I am doing some RFF (Relief from Face to Face Teaching) work at a primary school in Wollongong this term. It is giving me an opportunity to gain some insights into current library programs in primary schools but hopefully give me some insights into what I might need to focus on with library skills at a secondary level.
I have had the chance to take some Year 5/6 library lessons and they have been focusing on the online game - Order in the Library where they can practice skills in how to shelve books and identify where a book might be located. I decided to find some related online games and came across these.
These games could be used for stage 4 (Year 7 and 8) library lessons as well.
Dewey Decimal System (Flashcard Game)
https://www.quia.com/fc/7265.html
Basic Dewey Decimal
https://www.quia.com/cm/13837.html?AP_rand=1778967173
Genres of Literature
https://www.quia.com/fc/382369.html
Dewey Decimal Fun
https://www.quia.com/cb/415196.html
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Closing the year off
We have reached the end of another year.
The Copyright for Educators course is now complete and have received my certificate. I would highly recommend it to any teacher (not just those in libraries) because it will assist you in how you can use resources for your teaching.
But also students can be educated on the appropriate use of resources in communicating information along with the legal implications i.e. plagiarism.
One thing I had learnt at the end of the course was how strict Australia is compared to the rest of the world, yet other nations acknowledge that sometimes we need to access other people's ideas in order to create new information.
Obviously its on the condition that we give credit to the original creator of the information.
Availabilty for 2017
For schools in need of a Teacher Librarian, I am still available to work. Please click here to find out details relating to availability.
I am also seeking unpaid work for 2017 to keep skills and experience up to date.
I wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a successful 2017.
The Copyright for Educators course is now complete and have received my certificate. I would highly recommend it to any teacher (not just those in libraries) because it will assist you in how you can use resources for your teaching.
But also students can be educated on the appropriate use of resources in communicating information along with the legal implications i.e. plagiarism.
One thing I had learnt at the end of the course was how strict Australia is compared to the rest of the world, yet other nations acknowledge that sometimes we need to access other people's ideas in order to create new information.
Obviously its on the condition that we give credit to the original creator of the information.
Availabilty for 2017
For schools in need of a Teacher Librarian, I am still available to work. Please click here to find out details relating to availability.
I am also seeking unpaid work for 2017 to keep skills and experience up to date.
I wish all of you a very merry Christmas and a successful 2017.
Friday, November 25, 2016
Copyright for Educators - What I've learned so far
I have decided to enrol in the Copyright for Educators course to broaden my knowledge of Copyright particularly in a legal and educational context.
I am hoping it will guide me in teaching academic integrity to students, particularly as a student may not be aware that they are breaching copyright.
I have been interested so far with the overview of copyright and who owns material.
Several weeks in, I have been amazed at the regulations associated with using material for educational purposes. I have to admit that are all guilty of some sort of copyright breach on a regular basis, and most of it, we wouldn't even notice.
So were actually running the risk of being caught.
I remember a few years ago, a colleague at one school told me that the school claims ownership of any resources that the individual teachers might have created for classroom use. I thought it was bizzare, but that school under the law was in fact correct. They are the owner of the resource, not me. If I use a resource at another school, under the law I cannot use it because the resource is the property of the school.
And I recall one colleague embedding watermarks on their sheets to claim ownership, well the school owns them under the law, not the teacher. They would have to create the resource at home and publish it through a publisher to claim any ownership.
Copyright is a complex topic, but it will certainly inform me on how to advise teachers as to what has to be applied in terms of copyright in the classroom.
I am hoping it will guide me in teaching academic integrity to students, particularly as a student may not be aware that they are breaching copyright.
I have been interested so far with the overview of copyright and who owns material.
Several weeks in, I have been amazed at the regulations associated with using material for educational purposes. I have to admit that are all guilty of some sort of copyright breach on a regular basis, and most of it, we wouldn't even notice.
So were actually running the risk of being caught.
I remember a few years ago, a colleague at one school told me that the school claims ownership of any resources that the individual teachers might have created for classroom use. I thought it was bizzare, but that school under the law was in fact correct. They are the owner of the resource, not me. If I use a resource at another school, under the law I cannot use it because the resource is the property of the school.
And I recall one colleague embedding watermarks on their sheets to claim ownership, well the school owns them under the law, not the teacher. They would have to create the resource at home and publish it through a publisher to claim any ownership.
Copyright is a complex topic, but it will certainly inform me on how to advise teachers as to what has to be applied in terms of copyright in the classroom.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Revised Contact Form
The Contact Form has been updated. For some reason, it had disappeared as of late. I apologise to anyone who had been unable to access this feature
Friday, November 4, 2016
Library websites
Reading this article gave me an idea as I try to play with ways to attract people into a school library that may be underutilised.
One positive about being a casual or temporary teacher is the ability to experiment and I have been progressively creating a template/s based on content on what I have found and links to various resources etc. It even helps me to manage the resources that I have created or used. The ultimate goal is to create a layout for a library website.
I do like libguides as it allows for management of learning resources, but the cost can be prohibitive depending on the school that I might be based at, so I need to be able to have that format or layout ready to go. The fact it requires the use of Web 2.0 software allows it to happen.
Anyways, I am having some fun with it.
I am hoping to also write up on a Copyright Course that I am doing as I move along with it.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Website Evaluation
My recent work at Kingsgrove North High School, gave the opportunity to present Information Literacy Skills sessions to the Year 7 cohort.
I decided to try a session on Website evaluation given they have done some work on online encyclopedias and comparing information from online sources.
When I did my Master of Education Degree, I was guided through the 5W's of Website evaluation modelled by Kathy Shorock. Believe it or not, its the same model used by Historians to evaluate the relevance of sources - Who? What? Where? When? Why? I decided it was the most straight forward approach to teach them how to evaluate a website and then be able to apply that in History or any other subject.
It is such a handy research skill even in printed form.
Using the resources provided on Schrocks website, I got the students (as a class) to evaluate a website that I picked for them applying a set of criteria. To make it more interesting, I selected a history website in which I manage. Initially, I found that they struggled a little with the concept of the 5W's in the initial discussion, but once we began working together on the sheet and examining the website, they started to develop a good grasp of what they need to consider in selecting relevant websites for their research e.g. use of visual images, tables, graphs and further reading.
I will admit, that even I learn't some useful skills in how to create and maintain a website. I got ticks for the visual images, spelling and grammar, accuracy of information and links to further reading. However, there was no home page which can help one gain an overview of what the site is about.
I decided to try a session on Website evaluation given they have done some work on online encyclopedias and comparing information from online sources.
When I did my Master of Education Degree, I was guided through the 5W's of Website evaluation modelled by Kathy Shorock. Believe it or not, its the same model used by Historians to evaluate the relevance of sources - Who? What? Where? When? Why? I decided it was the most straight forward approach to teach them how to evaluate a website and then be able to apply that in History or any other subject.
It is such a handy research skill even in printed form.
Using the resources provided on Schrocks website, I got the students (as a class) to evaluate a website that I picked for them applying a set of criteria. To make it more interesting, I selected a history website in which I manage. Initially, I found that they struggled a little with the concept of the 5W's in the initial discussion, but once we began working together on the sheet and examining the website, they started to develop a good grasp of what they need to consider in selecting relevant websites for their research e.g. use of visual images, tables, graphs and further reading.
I will admit, that even I learn't some useful skills in how to create and maintain a website. I got ticks for the visual images, spelling and grammar, accuracy of information and links to further reading. However, there was no home page which can help one gain an overview of what the site is about.