Projects with Technology Do Good Things

Post by Lora Poser-Brown

ET

Kingston, Sally and Lenz, Bob. “Blending Technology into Project Based Learning.” Partnerships for 21st Century Learning. Jan. 21, 2016. http://www.p21.org/news-events/p21blog/1832-blending-technology-into-project-based-learning

Overview: This article discusses many ways to incorporate projects and technology in regular instruction. In addition, justification is given for more projects with evidence that doing so increases attendance, scores, engagement, social skills, and more.

Analysis: The article was a quick read with great concrete examples for teachers. Furthermore, the ideas given can easily be adapted for different ages and subjects. The article makes project based learning seem less daunting for those new to the teaching style.

Media Literacy and 21st Century School Library

Shibrie Wilson

 ET-Differentiation
CO- School Organization
IL- Other IL Models
IL-Media Literacy

 Lam, A. (2012, April 30). Media Literacy and Learning Commons in the Digital Age: Toward a Knowledge Model for Successful Integration into the 21st Century School Library. Retrieved May 20, 2016, from http://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya/2012/04/media-literacy-and-learning-commons-in-the-digital-age-toward-a-knowledge-model-for-successful-integration-into-the-21st-century-school-library/

Summary: Due to budget cuts and technological advancements, school libraries are constantly finding ways to reinvent themselves. The innovative projects of library have contributed to precise concept of a learning commons. This trajectory of a learning commons has embedded into concept of collaboration with educators, facilities, learning techniques, and many more to name a few. Media literacy is a growing field and entails various aspects that are essential to learning communities,that includes the following: "critical thinking ability to access, evaluate, analyze, and produce information" (Lam, A. 2012). Increase of media has contributed to collaborative learning environments in which students are able gain knowledge of digital culture, interdependent learning skills, and different modes of communication. School libraries must continue to adopt this new age of digital learning in order to continue to flourish and assist teacher with media literacy. Different testimonials provided in which school libraries have had a great deal of success with transformation. 

Reflection: School libraries are adaptive to change are doing an excellent job to reinvent themselves. Of course, such success stories only exist when everyone in district in on board with essence of library and reinvention with changing times. Model in this blog is beneficial for providing a visual as to how exactly media literacy adopts concept of learning commons. 

Integrating Reading & Programs for ESL

Roys, Kelly

ET

American Library Association. (2008). How to Serve the World @ your library. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/offices/sites/ala.org.offices/files/content/olos/toolkits/servetheworld/LI_toolkit.pdf

Summary: This article from ALA describes the importance of providing collections and resources for ESL (English Second Language) learners to promote life long love of reading and learning. There are programs demonstrated as an informational resource to promote other programs in your local libraries and other resources to read to discover more about differentiation. 

Review: As an educator for the elementary age group, instruction serving this population should be relevant and applicable for information to be retained and acceptance/understanding to ensue. Students need a safe place for learning and by providing articles and information to highlight this need is important. Librarians have a duty to increase this as they are a hub for resources, programs, and types of books/materials for the students to access and teachers to utilize in their classrooms. 

A Look at Self Directed Learning at the High School Level

Maciejewski, Gloria

Blakeway, Kristi. (2014, Sept. 2) Blakeway: Riding a roller coaster – How self directed learning changed my views. P21 Blog, Volume 1, Issue 7, No. 20. Retrieved from: http://www.p21.org/news-events/p21blog/1490

This is a blog post written for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which, if you haven't check out, you should!  In a nutshell, Kristi Blakeway writes about her experience as a vice principal at Thomas Haney Secondary, a self-directed learning high school in Maple Ridge, B.C. Canada. She clearly outlines in her blog post the way this self-directed system is organized.
The school is part of the Canadian Coalition of Self-Directed Learning (CCSDL) which is an organization of secondary schools throughout Canada that are dedicated to the personalization of learning. She touches on the elements of inquiry, collaboration, how work spaces are designed and what test taking looks like. Admitting that she was bewildered at the seeming lack of structure she was used to in traditional education settings, Blakeway chronicles her emerging understandings of the self directed model.  Elements of the article that I found appealing were the descriptions of close teacher and student relationships, the amount of free or flexible time the students have and the strong collaboration that informed the practice on site. As someone who is always considering home-school (or unschooling) as an option for my own children, it was quite enjoyable to get a look at how a high school that values the individual learning styles of each unique student  looks like.

