6 Ideas for Women's History Research!

As we embark on Women's History Month, why not hunt down a classroom partner to meet the Common Core Anchor Standard:  Research to build and present knowledge.   Here are five essential questions to help spawn a great project.   Just layer technology or another way to "present knowledge," and you will have a student-centered research activity aligned with the new SS C3 standards, ISTE standards, AASL standards, and CCSS Standards!  




EQ: If you were to award a Nobel Prize for Women's Influence, to whom would it be given? Why?  [Build an EBC - Evidence Based Claim- and support your nominee with reasons and real impacts.] Be ready to plead for your nominee at our "Circle of Influence." {With this choice, influence is the focus, not necessarily fame.  This gives the students opportunity to be creative and choose lesser-known people such as Marjorie Merriweather Post, Admiral Grace Hopper, or Anne Hutchinson}

EQ: How could we build a timeline for Woman Change Agents?  Please note when, where and why they were of influence.   For each women on your change-agents timeline, write a paragraph in the first person voice of this person addressing our modern-day culture.   We will be building a wall of fame.   {With this choice are examining change over time...}

EQ: If you could testify at a mock-19th Amendment hearing, what would you say?  We will be voting on whether to pass the 19th amendment. Who will you choose to be and what argument will you bring to the table? We need all voice represented.  You must speak with authority and credibility, based upon your thorough deep research.  {We need many voices: Lesser, Garnett, Minor, Stanton, Anthony, and others you discover.}

EQ: Who do you believe impacted women's role in our culture or history the most?  Research and build an EBC to support your choice.  Be ready to share your knowledge.  {With this choice we are taking a persuasive-evidence angle...}

EQ:  How have women "come a long way baby?" Examine "women's roles" in culture during three centuries of your choice.  Build a storyboard with primary source photos, legislative changes, avatars (or others) and document the women's story of suffrage. 

EQ:  So what would you include in a Women's Evolution Journal? - Use the Social Studies "lenses," build a portrait of women's evolution--ending with the 19th Amendment passage in 1920: Culture, politics, economics, geographical, time (era), and {With this choice we are using the SS lenses as a focus} 

Weave together a few of the choices above and brainstorm a good new end-product such as either a real-life "wall of fame," virtual wall of fame, discussion and debate, or trial for the 19th Amendment Legislative vote.

Think Tank Library - AASL Webinar follow-up

Thanks to all of you who attended our AASL webinar:  Get Thinking!  
(We realize that many got closed out as the virtual room was "full."  The archive will be posted soon.)

EQ:  How will you get your students thinking today?  

It was great to share ideas for elevating thought during library time, research, and collaborative learning adventures!  As promised, here is the 20% off ordering code to be used when ordering a copy of our Think Tank Library: Q41320. 
Available @ ABC Clio  

The K-5 level book was released in December, and the 6-12 level book will be released imminently.  Please email us at thinktanklibrary@yahoo.com with any questions for "repackaging" your lessons to include higher level thought and real world issues.  We'd love to dialogue and brainstorm with you. 

After the webinar, I realized I never advanced the slides to the credits and wanted to include this slide below to insure that librarians Sara Kelly John, Sue Kowalski, and Rebecca Burkett get credit for some of their great photos!  (I'm not sure whether the recorded archive will pick up the last 2 slides that were there but not advanced.) 

Thanks to all and I look forward to our continuing conversation! 

5 WAYS TO GET THINKING!

“Memorizing facts and faces has failed us.  It’s time to concentrate on thinking and deep understanding.” 

 --S.G. Grant – C3 Contributor, SCDN meeting, 

Albany, NY  Sept 2014. 

Hooray for the C3 Social Studies Standards which concentrate on thinking almost as much as they do on history. They have 65 references to thinking and these are the adjectives they use : 

 

5 Ways to Foster THINKING in your research assignments:

• Inspire Curiosity – Compelling minds want to know, understand and use this knowledge
• Identify the “gold” in your content and get STUDENTS to uncover and discover… (rather than you ‘covering’)
• Ask questions which cannot be answered by mere facts – Get to the WHY, so what, what if, how….
• Use the LENSES of understanding: Geography, economics, civics, and historical lenses
• Require a project to assess understanding... How can students demonstrate this understanding?  

While planning an assignment on “local history” I suggested a teacher package the final product as the creation of a Landmark or Historical Marker to denote the significance of a person, event, or place.  (Build an argument or evident-based claim for a marker) Students could even advocate for a real sign, which gets the students to Civic Action.   

