July 11th -- Multicultural Perspective

Meryl Menon presented concepts related to bringing a multicultural perspective to the library media center. The four categories for a multicultural curriculum (Awareness, Knowledge, Skills and Action)were discussed. Everyone shared their knowledge of the "roots" of their names. Characteristics of cultural competence were discussed and were included in the handout as were areas of communication which can differ from one cultural group to another.

"Starting is half done!"

July 11th -- Big6 and other Information Literacy Models

I presented an overview of the Big6 and a few other information problem-solving models. I provided a sneak preview of the Universal Planning Tool, which will be used to plan lessons that integrate information and technology literacy skills. (Next Thursday, the 20th, teams of 3-4 participants will go through the process of plannning a "mini-unit.") Some National and State ITL standards were previewed (Information Power and State of Connecticut). The Big6 www.big6.com was looked at in some detail, as well as Carol Kulthau's Information Search Process http://library.humboldt.edu/ic/general_competency/kuhlthau.html and REACTS (Barbara Stripling and Judy Pitts) http://eduscapes.com/info/pitts.html. Many other models were shown and the links can be found on our BlackBoard site. A ridiculously giant packet of "generic" activities was given as a handout, and we only covered a teeny-tiny miniscule portion of them (Trash 'n' Treasure for step 4; and rubric creation for step 6). Please look at the packet and if you have any questions, put them in a comment on this blog, e-mail me or ask them next Thursday, the 20th!