District Technology Day: Questions of Access

The annual District Technology Day began with a plenary of District and student "experts" on teaching and learning supported by technology and was enhanced by a fantastic brunch and many different workshops on blogging, wikis, social media, Wolfram Alpha, video use, digital storytelling, Prezi, and more. 

Epic Wins and Reading ... Teen Features in a Digital World 

Stealing the opening plenary show were Digital Immersion students Ben and Laks.  Ben, a self-admitted internet addict, was a confident speaker who both charmed and worried an auditorium full of teachers; up to 15 hours a day on the internet "absorbing" its truths, he told us confidentially, assuaged his thirst for knowledge; while emerging from a learning experience deep in the net often gave him the feeling of "the epic win," Ben conceded that the social aspects of schooling were important.

Hmm!  I wondered about Googling for The Truth.  I couldn't help comparing this young man's deep fascination with the "epic win" with Csíkszentmihályi's notion of "the flow," the state that takes over during the search for and production of knowledge or creative expression, a journey that takes the seeker into "the zone" or "the groove."   He was ready for inquiry-based learning.

But it was young Laks who shared her view of the important aspects of digital schooling, whose love of books and reading was clearly paramount -- "We should visit libraries more often," she said -- after all, she told us, you can't do anything if you can't read!  I think I know which two Vancouver TLs can take credit for stoking some of her enthusiasm.  Here's one young woman already launched into Inquiry in both the reading and learning contexts.

Mmmm-hmmm!  The mouths of babes were a compelling first dimension to the morning plenary. 

Access: Not Such a Simple Concept

Dr Jordan Tinney spoke about the significance of access in educational contexts being transformed by technology, making the second dimensional connection to what Michele and I were going to talk about; we were going to be "on" today, on the same page, the button, the mark!  

Access -- not such a simple concept, in fact.  I was prepared with the slides and Michele with the activity to share the complexities of access with the group of more than 40 who attended our workshop.  Access begins simply enough as the notion of providing tools and resources to find and work with information in an age where that is expanding exponentially.  The Information Age is characterized by

• rapidly changing tools,
• increasing numbers of resources created by the digitization of text, image, and artefact,
• more demands for users to be critical, creative, communicative, and collaborative consumers of the information,
• evidence of the needs for skills for lifelong learning where citizens are able to apply what they learn to do in the workplace, post-secondary institutions, and life.

Access becomes a far more complex and essential consideration as more technology is delivered into our system.  Resources are no longer simply the textbook; they come in multiple formats, print, digital, and human/expert.   Tools, no longer simply the pen or word-processing packages, are complex, having multiple iterations, purposes, and applications.  Students and their teachers are learners who need support -- in classrooms and in professional development -- for both physical and intellectual access to these; they need support and time to learn to transform information into knowledge, to share and store (or curate, as Stephen Lamb, quoting Maryann Kempthorne, told us) the resources that increasingly they will create as well as consume.   Teachers need support in effectively integrating technology with teaching and learning.

In classrooms that strive to move beyond the textbook, in school libraries, in the hours during and beyond the school day, educators will be seeking to have access even as they work to redress the imbalances that enable some students to have more access than others. The resources, tools, and information found "in the communities" of functionality -- educational, local, global -- are at once universal, national, social, and personal; they need to be equitably distributed, current, accurate, age-appropriate; they need to reflect the wide range of interests, skills, and abilities of our students.  There needs to be freedom to make personal and pedagogical choices amongst resources and tools, to read and learn widely and deeply, to participate in a culture of reading both for pleasure and for information. 

Finally, to optimize the value of tools and resources, the system needs to be able to provide flexible access:

• to a school library as the "hub" of learning, re-designed as the Learning Commons in schools, 
• to the expertise and services of teacher-librarians as learning specialists whose work is to support access in this broadest sense,
• to production facilities that enable new possibilities for products and learning,
• to technology in differentiated instructional and learning configurations,
• to tools, including software and adaptive hardware for special needs students, 
• to real and virtual resources and services, 24/7. 

These were important links to the workshop Michele and I would be doing on the Inquiry-based approach to reading and learning, the Points of Inquiry model which supports teaching and learning for deep understanding and which is enabled by access to the services of TLs as learning specialists as well as to technology tools and all kinds of resources.

