Brain Based Teaching - Social Networking Through Teams

I'm part of a librarian book study in which we are reading the book Brain-Based Teaching in the Digital Age by Marilee Sprenger.  The first few chapters discuss the effects of technology on student's brains covering research on the brain itself.  For those that aren't familiar with such research, it is truly fascinating to learn about the effects of technology on the brain itself.  Living in a digital world demands changes in teaching because of the shift in student learning. The second part of the book delves into using this knowledge in the classroom itself.  Though I hope to cover the other chapters at some point, I am presenting in our LMS meeting today about chapter 5 which deals with social networking through teams.  Today's blog topic highlights the information from this chapter.

I think the most thought-provoking idea is the noted concern about teens' lack of communication skills and shorter attention spans that result from their involvement in digital media outlets.  Because of this, students have a need to create relationships with others in real life.  To achieve this, the author suggests that teachers create power teams in their classrooms.  Teams differ from groups in that as a team, the students are "equally committed, are mutually accountable, and have complementary skills" (Sprenger, 58).  When students develop a deeper commitment and want to grow and succeed as a team, they become a power team.  Though there may be concerns about classroom management and students with learning difficulties, the author notes that when done correctly, the teams actually lessen such problems. 

Here are the suggested steps for integrating teaming in the classroom:

1.  Form the Teams - This can be done randomly through playing cards or by birthdates, but one might also consider grouping according to learning styles, interests, skills, or abilities.  Teams should be four to seven members.
2.  Learn About Each Other - Students should focus on deeper information about their team members beyond what they may already know about them.  Questions asked of teammates should allow for expanded answers rather than closed, short answers. 
3.  Choose Team Leaders - Students should volunteer or choose their team leaders and they can change from week to week.  After being asked "Who is willing to make a strong commitment to the team and be its leader?", students must only offer an explanation if they say they are not willing.  Celebrating the chosen leaders with music and recognition helps foster the commitment.
4.  Foster Team Spirit - This is done through activities such as choosing a team name, creating a team cheer, selecting team colors, a mascot, or creating a logo.  Teachers should allow limited time to complete these activities which make them more challenging.
5.  Set Individual Goals - These do not have to necessarily be team oriented, but simply show that goal setting is important.  The following seven steps are suggested for this process:

1. Tell how, what, when, and whom.
2. State the goal in the positive.
3. Be sure you have what you need to meet your goals.
4. Ask, "Do I have control over the situation?"
5. Make the goal the right size.
6. Decide how you will know you've reached the goal.
7. Will your actions match your values?

6. Set Team Goals - This is necessary to show that the team is effective.  This can be over a period of time and should meet the following criteria:

1. They must be stated positively.
2. They must be specific.
3. They must be measurable.
4. They must be agreed upon by the whole team.

7. Post the Goals - Posters include team name and their goals.  Posting creates accountability for the group.
8.  Create Team Scorecards - Create categories of team and teacher expectations and mark scores on a weekly basis to show their progress.  The chart should include percentage amounts of the team's goals created in step 6.
9. Make Public Promises - This is simply a statement that each member the team makes in regard what they will do for their team such as being on time or completing homework.
10.  Make a Composite Scorecard - This could be optional depending on whether it acts as a motivational tool or stirs unnecessary competition.  This is a chart that shows how each team is doing each week based on their scorecards. 

In the end, teaming in the classroom should create powerful collaborative relationships.  It is important to remember that the team must have something to achieve, a space to do their work, and freedom to communicate at their pace.  While it is important to build the face-to-face communication skills, teams can also integrate technology in the process.  Wikis might be used to keep up with research or planning.  Final projects might be technology based.  Teachers must become facilitators of learning rather than simply providing knowledge.  Teaming will help students help themselves and provide the social interaction they need.

Sprenger, M.  (2010). Brain-based teaching in the digital age.  Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Research and Citations

Having just graduated with my master's degree, I'd like to think I'm pretty good at research.  Afterall, I wrote numerous papers during my three years of graduate school including the dreaded Capstone experience where I had to write three major papers - all with proper citations - in the course of one week.  In college, we were required to use APA source citations, but I think most middle and high schools use MLA format.  Regardless of the format used, citing sources is a difficult task for most students.  It's hard enough to remember to write down the details of each website used, book accessed, etc.  It wouldn't be so bad if we just had to write down the name of the book or website, but most source citations require many more details.    Not only that, sometimes it is hard to find all the information required.  Many websites don't have an obvious author and the date the site was published can be difficult to discern.  On top of everything else, MLA format wants them in a particular order with proper punctuation.

