After the Instructional Collaboration course, I was inspired to reach out to more of the grade-level teams to collaborate, particularly when it came to research. The fifth grade team was very receptive, and after meeting with the teachers, I was able to develop a lesson based on a database we had just acquired in the library—NoodleTools. The students were working on a research project with their Civil Rights unit—a website using a variety of different sources, including photographs. This project takes place at the end of May, when the fifth grade is busy with many end-of-the-year activities, so I had to zero in on something specific I could teach them in a short span of time. I decided to concentrate on NoodleBib, a citation management tool to help with writing a bibliography, and I used the opportunity to review what they had learned about setting up a bibliography in fourth grade. I knew first-hand the wonders of NoodleBib, and I wanted to pass my enthusiasm for this tool on to the students.
The biggest problem with this lesson was that there was too much to accomplish in one class period. I wanted to cover what a bibliography is, why it is so important, how to set one up, and then how to use NoodleBib to assist them with the task. Then, within NoodleBib itself, there are different types of resources to demonstrate. The students were very excited once they were introduced to NoodleTools, so I accomplished that goal, but I felt that I glossed over everything too quickly. This is where the beauty of collaborative partnering entered the picture—the fifth grade teachers saw the significance of what I was teaching, so they made extra time for me to work with the girls. I was given another class period to walk through the steps using specific Civil Rights resources that the girls had used. I set up a separate project page for each student and allowed the class time to explore and review. The results were terrific—the students loved NoodleBib, and their bibliographies turned out to be of the same quality as a high school student would submit.
The fifth grade teachers were so taken with NoodleTools that we decided to make even greater use of it the following year with other research projects. We have already talked about meeting next year to make the whole unit more effective, and I am now truly part of the project. I am hoping that they will make use of more of my ideas and assistance, not only in this unit but in others that they have throughout the school year. I learned that if I can nudge my way in a little bit with collaborative ideas, it opens the door for more opportunities in the future.
The biggest problem with this lesson was that there was too much to accomplish in one class period. I wanted to cover what a bibliography is, why it is so important, how to set one up, and then how to use NoodleBib to assist them with the task. Then, within NoodleBib itself, there are different types of resources to demonstrate. The students were very excited once they were introduced to NoodleTools, so I accomplished that goal, but I felt that I glossed over everything too quickly. This is where the beauty of collaborative partnering entered the picture—the fifth grade teachers saw the significance of what I was teaching, so they made extra time for me to work with the girls. I was given another class period to walk through the steps using specific Civil Rights resources that the girls had used. I set up a separate project page for each student and allowed the class time to explore and review. The results were terrific—the students loved NoodleBib, and their bibliographies turned out to be of the same quality as a high school student would submit.
The fifth grade teachers were so taken with NoodleTools that we decided to make even greater use of it the following year with other research projects. We have already talked about meeting next year to make the whole unit more effective, and I am now truly part of the project. I am hoping that they will make use of more of my ideas and assistance, not only in this unit but in others that they have throughout the school year. I learned that if I can nudge my way in a little bit with collaborative ideas, it opens the door for more opportunities in the future.