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Over the past month, I've had opportunity to attend sessions on using Primary Sources with students in their research. The first session was a part of the ISLMA assoications annual conference. I took part in the all day session at the Abraham Lincoln Presidental Library and Museum. The facilitator, Erin Bishop, is the Director of Education there. She did a wonderful job of showing us what is available for educators through the museum. We also got to spend time at this truly amazing interactive museum. I came away with lots to share with my staff.
Today, and for the next two days, I am involved in training for use of the Library of Congress holdings. Wow! Our instructor, is from DePaul University. They just grazed the surface this morning, touching on visual literacy mostly. I'm very excited about being able to show my teachers what is available to them!
How do you use Primary sources in your schools for research? At what grade levels do you see teachers and students using them?
In October AASL published the updated information literacy standards “Standards for the 21st –Century Learner”. Now the parsingbegins… what is right about thestandards? What is wrong? What do they mean? How can I use the standards to improve my instruction, andstudent’s learning? There is more tocome, more work being done by AASL but in the meantime what is that we,teacher- librarians, notice about the new learning standards.
It took me time to move past the nine common beliefs. I applaud the articulation of the beliefs that are the underpinning ofthe four learning standards. Itidentifies our biases and ideals up front for the world to know, and hopefullyunderstand. Without that identificationwe are facing more standards that speak only to our community. Instead we have a document that outlines tothose outside our profession can read, and recognize why we think our brand ofinformation literacy is important. Isuppose a cynic could suggest that it is propaganda designed to prove that weare teachers, but I’d advocate that all teaching and learning standards shouldlead with a statement that describes the mission of the organization, subjectarea, or committee responsible for designing teaching and learning standards. AASL has done that. Now it is our responsibility to move thesecommon beliefs beyond our professional community.
When I moved into analyzing each learning standard I first appreciated the four pieces of each larger standard – skills, dispositions in action, responsibilities, andself-assessment strategies. However Iquickly became overwhelmed, and as I moved through each piece frustrated byredundancies. A complaint I have heardfrom other first timers reading the “Standards for the 21st –CenturyLearner” document. So I stepped back,and asked the question we should all be asking: “How can I use these standardsto inform my instructional design to provide an optimal learning experience formy students?”
One of my biggest concerns as I work with students is what I call the “run and gun” research assignment – a two day extravaganza that leaves no time for musing,in-depth searching, the ability to refine questions and focuses, andmetacognition to identify and evaluate the learning processes. In questioning the redundancies of the newlearning standards I began to contemplate how to make the process moretransparent, to teach students that research, true inquiry, is aboutrefocusing, refining, and that it is a circular process. Similar skills, dispositions,responsibilities, and self-assessment are needed throughout their process. Rather than approaching teaching the processin a linear fashion, how can I break this down? What connections can be made throughout all four learningstandards that move beyond the step by step process?
And then there was a flash – there are themes that occur throughout the learning standards. For me, I could sum them upas Context, Creativity, and Community. Throughout the “Standards for the 21st –Century Learner”document there are echoes of placing information in context to create newknowledge, to use personal information schema, and cultural and social contextto illuminate and define new knowledge. There is an emphasis on using and producing a wide variety of formatsand diverse sources. This highlightsthe theme of creativity (a word and piece more specifically identified in theISTE NETS). If we are guiding studentsto use a diversity of sources in a variety of formats then we are asking themto call upon creative thinking and problem solving; take that a step forwardand ask them to produce a diversity of thought in a variety of formats and weare accessing the creative nature of our students. And finally there is community, an emphasis on collaboration andsharing within a global community. Usethe tools available to go beyond the classroom walls, and to do so in aresponsible and ethical manner.
So what will this mean to my instruction? How can I use this to improve my students learning experiences? This will be the next trick. Can I rearrange the standards into themesthat make sense to me and allow me design meaningful instruction thatemphasizes inquiry, and the patterns of learning? Now that I’ve mused, it is time to sit down with the “Standardsfor the 21st –Century Learner”, NETS, Habits of Mind, Partnershipfor 21st Century’s framework and design new instruction thatimproves student learning experience.
A beginning draft visual of these thoughts.
