Reframing History with Storytelling

Robillard, Gail

IL

Pinter, J. (2017).  Something old, something new: Public Service Broadcasting on history and storytelling.  NPR.org. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2017/07/05/535352500/something-old-something-new-public-service-broadcasting-on-history-and-storytell

The English band Public Service Broadcasting uses historical archival material to create their songs. According to the band's founder, J. Willgoose, the band uses the archival material by "bringing it back to the surface, reexamining it, recontextualizing it through the music that we write around it, and drawing lines between the past and the present." In their newest album Every Valley, the band used footage from the British Film Institute's footage archive to tell the story of a mining boom in Wales and the later collapse of this industry.

This work by Public Service Broadcasting was interesting to me because of the classroom implications. Students could take archival materials, or literature texts, and reflect on them and what importance the students invest in the materials or texts and then "repackage" them so to speak in a creative way that illustrates the students' meaning. 

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?

Kira Koop

IL - Creativity

Robinson, K. (February 2006). Ken robinson: Do schools kill creativity? [Video] TED.com: TED2006.
(but also here: https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en)


Summary:
Sir Ken Robinson delivered this TEDtalk more than ten years ago, and in it, he very cleverly mixes story and ideas to illustrate his points and connect to his audience. He addresses the notions of creativity, of failing, of the hierarchy within schools of subjects and values, as well as multiple intelligences.

I quite enjoyed this talk, in part because it's always immensely satisfying to listen to English accents, but the content was also very interesting. I personally disagree with his emphasis on "originality" - after all, the quotation "good artists borrow, great artists steal" - Picasso, probably - is generally understood to mean that most creative content references other ideas - but he did say one thing that has resonated with me specifically: to be creative, you must be prepared to be wrong, to fail.

I was thinking about this within the context of my fine art background through high school, before my BFA. My high school art teacher built "idea pages" into his assignments for us. We weren't allowed to start a project until we had shown that we had sat down to think about and work through the process, come up with three separate plans (complete with symbolism, colour theory, media, and style) and chosen the one that worked best. It was still a high school class, and grades were still very much the method of receiving feedback, which meant that "failing" was tied into assessment, rather than the thing you created, but this process allowed us to figure out a few failures (to communicate? to create? to idealize?) before we even started. Furthermore, it removed the fear from the process: if you didn't show through your idea page that you had grappled with failure as part of the creative process, you didn't do it right, and you wouldn't receive the marks for it.  

Nevertheless, his talk goes far beyond this one idea, and I hope you enjoy it.

Stretch Students Logical Thinking

I always like to find fun ways to get students to think logically. I was looking for teaching strategies and I ran across these puzzles with links to more. I got them from Mind/Shift KQED News. I love this website for news and great articles.
I've always enjoyed logic puzzles. Have fun and share these with your students.

Two Puzzles to Stretch Students’ Logical Thinking

Cover, Sara

IL

http://www.geniushour.com/

Summary:

This website gives you everything you need to know about what genius hour is, and how to start one in your classroom/library/school.

Evaluation:

This website is a great resource, especially for novices when it comes to the idea of genius hour and where to begin. The site contains everything you need to know about genius hour, including a definition, a free webinar, a blog, book recommendations, a genius hour course, and many more resources. The website would be useful if you are interested in implementing genius hour and do not know where to begin, or if there are interested teachers/administrators at your site and you want to point them to a solid resource.

Modeling information literacy for classrooms of the future

DiZazzo, Cynthia

IL

McNicol, S. (2014). Modeling information literacy for classrooms of the future. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 47, 303-313. doi: 10.1177/0961000614526612

Summary:
McNicol (2015) discusses the importance of students as creators of knowledge, a key standard for modern literacy which has often been overlooked in information literacy (IL) models. McNicol maintains that in many IL models, “the focus is on the learner as a consumer, evaluator and organiser of information which has previously been produced, rather than as a creator and originator of knowledge” (2015, p. 305). In her research, she determined that students were motivated through their participation in the design phase of an activity, creativity was enhanced and links to real world skills were reinforced.

