http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty

“Each person is a unique blend of dynamic intelligences which grow, expand and develop thoughout life” Gardner, H. Frames of Mind (Harvard, 1983).  We all have multiple-intelligences.

Let us visit the year 1859 and view the evidence of multiple intelligences through the eyes of the author Peter Macinnis, in his new book Mr Darwin’s Incredible Shrinking World.

http://web3.birronggir-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/library/index has the bibliographic record.

So now when someone says you are dumb, ask in exactly which multiple intelligence they mean.

2008-il-trial-exam

Have I told you I used to be a tap dancer?

Unfortunately I had an accident when I fell into the sink.

What is orange and sounds like a parrot?

Why a carrot!

6 Thinking Hats can help you see into the way you think.

Even when we are saying poems we are thinking.

Here is an old Australian favourite. A video version is in the readings list to the right.

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of rugged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror –

The wide brown land for me!

We will read some poems now. Play the sound file and read the text.

Who can have more?

Who can have more?

The game

The game

Harmony

Harmony

The creation

The creation

And to finish A translation from Amar.

Poems outsidePoetry inside

Poetry inside.

‘In bed with him that night, like every night, her sister at their feet, she ends her tale, then waits. Her sister quickly takes her cue, and says, “I cannot sleep. Another, please?” Scheherazade takes one small nervous breath and she begins, “In faraway Peking there lived a lazy youth with his mama. His name? Aladdin. His papa was dead…” She tells them how a dark magician came, claiming to be his uncle, with a plan.. He took the boy out to a lonely place, gave him a ring he said would keep him safe, down to a cavern filled with precious stones, “Bring me the lamp!” and when Aladdin won’t, in darkness he’s abandoned and entombed…

There now.

Aladdin locked beneath the earth, she stops, her husband hooked for one more night.

Next day

she cooks

she feeds her kids

she dreams…

Knowing Aladdin’s trapped,

and that her tale

has bought her just one day.

What happens now?

She wishes that she knew.’

(from “Inventing Aladdin” pp 365-366 “Fragile Things” by Neil Gaiman (Headline, 2007)

Questions on the narrative

1) “faraway Peking” has a new name. What is it? Which country?

2) The sorcerer comes from the Maghreb. Name some countries in the Maghreb.

3) Aladdin has one piece of good fortune which ends up working against the sorcerer. What is the unintended consequence of the sorcerer’s gift?? What is the lesson here?

4) Who is really telling the story? Is it Scheherazade or an unknown story teller? Does it matter? Is there such a thing as being lost in the story?

Information Skills and Statistical Literacy

The success of Year 7 with Censusatschool was outstanding! The statistics will be very useful for the government when it plans how to invest the tax we pay!

Do you remember the questions below?

1) The time a student gets up on a school day.

2) The time a student gets up on holidays.

3) How far the student lives from school (i.e. travel time to school), and

4) How the student travels to school.

I know many students discussed these questions. Tell me

1) What time did most of your friends get up?

2) What was the furthest away your friends live?

3) How do most of your friends travel to school?

Other questions were about the environment and ecology.

1) Do you think global warming is true? If we have enough money can’t we burn as much petrol as we like?

2) Do you think shower heads and special light globes make a difference?

3) Is your best friend’s opinion the same as yours? What does your father say?

Questions on a bibliographic record.

Healthmoves 1

Healthmoves 1 : senior personal development, health & physical education

Janet Davy, Robbie Parker, John Patterson ; with Betty Barnes … [and others]

Names: Davy, Janet / Parker, Robbie / Patterson, John

Published: Port Melbourne: Heinemann, 1994

Subjects: Health / Personal development / Physical fitness

Physical Description: viii, 400 p. : ill.

Type: Text

SCIS: 791407

ISBN: 0-85859-714-4

Copies: 1 of 1 at Non Fiction 613 DAV

Answer the following questions.

1) Title :

2) Names :

3) Description :

4) Place of Publication :

5) Choose 2 Subjects :

6) Call Number :

7) Number of copies available:

Key Competencies

As we grow up we find that compared to some of our friends we find some skills easy and some not. No matter how well we can perform them we need some basic skills to get through school and get a job. These are called key competencies and include simple tasks like getting information and working in teams. You can prepare for the lesson by thinking about your favourite learning activities and the ones you don’t really look forward to. What is your best subject? Why do you think that?

Humour Literacy

Why did Polly put the kettle on? Because she had nothing else to wear.

When is it unlucky to see a black cat? When you are a mouse.

What do you call a room without any windows? A mushroom

How do you catch a monkey? Behave like a nut.

Why was the chef arrested? Because she kept beating the eggs.

