What a thrill! Doug Johnson at our table for a few minutes (mostly because I'm lucky enough to hang out with the "right people.") Joyce Valenza walking by saying good morning! It's ridiculous I know...this -struck, hero-worship feeling I have around these people...they are just people who do some of the same things I do to help kids be successful. Indulge me for a few days and I'll get back to normal.
Standards for 21st Century Learners - A Debate?
Panel made up of Doug Johnson, Joyce Valenza, Annette Lamb, Indiana University professor of Library Information, Gail Dickinson, Old Dominion University, and Marlene Woo-Lun (Linworth), moderator
Can you do the elevator speech for the standards?
Do you have idea how to use them as a tool?
Are you going to ignore and just get your work done? The moderator asked us these questions fully expecting the answers she got.
So she threw out the first question to the panel:
If everyone believes that info literacy is important, should it be graded? How else can we be respected? Do we need a high stakes exam?
JV: we are already doing them...new ways to count them to prove we are; engaging students in rich projects; standards valued in rubrics, picking right tool, resources are validated and credited; students help define rubrics...communication is what students will remember
AL: opportunity, to get hold of those teachers who need to change; what are the connections between the XXX standards and these standards...our job to show that they are already there; authenticity of collaboration, real-world connections, real things with local needs and history. Not a separate test but an infusion. Authentic projects.
Moderator: Infusion does not sound visible
AL: move from all about test scores to life-long learning, creativity...products that reflect that. The time is NOW for us to move to the front as far as leadership.
GD: we can't "bubble" in these standards...but are covered in curriculum standards...they are called standards for learners, not libraries. if we are not happy with the current way, then we need to take these standards and make the necessary changes.
DJ: authentic learning, creativity, 5% of teachers are using...95 the rest, are just happy to do what they are doing....NCLB doesn't ask our kids to do enough...he would like to see legislation that makes more requirements beyond simple reading and writing. critical thinking, problem-solving...need to be mandated.
JV: bigger than the old standards..not just reaserch process, creative member of school team instead...all the craziness (in many libraries these days) has it place and reason for being
One chance to explain:
School library needs to be the center of the party.
How do we use the standards to be the center
GD: we are already doing skills, self assessment, dispositions, ?; teachers' lesson plans do not reflect what goes on in the visit to the library...instead of teacher lesson plans...student learning plans...then what we do and are responsible for the success of, will be visible!
JV: make all plans public
DJ: students, parents, etc can see things now with all the 2.0 tool s available that allow for records, etc to be online and made "public"...plans, learning plans, individual needs plans; getting away from factory model means customization. there should not be one set of plans for a group of students.
AL: Student focus, they are talking it, but not doing....too many students in one class for individualized; we see the big picture...we know how to differentiate on larger scale...we can offer different formats ( list of book formats)
Audience: don't forget the audio version!
AL: don't shelve by format....shelve by content; change the structure of the library by doing this.
JV reads letter (graduate 1998)
Dialog search statements--think and shake things up; citing sources, thinking about problems..what are the skills, beliefs he got
Audience responses:
learning to think
problem solving
work in a team
creativity
enthusiasm
perseverance
resourcefulness
JV: what if we asked students to reflect their product? is that assessment
AL: the use of progress blogs...authentic reflection of growth, inquiry; community is built thru comments and get answers, other ideas. Tell administration" I need 2.0 to do my standards!"
JV: intellectual freedom fight to get these tools available to all...no blocking should be occurring
AL: inquiry with blogs...she makes her students use this method in her class even for personal needs, goals. this is a life-long learning skill...should I do xxx? blog the process.
JV: force students to blog the research process...it becomes transparent...can intervene when becomes problem, frustration..and cheer on success
AL: They need to be system wide, not model-based..access all the time....blog for every class! you don't have to fill out a permission slip to use a pencil...make it where blogs and wikis are the same way!
DJ: safe and appropriate environment; management skills/collaborative skills with IT to insure that parents feel are comfortable. issue of creativity....reasons for not getting their assignments...creativity is there! it's been there! how is it designed, what does it look like? no idea how to measure it. if we want the standards to go...we have to figure out a way.
collaboration in different ways....
what does community look like?
DJ: we have been doing it wrong...it is our motto tho'...we do 1-on-1 with the living...instead, we need to focus...curr commitee, building planning comm...the decision makers ..we have to be at that level.
AL: go outside the school...despite the fears involved. building model projects with outside connections ...they need interaction with community, experts out there...reasons for blogs, emails, etc. walls need to come down...community needs to see the school as part of the community...the library is the logical place to start. LibraryThing prefect safe example ...family uses; AllRecipes.com ...these are social networking places.
GD: we don't do very good job of sharing what we do, promote; ...home is not filtered, independent school often not filtered...we have get the rest unfiltered
JV: policy should be written as we are going to do in a positive form....we are going to take your student on an exciting journey.... let us know if you do not want them on this journey....
two sentences of advice
AL: do not see as another chore...see this as a positive way to get what we want...we can have fun stuff going on....teachers are tired of testing...receptive for fun again. let's have a good time again!
GD: start the conversation..people need to hear all of this...carry them around
DJ: introduced them...they saw things/tasks...comment from group--we can't do these alone, must be a bldg, a district, a state. best practices in content areas say the same things...get more familiar with content areas standards and match to ours.
JV: the year to invent everything...so many buckets and shovels in the sandbox...let the kids in with us...NETS for teachers--we do that ...reinterpret them for teacher/librarians
Questions:
Audience comment: talked about revision of standards in NC...that it is a group project....the librarians are included
Audience: standards in hands of pre-service teachers and administrators--where are we in this idea?
GD: preservice teachers must demo collaboration ...reversely we must do the same with our librarian programs
AL: find away to make student teachers, etc feel a part of the school...involve them thru the library
DJ: technology orientation of pre-service teachers...includes library services as part of the orientation...
Audience: "if we want to keep our jobs" statements disturb her...do we need more assessments for kids?
DJ: we do good things with kids in many things...that is why we need to keep our jobs...who will do what we do if we are gone?
Moderator: do it all in a positive way...how do we become more visible, viable?
Audience: how do we overlay aasl and iste
audience member spoke up: the seven core values are identical
AL:lots of examples...children in action
GD: professional develop standards so they can demonstrate what they want students to know and do
DJ: neither will be adopted as is...they will be used as guide to build a local idea of standards.
Audience: define collaboration a little more...difference between collaboration and conversation
JV: examine the end products, be an assessor as well...do the measuring ...it makes knowing if it worked....my job is to make your life easier! make connections with people who can help....grow your personal network...elephant in the is personalities, do they want to give up
AL: synergy ...give & take, thinking about the individual
DJ: professional learning communities...community norms...maybe we need those for collaboration...who is responsible for what.
The standards are different and are meant to be. They reflect the future and not the Past!
Info available at http://necc2008.ning.com/group/21stcenturyskills/
No comments:
Post a Comment