But, while the District Technology Day plenary had provided some lovely connections for our workshop around access, the need to be perfectly ready and to begin seamlessly can so easily be disjarred WHEN YOU CAN'T GET ACCESS TO THE WIRELESS INTERNET!  I had spent two hours the day before getting set up.  I have never developed a smooth recovery from the initial disappointment and stress of the bad start you get when things don't work as they should!   Thanks, Michele, for your unflappable enthusiasm and capacity for flexible delivery. 

Off my game, I failed to utter a single tweet!  For those of you interested in the site-based Twitter discourse, check it out:  #39edtech.  I have tweeted THANKS ("sent a tweet-out") today to the many TLs who attended Tech Day and who gave workshops:  Michele, Frances, Denise, Fred, and Aaron were presenting.  Thanks also to tech-keen others, like Sylvia, who presented at or attended the Livingstone SmartBoard Academy.  And thanks, Patsy and Audrey at the helm as key organizers of the event which was all very good. 
 
Here's the link to the TL Special Wiki and our Presentation, with the sources and tools: 
 
C21L & Inquiry-based Learning: Start with the Teaching & Learning

Smarter Science

SmarterScience: Wow! What a great Canadian open-source framework for engaging teaching and meaningful learning in science, grades 1-12, and for developing the skills of inquiry, creativity and innovation. Lesson plans, resources, fairs, and more. Be sure to share this with your teacher colleagues.

Our Digital World: Access, Access, Access

Evaluating Digital Resources


As the resource experts in our schools, we need to work hard to hone our students' and colleagues' skills in discerning what are good resources. Working in a resource- and tool-starved environment can lead to a scavenger approach; that is, simply because a site or online resource is geared to teaching and available digitally, it is good ... we hear that some are free, therefore good; readily accessible, therefore good; or "my students like it," therefore good. While we are aware that there are bad things available online, our "broad brush" often eliminates these and then seeks anything educational.

Our district provides, at some considerable expense, an amazing array of digital resources suited, developmentally, for K-12 learning. How many teachers in your school use these independently? Or do they see them as "library resources"? The object here is to give them away. Create independent teacher and student users as these are credible and reliable resources that our students will be required to use more and more frequently as they advance in education. We hear from the universities that our students need to know how to use these better.


The world wide web provides an amazing array of resources; the task we face as teachers is one of helping students (and colleagues) develop skills at sorting the ones most suited to their purpose from the pile of results, and then use them in a timely and effective fashion. Think of this as teaching the 3 Es of resource use: learners need to know how to be effective, efficient, and ethical as they access, evaluate, and use what they find online. Often, our colleagues need help with this too.


One tool I have used with secondary students is called the CCRAP Detector (see TL Wiki, Tech Integration, Tools and Strategies, #9).


Teaching for Credibility and Reliability: First students learn to select from amongst "results" (you may pre-select these to ensure there are a range of less and more credible and reliable sites in the pile). Start by teaching them to analyze the site's address: .gov, for example, being more credible than .com, when you are researching a Canadian history topic. It is always a source of amusement what our tech-savvy students need to be taught; for example, I really enjoyed telling grade 8 students coming in to do a poetry unit that poetry.com is not likely to be a credible source of poetry for an assignment, that books are more likely to be the BEST source, in fact. Excellent worksheets from TC2 for thinking about credibility and reliability with online sources can be found here. (see TL Wiki, Tech Integration, #5 under Tools and Strategies)


Reading URLs: A lesson on predicting credibility and reliability for their purposes begins with learning to "read" URLs and on sorting out the most desirable sites by domain names.


Abstracts, Excerpts, and Page 1 Results: Our students need to learn to read "abstracted" or truncated information in the excerpted google research results and go beyond the first page of results. There is no question that the speed with which students click through, into, and out of websites suggests a less than thorough analysis!


Keywords and Other Variables: Students need to learn to use synonyms for keywords and to search using a variety of search terms and search engines. They need to understand why they get the results they get and how to revise the search to get better ones.


Evidence: Students need to learn to corroborate what they have found; what do other sites have to say on the topic or about the site they are inclined to trust?


Then, when secondary students have determined that a site is likely to be reliable or credible, they are ready to do a deeper analysis; they use the "deep" CCRAP Detector (see link above) and skills of analysis, checking what they find on the selected sites for Currency, Coverage, Relevance, Authority, and Perspective (CCRAP).