What’s funny is that within the C3 actually note there is “dichotomous” thinking that is required in civics.  That’s what fuels politics, as we know all too well.   So, here’s the dichotomous thinking for Landmarks – Could we fold this into our curriculum?  What a hoot.

http://www.funism.com/art/I75project.html 

Wonderopolis and the Common Core

Every now-and-again while walking on the Internet Superhighway, I stumble upon a site that is so great that I just want to give it a flash-mob-shout-out.    Wonderopolis was one of those stops this morning.   While investigating new summer sites for students, I chuckled over a few of these wonders and in surprise I said... "What a great Common Core tool!"  This simple site:

• models Inquiry phase 1... 'Wonder" 
• teaches kids to answer questions with fact 
• answers questions with evidence and authority 
• embeds vocabulary of the discipline in its answers...so that you can introduce that trick to your students--If they understand essential vocabulary to the "topic" then will likely understand the topic.  

If I were still and elementary librarian, I would display this on my Whiteboard and ask the kids to pick a wonder such as Wonder  of the day #984 (www.Wonderopolis.org) 
  Do Sheep Shrink When It Rains? 

  

 Here's a quick CCSS aligned library lesson: (pick an EQ...)
 EQ-  How can our non-fiction books help us to answer questions in life? 
 EQ:  How can I answer questions using facts, rather than just what people tell me?
 EQ:  Can you make an evidence-based claim to support an answer? 
 EQ:  How can keywords help you find information? 

• Display WONDEROPOLIS  on your whiteboard or LCD. 
• Have the students "pick" a wonder question.
• Have them work with a team to: 

1. find resources on the [topic] - identify keywords, search, use index, read for details
2. find "evidence for the answer" 
3. make an evidence based claim to support their answer to the "wonder" 
4. Re-group and compare answers -- play the WONDEROPOLIS  video at the end and see if it matches the "evidence based claim"  your students created.   

Now I've found one good thing my Verizon bill supports, besides my own connection to friends and family!  Thank you Verizon, Thinkfinity! http://wonderopolis.org/

Common Core Research Roll-out from NYSED

For the last four days, I have been at our NYS State capital as NYS Education Department rolled out their research model which addresses the lack of authentic research going on in our schools. KUDO's to Commissioner John King who stated in his opening address that he would love to see a model where "First grade writes a 1 page paper; Second grade writes a 2 page paper;Third grade writes a 3 page paper; etc....building capacity to the secondary level where they would be research-ready."  

My heart skipped a beat when I heard that, and I almost clapped out loud as a lonely  librarian in a crowd of 1000 educators.  Instead, I tweeted to the world.   For once, change is coming top-down!   State Ed spent two days building our capacity for  "inquiry,"  modeling choice-filled, student-centered learning activities wherein students investigate, evaluate, synthesize, investigate some more, synthesize, and conclude until they are ready....to write or present knowledge (A cyclical cycle as long, as synthesis is necessary).

Although NYSED rolled out a different schematic, here is my interpretation of the NYS Inquiry model presented.  This in theory, aligns with the Stipling model which teaches lifelong learning skills. 

This model also aligns with our locally developed WISE model where students:  wonder, investigate, synthesize and express. 
  

Reach out to a teacher offering to brainstorm an Inquiry based learning activity. This can be an  extension to their lesson.  After all, they should be "researching to build and present knowledge."  Otherwise, how are they meeting the CCSS writing standards 6,7,8,9, and dare we say...10? 

Why Students Plagiarize...

It makes total sense  that students are cheating, when they have no motivation to learn the content.  If students don't care about what the assignment is, then why would they care about how they obtained the content in their assignment?    On the other hand, if we craft assignment with compelling content, which makes students think, investigate, and  synthesize-- they will want to draw original conclusions which are then supported from the text--drawn from evidence in the text--taken from what they have 'read closely,' and supported by concurrent conclusions they found in their research to support their point of view, opinion, and conclusion.  That my friend, is a mini summary of the Common Core ELA standards. 

Watch this new video posted from Tara Barbazone at the University of Bolton, UK.  This professor, teaching "Scholarship" investigated to understand and helped uncover and discover the roots of plagiarism: The lack of creativity, original thought, and more.  The kids admit it.  Until we motivate the students to think on their own, will they claim the thought of someone else, and plagiarize, because they are ashamed that they can't think themselves.   And, we thought they were just dishonest or lazy.  Shame on us. 

