Garfield and Laura Gini-Newman began the day by sharing new thinking from their paper, Powerful Instruction and Powerful Assessment: The Double-Helix of Learning,
based on ideas shaped by their experiences working with teachers and students around the world.
What started as a Tweet was meant to become a short article for CSLJ, which evolved into this paper.
Central to this paper is the distinction between assessment, "to sit alongside a learner," and evaluation, "to judge a learner." The thinking is about how we move from sitting in judgement to sitting alongside, and how feedback can become guidance.
Garfield and Laura use a double helix analogy - the strands of instruction and assessment are seamlessly intertwined and are held together at the core by relationships. How do we use tools and instructional strategies to make this a reality?
They suggest starting with thinking as the foundation. Through iterative learning, the story grows as we learn. Encourage students at important moments in their learning process to stop, pause, and reflect. Rather than reflecting back, have students reflect forward and consider how what they've learned will move them forward.
The speakers highlighted four innovations to use as metacognitive tools for students:
- Launches to initiate thinking
- Cascading challenges - what is the natural sequence of thinking students will have to go through in order to be able to solve this problem?
- Thoughtbooks - a safe place for students to park ideas
- Guides to Success - an alternative to traditional rubrics
Now, Garfield and Laura want to hear from you - what should next steps for this thinking look like?
Read the paper: Powerful Instruction and Powerful Assessment: The Double-Helix of Learning by Garfield Gini-Newman and Laura Gini-Newman
Our kickoff challenge from Carol Koechlin is to consider answers to the following questions and share in-person tomorrow or on Twitter using #TMCanada2020
What is your 2020 vision for your national school library group?
What would you like to see happen further with Leading Learning, now five years old?
What would really help you, your schools, and your districts?
What would you like to see from the Canadian School Libraries Journal?
Canadian School Libraries honours Alison Bodner, Alanna King, and Sarah Wethered as recipients of the Angela Thacker Memorial Award 2020.
"I encourage everyone to take the initiative to get involved in school and library organizations and not shy away from offering others mentorship and professional development" - Alison Bodner
"It's not in my nature to be still...I will continue to pursue advocacy for school libraries. Each day, I believe that the world can be a better place and that we need to start that process by making sure that each person has a shot at making a difference for themselves" - Alanna King
"I'm honoured to work with such an amazing group of dedicated educators...I am deeply honoured to have received this award and am truly humbled by it" - Sarah Wethered
Read more about the recipients in CSL's Angela Thacker Memorial Award 2020 Announcement
Canadian School Libraries honours Pembina Trails School Division as the first recipient of the first Leading Learning Implementation Award.
"The transformation to Library Learning Commons would not have been possible without the guidance provided by Leading Learning...well-supported school libraries have a tremendous impact on student learning and well-being" - Jo-Anne Gibson, on behalf of Pembina Trails School Division
Read more in CSL's Leading Learning Implementation Award 2020 Announcement
TMC6 has officially kicked off with keynote speaker, Eric Walters!
During his time on the road between events, Eric made use of time in his car by calling the many smart people he knows who are passionate about writing, education, and literacy and brought them together at the Canadian Reading Summit.
Bringing together people from different areas relevant to reading Canadian completed the picture and resulted in I Read Canadian Day.
This day recognizes that Canada "is a powerfully diverse country" and asks people to read a book of their choice on February 19th 2020 at schools, libraries, and daycares across Canada. Find out more at I Read Canadian Day.
The Eric Walters Summer Lending Program started with a Tweet, followed by an article. Schools quickly got on board while Eric signed posters and bookmarks and sent them to participants. Over 165 schools were involved. The results of this program are examined in the research paper, The Eric Walters School Library Summer Reading Challenge: Findings from the Research by Anita Brooks Kirkland and Carol Koechlin.
Eric spoke about his beginnings writing as a teacher for his class, approximately 114 books ago, as well as his newest book, Fourth Dimension. The book features his grade 5 teacher, Christena Gay, who told him he could be a writer when he grew up and demonstrates the profound impact teachers have on their students.
Learn more at Eric's website
