An Evaluation Plan for Improving Digital Reference Services

Here is my link to a Google Drive doc on this topic for Assignment Three in LIBE467
(just in case spacing/formatting goes awry as I paste it here)

An Evaluation Plan for

Improving Digital Reference Services

at the Sardis Elementary School Library Learning Commons

(LIBE467 Final Assignment)

1. The Present Conditions

Reference Materials: The Resources Themselves

When looking at standards set out in Achieving Information Literacy, my Library is currently Below Standard for both print and digital reference material. As I have been discussing in recent blog posts (here, for example), it will be very difficult to bring my print reference collection up to Acceptable standards due to space and cost issues. I have already weeded this section of the Library extensively due to major “out-dated-ness” of the resources, most of which were taking up too much space that was needed for more relevant, current nonfiction resources. To upgrade the print reference collection would take thousands of dollars.

Although it is not ideal to neglect the print material, I believe that I'll be able to fairly quickly upgrade the digital resources to Acceptable, and maybe even move toward Exemplary, in the near future given my goals to be discussed throughout this paper. The reference resources I will rely upon will be those “virtually free” because they are part of SD33 database bundles (costs of which don’t come out of my Library budget), and those truly free online resources.

(Once the digital project is completed, I’ll again address the print reference materials)

This ERAC Database Bundle available in Chilliwack, for elementary students, is a great start, but  is not extensive enough.

Type of Ref. Resource	Primary	Intermediate
Encyclopedia: World Book: Early World of Learning	Yes
Encyclopedia: World Book: Science Power		Yes
Encyclopedia: World Book: Decouverte		Gr 6 French Immersion
Encyclopedia: World Book: Kids	Yes	Yes
Encyclopedia: World Book: Student		Yes
Atlas: World Book Atlas	Yes	Yes
Historical: World Book Timelines	(Yes)	Yes
Digital/Media Literacy: Mediasmarts	(Yes?)	Yes
National Geographic Kids	Yes	Yes
Local BC History: Encyclopedia of BC; Encyc. of Raincoast Place Names; FarWest, The Story of BC		Yes
Wide-ranging Video Resources: Criterion On-Demand; Learn360	Yes	Yes
Periodicals: Explora: An EBSCO Experience		Yes

What is Still Needed?

The staff and students could certainly use a variety of specialty online encyclopedias to go beyond the (often repetitive) World Book products. We also currently have no easy access to vetted digital almanacs, handbooks, factbooks, or biographical sources. We could also use various digital dictionaries and thesauri, further geographical sources, and perhaps more periodical databases.

I have approached my colleagues at a recent Chilliwack Teacher-Librarians’ Association meeting about the need for a single, central online portal to such extra reference resources. We have struck a committee of members who will look into building this portal. We are starting to compile lists of links. We are considering whether we will create a web page, a wiki, a symbaloo, etc. to best accomplish this goal.

In addition to building ease of access to an increasing number of reference resources, I still have much work to do in building reference skills at my school; that is, making students more able to find and use appropriate reference materials to meet their learning needs.

2. The Rationale for Change

Reference Skills: Students’ Abilities to Find and Use Reference Materials

In my first two years in this new Teacher-Librarian position, I was working more on weeding and re-building the picture book, novel, and nonfiction collections, plus transforming the space itself, while building team-teaching connections with staff. This school year I have been focussing on the mission of examining the (lacking) reference collection and on building information seeking reference skills. Previously, my forays into this area were more haphazard and “on the fly.”

I feel that a lot of researching in the school in recent years has been bound to nonfiction books only to avoid concerns about internet safety; or, has involved a lot of student floundering through “Googling it” without refining skills. That type of Internet research tends to lend itself more to regurgitation, and is harder for students to see why they shouldn’t cut-and-paste, because they aren’t really generating their own knowledge.

Once we Teacher-Librarians have completed our Reference Resources Portal, we can do more effective teaching on how and when to use each type of reference material, plus they’ll be readily available as needs arise. Narrowing the search field from the whole of the Internet via Google to more targetted and vetted sites will be beneficial and more efficient. In addition, my concerns that students are only skimming the surface Internet and are missing out on access to deep web sources will be alleviated. I have been really focussing on using our database bundles as a first line research strategy to combat these flaws, but we still need more options to explore.

