An amazing learning is happening in Grade 9 classes. Students work on individual projects and go through divergent research experiences.
Students discern that information gives freedom. They face a challenge of meeting with information that "empowers people to do what they want to do", as Steve Ballmer said about information, "It lets people be creative. It lets people
be productive. It lets people learn things they didn't think they could
learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential".
TEN Basic Steps to make your iSearch projects successful:
1. Choose a topic of your interest, the one that you wished to learn but never had time to do so. You are going to work on the project for several weeks, and it's important that you are passionately involved in what you are reading and writing about.
2. Create Timeline. You need to know when to stop collecting information and start working on an outline, write the paper and create a visual component related to your topic and presenting it in a creative way.
3. Read broadly on the topic to identify a particular question you would like to write your paper
about. Read encyclopedias such as Britannica and World Book Online to observe what subtopics the topic of your interest holds and choose the direction for your inquiry.
4. Narrow down your research topic and turn it into a question (create a query). It will help you concentrate on a certain problem.
5. Read non-fiction books and scholarly articles in order to learn how the question you are asking was attempted by specialists. Support your hypothesis and ideas. Use library catalog and library research databases to find detailed reliable information.
6. Evaluate web sites when using Internet sources. Authority, objectivity, accuracy and currency of information are factors that identify web sites as credible sources of information. Read more.
7. Organize collected information and take notes. Use NoodleTools to organize information you have collected. Add sources of information to Bibliography, create note cards and connect them to sources listed in Bibliography.
8. Work on an Outline: Use NoodleTools Outline to plan the paper, identify topics and subtopics and add your note cards to support topics and subtopics.
9. Conclude your research. Compare what you thought you knew and assumed
with what you actually discovered. Offer some personal commentary and
draw some conclusions. Then apply your conclusions to your own life.
10. Reflect on the research process and describe your growth as a researcher.
I've just read Doug's posting in his Blue Skunk blog and was very much encouraged not by the long list of publications and demonstrations presented by him in 2010 but by him saying, "I "shipped" - you can too". Indeed, we can share our "shippings" with others and by doing this enspire our colleagues to evaluate their productivity of the past year and project future achievements.
My "shipping" list is much shorter but anyways I want to make one to see where I am at the beginning of 2011:
In 2010, I've got a new title. Now I am Librarian/Technology Integrator and Periodicals and AV Equipment Assistant.
Our e-book collection has grown, and I am learning how reading books in digital format effects students' interest in reading.
I am working on integration of Information Literacy skills into core curriculum. Two collaborative projects, High School course on Information Literacy and Middle School Elective "Web Cafe"can be put into the basket.
Let the number of start-up projects be listed here as well:
Preparation for a presentation at NESA Spring Conference in Bangkok, April 2011
Organization of NESA librarians' gathering and round table presentations at ECIS in May 2011
Development of a Middle School course "Books Digitally" where students will read books on Kindles, iPads, and their PCs and create digital projects about them.
Many digital tools are added to the MBtoolbox collection, and a few articles are written for the school newsletters and NESA News.
Thank you, Doug, for showing us what fun it is to summarise our "shippings"! For us, librarians working in American International Schools, shipping is even more vital than for those working in the Land!
Our library has purchased several Flip cameras and advertises it among the teachers to use in class. If you used video cameras in class before, you have ideas on how to integrate the camera's use with your the content of your subject. Like most cameras, the Flip camera can be used for reviewing the topic covered in class, summarizing it and posting for students who missed the class, recording presentations, and for purposes listed in the MPtoolbox wiki.
Just on time I received a link to Edutopia on Project-Based Learning approach to teaching! Students are engaged in exploration of real world problems and investigation of the subject much deeper than they are when reading textbooks and listening to lectures.
A couple of weeks ago High School students presented their final projects at their Ancient History class. Both their Social Studies teacher and the librarian were satisfied with the result of the work. For the first time we worked as a teacher/librarian team on this project: we planned the steps of the research and agreed on the final product by putting a rubric.
The theme was to choose one of the groups of people who are present in different parts of the world and still have a life style like people during the Stone Age. The goal of the project was to evaluate the way of this group living and define the stage of their development supporting it with examples and explanations. Students started their work with filling in the chart with characteristics of the tribe and the development stages of the Stone Age. We worked on the chart together prior the research session. We also were very clear with our expectations from the class in the library: students had to submit their outlines to the unit in Moodle.
Students had a block to work in the library and to have both of us assisting them in finding proper resources. Without realizing that they were learning new skills, students browsed the library catalog and located books on shelves; they followed my instructions on how to build a background information by using World Book Online and find scholarly articles in EBSCO. I showed the students the print and digital resources we had in our collections.
What time to learn citing sources can be more appropriate than that when the students work with resources for their projects?! "Where to find a good picture?" , "Map?", "Music?", "How to insert them in your presentation?", "How to give credits to the sources?", "Where to put those credits?" - students puzzled. They helped each other and had our support all the time.
Besides learning the content the students exploited technology. They worked with Google documents and learned how to share their presentation online via Google Presentations. Seeing that all of them chose Power Point Presentation as a way to present their final projects Sara Jane and I agreed that our next project will include some new formats that kids can explore and use in future: prezi, glogster, slideshare, photostory, and several more.
Teachers and students... Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants... How to overcome the gap? What language should we speak to be understood and understand? It should be the same but isn’t English enough?
Technology became the language in which teachers should become proficient in order to communicate educational content and expect to be heard and understood.
What does it take to master a foreign language? Teachers of Modern Languages and from ELL department know it better than anyone else! Commitment, determination, and practice are the factors that lead to success. Your foreign accent and lack of fluency will always betray you as a foreigner and be areas to bring to perfection through the whole life, but we can do something about it.
Why do we need to bother? Technology does not replace the instruction. Web 2.0 tools are just new delivery mechanisms that are used to present the instruction to the individual learner! The reason is that technology is a part of students' life, the language they speak, and the environment they live in. Technology helps us find the way to conduct educational content that students enjoy and be gladly engaged to studying the subject. Why not to use it?
Technology integrators, once also being beginners and intermediate, threw themselves into the ocean of technology and immigrated to Second Life.
They have built some sites that connect us with others who decided to learn more about technology in education: Classroom 2.0 - an online network of those who are interested in using digital tools in education; The Educator's PLN (The Personal Learning Network for Educators) - a ning that encourages teachers to communicate with others and get an update on technology tools; ISTE Community Ning comprises a number of group that can be of your interest (like Moodle group, 1-to-1, etc.)
Don't ignore our local connections as well - we try our best to let you exercise your new skills and learn new vocabulary words: WBAIS Staff ning (WebCafe group), Library Buzz blog, and MBtoolbox wiki. Feel free to add your tools and participate in professional discussions.
You can't go wrong with the Where the Wild Things Are theme!
Elementary students
Elementary classes came to the library prepared. Each grade brought their own Wild Thing to present us their creativity.
Kids appreciated teachers and administrators reading their favorite books at every lunch during the whole week.
Technology inspired us to participate in a global collaborative project. Kids built digital books with students from other NESA schools with Storybird.com.
Middle and High School
Secondary students appreciated reading and library services at Library Tech Cafe that was opened the whole week for Middle and High school students in the library hall. Everyone could spend here their lunch and free period reading, playing chess and computer games or talking to their friends.
One of the distinguished activities during the week was a meeting of a HS book club students to discuss Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. Ms. Rose (Aviva Rosenzweig) was amazing at leading the conversation.
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