(BCTF E-news, Vol. 6, no. 5, December 11, 2006)
The minister of education has spent thousands of dollars sending letters to parents of all K12 students telling them their children are now eligible for a free public library card.
Most public libraries in the province provide cards free of charge already. Some people are upset at this enormous waste of money, especially in light of the number of school libraries that have been closed or had their hours reduced.
There is over fifty-years research showing that a well-stocked and properly staffed school library will improve academic achievement.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Friday, December 1, 2006
The teacher-librarian: A students’ best bet to acquire information literacy skills
(BC Teacher: 2006 November/December) by Lesley Edwards
One of the truly gratifying aspects of my job as a secondary school teacher-librarian is the work I do with teens helping them to become better at finding useful information on the Internet.
I remember the Grade 12 student who appeared in the library with panic written all over her face. "I spent all weekend searching the web for information for my project and couldn’t find a thing. The assignment is due in two days." I asked her what her topic was and immediately pulled up three great sites using a Google search. She looked at me incredulously. "How did you do that?" she asked. Now this was a hardworking, intelligent student and yet she was flummoxed by a simple search. She had no idea how to use keywords effectively.
I remember a class doing a project on substance abuse. They had been given clearly defined questions to answer and yet several of them were having difficulty. When I checked with them to see what keywords they were using for their search they replied, "Shrooms." With a little coaching they were able to come up with the term psilocybin, which netted them sites from sources such as Brown University’s health education page. They learned that a search using slang results in sites that offer unreliable or biased information. I then directed them to the links provided at the bottom of Brown’s page where additional reliable information could be found.
Without expert guidance, how many students will learn to use a directory like the Librarian’s Internet Index at http://lii.org/, or go beyond the first page of Google to discover how to do an advanced search? How many know about the great online databases that many schools and all public libraries subscribe to? How many know that even the creator of Wikipedia does not recommend it for student use? And finally how many know how to evaluate a web site for accuracy, authority, and reliability?
Try this at home. Do a Google search using the keywords "Martin Luther King." The first hit seems great, but closer examination shows that it is hosted by Stormfront, a white supremacist group. Similarly, the first result of a Google search for "In Flanders Fields" takes you to the American Arlington Cemetery site, the second is a Belgian museum with nothing about the poem. The eighth is hosted by a Canadian white supremacist group—the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee. There are great teaching and learning opportunities here, but those "teachable moments" are too often lost when teacher-librarians are not part of the research process.
Public librarians also offer great information services but are more likely to provide the answer teenagers need rather than teaching them how to find the answer for themselves. When a class comes to the school library to do research, I make sure that part of their session includes learning and practicing information literacy skills.
For me, teaching information literacy is all about the process, the skills of finding information, judging its quality and usefulness, paring it down to essentials, and recombining it in ways that challenge the user to employ higher-order thinking skills. It’s about using information ethically and with integrity. We don’t hand teenagers the keys to the family car without training them to drive, so why are we so willing to turn them loose on the Internet without strategies for navigating successfully and staying safe? Who better to provide solid Internet-use strategies than a teacher-librarian?
Lesley Edwards is a teacher-librarian at Seycove Secondary School, North Vancouver.
For further information, read the following:
• "The Crisis in Canada’s School Libraries: The Case for Reform and Re-Investment" by Ken Hancock at www.peopleforeducation.com/librarycoalition/Report03.pdf.
• A report prepared for the National Library of Canada, "Elementary and Secondary Schools: The Role, Challenges and Financial Conditions of School and School Library Resources in Canada" at www.collectionscanada.ca/9/14/index-e.html
• "School Libraries and Student Achievement in Ontario" at www.accessola.com/osla/graphics/eqao_pfe_study_2006.pdf.
One of the truly gratifying aspects of my job as a secondary school teacher-librarian is the work I do with teens helping them to become better at finding useful information on the Internet.
I remember the Grade 12 student who appeared in the library with panic written all over her face. "I spent all weekend searching the web for information for my project and couldn’t find a thing. The assignment is due in two days." I asked her what her topic was and immediately pulled up three great sites using a Google search. She looked at me incredulously. "How did you do that?" she asked. Now this was a hardworking, intelligent student and yet she was flummoxed by a simple search. She had no idea how to use keywords effectively.
I remember a class doing a project on substance abuse. They had been given clearly defined questions to answer and yet several of them were having difficulty. When I checked with them to see what keywords they were using for their search they replied, "Shrooms." With a little coaching they were able to come up with the term psilocybin, which netted them sites from sources such as Brown University’s health education page. They learned that a search using slang results in sites that offer unreliable or biased information. I then directed them to the links provided at the bottom of Brown’s page where additional reliable information could be found.