If constant repetition of the acronym CCRAP is not appropriate for your elementary students, then simply re-frame the learning and re-do the worksheet as The H+4Ws of Resource Evaluation (How? for Coverage; When? for Currency; Why? for Relevance; Who? for Authority; What? for Perspective) or change the acronym to PARCC. Or hone in on building student confidence in finding good sources one skill at a time. But do let's get them thinking critically about what they are using for information.

The questions 4Ws+ H are further developed on the pdf linked to the paragraph above.


Hoax sites are an excellent way to hone students skills of analysis. These work best if you do not give away that they are hoax sites. Let your students discover the hoax. The excitement of the first discovery will quickly lead to others.


There is no shortage of online resources to help you develop similar lessons on evaluating websites. Perhaps the definitive source of ideas can be found on Discovery Education: Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators (see Teacher Helpers / Critical Evaluation Information; scroll down to see the list of hoax sites and search for more online). My favourite is not on this list; Mr Lee's pregnancy, now a podcast on the RYT Hospital site, never fails to amuse me as no detail has been spared in rendering his miraculous experience credible. Might this be something not to use with elementary students? Short of trusting prior knowledge, this one is difficult to crack! Mr Lee on the RYT Hospital site is probably the best example for teaching students to do a corroborating search -- what do other sites have to say about this hospital? That's where they learn it is a hoax.


Evaluating Classroom Resources: Working with our Colleagues. Now, we in education are being simply inundated by offers of "subscription" classroom-teacher resources. Here's where your resource expertise is absolutely essential. I for one am engaging in the math skill of prediction; I am awaiting Houghton-Mifflin's grade 4 math online curriculum e-text email announcement and trying to predict when it will come, based on the separate arrivals of the last three! There are some simple reminders for our colleagues:

• Many resources are ethically accessible only if the district or site has a subscription. We are not entitled to use any public libraries' subscription resources, including the VPL's, except for our own purposes. Students may not access these unless they do so on their own individual cards, nor can teachers share their patron card access or use this for group showings; the subscription databases are for individual patron access.


• All resources used in classrooms must be reviewed according to clear criteria, by law. These evaluation criteria are available in an ERAC White Paper: Evaluating, Selecting, and Managing Learning Resources. Download and print a copy to keep ready for the evaluation needs of your staff, or direct your administrator and/or colleagues to this document link to find forms that include social and technical considerations, Canadian content, and more.


• Our Purchasing department makes deals with vendors; don't be sucked in to making the deals based on vendor offers at sites. These vary widely. We are, in terms of learning resources, back to Frontierland; rules that applied to print vendors are not being transferred to the new digital resource format in the frenzy to get at the digital.


• Digital resources are generally equitably accessible throughout the district. We have a district Digital Library where these can be found. We also generally don't purchase a specific number of licences but provide access by site or by district. Separate licensing is both time consuming and difficult to maintain; they easily get lost. TLs believe in the centralized distribution of resources; any other way diminishes our capacity to support teaching and learning in our schools.
  
• Remember what I said about the tendency to see digital resources as good; scratch the surface, check the links, do a thorough review, and you will find that many are simply re-packaged print or real programs that do not meet district criteria for use in their original form in our schools. Encourage colleagues to submit these to you for review.


• Assert your role as the "resource services" expert in your schools! You can never find enough ways to help your administrator and colleagues in this role.
  

What's New?

• eduTecher: It's a lovely uncluttered site with links, tools, and ideas for teachers who are integrating technology with teaching and learning.
  
  
• Readability: This is an amazing tool from Arc90 Labs -- once installed on your favourites bar on your computer, you can use it to "declutter" any page of online text you like so that reading it is less likely to be subject to the distractions of ads, pictures, and other parallel or inset bits.
  
  
• For more like the above sites, you need to get into Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators from Discovery School. One dimension of her rich website is the SOS Sites of the Week, of which the above sites are the two most recent. She archives these so go here to check back on what she has found. This isn't the first time I have mentioned this site!

• From EducationWorld: Why not share this "toolbox" with your administrator? Administrator's Desk offers lots of timely ideas for thinking about their practice, especially with using technology, including blogging the newsletter.
  
