Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Collaborative Group Work: Thoughts

Just a quick post -
I keep thinking about this opinion piece from last week's New York Times. It's important to remember introverts, or even just kids who are a bit shy or quiet, when assigning group work. Of course, it is important for students to learn how to work with others and have their voices heard. But it also important for them to have the chance to work alone and create, without pushy classmates stifling their ideas.

 And, on a related note,  I have to remember that the library study carrels are needed. Our students use the 40 library study carrels all day. I have to do a better job at keeping other students quiet while near them. Will we have a backlash about our libraries that are getting louder and louder with collaboration? Are we focusing too much on the kids who enjoy collaboration while not paying enough to those who enjoy quiet and solitary work? In our big one-room library this might be the case. I wonder how I can please everyone.


Friday, January 6, 2012

LibGuide: NoodleTools for Creating Works Cited, Notecards, and Outlines

Recently I made a LibGuide about using NoodleTools. The NoodleTools team was really helpful and gave me some good feedback and links to include. I made the LibGuide as a template, so feel free to use it and adapt if for your own lessons and projects.