Differentiated instruction in my role as a media specialist centers around the traditional role of the librarian as reference interviewer. When I am approached by by client (student or staff) I have to evaluate what they are bringing to me and how they are bringing it. In the case of the student I have to assess as many of their learning strengths and weakness' as possible. I then try to match up the resources that best fit not only their information need but also their ability to decipher the source. Teachers face this problem to a lesser extent but often I have to asses how much time they have and how much of it are they will to devote to mastering a new resource/technique/practice. It is the art of teaching in the library. Knowing your clients and meeting their needs shifts focus continually. A lot of it is aligning formats with the client. How difficult is the reading required is important for students. Usability and user friendliness with online materials is a key. Presenting difficult or clunky interfaces to students results in a high drop out rate early their attempt to master a new resource. I try to supervise and assist in a way that is unobtrusive but direct. Mixing in humor helps. Modeling patience helps as well. Liabilities include network disruption and with teachers in particular a resistance to learning new techniques when their common practice is often perfectly sufficient for their needs. Students don't know what they don't know and finding what works in an easy non threatening environment is a good start. Teachers do know about what they don't know but they have often mastered ways around having to deal with that.
One aspect of matching up good resources with divergent learners in the library leads to me looking for resources that have digital enhancements that lend themselves to enriching content that is read with graphics, pictures and video/animation that support and enrich the concepts be relayed to the user. This needs to go beyond bells and whistles but the coolness factor cannot be discounted when dealing with students. Libraries are traditionally associated with static print resources. I try to expose students to online tools and databases that are not static but have digital enhancements that enrich an reinforce text. There are certain databases that we subscribe to that have features such as this. Two come to mind - Pop Culture Universe has very nice video links to text on popular icons as well as the sort of pictures you would expect to find at fan sites. The other is ABC Clio databases which feature main articles well linked to graphics and video illustrating the topics at hand. When I introduce and train students in the use of these databases I always try to take them on a tour through those features.
NETREKKER
In the past I have used Netrekker and Learnport. In fact at my previous school I conducted inservice training k-12 with this as a feature. Unfortunately I really have not used it in a few years (new posting -lots of other things on my plate). It was nice to return to it and re familiarize myself with it. I chose to look up materials on free speech. This is a topic that is frequently researched in my library and having access to differentiated sources with an eye towards readability is useful.
VOZME
The vozMe tool is one that I have seen demonstrated but never have really used. It is easy too see how with learners who struggle reading text that this tool would be a lifesaver. I selected the 1st Amendment as the text to convert. As a tool vozMe has enough cool factor to entertain some students. Changing the voice and repeating a short passage such as this would both entertain them and by repetition help them master the text. With longer passages might be a little more difficult to achieve this. The voices are a little clunky. The tool to convert Spanish and other languages would be useful in the bilingual/multicultural classroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment