reading rocks the north

Steps to Research What can you do to draw students and teachers

into using valuable 21st technologies? How can you help your teachers integrate

literacy and technology into their research units? How can you organize the overwhelming

number of digital resources available from your school and from provincially funded resources?

http://betterresearchprojects.wikispaces.com

Agenda

Short History of the Virtual Library The design of our virtual library Designing your Own virtual space Marketing and implementation

Instructional Responsibilities

Curriculum Development Responsibilities Consultative

Role

Selection of Learning Resources Management

Function

Program Advocacy

Short History of the Virtual Library The central virtual library started 10 years

ago by Linda Langdon The vision was to have a central place that

was organized in a logical research method. In February of 2005 the model for elementary

schools was changed and along with that came the elementary virtual library.

In September of 2005 Jan Reynolds was hired as the Board Librarian for Elementary Schools.

In February of 2008 Kate Shields started as Board Librarian for Secondary School.

Near North District School Board

Seven Step Modelhttp://www-lib.nearnorth.edu.on.ca/vle1.htm

1. Encyclopedias2. Books3. Current Resources4. Internet Links5. Government6. Maps7. Search Engines

Before the students begin… How to read a screen – backward F How to skim, scan and highlight Edit find feature How are they to save their work What is a search box What are the keywords + boolean New terminology (active x) Match your instructions to what they see

What are the seven steps?

Step 1 – Encyclopedias

Step 2 – Books

Step 3 – Current Resources

Step 4 – General Resources

Step 1 - Encyclopedias

FREE

Grolier (OSAPAC) Canadian

SUBSCRIPTION World Book Découverte Early World

What are the seven steps?

Step 1 – Encyclopedias

Step 2 – Books

Step 3 – Current Resources

Step 4 – General Resources

Step 2 - BooksNear North Board is fully

automatedYou can search from any

computer on the internetAutomating book rooms

Step 2 – Books (continued)

ReadPlease (text to speech)

VozMe (Text to MP3) Forest of reading Battle of the Books

SUBSCRIPTIONFREE Literary Referenc

e Centre-EBSCO Literature Study

Centre-Proquest Book Flixs Tumble Books

What are the seven steps?

Step 1 – Encyclopedias

Step 2 – Books

Step 3 – Current Resources

Step 4 – General Resources

Step 3 – Current ResourcesFree

OERB OSAPAC (Learn

360) Knowledge Ontario

(Galenet/EBSCO)

Subscription Proquest

Literature Study Center SIRS

EBSCO Student Research Centre Academic Complete

Galenet Global Issues in Context

http://eresources.knowledgeontario.ca/

What are the seven steps?

Step 1 – Encyclopedias

Step 2 – Books

Step 3 – Current Resources

Step 4 – General Resources

Step 4 – General ResourcesFREE

OERB Learn 360 (OSAPA

C) Homework helpers

SUBSCRIPTION Student Link TFO

Step 5 – Government

Step 6 – Maps

Step 7 – Search Engines

STEPS - 5, 6 & 7Step 5

Government

Free Canada Ontario North Bay Stats

Canada E-Stat Law

Step 6Maps

Free Canadian atlas Canada from

Space CIA World

Factbook NASA maps Google Maps

Step 7Search Engines

Free Yahooligans Ask Jeeves Kids KidsClick! Kidadoweb

(French)

How do they do that?•Passwords – same password –simple think grade 1 or 3•Stats – Library Bookings and Subscriptions

Subscription Stats

Techie Behind the Scenes Stuff• We are currently using Front Page and moving into Sharepoint• Board Librarians are the only two people who have access to make changes.•Budget for all the subscriptions are shared to an extent between elementary and secondary.•The library clerks in the high schools maintain their own pages with Kate’s guidance.

Options to do your own…

• Joyce Valenza•Page Flakes• Wiki’s • Blogs• Ning’s• Symbaloo

TALCO Ning

Other Web2.0 Tools• Glogster• Voice Thread• Blabberize

Research Methodology

1. Neil Munro’s Analysis of Task-Difficulty

2. Q-Matrix3. Together for Learning

Neil Munro’s analysis of task-difficulty

Difficult task; Easy sources

Easy task; Difficult sources

Difficult task; Difficult sources

Easy task; Easy sources

• We discuss with the teachers how difficult it can be for the students to start them off in the green quadrant without any scaffolding throughout the other stages.

