What the IIM?

The Independent Investigation Method (IIM) is a teacher-created, proven model for teaching students from Kindergarten through High School levels how to conduct good, reliable, and copy-free RESEARCH.  Today's students are living and learning in an information-saturated environment. Finding facts is not a problem; we are all bombarded with facts, factoids and false facts on a daily basis.  Our students need a method for sorting through these facts to find what they need to answer their questions, from "What would happen if frogs dropped out of the food chain?" to "What college should I apply to?" 

IIM provides the scaffolding to guide even our youngest students through the research process. The skills they develop as a result will enable them to become independent, knowing how to:

• choose an appropriate topic (not too broad, not too narrow)
• set reasonable goals (enough facts, a variety of resources, and good questions)
• conduct reliable and ethical research (not plagiarizing, not copying, using appropriate sources)
• organize their information (sorting, analyzing and synthesizing what they need)
• evaluate their process (checking on their goals, deciding when they have what they need to move forward)
• develop and create their product (showing what they've learned in a unique and engaging manner)
• and preparing a presentation (sharing their knowledge and skills with an understanding of their audience).

This is such an important process, and though we are only getting them started at the K-2 level, my colleagues at Memorial and Cawley Schools have remarked on how capable our students are as they continue to develop their research skills based on the IIM experiences we provide at Underhill School. 

Click here for helpful links to information from the IIM website:

 Resources from the IIM Teacher Lounge

Do the Hokey Pokey!

Recently, I heard a talk given using the childhood dance, "The Hokey Pokey" as a metaphor for many things in our lives. It occurred to me that this can also be used to describe our move toward transforming education into 21st century teaching and learning.

"Put your right hand in..."    
If you have a familiar lesson that might lend itself to some updating, think about how you might tweak it to include engaging technology, higher order inquiry or new resources.  You don't need to change much; you just need to be willing to "put your right hand in and shake it all about."

"Put your left foot in..."   
Decide how you can take a small step toward transforming how you approach your teaching.  Are you doing most of the talking in your classroom?  Is there a way you can turn some of the responsibility for learning over to your students?  Perhaps by setting up a center and allowing students to explore a webquest, you can begin to empower them as learners even as they help each other.

"Put your head in..."   
Humans instinctively resist change; sometimes it seems we just get comfortable with how we are teaching and something new rears up and causes friction.  As anxiety-producing as change can be, it also affords us the chance to be learners as well as teachers. And the satisfaction of being able to say "I did it!" is no less powerful at our age as it is at our students' age. Put your head in by finding someone to support you; tell yourself you won't give up; set small, attainable goals and pretty soon you will be ready to...

"Put your whole self in!"  
Allow yourself to become fully engaged, immersed in the possibilities, confident of finding the right resources and support, ready to be successful and turn yourself around, because...

THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!

Click here for-->  Hokey Pokey Song video

ReadWriteThink

I know I have mentioned THINKFINITY in past posts, but September seems like a great time to remind ourselves of the fabulous resources located on the Thinkfinity site.  Here is what Thinkfinity wants you to know:

www.thinkfinity.org acts as a gateway to all of the content partners' high-quality online resources, including those from ReadWriteThink. The customized search tool on Thinkfinity.org allows users to locate resources from across the content partner sites, providing quick and easy access to thousands of relevant, timely, and engaging educational resources, ranging from lesson plans, activities, worksheets, and reference materials to interactives, podcasts, videos, audio clips, and much more. The Verizon Thinkfinity search is invaluable because it returns only resources developed or approved by the content partners, so users are assured the information found is accurate, appropriate for classroom and student use, and of the highest quality.

Speaking of ReadWriteThink, here are some terrific activities to try with your students right away. Click on the activity title (ex. "Story Map") to go directly to the website.

1  |  Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Organizing & Summarizing

Story Map

2  |  Grades   K – 5  |  Student Interactive  |  Learning About Language

Word Family Sort

3  |  Grades   1 – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Organizing & Summarizing

Plot Diagram

4  |  Grades   K – 2  |  Student Interactive  |  Learning About Language

Construct-a-Word

5  |  Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Writing & Publishing Prose

Comic Creator

Explore, create and let me know what you Think!

CCSS - How can I help you? Let me count the ways...

A recent article entitled, Poised to Partner: The 21st-Century School Librarian outlines the many ways that school librarians are ready, willing and able to stand with teachers as the Common Core State Standards come barreling down the educational pike. Amy Jo Southworth does an excellent job of delineating how and why this is the time for teachers to "Partner Up!" with the school librarian. Although she works at the high school level, Southworth also speaks for me when she says:

"As we embark on a Common Core journey, in a digital information age that has transformed research and writing, I’m here to remind you of the invaluable colleague you have in your school librarian. In schools where student learning is a top priority, librarians’ roles include teacher, instructional partner, reading motivator, staff developer, information specialist, curator, and program administrator. We are steered by national standards akin to those guiding core subjects, and it is our job to embed these standards authentically into the school curriculum through all disciplines,including English. As a librarian, I can assist you in many ways."

