Ressources numériques en français

It can be hard to find appropriate resources for the Immersion classroom. Material may be too hard (aimed at francophone adults) or too easy (but targeting a very young audience). 


Some of the subscription databases and encyclopedias that districts have access to provide excellent materials. There are also a number of freely available sites, but these do require a little digging.



"Venez explorer le monde des ressources numériques disponibles dans la salle de classe branchée. Nous ferons une visite de plusieurs sites utiles:
  1. Abonnement requis: Tumblebooks, Orca Digital, Worldbook, Universalis, Scholastic (français),
  2. Gratuit: Infoquête, 24 heures, et plusieurs autres."

 Here are the notes from my presentation: LINK

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WorldBook and EBSCO - some new tricks

While many teachers know about WorldBook and EBSCO (or at least they know the district subscribes to them) there are some great features that may surprise some! I've been presenting at schools and to Resource and ESL specialists, promoting these great resources.



Instant graphing and timeline generating are easy with WorldBook. And both WB and EBSCO will translate and read articles for students who need a little more support.

The images and notes from my presentation are here.


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Lethbridge School District - 21st Century Learning

I recently attended, and presented at a District-wide Pro-D day in Lethbridge (October 2012). The focus was on 21st Century Learning, and the kinds of skills students need to develop.





My talk (the keynote for the conference) addressed the following four main questions:

  1. what exactly are the 21st century skills we keep talking about? 
  2. what kind of world are we preparing our students for? 
  3. what is the role of inquiry-based learning and technology in all of this? 
  4. how does this change how we see our roles as educators?


Here's my slide show



RTLA 2012 - Fall Mini-conference

Once again, DRC hosted the Fall Teacher-Librarian mini conference for the Richmond District teacher-librarians. This successful day began with a look at the Learning Commons concept, and we all had an opportunity to brainstorm about how we could incorporate elements of this exciting direction into our own practice.

Amanda H and Janice N shared with the TLs how they incorporate audio books and student publishing in two well received workshops. Lunch and time at the vendor table (thanks Ren) gave everyone a chance to network, and we ended the day with some Bibliotechnology tips and an overview of the soon-to-be enacted Copyright Modernization Act.

Notes and links from the day can be found here.

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"New and Improved" - Selling your databases

I was asked to speak to VSB teacher-librarians at their September start-up. (Thanks for the invite, Moira!) The goal was to refresh their understanding of what databases we can offer to our teachers and students. Of course, the challenge is always a question of how to present, (and re-present), what may seem like "tired information" that everyone already knows.

In conversation with teachers, I realize that it's a question or readiness. Even if we've talked about databases and online reference multiple times, it will only "click" when the timing is right for that teacher!

My presentation to the VSB TLs focused on how we can bring a "New & Improved" vibe to Worldbook online and EBSCO magazines. (I also mentioned a handful of other resources.)

My slideshow with links is here.

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Laptop Café

Norma, Rosamar and I visited a number of secondary schools in June to share some strategies and resources for using the freshly issued teacher laptops in class. Here is a link to the notes from our session.

We talked about some basic principles of using tech in the classroom; ("There are new ways of doing old things, as well as brand new ways to deliver content and engage students.") we looked at the range of online resources available through the district; ("Check your school library catalog for links to databases, ebooks, etc.) and we shared some projects that teachers have done use some of the new tech tools. ("Digital storytelling on personal choice topics.")


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Curation 2.0

This session (another BCTLA webinar) is a quick introduction I presented via Elluminate on the notion of curation in school libraries. One of the ways that we can help our teachers and students is by selecting, annotating and sharing really useful resources that we find. We already do this for our physical collection; why can't we do this for digital resources? I suggest some places to find useful links, talk about how to collect them and finally give some ideas on how to serve them up. (Here's a link to the slide show; here's a link to the archived webinar.)

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Promoting digital resources

Recently, I had the pleasure of using Elluminate (Blackboard) to deliver a presentation for the BCTLA webinar series. My focus was on how TLs can promote the use of the databases they have access to as part of the ERAC bundle. I've found that if I can show teachers a useful "tip or trick" that they can put into practice right away, they are more likely to come back to the resources for other lessons. During my presentation, I looked at some of the little known features in "the Encyclopedia of BC", World Book and EBSCO host. I also showed them a couple of features in the Gale Virtual Reference Library. My notes from the presentation are here. (Later, I'll add the link to the Elluminate archived version.)

eResources and DRC

As I do throughout the year, I have been meeting with school staff, specialists and student teachers to share with them the range of materials we have here in the district. In an hour and a half, I do a quick over view of the eResources we have available (Worldbook, EBSCO, Gale Virtual Reference Library, and more), explain how to search for and reserve material from our online DRC catalog, and then lead the participants through a tour of the physical resources. I am always gratified to hear the feedback: "Wow! We have so much great stuff here!" The other spin-off is that the attendees get to meet the DRC staff. (Click the "eResources" link to access the presentation.)

The 21st Century Librarian - take two


The Learning Commons, and more

In this session,we spent time unpacking the concept of the "Learning Commons" with a look at what this idea could bring to school libraries (both Elementary and High School). While the original concept is an import from the University/College context, it provides a way of rethinking the role of school libraries to make them more relevant to teachers and students. I provided some links to readings and interviews to deepen our understanding of this notion. An important "take-away" from the session was that it is not so much a place, as an idea, and even if the physical location can't be reworked substantially, changes in attitude and communication can still accomplish some of the goals of the LC.

We also spent some time considering the future of non-fiction reference (databases, encyclopedias, eReference texts), custom searches (build your own), eBooks (Orca, EBSCO, Follett), and enhanced 856 tags.



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