If
I had to choose one topic that really resonated with me, I would have to say
that it is collaboration. As I
stated earlier, when I decided to specialize in this role, one area of it that
I was really excited about was collaborating with staff. I feel that it is an excellent
opportunity to share new ideas and resources, work with someone who may have a
completely different set of expertise than yourself and have an extra educator
in the room to assist students or split them to work with smaller groups.
Photo taken from imgbuddy.com
With the idea of collaboration in mind, my key takeaways are based around ways that I have either been able to or am hoping to collaborate with my staff. I have appreciated being a part of keeping The Daily 5 program consistent within our school. I do the umbrella lessons and use the same common language as teachers so that students are sure to find "good fit" books when they are in the library. I feel it is really important for them to feel successful at reading while also choosing books that are of interest to them. This will in turn foster a reading culture within our school. Another key take away is our ability to collaborate through inquiry projects. I am looking forward to officially begin this on Monday morning and see how it unfolds. I think the students will be really excited about kicking off a "passion project" on a topic that interests them most and using the library for their research.
Moving forward, I can see that I have started the ball rolling with collaborating with staff, however, there are so many more opportunities out there that I can be a part of. Our school is purchasing fifteen iPads this year and I really would like to take advantage of these in the library. I would almost like to become an iPad specialist in the school where staff can come to me to discuss all of the different ways in which we can use them in the classroom. I think that this would be a great opportunity for me to stay current with technology and help those staff members who are not as familiar with iPads. I recently attended a pro d focused on iPads in primary classrooms and there were some great ideas. I am looking forward to sharing them with staff once ours arrive. I think that it is really important for someone to take on a leadership role when it comes to this new technology. I want to make sure that they get used to their fullest potential and that all grades have a chance to experience working with them.
Photo taken from http://trendyteacher.info/tag/ipad/
Here is a great video of a grade one teacher who talks about using iPads to differentiate instruction. She starts out by emphasizing the importance of still using traditional teaching methods but then shows us the impact that iPads have in her classroom in terms of building confidence in students and using them for differentiated teaching and creating extensions.
Transforming the Classroom with iPads
References:
YouTube. "Transforming the Classroom with iPads". Online video clip. YouTube,
13 Dec 2012.
A good reflective post that captures all the important learning you've gathered so far in our course. Some specific goals were discussed as to what you hope to achieve moving forward and how you think this will best serve your community. A couple of insightful resources that will allow you to customize and support your students and their learning in different meaningful ways. A good look back, while also planning for the future.
ReplyDeleteI would love to get some ipads for our school but our district has a contract with IBM that means we can't use any apple products. They would be great to use with primary students!
ReplyDeleteHarpreet - I appreciate your discussion on collaboration. In the face of funding cut backs, I think this is the key to maintaining school libraries throughout our province. The more integrated that our library programs are with the rest of the school, the more secure our positions are in terms of being a valuable service to our students and staff. This collaboration piece is what makes libraries the backbone of all of the other learning goals that are happening in our schools. As teacher-librarians it will be essential that we lead and build collaborative relationships by being supportive, innovative, and reliable!
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