Posted on April 8, 2009 by melanes
It would be easy to assume that if one wanted to start a public library it would take a lot of money. Consider Richard, a 17 year old college student, who has started a library in his home with the ultimate goal of opening it up to the public. What makes this story so interesting is the thought processes of an entirely self taught librarian. His how to page goes into a lot of detail about cataloging. It will be interesting to see how his project develops. You can visit The Thripp Public Library catalog too.
Filed under: New Ideas | Tagged: Libraries, news | Leave a Comment »
Posted on April 1, 2009 by janinerem
Definitely implementing only higher level thinking skills questions PRIOR to starting a new lesson/unit is new for me. I have used brainstorming to begin a new unit before, however I can see the value of putting more emphasis on those higher level thinking skills. This has lead to a bigger “buy in” to the information being covered as the students value the end product resulting from their “harder” work. In class I introduced the classification system for organisms. My question to the students was “As the numbers of different identified organisms has increased how have classification schemes for Kingdoms developed?” Brainstorming, Textbooks, Internet, some printed information from LiLI, Science Digest, Dictionaries, and Encyclopedias were used to “work” their way through this question. Concluding the lesson, a tactile activity was used with a single organism which changed due to disease, environment, or unexpected genetic mutation and placing each one on a given classification tree/branch in proper evolving order. This allowed them to build on prior knowledge, link it to new information, and apply their higher level thinking skills.
J. Remington, Science Teachers, Middleton School District, Middleton Middle School.
Filed under: Education, Recent News | Tagged: Big6 | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 31, 2009 by shirleycobble
Critical Learning Skills for the 21st Century workshop March 2009
By shirleycobble
I sent an e-mail to all of our high school teachers, our principal and our superintendent telling them a bit about the workshop. Then I ask them to do the impact of school libraries and librarians on the academic achievement of students survey.
I also gave a short presentation to our high school staff at our High School Collaboration Meeting about the 21st Century Workshop on March 10, 2009.
The following is a copy of that e-mail.
Teachers:
Mr. Lowe, Ms Love and I attended a Critical Learning Skills in the 21st Century: Collaborating for Student Success workshop this past Sunday, Monday & Tuesday. We listened to several excellent speakers; went to very good workshops; eat excellent food; enjoyed wonderful accommodations; received great handouts and freebees and shared ideas with each other. Ms. Love (our science teacher) and I learned to make collaborative unit and lesson plans using the Big6 format and Lili databases.
We worked with the Big6 www.big6.org, LiLI www.lili.org and 21st Century Learning www.21stcenturyskills.org. All of these sites are well worth looking at for great teaching tools.
I need to ask a favor of all of you. Would you please take a few minutes today to go to this website The ICFL Website where links to all three online surveys for teachers, administrators and librarians and more information about the study are available? Below is further information about the survey and the request. Thank you for your support and cooperation. Shirley
Shirley Cobble
Wendell High School Librarian
750 E. Main St.
Wendell, ID 83355
208-536-2100 ext. 145
scobble@sd232.k12.id.us
The Idaho Commission for Libraries has ordered a study of the impact of school libraries and librarians on the academic achievement of students. This study is supported enthusiastically by the Idaho State Department of Education. The results of this study will assess the status and impact of school library programs, facilitate discussions about their potential, and support more informed decision-making about their future. Three groups are being surveyed as part of this study: administrators, teachers, and librarians. The success of this study depends on the participation of you and others throughout the state, so your response is very important. Please take a few minutes to complete this brief survey today.
Just completing the survey and giving your name and e-mail address will offer you and each of your colleagues a chance to win an iPod Nano or a Playaway self-contained digital audio book.
Thank you for your participation!
Ann Joslin, State Librarian, Idaho Commission for Libraries
Frank Nelson, Consultant, Idaho Commission for Libraries
Tom Luna, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Idaho State Department of Education
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Posted on March 26, 2009 by coleenphelps
I, too, have an issue with blogging. I have a blog out there floating somewhere and will attempt to re-reflect.
