians go?

2010-02-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

A college friend of mine just sent me a link to the Michigan equivalent of the New York Teacher magazine. Why? She was sharing an article entitled, Vanishing Act: what's happening to school librarians. (It's a large .pdf file, but worth reading. See hyperlink above)

Despite the national research which shows a direct correlation between healthy library programs and student achievement, districts are cutting costs by excessing their information professionals. This is akin to not going to the doctor because you can't afford the co-pay. Or, deciding you can't pay for gas for your car, but we'll keep the car in the driveway for others to use who may or may not know how to drive. Not being mandatory at the elementary level in NY, librarians are easy targets for schools who are short-sighted and more concerned with making ends meet or balancing their bottom line.

We are living in the information age, and we all know that this Millennial generation can access anything, but can't analyze or synthesize it. Information professionals are the ones who teach this Generation Me how toevaluate the info they've found to determine whether it's: Credible, Accurate, Reliable and Supported (CARS). Cybrarians act as a learning concierge to foster higher level thought and give students the opportunity to investigate their own questions, evaluate the answers found, and construct meaning of the data. Where else do they do that? Not sitting in all those classrooms preparing for state and national assessments--that's for sure.

Teachers are encouraged by librarians to create authentic learning research projects where students are stretched to find meaning and reach learning objectives at the same time. That's called Inquiry. That's called PBL, "Challenged Based Learning", or Activity Based Learning.

Visit your librarian today and ask him/her to help you create a unit of discovery, infused with information, and in support of your learning standards. Chances are you'll find someone who will point you to quality information resources, help create a unit with compelling essential questions, suggest some quality literature, and be excited to guide your students down a road of discovery. If they don't help you--then they may sincerely be cut and replaced by someone who can.

Socialnomics: Do you think social media is a fad?

2010-01-25T12:04:00.000-08:00

There are many sharp librarians and educators who are still not convinced there is value in social media and web 2.0 activities. If you are reading this blog, chances are you aren't one of them. This insightful video says it all: The communication paradigm is shifting. The tectonic plate of communication is moving slowly and about to erupt to dishevel all those caught on the fault line.

When we were young, my mother would say, "No news is good news." We operated on the paradigm that you got a call, if something was wrong. Now people say, "I haven't heard from them in days. I wonder if something is wrong." In the age of cell phones, email, TweetDecks, and bombarding info, it is time to admit that the paradigm has shifted. Social media has won. Learn to swim or be eaten by the sharks.

Ajax & Mash(potato)ups: what's the link?

2010-01-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

Every profession has terminology that has to be embraced, understood, and used. Cybrarians, as information professionals need to stay on top of an ever-changing Information environment. Here we go with some new terms, so that when you hear them you wont' feel ignorant. Even if you don't fully understand, you'll catch half of it.

Ajax and mashed potatoes should actually never be mixed--but Ajax and Mashups are mixed everyday in Web 2.0 applications. Ajax is a form of programming a web page so that only "pieces" of the page (what web developers call real estate) have to reload for new information. (Asynchronous Javascript & XML)

Most baby boomers and GenXer's will likely remember when webpages had to reload for every new piece of data that would change. The whole page would slowly reload from top to bottom in a painful procedure that would make you want to throw your shoe at it. (Weather.com was the worst...) Ajax programming techniques changed that so that the page, or real estate was parceled into footprints that could be independently loaded. Thus we now see the evolution of dancing ladies in advertisements.

Now mashups were the next step in webpage evolution. Behind the scenes, data is being collected, synchronized, queried and reloaded onto your page. You have a good idea something is going on to provide you all these advertisements, or queried keywords, but you aren't exactly sure what that is. (That's called "data mining".) Ajax delivered it to the webpage, but mashups will enable you to interact with these little queries. Mashups collect data from more than one source, mix it and use it to create a new product. That product could be a map with information, a hitlist of keyword matches from federated databases, a map with superimposed data, and/or many other formats.

SOA Magazine stated it like this, "Mashups usually have a face and that face is a widget." * I like that analogy. Now mashups not only have a face, but a footprint also. They have their little place to stand on a webpage, show you their face, and ask you to interact with it somehow. Actually, mashups are as varied as people are. There are "micro mashups" (when very little info is aggregated and delivered), and there are interactive mashups such as widgets.

I like to think of a widget as a visual hyperlink with power. A widget is a tool that uses mashup technology to interact with the visitor. This is the beginning of Web 3.0 ! Widgets, mashups, pop-ups, aggregators, and interactive sites are transforming the web from 2.0 empire to 3.0

Publishers are already starting to create widgets (mashups) that users can embed on their webpages for interactive use. Look for advertisements from Rosen and Gale this Spring touting the revolutionary Epublishing to a new height. Teachers will be able to embed "pages" (widgets) onto their education sites to provide students tools without a search. These widgets are "alive" or linked to the source for further info and browsing. Interactive with a touch of a mouse.

The web 3.0, however, is not dependent upon a widget. Web 3.0 collects data from a few different sources and combine those to form a new product they deliver to a website that you are visiting--based on data you place on the page. And, all this happens often invisibly to you, behind the scenes. Sometimes the user is in control, and sometimes your information is known before you even consiously give them info. Have you experienced a website that "reacts" to your keywords? Suddenly there are commercials on the page, related to the search terms you typed. Mashups, asynchronous data collection. Voila!

Popular examples of Web 3.0 mashups are listed below:

Crime maps: http://gis.chicagopolice.org/CLEARMap_crime_sums/startPage.htm

Maps: http://maps.google.com/ Once again Google is at the head-of-the-pack for developing the "semantic web" or web3.o0 mashups. GoogleMaps will look for traffic, restaurant reviews, et.al. for any location.

Health maps: http://healthmap.org/en

References:* Enterprise Mashups Part I: Bringing SOA to the People by John Crupi and Chris Warner Published: May 16, 2008 (SOA Magazine Issue XVIII: May 2008) http://www.soamag.com/I18/0508-1.php

__________________________________________________________________

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC4FAyg64OI (Video Mashup... not to be confused with webpage mashups--same thought, different venue--Aggregated data compiled into different product).

Time for another quick look at VOICETHREAD

2010-01-12T12:48:00.000-08:00

http://voicethread.com/share/836540/

VOICETHREAD is an underutilized web 2.0 tool having vast applications to accompany your imagination and creativity. In the Voicethread above, I have posed a question for history homework. This simple posting would compel students to think about the relationship between the two photos and quotations. Together they paint a picture of paradox for the time period. I believe the Global History students would get it.

Homework could require them to post a comment along with making a Voicethread of their own on the same time period. A class full of Threads, would weave a tapestry of discussion as varied as the students themselves . What a wonderful way to foster understanding.

If we can get our students to the level of engagement, where they feel the assignment is "theirs" not the teachers, then you are a success. Engaging activities like this create an atmosphere of contribution. Collaboration and discussion would ensue.

Check out the "library" of educational ideas at Voicethread: http://voicethread.com/library/
When you sign up, be sure to check the "Educator" version -- It's a better choice.

Cisco publicizes "new" mode for 21st Century Learning

2010-01-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

Well thanks to CISCO, there's another term for Inquiry -- Education 3.0

MIT calls it Challenged Based Learning
Harvard calls it Activity Based Learning
AASL calls it Inquiry Based Learning and
Partnership for 21st Century Learning calls it PBL.

Although we seem to be fracturing the concept into many names, the concepts are all related to fostering higher level thought, deepen the learning experience, and create question-askers and life-long learners. We're all in the same game, marching toward the same goal. In the end, let's hope the students win the game.

One line particularly interesting was "technology isn't just layered on top of traditional processes. Instead, technology is woven seamlessly through all aspects of education...interconnecting all facets of school life, and truly revolutionizing the edication experience. If you're not part of the revolution, you might need to take up arms. " CISCO's mantra could sound like it was lifted right off the pages of ISTE, AASL, P-21.org or somewhere else: "Education 3.0 ...creates a transformational, hands-on learning environment that help motivate students to develop the skills and knowledge they'll need in the modern world: problem solving, critical thinking, innovation, business literacy, and collaboration."

Go CISCO. Go Cybrarian -- strut your stuff and create a lifelong learning environment! Here are some one-liners for fostering collaboration:

Hey, I found a great new resource and I'd love to try it on a [science ] project.
Wow, I'd love to build a wiki for your students. They could each have a page to post great quotes they found in their reading books.
Can I experiment with your [class] [mythology] project using a blog?
How can I help you create a 21st-Century project for this topic?
Wow, you probably didn't notice, but these questions can all be answered by a simple question on Google. Can we brainstorm together to create some higher-level thought compelling Inquiry questions?
It looks like you have already designed this unit. Would you mind if I add an optional web 2.o piece for student engagement? To see if all this web 2.0 hype is true?

http://www.cisco.com/go/education

The Inaugural "Model Schools Site of the Year Award" goes to...

2010-01-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

The unofficial winner of the 1st Annual "Model Schools Site of the Year Award" is... http://www.kickyoutube.com/ .

Here's how it works:

Visit your favorite educationally appropriate YouTube video...

Type the word "kick" before "youtube" in the URL

Choose a format you want to download the video—[buttons located above the video-Amy] (FLV works seamlessly in the SMART Notebook software!)

Right click on the "DOWN" button to download the video and save it to your computer.

We have been encouraging teachers to use this from home to capture videos they wish to use in class (For districts where YouTube is blocked). Enjoy the Holidays!

Compliments of David Ashdown, Model Schools Coordinator, WSWHE BOCES

Psssstt.... (Another useful site is http://tubechop/)

Information Literacy by Osmosis ?

2010-01-05T16:20:00.000-08:00

Hat's off to William Badke for an excellent article in ASCD's Education Leadership's March 2009 issue. (If you're like me, you had some time to catch up on professional journals over the break!) Here are some great points he makes:

Many online sources are void of gatekeepers who "turf out trash and publish only the worthwhile."

Average HS students lack the ability to sort the good stuff from the garbage. Not only that, but they are overconfident in their inability! They equate their technological saavy with information literacy....Big mistake.

Students will NOT just pick up information literacy skills while they surf, on their own. The "information literacy by osmosis" myth has been debunked with reams of formal research (Badke p. 55)

Badke suggests an acronym for evaulation: CARS -- Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness, & Support. Originally coined by Robert Harris.

The article is well worth reading, but for we Cybrarians-- he's preaching to the choir. However, remember, this was published in ASCD's magazine which is read by your administrators. Thank you William Badke!

Vacation's over & it's time to teach

2010-01-04T16:38:00.000-08:00

The tyranny of the holiday urgent is now gone and we're back in education mode. So why not start the year out with an educational resolution? Here's one:

Concentrate on creating Information Literate students.

Why? Administrators like this.
Kids need this.
Colleges are asking for this.
It might save your job.
It is measurable and visible.

Research shows that this generation is tech savvy, but information illiterate--and so are many educators. Information literacy is not a skill that begins the secondary education world, but needs to begin when kids begin online. Challenge: embed an information literacy lesson somewhere in every lesson. Encourage your students to share this with their parents or teacher.

Even if your lesson is in print form, give the students the electronic equivalent. If you are still teaching "indexes" you may need to replace that paradigm with "keyword searching." The "index" as we know it has a terminal illness. It's dying a slow torturous death of obsolete-ism. Unfortunately, we know that it showed us information can be organized. The Millennials live in a world of random access, and organization is a novel idea they may not understand. Use that Smartboard and show them keyword searching right next to the index, if you can't let go of the old ....

When teaching a research unit, or resources, make sure you mention the pitfalls of poor sites. They'll probably go home and use Wikipedia (so says the PewInternet.org site which reports 55% of teens use it), but at least we can caution against its bias. Check out the Wikipedia entries on the American Revolution. Do you think that all those English entries thought George Washington was heroic?

Our information world is evolving so fast there are now new circles called "smart mobs". This is the power that instantly is unleashed using social networking connections. Check out this book which portrays the information circle as a force yet to be discovered by many, if you think social networks are a passing fad: http://www.smartmobs.com/book/book_summ.html . If you are just one step ahead of the kids -- that's o.k. You have perspective. They only have skill.

So let's speak so others will notice:tell them something new, fresh and bold. Shock them with a statistic, grab their attention, and teach them. Afterall, 86% of teens believe writing is extrememly important, but 50% have admitted that they have used improper IM language in school. Go figure....http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Writing-Technology-and-Teens.aspx?r=1

Read Aloud feature within Adobe 8

2009-12-09T17:14:00.001-08:00

I stumbled upon this read aloud feature hiding in the menu bar of Adobe 8. Check this out and keep this in mind for the visually impaired and students with disabilities or who are reading below comprehension level.

Of course the voice sounds like Silicone Sam who lives on Saturn, but there still may be a use for this tool. Give it a year, and the voice will improve. Sam will be pulled out to see the Speech Pathologist.

Storybird is the latest cool tool!

2009-12-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

This Storybird.com site is not for the birds!
If you are an elementary librarian, you will want to check out the latest in digital storytelling. Middle school and high school educators may be able to use this with some creativity also.
This is one example of what will replace the 'ole paper and crayon pencil paradigm as soon as schools have the technology connection to take advantage of these web 2.0 tools.

Still in its beta format, Storybird has great potential. I wish they had a search option for pictures tagged by keywords, but until then you'll have to search by "theme".
As with any assignment creation, it is imperative to embed higher-level thought. I see this tool effective for those who are fostering creative writing, but with some effort, teachers could promote higher level thought within the authorship. The assignment could include talking animals (personification, 1st person lessons) where the animal had to report the impact of something in history on their environment. A child main character could talk to the reader about a historical event that happened in their town. Etc.
Take the Storybird tour below and see what you think. This is not as flexible as Microsoft's product but it is simple. I like the "invite a friend" collaboration option.

Storybird Quick Tour from Storybird on Vimeo.

20 Ideas from the AASL conference! How many can you use?

2009-11-20T10:16:00.000-08:00

Reading Logs – ELA & Social Networking
There has been some discussion on our listserv over the last month regarding Social Networking sites such as Shelfari and GoodReads Reader2, Bookcrossing Booktrives, REvish, Librarything, et.al. , for your personal reading log. What an interesting idea for secondary ELA classes to use this as their year’s reading log. Teachers could create usenames and logins, or require students to do this on their own. They could share their Favorites with their friends, automatically share their lists with their teachers, etc. Teachers and librarians are recommended to have this be a “professional persona” where they may not wish to post their pleasure reading, but the recommendations they would read if they were [14], etc.
As we struggle making decisions regarding “archiving” reading data within our automated library system, this is a good alternative for kids to keep track (and accept the responsibility on their own, rather than relying on a print out from their checkout history) of what they have read. When this is in electronic form, they are more likely to do this as part of their homework. Remember—we are teaching the hyper-connected generation, and anytime we can migrate from an old paper-pencil paradigm, to the electronic equivalent, we are trying to reach the 21st Century student.

Channel 1 Network:
If your district is in need of new Flat Screen TV’s you may want to check out the offer from Channel 1 Network: -- They provide free televisions for districts, if you agree to broadcast 10 minutes of news every morning. Yes, the news broadcasts have 3 minutes of (kid friendly, acceptable) commercials, but … they will give you the television screens in every classroom. If your district has no money, they may put up with the commercials—who knows? In addition, they provide journalism curriculum, and hope that HS’s will “create” broadcast worthy reporting for their network. The 10 minutes of news, for homerooms, are mostly student-generated and cover a wide variety of topics from health to current events.
Watch one of their broadcasts at: http://www.channelone.com/
Call 1 888 467 3784 for more information or write to schoolsales@channelone.com

Ramona & Beezus – Coming to life this summer!
You may have already heard that Walden Media & 20th Century Fox will be creating a big screen version of Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Quimby, summer 2010. Visit Walden.com for information on the books, films as well as free educational materials. PROMO CODE: TERRIFICAL in case you want to enter the contests. There are curriculum connection helps at their site to create interest and bring fiction to life. One example is “ Create a new word, and then write your own definition or meaning. Share your new words with your classmates.” Many will remember how “Ramona invents the word ‘terrifical’ because she thinks its ‘funner’ to say.” [www.walden.com]

Plagiarism Webinars
Yes, these are created by Turn-it-In, plagiarism.org . However, they still have merit to watch and learn to keep abreast of what the issues are. Even if you disagree with the premise behind Turn-it-in, we can watch and participate in their Online webinars. There was a discussion, webinar on Wednesday the 18th, and they will be creating an online video to watch from the discussion clips and threads. Here is an example of one of their previous creations: http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_webinar_2.html -- They have slide shows as well as an “Elluminate” recording of the webinar on their site. The shot below, from their slide show, is one example of their findings, which support what we in the library field are espousing: We need to create assignments, scaffold to foster authentic deep learning. It was interesting to hear that the students view cheating as a “victimless” crime.

Medline plus – Free health database available from the federal government. You might want to add this to your database listing. Especially for the secondary levels: http://medlineplus.gov
Surgery Videos available through Medlineplus site. HUNDREDS! For the brave of heart and strong of stomach! http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/surgeryvideos.html

Medical Encylopedia ! - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/encyclopedia.html
Many More… http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/healthtopics.html Visit the site and click around to see what we all have access to for free, thanks to our tax dollars at work.

Capstone Innovative Reading Grant -- Have a good idea? There are a number of grant opportunities on the AASL site. The Capstone Grant here, will award $2500.00 for a new idea. Be sure to check out the other 10 grant/award opportunities on the left navigation column.

Wikipedia as a teaching tool – was spotlighted as a way to show perspectives. If you search the American Revolution, you will see voices from England which have differing views of the Revolutionary War, then we were taught in America. There is also Islamopedia which exemplifies bias on certain issues. Islamopedia could be a discussion/teaching tool while discussing the Bill of Rights.

Lunchroom Library – One librarian shared that she placed “battered books” and magazines in the lunchroom for kids to peruse at their leisure and it has been a hit.

Webographers - One librarian fosters a photo club and has the kids display their photos on a few pages she maintains on the school website. She has taught them the elements of successful photography, and especially after vacations, she gets great submissions.

Eating in the library -- - Celebrate National Potato Chip Day, with a taste contest in the library. This librarian combed the Internet for a company that shipped over 20 varieties of potato chips to her. The kids voted “electronically” at the end of the line via Survey Monkey link.
This was so successful, that the librarian then added units of “Eating in the Library” to correlate to other curriculum areas. Check out the interesting video on their blog: http://lucyandethelinthelibrary.blogspot.com// I believe their handouts are above the video link.

Copyright Compliance for Schools - New book available – We will order this for our professional collection. However, there’s a nice little infomercial on the web, which has some great ideas from her book within it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktyvX2DvdRg One of the sites she recommends in the video is the following: http://www.cyberbee.com/

Listening Lunch -- Move those tables back, and make way for the lunchtime café! The library that won the AASL Library of the Year, last year, featured a “listening Lunch” concept. During the concert season (winter) kids were invited to début their band, a capella group, select choral, string group, etc… and could sign up to be the featured artist. I loved this idea as it placed the library as a central user-friendly place for students. This fostered a feeling of openness and “happenin” for this “Learning Commons:. This library has evolved itself into a place that fosters INQUIRY , CRITICAL THINKING, CONNECTION, AND Idea sharing. In this case, they thought the music was the idea to be shared. In the Northeast where our winters are long, you may wish to replicate this. Remember—this is the year to be visible! Thank you Valerie Diggs for this valuable idea to replicate.

YUDU.com -- Free place for digital publishing. ‘Online Libraries” can be marked as private. So, this could potentially be used in the classroom, ELA projects, Poetry Slams, etc.

History Mystery - This was an idea that some SC librarians used to foster state history. It involved Questions, Detective work (information literacy skills) and primary sources documents. Even thought this was SC specific, this idea referred to a state site worthy of investigating: http://www.knowitall.org/ This site provides educators with a searchable database of links to Web 2.0 Interactive websites on various curriculum topics. Check it out.

Oregon State Research Model has a very simple research model site, if you’d like to http://secondary.oslis.org/

http://www.teachersdomain.org/ NYS’s new portal for video teaching materials. These links will also be embedded into the Webmax portal through the BOCES multimedia service.

Enjoy!

Information Literacy Bulletin Board Idea

2009-11-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a visual representation for a bulletin board:

On one side represent
On the other print a Database title (or a few).

Cover the Google sign with garbage (litter, gum wrappers, Styrofoam cups, crumpled magazine ads, dirty napkins, et.al.. Stick in a few good website printouts (CDC, .org, LOC.gov, NYcareerzone, etc.) On the database side, place a few captivating printouts on high-interest topics as well as scholarly printout, etc. "Valid Information Resides Here"

This visual representation is one more additional way to "Market Information Literacy". Remember--we are living in a visually infested atmosphere, and that is the stronger default modality. Send me your photos if you do this and I will post them here! pjaeger@wswheboces.org