Steve Hargadon: Escaping the Education Matrix

Steve Hargadon: Escaping the Education Matrix

Vangelova, L. (2014). Steve Hargadon: Escaping the education matrix. KQED.

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/01/08/steve-hargadon-escaping-the-education-matrix/

This article talks about the educational ideas of Steve Hargadon, an education entrepeneur and host of the Future Education podcast. he is against the traditional way that education is set up to make most learners dependent followers and only the smartest kids excel.  He promotes the value of every student and self-directed, “mandate free” learning that is often found in libraries.  He also promotes collaboration and people connecting with one another.  

I liked this article because it is a short summary fo his educational ideas and beliefs and hits on key points to help the reader better understand how students are negatively affected when they are not given the freedom to direct their own learning and when they becoem dependent on the teacher's direction. I especially liked how the article talks about the bullying and how it is a side effect of the way students are taught in schools to be afraid to stand up for themselves and also may lead to poor confidence.

Collaboration With Teachers

Enhanced and Changing Roles of School Librarians Under the Digital Age

Lo, P., & Chiu, D. W. (2015). Enhanced and changing roles of school librarians under the digital age. New Library World,116(11/12), 696-710.

This article talks about the changing roles of school librarians due to the increase in enquiry-based student learning and use of more technology.  This paper is based on a qualitative analysis of the interviews with three practicing secondary school librarians in Hong Kong. Recommends that school librarians take a more proactive role in helping teachers. They need to become known as information providers and curriculum facilitators. It also discusses how school librarians have a lot of freedom in the way they use their skills to collaborate since their are no set standards or checklist to follows. This article is informative and helps inspire librarians to be more proactive and creative. It also helps to show that collaboration helps make you more in demand and helps with job security.

ESEA, Librarians, and Advocacy

       Journalist Christina Vercelletto writes about education, politics, and libraries. She suggests that during a recent education bill, libraries weren’t included which resulted in cuts in school libraries nationwide. This is the first new education bill since No Child Left Behind (Vercelletto, 2015). In that act, school libraries were left out, which resulted in widespread cuts to school library staff and resources (Vercelletto, 2015).  This article suggests that it’s imperative for librarians to come forward and persuade politicians to vote in favor of a bill that will establish school libraries to meet education standards. In Common Core practices, many standards support the pursuit of information literacy and the use of the library for research and technology interests. A new bill is scheduled for review with the Senate. President Obama could sign a new ESEA—one that gives school librarians the support they need and deserve—before Christmas (Vercelletto, 2015).  The ESEA stands for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This bill demands a complete education offered to every student. Vercelletto stresses the importance for librarians to speak up and advocate for their programs during the progress of the ESEA bill.

Please visit the American Library Association’s action page for directions on how to call your state senator to advocate for libraries in schools. Stress the importance of voting yes for the ESEA! Visit the ALA here for more information: http://cqrcengage.com/ala/app/make-a-call?3&engagementId=126198

While there are just a few days left, it’s not too late for librarians to make a difference.

References:

With ESEA Action Imminent, Advocates Maintain Pressure on Inclusion of School Libraries

By Christina Vercelletto on November 20, 2015                                                           

http://www.slj.com/category/budgets-funding/

http://www.slj.com/2015/11/legislation/with-esea-action-imminent-advocates-maintain-pressure-on-inclusion-of-school-libraries/

American Library Association

http://cqrcengage.com/ala/app/make-a-call?3&engagementId=126198

ESEA Language Is Final; ALA Urges Action

Tahsuda, Kimberly

SLJ. (2015, November 30). ESEA Language Is Final; ALA Urges Action. Retrieved December 1, 2015, from http://www.slj.com/2015/11/legislation/esea-language-is-final-ala-urges-action/

PDF of LIBRARY PROVISION OVERVIEW

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/sites/ala.org.advocacy/files/content/advleg/federallegislation/ALA%20-%20ESEA%20Conference%20Overview%20%2811-30-15%29.pdf

Overview:

This article is an update and call to action to support the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ASEA), which since has been passed by Congress.  What is notable is the PDF link from SLJ within the article providing an overview of the library provisions in the bill. The bill authorizes individual states to “use funds to support the instructional services provided by effective school library programs” and “updates the definition of ‘specialized instructional support personnel’ to include ‘school librarians''. Key sections of the new bill highlighting effective school library programs  as quoted from the document:

• Improving Basic Programs Operated by State and Local Educational Agencies
• Supporting Effective Instruction
• Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN)
• Innovative Approaches to Literacy
• 21st Century Community Learning Centers

A press release from the ALA states that if the bill is "signed into law, this will be the first piece of federal legislation in over 50 years to provide school libraries with a dedicated revenue stream to enhance school library services and resources” (American Library Association, 2015).