The Current Environment

Right now, our school’s staff is really intrigued and motivated by a desire to engage in true Inquiry researching. I have had all of the Intermediate teachers approach me for help with Genius Hour or Inquiry research, and have been explicitly teaching database and Google search tips to students throughout the year. We are looking at the curriculum content and trying to look more at students choosing or formulating questions to answer via researching that motivates them. In fact, in the last few days, I’ve been collaborating on creating a Gr 6 Human Body Science unit including ideas for intriguing questions, teaching info-seeking skills, teaching the scientific method, having the kids design a lab experiment or build a working model, and deciding how they will best present their learning in a spring Science Expo.

Now comes the period of formalizing all these types of learning goals so that we have a process/model to follow for future endeavours.

It is vital that we Teacher-Librarians lead the way in making sure that our students can find, interpret, and use information in an efficient and responsible way. I feel it is my responsibility to ensure my students do become information literate. I have taken this statement as part of my (in progress) Reference Services Policies:

"The American Library Association (2006) describes information-literate individuals as 'those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how knowledge is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they can always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand.' The abilities to access, comprehend, use, and evaluate information have become the skills people must develop in order to function in our current world (Reidling, 7-8)."

The Research Models to Guide Us in Our Reference Research Rebirth

As to the research process for students, I have included the BCTLA Research Quest and Points of Inquiry models as part of my Reference Services Policies.  I've tended to roughly have those in mind when embarking on research, but now am committed to using them more formally. I especially thought it was important to use and promote these locally developed models to highlight exemplary work from our field. The Points of Inquiry process is what I was mapping out with the Gr 6 teacher for the Human Body unit mentioned above.

3. The Timeline for Improvement

In terms of putting reference services changes into practice, I’ve already been in process for awhile. My own Professional Growth Plan for this school year had included as the top priority a goal to approach teachers about explicit learning of research skills via team-teaching in the Library. This has been happening, as mentioned earlier.

Another part of the timeline, I deliberately signed up for this Teacher-Librarianship course, LIBE 467, as a way to spur me on and ensure the mandatory time needed to analyze needs and adopt changes would remain a commitment. In fact, in the course, I was calmed by reading about these considerations in the Concerns-Based Adoption Model:

...this model suggests the importance of paying attention to implementation for several years, because it takes at least three years for early concerns to be resolved and later ones to emerge….We also know that help over time is necessary to work the kinks out and then to reinforce good teaching once use of the new practice smoothes out. Finally, with all the demands on teachers, it is often the case that once their practice becomes routine, they never have the time and space to focus on whether and in what ways students are learning. This often requires some organizational priority setting, as well as stimulating interest and concern about specific student learning outcomes (National Academy of Sciences).

So, if I look at my timeline as a roughly three-year window, I gradually weeded out the outdated, under-utilized reference print collection in the last half of last school year, I’ve spent this school year working on building info-search skills and exploring solutions to cost-effective reference resources, I’ll spend next school year working with T-L colleagues on building a Digital Reference Resources Portal, and as it “goes live” during that year and into the following one, we will need to tweak it, add to it it, and maintain it.

Timeline Goals and Deadlines

I have developed some more specific timeline goals to keep the Teacher-Librarian committee working on the portal focussed and organized.

• By the end of May, we need to have decided on what platform we will use: if SharePoint is viable, or whether del.icio.us or some other wiki would be better, or whether we want to create a webpage link similar to the database page link attached to our SD33 Library pages.
• By the end of May, and into June, I need to go through my overwhelmingly disorganized email file where I have been sending myself reminder links and notes regarding great reference resource sites over the last two to three years (often ideas from TL coursework) and start sifting and categorizing and re-evaluating them
• In May and June (and possibly over the summer), we will start to add reference resources to the portal in progress

--we will subdivide into categories for primary and intermediate (links will be placed     

                          in both sections if applicable)

--we will subdivide under Pr/Int into categories: general encyclopedias, specialty    

  encyclopedias, periodical databases, dictionaries, online safety, Netiquette, info-searching tips, etc, etc

