Info Tasks for Successful Learning: Building Skills in Reading, Writing, and Research - Softcover

Koechlin, Carol; Zwaan, Sandi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1551381338 ISBN 13: 9781551381336

Publisher: Stenhouse Publishers, 2001

Synopsis

Today's students are confronted with a huge amount of information. To write tests, complete assignments, and even communicate with their peers, students need effective strategies to help them grow as learners. Whether they get their information from books, the Internet, or personal interviews, students need to build skills in reading, writing and research to succeed in school and life in this information age.

This time-saving book provides teachers with a tried-and-true process for involving students in becoming information literate. Practical and ready-to-use, the book features more than fifty activities that give students hands-on opportunities to work with information. These activities involve students in manipulating and organizing data as well as making connections with information in all subject areas.

Info Tasks for Successful Learning offers a range of skill-building activities that take students form the low level regurgitation or rewording of ideas to more meaningful, relevant and exciting learning. Each single page task focuses on a micro skill that makes an ideal mini lesson. The micro skills are grouped into the four macro skills that are the basics of information literacy:

• Evaluating information for relevance and validation;
• Sorting information to make connections;
• Working with Information and Testing Ideas;
• Analyzing and synthesizing information for meaningful conclusions.

More than thirty student organizers are included to help students build important strategies for using information. A unique glossary of terms will help teachers and students make better sense of the modern information age.

The repertoire of useful strategies in this remarkable book will help students reach higher levels of understanding and achievement.

About this title

About the Author

Sandi can't remember why she became a teacher, but she thinks it was "just what I was born to do. I love the excitement of realizing a student actually 'got it' and learned a new skill that will make a difference for him in life as well as in school."

Sandi is a graduate of the North Bay Teacher's College, York University. She's been a K through 8 classroom teacher, teacher librarian, and library consultant in the Toronto School District. She currently holds staff development sessions in Victoria, Vancouver, British Columbia, and across the United States.

Her approach to professional development is "to develop strategies and processes that will endure success and help students 'do life' as well as school."

Sandi sums up her approach to writing a book in four easy steps: "Bright ideas, chaos, focus, aha!"

She lives on Chandos Lake in Ontario's Kawarthas and has two grandchildren.

Reviews

Designed for teachers to improve student achievement as well as information literacy, this book presents an "Information Task Design Process." In the first phase, it is suggested that collaboration take place with the "teacher librarian." The stages of an "info Task" include preparation, access, process, and transfer. The Information Literacy Rubric, reprinted with permission from the Toronto District School Board, is a clear matrix, but there is no elaboration. The one-page explanations-for identification of resources, determining relevant data, differentiating between fact and opinion, discovering bias, detecting inconsistencies, identifying missing information, and analyzing implications-do not provide enough detail for novices. There are several good forms included, and references are made to them in a related section. However, it's unfortunate that these charts and organizers appear in a separate section and are not included when they are discussed.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Stenhouse Publishers
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1551381338
• ISBN 13: 9781551381336
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128