Tag Archives: teach

Teaching Competencies

Image by Tatadbb. Retrieved from Flickr.  Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Tatadbb. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Minnesota Educational and Media Organization (MEMO) has developed a list of Information and Technology Literacy Standards highlighting 21st century skills necessary to bridge K-12 and higher education expectations for students.  The standards for grades 9-12 include;

  • Inquiry, Research, and Problem Solving:  The student will learn a continuous cycle of questioning, gathering, synthesizing, evaluating, and using information individually and collaboratively to create new knowledge and apply it to real world situations.
  • Expanding Literacies: Read, view, listen and communicate in any format for a variety of purposes.
  • Technology Use and Concepts: Students will explore multiple technologies, evaluate their suitability for the desired educational or personal task, and apply the tools needed.
  • Ethical Participation in a Global Society:  The student will participate productively in the global learning community and demonstrate safe, ethical, legal and responsible behavior in the use of information and technology.

As a library media specialist, how do you effectively teach these skills? This November, author Terry Heick shares several approaches to frame and effectively delivery content.  The article, 11 Brilliant Ways To Frame Critical Content: A Complexities Chart discusses patterns, cultural trends, themes and more.  At the bottom of the post Heick notes, “This isn’t an either/or proposition…take a standard–or concept behind a standard–and “refract” it through whichever of the following Depth or Complexity made the most sense according to that student’s knowledge-level.”

As an additional resource, TeachThought also published a visual information graphic on how to gauge understanding between a teacher and the learner(s.) Click here to view 27 Simple Ways To Check For Understanding, November 2013.

Who Should Deal With Cyberbullies?

Image by J_O_I_D. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by J_O_I_D. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Recently on the ISTE Connects Blog, Nicole Krueger wrote a great piece titled, Who’s Responsible for Teaching Kids Not to Be Cyberbullies? This type of bullying has gotten a fair amount of play in the media recently, often leading to tragic endings. In first person, Nicole describes what it is like in the  life of a bullied middle schooler before social media, and after. Her post made me realize how much additional stress is placed on kids who are bullied today, and it is time to figure out who should address this topic. Sometimes, parents think schools should handle it, while school administrators say they cannot ensure what students do outside of the school day. An interesting conundrum, but worth addressing.

Krueger goes on to  write….“In a typical classroom of 30 middle or high school students, 21 students  will have experienced some form of cyberbullying, according to the Annual Cyberbullying Survey 2013, which included responses from more than 10,000 teens worldwide. Of those 21 students, more than 10 are daily victims. The top venue for bullying: Facebook, which is used by 75 percent of respondents — more than half of whom have been bullied there.” And now that Facebook has loosened its privacy rules for teens, allowing minors to post publicly instead of just to their friends, the door to bullying has gotten a little wider for everyone from “mean girls” to sextortionists.

Does cyberbullying happen in your school? Who is responsible for teaching  this important content, and does your school develop its own curriculum on this subject?