Group items tagged

Below you will find sites to assist you in teaching research skills for all ages.Use the Teacher-Librarians tab at the top to find a megalist of stuff for you.

Reluctant readers are those who, for whatever reason, do not like to read.
Reluctant readers are typically students who are disengaged, struggling readers, many of which are not realizing success in any aspect of their school career. Educators encounter struggling readers in the classroom every day. These students need to be engaged in reading and must be helped to develop the skills required to not only be successful in school, but to become lifelong readers and learners. All students will require advanced literacy skills regardless of their post secondary pathway, and reluctant and struggling readers need extra support in achieving this end.

Each is a short presentation, less than 10 minutes.  All are effective and provide an important resources that I integrate into lessons.  I have used these videos here with upper-elementary students, middle school students, and even high school students.  The key is to include enriched content in a short, attention-grabbing way.  You will find that the formats and styles I use work with very wide and diverse age groups.

The Information Fluency Continuum, developed by the New York City School Library System, provides a framework for the instructional aspects of a library program. The framework is based on three standards that form the basis for the skills and strategies that are essential for students to become independent readers and learners.

Summer vacation is just around the corner and teachers and librarians are freaking out. It has nothing to do with lost books or late report cards. It has everything to do with reading. After spending months working to get students into the habit of reading, myself and many of my colleagues are concerned that much of that hard work (on both sides) will be undone by two months of (much needed) summer distractions. To help students keep reading in the summer, I've been showcasing several websites with my K-6 students to encourage to keep those reading skills sharp. Below is a list of five of the best websites to help kids keep up their reading this summer.

"We use task cards all the time. Students would rather do those than a worksheet. Plus, it's great for a quick mini-assessment. I usually use them after teaching the skill for a couple of days. We play Scoot a lot; students will do them in small groups, and sometimes in groups of three they will work on the activity cards."

I think there is also a perception that if we don't have the paper books then we don't need the library or the librarians in schools. I think it's flawed logic. Information is changing its format; yes, it's online, it's an ebook, it's a book you can download onto an iPad, but it's still information. Kids need to know how to evaluate it even more so now than before because there is much more of it. Kids need to be able to determine whether it is useful or valid information. Librarians take the lead in helping educate students through the information jungle, and with even more sources and formats, the role of the librarian becomes even more critical. So even though paper books are becoming less prominent, the skills needed are even more advanced than what was needed before. School librarians are critical to helping students navigate through this information explosion.

The TL Virtual Cafe is committed to creating transformative conversations about teacher-librarians, educational technology, and collaborative connections to facilitate meaningful and lifelong learning skills. FREE MONTHLY WEBINARS

Academic standards define expectations for the educational achievement of Minnesota's public school students in grades K-12. The standards and benchmarks are important because they: 1) identify the knowledge and skills that all students must achieve by the end of a grade level or grade band; 2) help define the course credit requirements for graduation; and, 3) serve as a guide for the local adoption and design of curricula. Student mastery of the standards is measured though state and local assessments.

The goal of our project was to update the MEMO Guidelines for Standards in Information and Technology Literacy. The new standards reflect 21st century skills and provide a bridge between K-12 and higher education expectations for students. Beginning in June and continuing throughout the summer and fall, advisory and writing groups met, and determined the framework, standards and benchmarks. The groups included library media specialists and technology integration teachers as well as representatives from public libraries, higher education, and business.

ISTE's NETS for Students (NETS*S) are the standards for evaluating the skills and knowledge students need to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly global and digital world.

In this light lesson, students exercise their library shelving skills. A work sheet (provided) invites them to come to the aid of two rambunctious students who have made a mess in the school library.

"There are some remarkable efforts underway in American schools to invest the next generation of students with the literacy skills needed to innovate, solve problems, and meet unprecedented challenges. Until now, there has been no way to connect these initiatives, to provide models for advancing literacy learning in every subject, to collaborate in identifying and pursuing critical research questions about literacy teaching and learning on a consistent, sustained basis. That's about to change. The National Center for Literacy Education (NCLE) is building a coalition of stakeholders representing the premiere education organizations, policy analysts, researchers, and foundations who are working together to identify and share the plans, practices, support systems, and assessments used by educator teams working to improve literacy learning. NCLE will celebrate the work of successful school teams across the country that are achieving remarkable results in advancing literacy learning, and share what is learned with education policymakers…NCLE is providing the Literacy in Learning Exchange as a free resource to all educator teams. All educators are invited to use the free site to build or further develop a team in their school, district, or across schools/districts, or in their out-of-school setting. Educators that embrace the challenge of sponsoring and supporting a team will be eligible to apply for recognition and support as Centers for Literacy Education." Does your school have (need) a literacy team? If so, hopefully library staff is involved. Centers for Literacy Education, or collaborative groups/teams working toward capacity building for literacy: http://www.literacyinlearningexchange.org/about/centers-literacy-education

This information applies to 2012. I'm not sure if this will be an annual event. Connected Educator Month is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and several organizations are sponsoring programs and activities, including AASL and SETDA, the State Educational Technology Directors Association. So what is CEM, anyway? "Online communities and learning networks are helping hundreds of thousands of educators learn, reducing isolation and providing 'just in time' access to knowledge and opportunities for collaboration. However, many educators are not yet participating and others aren't realizing the full benefits. In many cases, schools, districts, and states also are not recognizing and rewarding this essential professional learning. For these reasons, the U.S. Department of Education's Connected Educators initiative has made August 2012 Connected Educator Month. Throughout the month, there will be coordinated opportunities to participate in events and activities in dozens of online locations to develop skills and enhance one's personal learning network." As one ad for the program proclaims, it's "all of August, all for free, all online - shape the future of the profession." Explore activities in the starter kit at your own pace: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/38904447/starter-kit-final.pdf

While Plagiarism can be intentional, it is more often caused by misunderstanding.  Avoiding it means understanding the role of intellectual property and what makes plagiarism wrong.  This video teaches:

Why giving credit to others is necessary
A definition of plagiarism
Steps to avoiding plagiarism
Types of ideas and media that can be plagiarized

This is from the June 2011 ODE Social Sciences Newsletter: "Understanding how to manage money is a skill that is more important today than ever. You can look all around for examples of poor financial decisions. Let us turn that around for our next generation. Financial Beginnings and Operation HOPE offer free financial education programs for students in grades 4-12 as well as young adults. All programs are free and provide age-specific curriculum and activities and are designed to promote self-sufficiency, fiscal responsibility, and encourage active and educated participation in the banking system. The fun, engaging and relevant programs are taught by professionals from the community. Together, Financial Beginnings and Operation HOPE have served nearly 25,000 youth at more than 100 schools throughout the Pacific Northwest." Every year the Office of the State Treasurer sponsors the Reading is an Investment (RII) program between October and March. Anyone who wanted to schedule the elementary financial program, Banking on our Future, could try to time it so it happens when RII is active. http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=1707 http://www.ost.state.or.us/read

"Welcome to the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards for the 21st-Century Learner Lesson Plan Database, a tool to support school librarians and other educators in teaching the essential learning skills defined in the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner." You can both utilize and contribute lesson plans. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/lessonplandatabase/lessonplandb.cfm

I can see amazing potential here for amazing resources!