Learning to Change the Way We Teach: Lessons Learned from a Collaborative Unit

Collaborate. Integrate. Reflect. We’ve heard it all before. But really, how do people do it? Join us as we share our collaborated research unit. Learn how we did it step-by-step, what worked, what didn’t and what we plan to change. You can even go home and copy what we did with your co-workers! Handouts available. PowerPoint, Handout 1, Handout 2

What were the things that made the 2nd grade teacher want to collaborate with the media specialist?

• Resources
• Information Literacy Skills (using an index, encyclopedia, magazines)
• understanding of the complimentary sets of teaching knowledge that each teacher offers the process.

Unifying model was the Wonder Wheel from Debbie Miller’s Reading with Meaning and it was enlivened by good topics (like spiders).

Things they liked:

2nd grade teacher  – integration of several learning objectives (language arts, tech, media) were accomplished within the scope of this project

Tech guy – continuous improvement of teaching practice over time. Things he would do differently – more care in citing sources, and using more non-Google resources (such as NC Wise Owl).

Teacher-Librarian – The results of collaboration are so powerful that all of this work is worth it.  Establishes a predictable process for students.

The multiple learning objectives were accomplished because the collaborative teaching was addressing the classroom goals (it was not an additional “thing” on top of everything else).  The next go round will include much more joint assessment.

Inspirational works/events

It’s always exciting to read an inspirational article or attend an inspirational presentation. It may help you develop or understand a research question, make you think about something you thought you understood in a new way, serve as the basis for a line of research, model a particular teaching method or approach, drive you to demonstrate that the author/speaker is wrong, or be an example of excellent research.

What article or event has inspired you this year? Something you heard at a recent conference or a lecture on campus, something you have read in another class, something you heard via a Web broadcast, an article that is giving you ideas for your future work, or…

Select an inspirational work or event (it could be an article, a book chapter, a web site, a lecture, a video, or a conference presentation).  Why do you find this work or event inspirational, and how is it helping you or will help you with your work?

July 30- August 1 Incorporating Primary Sources into the Teaching Process

This institute will help teachers take advantage of the instructional power of primary sources, the documents and objects left behind by participants in past events. Though most teachers are familiar with the importance of primary sources, many are unsure about how to use them in the classroom or how to help students use them in projects. In this workshop, Library of Congress specialists will introduce participants to the unique characteristics of primary sources, while helping explore some of the millions of digitized primary sources available on the Library’s Web site. Participants will look at ways to introduce students to primary sources, as well as to help them understand how to use, and cite, primary sources in projects of their own.

From my application:

What You Hope to Gain: I hope to gain a better understanding of the total scope and depth of subjects, topics, and issues represented in the digital and physical collection of primary materials available through the LOC.   Additionally, I wish to acquire a better understanding of the common features and qualities found in primary sources.  I look forward to Library of Congress experts helping me to compare and contrast the elements of these primary sources to the secondary sources with which students are more familiar.

How You Plan to Share: At the building level I will use knowledge gained at the Summer Institute to collaboratively design projects with subject area teachers that integrate LOC primary sources across the curriculum.  These projects will address a component of our information literacy program which is presently missing.  At the state level I will share my Summer Institute experience and the resultant school-based projects during the North Carolina School Library Media Association 2008-2009 conference. This conference is attended by approximately 1000 media specialists representing school districts across the state.

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I look forward to bringing back new knowledge from this Institute and working with our faculty to design research projects for the 08-09 school year and beyond.

Now to the Next Step: Before I go to the Institute I want classroom teachers to give me some guidance.  Please add a comment to this post telling me about primary sources you would like to use.  I will go on a search for them during the institute.

One topic mentioned yesterday was 1 to 1 computing – where each student is equipped with a laptop or tablet pc. Many proponents of this model contend it is a guaranteed way to improve student achievement. To me it seems like an ongoing expense (a large one) which requires the addition of technology staff who are not necessarily occupying teaching roles. Would it be better to acquire fewer computers and hire more media specialists and teachers to show students how to use these tools? What are your thoughts and/or experiences with 1 to 1 computing?

Please contribute any websites or research about 1 to 1 computing at the Mediacentered wiki.