ET: Inquiry--Five Ways to Integrate by Julia Marshall

Sullivan, Maureen
ET

Five Ways to Integrate
Dr. Julia Marshall

Summary: This article has been a staple of mine for the last six years when thinking about shifting pedagogy to integrate across content areas, particularly spanning art and science. The five creative strategies Dr. Julia Marshall describes are used by both artists and scientists alike in the real world, and are fantastic strategies to implement in the library setting to embrace student choice, collaboration, and synthesis of their ideas. They are cognitive strategies, that are used to communicate the creators' ideas through depiction, metaphor, mimicry, formatting, and projection.

Julia Marshall is an Art Education professor at San Francisco State University and I had the pleasure of working with her closely on a science and art integration initiative in San Francisco public schools.

Evaluation: In thinking about the cognitive processes that span art and science, Julia offers some specific ways in which both artists and scientists are manipulating information to communicate their thinking. I highly recommend it!

Five Ways to Integrate

How to Reinvent Project Based Learning to Be More Meaningful

Shawn Pomatto

ET

Markham, T. (2014). How to reinvent project based learning to be more meaningful. Mind/Shift. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/03/moving-towards-inquiry-how-to-reinvent-project-based-learning/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29

Educational principles are changing the way we teach throughout the entire country.  Our educational system is going through a reboot of educational processes and the development of skills.  There is a pressing need to increase problem solving skill sets and inquiry within our students.  Gone are the days of a teacher centered classroom where students mindlessly listen to boring lectures.  Students themselves are now becoming the presenters, collaborating amongst themselves in an attempt to create unique projects.  But now even the projects based learning model (PBL) is under evaluation.  The PBL model of instruction is designed to get students involved in research that is dependent upon collaboration.  Students analyze information and evidence, then they think about a problem and remedy a solution.  Like any other means of instruction, PBL has its flaws if not performed correctly.  The proper way to conduct a project based learning environment lesson  is to first and foremost develop skills, not content, through a process of inquiry.  Teamwork and presentation are the means of achieving this goal.  PBL allows students to go deep into any particular issue.  Every subject across the curriculum will have varying levels of how deep a project might be.  But the underlying principles will remain constant.  Students will work from a knowledge base which will allow them to design a creative, authentic product.  Individual personalities can flourish as students take ownership of their learning.  Collaboration allows students to create and analyze content while teachers merely facilitate their learning experience.  One of the more powerful aspects of a PBL environment is peer review.  Students are encouraged to identify strengths and weaknesses of student projects.  This evaluation will then lead to more creation and a means to make the end product even better.

Project based learning allows for a deeper, more personal learning experience to take place.  Differentiation can occur more freely as teachers can now allow students to reach goals never before available under the old system of learning.  The facilitator role which teachers are now using allows for more leaders to arise within a class.  Peer review allows students to be accountable for their work.  The fundamental principle of evaluation and inquiry itself allows for PBL lessons to be challenged in their design as well.  Constant modifications will only support students creativity, helping to foster ingenuity.  This open ended form of lesson design positively affects the learning experience of so many more students, allowing them to grow and experience new ideas on their own.

Beyond Worksheets, A True Expression of Student Learning

Shawn Pomatto

ET

McCusker, S. (2014). Beyond worksheets, a true expression of student learning. Learning In the New Economy of Information,4. Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/04/beyond-worksheets-a-true-expression-of-student-learning/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29

The information era has allowed for a constant connection to information that can be accessed immediately from almost any location.  But there is much more than merely the accessibility of information that needs to be taken into account.  This information needs to be understood.  Skills that will help students to identify the most valid components and use that knowledge to create meaning through expression need to be nurtured.  Student creation allows for each individuals own unique ideas to shine.  Higher level skills are promoted and students work on and evaluate their projects for both positive and negative components.  This reflection is done so that new ways to improve their project can be identified and applied.  These types of lessons are found to be most memorable to students when they are allowed to create and build upon their own unique ideas.  This constructivist approach allows for multiple variations of a central idea or goal.  Individuals talents are allowed to mature and develop young students into artistic creators of wonderful ideas.

This article supports the constructivist ideas of creation, imagination and intellectual freedom.  Its is true that students are presented with so much information that they still need to be able to comprehend.  Skills that foster creativity are the main points of this new form of teaching.  Gone are the days of teacher centered classrooms where students take an abundance of notes, only to reguritate the information in a multiple point quiz.  This approach to learning is clean and natural.  The article refers to it as organic.  Evaluation techniques are engrained within the lesson design so that students can identify areas for improvement.  This type of learning and student engagement allows for unique qualities of each and every student to shine through.

