Sarah Applegate's Comments

Greetings Sarah,

I'm Mike McQueen, teacher librarian and founder of http://www.GettingBoysToRead.com. Like many school districts, we are in a financial crises. Our school board recently proposed to eliminate ALL 20+ middle school teacher librarians and also cut all 90+ elementary schools to half time. Since we are the biggest district in all of Colorado, we worry this will cause other districts to follow suit. We launched an online movement and are going to do our best to put up a good fight.

If possible, please visit our Facebook page and "Like" us http://www.facebook.com/SupportSchoolLibraries . Adding a positive comment and sharing with your friends would help our morale as well. The board finalizes the budget soon so your timely support would be greatly appreciated!

Sincerely,

Mike McQueen

Teacher Librarian at McLain HS

Lakewood, CO

Hi Sarah,
I'm a teacher librarian & recently started a community based blog for getting boys to read - http://GettingBoysToRead.com. Please send me a friend request if you'd like to network, share ideas, and learn more about getting boys to read.

Sincerely,
Mike McQueen

LET'S NETWORK HERE TOO (request me as a friend):
My FACEBOOK Profile
My TWITTER Profile</</body>

I wanted to ditto Sharyn's comments about people using research skills all of the time, just not calling it that. While I was teaching the cooking class to a dozen middle schoolers last week, I kept getting questions about how to make quiche dough or why egg yolks absorb oil and though I was mostly giving out anwers, the kids were doing a whole lot of research, it's just that I was the resource. What I couldn't anwer right there I would come back to the next day with an answer after I'd done my research. This type of thing happens all the time in real life. The challenge is moving it into a pedagogical framework.

RE: What skills we use...

My husband and I are in the process of building our home. Since he's in the construction business himself we are trying to save some money by doing it mostly on our own and just calling in the sub-contractors as needed. With that said, we've done a lot of research to find the cheapest subs around, which sometimes means not using the ones he usually calls on. On top of this, we've just signed our 30 year mortgage loan. Talk about research...we went through TONS on paperwork to compare banks and lenders to try to find the best one. It's a little scary trying to make such huge decisions, but research is definitely necessary. While this isn't necessarily "fun" research, it is practical.

Ok...I finally got on! Sharyn mentioned me talking about portfolios last week. I hope I did not sould awful when I said that. I do see their importance, but it would be nice if the students understood how this portfolio would support them in the future. I liked Sharyn's idea about posting information and projects on a school wall. That would be a great way for students to share work well done and ideas about where peers could go to get information for projects and things. What a great way for teachers and students to stay connected. The teacher would have to do some monitoring to keep informationed share appropriate, but I see the potential.

RE: Research...how to get em psyched!

I started thinking about our third graders, who are just SO excited to do their country reports. For one, the country they research is the one of their heritage, so there is instant connection and buy in. They also create floats and have a cultural parade and feast, so their experience goes way beyond just “finding out the population of India."

Some of the content that must be taught is hard to connect to, but I love the spin of the bio professor making it real and relevant to students by having them consider a situation that could actually apply to them. I think about myself as a learner in high school and college, and memorizing equations in chemistry and learning dates and events in history was so challenging!! It would take work to make it relevant and connected, but then again, that would take it to a higher level of thinking and deeper understanding.

You are right. Top down is too much a part of their lives...and a contributor to a fair amount of bitterness about education right now. Sometimes my bitter side comes out a little strongly.

I think this posting thing is the way to go...even though I am super lame at it (but am trying to learn). You are using blogs, right? This is what they do for flicker and such- leave messages and comments for each other. Yes, they would have to be monitored. My issue is still (and this is probably jsut all teachers) the sense of caring about it. Be wary of the electronic portfolios...I agree with Chelsey.

Here is a Big 6/banana split powerpoint from Arizona:

http://www.pendergast.k12.az.us/schools/cbreeze/Big6ResourcePage/Big%20Six-Banana%20Split%20Presentation.pps

This is definitely one that could be used to introduce the concept. I chose to use my son's birthday cake as a concrete example of me going through the process. I wanted kids to see that Big 6 wasn't just something that they'd "do" at school, but is really applicable in many of life's projects!

