Competency: Internet

http://www.teachingk-8.com/archives/teaching_with_your_librarian/team_up_with_technology_by_sandy_meagher.html

Teaching Pre-K-8

Professional Development and Classroom Activities for Teachers

I searched Google using "teachers and librarians collaborating to use technology" and found this great Web page. It offers book recommendations, examples of collaboration using technology, and professional development information related to my topic. Tabs on the screen allow users to read more about features, technology in the classroom, and learning.

Part of the reason I chose this Web page is because it obviously relates to my topic and gives examples of how to accomplish what I'm hoping to when I become a school librarian. Another reason is the surprise reassurance I gained through reading through one of the pages. I have spent this entire semester assuming and hoping I would be the expert helping teachers use technology in the classroom. It wasn't until I read a quote from this page that I realized it's okay for me to ask for help as well. This page points out that "Learning about new strategies, programs, and use of technology does not only belong to librarians. I have learned about so many different teaching tools from reading teachers, classroom teachers and especially technology teachers. As a librarian I have found that asking my colleagues, 'What has worked for you?' 'How have you done this in the past?' 'Do you know of some different ways to do this?' opens doors for collaboration. Technology teachers and classroom teachers need to be librarians' best friends!"

I feel I've learned so much about my topic and found many helpful resources by creating this blog. However, it is reassuring to know that I can seek help from others with the same goal as I have: helping students learn through technology and collaboration.

Competency: Multimedia

Copyright: McNabb, Mary, Thurber, Bonnie B., and Balazs Dibuz. 2006. Literacy Learning in Networked Classrooms: Using the Internet With Middle-Level Students. Newark: International Reading Association. http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Literacy+Learning+in+Networked+Classrooms%3A+Using+the+Internet+With+Middle-Level+Students&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2

I searched Google images to find pictures related to my topic. I found a book cover that looked promising because of the subject matter. The synopsis from http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Literacy-Learning-in-Networked-Classrooms/Mary-McNabb/e/9780872075672/?itm=4 states that "Middle-level teachers, librarians, and media specialists can use this book to meet current English language arts and technology standards and to prepare students to be literate citizens in the 21st century."

This book is for both librarians and teachers and would be a great tool for them to use together when helping students integrate technology in learning. Though it focuses mainly on language arts skills, the parts related to meeting technology standards could apply to any subject matter. The cover specifically mentions the internet and networked classrooms focusing on technology and its relevance in today's learning environment.

Citation Pearl-Growing and WorldCat

Topic: teachers collaborating with school librarians to use technology in the classroom

Database: WorldCat

I found my pearl using WorldCat. I found the pearl by searching teachers AND librarians AND technology collaboration. Only four results appeared, and the fourth was the right one for my topic.

My pearl:

Harrison, Melissa R. 2005. "An examination of the instructional partner role of a media

specialist an action research study." Thesis (Ed. S.)--Valdosta State University,

2005.

A descriptor used to describe this book was educational technology. Media specialist was also in the title. In my next search, I used these terms as well as the following: teachers OR educators AND school librarians or media specialists AND technology or educational technology.
This search came back with 131 results. I chose the 15th result on the second page.

Conover, Patricia Ross. 2007. Technology projects for library media specialists and

teachers. Worthington, OH: Linworth Books.

Contents: Think outside the box and have fun while doing it! -- Publish and present -- Research and show what you know.


I chose this book because it is an instructional guide with projects that can be applied to the classroom. As I’ve said before, I like practical solutions and ideas for how to accomplish technology collaboration between teachers and librarians, and this book looks like it takes that approach. TWU’s library has this book available for use, and I hope to check it out and read it before I begin my career as a librarian.

Reflection: Chu says that the citation pearl-growing approach “implies search results will increase in quantity like making a snowball in the snow”(Chu 2007, 84). This definition makes me feel my search was a success. Since I only found four results when I originally stumbled across my pearl, and adding the descriptors upped my results to 131, I feel that I did make a snowball since I collected more information as the search continued. Personally, I prefer to weed out articles or books as I search, so this was a new concept for me. I can see why this is helpful. I would have never thought to use the term educational technology on my own, and I might not have found this book any other way. I’m going to try to incorporate citation pearl into my search methods in the future.

Chu, Heting. 2007. Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age. New Jersey:

Information Today, Inc.

Successive Fraction

Topic: teachers collaborating with school librarians to use technology in the classroom

Database: ERIC.

Teachers seemed like my broadest topic, so I started with teachers and it brought up 336708 results. After adding school librarians or media specialist, I only had 1513 results. After adding technology, I only had 405 results. This was still too many to work with, so I narrowed my topic asking for full text only and articles published from 2005-2008 since new technology is coming out at such a fast rate, and I want something current. After adding those limiters, I ended up with 26 results.
The seventh result was the one I chose.

