Literacy

Information Literacy

Internet Safety

School Library Catalogues

French Resources

Web Awareness

Research Databases

Information & Communication Technology

 

Role of the Teacher-Librarian in the Greater Victoria School District Policy #2224

L4U help (demos and MARC records for download from SD 61 school libraries)

For more information go to the GVTLA wiki (use "sd61tls" as the password).

Need encouragement or support for your work?
Check out Keith Lance's studies on the impact of school library programs on student achievement: Powering Achievement

 

Literacy

The Greater Victoria School District is "committed to each student's success in learning within a responsive and safe environment". The district is working to improve each student's success by improving students' achievement in literacy and numeracy ("Students who can read, write, compute and solve mathematical problems are far more likely to achieve success" Greater Victoria School District Accountability Contract 2005-2006) Check here for more information and resources to help students, parents, Teachers, and Teacher-Librarians promote reading, improve student literacy, and increase achievement and success by supporting information literacy.

Information Literacy

Part of literacy is information literacy. This is the ability to recognize the need for information to solve problems and develop ideas, pose important questions, use a variety of information gathering strategies, locate relevant and appropriate information, and assess information for quality, authority, accuracy and authenticity. Information literacy includes the abilities to use the practical and conceptual tools of information technology to understand form, format, location and access methods, how information is situated and produced, research processes, and to format and publish in textual and multimedia formats and to adapt to emerging technologies. (CASL)

People often think of these as skills that are only needed in college or university. But while post-secondary students depend on these skills (Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education) most employers now expect them of their employees as well according to:
the Conference Board of Canada's Employability Skills 2000+  
The Generic Skills Needed in the Labour Force (BCStats)  
 
For more information about information literacy, check out:
Coquitlam School District's Information Literacy Plan  
Research Quest: The Integration Station  
 
Also see the new teaching resource developed by teachers in Victoria, Sooke and Saanich school districts Cybersafety Resource: Teaching Safe and Responsible Online Behaviour:
the book (large file 43 MB dowload)
 
 

Internet Safety

For the most part kids' experiences with the Internet are positive, but there are drawbacks and safety risks too. While filters and firewalls provide some protection, kids need information and critical thinking skills to:
protect their personal information online
navigate chat rooms safely
identify and handle misleading, illegal or inappropriate content, and
deal with increasing online marketing.
To help your kids stay safe on the internet, check out:
Also see the new teaching resource developed by teachers in Victoria, Sooke and Saanich school districts Cybersafety Resource: Teaching Safe and Responsible Online Behaviour:
the book (large file 43 MB dowload)
For more information to help kids be web aware, go to:


©2004 Media Awareness Network / ©2004 Corus Entertainment Inc. All rights
reserved. Corus and all related titles, logos and images are trademarks of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Island Parent Articles:
The Research Project Part 1
The Research Project Part 2

Cataloguing Sources for French Resources:
 
Go to the Library of Congress Z39.50 list and scroll down the page to:
 
  1. Bibliothèque nationale du Québec (seventh library listed in the "B"s - accents will prevent you from finding it in a search for "Quebec" or "bibliotheque" without accents), and;
  2. NEOS Consortium -- University of Alberta (SIRSI).
  3. Check http://www.itsmarc.com/default.asp

Web Awareness Workshops

The Greater Victoria School District has renewed its commitment to helping parents, students and teachers understand the various safety issues surrounding the use of the internet and has licensed the updated series of workshops from the Media Awareness Network. To view these presentations contact the Shared District Resource Centre at 360-4300 or by email.

Thomson-Gale Database Services through ERAC

If you want to access the database services licensed through the Educational Resources Acquisition Consortium (ERAC at www.bcerac.ca) go to the website below and enter the appropriate username and password for your school. If you do not know what these are, contact your school, the School Technologist or Connie Hendron in SD 61's Information Technology Department.

http://access.gale.com/erac

http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb

For help setting up links to these services on your school website consult:

http://access.gale.com/erac/erac_webEnable.html
 

Information and Communication Technology

The ministry's Information and Communications Technology Integration Performance Standards, Grades 5 to 10 are available on the Classroom Assessment website. The new standards provide a context for teachers, students and parents to examine a range of authentic learning tasks supported by the use of ICT processes, tools and techniques: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/perf_stands/icti/

Information about other resources to support ICT integration is available on the ICT & Technology Resources website: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/technology/6-9.htm