  
• Great TL Cafe at Moberly this week. Thanks, Kam and Gwen, for the organizing and supporting the new(er) TLs. The group moved on to the Elephant Walk for an in-depth look at school libraries in Vancouver.
  


• Andy Hargreaves ( co-author with Dennis Shirley of The Fourth Way) was back in Coquitlam to work with their educators; a number of us from Vancouver were invited to join them. Things work differently in Coquitlam. It's so nice to see Tom in the middle of such a lively learning community, and nice for the morning to be free to think about the great possibilities for education, given the severity and constraints we are facing.
  


• Next week, a group of Vancouver elementary and secondary teachers and TLs will convene at the Ed Centre for a discussion of e-textbooks and e-resources. We have been doing some reading:
  


• Plans are under way for the year-end VTLA dinner. Hope to see lots of our group there, as usual. This is always a fun evening.
  


• Have you signed up for the May Update sessions? 89 have. These Update sessions are the way we keep current on the rapidly changing nature of the work we doo. They are starting this second week of May with sessions for our Annex and for French Immersion TLs. We are bringing customized materials and do need to know which one you will be attending.



• The last TL Studio II (now called Digitally Yours) is to be held at Gladstone next week. The focus, building a simple website for your library. This focus has come in response to demand at the TL Cafe and will feature Weebly, used by Kam for the Fleming library webpage and some additional Web 2.0 tools, including shutterfly which is the one Ciara uses for Kingsford-Smith's library webpage. We are going to have to cancel the last TL Studio session scheduled for May 26 at Kerrisdale due to a conflict, so we do hope to see everyone at Gladstone on Wednesday this week for it too will be the last session of the year.
  
  
• And while we are on the subject of school library websites, take a look at what Joyce Valenza has to say and show you about school library websites. In her Neverendingsearch blog entitled "School Library Websites Part 1" for SLJ, she explores the instructional capacity of school library websites and suggests that TLs are the instructional CIOs (Chief Information Officers) of their schools.
  


• Do you want to be a "tribe" with a micro-mag? Check out Seth Godin's blog entry. I attended an online conference with Godin this week on the future of education. I am no clearer about what that might look like. It was pretty "quick" stuff recommended by our own MK -- that is, it made me feel slow!

Haiti: Resources and Curriculum

A Critical Exploration of Learning About Haiti and the Implications for our Collections

What might our students have learned about Haiti before it became the nation best known for the devastating effects of its unfortunate geography? Where in curriculum do we study the histories of post-colonial republics that were formed by struggles for freedom of the formerly enslaved? Some suggest that we study the history of “the winners.” I would suggest that notion applies to geographies too. When studying world economic conditions, Haiti might have been included instructionally as the example of a “deficit” economy, as it is arguably the world’s poorest nation.

Let me give you an example of what gets included and what doesn’t. Armenian history is fascinating. I know only because, more than 10 years ago when I was a teacher of social studies, a young Armenian-heritage student in my grade 8 class asked about a single reference in his textbook, asked if we could study his history. How would a young Armenian-Canadian find his history reflected in our BC curriculum? He would find it only if someone put it there. And so I set out to do just that, to teach my class of “young historians,” by example, how some histories are chosen for classroom re-telling and some are not.

I had no idea that it would prove to be so difficult, if only to find materials that reflected a history in the Armenian people’s own terms. Nationalist information sources in English translation -- that is, that are intellectually accessible for me, the curriculum developer -- were hard to find. Imagine if the Holocaust were not included in curriculum interpretations of World War II and were only available in untranslated or non-Jewish terms. A young Armenian friend of my daughter’s provided materials I could work into my unit.

Once a large “crossroads” empire that stretched from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, Armenia saw invaders coming from and heading off in every direction; its sturdy architectures reflect not only defence against these invaders but also the constant threat of earthquakes. Armenia was the first Christian nation; nationalist symbols always include Mt Ararat, now in Turkey. All themes for the Middle Ages in Grade 8 social studies can be taught by looking at Armenian history. For older students, Armenia was the site of the 20th Century’s first genocide and of a massive diaspora in response to the brutal Ottoman campaign following World War I to eradicate a people. But, reduced now to a land-locked postage-stamp nation, Armenia is not included in most North American curricula. I felt our classroom-based inquiry provided the opportunity to live out my grounding educational principle, however, that every student should find him- or herself somewhere within the curriculum and in the school library.