A properly prepared unit should by nature avoid plagiarism.  However, teacher themselves need instruction on how to repackage their units for higher level thought and student originality.  Heaven help us all.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twnmZ2tLgUo

The Transliterate Learner & Common Core

We have PD  tomorrow for 100 teacher-librarian teams.  I've created this "Spicynode" on the Transliterate Learner to demo one tech tool. This was one tool recommended by the AASL 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning team. Thank you team members for your excellent choices! We have had tremendous feedback from educators as we share these gems such as Spicynodes.org 

As Pam Berger says, technology should be taught with inconsequential content.  That way, when there's important content, the technology will be transparent.  This Web tool, Spicynodes, has a little learning curve, and is an example where you would want this to be taught with inconsequential data.   A teacher could ask their students to create one of these at the beginning of the school year to "tell me about you."   Or, share via a Spicynode, what you like to read.   After a simple homework assignment such as that, your students could use this for a knowledge product later in the year, and the tech tool would be transparent. 
 
(GenY Image from centralitymedia.com)

Vacant Minds...Teaching Kids to Fill 'em

Have you ever asked a student a question and seen this vacant stare back at you, as though you were speaking a foreign language?   There is nothing there.  There is no one home. We call this vacant complacency.  Alf used to say, "Earth to Kate...?"  There really  is hope despite the vacancy.   Metacognitive research shows that you can model thought process and teach kids to think.  It's a good thing. 

Over the  dozen years I have been a librarian, I have heard some fairly dumb questions.  Some claim that there's no such thing as a dumb question.  I beg to differ.  Here's a dumb one:  "You have any good books?"  To which I replied,  "Well, Johnny, I have 13,000 books.  I'm sure one of them is good."

 A couple of years ago I took a comical look at these [dumb] questions asked of librarians and really suggested that we need to model the thought process, rather than answer the questions.  (Read this article here.)  In actuality, I love these questions because it gave me an opportunity to banter with the student and point out how silly the question was.  Here's another:  "Do you have that pink book?"  I pointed out that he had five minutes to find a book, there were about 5000 fiction books, so she would have to scan the spines of about 1000 books to find the pink one.  She got the point. 
 As we address the learning needs of the millennial student, we really need to attack the ability to ask great questions.  This is so imperative to a nation that is trying to retain it's cutting edge.  We need a generation who can ask good questions--the right questions which will compel change, inspire investigation and encourage achievement.  This metacognitive skill should begin in elementary school. 

If assignments are answerable on Google, they are void of higher level thought.  Ask yourself how many of the assignments that make their way into the library for "research" could be answered on a mobile device?  We need assignments which require the kids to create the questions, driven by the essential question.  So, you say... kids don't know how to ask good questions?  They didn't know how to tie their own shoes, but we don't tie them for them when they go to school.   They need to be taught.  Here is one tool that a local librarian and her teachers created to help the cause:

Librarian Laurie called this the Wonder Grid and it works to begin the journey of letting kids create their own questions for research.  This document can be used to inspire kids to ask good open-ended questions.  Notice how these question starters would likely lead to questions unanswerable on Google.   

In our local Inquiry Curriculum,  we encourage student-generated questions because the kids then "own" the task of finding the answers.  So rather than assigning the old "mammal" report, the teachers now have a big EQ such as: What would your mammal say to the Bronx Zoo board of directors about living there?  Or, "Who really deserves the national holiday on October 12th?  What are the problems and perils of your country?  What advice would you give to Abraham Lincoln?  What would you pack in your conestoga if you were heading west via Manifest Destiny?   If you were living in Europe in the 1700's would you have left the comforts of home for America?   How does where you live impact how you live?   If you could invite [braham Lincoln] to dinner, what would you talk about? 

As the students approach the research task, if questions need to be generated--in a group-- they will use a grid such as this to guide them to good research endeavors.  A by-product of collaboration is that the low-level learners benefit from the thought process modeled by their peers.   Let's teach our students to ask great questions.   Let's put our own assignments up against the litmus test for low-level thought:  Is this answerable on Google?

I would speculate that Steve Jobs was a master at asking the right questions.  Perhaps this is one way we can remember him.  Ask the right questions and impact change.   

