James HenriPresident: International Association of School Librarianship: iasl-online.orgDirector: yourschoollibrary.org

They are the same issues they have faced for the past decade and longer. They just seem to be getting tougher.

A major problem is the disconnection between school and the rest of living.

Schools are a problem!

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Teachers and their teaching Textbooks and Curriculum Testing as a measure of learning Add-on technology Building design

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Teacher as emperor

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What are the words you think of when the idea of a railway pops into your mind?

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Know where its goingDependableComfortableRuns to a tight timetableMeets a set of standardsInfrastructure

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Why are schools designed like a set of railway lines?

Why are schools designed around classrooms?

Why do schools have fixed Time Tables? Why are curriculums based on Subjects Why are students grouped by age?

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Because this makes life easier for Teachers

BUT

It can make school very, very, very, boring for learners

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Inevitably leads to teaching to the test. Disregards the learner. Is rarely authentic. Rarely takes account of learning style. Tends to be competitive rather than

collaborative.

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Typified by isolated laboratories which isolates the technology from the learning.

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Technology is not changing teacher practice.

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If you wanted to make children’s lives uninteresting you would put them into a school for as long as possible.

I’m thinking of uncomfortable chairs, tightly packed classrooms, lack of privacy, little connection to the ‘real world’.

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Teachers are isolated in their own spaces and this means that they don’t learn from each other and they rely on trusted tools and methods.

Who is teaching the teachers?

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1. Student centred learning2. Learners making information3. Good School Libraries4. Teachers who are learners5. Technology coming to the learner

(immersion)6. School inside a library

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Teacher as facilitator

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It is not about Teaching!!!! Once we place the student at the centre we

change everything.

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And they need to be able to make their own information and to have confidence in it.

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Include:1.On demand access to the school community2.Links to the classroom and to teachers3.Connection to the curriculum (cf D.

Loertscher)4. Integration to school mission and

(information) policies5.And….6.And….

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See:

http://www.edcollab.org/LibraryMedia/Collaboration/sld007.htm

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/editorschoiceb/infopower/selectputnam.cfm

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School librarians must shift their focus from students to teachers.

Only when teachers are information literate will they understand the information needs of the learners.

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It’s a digital world…BUT…

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These create images of….

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NetworkingPerson centred activityJust in time activityMaking learningPoint towards a flexible future

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Open and flexible spaces Students and teachers exploring together Information rich and information articulate

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Question: What does your school think about information?

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Old: Library in school New: School in library

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Collections Laboratories

It is not what you have but how you use it.

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The library space must be comfortable and attractive.

Reading must be something children and adults WANT to do. It must not be seen as WORK.

Testing reading makes reading the enemy.

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Technology must be incorporated into all elements of learning. This will enable students to make their own knowledge.

Students can teach the teachers.

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Photocopy learning is no more than a parrot talking

Understanding how information works, and knowing how to make information, is at the heart of good learning

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After three lessons I know the Thoughts of Chairman Mao by heart. What have I learned?

My mother tells me I must do well at school. What have I learned?

I have watched the news every night for a month. What have I learned?

I completed a project on the 2008 Olympic Games. What have I learned?

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A question of:

ENGAGEMENT

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A question of:

EVIDENCE

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A question of:

CONNECTIONNutrition

Pollution

Transportation

Mathematics

Culture

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A school community that places a high priority (policy, benchmarking, funding, and evaluation) on the pursuit of teacher and student mastery of the processes of becoming informed can be regarded as an information literate school community’.

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mastery of the processes of becoming informed encompasses the ability to:

• recognise the need for information;• solve problems and develop ideas;• pose important questions;• use a variety of data gathering strategies;• locate relevant and appropriate data;• assess data for quality, authority, accuracy, authenticity;

and• acknowledge that uncertainty is an essential part of

becoming informed.

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Schools must be for LLL (Life Long Learning)

And must not be for SLL (School Long Learning)

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Learning can be connected with reality as we know it right now.

Learning can draw on the best fiction available so as to encourage imagination and enquiry.

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Learning is about Questions. Knowledge is about Answers.

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What does your library think of school?

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Management Teaching Services Collections Web presence Leadership Knowledge management Policy Curriculum development Reading/Children’s literature

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Working with the principal and school leadership

Putting policy before personality Looking after the teachers Doing what others can not Giving up what others can do.

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Farmer, L., & Henri, J. (2007). Information literacy assessment in K-12 Settings. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow press. http://url.ie/zuo

Henri, J., & Asselin, M. (2005). Leadership Issues in the Information Literate School Community. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. http://url.ie/zup

Henri, J., & Boyd, S. (2003). “Teacher Librarian Influence: Principal and Teacher Librarian Perspective”. School Libraries Worldwide, 8(2), 1-18.

Henri, J., Hay, L., & Oberg, D. (2002). The School Library-Principal Relationship: Guidelines for Research and Practice. The Hague: IFLA. http://url.ie/zuq

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Model of the Information Search Process

  

Tasks       Initiation       Selection   Exploration   Formulation   Collection   Presentation

Feelings uncertainly optimism confusion clarity sense of satisfaction or(affective) frustration direction/ disappointment

doubt confidence

Thoughts vague focused(cognitive)

increased interest

Actions seeking relevant information seeking pertinent information(physical)

exploring documenting

Source: http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/~kuhlthau/Information%20Search%20Process_files/frame.htm

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