• We need to begin with the students by giving them an easy task and an easy resources to find the answer so they feel successful in their research abilities.

Q-Matrixhttp://www.decs.sa.gov.au/assessment/pages/assessmentstrategies/question/?reFlag=1

More resources on the Wiki: http://betterresearchprojects.wikispaces.com/Q-Matrix

What is? Where/

When is?

Which is?

What did?

Where/

When did?

Which did?

What can?

Where/

When can?

Which can?

Who is? Why is? How is?

Who did?

Why did? How did?

Who can?

Why can? How can?

What would?

Where/

When would?

Who would?

What will?

Where/ When will?

Which will?

What might?

Where/ When might?

Which might?

Which Would?

Why would? How Would?

Who will?

Why will? How will?

Who might?

Why might? How might?

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Together for Learning

http://www.togetherforlearning.ca/

Avoiding plagiarismHave students adopt a persona because they

won’t likely find ready to copy information online

– Lawyer arguing euthanasia– Character from a book– Example of elements project: Students in grade

9 have to study an element from the periodic table and one teacher has the students design a dating add based on their element. They weigh a certain amount, look a certain way, interact well with certain elements and don’t interact well with others.

• Do see the pathfinder for the project follow this link• http://gr9elements.wikispaces.com/

• Have students take notes into a framework, graphic organizers or template. If there is no check points along the way the students will leave the assignment to the night before and cut paste.

• Always ask for sources and define what sources. Example 2 magazines, 2 academic journals or that you will only allow 2 open source websites found using search engines…

• Make sure to ask higher order research questions. Never ask “what is” because they can search the answer and copy and paste without any thought.

•Instead ask “Why” – See the Q-Matrix for more examples of higher order thinking questions. Getting the students to read the research and develop their own ideas is the key to good research and not cut and paste assignments.

Evaluating WebsitesThese are the top 3 things I tell students to keep in mind when searching the open web

1. Watch the URL. If it contains ~, /, -, % it means it has attached itself to the original domain. For example it might be a .edu site but if there is a / and a persons name you have to be careful that it isn’t a high school site and a students webpage off of that site. (http://solomon.cps.k12.il.us/gladiatorsindex.html Good examples because it has K12 in the URL, done at an elementary school)

2. Don’t trust that the top hits in Google and other search engines are sorted by relevance. Google is out to make money and the companies that pay the most money to get their website to appear higher on the list is the first initial sort. After that it does follow relevance.

3. Watch for bias. Look at every website as if you are watching an infomercial like the Shamwow guy or the Oxy clean guy. Think critically about the information being presented.

Truncate the URL• This term means to discover who is hosting the website from what server.

www.who.is

• Type in the URL address • When the information is returned scroll down to see what website is hosting the information. If the contact information is filled out. Where the IP address is coming from.• If the server names listed are only free servers where anyone from anywhere can create and host as website they are considered less credible than an organization having their own server to host their own data and website.

Implementing• Train all staff (teachers, principals, EA’s, parents ect.) Part of NTIP• Make sure there is hands on training – More resources then time• Techie Tuesdays, lunch dates ect• Create cheat sheets• Grade 9 orientations• Collaborate with teachers• Virtual library vs Google• Part of the favorites list• Key spot on the schools homepage

Marketing• Home access flyer sent home with report cards• Magnets to teachers and school secretaries• Posters• Monthly email update to all staff • E-Wareness – Halton District School Board• Presentations to trustees• Research method using strips of paper• Imagine the learning and Research Success @ Your library document

Thank You!Questions?

Comments?

Kate ShieldsBoard Librarian –

Secondary Schoolsshieldsk@nearnorthschools.ca

Jan ReynoldsLead Teacher Librarian

Elementaryreynoldsj@nearnorthschools.ca