Evaluation:
This article is helpful in directing teacher librarians and classroom teachers to capitalize upon students’ strengths, interests and ingenuity when designing collaborative projects to address modern literacy skills. In addition to promoting collaboration among students and teachers, McNicol’s findings encourage educators to allow and value flexibility in content, structure, and sequence when using information literacy models with students. The information presented also inspires teachers and teacher librarians to acknowledge students as content creators, rather than just consumers of information.

Genius Hour in the Library

Frey, Jennifer

CO

RUSH, E. B. (2015). Genius Hour in the Library. Teacher Librarian, 43(2), 26-30.

Summary:

This article is about how a librarian went about implementing a librarian led genius hour for students in grades 3-5. The article takes you through the planning to the approval and implementation phase then addresses what worked and what's next. The librarian worked with teachers to lead this project so there is a lot of collaboration going on.

Evaluation:

I really enjoyed this article since I was interested in genius hours and wanted to know more. I thought this article was especially helpful since the focus was on librarians leading it. I liked how she shared her plan and what worked and the students reactions.

Teaching Social Studies with Video Games

ET
IL

Maguth, B. M., List, J. S., Wunderle, M. (2015). Teaching social studies with video games. The Social Studies, 106(1), 32-36. doi: 10.1080/00377996.2014.961996

Summary:

This article highlights the use of interactive video games as instructional tools in the classroom.  Students used the game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings to build up a civilization.  This game was chosen because it could be aligned with state standards, had an easy to use interface, and good enough graphics to keep students engaged.  The teacher assessed student learning by having students write reflections related to academic content standards such as geography, trade, economics, etc.  Students were required to make connections between class discussions and the video game.  Teacher and student found the game to be a success in allowing students to practice academic content in “real world” scenario that was engaging.  The article even attributes this teaching strategy as an example of learning through play—a theory of Vygotsky and Piaget.

Evaluation:

This article highlights the importance of information and technology literacy in our classrooms.  While this article did not highlight the role of a teacher librarian, I can only imagine how much more beneficial the outcome would have been if teacher and teacher librarian had co-taught this assignment.

New Media Literacy Education (NMLE): A Developmental Approach

Amy Unger

Media Literacy Ed.

Graber, D. (2012) New Media Literacy Education (NMLE): A developmental approach. The National Association for Media Literacy Education's Journal of Media Literacy Education, 4(1), 82-92.

Summary:

In response to computer-technology usage by digital natives, the author of this article, Diana Graber, has developed and implemented a media-literacy curriculum called Cyberwise.  Her basis for its development was in response to a growing awareness of the immensity of internet and social media usage by digital natives, and scholars such as Prensky (2010), pointing towards a justified need for meeting young people "in whatever way they [educators, mentors] meet them" (this, increasingly meaning through technology) with opportunities that "best configure students' brains so that they can constantly learn, create, program, adopt, adapt, and relate positively to whatever and whomever they meet ...", along with James, et al., (2008) stating that, "... the responsibility lies with the adults (educators, policymakers, parents, etc.) to provide young people with optimal supports for good play and citizenship."

Furthermore, Graber's Cyberwise curriculum responds to the long-revered developmental theories of Piaget and Kohlberg, summed up as sharing the belief that

" ... children spend the first 12 years of life developing the cognitive structures that enable them to grasp the abstract, metaphoric, and symbolic types of information that lead to ethical thinking.  This understanding of cognitive and moral development requires us to at least consider how and when the youngest members of our society should be turned loose in a digital environment" (Graber, 2012).

Moreover, it is this capacity for ethical thinking that drives the Cyberwise curriculum.  Graber calls for our teaching of students to be wise users of the tools at their disposal, as a prerequisite to teaching media literacy.  Citing Ohler (2010), she notes the suggestion of a "whole school approach to behavior that sets the entirety of being digitally active within an overall ethical and behavioral context --- character education for the Digital Age."  Monke (2004) refers to this challenge with this:

"It seems that we are faced with a remarkable irony: that in an age of increasing artificiality, children first need to sink their hands deeply into what is real; that in an age of light-speed communication, it is crucial that children take the time to develop their own inner voice; that in an age of incredibly powerful machines we must first teach our children how to use the incredible powers that lie deep within themselves."

