November 1-7
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
I was suprised to see the selection of special encylopedias available for specifc subjects. I enjoyed browsing these resources when doing the assignment such as the Climate and Greenwood African American Encyclopedia. I was not familair with the popularity and variety of these topical resources. Although it may not be feasbale to purchase a general set of encyopedias, some of these special ones could be a great addition to a reference collection. These would be very helpful to my students and teachers.
Exploring the many types and formats of dictionaries was also interesting. I especially liked the online Merriam site with the listening option and child friendly definition. The site offers a lot of resources for students and teachers to use for free.
These are the two types of resources I thought we would study during this class. I was pleasently suprised to see how current and accessible they are to students in the 21st century. I am glad this class gave me that opportunity and that I can pass along this enthusiasm to my students.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Geographical Resources
Geographical Resources
October 25-31
Atlases, maps, travel guides and gazetteers were not on my list of the most interesting reference tools before this class. After reviewing many of them in class this week I was surprised by how interesting they were to explore and use. I was shocked by how much information was available through the big Word Atlases like population maps, languages, education levels etc.
I really enjoyed the historical atlases which I never knew existed. These would be great resources to show students a timeline resource of history and maps together. I also loved the Kingfisher Student atlas broken into states with great color pictures and maps. Kids love to look at these kinds of things and they are important to have in the classroom or library for students to use. I was surprised by how much text information was included in these resources not just "maps". It was an important feature for me to use in evaluating these in the future- how does the text enhance the resource, etc.
I was also interested to see the connection between print and digital atlas resources such as the Rand with the scan code on each city's page that has touring videos. These skills are important for students in the COS and these resources should not be overlooked in the media center. These skills are often glossed over in teaching for more highly tested topics. Even though geography is not by best subject these resources could be very interesting and helpful to build these skills!
October 25-31
Atlases, maps, travel guides and gazetteers were not on my list of the most interesting reference tools before this class. After reviewing many of them in class this week I was surprised by how interesting they were to explore and use. I was shocked by how much information was available through the big Word Atlases like population maps, languages, education levels etc.
I really enjoyed the historical atlases which I never knew existed. These would be great resources to show students a timeline resource of history and maps together. I also loved the Kingfisher Student atlas broken into states with great color pictures and maps. Kids love to look at these kinds of things and they are important to have in the classroom or library for students to use. I was surprised by how much text information was included in these resources not just "maps". It was an important feature for me to use in evaluating these in the future- how does the text enhance the resource, etc.
I was also interested to see the connection between print and digital atlas resources such as the Rand with the scan code on each city's page that has touring videos. These skills are important for students in the COS and these resources should not be overlooked in the media center. These skills are often glossed over in teaching for more highly tested topics. Even though geography is not by best subject these resources could be very interesting and helpful to build these skills!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Biographical
Biographical References
October 18-24
These tell information about people and could be very useful in the school setting. Some of my favorite ones were the Dead People Server, Bibliography in AVL and the Something About The Author. These would be of great interest to students especially in doing research and reports. Teachers could also benefit from these resources when planning author studies and guiding students to resources for research. I am really going to use the AVL database this year for our Famous American Reports instead of being limited to our print collection of biographies. This is an easy way to integrate fact checking and authority of resources into the information literacy program by teaching students to check facts in these different resources against each other. Once again I am reminded that the number one thing to do is get teachers educated about how to use, inspired for lessons to use them, and equipped with them in their hands to really use these resources. Part of the overwhelming planning for teachers is the "how will my students find the information and I don't want to have to help them all search the internet." This can be overwhelming to teachers and so they just chose to bypass the opportunity. By sharing these resources with teachers and putting the resources in the hands of students a librarian is advocating for her position as an instructional partner, and information specialist. This virtual, free component of AVL help extends the reference collection beyond the library walls. We all know information seeking and reference habits are changing but we have to quit being so uptight about checking out resources and keeping them chained to the shelves. If we do not make it available to students they will never use it or learn the value of quality information and we will defeat our own information literacy purposes.
October 18-24
These tell information about people and could be very useful in the school setting. Some of my favorite ones were the Dead People Server, Bibliography in AVL and the Something About The Author. These would be of great interest to students especially in doing research and reports. Teachers could also benefit from these resources when planning author studies and guiding students to resources for research. I am really going to use the AVL database this year for our Famous American Reports instead of being limited to our print collection of biographies. This is an easy way to integrate fact checking and authority of resources into the information literacy program by teaching students to check facts in these different resources against each other. Once again I am reminded that the number one thing to do is get teachers educated about how to use, inspired for lessons to use them, and equipped with them in their hands to really use these resources. Part of the overwhelming planning for teachers is the "how will my students find the information and I don't want to have to help them all search the internet." This can be overwhelming to teachers and so they just chose to bypass the opportunity. By sharing these resources with teachers and putting the resources in the hands of students a librarian is advocating for her position as an instructional partner, and information specialist. This virtual, free component of AVL help extends the reference collection beyond the library walls. We all know information seeking and reference habits are changing but we have to quit being so uptight about checking out resources and keeping them chained to the shelves. If we do not make it available to students they will never use it or learn the value of quality information and we will defeat our own information literacy purposes.