Hackschooling Makes Me Happy

Hackschooling Makes Me Happy

Lisa Gatzen

ET-New Trends

ET-Restructuring,

ET-Learning Styles

ET-Differentiation

IL-Constructivism and IL

IL-Creative Thinking

IL-Critical Thinking

IL-Integrated or Separate

IL-Other Literacies

Hackschooling Makes Me Happy: Logan LaPlante at Tedx University of Nevada            

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11u3vtcpaY

Summary

What do you want to be when you grow up? Every child has been asked that question and they answer with the things they are interested in doctor, astronaut, dancer etc. But what about happy? Go to school, go to college, get a job, and get married; then you will be happy.  Schools don’t make it a priority to teach kids how to be happy and healthy, it is separate from school. But what if we based education on being happy and healthy? So much of education is oriented towards making a living not making a life. How do you change that? You hack your education. Hackers are innovative and challenge the system. So, what is hackschooling? It is creativity + technology and online resources + experimental classes and camps + happy and healthy.  How do you hack your education? You take opportunities to learn about things that interest you and then experience what you learn.

Opinion

The reason that I chose this Ted talk was because it really makes you think about the direction of education. I don’t think that Logan has all of the answers, but he is definitely on the right track. Students need more hands-on education and the need to experience what they learn. Let the students drive their education. This is a great video that can open up some very interesting conversations about education. 

What is Differentiated Instruction?

Linda Jenkins

ET

Robb, L. What is differential instruction? Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/what-differentiated-instruction.


Summary:

 

This article by Laura Robb is really an excerpt from her book, Differentiating Reading Instruction: How to Teach Reading to Meet the Needs of Each Student.  Although most of the article focuses on reading, the beginning of the article defines differentiated instruction which can be used for any subject.  Differentiated instruction requires the teacher to know each student well enough to be able to plan and provide instruction in a way that each child “has experiences and tasks that will improve learning.”  The teacher’s goal is to maximize learning in every student using various teaching methods to reach the goal. 

Ross also describes a few key principles which are the basis for differentiated instruction.  She states 1) teachers must have continuous assessments to identify the strong and weak areas of each student. 2) There is a wide range of “expertise and experience with reading, writing, thinking, problem solving, and speaking” amongst the students. 3) Students should collaborate in small groups which allows learning through discussion and observation. 4)  Instruction should be based on “issues and concepts rather than the book or chapter.” And 5) Students should have choices in their reading, writing, tasks and projects, since everyone has different skill levels and interests.

The article also gives an example of what Ross would do in a differentiated reading class along with her nine practices to be used with this type of teaching.

 

Evaluation / Opinion:

This article was very informative. I think it would be beneficial if all subjects were taught using differentiated instruction. Every student should be able to be taught in a way that would maximize their learning.

Becoming the Reading Mentors Our Adolescents Deserve: Developing a Successful Sustained Silent Reading Program

By Valerie Lee

 ET-Changing Reading Practices

ET- Differentiation

The main focus of the article was to discuss a study that was conducted on the impact of silent sustained reading on the attitudes and reading practices of a group of high school students. The research was conducted using qualitative method of informal observations, student conferences, and journaling.  The author of the article was the teacher who conducted the study. The article also examines the implications of her findings. Her findings show that there is a proper way to run a SSR program. She gives examples of the best practices to use for a successful SSR. The article also shows that students read more and have a better attitude if they are allowed to choose their own reading material. The author describes SSR and self-selecting as the two most important factors in improving student reading skills and enjoyment. Lee states, “Reading engagement increases when students are given opportunities to choose reading materials” (Lee, 2001).

 

Lee, V. (2011). Becoming the reading mentors our adolescents deserve: Developing a successful sustained silent reading program. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 55(3), 209-218   doi: 10.1002/JAAL.00026

 

I chose this article because I am interested in learning if SSR and self selection can improve students’ reading skills and behavior toward reading. I liked that this article was written by a teacher who conducted her own research with her classroom. She discovered that SSR did improve her students’ behavior and she was willing to change her instructional method to the benefit of her students.

