Thoughts, Thoughts, and More Thoughts
When I started this blog post I had tons of ideas on what to include in order to show what I have learned in the past few weeks about TL's, PLN's, and all the other wonderful things we read about and researched in the last four weeks. As I started to write, I realized that I learned more about the process of learning about these wonderful ideas than I did about the ideas. Now don't get me wrong, I did learn tons and have included many of the apps/ideas/organizations into my 'bag-o-tricks,' but the lessons that I learned were more about me and my research habits than anything else.
When I started researching any of these topics, I had clear-cut ideas, but as I received more and more information, my ideas changed, and that was unusual for me. In the past, when I have topics that I want to write on, I do a little research and write, but for some reason with these inquiry blogs, I never, not once stayed on my original topic. It was a weird experience for me and I know it may not seem an important thing to write about, but I have been going to school for 13 years and it is the first time this changing of the ideas has happened. It really threw me for a loop.
As I did the research and wrote the blogs, I decided to embrace the change of ideas because my understanding and my blogs were better for it.
Okay, I will get off my metaphorical journey and explain the five infographics that I have saved from my four weeks of inquiry and why I saved them.
Graphic Gallery
This first graphic is a word cloud I found while we were learning about reading cultures in schools. I liked it because it says everything I love about books in it and it is a good starting point for classroom teachers or teacher-librarians to introduce what a reading culture could be to someone.
This next is an infographicI am planning to use with my staff at the beginning of next year for planning purposes. I never thought of the reading culture, per say, in my class let alone in my school but with the inquiry topics, I have realized that I need to have a clearer picture of how this looks within my own class so that my students can benefit from a healthy reading culture.
(https://petethelibrarian.wordpress.com/resources/build-a-reading-culture/)
This world cloud is helpful when talking about PLN's and how to connect with other teachers. I had never really thought of PLN's, but throughout these inquiries, I have found that they are a great way to bounce ideas off another person and also learn some great ideas from.
(https://catlintucker.com/2011/08/5-reasons-teachers-should-create-a-pln-now/)
This is pictograph also helps with the idea of PLN's and what you can use to connect with other professionals.
(http://blog.teslontario.org/organizing-your-personal-professional-learning-network-pln/)
The final graphic is the infographic I found on roomtoread.org explaining how they monitor and sustain the libraries that they have put in place. I like that they have accountability for what they do and you can follow their monitoring on their site and this graphic reminds me of it.
A good look back at your own growth, awareness and key resources that have resonated with you. I appreciated you sharing that it was your process that evolved most during the last phase of the course, with your own inquiry taking on a life of its own. I think this is a powerful way to approach inquiry and cultivate a growth mindset. You also included some interesting visual artifacts that highlight the key ideas and topics that you learned and explored the most. A good overview of your thinking, growth and reflection on how you got here.
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