Thanksgiving THINKING: "Got a real problem?"

EQ: Do we have an "attitude of gratitude?"   
EQ: Are we blessed, or distressed? 

EQ: How do our personal issues stack-up against issues in the news? Are these issues being addressed?

_____________________________________________________________________

Let's face it.  We live in a world of issues, problems, disease, distress and... blessings. 
Our students, children, and family often live in either a blessed-bubble or a world of trouble. I am amazed at how often students who are from "blessed" families, embrace an attitude of oppression, while others from less fortunate situations seem optimistic despite their struggles.  

Here's an Inquiry-based lesson to challenge students to overcome struggles or over-look slight "first world problems."  My former library aide used to tell students, "You need to get a real problem." Kids would laugh and get it. Sometimes we just have to call a spade a spade. 

Activate thinking:  

• Give each student 3 Post-it notes and ask them to write their three biggest problems--one on each note.
• Using a bulletin board or wall, ask students to post their "problems" anonymously under the appropriate heading: "Problems" or  "Perceived Problems" 

Connect to the real world: 

• Ask students to find articles in the newspapers of real-world issues...pictures, headlines, articles, and other items can serve as real-world connections.  
• Post the pictures, articles, and other fodder on the board next to their "problems." 

Discuss and question: 

• Discuss "perspective" 
• Brainstorm questions for research 
• Ask students to choose a "real-world issue" - Or, perhaps connect to their reading choices asking students to choose an "issue" that might be within the book.  

Research: 

• Taking the brainstormed-questions (wonder), students can look for evidence to support their thinking.
• Students should research their "issue" to make an Evidence-based Claim (EBC) as to why this is a problem needing to be addressed, seriously. 
• Ask students to open their "claim" with a juxtapose comment about their "issue" compared to a real one, or acknowledging that a problem they are dealing with is a real-world issue.    

Share Knowledge - and advocate: 

• Give the opportunity for students to "create" a poster, ePoster (Smore), technology communication product, or to create a campaign, advocate, raise money, etc... for a cause of their choice. 
• One goal of the new C3 standards is to compel students to civil action. Let's allow them to change the world. 

If you are a librarian and don't have scheduled classes, consider collaborating with an ELA teacher, or Social Studies teacher, embarking on this learning adventure before Thanksgiving.  Let's try to challenge our students to identify real-world issues or perceived -- First world problems vs. Third World problems. 

Image: Desktop snapshot from Google image search "homeless famine"  

Post an image of your "wall" below, if you do this lesson. Thanks!  

Research: Are you anchored?

As a kid I grew up near the water where we knew the value of an anchor.  No one in their right mind would ignore the condition of their anchor line.  If you were out for a sail on a sunny summer day or out fishing on an incoming tide, you needed to know you could drop your anchor and that it would hold.  That's what an anchor does: It keeps you rock solidly placed where you need to be…for a reason.

The ELA Writing Anchor standard, Research to build and present knowledge, is  there for a reason. However, teachers all over are ignoring this. They haven't checked on their anchor.  They haven't thrown it overboard in a port of call where kids could engage in this activity, and many haven't learned what real research is.

A sailor should never be afraid of an anchor.  An anchor is a friend.  It's a tool.  It's an essential piece of equipment.    Tell your teachers you'd gladly "cover" this ELA Writing standard for them.  Invite them to your port of call to participate in an investigative, research and writing project.  Model how this tool can be used to experience depth of knowledge and deep understanding.

Celebrate the ELA Anchor standards which will help keep students grounded in a sea of misinformation.

There are many reasons why students should be dropping anchor in your library.  Here are a few from the Common Core: 

Remember. It's all about the kids.  Let's teach them to anchor their views with credence.  Anchor them in data, information, evidence, credibility, reliability, and safe ports of call.  

Will testing terminate the silo-hugger syndrome?

