CI 553 Reflections - Week 4

Library, Media and Technology Standards for Teachers

I haven't spent much time in my journals addressing the IL/LM standards for teachers and pre-service teachers; rather, I have focused much of my attention on the LM standards for students. As there is no student LM standard for the week, it seems like the perfect time to look more closely at the standards intended for teachers. First, I think that it is a great idea to have standards geared at the development of educators. It gives teachers the same sort of delineated, clear guidelines for their own learning as the student standards outline for the skills that they are teaching. These standards universally address the knowledge and skills of the "information literate pk-12 pre-service teacher."

The pre-service teacher is expected to have the same repertoire of skills as the information literate student, like identifying the task, locating sources, using information and ethically using that information. In addition, the pre-service teacher is expected to be able select and present appropriate information for students, analyze and organize information to encourage appropriate use, articulate the need for information, as well as plan strategies and select to tools to find appropriate information. In essence, the pre-service teacher needs to be able to teach students about information, and select and use appropriate sources.

I think that all of these standards are quite valuable in many subjects. In my English classes, for example, we are constantly doing formal and informal research. Achieving a level of proficiency with the IL/LM standards for pre-service teachers ensures that I am able to guide student learning in such a way that the Montana IL/LM standards for students are being met. That said, there was little attention paid to these standards in my undergraduate training. When I began to teach, teaching formal research, or even just using indexes and databases from our school library, was like initiation by fire: in a word, intimidating. I think that teacher programs would benefit from focusing more on the standards provided for pre-service teachers. As professionals, we would enhance the learning of our students if we were proficient at all the skills clearly outlined in the LM/IL standards.

For me, this class is helping me achieve proficiency with many different research tools: indexes, databases, ready reference, biographical/geographical resources, etc. This will translate nicely to my classroom. For example, the short lesson I designed will clearly introduce my students to some the resources in the library that they otherwise just hear a lecture over. The hands-on aspect of my lesson will ensure that the students actually use the different tools available to them. I hope my unit lesson will further this goal of introducing students to all the information available to them, and help them realize that there really is a plethora of sources out there.

Using Biographical and Geographical Resources

Much of the biographical information that I found was online through the Biography Research Center index at the Mansfield Library. I was impressed by how much information was available and the number of sources that were indexed. I really like how there were tabs for short bios as well: I can see this being very helpful for my students when they are doing quick research. The Literature Resource Center was another tool that I know will be quite helpful for my English classes. I thought it was great how it provided biographical information, criticism, and media info. I think that I will be able to use this in my lesson planning too.

As per the geographical resources, I am quite familiar with both google earth and mapquest, though I don't know exactly how I would tie this into to English classroom. Perhaps we could document the setting of the stories we read, or where the authors live(d). I did find a GREAT resource from Merriam-Webster's Visual Online Dictionary. It has all sorts of great stuff. I spent quite a bit of time looking Geography found under the Earth subject tab. This is just the beginning though - there is all sorts of stuff here. I will definitely show this one to my students, though again, I don't have a specific purpose in mind.

On a side note, all this work with specific indexes and databases makes me wonder precisely what my school subscribes to, especially as I begin to plan lessons for my students. I know that we have Infotrac for students, and I think we have Academic premier but I don't really know what else. Perhaps a history database and another on Native Americans? I will be sure to find out when I go to school in the fall, because I want to know what information my students can access!

Photo Credit: Thanks to Flikr users Brandon Doran for his photo Mechanics' Institute Library and Sifter for his photo Library Parabola; both are available through a Creative Commons License.