--additions to the portal will include the title of the resource as a working hyperlink

--all additions to the portal must include an annotation beneath its title/link  

  explaining in two to three sentences how/why it is useful

• By the end of June, after the district After-School Collaboration dates are set, we will thus have our “work bee” dates set to build and discuss the project further during the next year
• By January 2018, I (at least) plan to be using the wiki/etc in progress with students and teachers via team-teaching in the Library
• January-June 2018: district-wide communication about the portal’s existence and usefulness (more on that below)

4. Follow-Up and Maintenance of the New Resources

Since the proposed Digital Reference Resource Portable will be a work-in-progress throughout the next school year, follow-up and maintenance won’t be as much of an issue as simply building it in the first place. Luckily, we have a committee of Teacher-Librarians who is keen to see this get going as soon as possible, and we will have dedicated collaboration dates to help us stick to the plan.

A Life of Its Own?

Once the portal is up and running, it will hopefully receive extensive use by those of us who created it, and by our other T-L colleagues. A core group of T-Ls will continue to be responsible for periodically evaluating the portal. From there, through team-teaching and so on (more on that below), usage should spread to other colleagues, and to students. When it is well used, maintenance will be easier because users will notify us if links have gone dead, or if some resources are deemed better or worse than others, which will help us curate the portal. Users will also be able to suggest (and maybe even add on themselves) new reference resource links that they have discovered on their own. It will hopefully take on a crowd-sourced model over time.

How to Best Communicate the Existence of These New Reference Services

It’s all well and good to imagine the utopia of a self-maintaining crowd-sourced reference portal that we’ve built, but how do we ensure people know it’s there, and how do we get them to use it? First of all, we Teacher-Librarians will need to do an information blitz starting in December/January of the next school year. We will need to notify teachers and administrators via SD email, the Superintendent’s Monthly Memo (where all SD33 news, programs, etc get shared digitally with all staff), and in staff meeting presentations. Most importantly, we will need to do demonstrations and direct teaching on how to use the portal in team-teaching lessons during Library visits, Genius Hour, and Inquiry research projects so that fellow teachers and their students see just how useful the links really are. We can spread the word to staff, students, and the parent community through school newsletters, Library pages, and social media.

Since the portal will be online, it will a 24/7 library learning commons. Combined with the database bundles we currently have in the district, I just might bring my school’s digital reference resources into Asselin’s covetted but elusive Exemplary realm!

References

Asselin, Marlene, Jennifer L Branch, and Dianne Oberg. Achieving Information Literacy: Standards For School Library Programs In Canada. 1st ed. Ottawa: Canadian School Library Association, 2003. http://www.accessola2.com/SLIC-Site/slic/ail110217.pdf

British Columbia Teacher-Librarians' Association,. The Points Of Inquiry: A Framework For Information Literacy And The 21St Century Learner. 1st ed. Vancouver: BCTLA, 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2017. http://bctf.ca/bctla/pub/documents/Points%20of%20Inquiry/PointsofInquiry.pdf

Hunt, Christopher. "Digital Vs. Print (Vs. Emerging) Reference Resources: Theme Three Reflections". ExLibrisMrHunt Blog-O-Rama!. N.p., 2017. Web. 1 Apr. 2017.

National Academy of Sciences,. "The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM): A Model For Change In Individuals". Nationalacademies.org. N.p., 2005. Web. 6 Mar. 2017.

Reidling, Ann, Loretta Shake, and Cynthia Houston. Reference Skills For The School Librarian: Tools And Tips. 3rd ed. Linworth, 2013. Kindle e-book: http://www.amazon.ca/kindlebooks

Digital vs. Print (vs. Emerging) Reference Resources: Theme Three Reflections

First of all, the goal of the last few weeks has been to make us, as Teacher-Librarians, aware of all of the specific reference resources available to help students complete research. Secondly, we have had to consider along the way the advantages, the disadvantages, and the availability of digital versus print versions of these resources. Of course, in an ideal world, we might have both types. Balance would be ideal.

