Digital Resources

I train all school staff about how to access these four databases/portals that our district 34 subscribes to.

LearnNowBC
Access Learning
Learn 360
Jobs People Do

District Helping Teacher for Libraries

Some of the task that I have undertaken:

• Belong to the Learning Resources Review Meeting Committee which meets three time a year.
• Lead and co-lead Learning Resources Review Meetings offered three times during the school year to all teachers, staff and parents.
• Supervise four to five library technicians.
• In charge of Start Resources DVD Collection.
• Meet with and support other teacher librarians and library technicians.
• Train teachers and library staff on how to access Digital Resources.
• Ensuring and in charge of getting Pro-D speakers for our library staff.
• Ensure CLiP (Centralized Library Program) services are running smoothly and are up to date.
• Create survey's for all district library staff.
• Continue and keep up with studies for teacher-librarianship.
• Support and advocate for libraries within our district.
• Attend all BCTLA conferences representing our district 34.
• Report to Shelley Wilcox Director of Technology.

  

  This is the CLiP team at C.O.R.E.

PLC's

Get your own PLC here!

 Image taken from South Plainfields Public School District
(http://spboe.org/domain/854)
 

What is a Professional Learning Community (PLC)?

 "A PLC is comprised of a group of educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research in order to achieve better for the students they serve.  PLC's operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous, job-embedded learning for educators. (Dufour, Dufour, Eaker, 2007).

Why do we need it?

Research demonstrates that the development of a strong professional community among educators is key ingredient in improving schools (Fullan 1999; Langer 2000; Little and McLaughlin 1993; Louis, Kruse, and Marks 1996; Newman and Associates 1996).

According to Dufour, the characteristics of a PLC include:

• Shared mission, vision, values, goals
• Collaborative teams focused on learning
• Collective inquiry into "best practice" and "current reality"
• Action orientation/experimentation
• Commitment to continuous improvement
• Results

There are three main big ideas about PLC's:

First Big Idea: Ensuring That Students Learn

• We accept high levels of learning as the fundamental purpose of our school and therefore are willing to examine all practices in light of their impact on learning.

Second Big Idea: A Culture of Collaboration

• Collaborative cultures, which by definition have close relationships, are indeed powerful, but unless they are focusing on the right things they may end up being powerfully wrong. (Fullan, M.G., 1999)

Third Big Idea: A Focus on Results

• We assess our effectiveness on the basis of results rather that intentions.  Individuals, teams, and schools seek relevant data and information and use that information to promote continuous improvement in instructional practice and strategies.

"The focus of  collective inquiry is both a search for best practice for helping all students learn at high levels and an honest assessment of the current reality regarding teaching practices and student learning.  The dialogue generated from these questions in intended to result in the academic focus, collective commitments, and productive professional relationships that enhance learning for teachers and students alike." (Dufour, 2006, p. 21)

Image taken from https://resourcelinkbce.wordpress.com/tag/professional-learning-communities/

The following video highlights the importance of being able to share our ideas with others.

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xcmI5SSQLmE

Inquiry

What is Inquiry?

The process of inquiry is about presenting opportunities for students to explore topics deeply by formulating questions, investigating, and creating new knowledge (Branch, 2003, p.6).  It is a process whereby students have freedom to explore their passions, direct their own learning, and obtain skills they will need their entire lives. 

"Inquiry is an approach to learning whereby students find and use a variety of sources of the information and ideas to increase their understanding of a problem, topic, or issue. It requires more of them than simply answering questions or getting a right answer." (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, & Caspari., 2007, p.2) 

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What is Inquiry-Based Learning?

Inquiry learning is based on John Dewey’s philosophy that education begins with the curiosity of the learner.  Dewey (1939)  stated “that the educational process has two sides- one psychological and one sociological: and neither can be subordinate to the other or neglected without evil results following” (Dewey, 1939, pg. 20).  Dewey realized that three parts of learning, the social, teacher and cognitive are intertwined and to ignore any aspect neglects an integral part of the student’s complete education.  Dewey (1938) argued that educators must establish and sustain a community of inquiry, “educators must be knowledgeable, flexible but focused, and comfortable with uncertainty” (Swan, Garrison, & Richardson, 2009). Inquiry in the classroom places the responsibility for learning on the students and encourages them to arrive at an understanding of concepts by themselves.

The four basic stages of Self-Directed Inquiry Learning include:

• Determining what they need to learn and defining the research question
• Identifying resources and how best to learn from them
• Using resources and recording, synthesis and evaluation of learning
• Assessing their progress in learning and transference of learning

The following diagram illustrates the cycle of Inquiry Learning or action research. 

Image from:

Ontario Library Association 
(https://www.accessola.org/)

The Multiple cycles within the cycle of learning creates a spiral effect of learning where the learner utilizes the knowledge that he has co-constructed with other students within the social paradigm of the classroom to apply, act, monitor and evaluate a series actions in a spiral chain of events. 

The initial stages involves students drafting a “learning contract” that specifies what they will learn, the resources, and how learning will be demonstrated and assessed. The students then execute their learning contract with the instructor submitting a grade on completion of the contract.

Image from:

Murdoch, K. (1992). Integrating Naturally: Units of Work for Environmental Education. Mount Waverly, AUS: Dellasta/Eleanor Curtain Melbourne.

Adapted from Wilson, J. & Wing Jan, L. (2003). Focus on Inquiry. Victoria, AUS: Curriculum Corporation.

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Teaching using “inquiry” involves engaging students in the research process with an instructional team  supporting and coaching students.  The team must ensure that the level of questions and topics are suited for the starting skill level of the student attempting the activity.  The instructional team includes the teacher, teacher librarian, parents and any other members of the school who actively engage the students in the learning experience.

Inquiry learning is:

• Is question driven where the students generate the topics


• Begins with a general theme acting as an initial starting point for triggering  learning


• Students need to ask good researchable questions on the theme of choice; the coaches, teacher and teacher librarian help the students research the topics.


• The librarian as an integral member of the team helping the development of the student’s: library skills, interview skills, and discerning web search skills; in addition, the vital critical thinking skills necessary to ensure that the information gleaned is academically authentic, reliable, and withstands academic integrity standards while presenting a thoughtful review of the information. Teacher’s and librarian’s coach the students on how to best report their learning in oral or written form. 


• The members of the instructional team need to provide instruction along some mechanisms including but not exclusively: pre-assessment, formative assessment and finally summative assessment including such items as; interviews, writing drafts, minutes of group meetings, bench mark activities, diagrams, oral and video presentations, dramatizations, jot notes, and many others to help students and teachers monitor progress throughout the process.


• Inquiry learning implies that the instructors show expertise and knowledge on the inquiry process including modeling effective inquiry such as promoting reflection based processes such as journal writing, exit slips, and jot notes.

 

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The video (below) by the Canadian Education Association "What did you do in school today?" demonstrates how teachers are using inquiry units to achieve deeper thinking and increased engagement amongst students.  Inquiry is a shift in learning, from the traditional remembering of facts to understanding concepts and building competencies.  Watch this video to see how one school designed a school-wide inquiry unit for the end of year and turned what was usually a non-engagement week, into a learning experience that emphasized engagement and meaning for students.

CEA - Learning to Inquire - Innovations for Deeper Teaching and Learning

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What Guided Inquiry Is Not and Is

Guided Inquiry Is Not…	Guided Inquiry Is…
Preparation solely for the test	Preparation for lifelong learning
An add-on subject	Integrated into content areas
Isolated information skills	Transferable information concepts
Relying on one textbook	Using a variety of sources
Curriculum without meaning to students	Curriculum connected to students’ world
Individual students working exclusively on solitary tasks	A community of learners working together
Solely teacher directed	Students and teachers collaborating
Overemphasis on the end product	Emphasis on the process and product

 (Kuhlthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2007, p.6)

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Why Inquiry?

Students need to develop inquiry learning skills and the ability to conduct effective research to be information literate. Information literacy is a prerequisite skill in all curricular areas that prepares individuals to be successful workers and scholars throughout their lifetime.  The purpose of inquiry and research is to encourage high levels of critical thinking that is supported by evidence that can be transferred into real life problems the students will face throughout their lifetime. These events collectively create a reflective model that affords the students the capacity to visit and revisit conceptual “phenomenon at a higher level each time, and so to progress towards a greater overall understanding.  By carrying out inquiry learning using this model, one can understand a particular issue within an educational context and make informed decisions through enhanced understanding.  It is about empowerment” (Koshy, 2005, pg. 5 as cited by Kemmis, 1983).  The partnerships between teacher, students and librarians means the development of lifelong skills that will transferred to the development of the important skills such as: knowledge acquisition, prediction of outcomes, logical reasoning, synthesis and evaluation of data, organizing data, and communication of ideas are completed within the inquiry learning paradigm.

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Here are some other videos that help understand what inquiry is all about.

Critically Reflective Teacher

Critically Reflective Teacher:

The learning that has taken place for me over the past 2 years. 

One of the big capacities that I have worked on a grown is supervising and managing people.  I had to learn how to timetable, schedule, monitor, train, encourage and develop reports dealing with personnel.  In addition, I directed several professional learning communities and several training sessions. The big part of the learning was more efficient ways of allocating jobs that utilized each individual's strengths and skills.  Another aspect of my learning was is how to manage conflict resolution within the library technicians.

Using Inquiry Based Learning, I have research and made improvements within my own teaching and library & information skills.  Part of my personal development is my continued reading of professional articles dealing with ways to meet the needs of 21st century learning within the library. 

What do I know now that I didn't know before?  

My learning curve for new technology and integration of library within digital learning was very steep.  Used a secondary school as a pilot school for the new library software system through a joined venture with the Fraser Valley Library. For example, I did a detailed study what was happening with the pilot program where it  was successful in some ways and not in others. Successes included the ability to manage both school library and the regional library.  Important failure was the school district's inability to maintain and afford the sustained technology demands required to manage the program.