Professional Reading Reviews
Volume 28, Number 2, December 2000
With Ken Haycock
Lessons from library power: Enriching, teaching and
learning.
Douglas L. Zweizig and Dianne McAfee Hopkins with Norman
Lott Webb and Gary Wehlage
Reviewed by Val Pollock vpollock@richnet.sd38.bc.ca
From 1988 to 1997 DeWitt Wallace-Readers Digest Fund supported
school libraries in 19 communities in the United States,
with funding totaling almost 45 million dollars. Based on
the vision articulated in Information power: Guidelines for
school media centers, (1988), the Library Power project was
designed to help schools increase collaborative planning,
implement flexible scheduling, improve library collections
and facilities, and support instruction, curriculum development
and professional growth. This book examines the impact that
funding, professional development opportunities and support
had on the libraries and staffs and responds to the question:
how well did Library Power achieve its goals?
The researchers compiled data based on surveys completed
by teachers, principals and teacher-librarians, and case
studies undertaken by trained researchers. One striking result
of their findings was that with only four exceptions, Librarians,
Principals and Teachers responded overwhelmingly (over 90
percent) that the following practices would and should continue
after Library Power funding ended: flexible scheduling, on-demand
use of the library, addition of large quantities of new materials,
collaborative planning, integration of new technologies,
full time teacher-librarian, and collaboration on collection
development. A very powerful statement about Library Powers
impact!
For anyone interested in implementing any changes in their
library program, this book is a rich source of information
for what works and how it can be supported. (Libraries Unlimited,
1999. 281 pp. $35.00. 1-56308-833-9.)
Bottom Line: Library power rules!
 Buy
online at Amazon.com
Connecting kids and the Internet: A handbook for librarians,
teachers, and parents. Second edition.
Allen Benson & Linda Fodemski
Reviewed by Anne Pham APham@sd43.bc.ca
As a resource and self-teaching manual, the work is divided
into six parts. Part 1, "Essential information for parents,
teachers, and librarians," centers on the basics including
Internet etiquette, safety, rules and security. Part 2, "The
World Wide Web for younger kids," introduces Web resources.
Part 3, "Talking it up: Fun Internet activities for
all ages," covers basic e-mail services and web page
building. Part 4, "Nose to the grindstone: Learning
activities for all ages," provides strategies for using
resources in a variety of media. Part 5, "The Internet
for teens," looks at UNIX shell accounts, Telnet and
FTP. Part 6, "Ready-to-go lesson plans" offers
14 practical lesson plans designed to promote the intelligent
use of the Internet. The attached CD-ROM features a "Link
farm" that provides direct links to selected Internet
sites and a lesson plan section that focuses on useful skills.
This large-formatted handbook is illustrated throughout
with actual photos of over a hundred web home pages to enhance
instruction. This well-laid out comprehensive title is a
practical and valuable Internet teaching tool. (Neal-Schuman,
1999. $49.95. 398pp.1-55570-348-8.)
Bottom line: Educators guide to Internet basics and
beyond.
Buy
online at Amazon.com
Essential skills for the information age: The Big6 in
action
Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz
Reviewed by Moira Ekdahl Moirae@home.com
Information is power, Eisenberg tells the audience. In an
age where information is exponentially more powerful each
year, students need solutions to deal with information overload.
The answer, he suggests, is a focus on the process. Using
computer presentation software to enhance his message, Eisenberg
pitches his Big 6 approach to teaching information and technology
skills to groups of teachers and students at both the elementary
and secondary levels. The 38-minute video features the Eisenberg/Berkowitz
model in action as young and teenaged students grapple with
making decisions about information. Each group defines a
different task, incorporates particular developmentally-appropriate
information-seeking strategies, locates and accesses information,
decides how to use the information, synthesizes the information
into a finished product, and then evaluates not only the
product but the process. Although Eisenberg states that the
model is not linear, the approach used is. In-service and
pre-service educators involved in programs for developing
a focus on information literacy skills and processes should
not miss the opportunity to see Eisenberg promoting the Big6
in person just once. The video can also be adapted for use
in introducing the information process model to both intermediate
and secondary students. (B6 Media, 1999. Video. $75.00. 38
min.)
