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Categories: Library Media1 Comment
While the month of April brings thoughts of spring showers and May flowers, for this school librarian, April reminds me of National Library Week and its companion, School Library Month. I love the fact that there is a special time of the year dedicated to libraries. You don’t have to convince Americans that their libraries are important. Over … read more »
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Categories: Library Media
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The invisible web is a world of resources not available using conventional search engines. Last month we looked at databases of information found behind paywalls, but often accessible with a library card. Now let’s investigate some sites that are freely available, but take some knowledge and instruction to use. A great place to start is … read more »
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Categories: Research
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Way back in the twentieth century, your high school English teacher probably decreed that you needed ten sources for your research paper. You probably moaned about how hard it would be to find that many. If you were savvy, you headed to your school or public library to find the resources you needed. If you … read more »
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Categories: Media Literacy3 Comments
Evaluating resources, in any medium, is a critical thinking skill for information literacy, media literacy, or digital citizenship. Of course, it is also part of educational state standards patterned after the Common Core. They emphasize reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from texts. In a discussion of the key shifts in the standards, the … read more »
In today’s world of instant information, students often are overwhelmed by the myriad of resources available to support research assignments. When teaching students to use search engines, I emphasize the importance of asking the right questions, finding the best keywords, and, most importantly, using advanced searching techniques to retrieve limited results containing the information they … read more »
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Categories: Research
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Now that most of us are well into the first quarter of the school year, many teachers have assigned students their first significant formal research assignment for the year. English teachers and school librarians love academic research or at least don’t dread it! Most teachers know they should be giving students an opportunity to work … read more »
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Categories: Classroom Application3 Comments
“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop. ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland Although many of us have been in school for what seems like weeks, with the cool breezes of autumn, now is the time to think about school year … read more »
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Categories: Digital Citizenship
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One of my favorite quotes is from futurist guru Alvin Toffler. In Future Shock, incredibly first published in 1970, Toffler is often credited with saying, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” It first originated with Herbert Gerjuoy, whom … read more »