LIBE 477 : Final Reflection

Education is changing so quickly. When I completed my Bachelor of Arts, I spent many many many hours in the dark tunnels of the Simon Fraser University library. I signed out books, encyclopedias and journals. My computer was used primarily to create word documents.

Access to information is also ever changing. When I completed my Masters Degree at UBC, I never stepped foot in a library! All of the information that I needed was at my fingertips on my computer. This has also been true for the classes that I have taken for my Teacher-Librarian certificate. 

All of these university classes typically follow a traditional stand and deliver approach. The professor holds the knowledge and we, the students, learn the new information as it is presented. As students, we are asked questions, do research and present our new learning in the form of a paper. 

LIBE 477 has been a break from this traditional method of instruction. It is an inquiry based class where we were given a series of guiding questions and it is up to us to seek answers and build knowledge for ourselves. By reading our course e-book, "Why School?" by Will Richardson, we learned how children are able to ask questions and seek answers when they are personally interested in a topic such as video games. We also discussed how many of our students are illiterate when looking at the criteria for 21st century literacies outlined by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).  We explored multi-media in education, developing a reading culture in schools and the role of the teacher-librarians in professional development. 

In my education experience, we would typically be given specific notes to read and a list of articles to reference. But with this course, we were given a set of guiding questions and sent off to explore. At first, I felt a little uneasy! But, I enjoyed asking my own sub-questions, deciding what I wanted to learn more about and finding the answers to my own curiosities. As Richardson says, "It isn't about delivery, its about discovery" (p.267)

I believe that my final project is a mix between the traditional and 21st century approach to teaching. I do not feel comfortable sending my students onto the Internet to explore the subject of Residential Schools on their own. The topic is sensitive and I do want to be careful with the content that I expose my students to. However, it is a topic that our BC curriculum deems important for our students to know (rightly so). I cannot expect that my students will want to learn about this topic on their own. I tried to offer a variety of ways to engage students in learning about Residential Schools. Perhaps one child will make connections reading a picture, while another will better understand by looking at photographs. My hope is that by exposing students to a variety of ways of storytelling, by encouraging them to ask questions and participating in class discussions that they will build a deep understanding about the impact of Residential Schools for themselves. 

The final thing that I learned from this course is the importance of sharing my work. As a hopeful teacher-librarian, I understand that my role includes opportunities to provide co-workers with professional development. I know that providing my colleagues with book recommendations and resources about Residential Schools will be helpful and much appreciated. I now also understand that sharing my work for others to benefit from is also very valuable to our teaching community. 

I love how Richardson summarizes 21st century learning : 

In this new narrative, learning ceases to focus on consuming information or knowledge that’s no longer scarce. Instead, it’s about asking questions, working with others to find the answers, doing real work for real audiences, and adding to, not simply taking from, the storehouse of knowledge that the Web is becoming. It’s about developing the kinds of habits and dispositions that deep, lifelong learners need to succeed in a world rife with information and connections. (p. 273)

Richardson, Will. Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) . TED Conferences. Kindle Edition.