Bottom Line: Linear or not, the Big6 works.
How teachers learn technology best
Jamie McKenzie
Reviewed by Moira Ekdahl Moirae@home.com
Schools, says McKenzie in this collection of previously
published articles, need to fight off screensaver disease,
the failure to use technologies in any meaningful way because
teachers do not see them as part of the curriculum and because
they are not adequately prepared to integrate computers into
classroom activities. Only with a concerted and systematic
effort will we be able to offset the problems that have arisen
from technology-driven designs for learning. That effort
must be based on a clear plan, strong links in curriculum
to technology, robust staff development and thoughtful assessment,
especially for reading, writing and reasoning. A school can
build a sound program for student learning by thinking of
students as infotectives: skilled thinkers, researchers,
inventors who can learn to graze and digest the cyber-field,
frame essential questions, complete webquests, explore, work
collaboratively and strategically, and achieve fresh insight.
Theres lots of work still to be done, but enroute, use McKenzies
Signs of Progress as a tool for assessing whether your school
has become an information literate school community. Persist,
he says!
The book is the same vigorous stuff of the online http://www.fno.org/
articles that McKenzie is best known for, where it reads
somewhat better, somehow... (FNO Press, 1999. $20.00. 171pp.
0-9674078-1-8.)
Bottom line: Signs of progress useful.
Information literacy planning overview (ILPO) and Information
literacy planning extra teaching support (ILPETS)
Steph Capra and Jenny Ryan
Reviewed by Michelle Dober madober@yahoo.com
ILPO and ILPETS may not sound like something you want spreading
through your school, but when it comes to integrating information
literacy skills into the curriculum, these could be highly
transmittable!
This comprehensive package is an Australian model that includes
an Information literacy planning overview (ILPO) booklet
($50) for each of primary and secondary. It is based on a
P/K-10 grade level continuum that focuses on the skills of
defining, locating and critically analyzing information to
create an original response to a problem or task. In addition,
there are four Information literacy planning extra teaching
(ILPET) booklets ($40) with charts of the information process
framework, as well as black line masters for grade specific
lesson plans. This enables the user to easily transfer the
theoretical framework into practical application. One of
the greatest features of the package is that the ILPO and
ILPETS booklets all come with a disk ($20.00) that gives
allowances for adaptations. This enables the user to customize
the material to suit individual needs. Student research workbooks
($45 per 35) are available for the middle and secondary grades
as well. The package also includes a 3-minute video ($60)
on how to implement ILPO in your school. (Unfortunately,
the review copy had a malfunction).
For information on the development and implementation of
the model, read: James Henri and Karen Bonanno, eds., Information
literacy planning overview (ILPO): An Australian model, in
The information literate school community: Best practice,
(Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia: Charles Sturt University, Centre
for Information Studies, 1999, 231-239.) (ILPO P/K-7, 0-9586340-1-7;
Grades 8-10, 0-9586340-0-9; ILPETS: Book 1: Grades 1-3, 0-9586340-2-5,
Book 2: Grades 4-5 0-9586340-3-3, Book 3: Grades 6-8, 0-9586340-4-1;
Book 4: Grades 9-10, 0-9586340-5-X.) All prices in Australian
dollars.
Bottom line: Excellent resource.
Information skills toolkit: Collaborative integrated
instruction for the middle grades
Debra Kay Logan
Reviewed by Sherry Rudden sherry_rudden@hotmail.com
A collection of tested lesson and unit plans integrating
subject content and information skills. The first chapter
covers the basic skills that students need for any research
process. The next seven chapters contain a total of 48 subject-based
lessons on various topics, including instructions for setting
up the assignments as well as note taking sheets. Chapter
nine includes checklists and rubrics for assessment. The
Appendix has sheets to help students evaluate web pages,
for staff members about the use of the library and materials
lists for various types of projects. Information Power skill
standards are incorporated specifically in the lesson outlines.
