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Flipping Library Instruction- Secondary Schools

Middle and high school – now this is where I think flipped teaching can really shine. Not only are students developmentally ready to assume greater responsibility for their learning outside of class, their work is also more advanced and complex in nature.

Ways to Flip Library Instruction

Record introductions and instructions for major unit projects. Not only can these be used across multiple classrooms (ideal for large schools) and for students who were absent, they can be used in subsequent years.

Provide online tutorials for library procedures or instructions on using a particular database or educational learning tool. Students can come into library ready to use school databases for research rather than wasting valuable library time on learning how to use them (especially great for databases without at-home access - or when such access is prohibitively expensive for the library budget).

Have students create interactive pathfinders, tutorials, or videos about their research – share those with other students. What a great archive of student work!

Direct students struggling with a particular issue (e.g. fair use and copyright) to online resources that they can access at home to catch-up with their peers.

Classroom teachers can also use library-produced videos in their classes. This also has the pragmatic benefit of increasing the visibility of the library and underscoring its instructional importance.

Speaking of classroom teachers, don’t neglect them when flipping the library. If you provide technology instruction or other professional development for classroom teachers in your school, consider “flipping” that instruction too. Producing or curating videos, tutorials, and other online resources for teachers allows convenient access – at their point of need. Flipping isn’t just for students!

More Tips for Success

Keep videos short and focused – somewhere between 3-7 minutes is ideal.

Consistently evaluate whether flipped teaching is effective for your students.

Customize your students’ experience – avoid complete reliance on out-sourced materials.

#flipped classroom #flipped teaching #flipped library #library #instruction #educational techniques #secondary #middle school #high school

Flipping Library Lessons – Elementary School

How can elementary school librarians think about flipping their instruction? While not always an appropriate technique (some lessons might be better/easier in the library), prepping students can make for more productive in-library time.

A few things to keep in mind. 1. Disparity of access to technology is a significant issue. By their nature, flipped classrooms presume students have access to the Internet away from school. For many school districts, this is not the case. 2. With the greater responsibility placed on students, flipped teaching is more appropriate for older students (3-5 grade).

Ways to Flip Library Lessons

Teaching a lesson on copyright? Have your students take the Copyright Challenge before and after the lesson to assess what they retained.

Working on a project using a new learning tool? Before class, have the students watch a tutorial, like this one for Glogster or look at examples or projects, like these from Little Bird Tales.

Students learning about a specific author or illustrator? Have them watch a video to introduce the author/illustrator. This is a great video about Tomie dePaola. Individual author websites or publisher websites often have these types of videos.

That's just a start - the possibilities are endless!

Tips for Success

Finally, I’ll share some helpful suggestions from Jill Thompson (coincidentally, a Syracuse native!) that I found on her blog “Inside the Classroom, Outside the Box.”

Start small – flip one individual lesson and see how it goes.

At first, use videos that others have made. It takes a lot of work to make own – you can build up to that later.

Assigning different videos to different students can be a way to differentiate instruction (e.g. maybe you can find a bilingual video for ELL students).

#flipped teaching #flipped classroom #school library #elementary school #instruction

The Flipped Classroom: An Introduction

Alternatively called flipped teaching or flipped instruction, the flipped classroom has been a topic of intense interest and discussion in the education field over the past few years. The term “flipped classroom” refers to a model of instruction where the traditional elements of learning – lecture and homework – are reversed. Students watch videos of lectures or listen to podcasts at home, while classroom time is reserved for discussions, hands-on activities, experiments, and exercises.

There are a number of benefits to flipped classrooms. Students take responsibility for their own learning by working at their own pace, reviewing material easily by watching the videos* again. If students miss class, they can catch up more readily. Teachers can build assessment tools into the online content to spot gaps in student understanding and then maximize their face-to-face interaction with students by focusing on higher-order learning activities because the students are prepared with the necessary foundational knowledge.

However, flipped teaching assumes students have access to the Internet, proper technological tools (computer, tablet, smartphone etc), and a supportive learning environment at home. For schools in rural or impoverished areas, the lack of these poses a significant barrier to adopting a flipped model. Additionally, some students may lack the necessary time management skills, struggle with distractions on their devices, or simply dislike the more solitary learning experience. It should also be noted that flipped instruction does not necessarily entail improved teaching. The same things that make for a great teacher in person – demonstrating multiple approaches, giving clear explanations, anticipating “trouble spots,” making content interesting and relevant – also need to be present in a recorded lesson.

I’ll end with a video from PBS NewsHour about the experiences of students and teachers at Clintondale High School, which has adopted flipped teaching across the entire high school.

Click here for the link.

Note- Flipped teaching goes beyond videos of lectures. But they are one of the most common tools of flipped instruction, and so, act as a sort of shorthand term.

#flipped teaching #flipped classroom #teaching technique #benefits #risks #education

Erik Erikson and the School Library Environment

Most of the lasting impressions of our educational experience aren’t about content. What sticks with us is the environment of learning. We never forget how our teachers make us feel – for better or for worse.

As I’ve learned more about Erikson, I’ve thought a lot about the type of environment I want to create when I’m a librarian. How can the library be a place that supports students through the essential “conflict” of each developmental stage? How can I, as the librarian, tailor my teaching to best fit the “whole-person” needs of my students?