Hi All,
Pl. follow the link for futher information
Best Regards
Naveed
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9815836-7.html?tag=nefd.blgs
Hi All,
Below is the link of open access journals
Link: http://www.doaj.org/
It may be of your intrest
Regards
Naveed
 | Help us polish the latest edition of our Evaluation Wizard! Carl Heine is rewriting our Evaluation Wizard; a ten step process for website evaluation. This tool will step you through the evaluation process, offering criteria for 10 different elements of evaluation. As a student evaluates the site, they are guided to write their evidence for each step of the process. Once three criteria areas have been used, you can choose to print your evaluation. They system gathers all of your writing into a single page that can be copy/pasted to a word document or printed directly from the screen. No log in required (the system does not store your data) Please offer us feedback. Are we missing something? Are the criteria clear? Will you use this with your students? |
- Instructor: Dennis O'Connor
- Time commitment: login at least four times a week
- 2.5 CEUs are available for the 25 online contact hours
- Course delivery: 21CIF Moodle (view the course -- log-in as a guest)
- Assignments include readings, interactive learning games, discussion groups and practical projects you can use in your work
- ISTE NETS (for teachers) addressed: I, II, III, IV, V, VI
- ISTE NETS (for students) addressed: 2, 3, 5
- ISTE NETS (Refreshed for students 2007) 1,3,4,5
- $99.00 course fee
- Participants will increase skills and efficiency in searching world wide web
- Participants will become reliable evaluators of digital information
- Participants will become successful integrators of digital information
My wife and I produced a video for the Interwrite Learning contest and lo and behold we are in the finals! This is a $15,000 contest to get her some badly needed technology for her classroom. Problem is we are in the public voting stage of the competition and up against much larger districts with a lot of voting power. If you have liked my videos I ask that you go register and vote for her video. I admit that I am biased in this case, but I know how much she needs this equipment and her video was produced with all of her ordinary classroom kids: not the gifted and talented some of the other entries :) Feel free to leave her feedback as well.
Anyway, here is the link to her video. You need to register following the link at the upper right. You will then "join" and Interwrite will send you a link back to vote. I appreciate any support out there and ask that you spread the word. -END OF SHAMELESS PLUG-
Dear All,
Follw the link of online news papers of the world.It contains allmost all the newspapers of every part of the world
Regards,
Naveed
Just a head's up for anyone who is interested. Yahoo is looking for beta-testers for some super-secret new tool they're working on. I was a beta-test for the new Search Assist tool they use; it was fun and didn't take much time. Anyway, they want more librarians, so if you're intersted, here's the link.
http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/ff28g2dd6e,
Jeri
 | These sites are web-tools that you can build with. If we can tame the 800 pound gorilla of time and apply our vision and creativity, there are hundreds of opportunities to connect curriculum with the dynamic world on the highly interactive Read/Write web. Picking up the tools offered by Web 2.0 (and all of the editions after that) can help educators avoid being ‘dis-intermediated’. When a new technology cuts out the middle man, dis-intermediation occurs. Ian Jukes warns that the revolutionary-evolutionary progression of information technology is cutting out teachers by providing a direct supply of information to consumers. The stark truth is our students don’t need us to learn how to collaborate online, create and broadcast videos, or become published authors. What they need to learn from us is how to evaluate and judge the information they swim in daily. Becoming aware and versed in Web 2.0 technology will help us bring relevance and motivation to our swimming lessons! |
Blogging
Blogging is a writer's dream tool. There's an audience just a few keystrokes away. A blog is a simple website designed for sharing ideas. The blogger writes. The reader comments. Be it a a dialog or a one way manifesto, popular and free blogging tools have fueled use of the Internet as a Read & Write environment. In addition there are many commercial blogging systems that provide value added features.
- Deeper: The Writer's Center Applied Blogging (Video Tutorials on how to set up a blog.)