Play in the Library

Jennifer Brickey

ET—Educational Theory

Crow, S., & Robins, J. (2012). Play in the Library. Teacher Librarian, 39(5), 36-43. Retrieved from http://edition.pagesuiteprofessional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=5e332207-1bc6-4a7d-8ce1-01b678060ecf

In their article, Crow and Robins liken inquiry-based learning to playing in the library. They draw upon the Self-determination theory (SDT) which “identifies three components whose combination leads to motivation: competence, autonomy, and relatedness” (p. 37). In a library or learning commons setting, Crow and Robins believe that students have the most optimum environment—one that is both physical and virtual—to find pleasure and satisfaction by examining information and displaying it in a creative way. They go on to explain how “stories and storytelling” and “questing” allow students to role play and investigate. Navigating is both an effort of searching and evaluating. It’s not enough to find a sources; a student has to judge its credibility and authority in addition to synthesizing results in order to determine the best answer for a problem. Crow and Robins admit they lack data that supports their theory of play in the library; however they do recognize that play is in the “roots of human evolution” (p. 42) and by making play central in the library maybe students will transition into lifelong learners and seekers.

To me, Crow and Robins’ observation and argument for play directly links to the Big Think concept. The notion that students, with the help of teachers and teacher librarians, can explore any topic they want in the library in a way that is thoughtful, collaborative, and engaging only accentuates the concept of play. The possibilities for learning seem endless and attractive. 

Graphic Inquiry and Differentiation

Lauren Besich

ET- Differentiation

Johnson, L. & Lamb, A. (2012). Graphic inquiry: dyniamic differentiation and digital age learning.  Teacher Librarain, 39(4), 61-67. Retrieved from http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk//launch.aspx?eid=8cd67d4c-5f33-4525-91db-9287de63151b

This article discusses how teacher librarians can incorporate different types of graphics to help differentiate instruction when working with teachers to meet the needs of all students.  Graphic inquiry gives students a chance to further explore information and content standards through the use of various visual technologies.  Authors Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson outlined six types of graphic teacher librarians can use for differentiation: data sets, illustrations, infographics, maps, organizers, and photos.  Multiple Web resources are provided in the articles for each graphic type. 

Data sets, or collections of facts, help students understand data, and give them an opportunity to visually report their work.   Graphs, charts, surveys, and inventories are data set examples discussed in the article. 

Illustrations support students’ visualizations of concepts taught in class.  Through analyzing others’ illustrations or creating their own, student thinking is challenged.  The authors suggest various sources where teacher librarians can find illustration for students to use, and Web tools that allow them to create their own illustrations and comics. 

Infographics are visual forms of information, and are becoming pretty trendy.  They can be used to jump start learning through evaluation of the information, or they can be used as a synthesis of new information they have learned.  If using infographics in the classroom is a new concept for teacher librarians, they can read the article series about teaching with infographics presented by The Learning Network at the New York Times.  Articles cover using infographics in the Social Studies, English, and Science and Health content areas.

Maps help students identify information about a geographical area.  They can analyze a specific location, make predictions based on the information in the map, or create their own maps.

Organizers help students visually organize information as an alternative to writing activities, or as a guide for writing.  Different graphic organizers include timelines, Venn Diagrams, comparison charts, and many others.  The authors suggest organizers reduces plagiarism by requiring the students to share what they visualize, not what they copied and pasted. 

Photos can be used to document a process and opposed to writing about a process.  Much like illustrations, students can analyze photos, and also how the use of photo editing tools affects the message of a photo. 

This article is a rich resource for teacher librarians and teachers who want to incorporate graphic inquiry into their curriculum.  The ideas and examples they outline provide a good starting point to those new to graphic inquiry. 

Canadian School Libraries and Student Achievement

Kaelyn Shaw

CO
ET

Haycock, K. (2011). Connecting British Columbia (Canada) school libraries and student achievement: A comparison of higher and lower performing schools with similar overall funding. School Libraries Worldwide, 17(1), 37-50.Retrieved from: http://web.ebscohost.com.libaccess.sjlibrary.org/ehost/detail?sid=63dd7f7e-3e89-4152-96fd-61559ce13e64%40sessionmgr12&vid=2&hid=10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=llf&AN=503009234

Research over time has established associations between components of the school library and student achievement. This study was designed to investigate these associations in schools in British Columbia (Canada) where the government provides equitable funding of public schools while allowing individual school districts and schools to determine individual funding priorities. Findings replicated what numerous previous studies have shown: higher student standardized test scores were associated with a school library that is more accessible, better funded, professionally staffed, managed, stocked, integrated and used. Findings moreover pointed to higher student achievement in those schools where greater resources, from the same limited allocation were assigned to school libraries. Results of this study are of practical interest to policy makers, school and library administrators, and educators with a vested interest in student achievement and the future of school libraries.