Digitizing Can Free Up Shelf Space (Koterba)

With print atlases, encyclopedias, bibliographies, almanacs, and so on, the cost of maintaining up-to-date editions seems to be the main disadvantage. Everyone can agree that they are useful, but Library budgets are not always sufficient. The other issue that poses problems can often be a lack of physical space: multi-volume reference sets take a lot of shelf space, especially considering the (ridiculously) small size of some of the elementary school Libraries in this district.

This blog, from a public Librarian perspective deals with related considerations on weeding reference materials. I especially found one point very useful: you usually can't look at circulation statistics to evaluate reference resource usage because they don't typically get circulated; you have to have been in the building long enough to have seen whether or not they've been used (or go consult colleagues). Also, I agree with the sub-section entitled "Keep it in the Library, but Not in the Reference Collection" (M, Anna). I used that technique when assessing my reference area. Some excellent specialty encyclopedias (...of Dinsaurs, for example) that never got to be used by students got reshelved into their circulating subject area; so, too, did a few of the print atlases. Anna M also provides a list of her must-have essentials, which is interesting for comparison purposes.

Learning more about the deep/invisible web was certainly interesting. I knew about this concept but didn't fully understand just how much of the information on the web is not searchable using standard browser queries.

Why Isn't Everything Visible? (Rohail)

It made me appreciate even more that Chilliwack School District 33 recently listened to our Teacher-Librarians' Association and started subscribing to ERAC database bundles. Hopefully, we will be able to expand the offerings soon in order to reveal even more of the invisible content for our students.

The discussions of Wikipedia over the last few weeks have been thorough and illuminating. General consensus seems to have been that we should discontinue stigmatizing the use of this ubiquitous free resource, but that we should emphasize it as a useful general knowledge starting point; that it is good for providing background and vocabulary within a subject, but it isn't sufficient, or reliable enough, on its own. Showing students that the website itself acknowledges this would be advantageous:

Wikipedia Caveat, or Warning to Users (Content We...)

Here are a couple of things that I've been ruminating on the last couple of years, and especially throughout readings and discussions on this reference resources theme:

• What counts as reference materials in the 21st century?
• Do we need some rethinking on the reference needs of our Library communities?

This is a great video about changing reference needs in the community, or how to generate new seekers of interactive reference material. Nowadays, there is a transformation occurring within Library communities because Public Librarians and Teacher-Librarians are realizing that there are emerging, changing reference needs within our patrons. Increasingly, the DIY (Do It Yourself) movement has been driving people's desire to do more creative work on their own; yet, recent decades have seen less and less people learning simple mechanical, woodworking, gardening, sewing, and artistic skills in our society. Thus, Library patrons don't just need a book about these types of subjects, they often lack the costly tools and supplies needed to create the end product. In many cases, the amazing inquiry-driven Makerspace movement is fulfilling this need. Patrons can use the Library space, various art supplies, and various tools to create projects on site. The creation of the new BC education curriculum known as Applied Design, Skills, and Technology is a reflection of this developing reference need in our society (and is a surprisingly rapid addition/change to the education bureaucracy, which usually adapts much more slowly than teachers themselves!).

Many patrons, however, will want to create at home rather than in a Makerspace. This short documentary, Caine's Arcade, is phenomenal for showing the natural creative impulse inherent in children; it was the inspiration for a two-class, Grade 5 ADST building project in my Library in the fall; the two classes transformed the space into an old-timey midway/arcade and invited Little Buddy classes in to play to coincide with the annual Global Cardboard Challenge. Along the way, the makers came up with many different reference questions based on how they could best achieve their buiding goals: they researched ideas posted on the web.

There are myriad Youtube video tutorials and Pinterest pages and blogs supporting this DIY impulse, but, still, not everyone can afford to buy a sewing machine, a saw, etc to complete a possibly one-time project at home. More and more Libraries are responding to this need by creating a brand new type of loan category: A Library of Things.  I have been developing plans to create loan kits (including screwdrivers, etc, or art supplies, etc) to accompany various arts and crafts books in our school Library; these will hopefully "go live" next fall.

I'm curious to hear what other folks think about these new developments in the Library realm. Specifically, do you feel they actually qualify as reference needs or reference resources?

