After posting my latest blog, I decided to relax by watching a bit of television. There wasn't much on so I was just going to skip it. Instead I turned on the David Letterman Show. It turns out that Sen. John McCain had cancelled his appearance on the show. Although Letterman was upset over this and it didn't affect me, I became appalled to hear that he wants to cancel the presidential debates. To top things off, he wants to cancel the ONLY vice-presidential debate and replace it with a presidential debate.
As teacher-librarians, we are advocates for not only literacy but also the pursuit of knowledge. We know that part of the key to learning and growing is through seeking information and the discussion about various issues, which is why we create these blogs and participate in our discussion postings. So I pose the following questions: How can a major election be determined without any discussion or debate of all candidates? Can anyone be truly informed about an issue without proper discourse much less without any information given at all? I am not saying that I am for anyone per say, but I do believe in the freedom of information and when many people base their votes on the ideas expressed in forums like debates, it is preventing the flow of information.
We are educators. Our jobs and passions are based on the education of those who are still learning to think critically and evaluate information. By preventing the expression of ideas, we are halting the process of considering all sides to a problem/issue and making an uninformed choice.
I hope that I am not just overreacting and that you can see how this is a problem. In fact, I hope that the American voters see this and understand the importance of not cancelling these debates instead of falling into complacency over this issue.
All I can say is that it's all absolutely and unequivocally "ridonculous!"
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
I hear the Internets are a series of tubes...
Although I am not in a teacher-librarian position yet, I do notice the trend of students immediately going towards a computer whenever a class comes to the library for research on a project. There will be trolleys of books ready for them that I’ve searched the library for and many of the books will be perfectly suitable for their project, but these goes unnoticed and often unused even though I have talked to the class about the usefulness of the books I pulled.
The district I work in and the high school I TOC in the most have purchased many online references for the students to use. We constantly remind the students to take a look at these because of the level of accuracy and authority. Unfortunately, many students will just opt to “google” something and use the first few websites that come up.
I do have an affinity towards books and journals (either the hard copy or online version) over the Internet for research even though I do consider myself technologically literate. The most practical reason for this is that in books (generally speaking of course) there is a certain level of fact checking and editing that comes into play. We are typically quite certain that what we are reading has some level of accuracy and if we want to dispute it, there’s a bibliography at the end of the piece and we can look that up too until we are satisfied with what we’ve found. The Internet doesn’t always have this. Many sites are based on personal opinions and many aren’t properly fact checked.
I don’t think that we can change students’ attitudes towards the Internet. In fact, I think it would almost be wrong to change that because we can’t hold back technology and progression. We wouldn’t want a generation of luddites, because we were fearful of inaccuracies in the Internet. Because of all of this, we have to teach the students to evaluate and critically think about the kinds of information they are getting from the Internet.
Perhaps this is what might happen if we don't teach the students about the Internet and technology:
The district I work in and the high school I TOC in the most have purchased many online references for the students to use. We constantly remind the students to take a look at these because of the level of accuracy and authority. Unfortunately, many students will just opt to “google” something and use the first few websites that come up.
I do have an affinity towards books and journals (either the hard copy or online version) over the Internet for research even though I do consider myself technologically literate. The most practical reason for this is that in books (generally speaking of course) there is a certain level of fact checking and editing that comes into play. We are typically quite certain that what we are reading has some level of accuracy and if we want to dispute it, there’s a bibliography at the end of the piece and we can look that up too until we are satisfied with what we’ve found. The Internet doesn’t always have this. Many sites are based on personal opinions and many aren’t properly fact checked.
I don’t think that we can change students’ attitudes towards the Internet. In fact, I think it would almost be wrong to change that because we can’t hold back technology and progression. We wouldn’t want a generation of luddites, because we were fearful of inaccuracies in the Internet. Because of all of this, we have to teach the students to evaluate and critically think about the kinds of information they are getting from the Internet.
Perhaps this is what might happen if we don't teach the students about the Internet and technology:
"Ten movies streaming across that, that Internet, and what happens to your own personal Internet? I just the other day got... an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday, I got it yesterday [Tuesday]. Why? Why? Because it got tangled up in a big ball with all these things going on the Internet commercially.
