Teacher-Librarian Collaboration

This lesson teaches students how to develop a good research question in preparation for research. It is best for grades 10-12 and works best when students are allowed to choose their own topic. 

 

Background: Historically, teachers and librarians often use checklist methods like CRAAP and RADCAB to teach source credibility, but more and more, the reliability of these methods has come into question (Caulfield, 2018; Timsit, 2019; Warner, 2017). A much more accurate method that is quicker and builds a deeper and more long-lasting habit is called SIFT (or previously, The Four Moves) (Caulfield, 2019). The Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) has created a similar method called Lateral Reading.  Common Sense Media also uses the concept of lateral reading, rather than a checklist. These methods are helpful in creating the habit of fact-checking and developing the ability to discern if a source or a claim is credible. The lesson plan below is an amalgamation of the SIFT method minicourse and SHEG’s Lateral Reading Curriculum with a few ideas thrown in from Common Sense Media’s Hoaxes and Fakes Lesson, as well as a few ideas of my own. 

This lesson helps teach students how to discern fake news from truth. 

 

This lesson helps teach students how to search the LAUSD Databases (particularly Gale and EBSCO) using Boolean operators. If you are requiring students to use Academic Journal Articles and/or the LAUSD Databases, let me know and I would be happy to come help you! It works best when students already have their topics chosen (or assigned) and are ready to begin their research.

This lesson teaches students how to read an academic journal article (hint- don't read the whole thing!) in preparation for research. It is best for grades 10-12 and would only work if the teacher requires the use of academic journal articles as one of students' sources for research projects. 

 

This is an overview of the library- how to find a book, the Dewey Decimal system, how to check out books and how to search the catalog to find books you want. After the presentation, students conduct a Scavenger Hunt to practice using what they learned. 

This presentation style lesson shows students some key resources at the L.A. Public Library, including FREE access to ebooks, audiobooks, movies, documentaries, TV shows, music, magazines, newspapers, language learning programs and tutoring. Students use their computers to log in and create accounts so that they have access. This lesson is best when teachers have a unit or activity in mind that requires the use of LAPL's resources. For example, in Ms. Setiarto's 12th grade English classes, students were required to choose a documentary from Kanopy to watch as a source for their impending research papers.