[CALIBK12] Collaboration and the Quadratic Formula

Tue Mar 18 13:30:27 PDT 2008

First, it's a great idea. Best of luck to you with it! Second, pardon if any of this advice is not helpful. 

  I'd say first you have to know how quadratic equations are used in research (to answer what kinds of questions). Once you can answer this question, you can worry about how to create research assignments in this area that will meet the English content standards. 

  Do you know the standards you are working to address and meet in each content area (Math, English, Library-Info Lit)? Clarfiy these first.

  Second, are you collaborating as your build this? I believe you must solitic the help of teachers at your school site in these disciplines as you build this assignment.  If you build it alone, chances are you won't sell your product as easily as if you build it together. Your job is as much about marketing as any, I think. This is what I am discovering as I continue to take the classes toward my TL degree.

  Yes, we must, as English teachers, teach MLA formatting (while science, social studies/social science, and other subjects typically use the other formats available online and in various texts), but the rest of the "writing standards that link to research focus on writing that is clear, cogent, and that combines analysis and sythesis of evidence, and evidence that relates to the thesis in paragraph one and the topic sentences in body paragraphs. This is "good writing" necessary for all students in all content areas. Any time you can bring teachers and students across disciplines together to research, powerful learning takes place.  

So...let the question of HOW you use quadratic equations in research dictate the kind of research you will have the students do to fulfill the requirements to meet the English standards. You need to spend the bulk of your time learning from the math staff how to make this assignment a "real life" assignment. Go through the teachers' texts to find a ways to make this work. Look at the English texts for nonfiction readings that may give opportunities for such a collaborative assignment. Don't spin your wheels needlessly. Some suggested activities in these texts may make your work less than you think it is at this point. The Math and English teachers won't have time to look at each others' texts. They may not make time to do so unless they are collaborating with you on this. You must make the time to do this to help sell your idea to them, I think. (I am not yet a teacher librarian, but I do know myself and others as busy teachers with pacing guides and standardized tests
 making our lives frustrating and our time to use libraries far less than may be good for students. As we English teachers teach in writing: know your audience.)

  I love my subject (I teach English), but when we collaborate on these kinds of research projects, the English standards support their curriculum and standards as much as they support the Library's Information Literacy Standards.  Perhaps that is why I have such a strong interest in becoming a teacher librarian. Collaboration is easier to do when your administration can help you by building schedules in which teachers from across disciplines share the same students. It's really hard to build these kinds of great assignments for middle school and high school teachers to use when we don't share entire classrooms full of the same students. That said, you can always find some teachers who may try anyway. Seek them out. Work together as best as you can.

  Hope you have support from both departments' participants in this. It could be the start of a wonderful project. You need your like-minded colleagues' collaborative efforts to make this work. (If I taught at your school and found a like-minded math colleague with whom I shared the same students, I'd be "all over this," as my students would say!)

  Connie Young
  English teacher/KHSD since 1985
  LT student, FPU
  Bakersfield, CA

Marie Slim <sraslim at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
  Hi Everyone!

I'm looking to create a research project to incorporate English, Math (Quadratic Formula - Algebra I) and Info Literacy Standards.  Any tips or suggestions?  Any real-life applications I should be looking for?

  Marie Slim 
  Teacher-Librarian
  Troy High School 
  2200 Dorothy Lane 
  Fullerton, CA 92831 
  Library hours: M - Th 6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Fridays 6:30am to 3:30 p.m. 
  phone: 714-626-4482 
  fax: 714-626-4485 
  http://www.ilovelibraries.com 
  http://slimlibrary.blogspot.com/ 
  SraSlim at sbcglobal.net

  "This is the age of the open-source encyclopedia.  Words like 'research' and 'corroborated' now mean whatever the majority says they mean.  Personally, I'm voting for 'research' to mean 'speculation' and 'corroborated' to mean 'a zesty sour cream-based dip.'"  

  - Steven Colbert, I Am America (And So Can You!)
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