Without expert guidance, how many students will learn to use a directory like the Librarian’s Internet Index at http://lii.org/, or go beyond the first page of Google to discover how to do an advanced search? How many know about the great online databases that many schools and all public libraries subscribe to? How many know that even the creator of Wikipedia does not recommend it for student use? And finally how many know how to evaluate a web site for accuracy, authority, and reliability?
Try this at home. Do a Google search using the keywords "Martin Luther King." The first hit seems great, but closer examination shows that it is hosted by Stormfront, a white supremacist group. Similarly, the first result of a Google search for "In Flanders Fields" takes you to the American Arlington Cemetery site, the second is a Belgian museum with nothing about the poem. The eighth is hosted by a Canadian white supremacist group—the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee. There are great teaching and learning opportunities here, but those "teachable moments" are too often lost when teacher-librarians are not part of the research process.
Public librarians also offer great information services but are more likely to provide the answer teenagers need rather than teaching them how to find the answer for themselves. When a class comes to the school library to do research, I make sure that part of their session includes learning and practicing information literacy skills.
For me, teaching information literacy is all about the process, the skills of finding information, judging its quality and usefulness, paring it down to essentials, and recombining it in ways that challenge the user to employ higher-order thinking skills. It’s about using information ethically and with integrity. We don’t hand teenagers the keys to the family car without training them to drive, so why are we so willing to turn them loose on the Internet without strategies for navigating successfully and staying safe? Who better to provide solid Internet-use strategies than a teacher-librarian?
Lesley Edwards is a teacher-librarian at Seycove Secondary School, North Vancouver.
For further information, read the following:
• "The Crisis in Canada’s School Libraries: The Case for Reform and Re-Investment" by Ken Hancock at www.peopleforeducation.com/librarycoalition/Report03.pdf.
• A report prepared for the National Library of Canada, "Elementary and Secondary Schools: The Role, Challenges and Financial Conditions of School and School Library Resources in Canada" at www.collectionscanada.ca/9/14/index-e.html
• "School Libraries and Student Achievement in Ontario" at www.accessola.com/osla/graphics/eqao_pfe_study_2006.pdf.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Testing scheme doesn’t improve score
(BCTF E-news, Vol. 6, no. 3, Nov 20, 2006)
The BC Liberal government has been claiming it wants to improve student achievement, and by that it means test scores. Last year’s Grade 7 Foundation Skills Assessment reading scores are the lowest in five years, the same length of time the government has been in power.
When the education minister was questioned about the test results she said, “We have to ask ourselves, which [initiatives] are working and which ones are not.”
Closing school libraries and increasing class sizes haven’t helped students develop literacy skills. On the contrary, there is 50 years of research showing that a properly staffed and well-maintained school library is the best way to support academic achievement.
The BC Liberal government has been claiming it wants to improve student achievement, and by that it means test scores. Last year’s Grade 7 Foundation Skills Assessment reading scores are the lowest in five years, the same length of time the government has been in power.
When the education minister was questioned about the test results she said, “We have to ask ourselves, which [initiatives] are working and which ones are not.”
Closing school libraries and increasing class sizes haven’t helped students develop literacy skills. On the contrary, there is 50 years of research showing that a properly staffed and well-maintained school library is the best way to support academic achievement.
Monday, October 23, 2006
National School Library Day
(BCTF: 2006 Oct 23)
October 23 is National School Library Day. "School libraries help lay the foundation for lifelong learning and students read more when they have access to a variety of materials to enhance learning," says BCTF President Jinny Sims. "Student achievement is linked to access to school libraries and it’s important that schools are well-resourced with curriculum-based collections and strong library programs." The annual survey of school library learning conditions conducted by the BC Teacher-Librarians’ Association points to a drastic need to support school libraries. In light of the government's stated commitment to literacy, the erosion of school library staffing and resources simply does not make sense.
October 23 is National School Library Day. "School libraries help lay the foundation for lifelong learning and students read more when they have access to a variety of materials to enhance learning," says BCTF President Jinny Sims. "Student achievement is linked to access to school libraries and it’s important that schools are well-resourced with curriculum-based collections and strong library programs." The annual survey of school library learning conditions conducted by the BC Teacher-Librarians’ Association points to a drastic need to support school libraries. In light of the government's stated commitment to literacy, the erosion of school library staffing and resources simply does not make sense.
Sunday, October 1, 2006
BCTF salutes teacher-librarians
(BCTF News Release: 2006 October 19)
Teachers around the province are celebrating the work of their peers through their support and acknowledgment of National School Library Day, October 23.
