[CALIBK12] TARGET: how can elementary LMTs help teachersunderstand research and collaboration

[Janie Scott]

Marilyn,

I think you did an excellent job of representing David's position.  The only 
problemis reaching the point of being able to bring the kids on board. We 
are often faced with teachers who see us in the more traditional roles and 
are sometimes even threatened by our changing status.  Add to this the 
different jobs that many schools are adding onto the LMT's position and the 
ever diminishing amount of time available and it is quite a challenge. 
Having said that I quite agree with David and Doug's assesment of what needs 
to change, and having worked through many of the problems mentioned above, I 
am starting to enjoy the rewards of collaborating on in-depth projects with 
kids!
Keep it up!

Janie Scott
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marilyn Robertson" <mnrobert at earthlink.net>
To: "Susan Scott" <suscott at pausd.org>
Cc: <calibk12 at listproc.sjsu.edu>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 7:29 AM
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] TARGET: how can elementary LMTs help 
teachersunderstand research and collaboration


> Susan:  Have you got David Loertscher's BAN THOSE BIRD UNITS and the 
> sequel,
> BEYOND BIRD UNITS?  In the amazing CSLA session I attended, he and Doug
> Atcherman even went further, saying that we have to go beyond helping busy
> teachers come up with a long elaborate search.  They promoted the idea 
> that
> we need to get to content, even if that means locating and making 
> available
> for the kids the best resources, online or otherwise.
>
> The hard part for us all, students especially, is analyzing and making 
> sense
> of what has been found and synthesizing the information to form new
> understandings about the content.  And then, that's only the beginning.
> Then the findings must be shared with the rest of the class to do a Big
> Think--look for more patterns and larger ideas based upon what has been
> learned.
>
> So you see, our role is changing.  It is to speed up the process and work
> directly with teachers and kids to grapple with the information found to 
> get
> to new knowledge, and to participate in assessment. I thought this was a
> real wow since we traditionally focus on helping them learn to find 
> quality
> stuff, challenging in itself.
>
> David and Doug or others who are really doing this, if I have 
> misunderstood
> or misrepresented what you meant, please chime in.
>
> Marilyn Robertson
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Susan Scott" <suscott at pausd.org>
> To: "calibk12" <calibk12 at listproc.sjsu.edu>
> Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 5:36 PM
> Subject: [CALIBK12] TARGET: how can elementary LMTs help teachers 
> understand
> research and collaboration
>
>
>> Do you all have any good ideas for transitioning your teachers from the
>> "animal report" to best current practices?
>>
>> I work on a fixed schedule, but allow upper grade students to come in at
>> any time.  Unfortunately, we keep having little problems:
>>
>> -Students come to the library to research without any paper, pencils,
>> guidelines.
>> -I rarely hear from teachers before a passel of kids charge in to "do
>> their research".
>> -The assigned reports are a "mile wide and one inch deep"--frequently a
>> list of questions to be answered with a single word.
>> -The subjects are often things that we don't have --who has twenty books
>> on different female explorers?
>> -The subjects are so specific and unique that there never will be a
>> whole book about it --i.e.,the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse!
>> -the BIG Questions just aren't there.
>>
>> I am not super frustrated, but I would like to help make research a
>> positive, transferable learning experience.  I would like to know if you
>> have some procedure in place that helps mitigate these kinds of
>> problems.  How did you get started?  What other support helped?
>>
>> I know what to teach the kids.  I am kinda stumped when it comes to
>> approaching my staff who seem rather unwise in their "research"
>> assignments.  How do I guide them?
>>
>> I will post a HIT.
>>
>> Thanks, Susan
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> CALIBK12 site list
>> CALIBK12 at lists.sjsu.edu
>> http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/calibk12
>>
>> For information about the Calibk12 listserve, please
>> visit  http://www.calibk12.net.
>
> _______________________________________________
> CALIBK12 site list
> CALIBK12 at lists.sjsu.edu
> http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/calibk12
>
> For information about the Calibk12 listserve, please
> visit  http://www.calibk12.net.
>
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marilyn Robertson" <mnrobert at earthlink.net>
To: "Susan Scott" <suscott at pausd.org>
Cc: <calibk12 at listproc.sjsu.edu>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 7:29 AM
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] TARGET: how can elementary LMTs help 
teachersunderstand research and collaboration


> Susan:  Have you got David Loertscher's BAN THOSE BIRD UNITS and the 
> sequel,
> BEYOND BIRD UNITS?  In the amazing CSLA session I attended, he and Doug
> Atcherman even went further, saying that we have to go beyond helping busy
> teachers come up with a long elaborate search.  They promoted the idea 
> that
> we need to get to content, even if that means locating and making 
> available
> for the kids the best resources, online or otherwise.
>
> The hard part for us all, students especially, is analyzing and making 
> sense
> of what has been found and synthesizing the information to form new
> understandings about the content.  And then, that's only the beginning.
> Then the findings must be shared with the rest of the class to do a Big
> Think--look for more patterns and larger ideas based upon what has been
> learned.
>
> So you see, our role is changing.  It is to speed up the process and work
> directly with teachers and kids to grapple with the information found to 
> get
> to new knowledge, and to participate in assessment. I thought this was a
> real wow since we traditionally focus on helping them learn to find 
> quality
> stuff, challenging in itself.
>
> David and Doug or others who are really doing this, if I have 
> misunderstood
> or misrepresented what you meant, please chime in.
>
> Marilyn Robertson
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Susan Scott" <suscott at pausd.org>
> To: "calibk12" <calibk12 at listproc.sjsu.edu>
> Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 5:36 PM
> Subject: [CALIBK12] TARGET: how can elementary LMTs help teachers 
> understand
> research and collaboration
>
>
>> Do you all have any good ideas for transitioning your teachers from the
>> "animal report" to best current practices?
>>
>> I work on a fixed schedule, but allow upper grade students to come in at
>> any time.  Unfortunately, we keep having little problems:
>>
>> -Students come to the library to research without any paper, pencils,
>> guidelines.
>> -I rarely hear from teachers before a passel of kids charge in to "do
>> their research".
>> -The assigned reports are a "mile wide and one inch deep"--frequently a
>> list of questions to be answered with a single word.
>> -The subjects are often things that we don't have --who has twenty books
>> on different female explorers?
>> -The subjects are so specific and unique that there never will be a
>> whole book about it --i.e.,the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse!
>> -the BIG Questions just aren't there.
>>
>> I am not super frustrated, but I would like to help make research a
>> positive, transferable learning experience.  I would like to know if you
>> have some procedure in place that helps mitigate these kinds of
>> problems.  How did you get started?  What other support helped?
>>
>> I know what to teach the kids.  I am kinda stumped when it comes to
>> approaching my staff who seem rather unwise in their "research"
>> assignments.  How do I guide them?
>>
>> I will post a HIT.
>>
>> Thanks, Susan
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> CALIBK12 site list
>> CALIBK12 at lists.sjsu.edu
>> http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/calibk12
>>
>> For information about the Calibk12 listserve, please
>> visit  http://www.calibk12.net.
>
> _______________________________________________
> CALIBK12 site list
> CALIBK12 at lists.sjsu.edu
> http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/calibk12
>
> For information about the Calibk12 listserve, please
> visit  http://www.calibk12.net.
>