One of the great things about today's source citations is that most no longer require complete URL addresses.  I think they figured out that some URLs are very long and separating them into two lines can be complex in addition to the fact that many sites simply aren't static.  The link that worked last week may not work this week due to site updates and such.  So we at least don't have to write down the lengthy URLs, but how do we help students get the information needed?

First we have to demonstrate.  If the information is from a book, we need to show students where to find the publication information that is usually on the back of the title page.  If it is from a website, we have to show them how to dig a little to find an author.  This can turn into a lesson on credibility of the website.  When it is difficult to find the person or organization responsible for the information on a site, one should be a little leery of its information.  For each type of source, we need to show examples and the proper format. 

In world where copy and paste is king, I'm a big fan of having students hand write their notes.  At this point, it is important to teach students the difference between direct quotations (copying something word for word) and summarizing or paraphrasing information.  Using index cards is a great way to keep track of information, but making sure that students also get the source citation information may be difficult.  For me, I prefer a little more hand-holding (at least at the middle school level) by providing fill in the blank source citation cards for notes.  I created notecards printed on a full sheet of paper that can be cut into quarters for research.  They can be printed on cardstock but paper also works.  So far I have cards for book, web, and the online World Book Encyclopedia student edition, but will add more for other types of sources later.  The example below shows 1/4 of a page of the book card.

Using these cards serves multiple purposes.  First, the source information is written down before getting any information.  Writing information on a smaller card instead of a full sheet of paper forces students to get the important points rather than trying to copy every single thing down.  Of course these types of cards would be used for ongoing research - potentially from multiple sources.  I think mini-research projects such as those presented at the ESC Region 20 Library Roundup by Linda Holder this past year are also a great way to go.   I think the important aspect is to get students used to the concept that we must always give credit to our sources, and writing down this information again and again will help them figure this out.  

Library Websites

I've been itching to put together an amazing library website with all sorts of interesting links and information on it.  I've spent much of the day trolling tons of other library websites and making lists of things I would want to include on mine.  I've printed pictures of different sites and how they're organized, I've bookmarked links of sites that I like, and now it is almost too much information.  I can't decide of if I want to start from scratch and design a site outside of the SAISD web domain.  If I stick with the Joomla web design features, I'm going to be limited as to what I can do with the site.  But then again, if I venture outside of using Joomla, I probably cannot keep it updated as much assuming I would need to design much of it from home.  It is certainly a conundrum.  I will mull it over the next few days and then get started on it.  There is just so much information out there - I have to find a way to organize it where it is easy to locate whatever information someone might want.  One of the keys to a great website design is the ease of finding information.  I also want to incorporate some good design features such as consistency and simplicity.  I don't like those websites that look like they are just thrown together - a mishmash of links with lots of silly animations, flashing messages, and colors out the wazoo. 

I don't know if anyone is reading this blog yet, but I would love to have input as to what features you think a good school library website should have.

Cool Online Teaching Tools

In this month's School Library Journal, there is an article that refers to online tools that can be used for visualization of information.  I checked a few of them out and I think they are worth mentioning.

Google Documents - If you haven't figured this out yet, Google provides an online method of creating word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and database documents.  It also creates forms that can be used for surveys or tests.  For those that don't have the luxury of Microsoft products, but do have internet access, it is a great way to be able to create documents.  They can be saved and emailed.

Flubaroo - Working in conjuction with Google docs, this program makes grading assignments easy.  Basically you create a test (using the Google doc forms) online and email it to your students.  (Or if  you have a webpage, you can create a link to it.)  Students take the test.  You create an answer document and install the flubaroo program and it will automatically grade the tests.  You need to be a little tech saavy to use it, but once you have tests created with answer documents, you can use them year after year.

Google Fusion Tables - This feature can be used to create visualization tools like maps, charts, and graphs by uploading data, but can also be more advanced by allowing multiple users to add information for comparison purposes.  See this example from the Texas Tribune.  This could be easily integrated in math, science, and social studies classes. 