We all know teachers teach-to-the-test.  In case you haven't heard:  25% of the Smarter Balance assessments, and 30% of the PARCC assessments will be a simulated research task.  If you examine the PARCC frameworks, you will see that they recommend at least a 1-2 week research task, followed by other shorter research tasks.    Well, if their curriculum framework recommends research, it makes total sense to "assess" (i.e. test) this.  So, why are teachers surprised?    

Now, let me share that I am NOT a test proponent -- In fact, I abhor standardized tests and believe we should move to performance based assessment and student portfolios. However, if it is a test that points out to teachers why they should be coming to the library...then let it be a test that wakes those silo-huggers up.  Glory be.   

This week, I received this email:

       Hi Paige,

       A third grade teacher brought me the following question off of a practice  

       assessment out of a Common Core crosswalk book and asked me to verify the     

       answer.

            The author who wrote this passage found the

            information by typing Alexander Graham Bell

            into a search field.  This type of electronic

            text feature is

A.    a hyperlink.

B.     an icon.

C.     a group of keywords.

D.    an electronic menu.

       I thought this was interesting, another piece of why we need school librarians.

Karen  (Name redacted) 

Salem School Librarian K-12

Salem Central School 

Here is the FRAMEWORK language from the 7th grade PARCC for research: 

Research Project

Each module includes the opportunity for students to produce one extended project that uses research to address a significant topic, problem, or issue. This entails gathering and synthesizing relevant information from several additional literary or informational texts in various media or formats on a particular topic or question drawn from one or more texts from the module. Students are expected at this stage to have performed research that assesses the accuracy of sources and uses a standard citation format to acknowledge the conclusions of others. Students can present their findings in a variety of informal and more formal argumentative or explanatory contexts, either in writing or orally. (Research aligned with the standards could take one to two weeks of instruction.) Ongoing incorporation of research for shorter tasks should also be a regular component of instruction. 

 

Image from 7th grade Research Tasks search  - PARCC 

The Common Core Does Not Say "Fetch"

This week I heard from librarians across America that they are discouraged by students showing up at their door with low-budget-research "packets."  We don't send kids down to the Home and Careers classroom and say, "I want to send my kids down to bake a cake, and here is the recipe I want them to use."  Or, we don't send our students to gym class and say, "I would like my kids to get physically fit and here are the exercises they should do."   So let's encourage teachers to plan with their information specialist.

If you are an administrator reading this blog, I would recommend a litmus test for "research" endeavors in your building.  If research is merely fact-finding, the project should be "repackaged" with the librarian using an Inquiry framework. 

• The Common Core calls for students to move beyond the compilation of factoids to build and share knowledge. 
• The new C3 SS Standards encourage students to operate within an "Arc of Inquiry."
• The new C3 SS Standards encourage lessons to launch with a "compelling question."  We often call that the Essential Question or "research question."  Something that has to be uncovered and discovered -- not "covered" or found on Google.

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

Question: Where would you Imperialist fall today, if he were living among us now? 
Or, 
EQ: What would the founding fathers, patriots, and other American hero from the past, say to America today?

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. (Even though this is a couple of years old, it reflects synthesis -- what we want to see in our students.)  

This is one example of using technology to embrace higher level thought and analysis.  We have seen this used for animals at the elementary level talking to America about their habitat, difficulties, and challenges in life; for Explorers discussing how their adventures impacted the world; for Signers of the Declaration talking about why they chose to stand with independence; and at the HS level this has been used for Chemical discoveries and properties, animating inanimate elements advocating for reactions, fusions and transformation.  Biography units have also been transformed into advice for teenagers: What would your person say to teens today?  

The important Bloom's component is to move beyond fact-finding to synthesis.  Make your students "interpret" the facts. -- please.    Here are some important things to consider for synthesis:

• How can your students use these facts to "understand" the "moral of the story" -- the main point?
• How did these facts change [society]
• Do I see any patterns? 
• Do I see any similarities - can I group these facts somehow?
• Is there a cause and effect? 
• Which facts are the most important?  Group your facts from important to least important, and ask why.
• Which facts support the answer to our Essential [research] Question? 

