So it begins (again)...Jane Byers Goodwin tweeted, sarcastically, last week to a colleague: "Aren't librarians mostly an in-house sub paid to sit alone in an empty book-filled room most of the day? Many admin. think so!" I have been asked by my administration to 'sub' only once in three years while in the position of teacher-librarian. … Continue reading A glorified in-house sub? Me thinks not… →

Maybe you have had enough Assessment for Learning to last a lifetime, you say? However, isn't true that its one thing to understand what it is (or at least think so), and another to actually put it into regular daily practice in our classrooms. Another analogy...Okay, so you get the idea. Assessment for learning assumes … Continue reading FEEDING the Pig or just WEIGHING it? →

To be Wireless...or not...Our school, despite the motions of many schools world-wide to remove wifi, has begun a wireless network pilot project. And only after four days (and without any public announcements or fanfare) we have over 98 student users with accounts (that's about 15% of the school population!). The 'student' accounts are valid for … Continue reading Our Technology Surges Ahead…Literally! →

In a courageous, intensely emotional talk at the city council in Fort Worth, Texas, councilman Joel Burns reaches out to the targets of teen bullying -- kids who are gay, perceived as gay, or just different -- with a vital message about their lives, and the harassment they face. Amid a rise in bullying and a … Continue reading Councilor Joel Burns to Gay Teens: It Gets Better →

Here is the animated version from Ken Robinson`s Ted talk from last year on changing educational paradiagms...

So, does violent reading material incite already convicted violent criminals...?  "Connecticut State Senator John Kissel (R-Enfield) met October 6 with state Department of Corrections Commissioner Leo Arnone to discuss the removal of books containing graphic violence from Connecticut prison-library collections. The meeting took place several days after jurors returned a guilty verdict for the first … Continue reading Censorship in Connecticut Prisons Inevitable? →

Shareski hits it on the head in his call for teachers to engage in a more collaborative and shared approach to the professional environment. Sounds good to me!http://dotsub.com/static/players/portalplayer.swf?plugins=dotsub&uuid=027a4da1-8be2-4ea7-85e9-2e3be140db1a&type=video&lang=noneWhat do you think? Does your department or school promote and support a collaborative approach to educational sharing?

 Time to head back to the drawing board, I suppose. Everything you thought we knew about website use by students is wrong. So wrong.

As far as the sanctity and purity of research goes, the act of using Google techniques when searching digital databases like JSTOR and EBSCO has come under heavy scrutiny.In today's post of Inside Higher Ed the argument continues: Should students know how search engines really work? Why are we need teaching better search techniques? Why … Continue reading Students Utilizing Google Techniques for Digital Databases in Question →

With just over a month to go we're gearing up for another DROP Everything and READ campaign. To get your free bookmark and poster make sure to visit the official website of the British Columbia Teacher-Librarians' Assocation. You can follow us on Twitter @BCTLA_DEAR and on Facebook (keyword: BCTLA_DEAR).Stay tuned for an announcement from the … Continue reading One Month and Counting! →