Teaching: learning and refining lifelong skills in the library!
ResearchLast year, I worked with over 1,000 classes. Some departments require grade level projects such as the English department's Freshman Research Paper, Sophomore Oral Project, Junior Research Paper, and Senior Independent Project. These assignments require rigorous research of scholarly material. Beyond these projects, I work with individual teachers from different departments. Highlights include research on fake news, presidential elections, current events, medieval history, organelles, and French-speaking nations. Currently, two sections of chemistry students are researching everyday phenomena. We will visit with two 4th grade classes to demonstrate and record these reactions with the goal of creating an "Outrageous Acts of Science" style video segment.
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ReadingIndependent reading is encouraged in a number of ways in our school culture. Many teachers require students to have a book on hand for opportunities to read during downtime in class. Many English classes require students to have independent reading books throughout the year and other departments occasionally require the reading of curriculum-connected titles as well. I am happy to work with classes for book selection and have offered a variety of activities to foster excitement for reading. I have done speed dating type experiences whereby students have a few minutes to get to know a table of books before rotating to the next table. For some classes, a book swap works better. In this activity, students remain in one place while passing books along to the next person. The goal is to continually compare the newly received books with the one book kept in front of the student who must then decide which book to keep and which to pass. I also do more traditional book browsing and book talk experiences. Individually students frequently come into the library looking for suggestions. Regardless of the students love or reluctance of reading, it is always a fun challenge to match the student to a good book!
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Skills for EveryoneSkills taught in the library are vital for college success, career readiness, and personal growth. Building upon the lessons taught by my colleagues in the earlier grades, students in my library are provided with a library orientation where they are reminded of library basics and ebook account access. Throughout their high school experience, they will sharpen their research skills such as using effective keywords in searches, maximizing the components of NoodleTools, identifying and filling gaps in research, knowing which databases to use in which circumstances, locating materials within the library's physical and digital collections, and most importantly, knowing when and how to ask for help.
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Resources for EveryoneI strive to curate a collection of materials that will satisfy of all the students, from the most struggling reader to the most voracious researcher. The greatest challenge is connecting the students with the resources they need.
To this end, I have updated the library website to include an embedded catalog search feature, prominently located in the center of the homepage. I have started to use Piktochart to create engaging and effective webguides for student projects. These guides are organized on the library website using an Awesome Table. An additional Awesome Table is used to organize the databases and electronic resources. Awesome Table allows information to be easily refined and enables users to more adeptly navigate through the digital resources. Another feature I have added to the library homepage is an invitation to recommend books for collection consideration via Padlet. |
Integrity for EveryoneWhile digital citizenship is directly taught by the technology classes, the concepts are highlighted throughout the school. Students involved in research are held accountable for the materials they select, the citations they generate, and ultimately all of the original work they create. Students are expected to respect the intellectual property of others by only using images and materials allowed under copyright restrictions. Students are also expected to uphold a high level of academic integrity by avoiding plagiarism, submitting only original work, and protecting their work from copying by others.
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Goals for Growth
Escape the LibraryIn the hopes of making the library orientation a more exciting and meaningful experience, I would love to create a Breakout Edu style experience where students gather clues found throughout the library space and digital resources in order to solve the puzzles and "unlock" the library. Anyone have any experience with this or suggestions for me??
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Tutorial VideosI would like to create a collection of short videos to be linked on the library site. These videos can help students troubleshoot common issues such as navigating the library, conducting research, and finding reading material.
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