LIBE 477B

Anyone with a personal device and internet access has tremendous potential to gain access to information quickly, easily, anywhere, anytime and at their convenience.  This is a good thing for libraries as it allows for more people to access, develop and maintain their literacy skills.  With advances in technology, and with many people owning personal mobile devices, libraries in developed and developing nations are forced to keep up in meeting the technological needs of the users in their community. In developed nations, most of our libraries are equipped with a fair amount of print material, infrastructure to support technology and equipment, and it is an open, active, and inviting environment. (Retrieved from Google Image) However, the picture is very different in libraries of developing nations, if there is even a library at all depending on the locale.  Most libraries in places such as Africa exist as a small room with a limited number of old books, which...

Supporting Teachers’ ICT Curriculum and Pedagogy: On-going Professional Development On-going professional development is important for teachers, both old and new, to participate in.  This  adds to our own learning and development as well as the students we teach.  The school's Teacher-Librarian (TL) is one member of a learning community that can play a big part in supporting teacher's curriculum and pedagogy.  Meeting the needs of new teachers and experienced teachers alike is important for the TL as it serves to maintain and foster collaboration with their colleagues.  It is also an opportunity for TLs to take on a leadership role  by presenting professional development workshops  to other teachers and staff. (Retrieved from Google Image) For new teachers and staff, having a library orientation session would be most helpful for them to become familiar with what is available to them in terms of equipment, teaching resources, procedure...

What am I doing to develop my own ICT and pedagogy? I will continue to learn about the various educational Apps and Web Tools and whichever ones I think will benefit my students’ learning, I will introduce it to the class and have students 'play' with it. Such as Wordle and Wordsift, and much more on the following website: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/10-ways-use-technology-build-vocabulary . Wordle is a word cloud generator and Wordsift works in similar ways and both are great for vocabulary development.  Wordsift also is good for students that tend to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of words in a text.  Wordsift help sifts through a piece of text and identifies important words in the text by making the word bolder, bigger and most prominent. I think these tools would be useful for my English Language Learner (ELL) students, as well as my struggling learners in helping develop vocabulary, foster and encourage reading. I see my students every day so I th...

How Do I Foster a Reading Culture at My Current School? Hmm...well, I think I need to look at what I have experienced in the past and what other schools have done to achieve encourage and foster a reading culture.  At previous high schools I've worked at, the Teacher-Librarian (TL) implemented DEAR time ( D rop  E verything  A nd  R ead)  two to three times per week  for twenty minutes  .   At the elementary level,  DEAR  time was implemented daily for twenty minutes.  At both levels, this was a school-wide event where both students and staff participated.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGH9x4phuVs   Some other ways to foster a reading culture that I had experience at the high school level include the implementation of book clubs and book critics.  The book clubs were created for both teachers and students.  In high schools, book critics would review a book they had just finished...

Part C: Research Synopsis In my research on digital literacy, I collected five articles, four of which I found on the UBC library database and one on Google Scholar.  In the paper by Renee Hobbs (2010), "Digital and Media Literacy: A plan of Action” outlines an action plan for the various ways digital and media literacy can be brought to the masses at all levels including informal and formal settings.  But my attention was focused on the topic of special education students, which was highlighted briefly in the article.  I had not given much consideration to special education students and their digital literacy skills education.   As a special education teacher, I was a bit embarrassed that I had not taken this aspect of these students’ education into more serious consideration and at the same time, this idea piqued my curiosity. I had lots of questions about it; what is happening in this area? Are special education students given op...