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Categories: Media Literacy
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“Amendment I: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” In these few, brief written words, the First Amendment protects so … read more »
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Categories: Research
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Several months back we began discussing research. Now, let’s take a look at the best resources that students and teachers can use to meet their information requirements. The research process begins with a motivation, either personal or external, such as a class assignment. The best class assignments are authentic tasks, problems the learner must solve doing real-life activities … read more »
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Categories: Digital Citizenship1 Comment
This week is Choose Privacy Week , an event sponsored by the American Library Association. While privacy has been part of our recent national discussion, privacy issues are nothing new to K-12 public education, which must follow at least three privacy rules and laws. These include the 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a … read more »
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Categories: Library Media
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The invisible web is a world of resources not available using conventional search engines. Last month we looked at databases of information found behind paywalls, but often accessible with a library card. Now let’s investigate some sites that are freely available, but take some knowledge and instruction to use. A great place to start is … read more »
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Categories: Research
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Way back in the twentieth century, your high school English teacher probably decreed that you needed ten sources for your research paper. You probably moaned about how hard it would be to find that many. If you were savvy, you headed to your school or public library to find the resources you needed. If you … read more »
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Categories: Media Literacy3 Comments
Evaluating resources, in any medium, is a critical thinking skill for information literacy, media literacy, or digital citizenship. Of course, it is also part of educational state standards patterned after the Common Core. They emphasize reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence from texts. In a discussion of the key shifts in the standards, the … read more »
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Categories: Tech Tool of the Month
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In the fall I had a chance to get reacquainted with Penzu. It’s a great tool for writing that allows you to create a free online journal. Individual entries can be public or private which allows you to share them in many ways. Using Penzu would be an excellent way to reflect or share your … read more »
In today’s world of instant information, students often are overwhelmed by the myriad of resources available to support research assignments. When teaching students to use search engines, I emphasize the importance of asking the right questions, finding the best keywords, and, most importantly, using advanced searching techniques to retrieve limited results containing the information they … read more »
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Categories: Research
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Now that most of us are well into the first quarter of the school year, many teachers have assigned students their first significant formal research assignment for the year. English teachers and school librarians love academic research or at least don’t dread it! Most teachers know they should be giving students an opportunity to work … read more »
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Categories: Digital Citizenship
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In this season of intense political activity, now might be a good time to think about digital citizenship. We cannot assume that our students who are digital natives have the skills to be good digital citizens of the virtual world in which they live every day. Many schools have some sort of cybersafety curriculum, perhaps … read more »