VCE English: Encountering Conflict

Posted on August 9, 2015 by SLAV Connects

ABC Radio is renowned for its podcasts, with most ABC broadcasting now available for anywhere/anytime listening. The full list of programs and listening option can be found on the ABC podcasting page.

For a number of years, local Melbourne ABC 774 broadcaster Libbi Gorr has presented a gem of a program on Sundays appropriately entitled Sunday School. It’s a must for VCE English students, as Libbi joins with English teachers in discussion and commentary on texts, exam preparation support and topics relating to the subject.

In this sample broadcast of Sunday School: Encountering Conflict, Christine Lambrianidis, English Learning Leader at Point Cook Senior Secondary College, joined Libbi to discuss ‘how human trafficking and slavery can affect Australians through the food we eat, clothing we wear and the services we engage.’

Christine related these key issues back to the VCE theme ‘Encountering Conflict’ and also extracted examples from the film ‘A Separation’ directed by Asghar Farhadi which is one of the optional VCE English texts.

This embedded file is from Soundcloud, however, it can just as easily be downloaded via iTunes. Check with your VCE students to ensure they’re not missing out on this supportive resource.

https://soundcloud.com/774-abc-melbourne/sunday-school-encountering-conflict-theme

Learning professionally with Google+ Communities

Posted on June 14, 2015 by SLAV Connects

Google educator Kimberley Hall recently presented a full day workshop for School Library Assoc of Victoria. For some delegates it was a glimpse into the possibilities of the Google Apps for Education (GAFE) tool-base, for others it was an opportunity to enhance their existing knowledge with the leadership of a dynamic trainer.

Educational institutions, from primary to secondary schools, through to universities, are now using GAFE, so skill in managing the range of tools such as Google Docs, Tables, Presentations and the indispensable Google Forms with confidence is essential. The value lies in streamlining and managing workflows and documentation within the library, plus the ability to be a learning support resource for students.

Ample support material is available online and Google for Education is a good place to start. The sites of trainers such as Kimberley, Chris Betcher and Jim Sill are just a few of the training sites bursting with tutorials and ideas.

Google tools range from Docs, to search strategies, to Google maps, Youtube videos and the new Google Photos. However, learning is a social process and occurs readily through active engagement with peers. Learning, for all of us, is about collaboration and the boundaries preventing this from happening have disintegrated. Joining Google Communities is recommended as a collaborative learning space that will put you in touch with like-minded professionals.

Teacher librarian, Heather Bailie, in her recent blog post Get connected with Google+ – a digital artefact presented a video profile of a ‘connected educator’ that includes instructions on how to get started with Google Communities. Whilst mailing lists have been used as professional points of exchange for many years, it’s time to consider moving onto tools such as Google+ Communities.
Some groups are private but most are public and open to all comers.

We are presently trialling Google Communities as an alternative option from Facebook discussion groups for senior students. The interface is much less distracting than Facebook and I believe it’s is only a matter of time before Google Communities becomes a common learning tool as schools extend their use of the GAFE suite. Here’s an opportunity to put yourself ahead of the curve – be courageous and move on from mailing lists!

Deep thinking with Infopics

Posted on May 20, 2015 by SLAV Connects

Using an image to convey a message can cement a lasting memory. Combine this image with words and you have the makings of a memorable learning experience. Tony Vincent of Learning in Hand has shared the idea of creating Infopics, a combination of image and words that combine as a thinking and analysis exercise suitable for both adult and student learning.

In his post Producing Infopics Tony provides a thorough overview of a range of mobile apps (for all systems) and standard PC applications that can be used to produce infopics. Simpler than an Infographic which generally conveys a message with a combination of statistics, images and general information, an Infopic is one image onto which you add text.

Whilst a relatively simple task, it requires you to think deeply about your image/topic and to come up with appropriate words to match. It could be a reflective Infopic as I have created in the header image using Phonto on the iPhone or you could ask students to select an image relevant to a book they have read and think of words or phrases in response to the text.

Many students will find this task challenging but with practice it has the potential for numerous applications. Tools can be as simple as a Powerpoint, Keynote or Google slides, or one of the many apps that Tony describes in inspirational post – Producing Infopics. Try producing your own, then take it into the classroom. Thanks Tony.

Financial literacy – ASIC’s MoneySmart

Posted on May 4, 2015 by SLAV Connects

Purchasing a mobile phone is one of the first mature financial commitments a young person will make. Before reaching that stage, however, most will have had experience with online shopping, including in-app purchases which are often impulse buys with minimal prior thought. Financial literacy instruction that begins in primary school and gradually builds over time will equip students with the skills to confidently manage these transactions.