The book could be used as a building block for starting collaborative
units and the author encourages users to adapt the lessons
to suit a particular situation. The lessons encourage students
to use many forms of finding information. The lessons and
ancillary information are clearly laid out with explanations
as to how the author has used the lessons. (Linworth, 2000.
$39.95. 336pp. 0-938865-91-9.)
Bottom line: Good ideas needing adaptation.
Buy
online at Amazon.com
I-Search, you search, we all learn to research
Donna Duncan and Laura Lockhart
Reviewed by Karen Brochu brochu@interchange.ubc.ca
The five sections included here mirror the steps of the
I-Search process as developed by Ken Macrorie. Section I
provides lessons for helping students choose a topic and
develop focal questions to guide their research. A sample
research planner, learning log, and topic worksheets are
provided for use with young researchers. Sections II and
III examine where students can find answers to their questions,
as well as methods for them to record their information.
Useful organizers such as a "Search Log" and "Pathfinder" are
included. Sections IV and V deal with presentations and evaluation,
including a range of evaluative methods such as sample rubrics
and reflection opportunities for students. Throughout the
text, an emphasis is placed on offering students choice as
well as expecting accountability as students go about their
work.
Appropriate for use with all elementary levels, offering
a step-by-step approach with valuable suggestions and reminders
when working with budding researchers. Suggestions include
explaining the research process clearly, and helping students
make connections between learning a research process and
applying that process in finding answers to real-life questions.
Clearly laid out and practical, a useful text for implementing
a student-centered research process. (Neal-Schuman, 2000.
$45.00. 159pp. 1-55570-X.)
Bottom Line: Clear step-by-step process
Buy
online at Amazon.com
Skills for Life: Information Literacy for Grades K-6,
2nd Edition.
Christine Allen , Ed.
Skills for Life: Information Literacy for Grades 7-12,
2nd Edition.
Christine Allen & Mary Alice Anderson, Ed.
Reviewed by Ray Doiron raydoiron@upei.ca
These two complementary volumes provide teachers and library
media specialists at the elementary and/or secondary levels
with detailed and creative projects for developing the Nine
Information Literacy Standards established by the American
Association for School Librarianship. The editors have updated
the previous editions of Skills for life by collecting exemplary
projects >from library media specialists across the United
States and showing how they make concrete connections to
the nine standards and the accompanying 29 indicators. Each
activity is laid out in a similar format making them easy
to adapt and apply to your own library media center program.
Each activity is rooted in one curriculum area with connections
to other subjects areas; this is followed by a list of the
Standards and Indicators that are developed, the materials
needed, the strategies applied by students, some background
information for the instructor, steps to follow to implement
the activity and suggestions for wrap-up and evaluation.
Many of the activities include blackline masters of student
worksheets or assessment tools.
The books are well-organized into three sections that correspond
to the three major areas outlined in the Information Literacy
Standards for Student Learning: Information Literacy, Independent
Learning and Social Responsibility. A strength of the books
is how they make it easy for library media specialists to
organize their programs in a similar way and give them confidence
that the new information literacy standards really build
on previous library media programs and make the library media
specialist better able to prepare lifelong learners. The
books could be used as a package, but more likely as a resource
to be added to and adapted to the context of each library
media center. (Grades K-6. Linworth, 1999. 233 pp. $39.95.
0-938865-83-8.) (Grades 7-12. Linworth, 1999. 237 pp. $39.95.
0-938865-84-6.)
Bottom line: First step in implementing Information
Literacy Standards.
Buy online at Amazon.com: Grades
K-6 version, Grades
7-12 version |
