At this point this the collaborative unit plan, Nichole and I are finishing up the unit plan outline and beginning to think seriously about what type of assessments we want to use to evaluate student learning. At present, we are still thinking of assessing three different portions of the project: 1) the research process 2) the individual law briefs and 3) the class presentation.
In terms of the research process, Nichole and I discussed having the students do some self-reflection in the form of reflection logs. I got the idea to use the logs from AASL's Standards for the 21st Century Learner In Action book, which suggests using the logs during the research process to help students plan ahead, brainstorm solutions to problems, discuss accomplishments, etc. I'm thinking we might have the students do 2-3 logs throughout the project that require them to respond to questions or prompts. In terms of grading, since this is more of an informal journal, Nichole and I will likely just look at the journals to see that the students have thoroughly responded to the questions. The real goal is just to get the students thinking about the research process and to give us teachers a chance to see how the groups are progressing. We haven't yet discussed who will be grading these logs, but I am thinking we might both read them or split the grading responsibilities equally.
For both the law brief and presentation, we plan to use rubrics to measure student achievement. In terms of grading responsibilities, Nichole will grade the content portions of the law briefs and presentations while I will grade the presentation design and all citations. Some of the qualities we will be looking for in the law briefs include clarity of argument, summary of the case, spelling/mechanics, and proper citation. With the presentations, some of the qualities we will be looking at include equal division of labor among group members, professional looking design, organization of information, oral presentation, and proper citation.
Finally, after completing all of our assessments, Nichole and I plan to use our data to prepare a short presentation on the project for the school board. This data might include examples of student work, teacher reflections, excerpts from student logs, and student grades. Hopefully, by comparing the various data we will compile to the standards addressed in the unit plan, we will be able to provide board members with sufficient evidence of student learning.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Week 9: Website Recommendation
South Carolina School Libraries Wiki - Resources and Links to Facilitate Creating and Maintain Quality School Library Media Programs
This wiki was created by Martha Alewine, a school library media services consultant for the South Carolina Department of Education, and contains a number of useful links for school librarians both in and outside of the state of South Carolina. Some of these links are actual Word documents created by the South Carolina Department of Education. One document that appears very similar to the SL 21 document recently unveiled in Michigan is titled "Achieving Exemplary School Libraries." Like Michigan's SL 21 document, this evaluation tool rates how well school libraries achieve a number of different objectives such as how well school libraries foster collaboration, what type of scheduling for libraries is used (flexible vs. fixed), whether the library supports reading incentives within the school, etc. It would be interesting to see how and where the Michigan document differs or is similar to South Carolina's document.
This wiki was created by Martha Alewine, a school library media services consultant for the South Carolina Department of Education, and contains a number of useful links for school librarians both in and outside of the state of South Carolina. Some of these links are actual Word documents created by the South Carolina Department of Education. One document that appears very similar to the SL 21 document recently unveiled in Michigan is titled "Achieving Exemplary School Libraries." Like Michigan's SL 21 document, this evaluation tool rates how well school libraries achieve a number of different objectives such as how well school libraries foster collaboration, what type of scheduling for libraries is used (flexible vs. fixed), whether the library supports reading incentives within the school, etc. It would be interesting to see how and where the Michigan document differs or is similar to South Carolina's document.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Week 8: Website Recommendation
Google Forms
Google Forms is one of the features available within Google Spreadsheet. Basically, this feature allows you to create a form requesting information and send that form to others via email. Recipients then enter their information into the form and submit the form. After submitting their form, the recipient's information will be placed into a spreadsheet, which you can then manipulate to create visual representations of your data. The whole process is very simple and fairly quick. In terms of collecting evidence for evidence based practices, I think this would a be a great tool.
Week 8: Teaching for Understanding - Response #2
Stripling, B. K. (2007). Teaching for understanding. In B.K. Stripling & S. Hughes-Hassel (Eds.) School reform and the school library media specialist (pp. 37-55) Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited.