Unfortunate is the reality that, while BC social studies curriculum is written in broadly inclusive terms, textbooks – and the convenience of using the textbook -- serve to narrow curriculum interpretation in many classrooms, particularly true in those classrooms where opportunities for inquiry are limited by preparation for exams and by lack of a school library, qualified teacher-librarian, or teacher who is confident in creatively translating learning outcomes into curriculum inquiries beyond the textbook. Sometimes this is deependent upon opportunities for teachers to engage in professional development or collaborative teaching.

In short, nothing in the curriculum document says Haiti can’t be a case for studying the histories, geographies, and cultures, as well as the social and economic conditions, of the world. There are many points of intersection within the BC curriculum as the curriculum does not specify, study Japan or study Peru; I have just checked that. But the question remains, what are the information sources we would use with our students that would fairly represent the reality of life and the pride of a people in its history and struggles.

Let’s say, here in Vancouver, that Haiti were to be the focus for lessons. Certainly, it would now be subject to discussions for current events as students learn about earthquakes, poverty, an agricultural economy, unsteady infrastructures, international debt, and location in relation to tropical or seismic conditions that can create devastation. But how about its being included as a case study of a nation before the devastation? What would we have to use for resources?

There are 56 listings and 130 items, mostly books, in our district catalogue, which also includes videos and DVDs in the district media collection and French language materials for our Immersion programs. Many of the titles are probably in need of weeding, based on datedness; non-fiction “country study” materials dated in the 1980s and 1990s are not likely to be very accurate. One high school has developed a current and more comprehensive collection, suggesting this is a unit of study at that school. Many of the books are non-fiction but there is plenty of fiction; stories can be a good way of enhancing learning about a people.

What about our e-library or digital collection? I would like to caution against using these information databases uncritically to study geographies, as well as histories.

Consider:

• the question of authority, because some “creators” of country-information databases need to be reviewed carefully; would you direct students to almanac-level information about Canada prepared by the CIA, the Mormons, or the Reverend Sun Moon? Yet, these are in fact the developers of just such commonly used tools.
  
• the importance of corroborating accounts: more than a single source or multiple sources of information, including print and media. Fiction is a good way to introduce or enhance understanding of a culture. Did you know that literature experts were hired in World War II to read German novels for the insights or “secrets” these might reveal?
  
• the range and reliability of the perspective: when a story is written from “the inside out” about a culture, that is, the author is of the culture, the story will likely contain real insights into the psyche of a people, its understanding of the landscapes and the relationship of the people to the environment or the history.
  
• the fact that some cultures have an oral tradition for sharing their histories and perspectives. When these are captured in print, the question of the credibility of the storyteller is an important one. Who has the right to represent a people’s account? Who, for example, has the right to tell the story of the Beothuk? Of Hiawatha? Or of a young man sentenced to a process of restorative justice based on the traditions of the Tlingkit people of Northern BC and Alaska?
  
• what the source has to say about Canada, because this may reveal the simplistic or reductive levels of analyses; watch for the tendency to reduce a country, always complex in cultural composition, to stereotypes, recipes, festivals, flags, and anthems and to omit real issues; watch also for issues framed in “pop star” terms as these can “dumb down” the real issues.
  
• the intellectual/developmental level of your students; some issues are too complex and some treatments of issues are too “dumbed down” to be worthwhile. The evaluation of sources is a worthwhile discussion to have with students. Consider the question of omission as well. Why are the complex issues reduced or glossed over or missing?
  
• the currency of your resources; don’t be alarmed that the last population data is 2001 or 2006. The world does its BIG census in the years ending in 1 and a mini-census in years ending in 6. These are the only accurate figures and there can only be projected population figures in between. Country information – and books about countries – is largely unreliable if it is too old.
  
• the nature of history and histories, as histories change in their interpretations over time and . Consider the changing interpretations and multiple interpretations of the wars in the Middle East. In fact, question the singular interpretation and ensure you have the multiples resources.
  
• the use of primary sources, including people with expertise or personal experience they can share.
  
• whether books on countries are the best investment, or whether the digital resources that are acquired or under consideration provide the capacity to engage in teaching and learning for deep understanding.

This does not purport to be all of the factors that shape our curriculum and resource considerations, particularly for teaching into the "hidden" curriculum or as a counter to seeing the world from the perspective of "the winners."

