Library Links

"Content that might be of interest to Teacher-Librarians..."

3.2.15

Sharing a specific link to a Destiny record

Sharing a specific link to a Destiny record
Sometimes you want to point your staff to a specific record in your Destiny catalog. But when you copy the URL in your browser, it doesn't bring you back to the record you want. That's no good!
The solution? You'll need to add &site=nnn to any link you want to share, where the "nnn" stands for the 3 digit identifier for your collection. Find it by going to the "list of libraries" page (destiny.sd38.bc.ca) and mousing over your library link. You'll see, at the bottom of your browser window,  an address ending in 3 digits - this is your unique identifier. (The address you see here is Anderson's - 410)

Once you have that number, look up a record in your collection, click until you see the individual record, and then copy the URL from up above.

Then it's simply a matter of adding "&site=" and the 3 digit number for your library (ie. 410)


If you want to direct them to your Visual Tab, try

(You can even turn these into QR codes for scanning if you like.)

Happy linking!

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"The Right Questions": Instruction That Sticks: EL

Energized students excited by learning!
"Initial research on use of the Question Formulation Technique in a classroom environment has shown that "the development of these questioning skills and behaviors empowers the learners to conceptualize and express their thinking without having to depend primarily on teacher questioning to provoke or promote their natural curiosities" (Elves, 2013, p. 2). And teachers who have used the technique in primary, middle, and high school classrooms across all subject areas in a wide range of com munities have reported newly energized students who are excited by learning to ask their own questions."

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Reading Moves: What not to do

Time to Reconsider - Richard Allington

"The article discusses typical reading education teaching methods used in elementary schools and argues that these methods are ineffective. Topics discussed include the contention that oral reading is overused and misused in classrooms, the asking of low-level questions following oral reading, and the suggestion that literate conversations should be used in reading instructions."

For home access, see your TL for School ID and PW
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What is inquiry?

Do you have questions about what "Inquiry" means? While there are many definitions floating around out there, here is a screen shot from the glossary available on the "Transforming Learning" website that might help. (Thanks Janice)

(Double-click to enlarge)


More resources
The complete BCed curriculum glossary page

DRC resources about "Inquiry"

Search our ASCD ebook collection for Inquiry resources

Ontario Min of Ed brochure

Focus on Inquiry (Alberta)

Introduction to Inquiry Based Learning

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Reid's Read-alouds: Selections for Children and Teens

Making reading fun and exciting


View the Google Books preview to get a feel for this great book.

"Reid makes reading aloud to children and teens easy by selecting titles in high-interest topics and providing context to spotlight great passages. Make reading fun and exciting with: passages from 400 titles encompassing fiction and nonfiction; advice on how to prepare for a read-aloud; a subject index to make program planning easier; and, bibliographic information on all titles."  

Rob Reid also has written "Reid-aloud" articles for "Book Link":


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Do you use Will Hobbs' novels?

Resources, activites and extensions

Will Hobbs has assembled support materials for his many novels:

"It's been exciting for me these past years to see my novels being read and taught across the curriculum in schools around the country. Innovative teachers and librarians have been expanding the use of these books beyond their home base in language arts and integrating them into social studies, science, and art classes as well. What I've put together here are some of my own suggestions for resource materials, most of which I used myself in writing these novels, as well as activity ideas I've picked up from schools. I hope this will be helpful to you."

Many of his titles work well as read-alouds!

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2.2.15

Looking for articles on "La francophonie"?

Articles for French learners
EBSCO has 4 French Scholastic magazines for teachers wanting to share easy-to-understand articles with their classes.

Samples:
Yumi Lambert de la Belgique [LINK]
Seach all of one magazine for articles on a single topic: [LINK]

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"Comme une française:" French language Youtube videos

Tips and phrases that you can use immediately
Géraldine Lepère has created a Youtube channel and website to help French language learners navigate the curiosities of the French language. Her suggestions are definitely Euro-French, but engaging nontheless. (More for older grades, but some could work for intermediate students.)

"Comme une Française will give you tips and phrases that you can immediately use to live the Vie en Rose, in France. You will understand French culture, become independent and communicate perfectly. You'll master the pros and cons, the dos and don'ts and the whys and hows of France."

(merci Diane!)
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Why Students Forget Everything On Your PowerPoint Slides

Less text + better images = more retention

Read this good explanation of why text-heavy Powerpoints actual impede comprehension, and follow the suggestions to make them better.

"How do you ensure that your kids learn from your lectures rather than wind up with brains that feel like oversoaked sponges? ... Richard Mayer, a brain scientist at UC Santa Barbara and author of the book "Multimedia Learning" offers the following prescription: Eliminate textual elements from presentations and instead talk through points, sharing images or graphs with students."

