@Elizabeth That’s what I used to say - I never thought about myself as especially gifted. It’s only my husband’s insistence that got me to test myself. But I’m not saying it to brag! I truly believe it’s reading that made me cleverer 🥸

I read “Reader, Come Home” by Maryanne Wolf and was fascinated by the complexity of mental processes involved in reading. She also points out the link between reading and empathy. What was new to me (in the Ted Talk) was the concept of our brain activating the same parts while ‘doing’ and reading. While I do not have any evidence (I briefly toyed with an idea to research this for a PhD), I am convinced that reading, both fiction and non-fiction, significantly increases our intelligence levels. I am a member of Mensa, but I am quite sure I was not born one - I developed my brain by years and years of study and reading, by curiosity and desire to know more.

[@Stephanie] I read “Crusades” and we had Dan talking about it to our students - fascinating to look at it from the perspective of normal people.

@Elizabeth Yes, I use FOSIL - we ended the year with a lovely Geography countries research based around the framework. In fact, I requested an Inset slot this September to speak about it our teachers.

The problem is I have them for 35 minutes in a one-off session, so it’s difficult to squeeze everything. But I used some of the techniques in my 6th Form lessons. I have now proposed to create a new Media & Information Literacy curriculum and I’m going to pitch it in September, ahead of the whole school’s curriculum review. However, I have no idea how I would fit it into my already busy schedule (I’m a solo librarian). 😓😓😓

I already teach different ways to avoid information bubbles and I demonstrate how to get information from different sources (different search engines, incognito search, etc.). I think I will provide a source of information (article, photo, website, etc.) and ask students to talk about how they could check the validity of a story; this would hopefully lead to sharing techniques among students. Then I would ask what criteria they employ to decide if the story should be shared, and whom with.

I have known for a while that both CRAAP & SIFT (to a lesser degree) were flawed; after enrolling for a SHEG (Stanford History Education Group) Civic Online Reasoning course I discovered that a simple evaluation checklist is not enough to decide on the source’s reliability. Websites’ owners/ developers are highly skilled in presenting facts in a way that they all would pass the evaluation test, but are, in fact, at best misleading. I liked that the authors put emphasis on the agency - information cannot be evaluated in isolation any more, it must be seen as part of a larger information ecosystem and must be seen in context of interactive Web 2.0. Students need to be aware why they see the information on their social media feed. After reading the article, I caught myself thinking that I’d used those closed questions in my instruction; after reflecting on the process I will now re-draft my sessions to include open-ended questions and utilise students’ existing techniques to make my teaching more relatable and based in students’ own experience.

@Elizabeth Thanks, I will try. That's why I am now asking for sessions during staff inset days, to show all staff what I could offer and perhaps encourage at least a few to try working with me.

I agree, teachers see us as people supplying topic books - a very antiquated view. It is an uphill struggle to let them see what we can offer; and a long process in itself. However, after just one session with our 6th Formers about school's resources and research, I heard that the quality of their work and cited resources definitely improved, so I have hopes for the future.

I think this would have to be written into the curriculum and the time given for following the steps leading to more independent inquiry; otherwise I can't see that happening.

I plan talking about IBL during my annual review with the Head and the Academic Deputy, offering my expertise and skills. But it all breaks on the fact that I am a solo librarian and there is literally too much to do as it is...

I was not familiar with the terms, but, as Annie said, they make sense. The most common is the structured, as it is the easiest to manage. I agree that it would take a lot of teaching time to prepare students to follow through all types of inquiry and allow them to reach the free inquiry. I have recently offered to run research sessions with our students - I have been given one session in year 7 and one in year 10... At least that's the start - I hope that if that proves helpful I might negotiate more. I know that a one-off is not an answer to anything, but we need to start somewhere.

I imagine, it would be somebody who knows a lot about YA literature and is able to intuitively recommend books that would suit the individual readers. We have a "Have Your Say" board - I am going to post this question for the Libraries Week.

It might prove quite difficult for older teachers, who 'have their ways' of teaching, or the young ones, who do not have yet enough experience to structure something like that. But I agree, we work harder if we have any say in what we learn. As other have said, in a secondary school it is difficult to know students' interests, as we don't spend much time with them. I try to chat, but that is only possible with students who come regularly and read a lot; it is often difficult to get to know a thousand students.

Not as a whole school co-ordinated program; individual teachers might touch on it while assigning research projects, but I have no real way of knowing who does that and how often. My long-term plan is to start talking more to staff about what I can offer and how I could contribute to lessons/research projects.

The book was really interesting and gave me a lot to think about, but my constant worry was that I do not have any structured contact with students and it would be virtually impossible for me to introduce IBL. I noted that perhaps I could offer my help for the EPQ projects and help students with their research and talk to some staff members, but (from my previous attempts) I know they don't like anything that "takes time" from their teaching.

@Arlen Kimmelman I know what you mean! I sometimes feel people think I’m just showing off, when all I want to do is help them get the necessary info!!!

I think that we could dispose of printed textbooks and revision guides, but I would still like to have many general knowledge books - often students pick up a book I have on display as a Book of the Week, because it catches their eye or because I point it out to them; you can’t do it with electronic resources. I have recently visited the London Library and was amazed by their cataloguing system - they don’t use Dewey, but rely on subject content and you can find barbers next to cataloguing and drawing... It promotes serendipitous research and, as this is my preferred method of research, I naturally loved it! Sometimes students do not know what they want to find out, so having a physical book might be just what they need.

I actually really value the time spent on cataloguing - it allows me to familiarise myself with the stock; how will I know what e-resources are about if I don’t read the blurb, abstract or just handle it? But if I had more time, I would like to run more research skills sessions and some creative writing workshops. And research , Of course.

It is very difficult, I agree, but it should be a part of our professional CPD. Twitter and other social media outlets are good places to hear about new technologies and their potential, but again, the time to research and learn how to best use them is the problem.