Future Vision project and Reflection

I appreciated this course for its professional learning network.  I started out this course with concerns of my first-time use of Prezi in a grade 6/7 class.  Initially the review of literature for my blog (Jan 19^th and 24th) supported my idea that Prezi would assist in student learning.  The encouragement from my course colleagues, that my student’s would enjoy using Prezi and they would be able to navigate the site easily, helped to reduce my anxiety of introducing a new program.  Tips on how to have students sign-in, and how to see their work in progress were very useful.  Learning that Prezi can be built collaboratively by students when students share access to a Prezi, opens the possibly for me to use different teaching formats in the future.  Right now (or at least in a few moments when I finish this post), I am marking some wonderful inquiry research projects on extreme environments that my students created on Prezi!

I have clearly heard that my experience with finding and selecting French language

resources for immersion schools, and the feedback from my teachers on their appropriateness would be useful to share to create a larger PLN for myself.  When I review the hits on my blog, they are mostly 10 to 20, but the one on “Sources of reviews of French language resources” (Feb 6, 2014) has over 130 hits.  I know a lot of this traffic was encouraged by Aaron’s retweet.  By looking at hits, I have also learned that sharing my knowledge is a combination of Twitter and Blogging.  As Aaron said “one is the River” of streaming knowledge and the other is "the shore” of socially created knowledge that readers can return to.  The importance of Twitter in sharing and learning was re-emphasized by a recent Twitter post by Jon Campbell (@MrCampbell57, Apr 4) “Twitter might be the second biggest source of Pro-d info I have after my colleagues in the prep room, #edfling”.  I see this as my post-course challenge to develop a larger PLN than my School District, by reaching out with Twitter and Blogging.

 

http://www.inuksite.com
 

I was very pleased that I could do a final project that met course requirements, but also met the needs of teachers of French immersion community in my School District.  Here is my final vision,  a list of recommended websites appropriate for kindergarten and primary French immersion students.  I have curated my recommended websites on Delicious.  Or I should say the “first draft of my final vision” as I continue to receive teacher feedback and hear of new websites to include.  As usual, I appreciated that we did background research before starting our project.  One quote that I found, that kept been repeated in my mind as I curated these websites (blog March 4) was “activities should provide context to help the students create meaning of the vocabulary, which brain research, has shown helps students learn and retain information” (Characteristics of Young Learners 2009).  To finalize this project, I will add these sites to our school website to assist students in accessing and using these resources.    

I loved the collegiality of this course!  I think using Google+  for chats and being able to visually meet my colleagues really helped me build my PLN.  I look forward to meeting you in person at future Teacher-Librarian or Teacher conferences.  Thanks for your energy!

References:

Characteristics of Young Learners.  2009.  Pearson Education.  Retrieved March 12, 2014 from http://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205535488.pdf

Jon Campbell.  April 4, 2014.  Twitter post retrieved from https://twitter.com/MrCampbell57 .

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+

An Initial foray into World Libraries...

When I started looking at support for developing world libraries, I found an article by Curry et al (2002) outlines the conflict of globalization of libraries.  Curry et al(2002) say globalization negatively impacts “developing” countries by shifting power away from local governments to a handful of corporations and financial institutions looking for financial gain.  The digital library resources contain mainly information from Western cultures, in Western languages; and do not reflect local social, environmental or cultural values.  The access to digital information uses products from “Western” corporations from the internet to cell service, to the tools to read digitally streamed information.   These comments reminds me of the companies that promoted infant formula as a solution to malnutrition in the 1960’s to 80’s in “third world” countries (Corporate Crime and Violence 1987) rather than promoting local solutions.  The article by Curry (2002) challenges people to ensure they are partners in developing world libraries and not “Lady Bountiful”.  It suggests that programs intending to assist libraries in “developing” countries should focus on traditional areas of need including literacy, collection development (appropriate for local users) and indigenous book publishing among others. 

On the web I found a non-profit group (Bibliothèques sansfrontières 2014) that promotes library development in the sub-Sahara, India, and the Caribbean; areas identified as having the lowest digital connectivity (Freakonomics 2014).  Then I checked to see if their programs meet Curry’s (2002) guidelines for assisting library development.  I was happy to note that they include all of the concerns identified in their areas of intervention including: conservation of cultural heritage, information and culture, and capacity building.  The irony of finding this site about world libraries is that I found out information useful for my students, creating a local impact.  Bibliothèques sans frontiers (2014) has translated a number of the Khan Academy (Khan Academy 2014) math lessons into French.  This is a resource developed in the “US” to help children learn.  I have heard this is a great resource for students, so finding it in French has been a bonus that I will be sharing with my colleagues in my School District and the parents of my students!

