During the current school year, 2001-2002, I had the opportunity to become acquainted with the Big6. Margaret Lincoln, our library media specialist at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, Michigan organized a workshop to provide Big6 training for 48 educators from local school districts in southwest lower Michigan. The workshop facilitator was Big6 co-founder Bob Berkowitz. Funding was supplied by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Teams of teachers and librarians participated in the initial training and then collaborated together to develop or modify an existing lesson to reinforce the Big6 approach. I am pleased to share with you a lesson that I revised with Margaret’s help.
I teach Spanish. In an effort to support a school improvement goal tied to career education, I assign my students to write an I-search paper on “how knowing Spanish will help them attain the job of their dreams.” In the past, it was difficult for me to help students with the research portion of this assignment. Students often became frustrated as I was frequently unable to direct them to appropriate sources of information.
For example, if a student was interested in becoming a teacher or entering a health profession, it was relatively easy. Such individuals inevitably come in contact with Spanish-speakers in our rapidly growing global community. I had more difficulty advising a student who wanted to enter a technical or scientific field. I would suggest beginning a keyword search with such terms as “bilingual” and “Spanish” and “nuclear engineering” for example. But this tactic was not always successful. Then, I would encourage students to look for demographic information about the city or state in which they might like to live. If Spanish could not be used directly in a job situation, perhaps it would be useful in everyday encounters in the community.
Mrs. Ormbsby helping student Sarah Crumback
My exposure to the Big6 allowed me to re-work the I-Search assignment. Prior to going to the library with students, I gave them an “” Task definition (Big6 #1) (writing down a question to be answered) and brainstorming of sources (Big6 #2) would take place in the classroom. Once we arrived in the library, students would locate the information they needed (Big6 #3). On their I-Search Beginner’s Outline, they would write the best sources to use (Big6 #4) and organize their information into a preliminary outline for writing their papers (Big6 #5). Finally, they would reflect on their search process in order to determine if they had really been able to answer their initial question (Big6 #6). If not, they would formulate a hypothesis about how knowing Spanish might help them in pursuing a chosen career.
“I wouldn”t have known where to start without the outline” Kellie Hungerford, 10th grader at Lakeview HS in Spanish II.
Thanks to the use of the I-Search Beginner’s Outline, our library research experience became an extraordinary success. Not only did students ask fewer questions on where and how to search for information on their own, but the students also needed less help in writing the final drafts of their papers. They knew exactly what my expectations were for the assignment and how to meet these expectations.
“It helps to apply Spanish to real life and not just to the class” says Ashtyn Thomson, 11th grader at Lakeview HS in Spanish II.
Jared Halonen and Kelly Hungerford working together on the assignment.
By incorporating the Big6 into instruction, I was able to give my students a head start in learning how to research and solve any problem that might arise in the course of their daily lives (whether it be buying a birthday present or giving an oral presentation). You can do this too! Our students will not only be successful in high school, but also in college and even in the “job of their dreams.”
“You don’t fall asleep writing this paper.” Sarah Crumback, 10th grader at Lakeview HS in Spanish II.
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