Burk, Lynne F. 2007. “Don't Hesitate, Just Collaborate!” Library Media Connection 26, no. 3 (Nov-Dec 2007), p 40-41.

Abstract:
The over-riding goals of a quality school-library program are to "collaborate" with teachers, administrators, parents, and students; to "support" building and district initiatives; and to "integrate" the teaching of literature, information literacy, and technology skills into the subject-area curricula. Numerous studies since the 1990s, as well as personal experience, confirm a belief that collaboration with classroom teachers supports active and engaged learning, differentiates instruction, facilitates the use of a variety of resources, and ultimately influences student achievement. But, all too often, library media specialists read or hear about elaborate collaborative projects involving intensive planning between teachers and librarians, or involving protracted time frames, and are left with the feeling that accomplishing similar achievements is almost impossible. However, effective school library media specialists must demonstrate that they understand these challenges, know the curriculum, and are familiar with the benchmark objectives students must master. This article presents ten tips on how to develop a seamless pattern of collaboration with the classroom teachers across a variety of curriculum areas.

The tips for collaboration drew me to this article. Articles that just talk about collaboration but do not present a concrete way to implement strategies are not as practical for me. This article addressed integrating technology, but it also talked about collaboration on a larger scale which is relevant for school librarians. Though my focus is helping teachers with technology, I found that reading about other ways to collaborate with teachers to help students broadened my view. This search did lead to serendipity for me in a way. It was what I needed but also offered the unexpected that proved to be very useful.

Reflection: This type of search worked really well. Though it took time to get to the article I needed, the process of elimination approach seemed to get rid of completely irrelevant results. By the time I narrowed down to only 26 options, most were relevant to the topic I chose to explore, and I found several I would like to read.

Specific Facet First

Topic: teachers collaborating with school librarians to use technology in the classroom

Database: Academic Search Complete

I chose technology collaboration as my most specific facet. When I searched using the Academic Search Complete database, technology collaboration brought up 92 results. This was manageable but needed to be narrowed down. When I refined my search, I chose to look for only articles printed between 2005-2008 and full text. Articles are the easiest type of document for me to read right now due to their length, and information on technology needs to be recent to make sure it is relevant. This gave me 31 hits to choose from.

The sixth hit looked like the best for my topic. The article not only offers ideas for literacy and technology collaboration, but it also tells of challenges faced when trying to use technology in the classroom.

Witte, Shelbie. 2007. "That's online writing, not boring school writing: Writing with blogs and the Talkback Project." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 51, no. 2 (Oct. 2007) p. 92-96.

Abstract: The author describes her research on literary and technology collaborations in U.S. schools, intended to develop the writing skills of students in a manner that is meaningful to them. She describes the Talkback Project, a two-way journal activity between preservice teachers and middle school students that she helped to develop in 2005. She describes the first attempt, in which the students' required readings were the topic of postings, and she explains the lessons learned. She explains how the project was adapted, describes the successful aspects, and explains how one administrator's concern over online safety temporarily stopped the project. She discusses the use of blogs to promote literacy and digital fluency and involve students in global citizenship.


Reflection: This search was not my favorite. Deciding on the specific facet was not difficult, but finding an article that met all the needs of the topic by searching using only one facet was. Exactly one article of 31 somewhat came close to being what I needed. If I ever use this search, it will probably turn into a building block search so more parts of my topic can be included. Chu’s observation that the “most specific facet first approach thus is not recommended for neophytes”(Chu 2007, 86) proved true for me.

Chu, Heting. 2007. Information Representation and Retrieval in the Digital Age. New
Jersey: Information Today, Inc.

Building Block Search

Search Topic: teachers and librarians collaborating to use technology

Database: LibLit

S1: teachers OR educators OR instructors
S2: librarians OR media specialists OR information specialists
S3: technology collaboration OR technology cooperation OR technology teaming
S4: S1 AND S2 AND S3

Search Results:

S1=6153 hits

S2=41016 hits

S3=630 hits

S4 =50 hits


Of the 50 hits I received on my last search, I chose "Collaboration Connections" by Carl A. Harvey II from the journal School Library Media Activities Monthly.
Harvey, Carl A. II,. 2008. "Collaboration Connections." School Library Media Activites
Monthly 24, no. 9 (May 2008) p. 20-2.
This article was published in 2008, and because of the building block search method it contains information relevant to all aspects of my search topic.

Being forced to think of synonyms changed the way I think of searching. As opposed to believing the computer should form to my thoughts, I now see how beneficial using synonyms is to pinpoint what is needed and help in finding the most accurate results.