469 - Google is good. Libraries are better. Look and judge yourself!

468 - Does Your School Have a Teacher Librarian?

This advocacy film about California teacher librarians illustrates how we nurture student interests, integrate technology, teach information literacy, prepare students to be college and career ready, and can provide professional development to faculty and staff at our school sites and for our school districts. Can be used as an advocacy tool for all K-12 certified school librarians.

467 - Why Librarians Remain Essential to Our Schools

Sense and Sensibility: Why Librarians Remain Essential to Our Schools

Yohuru Williams 

Historian, professor, education activist and author of Teaching US History Beyond the Textbook (2008)

In the broad constellation of professionals who make up public schools, it is important to pause and acknowledge the forgotten education professionals who aide and support teachers. These include the librarians, nurses, social workers, learning specialists, and guidance counselors. They contribute to the growth and development of our young people but often find themselves left out of broader discussions about the preservation of public education. They provide a range of critical support and intervention frequently invisible to us. Most certainly, their value has escaped the notice of so-called education reformers and politicians. All too often, these champions of a "new order" have taken aim at the forgotten teachers in their ever-expanding quest to cut public school funding.

To be clear, budget and personnel cuts have hurt the profession across the board. However, professionals in these areas bear greater risk, given widespread misperceptions about the essential services they provide that remain vital to public schools. As a youngster, for instance, I benefitted from the expertise of a speech pathologist in helping me overcome a minor speech impediment. Having the problem addressed early in my education boosted my self-esteem and ended years of torment at the hands of insensitive friends and classmates. I would not have understood this as a significant moment of formation in my academic and personal growth if not for countless recent news stories about proposed cuts to these position in school districts across the country.

Another equally hard hit position is that of the school librarian. Fifty years ago, it was inconceivable to imagine schools without appropriate library resources and the personnel to staff them. The disparity in library facilities, for instance, helped civil rights attorneys demonstrate the inherent inequality in segregated schools. With the advent of the internet and digital resources in particular, the flawed assumption surfaced that these positions are no longer necessary. Librarians remain important conduits for student support in ways that many might be surprised to learn. Contrary to popular perception, librarians do more than curate collections of dusty books; they teach critical research skills and often serve as the first destination for young people on the road to quality research. 

Librarians know best that research in the digital landscape is often more difficult to manage and navigate unless students receive the proper guidance and training. As a former high school history teacher, I was keenly aware of our library staff as a critical part of the instructional team. This remains equally true as a college professor. Although not always regarded as "teaching" in the conventional sense, the ways in which librarians assist students may in fact be one of the most authentic forms of instruction. Working with students on projects generated by their unique interests, librarians help students to unlock and decode the vast amount of information now at their fingertips. 

A well-documented pool of research indicating the impact of librarians on student achievement exists. A 2011 Pennsylvania School Library Study, for example, found that school library programs most meaningfully affected students at risk. The same study determined that poor, minority students with learning challenges were at least twice as likely to earn "Advanced" writing scores when they had access to full-time librarians as those without access to full-time librarians. 

ler mais aqui

466 - Literacia da informação

Ora aqui está um esquema muito simples sobre um modelo de literacia da informação (Big 6) para ser publicado e a seguir divulgado a toda uma escola. Como diz o acróstico inglês: Kiss - Keep it short and simple. Para quê arranjar esquemas complexos e complicados? (Esquema obtido aqui )

465 - I want it all

No post anterior partilhei uma música de Cat Stevens como paradigmática de uma geração. Escrevi então que: "Não deixa de ser curioso que, quando se referem as caraterísticas da geração atual que anda pelos bancos da escola se fala no imediatismo e de não ser capaz de olhar para o dia de amanhã. Correto.

Correto?"

Pois... uma outra música mais recente, de 1989, dos Queen, volta à mesma temática... Parece que esta caraterística do imediatismo se mantém de geração em geração... Creio que temos, como educadores que  entender que ela é constituinte das caraterísticas de um adolescente.

Here's to the future
For the dreams of youth

I want it all (Give it all, I want it all)
I want it all (Yeah)
I want it all and I want it now

464 - But I might die tonight

Não deixa de ser curioso que, quando se referem as caraterísticas da geração atual que anda pelos bancos da escola se fala no imediatismo e de não ser capaz de olhar para o dia de amanhã. Correto.

Correto?

Numa das muinhas navegações pela Internet, descobri esta música de Cat Stevens, de 1971: Mil Novecentos e Setenta e um!

Pois... Parece que esta caraterística do imediatismo se mantém de geração em geração... Temos, com educadores, entender que ela é constituinte das caraterísticas de um adolescente.   





I don't want to work away
Doing just what they all say
Work hard boy and you'll find
One day you'll have a job like mine

'Cause I know for sure
Nobody should be that poor
To say yes or sink low
Because you happen to say so, say so, you say so

I don't want to work away
Doing just what they all say
Work hard boy and you'll find
One day you'll have a job like mine, job like mine, a job like mine

Be wise, look ahead
Use your eyes he said
Be straight, think right
But I might die tonight!

464 - Publicado o vídeo "Bibliotecas Mudam Vidas"

No dia 10 de Dezembro, o Programa Public Libraries 2020, gerido pela Reading & Writing Foundation publicou um vídeo de animação sublinhando como as bibliotecas públicas na Europa reforçam as comunidades e ajudam as pessoas: “Bibliotecas Mudam Vidas”.
O vídeo foi oficialmente lançado na Conferência de Bibliotecas Públicas da Holanda pela Princesa Laurentien, Presidente Honorária da Reading and Writing Foundation e Patrocinadora da Associação Holandesa de Bibliotecas Públicas.




O vídeo mostra alguns dos desafios do século XXI e como as 65.000 bibliotecas públicas da Europa trabalham diariamente para ajudar as pessoas a vencer esses desafios. Veja o vídeo e partilhe-o com colegas, parceiros e amigos.