 | Blogger.com http://blogger.com This free site is one of the original and most popular blogging services. Blogger is a relatively 'low-tech' system that's a good choice for those just starting out with the technology. A simple sign-up procedure, easy to use design templates, and compatibility with third party add-on software are positive attributes. Google now owns Blogger and will serve context sensitive ads on your free blog pages. You can pay a modest amount to upgrade to an ad free version. |
 | Wordpress: http://wordpress.com/ Wordpress provides free blogging software and space for anyone who cares to sign up. This is an ad free service, with very rich and powerful tools. Design templates help you create an attractive looking site. Since Wordpress is very popular, you'll find many useful ad-ons as you elaborate the basic technology that comes free with your site. The popular Edublogs.net is based on Wordpress technology and provides free blogs and wiki's to educators. |
 | ClassBlogmeister: http://classblogmeister.com/index.php is a free classroom blogging system created by David Warlick and the Landmark Project. Classroom teachers can get a classroom blog and work in a sheltered environment designed to introduce kids K-12 to writing for an authentic audience. There are currently 3500 classrooms and nearly 36000 bloggers using Blogmeister. |
Photo Sharing
Millions of digital cameras in the hands of the curious and creative mean billions of images which can be easily shared published via photo sharing services. Tagging photos, creating albums, and inviting friends to view the latest snapshots are a natural glue for a community of interest. Photo sharing sites like Flickr were among the first to demonstrate the possibilities of the read / write web.
 | Flickr http://www.flickr.com (owned by Yahoo) has a huge community of users. This means there are also a great many free browser plug-ins and software packages to enhance Flickr shared photos. They offer both free and paid accounts. There is a 100mb per month bandwidth limit on free accounts. |
 | Picasa http://picasa.google.com/ This photo sharing and editing software if offered free of charge by Google. Picasa is powerful basic editor. The new WebAlbum photo sharing element makes Picasa a one stop solution for photo editing and sharing. For more about the possibilities see Google's Picasa for Educators information. |
 | Tabblo http://www.tabblo.com/ provides free photo sharing via Online Tabblos. These are attractive, template driven photo pages. Other features like posters and books are available for a fee. This is an ad free service with with unlimited storage space. |
Social Bookmarking
These tools let you store and share your bookmarks online. Once you’ve configured your account and customized your browser it becomes easy to bookmark, describe and tag your Internet discoveries. Just click the toolbar icon and you will be prompted to save your bookmarks (including comments and tags) to the online service you have chosen. Using social bookmarks means you can access your favorites from any internet linked computer. Additionally, you can network within the community finding others with similar interests. You can then link to their bookmarks, or add the sites directly to your own account. One crucial feature is the ability to create ‘public’ and ‘private’ bookmarks; there will always be sites you don’t want to share with the group. Social Bookmarking is a useful tool for collaborative research as well as online community building.
 | Del.icio.us: http://del.icio.us/ Delicious was acquired recently by Yahoo! This means ongoing support and development for one of the first and most popular social bookmarking services. Delicious is designed to make sharing second nature. You can subscribe to Tags, and have the system auto-search and update bookmarks related to any tag of interest. You can also create a network of fellow users; just copy the screen name of another community member and they go into your network, making it easy to monitor those with similar interests. |
 | Ma.gnolia: http://ma.gnolia.com This site has a rich toolset with everything you’d expect in a social bookmarking site. They provide powerful import tools for importing bookmarks from Del.icio.us. Tags are separated by commas, allowing you to use multiple descriptive tags. Support tools include a wiki based Frequently Asked Questions option. |
 | Blinklist: http://blinklist.com Blinklist provides you with quick click access to personal lists, watch lists, tag browsing and tag creation. It is easy to search all public bookmarks. Blinklist automatically provides keyword-tag suggestions. If you find a tag combination you like, and RSS subscription is available. You can import bookmarks from your browser as well as Delicious and Furl. Other attractive features are the thumbnail pictures provided for the more popular sites and a convenient auto-fill feature that lets you copy and paste snippets into the description field of your bookmarks. |
Video Sharing
Video sharing sites are intriguing places to search for instructional video. Try the same keywords you use when looking for curriculum materials on the web. Additionally, if your students produce video, there is a world wide audience just an upload away. You can provide links back to your school or program site when you upload your video. This can bring the much desired Web 2.0 benefit of connecting you with an audience for your ideas.
