Sonya's Teaching Blog

Digital Resources: Evaluation and Improvement Plan Resource: ERAC BC Digital Classroom , grades 9-12. Includes WorldBook Online Reference Centre, KnowBC, EBSCO Secondary Mini-suite, Gale in Context Series, and myBlueprint. Analysis: Riedling (2013) recommends analyzing indexes and databases for Accuracy, Authority, Format, and Scope (pp 90-91). Accuracy and Authority : The ERAC BC Digital Classroom is a trusted resource and the available databases are from trusted authorities and are considered to be highly accurate. Format (including accessibility) : Most of these resources are easily searchable, but require some added training to perform more complicated search functions. Some of these resources can be used in accessible ways. For example, EBSCO products support text-to-speech technology, provide transcripts for videos, and a few other tools to improve accessibility. The Gale In Context Series also offers text-to-speech and translation into over 20 common languages (...

One of the great struggles in maintaining a reference collection is the struggle to keep reference materials current. Riedling (2013) recommends that many reference materials be replaced after only 5 years. As the type of person who never likes to throw things out, I struggled with this idea. But it boils down to a quote from Riedling on page 21: "A good reference source is one that serves to answer questions, and a bad reference source is one that fails to answer questions." If a source is out of date, it likely won't answer all questions or, even worse, may answer them incorrectly. Reference librarians connect people with questions to sources with answers. Image care of Careers 360 . The quote by Riedling above gets to the heart of the role of the reference librarian. Be it maintaining collections, educating students, or performing reference interviews with students, we need to do our best to make sure questions are answered. But how do we do this in the age of ...

The following are two fictional examples of teachers in need of support to improve the implementation of reference resources in their classroom practices. Looking at each case carefully and using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, or CBAM (from Loucks-Hoursley, 1996 ), I have outlined specific steps that can be taken to encourage these teachers to use the resources available more effectively. Typical expressions of concerns about innovations. From Taking Charge of Change  by S.M. Hord, W.L. Rutherford, L. Huling-Austin, and G.E. Hall, 1987. Typical behaviors at levels of use of innovation. From  Taking Charge of Change  by S.M. Hord, W.L. Rutherford, L. Huling-Austin, and G.E. Hall, 1987. Case Study #1: “Pat” Pat has been teaching Social Studies at the same high school for several years. Classes have an established routine of teacher-centered learning where the students fill in notes from PowerPoint presentations. Pat has decided to branch ...

What on Earth have I been learning? Image care of Britannica Digital Learning . Over the past few weeks, I have been delving into the depths of the internet to research topics that are important to those in the education field, particularly to teacher-librarians. School libraries these days are so much more than just a place from which to borrow books - more and more they are becoming a hub of activity in schools. They are places to learn and use technology, places to meet up and collaborate on projects, places to ask questions and to get unexpected answers. That isn't just the case for the students - it's a place for teachers and librarians to ask questions and to learn and grow as well. I certainly have learned and grown during my explorations. Studying ways to foster reading culture in schools and global access too books, I have notices some similarities. Everyone needs to have access to books that are culturally relevant and language appropriate. In a multicultura...

Being a Teacher-Librarian is a complicated task, one far more complex that it appears at first glance. Our job is not only to maintain resources and to promote a love of reading, but also to support the curriculum, offer students a gathering place, and support technology education in schools. Strong libraries with dedicated teacher-librarians are linked with higher student-achievement , but budgets to school libraries and teacher-librarian hours are being reduced across Canada . The timing for these cuts couldn't be worse with an explosive increase in technology in education and in the role of the school library. Considering these conflicting facts, the role of the teacher-librarian is becoming increasingly more difficult. When I was a student in the public school system, libraries were simple compared to today. Any school research or reading for pleasure was done using the books in the library, and once you knew how to use the card catalog  and the encyclopedias, y...

In this review, a reference work currently in the library's collection is evaluated for use in the high school setting, and a replacement is suggested and evaluated. Works are evaluated using the following rubric: Criterion Unacceptable Acceptable Exemplary Currency Published >10 years ago Published 5-10 years ago Published <5 years ago Relevancy Material is incorrect, or deals with irrelevant topics, places, or peoples. Material is factually correct, can be related to universally or locally on a broader scale. Material is accurate, deals with matters of local interest and is up to date with current information on topics of interest. Purpose Material is clearly biased – information is left out, contains deliberate misinformation and/or is attempting to sell a product. Material comes from a trusted authority and attempts are made avoid biases.  Material is made by a trusted author...

Reading in the sunshine is the best! Image from Reading is Fundamental ( www.rif.org ) It is well understood in our society that reading is an important skill to develop. Not only do we use it for entertainment or important documents, but it is an important part of our education system. In fact, reading for fun can improve a student's educational performance . So how can we encourage students to read more? I am a firm believer in modeling the behavior we want to see. In my life, I have heard many people declare that their love of reading began with a read-aloud in school. For older students, we can model just by reading in front of them. Working as a teacher on call, I have exposure to methods used in several schools. At one high school, there is a daily 20 minute period of silent reading every day observed by the entire school. During that time, I would also pull out a book to read, showing that it is a fun activity that will stay with you. It is also important to meet s...

As many of us look through our resource collections in our school libraries, we have realized that they are far from meeting the minimum standards for school library collections as recommended in Achieving Information Literacy (Asselin et al., 2006). While this is certainly in part due to low budgets and unrealistically high standards, the recent increase in emphasis on electronic resources has spread what meager budgets are available to school libraries even thinner. With all the shiny, new electronic resources available, physical resources have often become neglected and outdated. A set of Children's Encyclopedia Britannica published in the 1970s. Image copyright questionsforus.com New digital resources are coming out every day, and there's no denying that digital resources have certain advantages over physical resources: many are kept up to date as new information becomes available; they can be used by several people at once; in some cases, digital resources inclu...