1. Middle School Library Highlights SY1213
Digital Citizenship
What do we already teach about Digital Citizenship in the Middle School Library program?
Digital Citizenship
● Recognizes copyright law*
● Uses citation tools*
● Identifies consequences of plagiarism in school and beyond*
● Identifies fair use*
What do we need to teach about being a good Digital Citizen?
Digital Citizenship
● Choose settings in account profiles that protect personal information when online*
● Uses etiquette considering global audience when communicating digitally *
● Describes the concept of a digital footprint*
● Debate legal and ethical uses of file sharing
● Discuss the effects of existing and emerging technology on the global community
● Analyze how cultures and groups value technology differently and how these values
influence the development and acceptance of technology
Working collaboratively with Steve Jenks the process of developing a change in the CORE
curriculum for 6th grade that will address these skill areas has been a year long project and
culminating with a presentation to the Middle School Faculty on June 17th at the final division
meeting.
Information Literacy
Engages in the information literacy process: accesses, evaluates, and communicates
information & ideas. The 6th grade library skills program included a pre and post test using the
TRAILS information literacy skills. This year has seen some interesting and important changes in
the information literacy component of the curriculum. With an emphasis on expository writing in
the history and science classes the assessment of information needs, development of research
questions and gathering data, teachers have emphasized the use of the library as place as well
as through the virtual library and content curation of LibGuides to ensure that students have the
best information possible before transforming and synthesizing the information into new
knowledge. Some of the finely honed research projects included: 6th grade Action Research, 7th
grade History Research, The American Revolution and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and
8th grade, Thersites, The Golden Age of Greece and Foxpoint Research.
Utilizes digital tools and resources to investigate real­world issues, answer questions, or solve
problems. Students were explicitly instructed in the use of Library provided databases, LIbguides
for content curation and Noodletools used grades 6­12 to consistently cite sources in MLA style.
There has been greater emphasis this year, using Brainpop and other video and audio resources
to encourage the ethical use and demonstrate real understanding of copyright issues, ethical
use of information and internet safety. This is taught through 6th grade Library Skills classes
which is part of the Humanities curriculum in 6th grade. Teaching about the ethical use of
information encouraged further integration of the technology. Surveys were administered at the
end of many research projects asking students to reflect on the process.

2. Understands the legal and ethical issues of technology as related to individuals, cultures, and
societies: The results of the TRAILS post test for Recognizing the Ethical use of information
were as follows indicated the mean student score was 80% correct up from 65% in the fall.
Students were asked questions such as
Which is a case of plagiarism?
You used facts from a book for your report. What do you include about the book in your
bibliography?
You want a copy of a song from your favorite band’s new CD. Which of these allows you to
legally copy the song from the Internet?
With nearly 80% accuracy.
Love of Reading
Reads for a variety of purposes and across content areas: The Reading Room and Kindle
Reading groups were well attended averaging 10 students per quarter. Students could choose to
read any book of interest and were encouraged to select books from the Middle School Library
collection with some success. 7th grade students were encouraged to participate in the Rhode
Island Teen Book Award selection process by reading at least three of the nominated titles. They
participated in the voting in January and were among Rhode Island YA readers who selected
Divergent as the winner. 6th grade continued to encourage independent reading through partner
reads, specific genre selections and the January Book Club reading. Teachers have agreed to
read and participate in the selection process for Book Club 2014. Follow the link below to see the
titles and progress of the club.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Au6N9k2zhxA0dGRLVUFjZ3M0WjlsNkd2V0sxc
WhjOXc&usp=sharing