They Don't Know How to WHAT? The Case for Reference Materials

I spend a lot of time in inquiry.

My current school goal is around learner agency; allowing students to choose what they want to learn is a big part of agency, and inquiry-based learning is a great way to organize this for students and teachers. As teacher-librarian, I help many colleagues build inquiry-based lessons so their students can achieve a sense of agency. Traditionally, almost all of this work has been around structure. Teachers are willing to jump if they know they have a landing place, and students still require structure as they build skills within the curricular and core competencies. The teachers and I co-teach critical literacy skills so they are thinking about what they are reading online, skills around analysis and synthesis, communication skills, and how to ask questions. These classes run well, the students are highly engaged, they learn new skills and progress in others, and they drive deeper into content as well. My favourite inquiry-based pedagogy comes from Kath Murdoch, and we often springboard ideas from her model depending on the strengths and needs of the teacher. 

Image: Murdoch, K. (2019)

Sounds perfect, right? 

I didn’t know. Honestly!

The skill I mistakenly assumed they had, and therefore I did not have to teach, was research. Afterall, they’ve been researching throughout elementary school, so in grade 8 and 9 they should have that skill, right?  Boy howdy, was I wrong! Not only do my students not have the skills necessary to research effectively, they also have no idea what resources they can and should be using. Riedling states that half of knowledge is knowing where to find it, evaluate it, organize it, and use it (2013, p.3). So essentially I’ve been missing half of their education.

Now that I've had the opportunity to understand the value of reference resources, the inquiry work I’m doing with teachers and students will change drastically. The added benefits of providing students with accurate, authentic, up-to-date information in easy to access resources will be a game changer. Students will no longer struggle with inaccurate information from websites whose reading level is far above them. They will no longer have to sort through web page after web page only to discover their search terms were faulty. Will they also need the skills to sort through web pages? Sure! But without the skills of using reference materials, searching the internet is not an easy feat.

As a result, I will be adding some details to my above repertoire based on my learning about reference materials. Here are a few reference resources that I will add and services I will provide:

Reference Material / Source	My tasks to make it available	My tasks with teachers and students
BritannicaSCHOOL  I love the: Easy searching Different reading abilities Videos Pictures French language	Determine if I am going to purchase it or work with local library   Link it to the LLC website	Tutorials for teachers (lunches or after school) Co-teaching in classrooms that are currently doing inquiry so students understand the resource in a real situation
The World Factbook  I love the: Ease of navigation Specific information Copyright free	Link it to the LLC website	Present it at a department meeting since it is course specific Play a game with students (in the LLC during an inquiry) to find information so they become familiar with it and see how easy it is
Biographies Dictionary of Canadian Biography Infoplease Almanac: Biography I love the: Fact that these are accurate and reliable Ease of finding information Ease of locating people by field if they don’t know who to look for	I know of certain teachers who work with biographical information to do inquiry with ELA, art, and math. I will tap those teachers on the shoulder for this one.   I will link them to the website, but also attach them to the teachers' sites when they do this inquiry so students can find them easily.	Meet with teachers over lunch, using the CBAM model to assess their current abilities and know where to go from there Co-teach in the classrooms when students are doing this inquiry

The above is just a sample of different ways I will begin my exploration into how to use the reference material available to my students. There are more resources available through my district that I will add as I go. Included in this are EBSCO Middle School Explora and Worldbook Online Student. These are subscription based and offer a glimpse into what is available on the deep web (see below). I plan to start all of this in the fall and continue during the year to improve everyone’s skills, mine included.

               

(Image: EBSCO.com, 2023)                         (Image: World Book Online, 2023)

As my plan to improve reference materials and services progresses, I hope to understand more about the deep web and how to help students who are ready to access more. Teaching students about the deep web would be a good extension to learning and will help them as they advance in their education. It is also an important part of media and critical literacy.

(Image: Nohe, P. 2020)

I now also understand the importance of having an up to date, purposeful resource section of print materials in the LLC along with the digital resources. Right now we have a handful of dictionaries and an antiquated encyclopedia set. Also, the section is shoved into a back corner where students rarely go. I would bet very few students even know the section is there, not that they’d use it the way it is now anyway. Purchasing new print encyclopedias is not a good use of funding, however almanacs would be as they are cost effective and can be added to yearly.  I like The World Almanac and Book of Facts for its breadth of information as well as The Old Farmer’s Almanac for its Canadian content. Yearbooks would also be a great resource, such as CIA World Factbook, which are updated yearly. I also would like more dictionaries as they stretch thinking and problem solving skills, and are often provocations for deeper and wider learning (Scholastic Parent Staff, 2022). I like the Oxford Dictionary of Idioms as the reputation of the publisher is important as they are staff created, not written by an individual (Riedling, 2013, p. 63). I would also like some Ukraine-English dictionaries as we have an influx of Ukrainian students coming under the Canada Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) act. This would help bring people together in these difficult times.

The reference section of our LLC needs a lot of work, and so do the reference services I provide. I didn't previously understand the depth of what students need in order to be fully successful in achieving student agency. I now understand the value of encyclopedias, almanacs, dictionaries, and other works of reference and how they will impact the inquiry process for my students. It’s not only important, it is essential.

References:

British Columbia Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Core Competencies | Building Student Success - B.C. Curriculum. BC’s Curriculum. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/competencies

Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) - Central Rivers AEA. (2021, January 14). Central Rivers AEA. Retrieved February 20, 2023, from https://www.centralriversaea.org/curriculum/assessment/concerns-based-adoption-model-cbam/

Loucks-Horsley, S. (1996). The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM): A Model for Change in Individuals [Online PDF]. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co. https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/731/2015/07/CBAM-explanation.pdf

Middle Schools | EBSCO. (2023). EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | www.ebsco.com. Retrieved March 23, 2023, from https://www.ebsco.com/schools/middle-schools

Murdoch, K. (2019). A Model For Designing A Journey of Inquiry. KATH MURDOCH. Retrieved March 22, 2023, from https://www.kathmurdoch.com.au/new-page-2-1

Nohe, P. (2020, August 24). What is the Dark Web? Hashed Out by the SSL StoreTM. Retrieved March 22, 2023, from https://www.thesslstore.com/blog/what-is-the-dark-web//

Riedling, A. (2013). Reference Skills for School Library Media Specialists: Tools and Tips, 3rd Edition (3rd ed.). Linworth.

Scholastic Parent Staff. (2022, July 22). 5 Unsung Literacy Benefits of Using a Print Dictionary. Retrieved March 22, 2023, from https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/childrens-dictionary.html#:~:text=But%20print%20dictionaries%20are%20more,vocabulary%20for%20your%20young%20learner

Worldbook Online Student. (2023). Worldbook. Retrieved March 23, 2023,

     from https://www.worldbookonline.com/home/