- Deeper: Edutopia: How to Use Digital Story Telling in Your Classroom
 | Google Video: For Educators http://video.google.com Try keyword searching Google video for academic subjects. The results will vary, but we guarantee you'll find some interesting and educational videos appropriate for your classroom or library. Using the little known Google Video operator genre: you can find video tagged for educators. Try searching for genre:: educational to find some useful results. |
 | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ This is the video sharing site that's been called the mineshaft canary for Web 2.0. Recently acquired by google for billions of dollars, YouTube features a huge array of videos about many different topics. YouTube definitely has a free range wildness about it that gives the user a sense of never knowing what they are going to see. |
 | VideoJug: Life Explained on Film http://www.videojug.com This is a clever site with a how-to angle. You'll find a variety of user produced instructional video. The Kid's section features a fun series of balloon animal tutorials. |
Wikis
Think of Wikis as specialized websites that promote collaborative writing. Wiki team-mates can edit documents at any time of the day or night. The wiki will automatically back up the original and present the newest edition of the document to the next team-mate to log in. You always have a revision history to consult, as you create a dynamic document that grows and changes under the attention of an audience of editors. Wikipedia is the best known Wiki at the moment. (See Doug Johnson's article Wikipedia: Ban It or Boost It in this edition of the Resource Kit.)
- Deeper: Educause: Wide Open Spaces: Wikis, Ready or Not
 | WikiMatrix: http://www.wikimatrix.org/index.php This is a comparison site that helps a user compare many different features of a wide variety of commercial and free wiki services. If you want to make an informed choice this site is a great starting place. (Both pbwiki and Wikispaces are reviewed side by side and feature by feature.) |
 | PBWiki http://pbwiki.com With a slogan like: "Make a Wiki as easily as a peanut butter sandwich" you can expect a clean streamlined design. Will pbwiki set you up in just 30 seconds? Try it and see. Learning the ins and outs of Wiki editing and navigation will take a bit more time. Other features include a discussion area where team-members (or any user) can comment on the wiki. If you outgrow the free version you can upgrade for a modest monthly fee. |
 | Wikispaces http://www.wikispaces.com Wikispaces is another educator oriented free service. You will find the easy to navigate discussion, history, and notification tabs useful. You can also set up email or RSS feeds to keep you posted on wiki activity. |
Click-O-Rama: More resources than you can shake a mouse at!
We've presented a select number of sites to provide an overview of Web 2.0 Internet services. There are hundreds of innovative sites showing up on the web everyday. Many of these sites provide a golden opportunity to harness the energy of authorship and curriculum. The following sites give you click through access and thumbnail descriptions of far more sites than we can cover in this article.
 | Web2Logo http://web2logo.com Here you will find 10 pages of Web 2.0 logos. Click on a logo and you are taken to a community rating and review page. You will see the site's traffic statistics, and comments from users. Additionally, you are presented with a hot list of similar Web 2.0 sites, You have the option of subscribing to any of Web2Logo's description pages... and easy way to monitor the community comments about a site. |
 | GO2WEB20 http://www.go2web20.net This is a less detailed , but more direct presentation than Web2Logo. Click any of the long scroll of Web 2.0 logos and see a thumbnail description of the site pop up in the right hand column of the page. You'll also find a hotlink that will open the site in a new window. This beta site still has rough edges but the developers are promising more revisions in the near future. For now it's fun for just clicking around! |
Last year I attended a workshop on collaboration. The presenter talked about her experiences with collaborating with teachers, but didn't say how she got the teachers to collaborate with her. During a discussion session in small groups she came over to my group and sat down. I asked her how she got teachers to collaborate with her and she reluctantly answered that she and her colleague (2 media specialists at that school) talked to the assistant principals that did the teacher evaluations. They asked the administrators to ask teachers two questions during pre-observation conference: 1) What resources outside your textbook have you used in your lessons?; and 2) How many times have you worked with the media specialists on your lessons? She said when the administrators started asking those 2 questions the teachers figured they better start consulting with and using the media specialists in planning and presenting lessons.
My question is how can we influence administrators to ask these questions. Shouldn't this be a part of their training in graduate school? It seems a graduate course should contain relations with teachers, relations with non-instructional support staff, relations with guidance counselors and relations with media specialists.
Who has influence over administrators? How can this issue be brought to the forefront?
I will be attending this conference which has already begun with a preconference session with David Warlick. I signed up for audio podcasts which I thought would help me decide which video sessions to attend. I've listened to David Warlick who demonstrates the lack of boundaries to communication that now exist, yet also the need to create new boundaries in the Web 2.0 world. Now I have discovered a wiki for First Timers which provides helpful info, guides, and links to everything. Check it out.
- I'm taking the FL Teacher Certification Exam for Ed Media Specialist in 10 days! As the lucky 13th of October approaches, I'm freaking big time! Help! Has anyone in the state taken the test recently and can share some words of encouragement?? Is there anyone near Orlando who's looking at that date and is available to study with me??