If you want to comment go to http://informationliteracybghs.wordpress.com

A) Information Literacy and the Fairy Tale

The original Adventures of Pinocchio is very different from the story that Mr Walter Disney created for his animated film in 1940. I was impressed that so many students were not satisfied with the original ending when the fox and the cat hung Pinocchio. Carlo Collodi’s first readers were not happy either. So he continued the story with the Blue Fairy saving Pinocchio and sending him on many more adventures.

Answer the questions using the central narrative.

1) Have you ever felt like a piece of wood?

    What is the author really trying to say about life?

2) Why do we disobey our parents and teachers sometimes?

    What gets in the way of being perfect?

    What is the function of Jimminy Cricket?

3) Wouldn’t life be easier if we stayed as puppets?

     What is the most useful part of school?

4) Do you know anyone who lived happily ever after?

    What is the best we can hope for?

5) Should Mr Davidson re enter Australian Idol?

    Why is “When you wish upon a star” such an effective coda?

    What is Mr Davidson’s favourite narrative genre?

B) Questions on a bibliographic record found on our library catalogue.

1) Title:

2) Author:

3) Physical description:

4) Subject 1:

5) Subject 2:

6) Series:

7) Full call number:

C) Language structures can be divided into 8 Text Types. Each Text Type can be adapted to each Key Learning Area. Many students studied Text Types in Year 6 so we will revise them now. The definitions below are simple and we will explore them in class. Extension students can go to Genres, Text Types or Discourse Modes.

1) Report describes how things are;

2) Recount describes what happened step by step;

3) Narrative has orientation, complication, sequence, resolution and coda;

4) Procedure must have steps in order;

5) Explanation shows how things happen;

6) Exposition is argument, debate and discussion;

7) Response explores feelings about art, music and literature and

Personal & Expressive allows us to be creative with poetry and lyrics.

Some wisdom statements

A day without sunshine is like night.

On the other hand, you have different fingers.

42.7 % of statistics are made up on the spot.

Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?

Light travels faster than sound. That’s why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

   We are not always lucky in life but with good information literacy skills we can be prepared for new opportunities that may come our way. Rumpelstilskin is an excellent example of how a girl uses a combination of good fortune and information skills to solve the problems she was facing.

   Using the central narrative answer the following questions.

1)      Why do people boast of things that cannot be done?

2)      What is straw?

3)      Why is gold so precious?

4)      What is more valuable than all the treasures in the world?

5)      Why are names so important?

Information Skills Process

   Producing a research assignment is like baking a cake. You must be thorough in preparing the ingredients and follow the steps in the recipe carefully. Here are the six steps recommended for creating the best assignments. 

1)      Define the key words/subjects

2)      Locate rich resources

3)      Select information that suits the questions

4)      Organise the results by themes, such as time, place or personality

5)      Present the results in a variety of ways

6)      Assess and evaluate the results of your search   

Click on the hyperlink to see a comprehensive list of questions and answers on the site

http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/schoollibraries/teachingideas/isp/index.htm

1.  What ingredients do you put into a cake?

2.  Where do you find the ingredients?

3.  Who makes the best ingredients?

Bibliographic Records

   A bibliographic record not only gives information through metadata.  It is also an exercise in visual literacy.

Look at the record below from the Bankstown Library online http://library.bankstown.nsw.gov.au/Libero/bankstown/toolbar/liberoWebApp.html

and answer the questions below.

Questions on the bibliographic record

1) What is the author’s name?

2) What is the uniform title?

3) What is the Physical description?

4) What is the call number?

5) Where is the book held?

6) Can it be borrowed?

7) Who is the illustrator?

Information? What is it? Where do we get it? There are many answers and some which only you know. “Inside the box” many people say we get information from books and computers. Do we also get information from our family, our friends and our teachers (even from music and the TV)? Only you can answer that.

Literacy? What is it? An easy answer is reading but is there more to it? How do we get literacy? An easy answer is reading but is there more to it?How do we learn? There are many ideas about how we learn and here are the top answers. We learn by seeing and showing; by hearing and telling; by doing and practising. This year in the library we will learn using all these methods.

In 2008 we will learn how to detail the information resource itself when we say how we got our information. The term we use for those details from a book is called a bibliographic record. When we get information from the internet we call it a Uniform Resource Locator or URL. When we look for information in a library the catalogue is the best starting point. We will use a workbook to practise finding resources and detail their bibliographic records and URLs.

Now let me test your sense of humour.

Q. Why did the teacher need dark glasses? A. Because her students were so bright. Q: Why are fish so smart? A: Because they live in schools. We like jokes because they make our minds stretch to places we didn’t expect to go but when we get there it’s a pleasant surprise. That is the way we want you to think and feel about the library. (Not as a joke but a place for pleasant surprises!)