Other graphic options include Hohli and Many Eyes.  My personal favorite visualization tools, however, are creating word clouds.  There are several options available to create word clouds and it just takes some playing with each program to to create what you want.  They are fun to create and it is a great way to visualize information.  The text can be pasted into programs, typed from scratch, or linked to another website by putting in the URL.  Here are the choices for creating word clouds:

Wordle:  Easy to use with no software installation required.  Limited design flexibility.  Cannot create custom shapes.  Do not have to sign up with an account. 

Tagul:  Users are required to set up an account and an email address is necessary.  Software not required for basic creations.  Custom shapes require additional software and you are charged for custom shape creation.

Tagxedo:  Requires software installation to use.  Once installed, it is easy to create custom shapes with no fees.  (I made a t-shirt with the shape of Texas made out of a bunch of different words once.)  Files can be saved as .pdfs.  I prefer this program when it works.  Had issues using it on a Mac computer.  Would be difficult to use in SAISD due to software installation requirements. 

If you get a chance, check some of these out and see if you might integrate them into your instruction.

An Introduction

Today is a slow day in my library.  No classes coming in and nobody using the computer lab.  The school website is updated and I only have a few books to shelve.  I've been thinking about doing a library oriented blog so today is the day.  I'm not new to blogging.  I've actually been a blogger since 2004; however, I wanted to develop a blog that covers the interesting things I discover in this new career as a librarian.  I'm not sure where this blog will go and how often I will update it, but my hope is to share it with students, teachers, and other librarians.  I may do my own book reviews, highlight technology tools, or just talk about my day.  I guess we'll see how it goes, but first I should tell you more about me. 

My real name is Jennifer and I am a middle school librarian in San Antonio.  This is my first library job.  I graduated with my master's degree in library science from UNT in May.  Before that I was a high school teacher and I taught speech, English, and yearbook classes.  Before that I worked in the yearbook industry as a sales associate.  And before that I taught junior high speech, yearbook, and visual media classes. 

I had always thought about being a librarian since my first teaching job.  I tried to use the library's resources regularly and would often assist the librarian with some of her technological issues.  At that point, it nothing more than a passing thought, however.  After five years of teaching junior high, I decided I wasn't cut out for that level of teaching so I moved on to my next career as a yearbook associate.  I loved the creativity and flexibility of that job.  I set my own schedule and helped yearbook staffs with their yearbook covers, pages, and deadlines.  I worked in that field for six years but after getting divorced and losing health insurance, I had to return to teaching.  I found a high school job where I was groomed to be the coach of the speech and debate team.  I really enjoyed that part of my job but it was very time consuming and there were still other things that I did not enjoy doing as a teacher.  I made the decision to pursue my library degree after a trying day that involved a parent meeting.  I wasn't sure if I could afford to go back to school, but I figured I could get student loans if needed.  I signed up for the GRE on that day in the spring of 2008.  I started classes that fall and never looked back. 

My original plan was to stay at the school where I was teaching.  The librarian was planning to retire within a few years so I thought I would be a shoe-in to replace her.  That was the plan at least.  But with the state budget cuts, the district cut library positions and another librarian already within the district moved up to the high school.  At that point, I put my application in at several places all over Texas.  I ended up interviewing at two places locally and two places out of town.  Luckily San Antonio was interested in me and I found a job at a middle school. I have to say that I think this is where I'm supposed to be. 

There are many reasons why I became a librarian.  This job encompasses many things I love.  Of course there's the books.  I have always enjoyed reading, but as a teacher I didn't find time to read as much as I would have liked.  I think reading is a fundamental skill that must be nutured.  When I moved to San Antonio, I packed over a dozen boxes of books - and that's after attempting to downsize my collection.  Technology is also a big part of librarianship these days.  I love and embrace technology.  It allows me to be creative, cut back on paperwork, and opens a much bigger world of information.  It is satisfying to resolve technology issues and to show people better ways to use it.  I also love research.  I like being a know it all.  I research everything.  If I plan to buy something major - I research it.  Before each of my job interviews, I researched the schools and districts.  I have always loved learning and acquiring information.  I often call myself a fount of useless knowledge.  Finally, I wanted a job that I could leave the work at work at the end of the day.  I didn't want to go home each night and still have papers to grade, lessons to plan, and take home the weight of teaching frustrations on my shoulders.  In the end, I think I've accomplished it.  So far, I love the job.  Sure there are small frustrations that crop up from time to time, but overall, I love what I do.  I stay busy each day and yet don't have the frustrations I did while teaching.  I also sleep better at night.  For me, it is a win-win situation.  I hope it stays this way.