I must admit that in my experience, teachers in my school do not have a clear or consistent understanding of information literacy and guided inquiry - in fact I think that both terms are often used to discuss the same thing. - so no, we don't have an information literacy policy. Prior to this subject, my understanding of information literacy was I think more about information access and developing information skills and guided inquiry, but I had not necessarily combined these things with habits of the mind, collaborative skills, critical thinking and values education. In saying that though, I have always planned and implemented 'big juicies' (big6 Eisenberg, 2008) and so have incorporated and integrated all of these things in my teaching anyway. I guess I have been extremely fortunate to have worked closely with highly talented, professional teachers who actively search for new ways of better meeting the needs ofstudents and so this was just how it was done. It was actually only when I did the leadership role (as previously discussed) that I realised that my school and my colleagues were unique and special.
Some background - I started at my current school in 2000 as a Year 6/7 teacher when it had just become a 'Discovery School' (I think these were called Navigator schools in Victoria).While this meant I had teachers from other schools observing me teach and often had to present at training sessions at my school, I also had fantastic opportunities to develop my skills and understandings in so many things. I was lucky to attend many sessions with presenters such as Jamie McKenzie, Art Costa, Michael Pohl, Julia Aitkin to name just a few. It was therefore just second nature to apply my learning in these areas to what I did in the classroom - which was essentially guided inquiry units that incorporated collaboration, an information process based on the NSW model, and integrated learning in the other areas as previously mentioned.
So, my understanding of information literacy has developed and now encompasses all the things I had put in a basket labelled - good practice.
Guided inquiry is what I do the most nowadays in my role as teacher librarian - it was also one bit I really enjoyed as a classroom teacher. I think that guided inquiry ticks many boxes in terms of good teaching and really fits the constructivist approach on which our curriculum SACSA/Aust Curric is based. One of the advantages of teaching in this way is that you can really meet the needs and interests of the students. I co-teach with classroom teachers and often the ESL teacher is involved as well. Therefore we often have 3 teachers with the one class of students - so many opportunities! One inquiry model that I have been dabbling with - and I like because of the action / sustainability / making a difference focus, is Kath Murdoch's model. You'll find some information about her model here. http://kathmurdoch.com.au/
Another way I have guided inquiry learning is through the use of an essential question. An example of this was a unit I referred to in an earlier blog. - http://sakepuss.blogspot.com/2012/01/some-thoughts-from-doing-assignment-1.html In this unit of work the students had to answer the question and back up the answer with 3 reasons.
Are myths and legends still relevant in today's society?
Obviously there was a lot of learning that had to take place before students could make an informed decision on this.
There are so many exciting ways of working with student in guided inquiry. However, some of the challenges I have encountered are:
* time - the ever present lack of enough time! - both to work with kids and to get my head around all the possibilities
* the need for better technology and infrastructure - it is frustrating when computers are so slow or you're blocked from a particular website by the DECD filter
* I'm lucky as my staff generally trust me and are happy to try things - but it is hard when teachers are less open to new ideas.
* sometimes the huge range of skills and reading levels of students can cause challenges as it can sometimes be difficult for students to find appropriate information- though in saying that, non-print forms of information come to the fore in these situations
* sometimes the enormous amount available on the internet is challenging - sometimes it is overwhelming for the kids - and me!
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