I feel that this article provides valuable research in the field of education and librarianship. School libraries that provided more accessibility, (longer hours, an increase in qualified staff) for students created a higher achieving student body. This is a great article that promotes school libraries as an enhancement for student learning backed up by statistical data conducted by the author. Ken Haycock is a professor at San Jose State University, I have had him and this is what drew me to read and share this article.   

Additional Thoughts on Differentiated Instruction

Parker, Linda

ET

Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement (2008). A

    teacher’s guide to differentiating instruction. Retrieved May 5, 2013, from

     http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Teacher_s_Guide/

     I found this article to be very helpful because of how the concept of differentiated instruction was defined and how the article provided practical tips and pointers for teachers to use in bringing materials to a diverse level of learners within the classroom. One of the most important ideas listed was the fact that differentiated instruction alone will not automatically improve performance, but that it comes from a combination of factors such as curriculum, instructional strategies, student interest, activities, and student satisfaction.

Teaching Smart

Parker, Linda

CA
CO
ET
IL

Resnick, L. B. (1999). Making America smarter. Education Week, 18(40), 38-40.

     Although this article is a little older, it looks at what's needed to teach cognitive skills associated with intelligence so that learners are held to a new standard of excellence as compared to being held to old standards of aptitude or performance where learners are compared to one another.  In reading Resnick's article, I found it foundational as a precursor to what was needed in the classroom of the future to enable and equip students for higher learning.  For example, the author discusses a core of principles (which made me think of the Common Core) to guide the work, allowing extra time for those students who need it (differentiation), engaging students in thinking (inquiry and problem-based learning), meeting or exceeding the expectation of a higher performance level and holding students accountable based upon their own application and investment in the subject (Constructivism).  

     Amazingly, we are just now seeing the implementation of those types of skills throughout classrooms in our nation - some fourteen years later!  On one hand, it seems as though times are changing so fast (i.e. technology) and, yet on the other hand, it seems as though change can't come fast enough (i.e. education).  


     

Thoughts on Differentiated Instruction

Parker, Linda

ET
CO

Huebner, T. A. (2010). Differentiated instruction. Educational Leadership, 67(5), 79-81.

Since I didn't really know anything about this topic, I found this article provided a good platform for describing differentiated instruction.  The old school way of doing things was to mold the child to fit the curriculum, however, under principles of differentiated instruction, the curriculum is molded to fit the student.  Everyone is different and, therefore, brings to the table unique background knowledge, influences, learning styles, language, and cultural issues which impact their learning.  Differentiated instruction is an attempt to take all of these factors into consideration to maximize the learning experience for all ranges of students within the same classroom - from learning disabled or challenged to gifted students because a "one style fits all" approach to learning/teaching seems to be less effective.

Backwards Planning and More for Inclusion of Special Ed Students in General Ed Classrooms

Michelle Windell

ET

Spaulding, L. , & Flannagan, J. (2012). Dis2ect. Teaching Exceptional Children, 44(6), 6-14.

This article elucidates the DIS2ECT framework for inclusion of special needs students in a general education science curriculum.

D = Design. the design model for lessons is backwards planning, which involves 4 steps: 1. Know your learners; 2. Identify curricular agenda; 3. Design assessment framework; 4. Create learning activities.

I = Individualization. Provide students text at their reading levels, prepare for students’ problem areas (deductive reasoning given as an example), and prepare scaffolding and strategies for them.

S1 = Scaffolding. Provide bridges to understanding, guided inquiry, based on prior knowledge.

S2 = Strategies. Instruct students in a variety of approaches to solving problems.

E = Experiential Learning. Hands-on, discovery-based learning promotes excitement and deeper understanding than reading alone, and gives context for later reading.

C = Cooperative Learning. Students working together in partnership or small groups, sometimes with mutually dependent roles to fill, allows for new learning opportunities and also for social growth.

T = Teamwork. This refers to team efforts in teaching, between general and special education teachers. We apply the idea in this course to the collaboration between the teacher librarian and the classroom teacher.

Additionally, this article includes an example lesson plan for an 8th grade physical science lesson to illustrate the points. I really liked this article for its demystification of the trend for full inclusion of special ed students in general ed classrooms, and how it might be accomplished successfully.