Ready Reference
Ready Reference- Tell who what when where why how
October 11-17
This week in class I learned about almanacs as a new ready reference tool. I was very unfamiliar with this resource beyond thinking that it predicted weather for farmers. The definition in class we developed was: a collection of facts,lists and statistics.
After exploring online almanacs like factmonster and infoplease I was much better informed as the possibilities for this resource in the school setting. The topics it covers are so numerous and the online tools like comparison charts were really cool. These would be helpful for research projects and answering questions for spontaneous reference. The special topical ones like sports, famous African Americans, and National Geographic would be so useful in the school setting. Even though some of these are books ( with some online sources), I think students could actually prefer using these as opposed to looking in other search engines like Google. If you teach them how to use the almanacs they would be able to quickly locate information by just grabbing the book from the shelf as well as enjoy browsing them for interesting facts.
October 11-17
This week in class I learned about almanacs as a new ready reference tool. I was very unfamiliar with this resource beyond thinking that it predicted weather for farmers. The definition in class we developed was: a collection of facts,lists and statistics.
After exploring online almanacs like factmonster and infoplease I was much better informed as the possibilities for this resource in the school setting. The topics it covers are so numerous and the online tools like comparison charts were really cool. These would be helpful for research projects and answering questions for spontaneous reference. The special topical ones like sports, famous African Americans, and National Geographic would be so useful in the school setting. Even though some of these are books ( with some online sources), I think students could actually prefer using these as opposed to looking in other search engines like Google. If you teach them how to use the almanacs they would be able to quickly locate information by just grabbing the book from the shelf as well as enjoy browsing them for interesting facts.
Bibliographies
October 4-10
Bibliographies
I was excited to study bibliographies this week in class after spending last week with my first grade teacher friend. I really enjoyed Children's Books A- Zoo as a resource to find so many amazing picture books for so many topics! This was exactly the resource she needed to answer her questions like " how do I find books about ___, or how do you know books that have cause and effect skills". Before class I told her to check out Google or Read write think but I was very excited to share this reference resource with her after class. In fact I would love to have my own copy of this book! :)
The Best New Media Guide would also be a helpful tool for teachers to find technology resources to enhance lessons. This is much more effective than a Google search!
These experiences and this exploration of resources really impressed upon me the absolute importance of putting these resources in the hands of teachers. The library media specialist has to inform teachers of these resources and encourage them to use them to update lessons, read alouds, and to make their planning times more effective. This teacher was spending hours a day and all weekend searching for websites, books and materials for lessons when she could have easily located high quality resources with these resources.
Bibliographies
I was excited to study bibliographies this week in class after spending last week with my first grade teacher friend. I really enjoyed Children's Books A- Zoo as a resource to find so many amazing picture books for so many topics! This was exactly the resource she needed to answer her questions like " how do I find books about ___, or how do you know books that have cause and effect skills". Before class I told her to check out Google or Read write think but I was very excited to share this reference resource with her after class. In fact I would love to have my own copy of this book! :)
The Best New Media Guide would also be a helpful tool for teachers to find technology resources to enhance lessons. This is much more effective than a Google search!
These experiences and this exploration of resources really impressed upon me the absolute importance of putting these resources in the hands of teachers. The library media specialist has to inform teachers of these resources and encourage them to use them to update lessons, read alouds, and to make their planning times more effective. This teacher was spending hours a day and all weekend searching for websites, books and materials for lessons when she could have easily located high quality resources with these resources.
Instructional Partner
Instructional Partner
September 27- October 3
I was able to explore my role as instructional partner this week. I helped a teacher in first grade set routines,procedures, and integrate curriculum. It was challenging and exhausting but very worthwhile and rewarding. I realized that I do have strength in this area in indentifying areas that can be improved both in my own teaching and others. Some of it comes natural to me and I don't mean that in a bad way but to say that I realized the need for this kind of help in the school. Even fantastic teachers do not have the time or knowledge of the great tools at their disposal that can help engage student learning and aide in their planning processes. I was able to suggest websites and games to help during the computer rotation and explain how to search for other quality ones. I was also able to model how to incorporate strategic read alouds to serve as reading pleasure during snack time and teach the weekly comprehension skill or connect to a science/social studies concept.
This really gave me confidence and excitement in my future abilities to do this type of collaboration as a library media specialist.
September 27- October 3
I was able to explore my role as instructional partner this week. I helped a teacher in first grade set routines,procedures, and integrate curriculum. It was challenging and exhausting but very worthwhile and rewarding. I realized that I do have strength in this area in indentifying areas that can be improved both in my own teaching and others. Some of it comes natural to me and I don't mean that in a bad way but to say that I realized the need for this kind of help in the school. Even fantastic teachers do not have the time or knowledge of the great tools at their disposal that can help engage student learning and aide in their planning processes. I was able to suggest websites and games to help during the computer rotation and explain how to search for other quality ones. I was also able to model how to incorporate strategic read alouds to serve as reading pleasure during snack time and teach the weekly comprehension skill or connect to a science/social studies concept.