The BC Teachers' Federation (BCTF) says this day highlights the connection between reading and learning. President Jinny Sims says, "We are concerned about the lack of specialist teachers such as teacher-librarians, who foster our children's love of books. School libraries help lay the foundation for lifelong learning and students read more when they have access to a variety of materials to enhance learning. Our school libraries are staffed with professional teacher-librarians who know what information will stimulate and engage students."
Sims says student achievement is linked to access to school libraries and it's important that schools are well-resourced with curriculum-based collections and strong library programs. "The government must fully fund school libraries," says Sims, "not only by ensuring the shelves are well-stocked with current and cutting-edge resources, but by staffing the libraries with full-time teacher-librarians. It's alarming that in BC, only 18% of school libraries have a full-time teacher-librarian."
The BCTF is heartened that the provincial government wants BC to be world's literacy leader, but Sims says, "in order for that to happen, we need sufficient funding. School libraries should be places for our children to expand their knowledge and to feed their love of learning. Instead, they have become the hallmark of budget constraints and many school boards have been slow in repairing the damage that years of budget cuts have done."
Sims says the BCTF applauds the hard work of teacher-librarians and recognizes the unique struggles they face.
Teachers around the province are celebrating the work of their peers through their support and acknowledgment of National School Library Day, October 23.
The BC Teachers' Federation (BCTF) says this day highlights the connection between reading and learning. President Jinny Sims says, "We are concerned about the lack of specialist teachers such as teacher-librarians, who foster our children's love of books. School libraries help lay the foundation for lifelong learning and students read more when they have access to a variety of materials to enhance learning. Our school libraries are staffed with professional teacher-librarians who know what information will stimulate and engage students."
Sims says student achievement is linked to access to school libraries and it's important that schools are well-resourced with curriculum-based collections and strong library programs. "The government must fully fund school libraries," says Sims, "not only by ensuring the shelves are well-stocked with current and cutting-edge resources, but by staffing the libraries with full-time teacher-librarians. It's alarming that in BC, only 18% of school libraries have a full-time teacher-librarian."
The BCTF is heartened that the provincial government wants BC to be world's literacy leader, but Sims says, "in order for that to happen, we need sufficient funding. School libraries should be places for our children to expand their knowledge and to feed their love of learning. Instead, they have become the hallmark of budget constraints and many school boards have been slow in repairing the damage that years of budget cuts have done."
Sims says the BCTF applauds the hard work of teacher-librarians and recognizes the unique struggles they face.
Friday, September 1, 2006
World Peace Forum: For the sake of the children
(BC Teacher: 2006 September) by Murray Corren
Following her riveting presentation at the World Peace Forum in June, I had the honour of interviewing children’s literature author, Deborah Ellis. "Deborah is that all too rare artist whose deeply rooted sense of social justice is manifest in writing that is lively, lucid, and highly entertaining. In settings as diverse as Afghanistan, Malawi, Bolivia, medieval Paris, and Regent Park in Toronto, her novels chronicle the lives of youngsters faced with enormous challenges," was the verdict of the Vickey Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature jury.
This extraordinary writer is a long-time women’s rights and anti-war activist who has authored socially engaging novels about children living in environments of violence, conflict, and earth-shattering calamities. However, anyone reading her work will also be deeply touched by the extraordinary and uplifting acts of courage by her child-heroes.
Of herself, Deborah says, "My books reflect the heroism of people around the world who are struggling for decent lives. It has been a real privilege for me to sit with people in many parts of the world and learn how their lives have been drastically altered by war or disease, and how they try to remain kind in spite of it all. This has taught me how fundamentally alike we all are."
All the royalties from many of her books, translated into numerous languages, are donated to the education of women and girls in Afghanistan, to Street Kids International, and to UNICEF.
When I mention these generous acts of kindness, Deborah responds with, "Oh, it’s nothing." To date, The Breadwinner and Parvana’s Journey alone have raised over $500,000 to support the women and girls of Afghanistan.
Winner of numerous children’s literature awards, Deborah Ellis works as a mental health counselor in a group home for women in Simcoe, Ontario.
How did you become involved in anti-bomb politics and in feminism?
I came of age in l978, when the world was about to blow itself up in an atomic war. I write about what interests me, which is how people move about in a world of cruelty, and find some measure of kindness in that cruelty.
When I was in high school in Paris, Ontario, some local volunteers involved in the antibomb movement came and gave a talk and I became interested in it and became involved.
Unfortunately, the guys who were there were very chauvinistic. Various organizations were connected to the antibomb political movement, one of them being a feminist organization. It was then that I became interested in feminism.