Review: Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding

Garelick, B. (2010, July 1). Learning by text or context? [Review of the book Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design by C.A. Tomlinson and J. McTighe]. Educational Horizons, 88(4) p.199-202. P.Retrieved from http://libaccess.sjlibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eft&AN=508174753&site=ehost-live


Summary: Garelick summarizes the main points of text by stating his agreement with Tomlinson and McTighe's methods regarding Understanding By Design and it's usefulness in Differentiated Instruction. Using tools such as backward planning, using non-rigid learning structures, and lessening focus on "drill and kill" exercises, students develop critical thinking skills by emphasizing the process rather than the product, making it easier to customize and adjust the tasks at hand to help the students reach the end result and meet common standards.

Effective learning of the material is assessed, not just on being able to achieve the correct answer, but mostly on being able to use the same processes learned in determining the solution in a different context, across fields of study. However, Garelick makes sure to point out that the authors seem to encourage the use of the "sink or swim" method, inundating students with material that may be completely over their heads with the assumption that if they can swim, they can begin learning more difficult tasks, and if they sink, they obviously need remedial training.

Reflection: I typically would not post a book review, but Garelick summarizes the main points of this book very effectively and I believe it is important to note his objection to some of the author's recommended tactics, though most of his writing is high praise for their newer methods of thinking, focusing on an organic learning experience, rather than a contrived experience.

Having suffered from the "sink or swim" method, myself, as a student, I think it is an excellent example of how differentiated instruction of this type, and learning by design, are definitely more relevant than the archaic systems that have been used for over a century, but they still have a long way to go in meeting the needs of all students without overwhelming, confusing, and frustrating students to the point where distinterest is the least of their problems, and a general hatred of the subject or resentment of the instructor, by proxy, can occur. I believe it is important to learn from this observation to better meet the learning needs of all students.

Posted by Kara Carter

What Should Children Read?

Ringwood, Jessica

Mosle, Sara. (2012, November 25). What should children read? The New York Times, pp. 5, The Week in Review Section.

Summary: This article discusses the current debate happening in schools because of the upcoming integration of The Common Core Standards.  David Coleman, one of the architects of Common Core, argues that too much fiction is incorporated into English classrooms.  Teachers are expected to increasingly teach nonfiction because that is the kind of writing that students will be expected to interpret in college and the workplace.  According to Common Core, by their senior year in high school, 70% of the reading students do should be nonfiction.

Evaluation: The author does a good job of addressing opposition to Cole’s argument by bringing up these arguments: What’s wrong with fiction?  Does it require as much intelligence to interpret as nonfiction?  Mosle seems to agree with Cole’s argument but she argues that the task will be difficult for teachers until there is easier access to more quality nonfiction materials.  The best part of the article for teachers and librarians is that she gives some nonfiction suggestions that should be on every shelf that kids have access to.

Emerging Trends and eSchool News

Campbell, Margaret

eSchool News: Technology news for today's K-20 educator. Retrieved from http://www.eschoolnews.com/

I was searching the archives and found the "STAR: School Technology Action Report: Emerging Trends 2011"by eSchool Media, Inc. submitted by Michelle Yamamoto (4-28-11).

The report had announcements and reviews of many emerging media tools and techniques for learning environments, and I realized that although the 2011 report might be a bit dated, the site that published it has an amazing number of articles and new reports on recent trends in education.

There is a free registration and login, and the site is set up as a collection of individual blogs covering different subjects. Some examples include Ed-tech best practices, applying for grants, success with analytics, lawsuits and government issues, empowering education through video, blended learning, and featured education sites.

_________________________________

Below are Michelle Yamamoto's comments on the 2011 report from the archive:

I mistook the title of this report thinking it would be STAR test results - instead it is filled with exciting emerging trends in education related to technology. Several emerging trends were particularly intriguing to me and are things I would either like to find out more about or consider implementing.

- Blio eReader: As a Kindle owner and user, I am intrigued by a platform that is free and that can be used across devices. If the promises about it are true, this would actually give access to a very wide audience with many, many applications for education and beyond.

- Inverted Leaning: It is a reflection of how much I am a product of a traditional "sage on the stage" learning that this concept of inverted learning is so mind bending to me. The concept of students listening to lectures/instruction on their own time (homework) and then working with the teacher for guidance and practice does seem to make more sense then the "sage of the stage" learning that is so much more common.

-Mobile Tech: The idea of using mobile devises as a learning tool - ebooks, calculators, Internet access, etc. is one I have heard before. However, in the school settings I am accustomed to the norm is banning these devices and battling with students over them rather than using them for educational purposes. This is surely a controversial topic in many schools though I think it is a conversation that needs to be had and I am glad that there are those who have already stepped out ahead in this.