CSU_TLship

The makerspace isn't just a fixed space where kids come and go to complete busywork. It's an extension of a well-established approach to educating students that has applications and deep implications across disciplines.

Content curation is a vital part of the creative process. In this blog post and podcast, we explore why curation matters and how we can help students learn how to engage in the curation process. This site focuses on teaching students to crurate but has valuable lessons for anyone new to this process.

What sustains our belief in the integrity of fictional places? The fact that they seem to act upon events as much as the people who live in them, for one thing. And, just as often, the fact that so many authors and illustrators draw elaborate maps of literary settings, making their features real to us and embedding them in our minds.

Power in schools is often assumed to flow only downhill, from more powerful positions (such as superintendent or principal) to less powerful positions (such as teacher or student). This article explores different elements of power and influence drawn from observations in a longitudinal study in a school. It support leadership theory on the power of leading from the middle, although that is not expressly addressed.

When students are routinely assigned books to read without any opportunity to act on their own judgment, many end up dreading the reading and often fail or refuse to complete it. But when we provide students with choices (even within parameters), they make their own decisions and they feel empowered and important. Empowering students to choose in these early experiences sets them up for success as lifelong readers.

What does it mean to be a reader in the 21st century? Many studies indicate that reading print offers increased metacognition and comprehension over online reading. However, is this truly the case or is it simply the result of studying students that have not had explicit instruction in how to read online? Although many of us use online and digital text formats, how much instruction have we had in how to navigate and comprehend it? Do these studies illuminate the reality that we need to learn how to be both an effective reader of digital AND print texts?

Leadership is far from a science. Many would even argue that it is more of a form of art. Since effective leadership means different things to different people, I wanted to dive a little deeper into this debate to glean a better understanding as to what great leaders do. It consists of a convergence of art and science.

If you are looking to be inspired and motivate your students to think and express themselves creatively through visual design, these resources will assist for Mac and iPad users

In 2015, a sample of students in Year 4 in Australian schools participated in PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study). PIRLS focuses on Year 4 as the point in schooling where most students are moving from 'learning to read' to 'reading to learn'. However, reading is much more than a tool for education or work. It can take the reader out of themselves and their own experiences, engage and develop emotions and provide new perspectives.

"Ideas for launching, relaunching and reimagining your library makerspace In this guide you'll find: When and why to create a makerspace How to launch a new space or new service Making decisions about tools and equipment Involving staff and supporting your makerspace Delivering a lean, user-driven makerspace programme." Free to download and share it.

"I always explain that the way we divide subjects in school doesn't exist in the real world. In everyday life, we don't separate our time into short blocks to focus on one set of skills, so why do we do this in school? Here are three ways I incorporate reading into elementary science and math classes."

"One of the projects we planned and executed together had the goal of supporting students' liberation from strict ideas about what books they should be reading. Often, without realizing it, when we lean too heavily on data pertaining to reading levels and achievement and share this information with students, it can lead to the development of prejudicial ideas about which books belong to which grades and readers. In my library, I much prefer the message that all books belong to all readers."

"Good questions are central to the historical method and the History Lab model. Historians pose questions about the past. They examine the available evidence and develop answers to their questions. Such questions serve as the primary prompt for all History Labs. "

"Digital citizenship refers to using the internet and technology regularly and responsibly. With digital usage expanding into multiple roles of our daily lives, children are also online more than ever, whether for school or social reasons. This makes it essential to prepare students early on about navigating our increasingly digital world effectively. To help you introduce digital citizenship into your curriculum, we will cover the six principles of digital citizenship to teach in elementary schools and their importance."

"Digital stories are short multimedia presentations that combine a variety of communicative elements within a narrative structure. Media may include any combination of the following: text, images, video, audio, social media elements (like tweets), or interactive elements (like maps)." the site includes a range of examples.

"There are different ways you can include read-alouds within your classroom routines. You can use them as a warm-up for the day's lesson or integrate them as part of a larger unit of study about reading or writing effectively. Students can even use read-alouds themselves to go on self-guided reading and writing journeys. I'll share with you a lesson where I used a read-aloud to teach writing and then share examples of independent interdisciplinary projects that students can do."

"What can we as teachers do to educate students about censoring books and help them to navigate a society in which they are allowed to access all kinds of social media platforms that often lead to psychologically damaging results while great literature is considered incendiary? "

"Much like reading comics can get a reluctant reader interested in a story, creating comics can be a great way to get reluctant writers to put pencil to paper (or digital ink to digital paper). Over the years I've had history students create comics to tell stories from the Lewis & Clark expedition, to illustrate letters written by American Civil War soldiers, to create modernized dialogues between historical people, and to try their hands at crafting political cartoons. "

"School Libraries Build Lifelong Reading Skills" Strategies to develop students' independent selection strategies.

" When students are able to fully "read" images, they can understand beyond the text and delve deeply into the author's message. Imagine close reading, but instead of text, they're examining images. Visual literacy encompasses the ability to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media."