First Annual "Bridging the Gap" with UBC and SFU

I wish now I had taken out my camera as I had intended to the VSB's first Bridging the Gap morning for secondary academic teachers and teacher-leaders. There we were, 34 Vancouver educators from 14 of our high schools and the VLN online learning school, 4 teacher-consultants, and 4 academic librarians in Lillooet Room, a large meeting room that is one of the original spaces of what remains of the core of the old Main Library at UBC in what is now the amazing new I.K. Barber Learning Centre. We had entered through the Chapman Learning Commons on the 3rd floor into a lovely "clubby" atmosphere with vaulted ceilings, high arched windows, newly refinished beams, comfy furnishings, and the great sense of returning to a place of higher learning which has been revitalized and yet remains rooted in the past.

Thanks to Chris Ball (Head, UBC Education Library) and Hope Power (Liaison Librarian for Education and Political Science, SFU) for their work in identifying for our group the ways we can better prepare our graduates for the demands of first-year university; to Renee McCallum (the W Project, writing support, SFU's Learning Commons) who identified the writing needs of high school graduates to better meet the demands of first-year; and to Simon Neame (Assistant Director, Ike Barber Learning Centre) for creating a sense of the possibilities for K-12 of both Learning Commons and digitization initiatives. Pam Hansen, Jacob Martens and I focused on how the VSB Learning Services can support teachers in this work.

All responses we have received were positive. There was general agreement that we needed to do the same thing next year.

RESOURCES

e-Resources found at SLRCCC: Chris Ball, Head of the UBC Education Library and Associate U. Librarian for Collections and Scholarly Communications, has joined our School Library Resource Centre Consultative Committee, along with Colleen Alstad, former TL and now an SFU Education and Political Science Librarian. Chris's report to the committee on campus libraries could lead one to conclude, they have the same problems, only a much much bigger budget. 70% of UBC's library funding is spent on electronic resources -- big implications for how we prepare our students for post-secondary, right? He has sent the link to UBC e-resources which have remote and open access and which may be of interest to secondary schools. And so the mutually beneficial partnership begins!

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Freedom To Read Kits -- As promised, these were ordered and will be in the secondary schools on Friday ... that's today.

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Has anyone seen the free DVD The Boy Inside, the one the Ministry was sending out to all schools?

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February is Black History Month:

This month AwesomeStories includes a feature about Slavery, amongst other topics. Check out the site ... I have recommended this one before. We have an academic membership. I can email you the password if you want to join.

And check out teachingbooks (see Databases page off "webcat" -- you will need the password) for more Black History month resources as well.

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Dragon Books:

I need these next week.

Please let me know if you have

some really good ones set aside for me.

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I checked this Google Maps mashup (click here for Wikipedia definition of mashup) just as someone edited the entry for "Windermere Secondary School" on Wikipedia ... at 11:33 pm! How can this be? or rather, who? Thanks, TL Annabelle, who emailed this really cool tool to explain how it all works but I am not sure how the tool works -- I just can't imagine how it works! I think mashup refers to my brain under the influence of too much technology! "...this Google Maps mashup shows additions to the Wikipedia in REAL-TIME based on where the person is who added it..."