This really gave me confidence and excitement in my future abilities to do this type of collaboration as a library media specialist.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sticky Situations
September 20-26
Ethical Issues in Reference Services
This week in class we had a challenging discussion about the rights and responsibilities of librarians held under the Library Code of Ethics and the Bill of Rights. Both of these documents allow the user to have free and private access to information and services in the library without judgement passed by the library staff. They also advocate providing wide and diverse view points about issues and interest.
We discussed several difficult situations where these ideals could be violated such as:
1. Helping a student find a book about ways to commit suicide. Is it your right to discuss this query with her parents or teachers or ask her why she wants to find this book? This was a difficult situation because to do so would violate her library rights of confidential access to information. My first thought was why even have this book in your library but that would be considered a form of censorship if this book was used for an academic or interest purpose. Even held by these ethical standards I do not think I could feel right about not following up in some way with this student afterwards.
2. A student ask about finding chemicals that can blow up a house or building. This was similar to the Unibomber suspect who used a local public library and reference services with librarians many times for resources for his attacks. I was interested to find out that the librarians did not pass any judgement on his request but as far as my teacher knew simply helped his request and moved along. According to these ethical standards it was not their position to get involved in personal opnioons or expressions. This would be a horrible position to be in as well because you may be somehow helping this person hurt others.
This week a Missouri School District Board voted to censor access to two books because a townsmember complained they had ideas contrary to the Bible. This person does not have any students at this school. The Board restricted access to 2 of the 3 books by having to have parental permission to check them out. This access only came after an appeal from groups after the books were origanally bannded from the libraries. The Board was quoted in the OA News as saying " we were happy to put the responsibility back on the parents".
I just bet you were. In that case you do not have to make a stand either way. This decision may seem like a victory for free access but does it really fulfill the ethical standards of the Library Bill of Rights or just play push the blame somewhere else? Parents should be a moral compass and first teacher for their children but making the librarian be the warden of those morals is a difficult situation.
As a Christian these are difficult issues for me to face as a teacher and librarian. Even in my classroom I carefully choose books and resources that encourage wholesome values to shepherd a child's heart. I do not try to hide them from the world but to give share a light so that their view of the world and what they want to read and pursue are changed. My Christian world view does not make me want to limit or judge what I read but it gives me a framework for evaluating the information I find as I filter everything through the scriptures. At heart this is at heart a spiritual issue that shows the lostness of this world that we take such authority and influence from the creations of words and men instead of the WORD and the Creator of all.
Ethical Issues in Reference Services
This week in class we had a challenging discussion about the rights and responsibilities of librarians held under the Library Code of Ethics and the Bill of Rights. Both of these documents allow the user to have free and private access to information and services in the library without judgement passed by the library staff. They also advocate providing wide and diverse view points about issues and interest.
We discussed several difficult situations where these ideals could be violated such as:
1. Helping a student find a book about ways to commit suicide. Is it your right to discuss this query with her parents or teachers or ask her why she wants to find this book? This was a difficult situation because to do so would violate her library rights of confidential access to information. My first thought was why even have this book in your library but that would be considered a form of censorship if this book was used for an academic or interest purpose. Even held by these ethical standards I do not think I could feel right about not following up in some way with this student afterwards.
2. A student ask about finding chemicals that can blow up a house or building. This was similar to the Unibomber suspect who used a local public library and reference services with librarians many times for resources for his attacks. I was interested to find out that the librarians did not pass any judgement on his request but as far as my teacher knew simply helped his request and moved along. According to these ethical standards it was not their position to get involved in personal opnioons or expressions. This would be a horrible position to be in as well because you may be somehow helping this person hurt others.
This week a Missouri School District Board voted to censor access to two books because a townsmember complained they had ideas contrary to the Bible. This person does not have any students at this school. The Board restricted access to 2 of the 3 books by having to have parental permission to check them out. This access only came after an appeal from groups after the books were origanally bannded from the libraries. The Board was quoted in the OA News as saying " we were happy to put the responsibility back on the parents".
I just bet you were. In that case you do not have to make a stand either way. This decision may seem like a victory for free access but does it really fulfill the ethical standards of the Library Bill of Rights or just play push the blame somewhere else? Parents should be a moral compass and first teacher for their children but making the librarian be the warden of those morals is a difficult situation.
As a Christian these are difficult issues for me to face as a teacher and librarian. Even in my classroom I carefully choose books and resources that encourage wholesome values to shepherd a child's heart. I do not try to hide them from the world but to give share a light so that their view of the world and what they want to read and pursue are changed. My Christian world view does not make me want to limit or judge what I read but it gives me a framework for evaluating the information I find as I filter everything through the scriptures. At heart this is at heart a spiritual issue that shows the lostness of this world that we take such authority and influence from the creations of words and men instead of the WORD and the Creator of all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)