Christopher Harris SLJ Article

Christopher Harris' article "School Library 2.0: Say Goodbye to your mother's school library" was interesting. Now that I have been in class for a day I would now like to go back and reread the required readings. So many of the things that were mentioned in Harris' article and the other articles we read make so much more sense now that we have had a day of class discussion.

We talked in class today about we should be ahead of everyone else in terms of technology. As I read the article and listened to class discussion, I realized that some of my colleagues were ahead of me. When many of my colleagues bring their classes into the library for research they have the pre-conceived notion that the kids know what to do. They know more about technology than we do. I agree and disagree with that. It sounds like a paradox but it makes sense.

Whenever students come into my computer lab for research I always observe them. There are some that rush in to get that one computer that they just must sit at because they are such creatures of habit. There are others that will just sit at the computer that is closest to the entrance. Still others want to go furthest from where the supervising teacher and librarian are because they don't want us to see their screens.

Now they have the perfect location. What's next. Quick! It's time to click on the blue e to get on the internet! That quickly follows furious typing to get to Wikipedia. The next 45 minutes that the students are in the computer lab is a complete whirlwind. There is lots of printing, cutting and pasting into a word document, and then as the bell rings we are rushing them out of the library. That is all I see. The students do not think of research as a process and definitely don't see me as part of that process. I also don't see the end result of this process.

Pathfinders and wikis could definitely change that. Because of this class I am planning to create a wiki so that I can direct students to useful websites and other resources to do their work. Also, I don't have to deny a class the opportunity to use the computer lab just because I am out of the library teaching another class. Having wikis and pathfinders can make it seem like I am in the room even though I'm not. I used to believe that research should be done in the library and that's it but I was wrong.