She goes on to outline and identify those ways that librarians can support the CCSS because, "as Susan Ballard, President of the American Association of School Librarians states, 'much of the core is based in inquiry, and that is what librarians do on a daily basis. It speaks our language' (qtd. in Gewertz 18)."

Her list is composed of the same ways I can help you, too:

• Let me help you address the Standards. Librarians can assist in locating a range of reading material in print and digital formats including informational narratives and primary sources.

• I can introduce you to new materials. Since we are responsible for collection development and management, we have access to substantive, varied resources that can facilitate the appropriation of the finest, most thought-provoking, discussion-worthy materials.

• Let me provide you with the best research materials. There are numerous digital collections available to teachers, making it daunting to sort through these resources. Librarians often curate mini-collections of material relevant to their users.

• I can customize materials for you...to support your curriculum needs. School librarians know how to help students access and evaluate quality materials, and to filter this information to students in ways that build their own research independence.

• Let me show you a 21st-century library. The library “space” has evolved alongside our shifting roles. The library itself has been repurposed from a place where students come to obtain information to a place where they meet, access, apply, and create. 

• I can help you scaffold successful research projects. The next time you begin planning, collaborate with me. School librarians ensure that students learn how to effectively and ethically access and use information to generate the most rhetorically powerful communications.

• I build skills for lifelong learning. Our discipline fosters a student’s ability to function successfully as a 21st-century citizen and learner. We encourage independence, wonder, risk-taking, exploration.

• I can help you evaluate student work. Students benefit from the additional audience for their work.

Southworth concludes her endorsement of librarians as partners by saying: 
"We encourage you to integrate technology tools to publish research and writing or use technology to teach digital communication. And while many of us appear to work in isolation,
librarians are expert networkers. We can obtain answers to your most obscure queries, almost instantly!

School librarians foster risk-taking and independent learning for life. We teach digital citizenship. We motivate students to read. We are perfectly positioned to partner."

I'm ready...let's talk!

Here is the link to the entire article appearing in the May edition of the English Journal by Amy Jo Southworth (Bay Shore HS, NY) entitled, Poised to Partner: The 21st-Century School Librarian.

http://www.literacyinlearningexchange.org/sites/default/files/poised_to_partner_the_21st_century_

BONUS!  Here is the link to a fun article on libraries in leading roles on NPR:

http://www.npr.org/2013/08/07/207510092/libraries-leading-roles-on-stage-on-screen-and-in-song

Reading Rainbow - "Take a Look!"

Many of us have fond memories of the PBS series "Reading Rainbow", with its wonderful opening theme song and the friendly LeVar Burton sharing storybooks and background information about the theme.  An add-on at the end featured kids talking about their favorite book recommendations.

Reading Rainbow aired from 1983 through 2006, but reruns until 2008 continued to encourage children of all backgrounds, demographics and cultures to read, Read, READ!

On June 20, 2012, the Reading Rainbow App was released for the iPad and became the #1 educational app within 36 hours. Built from the ground up by LeVar Burton and his company, RRKIDZ, the app allows children to read unlimited books, explore video field trips starring Burton, and earn rewards for reading.

Here are two fun renderings of the familiar opening theme song.  The first is the original, with its 70s style kid power lyrics and imagery.  The second is a 60s spoof, done by Jimmy Fallon in the style of The Doors...enjoy both!

Click here for -----> Reading Rainbow Original   

Click here for ----------> Reading Rainbow Spoof

 

With thanks to fellow LMS Jo Gargoly of Kingston for this link.

How Much Can Children Teach Themselves?

“ In nine months, a group of children left alone with a computer — in any language — would reach the same standard as an office secretary in the West."

- Sugata Mitra

In 1999, Sugata Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC and left it there. What they saw was kids playing around with the computer, and in the process learning how to use it, how to go online, and teaching each other. The "Hole in the Wall" project demonstrates that an environment that stimulates curiosity can cause learning through self-instruction and peer-shared knowledge. Mitra, who's now a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University, calls it "minimally invasive education."

At TED2013, Sugata Mitra was awarded the TED Prize, and he made a bold wish: to help build a place where children can explore and learn on their own — and teach one another — using resources from the worldwide cloud.

Listen to this ... I would love to have a conversation about it via your posted comments!

Click here to watch and listen to Mitra's TED Talk

Destiny Quest

Destiny Quest is part of our online Destiny Catalog at Underhill School.  By choosing Destiny Quest from the menu on the left side of the Destiny Catalog page, you can find all sorts of interesting information, including regular catalog searches. You can even drag and drop to create your own list (on the right) of items you'd like to check out. Here is a screen shot of what you might see:       (or click on the words to go directly to Destiny Quest)

Destiny Quest 

You can take a peek at the "Top Ten Books" (always changing) to see what your students are checking out most often.

You can access "Resource Lists" I've created for quick and easy searches of what you might need. Don't see a Resource List you want? Let me know, and I'll create one for you.  Better yet, I'll show you how to create one for yourself!

My favorite list is the "New Arrivals".  We are always ordering new materials that support your classroom, so check out what has just come in - perhaps it is the perfect book for your next lesson.