Tell me more about those measures of kindness you have witnessed.
I have seen so many acts of kindness, I hardly know where to begin. I have seen people in the Afghan refugee camps, who have lost their own children through war or illness, take in other children who have lost their parents and made them their own.
You spent time in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan prior to writing the "Breadwinner" trilogy. What were the circumstances that brought you to do that?
I and some others were doing solidarity work with Afghan women after the Taliban takeover of Kabul in September l996. I went over to the camps to collect their stories to share with others, and heard about girls masquerading as boys in order to support their families.
Who were some of the people you met?
I met former teachers, principals, and doctors working in secret trying to get medical help to people inside Afghanistan. I met a woman who had been married at nine years old and was widowed at 10 when her husband was killed in the war. I met women who smuggled guns for the Mujahadine into the country to fight the Russians.
I’d like to turn now to the "Breadwinner" trilogy. The books portray events that some might say are too disturbing for children to read about and could take away their innocence. What do you say to those concerns?
The children I’ve met who have read my books, or lived in the situations I write about, are capable of knowing the truth of the world as it is presented to them, and, at the same time, believing in make-believe, in dreams, and in decency.
What message would you like children to get from those three books?
We often carry with us the books we read as children. If the kids who read my books remember them when they get to be decision makers, and their government says its time to go to war, hopefully they’ll remember that there are real people under those bombs, people like Parvana, and will think seriously before letting their government get away with killing them in their name.
The Canadian government recently announced an increased expenditure of $17 billion on the military. How else do you think that money might have been spent?
A teacher in Afghanistan earns roughly $750 a year. Seventeen billion dollars would hire a lot of teachers, build a lot of schools, put a lot of people back to work, give a lot of people a sense of future.
There are Canadians who think we should not be in Afghanistan in combat mode, that our soldiers are being injured or killed. The theme of the World Peace Forum is the futility of war and how conflict does not solve problems. What would you say to those people?
We should not be in Afghanistan in combat. What invariably happens is that innocent people will be in the way of the fighting and will be hurt or killed. War not only destroys buildings, it also destroys the social fabric of a people and leaves them with no way of putting their lives back together. What we should be doing as Canadians is bringing a whole other set of skills—building schools, hospitals, roads, etc.—setting up an infrastructure whereby people affected by the war can begin to re-establish a functioning social structure that gives them peaceful alternatives to war. For instance, I think it’s in the Congo where a very exciting program is happening, where people are being given bicycles in exchange for their guns and are being shown lots of different ways they can use those bicycles to make a living.
Apart from the "Breadwinner" trilogy, what other books have you written?
Other books of mine are: The Heaven Shop, a novel about children dealing with AIDS in Malawi, Our Stories, Our Songs, interviews I did with kids affected by AIDS in Malawi and Zambia, Three Wishes, Children of Israel and Palestine Speak, Interviews I did with kids in Israel and Palestine, A Company of Fools, a novel about the plague in the Middle Ages is my favourite because it was the most fun to write, Looking for X, a novel and some books in the "Our Canadian Girl Series."
Deborah, thank you.
For any teachers considering using Deborah Ellis’s books in their classrooms but who may wonder if their students are ready for such powerful stories, I would say that I have used Deborah Ellis’s books in Grade 4 and 5 classrooms and, without doubt, children have received and responded to them with maturity, insight, and compassion that would put many adults to shame. So, if you are an intermediate, middle, or secondary teacher, and you are looking for a writer who will engage, inspire, and inform your students, I can think of no better choice.
Murray Corren is district staff at Winslow Centre, Coquitlam.
Following her riveting presentation at the World Peace Forum in June, I had the honour of interviewing children’s literature author, Deborah Ellis. "Deborah is that all too rare artist whose deeply rooted sense of social justice is manifest in writing that is lively, lucid, and highly entertaining. In settings as diverse as Afghanistan, Malawi, Bolivia, medieval Paris, and Regent Park in Toronto, her novels chronicle the lives of youngsters faced with enormous challenges," was the verdict of the Vickey Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature jury.
This extraordinary writer is a long-time women’s rights and anti-war activist who has authored socially engaging novels about children living in environments of violence, conflict, and earth-shattering calamities. However, anyone reading her work will also be deeply touched by the extraordinary and uplifting acts of courage by her child-heroes.
Of herself, Deborah says, "My books reflect the heroism of people around the world who are struggling for decent lives. It has been a real privilege for me to sit with people in many parts of the world and learn how their lives have been drastically altered by war or disease, and how they try to remain kind in spite of it all. This has taught me how fundamentally alike we all are."
