Em's Ever Evolving Erudition

AASL standard: 2.1.6: Use the writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings. Students will be able to create originial work. Students will be able to express their learning in their own words. Students will understand the principles of each communicative medium. Students will be able to explain their creative and design choices. Performance task: ** This performance task includes other standards from other curricular areas. This would be a summative assessment, done at the end of a unit. An alien from outer space has just transferred to your school. He has no knowledge of the American government system. Using one of the mediums from the list, create an explanation to help your new alien friend understand his new home. Choose from: brochure, poster, prezi, flip movie, website, podcast, or storyboard. Assessment: Students will be assessed using a rubric. There will be five criteria on this rubric: Content, Cr...

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html “Neuroscience For Kids” is a helpful site for instructional purposes for a few reasons. It is important for educators to understand how the brain works, but it is also important for our students to understand their brains as well. This site explains the intricate workings of the brain in easy to understand language. The site also has a ton of fun games and activities. There is also a section for lesson plans. http://www.cainelearning.com/RESEARCHFOUNDATIONS/Brain-Mind-Principles.html This website is helpful because of the Caines’ 12 Mind/Body Learning Principles. They list out how the brain learns. When designing instruction, it will be helpful to keep these principles in mind. http://brainconnection.positscience.com/ This website is great for finding articles about brain research and its connection with education. It covers all disciplines. It also has great bloggers and columnists from the brain research field including Bob Sylwes...

We’ve learned almost 95% of what we know about the brain within the last decade.(3) “When more than one type of memory is accessed, the memory thus becomes more powerful. Teaching to multiple memory lanes makes connections to learning experiences stronger and easier to access.” (11) Storytelling and the research process are good for the brain. (11) Rote memory work = boring to the brain. (14) Teach to the individual. (15) Create options. (15) Emotion and attention are gateways to learning and memory. (18) “The brain is designed for cooperative activity.” (20) Education now has scientific data to back up its practices. (24) “The brain thrives on ‘novelty, intensity, and movement’ in initially attending to stimuli.” (24) Learning becomes more meaningful when students take control over their projects. (25) Sykes, Judith Anne, Brain Friendly School Libraries. (Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited, 2006).

A Case for Reading... Examining Challenged and Banned Books: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/case-reading-examining-challenged-410.html In this lesson, students (grades 3-10) consider the implications of censorship and intellectual property. This lesson incorporates individual learning styles with giving students a lot of choice. They are allowed to choose the book they want to read and how they want to read it. Students get to gather in literary circles to discuss their books. One way the lesson plan could be improved, though, would be to allow student to choose their final project. I can see many different products being designed to be persuasive, not just a letter. Endangered Ocean Life Non Fiction Skills Unit: http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Information_Literacy/IFO0203.html This lesson has the students, grades 3-5, explore whales and sharks through two non fiction works. The students go through different stations to...

3 Things to Consider about Learner Differences When Planning Instruction: 1. Cultural background can influence how a student behaves in class as well as their learning style. 2. There are gender differences by population but they do not define individuals. 3. Teachers should guard against teaching solely in the learning style that they prefer. Having an understanding of one’s preferred style can help bring to attention how they teach. 2 Ways Librarians can Facilitate this in their Schools: 1. School Librarians provide resources for a diverse community. They collect various methods of communication: print, audio, visual, as well as assistive technology. They also have in their collection professional materials for teachers to help them design instruction tailored to different types of learners. 2. Library instruction helps develop the habit of metacognition. Teaching the research process has the students developing questions (hopefully student based questions, rather than teache...

January 24, 2011 Dear AASL, I’m writing to you in an effort to bring about change. The debate over what we call ourselves has gone on for too long. We should not call ourselves “School Librarians” nor “Teacher-Librarians” or even “School Library Media Specialists.” Let us cut through all this terminology and call us what we really are: “Superwoman” or “Superman” depending on gender. (I will use Superwoman for ease of reading). The nation is in turmoil over the education system. The world’s expectations of students entering the workforce and college are currently not being met. The workforce is looking for independent learners that possess problem solving abilities as well as the ability to work with new technology AND work in teams. College professors expects their students to have a large variety of skills including analyzing source documents, supporting arguments with evidence, and conducting research. “Superwomen” are the ones who teach and model all of these skills. This c...