Pre-K and Kindergarteners: Initiative vs. guilt stage

Characterized By: intense curiosity; development through play

Library Environment: Lessons in the library for this age are less about specific inquiry skills, and more about encouraging their curiosity. At this point, the focus should be on teaching students that the library is a place to discover more about what interests them and introducing specific formats (e.g. dictionary = where you go to learn what words mean).

Elementary School: Industry vs. inferiority stage

Characterized By: strong creative impulse; desire to be recognized for their work

Library Environment: Elementary students will thrive when given the opportunity to create meaningful, relevant products of their learning. They thrive on recognition so the library should display student work (models, drawings, poems etc).

Middle School: identity vs. identity confusion stage

Characterized By: formation of a coherent personal identity

Library Environment: Middle school students thrive when given the freedom to ask questions and “try on” new identities without censure. I think this is why they gravitate toward fiction, role-playing games, graphic novels, and supportive places to ask questions, like book clubs.

This is just a start in applying Erikson’s principles to teaching inquiry skills and fostering a supportive library environment – I’d love to hear more suggestions!

*As you might have guessed, I’m most interested in working in an elementary school (perhaps a middle school)

#erik erikson #educational theorists #application #school media #school library #inquiry skills #education #librarianship

Cite It Right!

This week we were tasked with coming up with our own mnemonic devices. I remember so many of these from my own schooling. My art teacher had the best: a dot does a lot (referring to glue). I've used that one a lot in doing crafts with kids - it really works. This was my first time creating one of my own - I found it quite fun to do.

The following is a mnemonic device to help students (late elementary/early middle school) remember the correct order of the elements in a MLA citation - Author, Title, City (of Publication), Publisher, Year, Medium.

All Turtles Can Play Yellow Mandolins.

I'm forever mixing up city and publisher (and judging from some of my classmates' responses, I'm not the only one!) so I think I'll use this to remind me, not just my students. I'll have to come up with one for APA.

#mnemonic #activity #MLA

Erik Erikson: His Impact on Education (in 300 words!)

As children spend a large portion of their day at school, their schools are a place of significant growth, social as well as intellectual. Erikson’s theories provide a helpful framework for understanding the importance of relationships in the school environment for children’s development.

The everyday experiences of a child’s life in school can either help or hinder children in their developmental progress from one stage to the next writes Sunil Batra (2013). Particularly at the elementary level, teachers should allow their students to approach problems in their own unique way and come to their own conclusions, even if their approach or conclusion is not what the teacher expected. Indeed, to appropriately develop through the different stages, students must be allowed the freedom to play (develops purpose), opportunities to build and create (develops competence), and the safety to express their innermost thoughts (develops fidelity).

During the tumultuous adolescent years, Erikson’s theories provide guidance about the critical needs of young adults, according to Lee Manning (1988). Knowing these needs allows educators to respond appropriately. For example, in Erikson’s Identity vs. Role Confusion stage – around the ages of 12-18 – adolescents are deeply concerned with the opinions of others, especially their peers. The need to be accepted is a powerful force at this point in life. This tends to lead to “clique” behavior, a constant jockeying for power and position (middle school, I do not miss you!). According to Manning, educators should be aware of peer influence on student’s self-perception and achievement. They should also recognize that cliques are a normal part of young adulthood, though they should also encourage kindness and understanding.

One of things I personally appreciate about Erikson’s work is that it helps teachers consider the whole child, understanding that a child’s social context has profound impact on their learning achievement.

References

Batra, Sunil. (2013, July). The psychological development of children: Implications for education and society – Erik erikson in context. Contemporary Education Dialogue vol. 10, 249-278. doi: 10.1177/0973184913485014

Manning, Lee. (1988, September). Erikson’s psychological theories help explain early adolescence. NAASP Bulletin vol. 72, 95-100. doi: 10.1177/019263658807250914

#Erirk Erikson;#educational theorist #education #IST 663 #social development

Introducing Erik Erikson

Erik Homberger Erikson (1902-1994) was born outside Frankfurt, Germany. He began life as an artist, before being introduced to Freudian psychoanalysis by his future wife, Joan Serson. He trained at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute before leaving Germany in 1933 (Erikson was of Jewish and Danish descent). He opened a child psychoanalyst practice in Boston, and was involved with the Harvard Psychological Clinic. Later, Erikson was a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley but returned to Harvard in 1960. He retired in 1970 and died in 1994.

Erikson is most famous for his epigenetic principle: “the principle for psychosocial development, based on a biological model, in which parts emerge in order of increasing differentiation” (Cloninger, 2008, p. 128).

Erikson reinterpreted the stages of Freud, developing an 8-stage (later 9-stage) model for human development. In Erikson’s view, these stages continue throughout the full human lifespan, from birth to death, though the first five stages constitute birth to adolescence. Each stage has a primary conflict between two opposites, or a “crisis,” and an associated strength. His work introduced a social component to Freud’s work; the individual as a member of society is a central tenet. As such, relationships with others play key roles in each stage. Finally, each stage of development prepares the way for the next.

The following chart, adapted from Cloninger (2008), shows the central conflict of each stage, the corresponding strength or virtue developed in the stage, and the primary relationships associated with that stage.

#Erirk Erikson;#biography #educational theorist #IST 663

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