I would certainly appreciate your input. As I consider the question of what could we have taught -- what can we teach -- about Haiti, my concerns have been about the capacity of some of the resources for superficiality when used in isolation. I have no answers. As TLs -- as the school's resource expert -- we are well aware of the constant and critical need to interrogate the resources we examine, the processes we use for selection, and the role we play in building opportunities for student inquiry.

Compare information about Haiti amongst various VSB subscription digital resources such as ProQuest's Culturegrams, World Book Online, EBSCO Middle Search and eLibrary. See also the Duvaliers and other Presidents in Biography Resource Centre. Try the Global Issues in Context trial database from Gale. This last database is a rich and complex resource suited to older students.

Check Haiti in the CIA World Factbook. See also New Internationalist.

Websites are also important:

New York Times: The Learning Network includes websites and lesson plans from before the earthquake

New York Times: 5 Ways to Teach About Haiti Right Now are lesson plans for teaching about the earthquake.

CBC: Haiti's Unhappy History includes a country profile with links to news stories and more.

Unicef's Voices of Youth -- Ayiti (Haiti): The Cost of Life, two workshops and materials for educators

PBS Teachers: check for lesson plans here.

From SFU's Linda Hof via BCTLA Forum ...

Visuwords

This is absolutely stunning. What would a visual graphical dictionary look like? The Visuwords website gives expression to such a concept, and it does so by producing diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Upon entering the site, visitors will be presented with a random word, complete with various "connections." On the left-hand of the page, visitors can learn about the different coded connections which indicate relationships such as "is a part of" or "opposes" and parts of speech, such as "nouns," "verbs," or "adverbs." Of course, visitors are encouraged to type in their own word into the search query at the top of the page. Additionally, the homepage contains some basic information about how to read these various graphical representationsand how to most effectively use the interface system.

Celebrate Canadian Children's Book Week!

Check the CCBC website for resources that encourage, promote and support the reading, writing, illustrating and publishing of Canadian books for young readers. Programs, publications, and resources help teachers, librarians, booksellers and parents selet good books for young readers. Click here for resources for use in schools or at home. Shall we order the CCBC publication Best Books for Kids and Teens: Annual, 2008 ($5.95)? This guide contains over 425 recommended books for kids and teens ages 0-18 deemed the very best books Canada has to offer by expert committees of educators, booksellers, school and public librarians from across Canada, so every book included in the guide is guaranteed to be a great read!


Considering an author visit to extend the "book celebrations"? Check the list of local authors at CWILLBC (Children's Writers and Illustrators of BC) -- under H, you will find our Nancy Hundal, author of nine picture books and soon to publish her first chapter book, and Glen Huser, my neighbour and Governor-General Award winning author of Stitches and more.

More Professional and Practical Resources

Journey back in time with The Vancouver Sun . On Wednesday Nov 19th check the feature "An Immigrant's Journey: 150 years of Newcomers to B.C." and join in celebrating BC’s birthday by engaging your students with articles, photos and video from the past 150 years.

Have you checked out the Newspaper Resources on our Databases page of the Webcat, yet? These are worth sharing with your teacher colleagues.

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Ministry-provided BC150 Resources are available online -- website BC Education: The Story of the One-Room Schoolhouse; Far West: The Story of British Columbia Teacher's Guide (pdf) and text; The Rush to BC: A Social Studies Resource Teacher's Guide and Student Activities; BC History in Action: A Guide to Teaching History through Drama (pdf) K-7 and 8-12.

Shall we Bulk Buy?

Vancouver: Stories of a City, by Lisa Smedman, published by The Courier. $47.20, or multiple book order deal available. More than 300 pages with historic photos, maps, and illustrations of the history of our city, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.