All the royalties from many of her books, translated into numerous languages, are donated to the education of women and girls in Afghanistan, to Street Kids International, and to UNICEF.
When I mention these generous acts of kindness, Deborah responds with, "Oh, it’s nothing." To date, The Breadwinner and Parvana’s Journey alone have raised over $500,000 to support the women and girls of Afghanistan.
Winner of numerous children’s literature awards, Deborah Ellis works as a mental health counselor in a group home for women in Simcoe, Ontario.
How did you become involved in anti-bomb politics and in feminism?
I came of age in l978, when the world was about to blow itself up in an atomic war. I write about what interests me, which is how people move about in a world of cruelty, and find some measure of kindness in that cruelty.
When I was in high school in Paris, Ontario, some local volunteers involved in the antibomb movement came and gave a talk and I became interested in it and became involved.
Unfortunately, the guys who were there were very chauvinistic. Various organizations were connected to the antibomb political movement, one of them being a feminist organization. It was then that I became interested in feminism.
Tell me more about those measures of kindness you have witnessed.
I have seen so many acts of kindness, I hardly know where to begin. I have seen people in the Afghan refugee camps, who have lost their own children through war or illness, take in other children who have lost their parents and made them their own.
You spent time in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan prior to writing the "Breadwinner" trilogy. What were the circumstances that brought you to do that?
I and some others were doing solidarity work with Afghan women after the Taliban takeover of Kabul in September l996. I went over to the camps to collect their stories to share with others, and heard about girls masquerading as boys in order to support their families.
Who were some of the people you met?
I met former teachers, principals, and doctors working in secret trying to get medical help to people inside Afghanistan. I met a woman who had been married at nine years old and was widowed at 10 when her husband was killed in the war. I met women who smuggled guns for the Mujahadine into the country to fight the Russians.
I’d like to turn now to the "Breadwinner" trilogy. The books portray events that some might say are too disturbing for children to read about and could take away their innocence. What do you say to those concerns?
The children I’ve met who have read my books, or lived in the situations I write about, are capable of knowing the truth of the world as it is presented to them, and, at the same time, believing in make-believe, in dreams, and in decency.
What message would you like children to get from those three books?
We often carry with us the books we read as children. If the kids who read my books remember them when they get to be decision makers, and their government says its time to go to war, hopefully they’ll remember that there are real people under those bombs, people like Parvana, and will think seriously before letting their government get away with killing them in their name.
The Canadian government recently announced an increased expenditure of $17 billion on the military. How else do you think that money might have been spent?
A teacher in Afghanistan earns roughly $750 a year. Seventeen billion dollars would hire a lot of teachers, build a lot of schools, put a lot of people back to work, give a lot of people a sense of future.
There are Canadians who think we should not be in Afghanistan in combat mode, that our soldiers are being injured or killed. The theme of the World Peace Forum is the futility of war and how conflict does not solve problems. What would you say to those people?
We should not be in Afghanistan in combat. What invariably happens is that innocent people will be in the way of the fighting and will be hurt or killed. War not only destroys buildings, it also destroys the social fabric of a people and leaves them with no way of putting their lives back together. What we should be doing as Canadians is bringing a whole other set of skills—building schools, hospitals, roads, etc.—setting up an infrastructure whereby people affected by the war can begin to re-establish a functioning social structure that gives them peaceful alternatives to war. For instance, I think it’s in the Congo where a very exciting program is happening, where people are being given bicycles in exchange for their guns and are being shown lots of different ways they can use those bicycles to make a living.
Apart from the "Breadwinner" trilogy, what other books have you written?
Other books of mine are: The Heaven Shop, a novel about children dealing with AIDS in Malawi, Our Stories, Our Songs, interviews I did with kids affected by AIDS in Malawi and Zambia, Three Wishes, Children of Israel and Palestine Speak, Interviews I did with kids in Israel and Palestine, A Company of Fools, a novel about the plague in the Middle Ages is my favourite because it was the most fun to write, Looking for X, a novel and some books in the "Our Canadian Girl Series."
Deborah, thank you.
For any teachers considering using Deborah Ellis’s books in their classrooms but who may wonder if their students are ready for such powerful stories, I would say that I have used Deborah Ellis’s books in Grade 4 and 5 classrooms and, without doubt, children have received and responded to them with maturity, insight, and compassion that would put many adults to shame. So, if you are an intermediate, middle, or secondary teacher, and you are looking for a writer who will engage, inspire, and inform your students, I can think of no better choice.
Murray Corren is district staff at Winslow Centre, Coquitlam.
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