References

BC Ministry of Education,. "Building Student Success - BC's New Curriculum". Curriculum.gov.bc.ca. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

"Content We Host, Terms Of Use - Wikimedia Foundation". M.wikimediafoundation.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.

Dougherty, Dale. "Dale Dougherty: We Are Makers". YouTube. N.p., 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

"Imagination Foundation – Global Cardboard Challenge". Imagination.org. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

Koterba, Jeff. Cartoon: Digitizing Can Free Up Shelf Space. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.

M (full name not provided), Anna. "Tips For Weeding Your Reference Collection". Collection Reflection. N.p., 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.

Mullick, Nirvan. "Caine's Arcade". YouTube. N.p., 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

Rohail, Widjan. Why Isn't Everything Visible. 2017. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

"What To Expect From Libraries In The 21St Century: Pam Sandlian Smith At Tedxmilehigh". YouTube. N.p., 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2017.

Collaboration Elaboration: Evolving Together Toward a New Understanding of Reference Services

The general outlook of this blog assignment was to consider ways to "evolve" the practice of fellow teachers through collaboration with Teacher-Librarians. Looking at the Concerns-Based-Adoption-Model, or the Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition Model, are ways recommended to channel professional growth.  It seems implicit in these ideas, though, that many teachers are resistant to change, and that Teacher-Librarians, as potential leadership figures, have the answers.

However, I feel that all teachers are not very resistant. They are always adapting and adopting from year to year, but never moreso (in my approximately twenty years teaching) than right now. There has been a tsunami of change all at once to the education system, and teachers are rolling up the crests and plunging down the troughs of those waves of change admirably (despite 15 years of under-funding and cut services). And, as a Teacher-Librarian, I feel like I still haven't got my sea legs either, that I don't have all the answers, and that my practice is evolving weekly as well. Leaving tortured sea metaphors behind...where the Models mentioned above have a hint of a corporate management feel that rankles me a little, they are useful in that they suggest that someone can take a leadership role in helping colleagues through change.

And that is the strength of the Teacher-Librarian role: helping, being an instructional support. It's not so much leadership as it is acknowledging we are all having to change rapidly and being willing to be a partner who lends a hand. Not hierarchical leader/follower relationships, but side-by-side collegiality.

I find the real strength in the CBAM lies in these considerations:

...this model suggests the importance of paying attention to implementation for several years, because it takes at least three years for early concerns to be resolved and later ones to emerge. We know that teachers need to have their self-concerns addressed before they are ready to attend hands-on workshops. We know that management concerns can last at least a year, especially when teachers are implementing a school year's worth of new curricula and also when new approaches to teaching require practice and each topic brings new surprises. We also know that help over time is necessary to work the kinks out and then to reinforce good teaching once use of the new practice smoothes out. Finally, with all the demands on teachers, it is often the case that once their practice becomes routine, they never have the time and space to focus on whether and in what ways students are learning. This often requires some organizational priority setting, as well as stimulating interest and concern about specific student learning outcomes. We also know that everyone has concerns-for example, administrators, parents, policy makers, professional developers-and that acknowledging these concerns and addressing them are critical to progress in a reform effort (National Academy of Sciences).

Teacher-Librarian partnerships and team-teaching can ameliorate the overwhelmed feeling teachers have in those first three years of major change, can provide the time and space for reflection, and can help find new resources and new technologies to support classroom teachers.

We are in an era where there is an entirely new report card system being worked (MyEd BC having just replaced the already entirely new BCESIS, now scrapped), the style and focus of the entire curriculum has shifted, while which topics get taught in which grades has shuffled about, while publishers haven't yet fully created resources to match, and whole new subjects, such as Applied Design Skills and Technology, have been added (plus, remember DPA?) without there being anything removed, nor the days getting any longer.

So, how can Teacher-Librarians best help to "evolve" education practice?
A) By being a partner who is willing to initiate and organize much of the new explorations with colleagues.
B) By knowing the new curriculum well, anticipating resource needs, and by transforming the notion of what reference/research services are.
C) By finding ways in which technology can be used to help students find reliable information, credit sources responsibly, and share learning widely with authentic audiences.