There are many locations for books in the library. The Reference section has books with a lot of information and big indexes. Non-Fiction books are full of facts about particular subjects. Fiction books are centred on a narrative and while an author makes them up they must ring true or we lose interest in them. There are other smaller locations for special books with particular purposes. Throughout the year we will learn about how to get and use information. We call this information literacy.

Each lesson we will also explore a fairy tale narrative and reflect on the useful information it reveals. The best way to experience fairy stories is to hear them. If you didn’t hear Mr Davidson’s version then you can see here on the video of Puss in Boots . You may prefer to read online it at Puss in Boots. The story has some really magical parts but it is also full of information. Answer the following questions about Puss in Boots1) What does a miller do? 2) What do rabbits eat?3) What do chickens eat?4) How do you trick ogres?5) What are cats useful for?

You have rights and responsibilities in the Library. Find out the answers to questions about the Library and answer below. 1) How long is the borrowing period?2) How many books can you borrow?3) What time does the library open?4) What is the penalty for overdue books?Finally I want you to tell me about your last school library. What was special about it? How did it make you feel? Do you remember the name of your teacher librarian?

Lastly click here for a personal welcome from Mr Davidson and Mrs Dyer.

Year 7 began as you had to get back in the egg after Year 6.

Now as Year 7 is finishing you are ready to hatch.

So here are my egg jokes.

What happened to the bad egg? It was egg-secuted

What did one egg say to the other egg? You’re cracked!

What do you call an egg that knows everything? An eggspert

What vegetable is like a chicken farm? An Egg plant

The Exam format is the same as the Trial; see 2007 Trial IL Exam

In addition you will need to identify some Thinking Skills You will need to know some colours and the Thinking Skills associated with them

You will also need to identify some Key Competencies Be prepared to list at least 3 of them.

You will be asked about the nature of sources.Basic information resources can be divided into two; hardcopy and digital.  Hardcopy resources have two types; Non Fiction resources which can be retrieved from the catalogue and Reference resources such as encyclopedia, dictionaries, thesauri and atlases. Digital resources have two types; CD ROMs and the online resources available on the internet.

The two most important aspects of questions on a bibliographic record are

1. The Title and call number (Location, Classification, Suffix) so you can locate the book

2. Title, Author and date published so that you can reference your sources fora bibliography.

And while you don’t need to know all the Multiple Intelligences you need to remember that we are smart in different ways. Remember if someone says you are dumb ask them in which multiple intelligence. 

The Information Literacy Trial Examinations will be held over the next two weeks. In particular be ready to be tested on numeracy in bibliographic records, text types, genres in the narrative and of course the Information Skills Process. 

 It is most important that you are able to identify text types. There are 8 text types which are styles of communication   •          Report for description of how things are now (all subjects)  •          Recount of what happened step by step in sequence (all subjects)  •          Procedure for methods, recipes, experiments and calculations (especially Science, TAS and Mathematics)  •          Explanation of how things happened with a cause and effect (especially Science, PDHPE and HSIE)   •          Exposition of arguments, debates and discussions (especially English)   •          Response to works of literature, music and art (especially English and Creative Arts)   •          Personal and Expressive lyrics and poetry (especially English and Music) 

and the most powerful  Narrative which has the elements of  •          Orientation  •          Complication  •          Sequence in foreground  •          Sequence in suspense  •          Resolution•            Coda 

and is the core text type of literature and movies. 

The exam will have ideas you need to know as well as practical questions that that will require calculations. For the exam you will be provided with a ruler to do some measurements. You will have time to find your way around the library so that you can locate books. Remember that calculations, even if they are with numbers rather than words, are a procedure text type. 

The questions on genre will make you think about the style or structure of information rather than its content. Examples of genre in the narrative are Science Fiction, Mystery, Thriller and Fantasy. Examples of genre in games are Video, Word, Puzzle and Role Play.  

The Information Skills Process must be followed in order. If you are stuck on one step go back to the one before. The steps are 1. Define the key words, topics, themes and ideas. 2. Locate resources in hardcopy from the catalogue and reference books, and digital from the internet or CD ROMs. 3. Select the information that answers the assignment or essay questions and that fit into the topic or theme. 4. Organise your information along lines that makes sense such as by time, place or personality. 5. Present your information in a variety of formats so that you use different fonts, graphics, charts and maps. 6. Evaluate your finished product by sharing with family and friends.

To help you be of good cheer here are the jokes! 

How do you get a baby astronaut to sleep?

You rock it.

Where do you find pre historic cows?

In the Mooseum.

What kind of house weighs the least?

A light house.

Who is Santa’s wife?

Mary Christmas

Knock Knock

Who’s there?

Cash

Cash who

I always knew you were a nut, I just didn’t know what kind!

Knock Knock

Who’s there?

