Wikipedia???

Well I finally found the correct details for Alvin Toffler's quote ""The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." I decided to google the quote and came up with a wikipedia entry. The quote was referenced as belonging to a book with the title "Rethinking the future". The book is not even written by Alvin Toffler and although he has written a foreword for the book, he does not include this quote. It actually comes from a book titled "Futureshock" which was written by Alvin and Heidi Toffler in 1970. He must have had great foresight even then as the computer age was in it's infancy 40 years ago. Anyway this annoyed me that inconsistencies can be placed on a site that is so popular, especially with students. I have been comparing Wikipedia to other online encyclopaedias for students to evaluate. I often find students copying the definitions from wikipedia without even understanding the content or meaning of what they are writing. The value of Information literacy skills is becoming clear to me and although our school appears to be ignorant of the developments surrounding these issues I feel that it is important that someone takes the initiative to at least introduce discussion around the topic.

Information Literacy

Wow I didn't realise how behind our school was in this area. I have not heard anyone mention the term information literacy at any staff meetings, or just in general conversation. I attended a professional development day at Rockhampton last year and was overwhelmed ( and excited ) at the possibilities for collaboration and use of great tools such as noodletools http://www.noodletools.com/ and wikis http://whosrunningthecountry.wetpaint.com/ . So who is responsible for raising the issues regarding information literacy? Is it the sole responsibility of the Teacher Librarian? I think not. As we hve discovered in our Masters course, one of the major roles of the Tl is to collaborate with staff and admin to provide the best programs and outcomes for students. So all staff should be responsible for information literacy. Guided inquiry should be an assessable component of any unit involving reseach skills. In Queensland the Essential Learnings for English devote a substantial amount of space to information skills but I do not see this reflected in the planning in our region. Every term our cohort groups for the region meet to moderate, plan and share. The Tl cohort is currently attempting to integrate the Essential Learnings, ALIA and ASLA standards into a workable document for planning and assessment. Big job you say, but a necessary one. So on the whole the Tl must be resposible for initiating discussion and planning for this very important area of the curriculum. The responsibility then falls to the school community to accept and integrate information literacy as a valuable area of skill development. As Alvin Tofler quoted in one of his books

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot access and evaluate information.

Can't find the direct quote but I think you can understand what he is saying.

Cyclones at home and at sea

Well the threat of Cyclone Hamish is still present . Winds are pretty strong but no rain today. The cyclone has made us become more aware of tidying up and keeping everything in order. It reminds me a little of working in the school library. Roy has mentioned the necessity to be organised and prioritise your time to which I totally agree. The problem with being organised is that as a TL you also need to be flexible. IT problems, class scheduling, timetable changes, library assistants sick and not being replaced, the list of interruptions is endless. How you handle these irritations will determine whether you are organised or not. Sometimes you have to ignore the reshelving, cataloguing etc. just to make it through the day. Somehow we manage to get everything done and still peruse snippets of educational and literary journals. It is not superhuman powers at work . It is the ability to manage our time and priorise our tasks that will get us through the day.

Welcome to my blog! These pages are basically a tool for me to organise my thoughts and invite discussion related to topics studied through CSU. I am currently immersing myself in children's literature and discovering what postmodernism means in relation to it. A lot of the literature I have accessed is over my head and I am making slow but steady progress. I am really interested in the technological applications available for Teacher Librarains as we move forward in the digital world.
I will try to keep my posts up to date and interesting ( no guarantees there ). Until next time, stay safe, be happy!

Wendy