LIBE447B: Developing your own ICT Skills and Pedagogy

Ongoing Skills development and Pedagogy are important aspects of being an educator. There are many ways to do this, but one way that has been helping me this school year are various professional networks of other teachers.

This year, I have been a part of the Surrey Schools mentorship program for both new and new-to-role teachers in the librarian cohort. This is a slightly different mentoring style that involves 2-3 mentors and several mentees, rather than one-on-one. This relationship has been very helpful in my first year as a teacher librarian, both for lesson and layout ideas as well as having a support network to bounce ideas off of and see what others are doing. If you are part of Surrey School District, I highly recommend the program.To find out more, please check the link below.

https://mentor36.com/

I am also part of a large email thread of all the teacher librarians in the district, which functions like a message board. Everyone has an account on the basis of needing it for work, which is both good and bad; it risks cluttering email inboxes and messages getting skipped. I am wondering if a different medium might be more efficient for the same functionality, but for what it is I think it works well for asking a question or starting a short discussion. As a new TL, this has been great for a quick question or resource share.

Creative Commons licensed image courtesy of jon satrom

One challenge area for me is becoming more active on broader professional networks such as twitter, if nothing else but to follow and contribute. I see the value in these networks but I sometimes find it difficult to properly engage and feel like I am contributing.

Another area I hope to improve upon is sharing and putting my work out there in a general sense. As Richardson notes in Why School?, “We can raise the teaching profession by sharing what works, taking the best of what we do and hanging it on the virtual wall” (2012). It’s so great to see lessons and other materials shared by other teachers, so it only makes sense to do the same.

Earlier this year, I shared a full lesson centered around the book Faraway Fox by Jolene Thompson that incorporates core competencies and a STEM activity. We put it up on the book of the year website (see last post), although when those areas update for next year it will likely change. Here it is again if you are looking for a lesson to try:

Works Cited

Richardson, W. (2012). Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere. TED Conferences Publishing.

Satrom, J. (Photographer). (2011). Reconnecting... [Digital Image]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/aWNi6e

LIBE 447B: Fostering Reading Cultures in Schools

There are a number of initiatives that we have been doing in our library learning commons, some being carried over from the previous school year before I arrived in this position. In this post I will share a few of them along with potential changes we could make here and there.

We have an “EZ reading” category present in the library, and I have had some reluctance about continuing with that system. I find that it could be potentially embarrassing for students reading at a slightly lower level if they find themselves needing to go to the “EZ” section to find a book. I also do not want students to feel “restricted” to just this section. The issue I have been facing with this is the labeling - all books in the section are tagged with the EZ classification sticker along the spine, and making broad changes is not an easy task.

I am very supportive of free book choice in the library. I will often let students take books that are at their interest, but potentially above their reading level. Instead of not allowing students to take the book, I will often recommend a second book to go along with the first.

I think this ties in to the much broader discussion of book leveling. This is a huge topic, but one of the potential downsides is having students feel restricted. In the article “Leveled Text: The Good News and the Bad News”, Brabham notes “some teachers described school or classroom collections of books sorted by reading levels that confine students to browsing and reading in a color-coded or level-designated range" and "such practices deny students the opportunity to develop strategies and motivation to locate and immerse themselves in appealing literature" (2002). In this case, it is not a leveled system in the traditional sense (just an EZ section), but it does offer some of the same drawbacks. I was considering a possible reclassification of this section in the future, but for now it remains as it is.

State Library in Stuttgart, Germany. From Stadtbibliothek, Stuttgart, by J. Urdaneta, 2014, https://flic.kr/p/j4xLvx Copyright 2014 by J. Urdaneta.

In another example of fostering a reading culture, our school participated in the “book of the year” vote for our district this school year. Several books are chosen as nominees by a committee, and students get a chance to vote for their favourite book in the month of May. I think this has been a great way to encourage a reading culture centered around these particular books, and gives students common ground to share and discuss their favourites. New to this year was the narrative nonfiction vote, which incorporated nonfiction titles into the mix. I have the links to the info pages for each vote below (the grade 4-7 fiction page has already been updated to next year, but you can find that below as well. Overall, I think this has been a very successful program, and I hope to continue with it in the future.

Links:
Surrey Schools’ Picture Book of the Year Website:
https://sites.google.com/view/surreyreads

Surrey Schools’ Narrative Nonfiction Book of the Year Website:
https://sites.google.com/view/surreyreadsnonfiction

Surrey Schools’ Book of the Year Website:
https://thessboy.weebly.com/


Works Cited

Brabham, E. G., & Villaume, S. K. (2002). Leveled Text: The Good News and the Bad News. Reading Teacher, 55(5), 438-41.

Urdaneta, J. (Photographer). (2014). Stadtbibliothek, Stuttgart. [Digital Image]. Retrieved from https://flic.kr/p/j4xLvx

LIBE 477B: Broadening Horizons Part B

Here are some useful resources I used to better understand my topic of copyright, understanding plagiarism, and citation techniques:

1. Why do foreign students plagiarize? A cultural perspective. (2018, February 05). Retrieved from https://elearnmagazine.com/why-do-students-plagiarize/

This article by Priscila Zigunovas on e-learn magazine is a summary breakdown of possible reasons for why international students may consider plagiarizing their work, either accidentally or on purpose.

To be quite frank, I think a lot of the reasons listed here appear to me like something of a poor excuse, whether it's observed behaviour or statements offered up by those who have plagiarized. Take these for example: the focus on collaboration, seeing it as a form of flattery, respect for authority, etc. - all of these things are preserved in a citation, you are only making sure to note where the information is coming from. Also, depending on the extent of the plagiarism, some of the reasons listed here come off as rather hollow (facetiously; "I copied this other work in it's entirety because I respect the author too much to properly criticize and convey my own opinion.") I am hopeful that students plagiarizing for these reasons could be easily convinced to just add a citation to the end to avoid (potentially unintentional) academic dishonesty.

The more sinister side of it - such as being focused on the exams and not seeing homework as important, or straight up intentionally plagiarizing because the consequences are lenient - these are the tough ones because these students basically know they are doing something they shouldn't. I like to think that much of the plagiarism that I'd be discussing with my students errs on the unintentional side because they haven't really been exposed to this kind of thinking just yet (Elementary/Intermediate level). When you're knowingly engaging in this behaviour, that's a whole other conversation (still an important one though!).

2. Vicinus, Martha & Eisner, Caroline. Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism: Teaching Writing in the Digital Age. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008. Project MUSE, p 195-207

Academic Plagiarism and the Limits of Theft

https://muse-jhu-edu.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/chapter/145068 (requires a UBC CWL)

This essay was a discussion about what exactly plagiarism means to all parties involved in an academic institution. "Was plagiarism to be viewed primarily as a theft, as a breach of community norms, as a betrayal of the ethical foundation of the teacher-student relationship, or perhaps as a disciplinary misunderstanding?" (2008)

This may be a little above the heads of a grade 7 student, but the contrast of the viewed "seriousness" of the offense versus the amount of work saved (or reward weighed against risk) is something that I could see easily tempting a younger student, despite not knowing exactly what kind of behaviour they might be engaging in.

3. Zhang, Y. (2016). Against plagiarism a guide for editors and authors. Cham: Springer. p 3-10

Chapter 1 What Is Plagiarism?

https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-24160-9.pdf

While I did not get a chance to read through the entire work, Zhang has a good breakdown of specific types of plagiarisms such as cut and paste and paraphrasing (the "put in your own words" truism which sometimes seems to persist in the minds of students without the accompanying "and cite your source") as well as some other useful defintions. 

