Lesson 2 - Reflection - Support for digital media

The beauty of the teacher-librarians position is the opportunity to see all of the various uses of digital media.  In the elementary school the primary users are the intermediate students.

Promoting effective use of internet resources is one of the key ways I provide ongoing support for digital media. I provide mini-lessons for the grade 6/7 classes regarding what to look for in a credible website.  I discuss working smarter not harder.  By paying attention to the URL's in the initial search result list a student can eliminate looking at useless webpages.  I explain the clues in the URL's that can indicate the origin and potential credibility of a website.

Our district has a number of site licences for online encyclopedias and research resources.  I have spent a number of lessons promoting and encouraging their use.  However, despite my efforts I do not believe students use them to their greatest potential.  Rather, I believe the student continue to randomly search the web. I should do a promo talk for our teachers as well as the parents to make them more aware of the readily accessible resources.  The online resources are available for home use as well with a district password.  Perhaps the sites might see more action from my students.

This year we brought in the District Helping Teaching for Info. Tech. to come and provide an educational talk for our Gr. 6/7's regarding the potential risks of Facebook. Several students have  Facebook accounts despite the recommended age restrictions.  Consequently, I believe it is really important for them to be aware of the potential risks.

I have recently acquired a Twitter account.  I am learning and navigating my way through this amazing networking tool.  Some staff are curious about the benefits of the tool.  Most just see Twitter as something stars use rather than a beneficial tool. I currently follow a number of reviewing journals and find them extremely useful.  I share how I am using Twitter which seems to peak some interest.

I believe it is increasingly important to provide support in the digital realm.  However, it is challenging to stay in the know and be a support person.  I think it is important to be open to all of the new media and not only be a support but a model of life long learning.  We need to model that even if we don't know all the answers we can work together to find the answer and learn from the challenge of finding the answer.

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