personal reflection on topic inquiries

So as I complete this course and reflect how it currently fits in my personal learning, I realize that my “French language resource” lens is a huge part of any learning I am doing.  I still feel I have a lot to learn and my learning is critical so I can effectively support the teachers and students in my French immersion elementary school.  This lens is clear in my learning as reflected in this Wordle of my blog labels for this course. It has also been mentioned by Kacy (March 5, 2014) among others.  I have reflected on some of the ideas that have helped clarify my thinking for choices in my school library setting.

I appreciated Emily’s comment about giving students choice to encourage reading (Feb 1, 2014).  We had an interesting discussion on how limiting one choice to French can still be open if a wide variety of resources are available.  Aaron Mueller (Feb 10, 2014) commented that “Graphic novels, magazines, high-interest, even Guinness Book of World Records can be that gateway book for a lot of kids”.  This comment made me see that I am providing choice in my school library since I am expanding my French language collection of graphic novels, the only magazines I buy are French magazines for intermediate students, I am purchasing many non-fiction titles like “the 100 most repugnant animals” in French to provide students choices that are not only novels. 

 

Jane Leslie (Feb 14, 2014) mentioned part of her PLN with the French immersion community is through the ACPI(L’Association canadienne des professeurs).  This has provided me with another important group to add to my PLN.  The website that she shared has many resources and opportunities for my personal learning.

 

I like Kimberly’s comment that collaboration takes a level of trust, the desire to work together and being open to other points of view (Birkland, Kimberly, Feb 28, supporting teachers” ICT curriculum blog post).  As I am learning about ICT options for students and the needs of French immersion teachers I am able to share ideas that can help them work with their classes.  I need to develop a level of trust with more of the teachers and find the time to develop collaborative relationships so I can support the work of the teachers.  I am having some success, for example, a teacher is collaborating with me to create videos of her students oral french skills (Feb 16, 2014). 

 

I liked Kacy’s (Feb 19, 2014) idea of “a fun way to practice vocabulary or themes for younger students or EFL students is to use a little game called hashtag of the day”.  The students are not only learning vocabulary using hastags, but also it is teaching students about social “tagging” and identifying key concepts that are relevant to their lives.  I can see using hashtags to promote French idioms with FSL students.  For this winter it would be “y fait frette” (It’s really cold!).  But unlike Kacy I still have a learning curve for hashtags; I have yet to use one with my Twitter posts.

 

So it is clear that I will continue to use a French language resources lens for my learning.  I can see sharing French language resources for immersion school libraries is a useful role for me as I learn more about what works in my school.  I have already taken on this role in my School District and I am now aware that sharing with a larger teacher-librarian audience is a good idea (Feb. 10 2014). As I talk to teachers at my school I am becoming aware of other topics I can share including:

·         French authors that have series that appeal to different grades,

·         videos of the authors and their books,

·         online French language resources appropriate for immersion audiences,

·         French language leveled readers that are particularly successful in immersion settings,

·         great book selections around teaching reading and writing strategies,

·         good examples of genres,

·         social-emotional teaching book choices.

I am writing this personal challenge to myself to continue sharing my learning in my blog.

 

References:

Beaudry, Leisbet.  Feb 10, 2014.  Continued ICT learning, blog post. http://beaudrylibrary.blogspot.ca/2014/02/conntinued-ict-learning.html

Beaudry, Leisbet.  Feb 16, 2014.  Supporting teachers learning ICT, blog post.  http://beaudrylibrary.blogspot.ca/2014/02/supporting-teachers-learning-ict.html  

Birkland, Kimberly, Feb 28, 2014.  Supporting teachers” ICT curriculum, blog post.  Retrieved March 2, 2014 from http://mskbirkland.blogspot.ca/2014/02/supporting-teachers-ict-curriculum.html

Brewarcilla.  Jan 23, 2014.  hashtags: are they appropriate?  Image retrieved March 7, 2014 from http://www.bubblews.com/news/2135050-hashtags-are-they-appropriate

Feinberg, Jonathan.  2013.  Wordle.  Retrieved March 2, 2014 from http://www.wordle.net/

Leslie, Jane.  Feb 14, 2014. Learning and sharing with others, blog post. Retrieved March 7, 2014 from http://mmeleslie.blogspot.ca/

Morgan, Kacy. Feb 19, 2014.  Follow me – 21^st century learning tools in the classroom - Inquiry blog post #2.  Retrieved March 7, 2014 from http://kacymorganlibe.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/follow-me-21st-century-learning-tools-in-the-classroom-inquiry-blog-post-2/

Mueller, Aaron.  Feb 2014.  Comment on blog post Fostering a reading culture in school.  Retrieved March 7, 2013 from https://blogs.ubc.ca/emilyrodgers/?s=fostering+

Morgan, Kacy.  March 5, 2014.  Take it all in, love it all out inquiry blog post.  Retrieved March 7, 2013 from http://kacymorganlibe.wordpress.com/.

Rodgers, Emily. Feb 1, 2014.  Fostering a reading culture in school, blog post.  Retrieved March 7, 2013 from https://blogs.ubc.ca/emilyrodgers/?s=fostering+