As one of the key initiatives of the National Financial Literacy Strategy. the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has developed the MoneySmart Teaching program, a comprehensive financial literacy resource for use by educators.

This is an impressive resource with units such Mobile Phone security designed for a 15 minutes time-slot making it ideal for teaching alongside other content or within a homeroom class. On the other hand is the more comprehensive financial training course for VET students consisting of 5 online units.

MoneySmart has been developed for the Australian community. It’s valuable, not only to teens and young adults, but as a resource for Australians of all ages. It’s worth checking out.

Primary sources and the ANZACS

Posted on April 27, 2015 by SLAV Connects

The commemoration of the centenary of the Gallipoli Landing during World War I has stimulated an explosion in the digital content available online. Photos from family and institution collections contribute to a comprehensive overview of the period from the images on the battlefront through to the homeland and everyday life.

These images make possible a range of rich learning activities that can extend a student’s understanding of the experience of individuals and expose them to resources to explore further in their own time, for example:

Use Ergo, State Library of Victoria – Australia and World War I to study topics such as enlistment, conscription, the homefront and propaganda supported by primary source artefacts including diaries.
Document analysis worksheets designed and developed by the education staff of the [US] National Archives and Records Administration are an excellent resource for use with primary sources. These worksheets are not new and have been refined over time. They’re in a convenient .pdf format for use either online or as printed hardcopies. Worksheets are available for the analysis of a printed document, photograph, cartoon, poster, map, artefact, motion picture and sound recording. Highly recommended.
It’s not news to any teacher to say that students love Google Images. A lesson in the Advanced Search function of Google Images is an opportunity to experiment with various search terms; with learning how to separate World War I from World War II images; how to isolate propaganda images; locate images relating to women; find images of a particular colour or from the region ‘Australia’ only. Use with Google Search Education lesson plans to enhance your own search skills and those of your students.
The number of public institutions uploading resources to Flickr: The Commons has grown steadily over the years. As Creative Commons resources, students have a wealth of resources to work with. Once again, using a range of key terms such as ANZAC, Gallipoli, World War I, WWI, students can become familiar with this constantly developing database of original images.

This centenary year can be a launching point that introduces students to an authentic range of resources they can revisit time and time again……. now they know they exist. Explore!

SLAV Conference: Students at the centre

Posted on April 16, 2015 by SLAV Connects

It’s been a busy month for SLAV professional learning with a major curriculum-focussed conference, AusVELS: Constructing new Learners in March, followed by Libguides and Kevin Hennah workshops. This broad range of events from curriculum, to delivery of online resources, through to library design, are an indication of the diverse professional learning required by school library staff.

2015 theme Students at the Centre of Learning was reflected in the AusVELS: Constructing new Learners conference. Regardless of all other change in school libraries, focus cannot stray from student learning and the collaborative relationships necessary for success. The Storify of #slavconf tweets below provides an insight into the day, however, for a more complete experience see presentations and notes on the SLAV website.

Main presentations were:

Curriculum Update: Setting the scene, Dr David Howes, VCAA (changes to AusVELS that teacher librarians can tap into)
Teachers changing practice in their schools – implications for school libraries, Dr Rosemary Abbott – Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak (Rosemary’s PhD research provides a compelling argument for strong communication between teachers and library staff)
The Information Experience: Introduction, Professor Christine Bruce, QUT (Christine’s knowledge of how students learn and interact with information is a beacon to all educators and particularly teacher librarians).

Members sharing effective practice through a range of workshops was also an important part of the conference. Learning with and from each other at events such as this is a great help in building community and getting to know each other as members of the the school library community. Well done.

In the news – building perspective

Posted on March 25, 2015 by SLAV Connects

Studying the news and gaining perspective on an incident or event from another person’s point of view is a valuable learning experience. Whether it be politics or sport, it is possible to help students see through another set of eyes by reading the news as it is presented in another country. Here are some useful tools for the purpose:

Newspaper Map

Read news from a local perspective with links to more than 10,000 newspapers in over 130 countries. Beautifully visual, simply to select a newspaper from its location on a world map and read it with the assistance of Google Translate. Excellent for foreign language students and for anyone seeking to gain an understanding of the culture of another country. See how nuclear energy features in European newspapers, for instance, compared to Australian newspapers.

Museum- Today’s Front Pages

Newseum displays the front pages of more than 2,000 newspapers worldwide on its website each day. They are in their original, unedited form. Access by gallery, list or location on a world map. Functionality on the site is quite granular with the ability to sort by world region, then name of paper or country. Translate function is accessible by using the link to website and using Google Translate.