Admittedly, this blog post is already doomed to run long. Thus, I will be focussing mainly on Part B above. I'll do this by imagining partnerships with two different teachers who want to tackle new elements of the curriculum in new ways.

Imaginary Chilliwack Teacher 1 is a Grade 3 teacher who now has portions of what used to be Grade 4 material in her Social Studies curriculum, namely a strong focus on Aboriginal cultures, with Content such as "Cultural characteristics and ways of life of local First Peoples..." (NEW CURRIC). She has concerns about being able to teach this meaningfully and respectfully without having much prior knowledge or experience.

The Chilliwack area, is the traditional unceded territory of the Sto:lo Nation. As a Teacher-Librarian with an interest in history and Place-Based Education, I know that there is a wealth of information about the Sto:lo available, but that it goes beyond the traditional form of reference and research materials. The options available are perfect for leaping into 21st century inquiry learning.

Sto:lo Reference materials:
A Journey Into Time Immemorial: an online virtual village experience jam-packed with valuable vetted information (requires Flash to play; doesn't work on ipads).
Sto:lo Sitel database on SD33 Sharepoint: short pages of information and images on traditional housing, hunting, weaving, stories, etc
Steqoye Classroom Workshops: teachers can book classroom visits in which Sto:lo members guide students through hands-on traditional and contemporary cultural practices such as cedar weaving, drumming and dancing, Halq'emeylem language, etc.
Archaeology Kit: brand new, originally designed for Gr 7, but I've used half the components with Gr 3 for incredible exploratory learning on Sto:lo fishing, weaving, tools, etc.
Lit Kits on Aboriginal themes: Smart Learning lessons tied to kits with various books and hands-on elements to pull Language Arts and Social Studies together (not specifically Sto:lo stories).
Longhouse Extension Program fieldtrip: all Gr 3 classes in the district will automatically go to this in the spring; includes sessions in the longhouse, with storytelling, plus a fishing information station, and a tour of the native plant garden.
Sto:lo Aurasma App Exploration: an interactive fieldtrip I created (with much support) as a "treasure hunt" at the Sto:lo Nation Resource and Research Management Centre; kids seek out, draw, and record information on various cultural artifacts while asking questions of the community members and research staff on site.

The above resources are a new breed of reference material. They allow experts to present information directly to students. They encourage students to be active in creating their own learning. They alleviate the pressure on the teacher to learn, assimilate, and create an entirely new "bag of tricks" resources to deliver the curriculum. As a teacher-Librarian, it is valuable to sit down with the teacher and present these options, map out a learning plan, arrange most of the bookings, and take the lead in teaching or presenting the material the first time around.

Now, let's look at Imaginary Chilliwack Teacher 2, who is a Grade 5 teacher, trying to address the newer, stronger Content focus on immigration and injustice in Canadian history: "Past discriminatory government policies and actions such as the Head Tax, Komagata Maru incident, residential schools, and internment camps" (BC Ministry of Ed, SS, Gr3). The imagined teacher may feel nervous about sensitively teaching these controversial topics about some very dark times in our history.

If I, as a Teacher-Librarian (who believes these social justice issues are essential to ensuring that Canada stays on a positive path), can help this teacher find and deliver resources to his students, we will both grow our practice together. And there are some stellar new-generation reference materials available here in Chilliwack, and a few others in development.

