KASL

Researching the Alamo

I teach numerous library skills using different historical events that help make research easier for elementary students. We have been working on learning about the Alamo using a scavenger hunt format along with a wonderful website that has a super FAQ page. The 4, 5, 6 graders are all doing the same thing, and it is amazing to me that my 4th graders are the most proficient! Anyway, several blogs have pointed me to the teaching history site I started out with! It is full of great resources for all ages and grades and should be a good addition to your collection of websites!

Have a great weekend!
--
Kay Good
K-12 LMS
USD 240 Tescott
305 N. Minnesota Ave.
Tescott, KS. 67484

https://sites.google.com/site/tescottschoollibrary/

Worth Reading

Bad News

One thing the librarians now know is that their students' research habits are worse than they thought.

At Illinois Wesleyan University, “The majority of students -- of all levels -- exhibited significant difficulties that ranged across nearly every aspect of the search process,” according to researchers there. They tended to overuse Google and misuse scholarly databases. They preferred simple database searches to other methods of discovery, but generally exhibited “a lack of understanding of search logic” that often foiled their attempts to find good sources.

However, the researchers did not place the onus solely on students. Librarians and professors are also partially to blame for the gulf that has opened between students and the library employees who are supposed to help them, the ERIAL researchers say. Librarians tend to overestimate the research skills of some of their students, which can result in interactions that leave students feeling intimidated and alienated, say the ERIAL researchers. Some professors make similar assumptions, and fail to require that their students visit with a librarian before embarking on research projects. And both professors and librarians are liable to project an idealistic view of the research process onto students who often are not willing or able to fulfill it.

“If we quietly hope to convert all students to the liberal ideals of higher education, we may miss opportunities to connect with a pragmatic student body,” wrote Mary Thill, a humanities librarian at Northeastern Illinois. “… By financial necessity, many of today’s students have limited time to devote to their research.” Showing students the pool and then shoving them into the deep end is more likely to foster despair than self-reliance, Thill wrote. “Now more than ever, academic librarians should seek to ‘save time for the reader.’ ”

Before they can do that, of course, they will have to actually get students to ask for help. That means understanding why students are not asking for help and knowing what kind of help they need, say the librarians.

Inside Higher Ed, September 24, 2011; "What Students Don't Know", August 22, 2011

Lesson Plan Resources for Teacher Librarians

Learning4Life

New AASL L4L webinar series
During School Library Month, AASL will offer a new series of webinars for   school librarians to learn more about the implementation of the AASL program guidelines. The webinars are part of the national Learning4Life initiative to implement Standards for the 21st-Century Learner and Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs. The webinars will be held at 4:30 p.m. Central Time on Wednesdays during the month of April....
AASL, Mar. 9

Doug Johnson To The Rescue

The last toolkit site I'm going to mention (I promise) is Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog. His post today cheered me up considerably. He is beginning to brainstorm ideas about twelve differences between yesterday's libraries and today's libraries, and I found his ideas encouraging and thought provoking.

As I wrestle with what to dump and what to develop in our educational community, Doug's thoughts help me begin to clarify what is most important for developing and enhancing student learning. Even though I still think writing well and researching effectively are vital skills, I at least recognize the value of the multimedia project. Baby steps. (MHouse)

School Library Monthly

Another blog that is in my professional toolkit is School Library Monthly. Put together by an experienced and talented group of school library professionals, the posts are manageable, yet thought provoking. I especially enjoyed the recent Online Dating, the Tempered Radical, and Us discussing the role of library media in schools and the complex interaction between librarian and teacher that can so often go awry.

I work in a school of experienced high school teachers where, quite frankly, they don't want me teaching their classes for them. I can't do it better or even as well, and we all know that. What they want is for me to fill in the blanks, compensate for their weaknesses, and help with thorny assessment, technology, and information problems without undermining them. In return, I expect some professional respect from them. Of course, the balance of expectation and roles in your school is almost certainly different, but to be effective, you have to honestly evaluate what that balance is, whether or not the balance should shift for the improvement of student education, and how you can make that happen without killing yourself (or others) in the process.

I'm also wondering whether there is a very real movement to replace librarians with literacy coaches. The shrinking pot of resources is going to be spent somewhere. I used to think that the gold was going to technology, and a tremendous amount of money is being spent there, but I think that expenditure is almost taken for granted right now. While working through the MTSS process in our district this year--an amazing and professionally rewarding experience that I would not trade for the world--I'm wondering if in agonizing over where to put the resources where they will best impact student learning, the librarian might well find herself the expendable one. Joyce Valenza Ph.D develops that idea more in her slightly overwrought post on her School Library Journal blog. As usual, she says the disconnect between libraries and funding is our fault for making an ineffective case, but I am not sure that is true. The same forces that put librarians in schools in the 50s and 60s have shifted their attention in a new direction and there may not be a thing we can do about it.

The only thing I know for sure is that if the Powers That Be are effective in dismantling school libraries, there will be a movement within ten years to rebuild them with qualified personnel. The vacuum the loss of the school librarian will create will be profound and possibly irreparable.

S.O.S. for Information Literacy

S.O.S. for Information Literacy is a dynamic web-based multimedia resource that includes lesson plans, handouts, presentations, videos and other resources to enhance the teaching of information literacy. Information literacy skills enable students to effectively locate, organize, evaluate, manage and use information.

Information Literacy

I want to recommend a couple of information literacy web sites that I am enamored by.

One of the most useful sites I've ever seen is AT&T Knowledge Network Explorer's 21st Century Literacies page on Information Literacy.  Wow.  I thought the lessons there were very practical and well designed. Best of all, I don't have to start from scratch.

Information Literacy for K-16 Settings isn't as pretty but it is information dense and is a great go-to site because it pulls everything that other people and organizations have developed over the years into one place.