Focus Quote:
"Educators can only teach for understanding by creating learning experiences that require the development of essential knowledge, the use of cognitive and metacognitive skills, and the application and transfer of knowledge." (Stripling 2007)
The second reading I selected for this week's readings on assessment and communicating evidence of student learning was Barbara Stripling's chapter on Teaching for Understanding. At the beginning of the chapter, Barbara devotes a section to defining understanding in which she clarifies the difference between facts, knowledge, and understanding. Basically, she states that facts provide information and exist outside the learner, knowledge is created when students attach meaning to facts and exist within the mind of the learner, and understanding is what happens when students interpret, evaluate, or apply their knowledge to another situation or context. (Stripling 2007) According to Stripling, the fact that understanding comes from the learner means that understanding is not something that can actually be taught by teachers. Rather, she states, "Educators can only teach for understanding by creating learning experiences that require the development of essential knowledge, the use of cognitive and metacognitive skills, and the application and transfer of knowledge." (Stripling 2007)
This definition of understanding was new to me. I think before reading this article, if someone had asked me to define understanding, I would have confused the definitions of knowledge and understanding. Now, after reading Stripling's definition, I think its a good definition and I think more educators need to to be aware that knowledge and understanding are two very distinct things. I also liked how she mentions that understanding has to come from the learner. With the No Child Left Behind law weighing heavily on the minds of many educators, it seems that we are so focused on what the teachers can or should do to improve education that we forget that students have a part to play in their own education. As Stripling points out, teachers are responsible for setting up situations where understanding can take place, but they are only piece of the puzzle.
Further on in the chapter Stripling discusses how to design inquiry-based instruction that leads to understanding. Using the theories from Understanding By Design, she recommends following three keys steps when planning instruction: "(1) target specific understandings; (2) develop how students will demonstrate their learning; (3) design the instructional activities." (Stripling 2007) In terms of the final step, designing instructional activities, Stripling also recommends using the Stripling model of inquiry, which includes six phases of inquiry: connect, wonder, investigate, construct, express, and reflect. (Stripling 2007) For each phase she also includes possible teaching strategies such as the use of concept maps or reflection logs. I found these strategies to be very useful and can see how they would be a good way to get students in the right frame of mind for true understanding to take place.
Focus Quote:
"Educators can only teach for understanding by creating learning experiences that require the development of essential knowledge, the use of cognitive and metacognitive skills, and the application and transfer of knowledge." (Stripling 2007)
The second reading I selected for this week's readings on assessment and communicating evidence of student learning was Barbara Stripling's chapter on Teaching for Understanding. At the beginning of the chapter, Barbara devotes a section to defining understanding in which she clarifies the difference between facts, knowledge, and understanding. Basically, she states that facts provide information and exist outside the learner, knowledge is created when students attach meaning to facts and exist within the mind of the learner, and understanding is what happens when students interpret, evaluate, or apply their knowledge to another situation or context. (Stripling 2007) According to Stripling, the fact that understanding comes from the learner means that understanding is not something that can actually be taught by teachers. Rather, she states, "Educators can only teach for understanding by creating learning experiences that require the development of essential knowledge, the use of cognitive and metacognitive skills, and the application and transfer of knowledge." (Stripling 2007)
This definition of understanding was new to me. I think before reading this article, if someone had asked me to define understanding, I would have confused the definitions of knowledge and understanding. Now, after reading Stripling's definition, I think its a good definition and I think more educators need to to be aware that knowledge and understanding are two very distinct things. I also liked how she mentions that understanding has to come from the learner. With the No Child Left Behind law weighing heavily on the minds of many educators, it seems that we are so focused on what the teachers can or should do to improve education that we forget that students have a part to play in their own education. As Stripling points out, teachers are responsible for setting up situations where understanding can take place, but they are only piece of the puzzle.
Further on in the chapter Stripling discusses how to design inquiry-based instruction that leads to understanding. Using the theories from Understanding By Design, she recommends following three keys steps when planning instruction: "(1) target specific understandings; (2) develop how students will demonstrate their learning; (3) design the instructional activities." (Stripling 2007) In terms of the final step, designing instructional activities, Stripling also recommends using the Stripling model of inquiry, which includes six phases of inquiry: connect, wonder, investigate, construct, express, and reflect. (Stripling 2007) For each phase she also includes possible teaching strategies such as the use of concept maps or reflection logs. I found these strategies to be very useful and can see how they would be a good way to get students in the right frame of mind for true understanding to take place.
Week 8: Evidenced Based Practice - Response #1
Todd, R. J. (2008). A Question of evidence. Knowledge Quest. 37(2), 16-21.