Scoring the New Every Student Succeeds Act

Tahsuda, Kimberly

Hess, R. (2015, November 30). Scoring the New Every Student Succeeds Act [Web log post]. Retrieved December 1, 2015, from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rick_hess_straight_up/2015/11/scoring_the_new_every_student_succeeds_act.htm

Overview:

This article provides a “scorecard” for the recently passed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) bill. After a brief, and useful, history of both the original law of the Elementary and Secondary Education (ESEA) Act and the more recent and well-known version of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the author delineates criteria for judging the potential new law:

Does is promote transparency?

Does it end federal efforts to micro-manage school improvement?

Does it enable states to expand school choice?

Does it get the feds out of teacher business?

The article does not mention school libraries and is heavy on the commentary; however, it serves as brief history of the legislation and highlights the politics behind the impact of federal legislation on local education.

Teacher Librarians, Training, and Expertise

Carol Brzozowski writes on transition librarians are making in order to revitalize library programs and services to support the changing needs of today’s students. One Canadian school district made clear decisions about the development of their school library services. According to Brzozowski, the district’s instructional technology services department provided multiyear training of teacher-librarians to help launch a new video on-demand service, and then an extensive training program to show teacher-librarians how to use productivity software, video-production technologies, and podcasting tools (2015). Trainings are great, but it’s necessary to define the vision for school librarians and teacher librarians. But today, the teacher-librarians are also expected to help “curate and guide learners and teachers to find good content and use it effectively”—a challenge at a time when the massive amount of digital content available to schools resembles the “Wild West,” Mr. Ray said after being interviewed by Brzozowski (Brzozowski, 2015). The expectations for teacher librarians are extensive but important as their roles are defined. Brzozowski observed progressive steps the Canadian district made, by investing their own education funds beyond grant funding to train librarians. The results were encouraging, through librarian training they were able to save money later, through streamlined acquisition and tracking programs district wide when monitoring textbooks. This training and ease of textbook management improved teacher’s job responsibilities as well. The benefits and the cost proved to make this districts decision easy to implement. I hope to uncover more stories about districts backing and building strong library designs for educational benefit and to bring patrons back to libraries. This story is a model of a strategy that experienced nothing but success.

References:

 

K-12 Librarians' Roles Shift to Meet Digital Demands

A Washington state district treats librarians as digital mentors

By Carol Brzozowski

April 13, 2015

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/04/15/k-12-librarians-roles-shift-to-meet-digital.html

Beyond Mechanics: Reframing the Pedagogy and Development of Information Literacy Teaching Tools

posted by Karen Kotchka

IL

Margolin, S. & Hayden, W. (2015).  Beyond Mechanics: Re-framing the Pedagogy and Development of Information Literacy Teaching Tools. Journal of Academic Librarianship, 41 (5), 602-612.

Summary
     This article focuses on the debate around whether the internet has made research papers obsolete and how students should be trained to do research and retrieve and analyze information in light of the fact that so much information is so readily available in an instant on the internet.The authors argue that the process of research rather than the mechanics should be scaffolded for the learner and that students should be led to discover that research is a process of inquiry and discovery, not just collecting facts to prove a thesis.  The subjects the authors were dealing with were first-year college students and although they do not seem well-prepared in information literacy skills, the faculty does not seem to be integrating those skills into their courses of instruction.

Evaluation
     I thought this article gave some new and fresh insights into a new instructional approach to information literacy and would be useful for middle to high school and early college teachers and librarians.  I wanted to see the Reading Toolkit the authors had created but there wasn't a direct link or screenshot so I did a search myself and was able to find the website since they said they were from Hunter College.  here is the link to their website: http://library.hunter.cuny.edu/research-toolkit