Character Counts and Super3/Big6 (Garry Hutchinson, Carroll, Iowa)

Posted on September 23rd, 2008 in Big6, Big6 Directory, Carroll Iowa Schools, Education, Elementary Schools, Guidance, Implementation, Super3, Teaching the Big6 by Laura Robinson

Garry Hutchinson said, on September 21st:

“I am an elementary school counselor (K-3) who teacher guidance lessons on Character Counts. We do introduce career lessons during the month of May. I am interested in hearing more about the Big6 and Super3 concepts and how I can incorporate that into our elementary lessons.”

LR Responds: With the Super3 and Big6, we want to help learners- even the youngest students- to become critical thinkers and more adept in their overall problem solving skills. Character Counts is a perfect opportunity for this to happen. With the Super3, students begin to think about the whole process from Plan (Beginning) to Do (Middle) to Review (End).

To begin with, you may want to present various scenarios to your students relating to the different character concepts (trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, citizenship). Work with the students to solve these “problems/situations” from the beginning to the end using the Super3. This can start out as a whole class activity with a lot of teacher guidance and then students can work in small groups or even individually to progress through the Super3.

Plan: understanding the problem and deciding what to do to solve it and how to solve it.

Do: locating and using appropriate resources in order to solve the problem and actually “doing” it.

Review: reflecting back to the problem (plan) and deciding if the problem is solved, how the process worked, and what could be better next time.

Another activity could be to use the Super3 to define each of the Character Counts terms.

Character Pillar: RESPECT

Plan: What does respect mean? How will I know if I am respectful? What does respect look like? Who can help me understand this concept of respect?

Do: This is where students will actually engage in respectful activities that were defined in the PLAN stage- complimenting another student, using manners, holding the door open for the teacher.

Review: Refer back to Plan and think about Do. Did I accomplish the task of acting respectful? What worked well? What could I do better next time?

I hope this helps. I would be happy to work through a few scenarios using the Super3 if you provide me with a specific examples. Also, I recommend our book, The Super3: Information Skills for Young Learners, which provides detailed information, ideas, lessons, teaching strategies, and resources for aspect of the Super3.

Best- Laura Robinson

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How exciting.

Posted on September 23rd, 2008 in Big6, Big6 Directory, Carroll Iowa Schools, Education, Elementary Schools, Special Education, Teaching the Big6 by Laura Robinson

As an elementary special education teacher and a project manager for Big6, I am amazed and inspired at the real-world implementation of the Big6 in Carroll, Iowa. The dedication of the teachers and staff members for making the Big6 a definite part of their instruction proves that the Big6 is for everyone and can be used by everyone. Kudos to you all…

As educators, we need to think out of the box more and more in order to meet the needs of our diverse learners. I am inspired by all who are attempting the Big6 across the curriculum!

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Back to School??

Posted on August 21st, 2008 in Education, Elementary Schools, Higher Education, Secondary Schools, Teacher Librarian by Laura Robinson

Yes, it’s here… back to school time.  As a parent of two young students along with being an elementary special education teacher, there is a lot of back to school excitement in our house.

From the teacher’s viewpoint, I am thinking about:  classroom preparation, lesson plan organization, student caseloads and individual learning plans,  and scheduling.   I am also anxious to be reunited with colleagues, my “teacher friends”, and most importantly, the students!

As a parent, I am extremely excited for my son to start Kindergarten.  With this, we deal with school open houses and playdates, parent meetings, supply lists and back to school shopping, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, and awaiting the magical letter that discloses Logan’s classroom teacher.

Yes, the summer flew by… it was great and we had a ton of fun.  And yes, I am ready to start school- as a teacher and a parent.  I like the routine and the structure.  I like the consistent schedule and predictability.

What is “back to school” time like for you?

What do you do to get ready for the upcoming year?

How do you feel- as a parent or an educator- about starting the 2008-2009 school year?

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Summer Vacation

Posted on July 2nd, 2008 in Education, Elementary Schools, Secondary Schools by Laura Robinson

A question for the teacher librarians and classroom teachers on summer vacation:

Do you really take the summer off?  Do you leave school in June and not return until September?  Are your plan books and materials “left at the door?”

OR

Do you continue to plan and organize for the next school year?  Are you taking classes and reading the latest and greatest education material?  Are you on summer vacation… but really working?

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It’s over. Finally.

Posted on April 27th, 2008 in Assessment, Elementary Schools by Laura Robinson

Well, we’re finally done with the WASL. You know- the big “high-stakes test” that all Washington state 3rd through 11th grade students must take. The one that 10th and 11th graders need in order to graduate. That’s right, in order to have the “in” diploma, student must pass this exam. You know, the WASL- Washington Assessment of Student Learning.

I could go on and on and on about this “fun” test and the experience of administrating it to my special education students… but instead, I’ll just highlight a few of my thoughts/questions with the great WASL exam.

  1. Is having a student work on this exam from 9:30am to 3:30pm really an appropriate measure of their writing abilities? Is this a productive day for this child?
  2. Are teachers “teaching to the test” when they begin practicing WASL-like questions with their students in February? Is this a good thing? Is this a bad thing?
  3. Is this really an assessment of the students? Or of the teachers? Or is it about our society?
  4. Is this test “better” than others since it contains short and extended response questions along with the few multiple choice questions?

I do understand the extreme importance of assessing all students equally and in a fair manner, that it is important to track progress, and assessments help to plan instruction but… is a high-stake test like the WASL the answer?