This Teddy clip 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/ 

(It was in my AASL  eCollaborate course that librarians from the Virgin Islands to Virginia were lamenting low level research, despite the demands of the CCSS.  Instructional time is too valuable to waste on tasks that will not teach the students anything.) 

Palatable CCSS

The Common Core Standards really have more to understanding them then eating a five course meal, but here's another simple Infographic for you to share with your colleagues to gain further understanding on how the shifts work together with pedagogy change, information, student-centered instruction and more.    

Let's make our content delivery palatable!   

The Scarlet P ?

Try this  Plagiarism Arthur episode -- This is a short  winner. Not only does this short two minute cartoon support CCS  Writing 8 but it has the the CCS vocabulary shift in mind.  Francis commits "the most egregious crime...." Or,  It's disturbing that "our dear friend will languish in yonder cage, while we stuff." 


As I watched this, I thought his was almost better for secondary students than it is for the 4 year old crowd.   Humor is wasted on the young....

   

Thanks to Salem Central Librarian, Karen Fronhofer who still has young kids, for this suggestion!

CCSS Comfort Zones

I believe teachers are like biomes when it comes to the CCSS.  
Those in the tundra are cold and calculating hoping that the weather will improve and bring a few creative juices to remedy their lack of diversity.  Those in the desert are hoping for a good storm to water their parched tongues after years of standing and delivering.  Aquatic Biome CCSS teachers are drowning. (Let me remind you that this is the largest biome....) The Foresters are so busy looking at the trees, trying to figure out the structure and where to start.   The Grasslanders are letting the wind blow across their plain taking in the sunshine, rain, and heat a little at a time, and producing a noble crop for students.  Oh that we all could be teaching in the grasslands!


No matter what your biome and where your district seems to be residing, we all need to garner ideas for improving our instruction and elevating rigor and relevance.

Let me make a suggestion:  Look at the diagram below and see the CCSS for writing.   Your librarian would love to help you creatively create a research unit where the students can dig deeply into resources and draw conclusions based upon the content of your discipline.   The CC Writing Standards 1 - 5 can be done in your classroom or with great  library materials.   However, standards 6,7,8,and 9... need to be done in the library or in conjunction with your librarian.  Even if you are in a state such as Maine with 1 to 1 laptop programs,  it is vital to plan research units under the guidance  of your  information professional.   The CCSS call for rigor, and rigor is not Google.  You won't graduate a College and Career Ready student by sending them to a search engine to find polluted facts.   Your librarian will guide you to good resources and craft an engaging project to foster higher level thought, debate, conclusions, creativity, connection and collaboration, and integrate Web tools in the process.   Join the crowd in the grassland!  

Google, Garbage, and Research Alternatives

Here is a piece of a Slideshare presentation for the Searching 101 for Educators I'm holding in our area. I realize that PPT without the "comments" is lacking in understanding the message, but for information professionals, you might get a few ideas for when you deliver the same content.  
    
Although Google is the biggest gauntlet for information on the face of the Earth, it is not the only source out there.  In fact, there are wonderful alternatives.   If you are an educator and haven't heard this message, see your librarian for some alternatives.  Chances are they can make your students "smart searchers" as well as provide databases for research which save time. 


Information professionals can encourage teachers to:

• Use databases as an alternative to web searching
• Teach kids that we live in the age of misinformation--not the Information Age. The MO has moved from "you can't believe everything you read,"  to "Don't believe everything you read."  This subtle nuance captures our misinformation world.
• package your research endeavors to "solve real world problems"  rather than "find information" = Inquiry based learning.  

An enlightening activity is to sign into Google, then view your own history:  www.google.com/history   - They have mine back to 2008, on the calendar you can view your "heavy" days buy the intensity of the color blue.   If you are not signed into a Google Account, it will not archive your data.  Therefore at school, your searches shouldn't be "captured."   As soon as all this PD is over, I'll erase my history, but for now...I need the example.

Google and garbage-- lsta 2012

View more PowerPoint from Paige Jaeger