In searching for evidence of schooling that is currently meeting any portions of this demand, Graber found one approach to be notably successful at developing moral reasoning, i.e., the Waldorf® school approach.  In a cited dissertation (Hether, 2001), about high school seniors from diverse educational settings, the Waldorf® school approach was found--through a quantitative survey tool about moral reasoning, known as the DIT (Defining Issues Test)--to result in graduates scoring significantly higher in moral reasoning than students from religiously affiliated or public high schools.  Waldorf educated students scored in a range more commonly associated with college graduates (Graber, 2012, p. 87).

Perhaps even more importantly, the second phase of that same dissertation identified five aspects of Waldorf® education that might contribute to higher moral reasoning:

1. an emphasis on educating the whole person
2. sensitivity to developmental appropriateness
3. the practice of storytelling
4. the integral place of the arts in the curriculum
5. preservation of a sense of wonder towards the natural world

Sometime later, Jenkins, et al. (2006), (as in the Jenkins, et al.: Henry Jenkins of USC, and his team) identified "the media literacies", which have significant overlap with the aspects of Waldorf® education:

1.  networking, negotiation, collective intelligence and distributed cognition, such as occurs while students are working together to build a small structure (one of the many hands-on, collaborative projects in the Waldorf® curriculum)
2. visualization, judgement, and appropriation, such as the proficiencies cultivated through the Waldorf® empahasis on art
3. performance and simulation skills, such as developed by the dramatic storytelling practiced in Waldorf®, and 
4. play, considered a hallmark of Waldorf® education (Graber, 2012, p. 88).

While the article goes further to explain the middle school years as the right time for ethical media literacy instruction, through Harvard University's GoodPlay Project that identifies what ethical issues young people encounter in the digital world, it also makes mention of a three-year case study, through classroom action study, using Cyberwise (this being a Waldorf-inspired charter school in Orange County, CA) (Graber, 2012).

In conclusion, this article helps us stop and think about what we are doing while immersed in the beginnings of the digital age, with its "world full of both possibility and peril - rules of engagement being hashed out as we go" (Graber, 2012, p. 89).

Evaluation

I find this article to be indispensable, unique, and on the list of "why is this not required reading"?  Thank you for (hopefully) bearing with its length.

Citations referred to in the Graber Article (found to be in citation other than APA):

Hether, C.A. 2001. "The Moral Reasoning of High School Seniors from  Diverse Educational  Settings." Ph.D. dissertation, Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center. Retrieved from Dissertations & Theses: Full Text (Publication No. AAT 3044032).

James, C., K. Davis, A. Flores, J.M. Francis, L. Pettinghill, M. Rundel, and H. Gardner. 2008. "Young People, Ethics, and the New Digital Media: A Synthesis from the Good Play Project." GoodWork® Project Report Series, Number 54. Project Zero, Harvard School of Education.

Jenkins, H., R. Purushotma, K. Clinton, M. Weigel and A.J. Robinson, 2006. Confronting the  Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. http://newmedialiteracies.org/.

Monke, L. 2004. "The Human Touch." Education Next 4(4). http://educationnext.org/thehumantouch/

Ohler, J.B. 2009. "Orchestrating the Media Collage." Educational Leadership 66(6): 8-13.  http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/Orchestrating-the-Media- Collage.aspx

School Libraries and maker spaces

Shibrie Wilson

IL- Creative Thinking
ET- Standards-based Education
CA- Common Core Assessments
IL- Media Literacy

 Bell, J. (2015, May 12). School Librarians Push for More 'Maker Spaces' Retrieved May 19, 2016, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/05/13/school-librarians-push-for-more-maker-spaces.html