I also thought that if we DISCUSSED banana splits, they'd start thinking we'd actually have them, and a few get a bit huffy when they think they're entitled to something. Didn't want to disappoint them so early on in the year! ;)

RE: Research... Getting them psyched: I don't think top-down is necessarily the right approach. Teachers and students are both experiencing a great deal of top-down requirements these days, and it's not very fun. On the other hand, too much autonomy and you'll get (a) nothing (b) the fish report (c) let's go unannounced to the library to do RESEARCH and see the surprised look on the teacher-librarian's face when we walk through the door.

The CBA holds some promise in that we have a chance to show the teachers and students our stuff and to get them (teachers, at least) invested in an outcome that both has some autonomy (form) and some top-downness (components). I would like to see some enhancements to the function of the CBA - portfolio building? history night?

Chelsey talked the other day about portfolios not fulfilling their promise - simply being yet another thing to have to do. What about creating a Ning (whatever that is) for your school and have students post their research (CBA's or whatever) and then they could "write on each other's walls. Hmm... it has promise, though I can only imagine what they might write on their walls. Ample oversight, of course (by the TL...?)

Sharyn

Sorry about the page being closed to posting...I admit I am learning this technology (and not nearly fast enough, apparently!) I love that idea- that no one knows they need it until they REALLY need it. I will have to look at that article.

I think a big part of it is finding ways of connecting projects to students...and that means getting in the curriculum planning stages with teachers. I feel pretty savvy about what my teachers do, but I still have the fish reports AND the way out there research that kids definitely don't get connected with. I think that it is better to at least be involved with the fish reports to try to strengthen them rather than just throwing them out. I like to see students to real world (a weird phrase that I am not a huge fan of) end products- letters to the school board, presentations to younger students, editorials for the school paper. I think putting that context into their projects will help.

I agree Carrie- that if you can connect the process to their lives, they will see that it matters. I guess I get frustrated/discouraged when the process is connected to projects they are not excited about- and that is the reality of research in schools, I guess. Curriculum topics must be taught, regardless of the desire of the students.

I wonder if you could post your lesson to your TL page so that others can "borrow" from you (citing their sources, of course!)

Did you refer to steps of the Big 6 in later projects with students as "adding the flour and sugar" etc to keep them engaged and in the process?

Hey Sarah,
I tried to post a comment to your question about real world research skills but the page was closed to posting, so... I think people use research skills all the time, but they never call it that. Rather, they call it finding the best deal on a car, deciding how to vote, figuring out what to cook for dinner based on what is in the fridge, and finding child care, a new job, directions to the airport, the best treatment for a disease.

I read an article recently in Newsweek in which a biology professor tried to capture the attention of her non-science major students. They yawned their way through class, seeing biology as a lab requirement that had no bearing on their career choices and lives. She convinced them of its importance when she talked about enrolling one's ill relative in a clinical study to get the newest treatments. (Sanfeliu, 6/16/08, )

Information literacy is like Life Science - nobody knows they need it until they're using it (or lacking the skills to use it). I love your idea of talking to people at the swimming pool, grocery store, etc, to find out how and when they do research. I think you will net some interesting and quite convincing examples.

I think the key is connecting this process (which is often something they aren't familiar with) to something very real and familiar to them. When I did an introductory Big 6 lessons with my 5th and 6th grade students, I told them how I used the steps in the process of my son’s birthday cake. I went through each step, from considering baking vs. buying, to gathering supplies, planning out the time frame, and even to evaluation. I had pictures along the way to show what I was doing. It was a very relevant and real lesson, as it is something they’ve all experienced and been a part of with their own birthdays. I know there is a “banana split” Big 6 lesson, where the process of creating banana splits is tied into the Big 6.

Once they had the introductory lesson, then I would refer to the Big 6 steps as “going to the store” (gathering resources) or “people said the cake looked and tasted good” (reflection).

Hi there.

After teaching this research class, I am thinking more and more about the challenges of teaching research skills to teenagers (and all students, really.) LIFE is all about research, but too often, research in the library is seen as an add on. How can we change this challenge? How can we make library research relevant to students (without completely hijacking the entire curriculum? I know that sometimes, that is my impulse, and that isn't very "collaborative" is it?"

Hey! Nice picture there.

Hi Sarah, We're setting up profiles for Marianne's class and I saw that you had a profile too. See you next week.
Gretchen

Yeah...I need to become more savvy about this online networking stuff, too! (Or, at least make it part of my daily repetoire!)

Hi,

Here's the link for digital booktalks: http://www.digitalbooktalk.com/