[...] They want to deliver vast amounts of information over the Internet. And again, the Internet is not something that you just dump something on. It's not a big truck. It's a series of tubes. And if you don't understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your message in, it gets in line and it's going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material." - US Senator Ted Stevens, June 28 2006
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Y'know, it's just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. Y'know, I'm still learning about all this stuff. ( - The Devil Wears Prada, 2006)
In my readings, I have recently come across various other research methods for student use. Once again, they were all quite similar to each other. With all of the infinite research models and all of them being quite similar, I started to wonder to myself, “how many times can we describe what an apple is? – Isn’t an apple just an apple and that’s the end of it?” Then, I came across one designed for students with learning difficulties.
“I-Search Interstate” was created by Ken Macrorie (Milam, 2004, p.21). If you are curious about it, you can read more here: Milam, P. (2004). Destination Information: A Road Map for the Journey. Library Media Connection, 22(7), 20-23. The idea of this is to make the research process easier for those who have learning disabilities or are struggling with researching (p.21-22). It focuses on having the student include their own opinions about what they are researching. I don’t think that I would totally rely on this method since it doesn’t really challenge a child to think critically in the same way that some of the other methods do, but it can be a good starting point for those who are struggling.
I-Search Interstate is incredibly simplified and couldn’t be used in a regular upper level class for a serious research project, though I suppose it could be used in a kindergarten class (with a buddy class) or a primary class. It could conceivably get young children used to the idea of what it means to research something. The younger we get children thinking about the value of accurate research, the better their output will be later on and the better their critical thinking skills will be about reference sources and the world around them.
I guess if I were to return to my initial impression about everything being the very similar, I guess I could conclude that, “Yes, an apple is an apple, but with a better developed eye and palette, you can better see the uses for each kind and taste the differences.” I suppose that with more experience and with testing out various methods, I will discover which methods are good for whom and what situations they are best used for. Perhaps, I too can develop my research methods “palette” and discover their individual uses.
Works Cited:
Milam, P. (2004). Destination Information: A Road Map for the Journey. Library Media Connection, 22(7), 20-23
“I-Search Interstate” was created by Ken Macrorie (Milam, 2004, p.21). If you are curious about it, you can read more here: Milam, P. (2004). Destination Information: A Road Map for the Journey. Library Media Connection, 22(7), 20-23. The idea of this is to make the research process easier for those who have learning disabilities or are struggling with researching (p.21-22). It focuses on having the student include their own opinions about what they are researching. I don’t think that I would totally rely on this method since it doesn’t really challenge a child to think critically in the same way that some of the other methods do, but it can be a good starting point for those who are struggling.
I-Search Interstate is incredibly simplified and couldn’t be used in a regular upper level class for a serious research project, though I suppose it could be used in a kindergarten class (with a buddy class) or a primary class. It could conceivably get young children used to the idea of what it means to research something. The younger we get children thinking about the value of accurate research, the better their output will be later on and the better their critical thinking skills will be about reference sources and the world around them.
I guess if I were to return to my initial impression about everything being the very similar, I guess I could conclude that, “Yes, an apple is an apple, but with a better developed eye and palette, you can better see the uses for each kind and taste the differences.” I suppose that with more experience and with testing out various methods, I will discover which methods are good for whom and what situations they are best used for. Perhaps, I too can develop my research methods “palette” and discover their individual uses.
Works Cited:
Milam, P. (2004). Destination Information: A Road Map for the Journey. Library Media Connection, 22(7), 20-23
Monday, September 15, 2008
I'll be whatever I wanna do.
When I enrolled into this course I had no idea what it would entail. To be quite honest, I only took this course because it was a required class for the diploma program in teacher-librarianship. Because of that, I didn’t even really pay that much attention to the course description, but I did read it. Based on the description, the course still seemed vague to me, but since I had to take it, I put my cursor over the registration button and proceeded to click the mouse.
Unlike some of my fellow classmates, I have not been working as a teacher-librarian. I have had the opportunity to work as one as a teacher-on-call (T.O.C.) for various lengths of time (so far 6 weeks have been the longest), but that is the extent of my teacher-librarian experience.
I find it interesting that students training to be classroom teachers are given lots of opportunity to learn how to teach and learn about the inner workings of the job. When I got my first job as a classroom teacher, I wasn’t too surprised by what happened or the amount of miscellaneous paper work, meetings, and the responsibilities a classroom teacher holds. Granted that this is only my second term in the program and there may be a reason for this, I am surprised that there is not an opportunity to work as a teacher-librarian with a mentor like we had for our education degrees.
I’ve really enjoyed the classes I’ve taken so far in this program. I’ve learnt so much about this profession, but the more classes I take the more I am concerned that I won’t be able to balance all that this job entails. It would be good to see how current teacher-librarians handle this and how they balance their work lives with their personal lives.
(Title of this entry taken from Futurama, Season 4, Episode 9)
Unlike some of my fellow classmates, I have not been working as a teacher-librarian. I have had the opportunity to work as one as a teacher-on-call (T.O.C.) for various lengths of time (so far 6 weeks have been the longest), but that is the extent of my teacher-librarian experience.
I find it interesting that students training to be classroom teachers are given lots of opportunity to learn how to teach and learn about the inner workings of the job. When I got my first job as a classroom teacher, I wasn’t too surprised by what happened or the amount of miscellaneous paper work, meetings, and the responsibilities a classroom teacher holds. Granted that this is only my second term in the program and there may be a reason for this, I am surprised that there is not an opportunity to work as a teacher-librarian with a mentor like we had for our education degrees.
I’ve really enjoyed the classes I’ve taken so far in this program. I’ve learnt so much about this profession, but the more classes I take the more I am concerned that I won’t be able to balance all that this job entails. It would be good to see how current teacher-librarians handle this and how they balance their work lives with their personal lives.
(Title of this entry taken from Futurama, Season 4, Episode 9)
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Blogs and bloglets?!? Should I participate in the madness?
When I first read the assignments at the beginning of the year I thought that I could get away with not creating a blog. The original assignment said that I could just provide a journal or paper in addition to the blog option. Later that was changed, so here I am, writing my first blog entry.
First of all, I must say that I am currently not a fan of blogs, though this may change as the course progress – anything is possible. I’m pretty open-minded and I’m open to trying new things. Now, let me justify why I don’t particularly like blogs.
For the most part, I find blogs uninteresting and a tool that I feel that is frequently misused. At times, comments (responses from readers) posted about various blogs aren’t constructive and are merely cruel and uninsightful criticisms. Some blogs just report on the daily activities of various people and personally, I don’t really care if you had toast for breakfast last Sunday. I do understand that a blog can be a useful tool, but unfortunately this tool is abused much more than it is being used to its full potential.
Blogs for the masses contribute to the idea of a “snack culture” that is growing in our society. This terminology, as far as I know, was first found in Wired Magazine (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/). Basically what this snack culture is is how the world around us is only consuming information in small snippets in short periods of time instead of spending the amount of time we actually should. Now how do blogs directly affect this? Well, blogs are supposed to be more than what some are becoming. Many blog entries can be defined as “bloglets.” These are those little blogs that I mentioned earlier where someone writes about something they did that day in a couple of sentences and whatever information is conveyed has little or no value.
Alas, I suppose it is about time that I succumb to the world of blogging. Deep down inside I guess that I knew I would have to at some point. At least my boycott of Facebook is still holding up, though I have to say that it’s hard at times when pretty much everyone I know is on Facebook (my friend’s husband gave the play-by-play of their child’s birth on it).
By the time you finish reading all my entries, I hope you’ll find my blogs insightful, my opinions educated, and my humour not too dry.
First of all, I must say that I am currently not a fan of blogs, though this may change as the course progress – anything is possible. I’m pretty open-minded and I’m open to trying new things. Now, let me justify why I don’t particularly like blogs.
For the most part, I find blogs uninteresting and a tool that I feel that is frequently misused. At times, comments (responses from readers) posted about various blogs aren’t constructive and are merely cruel and uninsightful criticisms. Some blogs just report on the daily activities of various people and personally, I don’t really care if you had toast for breakfast last Sunday. I do understand that a blog can be a useful tool, but unfortunately this tool is abused much more than it is being used to its full potential.
Blogs for the masses contribute to the idea of a “snack culture” that is growing in our society. This terminology, as far as I know, was first found in Wired Magazine (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/). Basically what this snack culture is is how the world around us is only consuming information in small snippets in short periods of time instead of spending the amount of time we actually should. Now how do blogs directly affect this? Well, blogs are supposed to be more than what some are becoming. Many blog entries can be defined as “bloglets.” These are those little blogs that I mentioned earlier where someone writes about something they did that day in a couple of sentences and whatever information is conveyed has little or no value.
Alas, I suppose it is about time that I succumb to the world of blogging. Deep down inside I guess that I knew I would have to at some point. At least my boycott of Facebook is still holding up, though I have to say that it’s hard at times when pretty much everyone I know is on Facebook (my friend’s husband gave the play-by-play of their child’s birth on it).
By the time you finish reading all my entries, I hope you’ll find my blogs insightful, my opinions educated, and my humour not too dry.
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