Summary: Term "maker space" has been added to vernacular of 21st century school libraries. These spaces allow student to interact and research different things in which some schools do not have part of their curriculum's. With the large push of STEAM- science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics has encouraged the integration of a "maker space." There are arguments as to whether the spaces are valuable, but scientist have not conducted quantitative research to provide this type of information. Issue with integrating make spaces into schools is that some districts are formal and have not adopted this type of ideology. Districts with such mindset are concerned with creating a space in which prepares students for standardized test and providing materials in which meet curriculum for each subject area. This poses a problem for administrators and librarians when defending reason as to why maker spaces are vital in school libraries. Common researchers are developing data in which provides information as to how student are developing skills that new standards require, specifically that of problem solving and critical thinking. The largest problem some librarians have faced, especially librarian in blog is that of time. Time is crucial and there is not enough for students to develop, construct, and create a large final project.

Reflection: Enjoyed reading this article considering that this is revolving discussion in libraries. How are maker spaces vital and what type of change is being implemented from this innovative idea. A problem that I see posed are those who have a traditional concept as to what library services involves, and will not want to branch out. Maker spaces in school libraries can allow collaborative opportunities for science and math teachers, opposed to typical usage from language arts and social studies teachers.

Information Literacy and Twenty-First Century Skills

Reece, Madison

IL

Robin, B. R. (2008). Digital storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21st century classroom. Theory into Practice, 47(3), 220-228. doi: 10.1080/00405840802153916

Robin (2008) defines information literacy as “the ability to find, evaluate, and synthesize information” (p. 224). Information literacy requires a specific set of abilities to effectively locate, evaluate, and utilize information. The author addresses digital storytelling and it's place in the world of twenty-first century technologies. 

The author provides an interesting perspective on twenty-first century skills and information literacy. Twenty-first century skills can be obtained when students learn to conduct research on their own, ask critical questions, think critically, and organize ideas in meaningful ways. Librarians and educators should exhibit strong leadership in the fields of technology in order to provide meaningful learning experiences for students. 

School Libraries Work! 2016 Edition

Sannwald, Suzanne
CO
Scholastic. (2015). School libraries work!: A compendium of research supporting the effectiveness of school libraries (2016 ed.). Retrieved from http://www.scholastic.com/SLW2016/ 

Summary: The 2016 edition updates the previous 2008 version, and it includes new research and trends such as makerspaces. This is a seminal document that Teacher Librarians should study and become familiar with, because it summarizes well the power of school library programs. It may also be shared with other members of the school community as an advocacy piece to help inform them. Of importance, the report not only shares statements about the importance of staffing and funding school libraries, but it bases these assertions on summarized research. Some key ideas shared include the following:

• Libraries are transforming into learning commons.
• School libraries consist of (1) The Place, (2) The Professional, and (3) The Program.
• Successful school libraries contribute to ELA achievement, reading performance, information literacy, 21st century skill building, and overall student success.
• Successful school libraries require commitment from district and school administration.

Evaluation: I had a difficult time picking a category for this resource since it spans a lot of topics, but I ended up picking “CO” Collaboration since I think it is a strong document supporting the value of collaboration with school libraries. This is a powerful reference resource for all Teacher Librarians!

T is for Transmedia

Sannwald, Suzanne

IL

Herr-Stephenson, B., Alper, M., Reilly, E., & Jenkins, H. (2013). T is for transmedia: Learning through transmedia play. Los Angeles and New York: USC Annenberg Innovation Lab and The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. Retrieved from http://www.annenberglab.com/projects/t-transmedia

Summary: The linked paper provides a comprehensive review of transmedia “play” and how this connects with learning. Particularly with libraries transforming into Learning Commons, and their increasing support of constructivist and discovery learning, this study provides helpful background information and research that supports the learning benefits of transmedia play. Educators may be familiar with research regarding functional literacy and increasingly about information and media literacy, but they may not be aware of transmedia literacy and the way that these extensions may legitimately support learning goals. While transmedia may be at times accused of being evidence of gross commercialization, this paper looks at how it serves as an entry point for children to not only learn with high self-motivation and interest, but also encourages them to participate as content creators themselves.