OnlineNewspapers.com

A beautifully clean and fast site, OnlineNewspapers.com also includes online magazines with links to free worldwide magazines on a broad range of subjects. Newspaper websites can be searched by country or region and are very quickly retrieved. A few dead links seems to indicate a lack of maintenance on the site but it’s still a very useful resource.

ipl2 – Newspapers & Magazines

Organised as a basic database, the user starts at the international and regional level, drills down to country level, then can use the city index to locate a specific newspaper. Less visual than other sites, it is still easy to use and reveals an amazing range of world news.

Newspapers are under attack with the rise of blogging and alternative news tools but they are still an effective tool for expanding a student’s perspective and providing opportunities for discussion. Take time to explore.

Make the web work for you – new VicPLN course

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Linda Angeloni

Many of you are part of the community that has grown out of the VicPLN series of online courses. With your feedback in mind, we’ve created a new course for 2015 which integrates the best of two previous courses into one: Make the web work for you.

Make the web work for you introduces key concepts and skills in digital and information literacy, and models the use of simple and free web tools, enables people to join or create personal learning networks, and encourages everyone to play and explore online. But it’s also designed to give participants the chance to apply their learning to an authentic research task in a guided online learning experience.

The course is designed for people hoping to get more out of the web and build their confidence using technology in the workplace.

This six-unit, self-paced program covers:

advanced searching and information evaluation skills
social media for professional learning
web tools to help find, manage, store and share information
digital publishing including ebooks
online collaboration and networking.

We hope to keep challenging ourselves and our community to think differently about our work, how we learn and share ideas. As part of the work of a new team at the State Library Victoria focusing on learning design, we’ll be beginning to talk more about our professional learning model, Connected Inquiry.

Our new course Make the web work for you is based on the principles of Connected Inquiry, a great deal of thinking, evaluation and research. We’ve tried a few new things, we’ve done in-depth research in partnership with AITSL, and we’ve gathered really helpful feedback from course participants.

So what is Connected Inquiry about? It’s in part a series of principles to help shape professional learning experiences that mirror the best of what we do as educators. Can an after school PD, online course or conference be built on the same principles we would an inquiry project for students – real life applications, personal relevance and curiosity? We think yes and we look forward to sharing our learning with you.

So if you’re interested in the course which begins April 20 or have any questions, you can contact us at learning@slv.vic.gov.au

Make the Web Work for You: an introduction to digital learning for school library teams and educators, 6 units over 8 weeks starting 20 April 2015.

And we’ll continue to be part of your personal learning networks: online, at SLAV conferences, and as part of the professional development program here at the State Library Victoria.

Image credit – State Library Victoria

2014 SLAV Awards – acknowledging best practice

Posted on February 19, 2015 by SLAV Connects

Every year the School Library Association of Victoria Awards are presented in recognition of the contribution of members and school leaders, and to encourage research into best practice. 2014 award recipients were announced at the conference, Building Communities through Reading, held at the National Gallery of Victoria in November. That’s a couple of months ago, I know, but it’s not too late to acknowledge these professional achievements.

Four awards presented were:

The John Ward Award
School Leader’s Award
SLAV Innovator’s Grant
SLAV Research Fellowship

Teacher Librarian, Leonie Dyason of Mooroopna Secondary College is a worthy recipient of the John Ward Award, presented in recognition of outstanding commitment to school librarianship in Victoria and named in honour of founding member of the Association, John Ward.

During her time at Mooroopna (commencing in 1977) Leonie has worked to support a less advantaged community developing a high level of understanding of, and responding to particular learning needs by creating a targeted print and ICT-rich collection that is educationally and culturally appropriate. Leonie has been a staunch advocate for school libraries and has been an active member of the School Library Association of Victoria during her long career.

She has been a driving force and support for colleagues in the SLAV Goulburn Valley Branch since the 1980s serving on SLAV Committee of Management and other committees within the Association. As a rural delegate, this has involved travelling from Mooroopna to Melbourne to attend meetings regularly. Commitment, dedication and collegiality have been a hallmark throughout Leonie’s teacher librarian career.
Congratulations Leonie!
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School Leaders are a critical component in the management and success of a school library. 2014 School Leader’s Award was presented to Marco DiCesare, Principal of Caroline Chisholm Catholic College, Braybrook and previously of Lavalla Catholic College, Traralgon. It was supported by commendations from Teacher Librarians, Barbara Roach (Caroline Chisholm Catholic College) and Jeananne Brown, (Lavalla Catholic College) both of whom have worked under the leadership of Marco. Barbara and Jeananne and acknowledge that he possesses cutting edge understanding of the role of the Information Services sector of the educational community. This leadership is influenced by his deep understanding of how students learn which enables him to see the intrinsic value of school libraries.

