Sunday 2 February 2014

Blog Post 3

When looking at all four of the articles I chose, an overall theme of having students think more deeply about their learning and what they are doing on the Internet emerged.  The articles also made me reflect more deeply about the practices I use in the library and how best support my program as well as the teachers at my school. 

After reading the two articles on digital literacy, I came away realizing that even though a school might have an abundance of technology, it might not being used effectively.  Are digital literacies actually being taught at the school?  How do you, as the teacher, use technology effectively in schools?  Through these two articles, I now have a better understanding of what this means as well as what to do and what not to do. 
Steve Wheeler’s article provided an overall view of digital literacies.  It talks about what he considers each of the digital literacies.  These categories will be helpful as they offer the teacher guidance in which areas to cover with students. I hope Wheeler continues to explore these areas and offers concrete ideas as to how to introduce these concepts in the classroom.
I also came away realizing the importance of teaching digital literacy and how this begins with the teacher being digitally literate.   You need to be connected with the real world and engaged in conversation globally through blogs, social networks and wikis (yourself and your students).  Give students the necessary tools so that they are spending most of their time thinking about their learning and not spending the time trying to figure out the tool.

Through the next article on Information Evaluation, I was able to see how I could implement some of the ideas in the library.  Takeaways I gained from the article were the realization that students need to learn how to critically evaluate information.   An important consideration was made in the article about students needing sufficient background knowledge about the topic in order to evaluate information found on the Internet.   It had never occurred to me the importance of background knowledge but it makes sense and something I will definitely consider in the future.  This is something we, as Immersion teachers, work on regularly as students need lots of support and explanation when working in a second language.
The article also suggested being wary of checklists, especially for elementary students, as they often don’t have the skills to use them effectively.  Students need practice at evaluating information.  A good beginning would be to start with a subject that requires very little background knowledge and preparing resource lists which you, as the teacher have inserted with dubious sites.   The key being to explore different thinking strategies with the students.  This article was of particular importance to me as a second-language teacher as it provides information on what to do and what not to do regardless of the language. 

The final article on Inquiry-based learning gave an excellent overall picture of what inquiry learning should look like.  It provided big questions to explore with students, drawing out deeper levels of thinking. 
While I have yet to plan an inquiry-based project with any of the teachers, I can see this article and its ideas will be useful in other areas, too.   I recently sat down with one of the teachers at my school, as she wanted her students to come to the library to find books for a project they were working.  She shared her ideas for her project and she seemed to welcome my ideas, too.
At my children’s high school, they are very much into doing MoOT (stands for Master of One Thing) projects.  It is a something they work on all semester and then present to the school and community two nights at the end of the semester.  While the projects were good, I did see there was some room for improvement.  This article really got me thinking about how to get the students really engaged in their learning.  Have students develop provocative questions as oppose to topics to begin with.  One of the projects at the MoOT was on Spiders.  Imagine if the student had changed his topic to “Why should we care about Spiders?”  or “Why are spiders so Important” instead of choosing a topic and then going on to describe different types of spiders.  An important point is made about stretching the student’s thinking and I think this begins with their question.  It is also mentioned that the question needs to be personal and linked to their real life.   
Another important point was made in getting to know the students and their interests at the beginning as this will help with developing their question. Kids, especially teenagers, are not going to put themselves out there unless they have the support of their teacher and classmates.  I came away realizing that it is important to be supportive of the students through the whole process.  The teacher needs to guide students in the process, check in regularly and help them think deeply about their issue, as these are all important components in inquiry learning. 


References:

Case, R. (2003). Making critical thinking an integral part of electronic research Retrieved from http://tc2.ca/uploads/PDFs/Critical%20Discussions/making_critical_thinking_an_integral_part_of_electronic_research.pdf

Hawley Turner, K. & Hicks, T. (2013). No longer a Luxury:  Digital Literacy Can’t Wait Retrieved at http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/EJ/1026-jul2013/EJ1026Longer.pdf

Murdoch. K. (). Inquiry-Learning- Journeys through the thinking process.

Wheeler, S. (2010). Digital Literacy 1- What is Digital Literacies?
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3 comments:

  1. Hello Jane
    I think you would like the book "Beyond Bird Units! Thinking And Understanding In Information Rich And Technology Rich Environments" by David V. Loertscher, Carol Koechlin. It provides different approaches to inquiry learning depending on the topic. I plan to purchase a few copies for my school, especially with the new focus on inquiry learning in the new socials and science curriculums.

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  2. Thanks, Leisbet. I will have to check the book out.

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  3. Excellent post describing real examples of ways to transform not just your library space, but the entire practice in your school. Lots of good discussion, honest reflection, insightful sharing and supported research. Thanks for sharing your own learning and journey with the rest of the class!

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