I have mixed the activities together because I did a little bit of everything. I read "Why 20% is Good for Schools", and "Genius Hour". I love the idea behind students and teachers having time set aside each week to pursue their own interests. I have found, however, because this is not common practice in our District, when high schoolers are given the option to choose a topic of their own to research, they have a difficult time getting started. They are so used to being told what to do and how to do it, they shut down when they have to make their own decisions. I looked at the Library Advocacy Unshushed course---that would have been a great course to take. I will watch for others like it in the future. I looked at Global Education DB eCourses.
I also registered for the Killing Dewey webinar scheduled for April 16th through WebJunction. I personally hate browsing bookstores because I am so used to how my school library is organized. I am hoping this webinar will open my eyes to other options.
I already have a kind of learning plan for myself for the next year or so. I am taking this course now;I am attending the SSL conference in Syracuse in a few weeks for the first time (and have convinced my district to give me PD credit for it); I am attending the Leadership Institute at Cornell in August for the first time (and will be receiving inservice credit for it); and as a SLMSSENY board member, I am helping SLMSSENY plan the 2015 SSL conference that will be held at the Doubletree in Tarrytown next year. If I survive the next year, I am planning to start taking some online Library and Information Science Courses for inservice credit. It is frustrating that I have to spend money to take graduate level courses for inservice credit, but the classes offered through our Teacher Center often don't apply to librarians. When the time comes, I will revisit this module for links to free courses and will have to do some creative writing to convince administration to give me inservice credit for them. http://cooltoolsforschool.wordpress.com/thing-19-online-learning-diy-pd/
Really interesting to hear that students get flummoxed when they get the chance to choose their own topics! Speaks to how much more we all have to do to help them develop in this direction.
ReplyDeleteAlso, curious to know your reaction to the Killing Dewey webinar? I know there are really strong opinions on both sides of this issue.