Marco has encouraged innovation and looked for ways the school library can embrace learning opportunities. He encourages collaboration between the library and other departments and sums up his expectation for the role of the Teacher Librarian as:
Teacher Librarians support and implement the vision of the College through advocating and building effective library and information services and programs that contribute to the development of independent, interdisciplinary lifelong learners. The Teacher-Librarian partners and collaborates with teachers in the development of curriculum and pedagogy and manages the library and information resources and services of the school.”

Congratulations Marco. The Principal is a key player in establishing the position of the school library within the school community.
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School libraries must be places of constant innovation and change responding to changing circumstances with new ways of working. Julie Purcell, Director Library Resource Centre at Ruyton Girls’ School and David Feighan, Information and Library Services Manager, Mentone Girls Grammar School were co-recipients of the SLAV Innovator’s Grant of 2014. The Grant was awarded in recognition of David and Julie’s work in initiating and setting up a shared ebook collection across two schools that are not under the same governing body nor in the same vicinity.

This project is innovative as it leads the way in inter school co-operation and enables both schools to offer larger, richer and more engaging ebook collections to their students. It also demonstrates that two schools located some distance apart, with different library catalogue systems and no shared IT network, can still work effectively together. Well done!
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SLAV Research Fellowship for 2014 was awarded to teacher librarian, Amanda Baker, to allow her to further develop and extend the range of Reading Programs she has developed across Viewbank College, and which could serve as a model for other teacher librarians to follow.

Amanda’s presentation of her work to delegates at the conference was enthusiastically received. She illustrated that by working closely with English staff in the Middle Years, the Viewbank College Library has managed to build a thriving reading community. Activities such as the ‘Million Word Challenge’ and ‘The Reading Portfolio’ have increased student engagement, encouraged conversations about reading and increased involvement. In addition to supporting literacy outcomes, this reading model has strengthen the relationships between Teacher Librarian , the English faculty and other staff and supports a reading culture across the school.
Congratulations Amanda, we look forward to hearing more about your work.

Recognising exception practice within the profession is important. Whilst rewarding merit, it highlights exemplary practice and stimulates improvement. Watch out for the invitation to nominate candidates for 2015 awards later in the year. Share the best practice that’s occurring within your school community.

Library Orientation – the essential Welcome!

Posted on February 8, 2015 by SLAV Connects

Summer holidays are becoming a distant memory as we settle into a new school year. A new batch of students has been welcomed and they’re beginning that somewhat daunting task of finding their way around and mastering the new environment.

Last week, with the assistance of Year 7 class teachers, I introduced over 250 students to the complexities of setting up network passwords and establishing their presence on the college network. This learning space will be very familiar to them in no time, but for now, it is one of the essential orientation activities for new students. In the meantime my teacher librarian colleague Jessica Bishop, is launching the reading program and introducing students to the physical space. They are acclimatising quickly and already making enquiries about Lego and Minecraft.

Teacher librarian at Genazzano FCJ College, Catherine Farrell, shared details of her Year 7 library orientation in SLAV’s journal Synergy last year. In the article entitled QR Codes and Orientation she describes how students use a passport sized booklet with information and questions, to discover different areas and services within the library. QR codes provide easy access to supporting videos and other online information relating to the use of the library.

Read Catherine’s article and you will gain an appreciation of how this type of task becomes a learning activity for everybody involved. Students learn about the library and the library staff gain experience in using new and innovative ways of tackling a routine task such as new student orientation.

Also, in a previous post on this blog teacher librarian, Rachel Fidock, wrote a post Revamping your school library orientation in which she presented a number of novel approaches to library familiarisation. For example, have current students create a promo video about what they thought the library was going to be like, what it actually has to offer, and what they think the students will like about their library. Student voice is often so much more engaging than the library staff delivering the message. Check Rachel’s post for a number of good ideas.

The library can be a safe haven in the sometimes stormy sea of a new school. Orientation aside, library staff who are visible, open and welcoming play a critical role at the commencement of a new school year. Made welcome and ‘at home’, students soon become the life of the library. They are the chess players, the homework students, the readers and the one’s who are familiar with libraries and know the treasures that can lie within. Every school library has its own unique character and this is the time of year that character has a profound influence on a whole new generation of students entering the school for the first time.

Rachel reminds us in her blog not to ‘reinvent the wheel’. So, share ideas with colleagues and most importantly start the year off by showing that your school library is a vital player in the culture of the school. Enjoy!

Social Media: Explore Library Orientation on Pinterest or @AnitaBK on Twitter – Flip your library orientation