Interview Round Two - Teach a Lesson

[Carina Gonzalez]

Hello everyone.  I'm currently an elementary librarian who just interviewed for a high school position.  I would really like to work with older children so I'm really excited that I was asked back for round two of the interview process.

I've been asked to teach a 20-minute lesson on a research skill to a group of juniors.  I would love some suggestions!

[Katie]

Web evaluation is one of the most critical skills students need to develop.  I would instruct them on using the CRAAP test and use a specific search example to work through the 5 components. 

C: Currency

R: Relevance

A:  Authority

A: Accuracy

P:  Purpose or objectivity

Good luck!

[Carina Gonzalez]

CRAAP?!  LOL!  That's hilarious.  Are you sure it wouldn't be inappropriate for me to use that word in front of a search committee?  Granted, the kids would think it's hilarious - and they would totally remember it - but I don't know.  Makes me nervous.  

[Katie]

I thought of the interview appropriateness, but if you can explain that indeed the jr. in high school audience would be very receptive to it, it might work in your favor.  Many of the HS librarians in my area use it.  You could also use the terms of currency, etc.

without the acronym and cite statistics that students only look at the first 5 Google hits, or turn first to Wikipedia and it's our responsibility to help them dig deeper and discern quality.

[Martha Hickson]

Carina:

You can teach the same concepts without stepping in CRAAP by asking students to examine:

Who: Identify the person or organization responsible for the site. What are their credentials on the topic?

What: What evidence do you see that the information is accurate and reliable?

When: When was the information created or updated? Is it current enough for your information need?

Why: What is the purpose of the site?

If it helps, I have a pathfinder for a web evaluation workshop that I have done with my students. Some of these resources might help you: http://tinyurl.com/cwye8a9

Another lesson topic could be search strategies, including Boolean operators, phrase searching, truncation, and wildcards. You could do this with a commonly used database, such as MasterFile Premiere (if the school subscribes) or Google. Sometimes I do Booelan aerobics with my students, which involves having them stand upnor sit down based on combinations of "search terms" that involve hair color, eye color, gender, birth month, etc.

Be sure to look at the search education resources that Google published recently; they're quite good.

Good luck!

[Carina Gonzalez]

THANK YOU MARTHA!  This is perfect.  This is exactly what I'm going to do.  Thank you from nearby Somerset County!

[Martha Hickson]

I'm happy to have helped you, Carina! Good luck with the lesson. I hope to see you around " library land" here in NJ.

[Carina Gonzalez]

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who jumped in to answer this question for me.  I did indeed get a high school position so thank you!

[Martha Hickson]

Way to go, Carina! Congratulations on your new job.