LIBE 477B: Broadening Horizons.

picture by gob-scure: https://flic.kr/p/ZJHHyU

Here is a list of topics I am considering for broadening my understanding in these areas. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Information Literacy:

This is one topic that has come up in a few other classes as well, the idea of cultivating skills to navigate and effectively use the massive amount of information that is at our fingertips (both for ourselves and especially for students). There is always the temptation to grab the easiest and quickest search result to support our arguments or positions, but is this the best option? Many school districts have access to catalogues and web magazines from vetted sources, but having the perseverance to properly sift through, sort, and curate a citation list is often not an immediately obvious skillset. Some questions: How “deep” should information literacy skills go, and how early in on in a student’s learning journey should it occur? 

Citing; Crediting:

This is another topic that often goes unnoticed by younger students, even before they are expected to write longer form essays or have an acceptable level of research to back up their assignments. I think proper citation attitudes and skills are an important competency to start considering even in elementary school. Even an idea as simple as “Hey, I grabbed this picture from the internet for my writing assignment, I through the author’s credit below it” would go a long way; and for older students, knowing about creative commons licenses, knowing what they mean and how to search through them. In our internet age for nearly infinite sharing, remembering to give credit where it is due allows proper recognition (for the original creator) and accountability (for the student synthesizing their content) to remain intact. Some questions: What level of accreditation is acceptable for students just starting out (eg. A grade 3 students learning how to capture an image online for a polar bear webquest)?

Reference Materials - Discussing Wikipedia

While filling in the gaps and learning about different reference materials, I was reminded of an anecdote that happened fairly recently in my school library. Students were working on a short activity involving Morse code. They were practicing writing their name in written “dot” and “dash” format, followed by a secret message they could write for a friend if they had extra time.

At one point during their work a small group of students asked for another copy of the “code sheet”, which indicated what each letter and number was coded as in Morse code (eg. the letter E = one dot). As I went back to my document to print off a few more copies, a few of the grade 4 students noticed my “from Wikipedia” citation at the bottom of the page. They asked, incredulously, “This came from Wikipedia? They could be lying on there you know!”. Clearly they had been given the “Wikipedia” talk before!

James Kanjo at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], from Wikimedia Commons

What followed was a short class discussion about the use of Wikipedia, which I indicated that it’s a good starting place for researching a topic. What was interesting to me is that this student’s reaction to my use of Wikipedia lines up with co-founder’s Larry Sangers comments in Berinstein’s articles: that Wikipedia suffers from not merely a lack a credibility (which it arguably does), but more specifically a “lack of public perception of credibility” (2006). Is this unwarranted? Maybe, maybe not - I think taking a critical view of Wikipedia is important, but that doesn’t mean we need to avoid it at all costs.

Despite being a nearly 10 year old article, I do still like Harris’s Rules of Wikipedia:

“1) At least three sources are required to verify research.
2) General encyclopedias like Wikipedia are a great place to get started, however …
3) Serious research projects cannot cite general knowledge encyclopedias.” (2007)

These rules strongly convey the need for a critical eye when viewing information on Wikipedia, but don’t outright prevent it’s usage, which I believe is a great use for this resource.



Works Cited

Berinstein, P. (2006). Wikipedia and Britannica: The Kid's All Right (And So's the Old Man) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Searcher 14(3), 16-26.

Harris, C. (2007). Can we make peace with Wikipedia? (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. School Library Journal, 53(6), 26.

James Kanjo at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], from Wikimedia Commons

Moving Forward: An evaluation plan to improve reference services

Please find my assignment #3 below (either link)!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRc3EtxYuXuJCuP-jHtCkRC-Twm3lSB40cOdIFsixnRUuP2ut6NzuAVWD0vrQKCXvB35yOX6ahNGYEl/pub

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sWazs5ufcJROQTZ6sz99QkwHLhTfCj5CCScxIZFsuhw/edit?usp=sharing

Working Together: Collaborating with a teacher and evolving their practice

Please find my assignment #2 below (either link)!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oHEnugTxfFnJFYjB761ensE0yHqmvFgb_wrye99FIUM/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTfoFatBTffWI9iVYNZq8H8hzmWLQ5wFeVekNJwqkB7AxhAjMO60x58P4ZKPBNFQ9qIFoiJJb6gWwXy/pub