For more ideas, check here.
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29.1.15

WInter 2015 issue of School Libraries in Canada available

Canadian Library Publication

Contents:
  • Alphabet Soup - Derrick Grose
  • Fun ways to promote healthy eating - Health Canada
  • Seeing food as a whole - Wayne Roberts
  • Tom Jackson: Ballads Not Bullets - SLiC Media Focus
  • Real room for creativity in writing for children - Dustin Milligan
  • #slicfood4thought - SLiC's Twitter Feed
  • Kids are the best audience - Kevin Sylvester
  • Flip Your Library Orientation! - Anita Brooks Kirkland
  • Food - Where it comes from, how we nurture plants and animals, and what we eat to be healthy and strong - Elisa Amado
  • Year of the Learning Commons Proposal - Carol Koechlin
  • New jewels and neglected gems. Publishers highlight new works by Canadian authors and illustrators
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27.1.15

Musopen - Classical Music Resources

Classical music resources and educational materials online
"Musopen is a non-profit focused on increasing access to music by creating free resources and educational materials. We provide recordings, sheet music, and textbooks to the public for free, without copyright restrictions. Put simply, our mission is to set music free."

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▶ TLNewsNight: Made in BC: A visit with BCTLA - archived video

Teacher-Librarians in BC
The TLNewsNight gang interviewed BCTLA prez Heather Daly, who gave the BC teacher-librarian context and highlighted a few of BCTLA initiatives. (Later in the video, Val Martineau: 2014 BC Teacher-Librarian of the Year discussed advocacy at the local school district level and the local relationship with BCTLA.)

Heather's presentation runs from 7m to 25m22.

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Easel.ly: a template-based infographics creator

Create and share visual ideas online
"Easel.ly is a website that features thousands of free infographic templates and design objects which users can customize to create and share their visual ideas online. Using the site is as easy as dragging and dropping design elements, and users can either choose a template from our extensive library, or they can upload their own background image and start from scratch. Over 300,000 users have already registered with Easel.ly, and thousands of infographics are produced using the site every month."

(Thanks for the tip, Nancy!)
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MAKE Magazine 

Celebrate your right to tweak, hack, and bend!
The website, associated with the print magazine, is a wealth of DIY projects for students and adults alike.

"Maker Media (producer of Maker Magazine) serves a growing community of makers who bring a DIY mindset to technology. Whether as hobbyists or professionals, makers are creative, resourceful and curious, developing projects that demonstrate how they can interact with the world around them. The launch of MAKE Magazine in 2005, jumpstarted a worldwide Maker Movement, which is transforming innovation, culture and education."

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Diverse Approaches for Diverse Readers

The value of diversity in literature for children and teens

Writing for EBSCO NoveList, Heidi Estrin explores the value of diversity in literature for children and teens. She offers suggestions, titles, links and NoveList tips for more information.
"There is a loud, clear call for more books portraying people of color and other minorities, including both stories that celebrate difference and stories that "normalize" diversity. [...] there is wide agreement that children of all backgrounds will benefit from bonding with characters of diverse races, ethnicities, religions, physical and cognitive abilities, and family formations."

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Ditch the home readers – real books are better for your child

Selecting own reading material leads to greater success
Ryan Spencer, from the University of Canberra, writes about the important role of "real books" in helping build reading fluency:

"Recent research highlights that when children are provided with the opportunity to select their own reading material, they achieve greater levels of success. Sometimes, these choices may be harder, but the interest level creates the opportunity for the child to stay motivated to solve their normal reading problems."

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26.1.15

School Libraries in Canada - valuable resources

Get the latest publications

Get copies of "Leading Learning", "Achieving Information Literacy" and the latest issue of "School Libraries in Canada"

Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada, 2014 offers a vision and provides practical approaches for all those engaged in creating successful 21st century school libraries in Canada. Its framework presents five standards supported by a set of themes and growth stages that lead to the transformation from traditional library facility to vibrant library learning commons. The standards represent guideposts along a journey of continuous growth. Because Canadian schools are at different points on this journey, this publication includes a range of markers of progress, sets of implementation strategies, and rich examples of innovation and success. Leading Learning also contains key resources to provide educators, individual schools, and school districts with helpful direction and support.

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Love Your School Library Day poster and bookmarks

I <heart> reading
Looking to create some visibility for your February activities in the library? Consider running a LYSLD event. Pick one day, one week or go for the whole month. There are English and French posters and bookmarks on the BCTLA resource page.

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50 most popular images about books, reading, and libraries

Book images most often shared in social media networks.


"Anyone who devotes time to promoting books, reading, and libraries, sooner or later will realize images are the best tool to share the love of words. Images have a huge stopping power. It's not a secret that a book quote visualized as an image catches the attention a couple of times better than the same quote in a text update. We've prepared the list of pictures and illustrations that throughout a few years of our social media activity proved most successful on Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, and Google+."

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CommonLit - Thematic Discussion Questions Paired With Texts

Themes and Questions for Reflection

"Here's how Commonlit works. As a teacher I select a theme such as love, social change & revolution, or friendship & loyalty. Then within my chosen theme I select a discussion question. The choice of a discussion question will lead me to a set of passages for my students to read to support classroom discussion. For example, when I selected the question, "what drives a person to betray?" in the friendship & loyalty theme I was then able to choose the text of The Donkey, the Fox, and the Lion from Aesop's Fables. Commonlit provided me with a PDF of the text to download for free."


Even if you don't use the texts suggested, I think this site might help jumpstart thinking about themes for lit circles.

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