Final Vision Project Rationale

I thought I would start with this TedTalk about designing with intent as I begin thinking about how to proceed with a library website for our school.
The website I plan on creating will be geared mainly towards students at my school.

I work in a single track French Immersion school.  Students have been enrolled in the program since Kindergarten and receive 100% instruction in French up until Grade 3 when English instruction is introduced for 20% of the time.  There is typically a lag in English skills but this is usually for a short period of time once English language instruction is introduced.  For more information on French Immersion programs and FAQ, you can check out the Canadian Parents for French website here.

In trying to decide how to tackle issues around language comprehension with students on the website, I found it interesting to discover that fully independent reading requires knowledge of close to 3,000 words of the target language’s most frequent words, while the ability to guess at words requires that the students know approximately 95 to 98 words in a particular text (Nation, 2001).

Krashen (2004) promotes voluntary reading but for students learning a second language a lack of vocabulary depth and meaning remains an obstacle when reading authentic material.

When one looks at how language is acquired, first through listening then oral language development, including visual cues, audio and video segments on the school library website whenever possible would be helpful.   

When I was a classroom teacher, I always encouraged parent participation and emphasized their important role in their child’s learning.  French Immersion parents often want to help their child at home but aren’t sure how, due mainly to their lack of skills in French. It is my intention that the site to be something that both student and parents can use together.  Providing opportunities for both groups to contribute to the library’s web presence will be beneficial.

Social networking can help immerse students in the second language environment.  One of the ways I have seen this done in our district is through a school library Twitter account.  This would provide opportunities to reach a wider audience.  I need to continue to explore other ways for our elementary students to network with others globally. 

Through an article Sarah shared,  “The Virtual Teacher- Librarian: Establishing and Maintaining a Virtual Web Presence”, I found these ideas that I believe will be useful on the website: 

•  encouraging parents to read with their children (including sharing tips on reading with their child who is in the French Immersion program)

• providing resources and services on the web for students to refer for when you are busy

• including short instructional videos along with practical ideas and strategies
•  instead of a long list of resources, consider pathfinders with background knowledge, search strategies, keywords, project ideas, anticipation guides, glossaries, along with images, videos and audio clips

•  communicating events and opportunities to students, staff and the larger community

Lastly,  I think it is important to start small and plan for growth.  Don’t put things on the website for the sake of filling it up and making it cluttered and hard to navigate.  It needs to be purposeful and meet the needs of the school community. 

References:

Blake, R. J. (2013). Brave New Digital World: Technology and Foreign Language Learning. 2nd ed. Georgetown University Press.

Canadian Parents for French. (2014). [image online] Available at: http://bc-yk.cpf.ca/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/CPF-Proud-of-Two-Languages-Logo-Green.jpg [Accessed: 21 Mar 2014].

Hockenberry, J. (2012). We are all designers. [video online] Available at: http://www.ted.com/talks/john_hockenberry_we_are_all_designers [Accessed: 21 Mar 2014].

Krashen. S. ( 2012, April 5). Power of reading. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSW7gmvDLag

Lamb, A. & Johnson, L. (2008). The Virtual Teacher- Librarian: Establishing and Maintaining a Virtual Web Presence. Teacher Librarian, 35 (4), Retrieved from: The Virtual Teacher- Librarian: Establishing and Maintaining a Virtual Web Presence.

Upper Grand School Board. (2014). [image online] Available at: http://www.ugdsb.on.ca/uploadedImages/program/french_immersion/fi_kids.gif [Accessed: 21 Mar 2014].