I am honored that I was chosen to come to your conference as a science teacher. The information and tools I was given have already changed my science class. Learning about the concept of the Big 6 brought English and science together. It also created a respect for my own librarian, Dennis Hahs. We have spent quite a bit of time trying to implement this way of teaching. Two heads are better than one. I realize I have a wonderful resource and intelligent cohort right here in my school. The access to Lili can enhance any lesson in any subject. The Big 6 inquiry style makes the learning come alive. Students like the big question or problem in the beginning of the lesson. It stirs them up. I like that.
Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity. You librarians are actually pretty cool and fun not to mention informative! We will incorporate the Big 6 and use Lili databases to enhance the science curriculm at Rocky Mountain High School!
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Posted on March 24, 2009 by hmaimer
My name is Heidi Maimer and I attended the 21st Century Workshop in Idaho Falls. I teach 7th grade science at Vallivue Middle School in Caldwell. I plan on teaching my kids how to do research properly and to get away from cutting and pasting. I like the idea of giving the students a few websites to look at to help them refine their search. I also enjoyed the article about how to pick out keywords in a paragraph and use those keywords to make up your own sentences and paragraphs. I truely think it is important for all teachers to be in direct contact with their librarians because they are a great source of knowledge. The librarians are there to help make our jobs easier and more effective. Thanks for the great conference.
Heidi Maimer
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Posted on March 23, 2009 by dhahs
Dennis Hahs – Media Specialist – Rocky Mountain HS – Meridian, ID
I was really struck with how much information was being covered, created, and the avenues that are open for collaboration during our sessions. In the video “Did You Know – Shift Happens”, http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=6f2c2eba77f39993d118 there is a section that covers the rate of growth in our information age. Prior to becoming a Media Specialist I was a classroom teacher, IT Director for a small school district, and an Educational Technology Specialist with the Joint School District #2. It is staggering to actually see the exponential growth rate of information we are all in the mist of. I think the biggest thing I took away from the conference was how much effort and how aware the librarian – media center world is about the digital media explosion. I came away with a reinforced idea of how important it is for students to learn the craft of problem solving – and how Big6 is the scaffolding they can lean on regardless of the size of the problem or project.
Bringing in the science teachers really helped me build a bridge to that department and helped me solidify my role as a collaborative partner in the learning process.
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Posted on March 20, 2009 by anne1
Jenifer Yasen-Kellogg Middle School-The thing I loved the most about the big 6 model is how it works for a simple WS to a huge research paper. I had never heard of it before but am looking forward to using it for all assignments in my classroom. I have found it difficult to get my students to use their critical thinking skills without a ton of hands raised and blank stares, I hope that having a consistent procedure for every assignment will help. I wish we could have heard more about the LILI database. I have used it a little bit but had no idea there was so much available. With such a brief overview of it, I didn’t get much out of that portion of the conference.
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Posted on March 20, 2009 by ksligar
Kristy Sligar – Centennial high school- oops I just published 2 blogs – but I guess I did it wrong – it is supposed to be something about data bases – since this was such a little portion of the conference – and was way over my head – never have used them before, still really don’t know what Lili is, and really didn’t listen to this part of the conference (sorry Gregory) because I didn’t see any connection to me. I don’t know how I can say how I can implement anything – other than maybe I can ask Gena to show me what Lili is. I really don’t know how I would use this in my lessons. Now I can use big 6 which is what one of my other blogs is about.
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Posted on March 20, 2009 by ksligar
The big 6 information was very informative and proabably the piece of information that I will be able to use in every unit. (other than finding out how to do correct google searches – thanks Gena) The big 6 seemed so easy, but trying to implement it in my lessons actually took a lot of thinking. I don’t know if that is good or bad when teachers are strapped for time. Thanks for the opportunity to learn something new.
Filed under: Education, Recent News | Tagged: 21st Century, Big6 | Leave a Comment »
Posted on March 20, 2009 by ksligar
I think the coolest thing about this conference was the time I got to spent with my librarian. Usually we just get to see them to check out stuff or to franctically ask how to use something. I got to collaborate with someone I usually don’t get to, and I got a totally new perspective on how I did some things
Filed under: Education, Recent News | Tagged: 21st Century | Leave a Comment »