Evaluation: I recently learned about transmedia in INFO 237, and I think that there is nice synergy between this topic and the investigation that we have been doing in INFO 250 regarding discovery learning. In particular, I think that it is important that Teacher Librarians become well versed in supporting students as creators, and that we are able to articulate the relevance of this constructivist learning to their overall educational experience.

Dweck's "Mindset" - Growing through Failure

Fluetsch, Christopher

IL

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, New York: Ballentine Books.

Carol Dweck’s Mindset is almost a decade old, but it is currently enjoying a revival of interest in education circles. A number of posts on this blog cover articles written about this book, but no post has yet covered the book itself.

Dweck’s book concerns her research into how people approach problems. Dweck maintains that people take one of two approaches to problems. They either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

At its most basic level, a fixed mindset occurs when a person believes that intelligence, ability or skill in some area is fixed, that is that it cannot be significantly changed. The person considers themselves either smart or dumb, talented or not. For a fixed mindset person, a problem is an insurmountable obstacle. A failure indicates that the person is simply not good enough.

A growth mindset individual, however, believes in limitless human potential. A problem becomes an opportunity for growth, a chance to learn a new skill or a new approach to a problem. Dweck maintains that growth mindset individuals are more likely to be successful in the long term, as they continue to learn new skills. Growth mindset people are also more likely to be happy and content, as they never feel as if a problem is unsolvable.

The recent revival of this book is directly related to the need for students to learn the 21st century skills of adaptability and life-long learning. A common phrase in modern education is “We are are teaching our students skills they will need for jobs that have not even been created.” The basic idea is that the pace of change is accelerating, and people can grow and adapt to new conditions will be more successful than people who cannot.

Unfortunately, Dweck tends to reason beyond her data. She has a potent idea with some research behind it, but she extrapolates the idea into a binary worldview, where one either is fixed or growth. Everything bad comes from having a fixed mindset, everything good from growth. She oversells her idea, ruining a bit of her credibility.

Nevertheless, Mindset has some excellent advice for helping students cope with change. It is probably not necessary to read the entire book, as a number of chapters become repetitive. However, the first three chapters and the chapter on teaching are valuable additions for anyone’s reading plan.

Alejandro Aravena: My architectural philosophy? Bring the community into the process

Sullivan, M.
CO

Ted Talk: Alejandro Aravena: My architectural philosophy? Bring the Community into the Process
October 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.ted.com/talks/alejandro_aravena_my_architectural_philosophy_bring_the_community_into_the_process?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=image__2014-11-06#t-118950

Summary: Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena shares how participatory community planning helped pose questions to address design challenges regarding low-income housing, sustainability and protection against natural disasters. He shares how the communities concerns around each situation helped them ask the right question to help them solve the problem. In one case, they developed half of a good house (40 sq. meters) instead of a too small housing project. In another, they flipped the design to repel radiation while still access natural light and encourage collaboration. In yet another, they used nature to diffuse and support naturals processes.

Evaluation: This is a wonderful metaphor for the messy process that collaboration can be, but how necessary to actually get to the right problem. I loved hearing how they arrived at a solution directly related to the needs of the community, whom had they not consulted would never have been  able to identify those needs. As a result, the stakeholders were involved and satisfied with the result, the design constraints were met, and the outcome truly innovative and graceful.