Focus Quote:
"By placing emphasis on outcomes, evidence-based practice in school libraries shifts the focus from the medium to the message -- from articulating what school librarians do in their day-to-day work to articulating their effect on what students become. Placing emphasis on systematically gathered evidence moves school library advocacy from a "tell me" framework to a "show me" framework." (Todd 2008)
This week our readings dealt with assessment and communicating evidence of student learning. One of the books that was recommended by our professor was a book by David V. Loertscher and Ross J. Todd called We Boost Achievement! Evidence-Based Practice for School Library Media Specialists. While I was unable to obtain a copy of this book in time for this week's blog post, I did find an article by Ross Todd on evidenced based practice that discusses some of the topics within the book. (I'll have to add the book to my summer reading list so I can read it later.)
In the article, Todd argues that evidenced based practice (EBP) can help school librarians demonstrate their value within the school by giving educational stakeholders a better picture of just what their presence in a school accomplishes. He states, "By placing emphasis on outcomes, evidence-based practice in school libraries shifts the focus from the medium to the message -- from articulating what school librarians do in their day-to-day work to articulating their effect on what students become. Placing emphasis on systematically gathered evidence moves school library advocacy from a "tell me" framework to a "show me" framework." (Todd 2008) I agree with Todd in that this is an important part of school librarians job especially nowadays when many schools are facing budget cuts.
While I am in full support of utilizing EBP in school libraries, I admit I am still a bit unclear as to how to realistically implement them. Perhaps the actual mechanics of these practices and examples are available in the book, but at the moment I can't picture exactly how a school librarian goes about collecting evidence for all of the different types of activities that take place in a school library. Plus, school librarians are so overloaded with responsibilities now that many library support positions have been cut that I imagine collecting evidence is not an easy thing to do.
The article also points out some criticisms of EBP. One of the these criticisms is the problem that, unlike the medical field where research is commonplace, many educators are not well-versed in how to conduct research. This lack of knowledge and/or experience "creates major gaps in expertise and professional discomfort with engaging in and using such evidence." (Todd 2008) I definitely agree with this criticism and believe school librarians will need additional support if they are going to feel comfortable implementing EBP. Just recently I took a class on research methods, but, even with this experience, I still feel apprehensive at the thought of taking on my own research. My hope is that, upon entering the workforce, I will be able to learn more about EBP through additional reading and professional development opportunities. I also imagine that EBP will become easier the more you do it.
Focus Quote:
"By placing emphasis on outcomes, evidence-based practice in school libraries shifts the focus from the medium to the message -- from articulating what school librarians do in their day-to-day work to articulating their effect on what students become. Placing emphasis on systematically gathered evidence moves school library advocacy from a "tell me" framework to a "show me" framework." (Todd 2008)
This week our readings dealt with assessment and communicating evidence of student learning. One of the books that was recommended by our professor was a book by David V. Loertscher and Ross J. Todd called We Boost Achievement! Evidence-Based Practice for School Library Media Specialists. While I was unable to obtain a copy of this book in time for this week's blog post, I did find an article by Ross Todd on evidenced based practice that discusses some of the topics within the book. (I'll have to add the book to my summer reading list so I can read it later.)
In the article, Todd argues that evidenced based practice (EBP) can help school librarians demonstrate their value within the school by giving educational stakeholders a better picture of just what their presence in a school accomplishes. He states, "By placing emphasis on outcomes, evidence-based practice in school libraries shifts the focus from the medium to the message -- from articulating what school librarians do in their day-to-day work to articulating their effect on what students become. Placing emphasis on systematically gathered evidence moves school library advocacy from a "tell me" framework to a "show me" framework." (Todd 2008) I agree with Todd in that this is an important part of school librarians job especially nowadays when many schools are facing budget cuts.
While I am in full support of utilizing EBP in school libraries, I admit I am still a bit unclear as to how to realistically implement them. Perhaps the actual mechanics of these practices and examples are available in the book, but at the moment I can't picture exactly how a school librarian goes about collecting evidence for all of the different types of activities that take place in a school library. Plus, school librarians are so overloaded with responsibilities now that many library support positions have been cut that I imagine collecting evidence is not an easy thing to do.
The article also points out some criticisms of EBP. One of the these criticisms is the problem that, unlike the medical field where research is commonplace, many educators are not well-versed in how to conduct research. This lack of knowledge and/or experience "creates major gaps in expertise and professional discomfort with engaging in and using such evidence." (Todd 2008) I definitely agree with this criticism and believe school librarians will need additional support if they are going to feel comfortable implementing EBP. Just recently I took a class on research methods, but, even with this experience, I still feel apprehensive at the thought of taking on my own research. My hope is that, upon entering the workforce, I will be able to learn more about EBP through additional reading and professional development opportunities. I also imagine that EBP will become easier the more you do it.
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