The article by Curry, and the idea of assisting in developing world libraries has a link to our library education at UBC (LLED452; Vacca et al 2011) where we are encouraged to purchase multicultural literature to reflect our student population, so all students can see themselves in literature.  I checked out some other sites and realized there groups that support worldwide literacy whose websites don’t identify if they consider if the content of the books they are sending is multicultural (Book Aid International, 2014).  Then I found SCECSAL an African Library Association (SESCAL 2012) that has conferences to promote literacy and health.  One of the posts I read talks about developing regional school libraries in Zimbabwe.  I realize that these local people should be consulted to figure out how to best help with improving libraries in Africa.
Next I explored the development of internet access for access to digital library resources.  I listened to an interesting podcast  which talks about where internet is available in the world, a requirement for digital world libraries to download resources.  They mention that South Korea is the most wired nation and that rural areas of inland India, China and the southern Sahara are the least wired locations in the world.  I read another post that identified that libraries may not need internet, but could work with cellular service (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 2013).  In rural Ghana, a library uses text messaging to provide pregnancy health information to expectant mothers.  This delivery of “library” information has increased pre-natal visits and cut infant mortality.  The delivery of this second service focused on needs of local people is one of the areas that SCESCAL promotes.  

I feel I have barely looked at this complex topic and I require much more information to really get a good grasp on how to help appropriately to develop world libraries. 

References
Bibliothèques sans frontières. 2014.  Areas of intervention.  Retrieved Feb 20, 2014 from http://www.librarieswithoutborders.org/.

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 2013.  Impatient Optimists.  Retrieved Feb 24, 2014 from http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2013/11/How-a-Modern-Library-Keeps-Mothers-Healthy-in-Rural-Ghana.

Book Aid.  2014.  Book Aid International. http://www.bookaid.org/publisher/the-books-we-need/

Corporate Crime and Violence.  1987.  Infant Formula, hawking disaster in the third world.  Retrieved Feb 27, 2014 from http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1987/04/formula.html

Curry, A. and T. Thiessen and L. Kelley.  2002.  Library Aid to developing counties in times of globalization: a literature review.  Retrieved Feb 20, 2014 from http://www.worlib.org/vol12no2/curry_v12n2.shtml.

Freakonomics.  Who runs the internet a Freakonomics radio podcast.  Retrieved Feb 20, 2014 from http://freakonomics.com/2013/11/14/who-runs-the-internet-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/

Khan Academy.  2014.  Retrieved Feb 27, 2014 from https://www.khanacademy.org/

Khan Academy avec Bibliothèques sans frontières.  2014.  Khan Academy.  Retrieved Feb 27, 2014 from http://www.khan-academy.fr/

SCECSAL Forum.  2012.  Regional School Library Seminar in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.  Retrieved March 2, 2014 from http://scecsal.blogspot.ca/search/label/school%20libraries

Vacca R., Vacca, J., and M. Mraz.  (2011)  Content Area Reading, Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum, Tenth Edition.  Pearson Education Inc.  Boston, USA

Continued ICT learning

I see my ICT skills and learning continuing on 3 different scales.  On the smaller scale, within my school, I will continue to work closely with the teacher in my school who has a strong technology focus.  M. Waldie recently launched our school  École Lac des Bois  learning commons with many library resources that I had posted on the school library website.  I am supporting his encouragement of using software with students to explore, create, and understand.  Here is a presentation sharing ICT classroom opportunities he is encouraging students to use.  I like this presentation on 2 levels, first I am trying Prezi for the first time with a class, and secondly because it provides lots of other ideas of software to use with students…. like maybe wordle in my poetry unit to encourage similies and metaphors!  Here is a teacher that sees how student ICT skills can solve student problems.  I can see collaborating with M. Waldie to help teachers in my school provide students access to things like homework lists, assignments etc. I am still challenged by embedding these videos/presentations so more learning required.

In my School District, I will be using our First class SD57 TL website for learning from my

 
colleagues.  This is a great site where we share questions and answers, and celebrate new ideas.   I will continue to take advantage of ICT professional development offered by my School District teacher librarians. For example they have scheduled 2 workshops this month on using licensed e-resources of World Book online and Culturegrams, and have booked presentation for our northern School District conference in February.

On a larger scale, I will continue to use Pinterest to capture ideas from other teachers and teacher librarians for library displays, lessons, and resources.  I will continue to look for sources of information on French-immersion resources for teachers and students on the web including blogs, tweets, reviews, etc., and in person.  After the success of my last blog posting I may consider continuing my blog with a French-immersion library resource focus as a way to share my learning. I know will continue to explore topics on the internet that I am teaching.

I know that I am not an early adaptor (Tipping point Malcolm Gladwell) but as new software is developed and becomes mainstream, I will challenge myself to learn about it and how it can be used to enhance student exploring, creating and understanding.  I do enjoy being a lifelong learner!

References

Malcolm Gladwell.  2002.  The Tipping point: how little things can make a big difference.  Little, Brown and Company, New York.  

Azzopardi, M.  Using ICT to support learning.  Retrieved Feb 10, 2013 from http://prezi.com/ovv7ms-ropfw/inset-using-ict-to-support-learning/

Eriksen, J. Map students’ ICT skills with itslearning Retrieved Feb 10, 2014 from  http://www.itslearning.eu/maps-students-ict-skills-with-itslearning