[CALIBK12] TARGET: how can elementary LMTs help teachersunderstand research and collaboration
Janie Scott
janiescott at san.rr.com
Sun Dec 2 21:07:12 PST 2007
Marilyn,
Here is the answer I sent Susan.I didn't realize I didn't copy it to all.
"I have found that the best way for me to do it has been to start teaching
it
myself. I have done mini reports.I start the kids with a whole class report
in one lesson in Kindergarten and then I try to proceed upward from there.
Also getting politely in teacher's faces and asking what they'll be studying
this week and month so that you can have the materials for them. I've
introduced them to new books and even ordered from the public library for
them.
Usually you'll find oneor two who are excited to work with you and then word
spreads. Toot your own horn too. Every time you can insert word to parents,
administrators, students, and teachers of how you did this, heard this,
etc., do it!!
Good Luck! It's a long slow process but it will come to pass."
Janie Scott, Librarian
The Children's School
2225 Torrey Pines Lane
La Jolla CA 92037
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marilyn Robertson" <mnrobert at earthlink.net>
To: "Janie Scott" <janiescott at san.rr.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2007 7:26 AM
Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] TARGET: how can elementary LMTs help
teachersunderstand research and collaboration
> Janie:
>
> I hear that from so many good people. Public schools in general run at
> such
> a frenetic pace. I'm not sure any of us, adults or kids, are well-served
> by
> it even though I know very well where it comes from. I am interested in
> how
> you have begun to change your role to one where deeper collaboration has
> been possible. How have you approached changing that dynamic?
>
> Marilyn Robertson.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Janie Scott" <janiescott at san.rr.com>
> To: "Marilyn Robertson" <mnrobert at earthlink.net>; "Susan Scott"
> <suscott at pausd.org>
> Cc: <calibk12 at listproc.sjsu.edu>
> Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2007 8:40 AM
> Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] TARGET: how can elementary LMTs help
> teachersunderstand research and collaboration
>
>
>> 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.
>> >
>>
>>
>
More information about the CALIBK12
mailing list