New Resource for Teaching Research in the Digital Age

Meredyth, ever watchful for resources that work in school libraries to promote the multiliteracies, including information literacy, brought this to my attention. I hope to have a copy for preview by Monday; Meredyth's disappeared before I could grab it. My reviewing question will be, Would this make a nice Christmas gift for school libraries? Being a huge fan of Toronto-based Koechlin and Zwaan (who often work with American school library researcher at San Jose State, David Loertscher), I can't help but think so, but I would like to check that it works for all grades first. You can check this new publication description (from Pembroke Publishing online catalogue):

BUILDING INFO SMARTS: How to work with all kinds of information and make it your own by Carol Koechlin & Sandi Zwaan.(Pages: 32 ISBN: 9781551382265 Price: $ 12.95). The online catalogue describes this as an "innovative flip book [that] shows students how to identify their learning style as they build important information literacy skills. The book explores strategies learners need to be successful when working with digital media, as well as global and more traditional literacies. Students will investigate effective strategies for finding and using all kinds of information and making it their own from reading books and analyzing a movie to working on a research project. As they work with data that they gather, students are encouraged to build personal understanding so their projects reflect original thought. The book is committed to nurturing confident learners who go beyond mere retelling of information and focus on a deeper understanding of the information they experience."

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"How Canada Came to Be" CD from Rhonda Draper, SD#23 Kelowna, Governor General's Teaching Award winner for the Teaching of Canadian History. This CD, the story of our country through song and oratory, includes 14 folk songs representing the many regions and eras of Canada's history. You can order this for $20.00, including tax; S/H, add $7.00. As well, a teacher's resource package ordered for $15. Rhonda is a music specialist, children's performer, and recording artist. Order directly: rdraper@sd23.bc.ca. Might your social studies teachers be interested in this? Suitable for grades 3-6 and younger children like the songs.

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Evaluating, Selecting, and Managing Resources: A Guide (revised 2008) replaces the previous version (last revised in 2002) and has been specifically revised to include the role of ERAC in evaluating resources for districts. This document articulates the current criteria for resource selection in schools, the role of teacher-librarians as site-based resource experts, and the role of the centralized media and library services and personnel in district resource management processes. It's long and full of forms but it would be well worth your while to review it yourself and to make an appointment to review this with your administrator and staff (but do make a point to see pages 61, 62, and Appendix 10).

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Interesting Readings:

Edutopia article: Google for Educators -- The Best Features for Busy Educators by Sara Ring

Educational Leadership (Nov 2008) article: Footprints in the Digital Age by Will Richardson

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The Latest From The Critical Thinking Consortium:

Interested in a repertoire of thinking concepts and strategies to improve the ability of students Grades 5 to 10 to think critically about a variety of topics? Download the inaugural issue of "Tools for Thought" from TC Squared. Let me know what you think. Is this something your school might be interested in purchasing?

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2009 Canada-Wide Virtual Science Fair: Connecting Scientific Minds from Coast to Coast. Here you will find an annual online science and technology contest open to all Canadian students in grades K-12. This year there will be special awards for Going Green. Share this with the keenest science teachers in your schools.

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Find the right video for what you are planning to teach on The Futures Channel: Connecting Learning to the Real World. It's free videostreaming and it's worth looking through their collection.

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ALA's Great Websites for Kids: The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, has added Web sites this fall to Great Web Sites for Kids, its online resource containing hundreds of links to commendable Web sites for children. "Sites must stand up to an evaluation and voting process by the committee before being deemed ‘great’ and added to the GWS page.”

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VPL Events of Interest:

• Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Branch, 7:30 to 9:00 pm, November 20: Stephen Hume presents his book, Simon Fraser: In Search of Modern British Columbia. Journalist and poet Hume followed in Fraser's footsteps and canoe wake for four years.
  
• Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level, Central Branch, 7:00 to 9:00 pm, December 12: City Reflections: 1907 - Vancouver - 2007: Join the Vancouver Historical Society in viewing Vancouver's earliest surviving film, taken from a moving streetcar in 1907. The film has now been replicated 100 years later. The viewing will be followed by a question and answer session.

Kidsbooks Event Features Adrienne Gear

There is a group of TLs going to Adrienne's Book Launch at Kidsbooks on Broadway, Monday, November 17, 7 - 9 pm. Why not come along for the event.

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The Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada have announced the 2008 INFORMATION BOOK AWARD for excellence in Canadian non-fiction aimed at informing, inspiring and connecting young readers from coast to coast. The 2008 Information Book Award of $1000 will be presented on February 28, 2009, at the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable Serendipity Conference.


WINNER: One Well: The Story of Water on Earth by Rochelle Strauss, illustrated by Rosemary Woods (Kids Can Press)

HONOUR BOOK: Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose: The Story of a Painting by Hugh Brewster, paintings by John Singer Sargent (Kids Can Press)