Randy Nelson on Learning and Working in a Collaborative Age

Amy Jessica McMillan
CO

Ellis, K. (Producer), & Sutherland, K. (Director). (2008). Randy Nelson on learning and working in a collaborative age. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/randy-nelson-school-to-career-video

SUMMARY
In this video, posted to Edutopia.org, former Pixar University dean Randy Nelson explains Pixar's philosophy on collaboration in the workplace. At Pixar, they have three major principles when it comes to working with others: First, Nelson says they "accept every offer." In other words, they build each other up instead of tear each other down. Nelson explains that when you listen and consider the other person's idea, you have a possibility, and when you don't, "you have a dead end." Second, Pixar believes in making your partners or team members look good.  They don't talk about how they will "fix" a partner's idea. Instead, it is more about how one idea springs from another. Third, when Pixar is looking to hire someone, they not only look for depth of knowledge and skill, but also for resilience, for evidence of past failure and recovery. They want people with problem solving skills and wide varieties of experience. In order to find innovative people, Pixar looks for personalities that demonstrate interest and who are passionate about their goals. Finally, Nelson explains that at Pixar collaboration means amplification. It is beyond cooperation because people are truly building on each other's skills to create unique and powerful ideas.

EVALUATION
This speech is inspiring for people in every profession, including those of us who work in education. Pixar is unbeatable in terms of the creative products they produce, so it means a lot to hear Randy Nelson talk about how collaboration is at the heart of everything they do. I can easily incorporate the first tenant: "Accept every offer" into my daily collaborative work at the middle school where I work. I interpret that phrase to mean that collaborative teams truly consider everyone's ideas. They don't just wait to say their own ideas or try to tear other people's ideas apart. Educators should also be mindful of the way Pixar looks for people who have persevered through past failures. If we want to be innovative, we will sometimes fail. There will be lessons that don't work. It's part of the process. We should all remember Nelson's final point: Collaboration means amplification. That is true for teachers just as it is true for students. We are better working together than we are working alone.

The invisible iPad: It’s not about the device

Liu, Jacqueline

IL

Cohen, M. (2014).  The invisible iPad: It’s not about the device.  Retrieved from

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/05/the-invisible-ipad-its-not-about-the-device/

Summary

Cohen argues that regardless of the form of educational tools students use, whether it is an iPad or any other device, without a clear goal in mind and the assessment of skill sets students will lose sight of the purpose of project-based learning.  In order for students to create products with different technological devices, Cohen urges educators and educational technologists to focus on the foundational skills and to provide guidance for students on how these devices and applications will enhance basic skills.

Evaluation

While this article does not cite any evidence (i.e., statistics) from research studies, the author’s strong opinions stressing the importance of clarifying learning outcomes over the use of difference technological devices make up for the missing data from educational technology studies.

Can Any School Foster Pure Creativity?

Shawn Pomatto

IL

Soling, C. (2014). Can any school foster pure creativity? Mind/Shift. Retrieved from http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.kqed.org%2Fmindshift%2F2014%2F03%2Fcan-creativity-truly-be-fostered-in-classrooms-of-today%2F%3Futm_source%3Dfeedburner%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DFeed%253A%2Bkqed%252FnHAK%2B%2528MindShift%2529&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHR8pcR4DeAfPVpEWEozd3Dj7QxnQ

The question is how can we promote creativity in schools?  Studies show that creativity can lead to innovation and problem solving capabilities.  So how can we provide an environment which nurtures this type of growth?  The problem is that schools are designed around discipline and rigidity of rules enforcement. Standardized tests results try to suggest that creativity can be measured by a single number.  That is impossible.  Creativity is not designed to be defined by one single definition.  If we are to teach creativity in a school, then we must make fundamental changes in the way in which a school operates.  Creativity is reliant upon unconventional means.  it is the invention of something new and unique.  Therefore a school who doesn't embrace differences, but instead relies upon maintaining order, may not be the right environment for fostering creativity.

What one needs to realize is that we cannot simplify change by only attacking curriculum.  We must also shake the very foundations from which schools are run.  Promoting creativity must be all inclusive and not merely specific to the confines of a classroom.  The entire school needs to comply with the movement in order to significantly make a difference in the lives and learning experiences of students.  Previous standards based tests frowned upon failure.  It was not o.k. to miss test questions.  When in reality, we learn best when we have experienced failure, as we now know what steps will bring us to failure, and which steps will bring us success.  Failure is a necessary step in the process of learning.  If we are to successfully promote creativity in schools, then we must be prepared to let some of the control escape our grasps, and allow that control to be embraced and facilitate by our students.

