Information Trumps Technology in the Common Core

While educators all over America are trying to wrap their heads around the Common Core, there is one word that may come as a surprise: INFORMATION.   We've heard all about writing, text-based answers, text complexity, evidence from the text and more.  The one word I haven't heard touted much (outside the library world) is INFORMATION.  

If you search the ELA standards, you will find that the word information appears 243 times.  That can be discovered through a simple PDF binocular search on Internet Explorer. 





[Tagxedo created with the ELA CCSS Standards}

I hear some colleagues trying desperately trying to embed technology into their lessons as they believe that is the magic formula for fostering 21st Century Students. -- But, technology alone will lead them no where.   Technology without information is a bit useless.  We use technology to: find information, communicate information, evaluate information and amass information.  Likewise, information without technology is dull, archaic (dare I say), and difficult.  My question is, why are we not hearing teachers and educators stress the word information?  We see districts with a 5 year technology plan, they post bonds to upgrade technology across the district, but where is the 5 year information plan?   

Technology in the CCSS is only mentioned 24 times in the ELA CC Standards. Information is mentioned 243 times.  That's a ratio of 10:1.  Following that formula, we should hear people talk about information ten times more than they focus on technology?  Technology alone wont build College and Career Ready students.  Information and technology work together to prepare students for the future.    

So next time you ponder what to do with technology, consider the following essential questions:

• What information can my students communicate with technology? 
• What information can I embed into this project?  
• Can my students access information to synthesize, critically? 
• Are my students information literate as well as tech-savvy? 
• Am I asking my students to JUST find information? Or, have I asked them to do anything with that information?  Synthesize?  Create? Debate? Transform that information into a position, problem solve,  etc,?  

Please see my article in this month's School Library Journal for additional insight into this discovery.  
(If you liked this post, you may also like this previous post: click here)

Don't answer your students questions...

Let's take a moment to think about thinking.  That's called metacognition.  This is an intimidating word, rather sounds like educational rhetoric, but in actuality, we need to produce thinkers out  of a generation of students who do not think much at all.  In fact,this generation almost feels they are entitled to the answers without thinking.  

Last week, I visited many libraries and observed a rather enabling behavior.  All the students questions were answered without giving the child to think through the answers for themselves.  Where do I find this book?  Under the guise of efficiency, we too often mirror the Google box, or the Ask Jeeves man and provide a quick answer.

Socrates would have answered the question with another question.  If Socrates was asked where can I find this book, he might have said, "Well, Johnny--what's the call number?  Who is the author?  Where is the fiction section?    We need to model the thought process so that the students can answer their own question the next time.   

Actually, Socrates was anti-print, now that I think about it.  So, he might have said, "Scrap the papyrus Johnny and use your brain."  Use it or lose it.  Same motto today as 2000 years ago. 

National Woe...Where will the librarians go?

A college friend of mine just sent me a link to the Michigan equivalent of the New York Teacher magazine. Why? She was sharing an article entitled, Vanishing Act: what's happening to school librarians. (It's a large .pdf file, but worth reading. See hyperlink above)

Despite the national research which shows a direct correlation between healthy library programs and student achievement, districts are cutting costs by excessing their information professionals. This is akin to not going to the doctor because you can't afford the co-pay. Or, deciding you can't pay for gas for your car, but we'll keep the car in the driveway for others to use who may or may not know how to drive. Not being mandatory at the elementary level in NY, librarians are easy targets for schools who are short-sighted and more concerned with making ends meet or balancing their bottom line.

We are living in the information age, and we all know that this Millennial generation can access anything, but can't analyze or synthesize it. Information professionals are the ones who teach this Generation Me how toevaluate the info they've found to determine whether it's: Credible, Accurate, Reliable and Supported (CARS). Cybrarians act as a learning concierge to foster higher level thought and give students the opportunity to investigate their own questions, evaluate the answers found, and construct meaning of the data. Where else do they do that? Not sitting in all those classrooms preparing for state and national assessments--that's for sure.

Teachers are encouraged by librarians to create authentic learning research projects where students are stretched to find meaning and reach learning objectives at the same time. That's called Inquiry. That's called PBL, "Challenged Based Learning", or Activity Based Learning.

Visit your librarian today and ask him/her to help you create a unit of discovery, infused with information, and in support of your learning standards. Chances are you'll find someone who will point you to quality information resources, help create a unit with compelling essential questions, suggest some quality literature, and be excited to guide your students down a road of discovery. If they don't help you--then they may sincerely be cut and replaced by someone who can.

Cholesterol Wasn't the Issue ...

Google Books is great for public domain access.... Here's another good educational use for the Google Monster archive. Their collection is filled with primary source recipes from Colonial America, The Renaissance, etc. The above was some wedding celebration cake that Martha Washington was famous for. But--who has time to seperate and whip up 20 eggs?!
http://books.google.com/books

Check out their virtual collection.