None-the-less, after much preparation, planning, and practice using the Big6 and Super3, my students tackled the test and did the best they could- with confidence and a positive attitude!!  The Big6 and Super3 are information problem-solving processes that can be applied to any task or assignment or yes, even a test.  I just wonder if there isn’t a middle ground that would better meet students needs and accomplish fair assessment.

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Super3 and Real World Applications

Posted on April 27th, 2008 in Education, Elementary Schools, Super3 by Laura Robinson

I work as a special education resource room teacher within the Seattle School District. My third grade students were recently given a project where they have to research an animal, write a report, and create a presentation of their animal to the class. This is their “big project” for the year. Needless to say, my students were overwhelmed, confused, and perplexed. Thoughts included: Where do I start? How do I find the information? What kind of presentation? How will I ever pick an animal? How do I write a report and make a presentation? What do I put in the report?

Enter the Super3… I used our “famous” Super3: Information Skills for Young Learners book, copied appropriate worksheets, and we were on our way. The students and I have previously used the Super3 so we did a quick review and began our work!

We first completed a “Process/Planning” Page where students had to identify:

  1. What they will do before they start
  2. What they need to do in order to complete the assignment
  3. How they know when their job is complete.

Next, we completed a “Plan” page where students told what they need to do for the project, the sources they might use, and the supplies they need. This is where we organized the task, developed a plan and talked about possible resources to use.

For the “Do” part, I created a template for students to use while recording information about their animals. Information included what the animal looks like, where the animal lives, what the animal eats, and special facts about the animal. By doing this in a structured manner, students knew exactly what information they needed. From these notes, students wrote descriptive paragraphs about their animals and created a poster board or diorama presentation to share with the class.

And last, for “End”, students completed a checklist regarding their final project as well as the process they went through as they completed the assignment.

What a wonderful way for my students to tackle an “impossible” project with minimal guidance.

End result: students who are SO proud, confident and excited about their work, teachers who are extremely pleased with their students (they even reported that my students’ work were some of the best), and a special education teacher who once again, is amazed at how the Super3 helps to create an enriching and positive learning experience!


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21st Century Skills

Posted on April 18th, 2008 in Education, Elementary Schools, Technology by Laura Robinson

As part of a technology project for fourth and fifth graders (see previous post on “definition of information literacy”), students worked in groups and were asked to define 21st Century Skills.  Groups were asked to identify at least 4 skills.   Here’s the results…

Group 1:  typing on the computer, researching on the computer, using the Internet, email, learning from computers

Group 2: email and IMing, learning how to use the computer for everything, cooperation and teamwork, learning another language,

Group 3:  communicating, writing and reading, research, email, knowing technology

Group 4:  computer work, explaining your thinking, typing, Internet, languages

Group 5: working together, technology, reading and writing, emailing, cooperation

Any thoughts???

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For Teacher-Librarians: roles and teaching reading

Posted on April 18th, 2008 in Education, Elementary Schools, School Library and Information Program, Secondary Schools, Teacher Librarian by Mike Eisenberg

In the February 2008 issue of Library Media Connection, Tina Hudak wrote an excellent feature article titled, “Are Librarians Reading Teachers, Too?” (page 10-14.) I think Tina iis right on target in saying that there is a clear role for teacher librarians in relation to reading. She goes on to say that whether that reading role specifically includes teaching reading is a question that the profession has yet to fully address.

Tina refers to my own work urging school librarians to strategically plan for the 3 roles of the teacher-librarian and library and information program:

  • information literacy instruction
  • reading advocacy
  • information management.

Equally important, the decisions about priorities in the school library and information program – how much time and effort is expended on each of the 3 roles – should be a school decision, not a teacher-librarian decision. School priorities change from year to year. So must the school library and information program change in relation to school priorities

As this school year finishes, it is essential that the library staff sit down with administrators and classroom teachers to set priorities for next year. Few (if any) have the resources to do all 3 roles at the very highest levels. So, if we are going to emphasize one function and cut back a bit on another, that decision should be made in the context of school needs by the school community.

That’s how teacher-librarians and school library & information programs make sure that they are vital to learning and teaching.

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An amazing resource! Janet Murray’s “Achieving Educational Standards Using the Big6″

Posted on March 30th, 2008 in Big6, Education, Elementary Schools, Information Literacy, Secondary Schools, Technology by Mike Eisenberg

Related to the previous post, I personally relied on many different resources in helping the Montana standards writing effort. Barbara Jansen’s new book “Big6 in Middle School” and Laura Robinson’s and my “Super3″ were very helpful.

BUT – Janet Murray’s new book on standards was far and away the most useful! First, it’s a compilation of the very latest information, technology, and content standards. Second, Janet does the heavy lifting by creating correlations and connections among the various standards and most importantly, to the Big6. Janet does this in many different ways, but the one I find most useful is Figure 3.2 – page 25 – the Big6 aligned with AASL, NETS, and ICT Literacy Standards.

So, if you are going to buy just one new professional book this year – Janet’s is it! Here’s a link to the book on the Linworth site – http://store.linworth.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=407

Mike

p.s. – for a preview, check out Janet’s article in the December 2007 Big6 eNewsletter -

http://www.big6.com/showenewsarticle.php?id=624

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Big6 class in Taiwan

Posted on December 22nd, 2007 in Big6, Education, Elementary Schools by Mike Eisenberg

Here a picture of the 6th grade class that we observed in Taiwan. The teacher is the one with the big smile, white blouse, and hands on her knees. She was outstanding.

6th-grade-class-small-pix.jpg

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