Immigration & Injustice Reference materials:
Chilliwack's Chinatowns Kit: one of a seriese of brand new local history resources created by district teachers collaborating with Chilliwack Museum staff; it is being field tested in classrooms now; it contains many primary source reproductions housed in an archive box with magnifying glasses and cotton resource-handling gloves.
The Writing on the Wall Outreach Kit: a Royal BC Museum resource about historical wrongs to the Chinese Canadian community; one kit is available for sign-out via the Chilliwack Museum; it contains a wealth of reproduced primary source documents.
Canadian Immigration and Injustices Lessons (work in progress): lessons I started developing last spring to help teachers (and myself); starting in late March, I'll be meeting with curriculum department members to develop some of these ideas into district kits.
Righting Canada's Wrongs textbook series: this incredible series highlights primary sources; titles include Japanese Canadian Internment, Residential Schools, and Chinese Head Tax; they will be included in district kits; we are also looking at ordering Jackdaws primary source reproduction folders (old-school T-L vertical files!) to add to kits.
Indian Residential Schools and Reconciliation: these resource guides, lesson plans, case studies, and primary sources collected/created by the First Nations Education Steering Committee are phenomenal; while I would focus mainly on the Gr 5 edition, supplements from the Gr 11/12 guides are applicable, too.
Residential Schools Writing Rubric: a standard assignment marking rubric I use with students, this one adapted to the residential schools team-teaching I did with a colleague in the fall.
Secret Path Kit: a local Lit Kit resource so new that it was presented as a workshop only a week ago; it's built around Gord Downie and Jeff Lemire's intense graphic novel about one boy's residential school experience (for which there is also an animated video, plus a CBC production for further enhancement).
A huge number of picture books and novels about the residential schools: books such as Shi-Shi-Etko, Shin-chi's Canoe, I Am Not A Number, When I was Eight, Not My Girl, Fatty Legs, etc, etc, all available in the Library collection.
General immigration books available in the Sardis Elementary Library.

Once again, the above resources are a new breed of reference material. They allow students to be active in creating their own learning by engaging with primary documents, often via hands-on exploration, to analyze the attitudes and intentions of the past. They help the teacher (and T-L) help alongside students as they "differentiate between intended and unintended consequences...," "take stakeholders' perspectives...," and "make ethical judgments about events, decisions, or actions..." (BC Ministry of Ed, SS, Gr5).  Again, as a teacher-Librarian, co-planning, ordering and organizing, and team-teaching these materials the first time around is a great way to develop together.

Further growth, transformation, evolution goals:
I still want to get to the Redefinition phase of the SAMR model in which...
"Computer technology allows for new tasks that were previously inconceivable. 
At this level, common classroom tasks and computer technology exist not as ends but as supports for student centered learning.  Students learn content and skills in support of important concepts as they pursue the challenge of creating [an end product using technology].  Collaboration becomes necessary and technology allows such communications to occur.  Questions and discussion are increasingly student generated." (Technology is Learning).

In the same vein, the Canadian Library Association includes this vital component of fostering 21st century literacies:

"Growth Indicator: Students construct and share new personal meaning using knowledge building technology tools" (Canadian Library Association).

Ideas for Using Tech Tools to Create and Easily Share Learning with Authentic Audiences

• Use students as guest lecturers/experts: for example, in the fall, some Gr 5s wrote incredibly empathetic and thought-provoking essays about residential schools; they could present/read the essays to the next round of grade 5s learning this material; if the readings were recorded, the videos could be shared into the future; or, the students could turn their essays into voice-over for a slideshow housed on the Library webpage.
• Have students collaborate on a wiki compiling important documents or images on an immigration/injustice topic so that it becomes a research repository for the future.
• Have small groups collaborate on presentations using tech tools/apps such as Book Creator, infographic sites, Shadow Puppet, HaikuDeck, etc.; then, share the products out to family members, community members, classmates via a class or Library blog and invite feedback and questions.
• Start students with images of historical moments/events with small amounts of details in captions, then send them on inquiry missions (after info-seeking lessons) to discover why these are important pivotal moments in Canadian history; they then report out to other groups so that each group teaches the other; consider doing this reporting out via share-able app creations, perhaps ThingLink would work best here to annotate photo elements rapidly.
• Give student groups a primary source document to analyze it for bias, attitudes, implications, etc; have them snap a photo of it, upload it to Skitch, etc, and record their thoughts by highlighting and writing comments on the virtual doc; then present out to other groups.

These types of ideas above are the strategies I/we still need to work out at our school. We've tried some of them in pencil-and-paper format, and I've often used the apps in other ways, but haven't transitioned into these new tech-assisted versions. We are on our way, though. First, we've had to fully comprehend the new curriculum, then find more relevant, engaging resources, plus figure out the new reporting procedures in these early years of change. Now, I think we are ready to move beyond transforming our ideas of reference materials into transforming/evolving the ways in which students can present and share their learning. 

The near future is sure to be very interesting!

REFERENCES

this link will connect you to my references: