On March 13, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced that schools would be closed for three weeks beginning March 17. Immediately educators, including certified school librarians, realized the enormous loss of learning that could result from the school closures. Members of… Read More ›
information literacy
#infodemic: Why #SchoolLibraries Are, More Than Ever, A #NecessityNotALuxury
Humans, Information, and Behavior People by and large are not stupid (despite what some might claim based on the state of the world). But people are easily misinformed, and we tend to make decisions based on our feelings. As trained… Read More ›
Adding the Fun Angle (or How to Make Information Literacy Engaging)
In my last post, I wrote about how to make the instructional shift from content to process to have students critically think about what they learn. At a recent workshop, a participant made the astute point that students will be… Read More ›
Moving from Content to Process in Instruction: How Educators Can Make the Shift
2019 was a big year for New York state librarians with the relaunch of the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum (ESIFC). Dr. Barbara Stripling, the principal author, defined the changes as “increased or new attention to pre-kindergarten, multiple literacies, digital… Read More ›
On Returning to School
Social media, while it has its share of detractors, has been great about keeping me in touch with many of my colleagues and professional friends who are turning their sights toward the end of summer and the return of another… Read More ›
How to Create Information Literacy Habits
Let’s start with a quiz. Select the definition/idea/skill you consider challenging to assess student mastery of: Satire Habitat Pythagorean Theorem Reading Laterally Did you choose option four: reading laterally? Congratulations! Your answer is correct. Now you may think this was… Read More ›
School Library Programs to Build Student Knowledge
My two-year-old son knows his colors. He loves to point to objects in books and outside and shout out the color. He enjoys showing what he knows! He likes to learn new things. Somewhere along the way to adulthood, that… Read More ›
Looking for Media Literacy Lessons? Check Out These Resources
Media literacy is the ability to read, question, synthesize, and produce mass communication. Where do you get your news? How do you know it’s valid? What is your process for checking relevancy? Everyone should consider these questions as they consume… Read More ›
Canned Lesson Plans: Help or Hindrance?
“Checklist Planning Clipboard To Do.” Pixabay, Pixabay.com, pixabay.com/p-1614702/?no_redirect. Like most aspects of education, standards are never static. Here in New York City, we are in the process of updating our ESIFC (Empire State Information Fluency Continuum) to align with the new… Read More ›
AASL Standards Spark Journalistic Inquiry
I advise the journalism program at my school, which absolutely illuminates my work as a school librarian. Studying journalism promotes information literacy. It promotes digital citizenship. It promotes collaborative learning. The more that I thought about it over the past… Read More ›