How tech can change the world for young people

Anusasananan, Chalida

IL

Looking for the hidden genius within disenfranchised youth [Blog post]. (2014, March 3). Retrieved from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/03/looking-for-hidden-geniuses-among-disenfran

     Hidden Genius is a program in Oakland for Black and Latino males.  Here, they learn to code and ultimately use their skills to develop their own apps in a Hack-a-Thon.  Young people develop collaboration skills as well as tech skills while creating these apps.  Finally, the students pitch their apps to potential funders.  This program is developed to keep the young men of Oakland off the streets.  Many underserved communities, especially youth, are consumers of technology; here the idea is to make these young people producers of technology.  The tech entrepreneur who started this program, Kalimah Priforce says, “If we 
want to build an app that could have saved Trayvon Martin’s life, one of the best approaches is to 
make sure that Trayvon Martin is able to build that app."  

     The young men interviewed in this program are so impressive.  In the midst of all the gentrification in the Bay Area right now pushing Black and Latino families and all working class residents out of the area, I find this program really important.  The tech industry desperately lacks diversity and what a way to help change the demographics of that field.  As a teacher librarian at an urban school in SF, I want to make sure all of my students have access and opportunity to the newest technology.  I also want to advocate for them to have these opportunities in the library and in the school as a whole.  

Information Literacy: Toward a Cultural Model.

Young, Alice

IL-Creative Thinking 

IL-Research about IL

Information Literacy: Toward a Cultural Model.
Montiel-Overall, P. (2007). Information Literacy: Toward a Cultural Model. Canadian Journal Of Information & Library Sciences, 31(1), 43-68.

Information literacy has become a powerful concept for library and information science professionals. However, information literacy must take into account culture to meet the challenges of a global society. This paper argue that a new framework is needed to move the discussion of information literacy from a conceptual understanding to a model that identifies the influence of culture on how individuals think about and make meaning from information, and how they comprehend and use information. Pedagogy for a cultural model of information literacy grounded in constructivist learning theory is proposed for the LIS profession.

The author a shift to a new paradigm requires the consistent use of a vocabulary that reflects thinking acts rather than behaviors. Strategies for a cultural model of information literacy to become more knowledgeable about learners’ backgrounds, so to develop a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives that come from communities of learner thinking together. The author suggests that potential of librarians to affect change in communities is powerful and profound.

Montessori Education: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Montessori Education: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

IL-Creative Thinking

IL-Critical Thinking

IL-Integrated or Separate

IL-Other Literacies

ET-Inquiry and Problem-based Learning

ET-Learning Styles

ET-Standards-based Education

Torrence, Martha. "Montessori Education: An Idea Whose Time Has Come." Montessori Life Summer 2012: 18-23.

Summary

What future will our children face, and how can we best prepare them for it? What changes in the educational landscape are essential in order to prepare them? Education has changed throughout the years, always with the best intentions, but not always with the best results. Changes like “No Child Left Behind” has led to relentless testing and the idea that the only knowledge worth gaining is testable and measurable; and that successful students are repositories of knowledge rather than processors of information, creative thinkers and problem solvers.

With the introduction of Common Core, 21^st Century skills have become a major focus. These 21^st Century skills shift the role of the child to become central to the process and an active co-constructor of knowledge rather than a passive vessel waiting to be filled.  These ideas are beginning to sound like what has been going on Montessori classrooms for decades; student-directed learning, where the center is the child.    

Opinion

I decided to add this article to the blog because as we started learning about QuickMOOCs and student-directed learning, the more it started sounding like a Montesorri classroom to me. I think that traditional education needs a major overhaul and I’m not sure that Common Core is the right answer. Although there are aspects of Common Core that are a great improvement ( 21^st Century skills), there are others (enormous amount of standardized testing) that defeat the idea of education reform. I am very interested in alternate ways of educating and testing children, and I find the Montessori approach fascinating.