     This Cornell University Prof not only needs PD for instructional delivery, but also needs therapy for his anger management.  
     There is a higher education survey administered all over called the National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE).  Higher Education institutions across the country administer this to collect feedback on the efficacy of instruction.  The organization also provides advice on pedagogy for the 21st Century learner.    If their students are not satisfied, they vote with their feet.  To combat student dissatisfaction and instructional decay, this survey keeps higher ed focused on student success. 
     Public schools don't have the same student attrition problem--yet.  By and large taxpayers send their kids to public schools hoping the instruction is good.  Little do parents know that the instruction is often lacking also.  Teachers are merely content conveyor belts creating budding bureaucrats who know how to complete papers. 
     Common Core standards will help focus instruction for authentic learning.  The School Library Systems in NY are ready to lend PD to districts on "How to Repackage Content for alignment with the Common Core Standards."   Throughout the CC document, the premise is on:*  Fostering authentic learning
*  Not focusing on the facts or content, but focusing on meaning and knowledge products.
*  What do you want the student to be able to do with the curriculum content? (Not just repeat)
*  21st Century, globally flat, collaborative world ... collaborative classroom. 

Does this professor below reflect your instructional style?

Cornell Professor Freaks Out Over Yawn - watch more funny videos

When I Become a Teacher... Please stay away!

At a graduation party this past weekend, I asked a fellow adminstrator is she had seen this video. Thus, I post it here as her answer was "No".
     Everyone stuck in a rut, who received the NYSUT retirement incentive letter this past weekend, needs to watch this video and ask, "Is this you?" If you're reading this blog, you probably don't fit this profile.    When I Become a Teacher...

SLMS 2010 - Inquiry sites as requested at the GenY Students = GenY classroom breakout session

Here are a few of the great Inquiry sites that are out on the web. We have a growing number of local librarians who have embraced inquiry with gusto and are polishing their ability to transform hide 'n seek research assignments into true authentic learning experiences. Please call me, if you'd like to discuss how you too can transform your research project, into a 21st Century Model. There are great sites all over the web. These are just a few:
___________________________________________________________________
State Education Department-- K-4 Elementary Science Curriculum-- See Living Environment and Introduction.
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/pub/elecoresci.pdf
Foundations -- National Science Foundation-- Inquiry -- K-5 classroom- What dos it Look Like?
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf99148/ch_10.htm
Foundations-- NSF-- Inquiry Process Steps
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf99148/ch_10.htm
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2000/nsf99148/pdf/nsf99148.pd f
NCTM—Illuminations site—Math Inquiry
http://illuminations.nctm.org/
NASA GLOBE Project
http://viz.globe.gov/viz-bin/home.cgi?l=en&b=g&rg=n
VirtualInquiry.org - Inquiry Snapshots
http://virtualinquiry.com/cases/index.htm

MORE Web 2.0 Tools for teachers and student knowledge products!

A goldmine of new ideas:  Check out how many you know of or have used.  I thought I knew most all out there, but there are obviously new tools evolving daily.  thinkature.com, mindomo.com, visualthesaurus.com, xtimeline.com,  fora.tv ...  to name a few new ones.   It is easy to imagine how these could be used in our education environment!  - Keyword searching with the visual thesaurus.com? -- Fire up those Smartboards!

Web 2.0 Tools to Inspire

View more presentations from tippydawn.

10 Minute Video on teaching for the 21st Century

Stick with this 10 minute video.  The last two minutes are poignant!
Teaching to the 21st Century Student - You Tube

Common Core Knowledge Products

Here's a Crazy Talk video clip created by a secondary student who did his homework. This exemplifies how you can turn information into knowledge-analysis and synthesis. The compelling curriculum content for this could be....Imperialism? Movers and Shakers? Biographies? Colonists?

This knowledge product displays an understanding of TR, who he was, his impact, and a compare and contrast analysis. It wasn't just a venture for facts.

We have seen this product used for animals at the elementary level. The animals talk to America today about their habitat, difficulties, and challenges in life. Biography units could be transformed into advice for teenagers: What would your person say to teens today?

This blog post was originally posted in 2009, but is more relevant now that every educator is being challenged by the Common Core Standards to create engaging research units that require kids to think, analyze, quote, draw upon evidence, argue, synthesize, and create knowledge products that are proof that they have embraced the vocabulary of the discipline and seen the relevance of the content to their lives. 

The applications are endless!
http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/