Mrs. Welsh's Reading Nook

    Through my journey to complete my Teacher Librarian (TL) diploma, some of the topics discussed in Theme 1 are not new. I am currently not in a TL position and to be honest feel like I have not used reference materials with my students as much as I should be. I feel like Theme 1 has done a great job informing my practice on what and how reference materials can be accessed in an elementary Library Learning Commons (LLC). I feel like my major takeaways from Theme 1 are; how we as TL’s can support the school community to become critical thinkers and to develop information fluency skills. With the use of appropriate reference materials and the skills to think about the information, 21st century learners will hopefully become lifelong learners.  How can inquiry develop critical thinking skills?      As a classroom teacher I have tried many different ways to integrate inquiry into my teaching practice. I have always felt overwhelmed on how to support my ...

 For my Vision of the Future assignment I decided to make a website that focuses on the Design Thinking Process. I have done a little Design Thinking with previous classes and found that one of my main challenges is that I was always looking for age appropriate resources. It seemed like I was spending hours of my "spare time" looking for credible websites that suited the needs of my class. The other part of Design Thinking that I previously struggled with was giving my students all the knowledge and practice with ways to show their thinking. The website that I created is geared to helping students through the Design Thinking Process. However, I know that this process does not happen with out a lot of support from the teacher so I also included some helpful resources for the teacher to help implement Design Thinking with their entire class. This was my first crack at making a website. I choose WIX because with a quick scan I like the templates and it seemed like it would be e...

  Everyone in the world should have the right to an education. Unfortunately there are people in the world who do not have access to education. In most developed countries, like Canada, we are lucky to have a quality school system. We have easy access to technology and books and libraries. In developing countries and some rural areas in developed countries they have limited access to books and technology is nonexistent or unreliable in lots of places. Here are some ideas on how to bridge the gap between these inequalities.  Mobile Learning Labs While researching online, I have come across a few different versions of mobile learning labs. Some are strictly libraries on wheels while some are fully stocked classrooms. On Princh Blog , content writer, Marc Lapointe, explains how brick and mortar libraries may not be accessible to everyone and if there is a way to bring the library to the people they would have more accessibility to reading books. This is where the idea of “bookmob...

  Perspectives on how to provide ICT in the school environment This week I have been spending my “free time” listening to different episodes on one particular podcast called Leading from the Library. Which I found on https://all4ed.org/future-ready-librarians-hub/ . The Host, Shannon, invites guests to share how they are becoming future ready in schools. There are two episodes I would like to highlight, one is from the perspective of a teacher librarian and one is from the perspective of a classroom teacher. These podcasts got me really excited to finish up my teacher librarian diploma and I will keep listening to it in the future. As a classroom teacher I really enjoy collaborating. I find it exciting to have other people come into the classroom and learn with my students. I also find that students respond to different topics when experts are brought in. One line from the When Teachers and Librarians Collaborate Anything Is Possible episode was “ I am an expert at the standards an...

For the past few years I have been a part of a Design Thinking Network that is run by the Tech Team within our school district. The Network was put together to help schools implement inquiry into their teaching practices. In the group there are classroom teachers, teacher librarians and sometimes administration. The purpose of the Network is to get together and discuss how we are using the design thinking process with our students. It is an amazing place to learn from other colleagues. One of my favourite parts  is when there are provocations we can watch from other group members. Before covid, students were invited to come and share their presentation to a room full of teachers. As an educator it is helpful to have supportive colleagues who will share their ideas and mistakes SD23 Design Thinking Webpage The first year I joined the Design Thinking Network they were focused on the UN Global Goals. There are 17 goals that the UN wants reached before 2030. My class was very eager to ...

  These are the things I am already doing or have tried to create a reading culture in my classroom. There are many ways reading evolves throughout the year in my classroom. This way students are introduced to a variety of ways someone is able to enjoy reading. Read alouds happen all year around. I carefully choose a variety of genres, text types and concepts to supplement class discussion and the curriculum. For example, at the beginning of the year my students had been really interested in reading graphic novels but they had not learned the specific skills it takes to read and comprehend a graphic novel. I chose this as the first multi day read aloud to my class. Which allowed me to show them that they had to reading to text and illustration together to make sense of the content. Daily 5 is a station based approach to letting students choose how they would like to practice their reading skills. I only have time for 3 stations. All students must Read to Self and Work on Writing, ...

After reviewing my previous post I decided to hon in on digital literacy with a focus in inquiry. As a classroom teacher I have done research projects and some guided inquiry but I have not felt confident in what I am asking my students to do and using technology can be frustrating with a group of students. These are the resources I found after falling in the search rabbit hole.  Digital literacy I started off safe in the suggested reading resources for the class. I found on the BC government website there is information on what digital literacies students should be taught in our school system. This document is useful because it has listed broad topics that teachers could implement into their teaching practices. The topics are also tied into the curriculum and the core competencies. It would have been nice to have some specific examples because more of the topic suggest the use a "digital tools" but they don't give any examples on what kind of digital tools. However, on t...