Avenue

Avenue heard this one before?

Knock Knock

Who’s there?

Isabel

Isabel out of order? I had to knock!

Jokes often surprise us by connecting us to unexpected meanings. In the new digital world of computers we can “embed” a word or an image with a connection to a webpage or a multimedia object. I like to refer to jokes as a metaphor for hyperlinks to unexpected meanings. Humour is very important in helping us keep our sense of wonder. Here are this lesson’s examples.

 How do you tell if you run out of invisible ink? On the other hand, you have different fingers When everything is coming your way you are in the wrong lane. If Barbie is so popular why do you have to buy her friends? What happens if you get scared half to death twice? I used to have an open mind but my brains fell out. (Don’t forget I’m always looking for new jokes. Please send me your best!) Genre in Music, Narrative and Games

In the last lesson we considered a bibliographic record for a music CD.

In the bibliographic record for the music CD “Bare” by Annie Lennox we noted that the subject was Rock Music – 2000–2010.  This lead to music samples of Elvis Presley, Beatles, ABBA, Eurythmics, Nirvana and P!nk and a discussion of changes in definitions of popular music over the last 50 years. Then we discussed the term genre as a way of classifying the style and form of music not connected to its content or meaning. The genre of music is often hard to describe but easy to identify when we hear it. I encourage you to listen to as many different artists as possible and think about whether they perform the genre of R & B, Hip Hop, Folk, Jazz, Classical, Techno, Rock or a combination of a few genre. Narrative can be classified according to genre too. Goosebumps is Horror, Paul Jennings writes Humour and of course the genre I like most is Fairy Tale. Most movies are narrative based too. Titanic is a Romance, Arnie Schwarzenegger makes Action/Adventure movies and Harry Potter is Fantasy. Don’t forget Soap Operas such as Home & Away or Neighbours!

Book Week in August celebrates the best Australian books from 2006. Last month the Librarians had an Extravaganza of ideas about how school libraries and public libraries can workshop the new books. If you have young brothers and sisters there may be some good ideas for you and your parents.

 Questions on Learning

Games can also be classified according genre such as by card game, or board game or video game. Go to this hyperlink for games and answer the following questions.

1) What genre of games to you enjoy?

2) Can you explain why?

3) Are these games skills based or problem based?

4) Who do you play games with or do you play alone?

5) What is your favourite game? Why?

Question on the Narrative

Jack and the Beanstalk.

To answer all the questions on Jack and the Beanstalk you must finish reading the story or listen to the MP3 at home on the Information Literacy at BGHS site under the Narrative Links.

1) Why are beans so amazing?

2) What was the most precious thing that Jack stole from the giant?

3) Do you feel sorry for the giant? Why/Why not?

4) Do you know any scary giants? Who?

5) Why can’t giants share what is precious?

Answer the questions below on a bibliographic record from the Bankstown Library

Catalogue Information

1) Title and an alternative title.

2) Name two subjects

3) What is the call number?

4) Is it available? Which branch?

5) Description?

6) Who is this book for?

Humour Literacy

Why did Polly put the kettle on?   Because she had nothing else to wear.

When is it unlucky to see a black cat?   When you are a mouse.

What do you call a room without any windows?   A mushroom

How do you catch a monkey?   Behave like a nut.

Why was the chef arrested?   Because she kept beating the eggs.

 Information Skills and Dewey

The Dewey Decimal Classification system sets out subjects based on numbers.

The basic numbers and their subjects are as follows.

000 Generalities                                        100 Philosophy & psychology

200 Religion                                              300 Social sciences

400 Language                                            500 Natural sciences & mathematics

600 Technology (Applied sciences)          700 The arts

800 Literature & rhetoric                           900 Geography & history

Where do your subjects fit? Write the numbers for the following subjects. Some subjects may have more than one set of classification numbers; For example Myths and Legends are in both 200 – Religion,  and 300 – Social Sciences

1)      Mathematics :

2)      English :

3)      Creative Arts :

4)      TAS :

5)      Geography :

 Questions on a narrative

Little Red Riding Hood has existed in a variety of forms for hundreds of years.

The version I used in class and which is recorded on the website is

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/ridinghood/index.html

It is by Charles Perrault, and is found in

Lang, Andrew, ed. “Little Red Riding Hood.” The Blue Fairy Book. New York: Dover, 1965. (Original published 1889.)

Some students were not happy with the ending. They remembered other endings.

As I explained, this is because we take different “interpretations” based on our need for endings and resolutions that we feel comfortable with.

Answer the following questions. Use your imagination if you are not sure of the answer:-

1)      Who was Little Red Riding Hood going to visit?

2)      Why didn’t they live together in the one house?

3)      Who was lurking in the woods?

4)      Why didn’t Little Red Riding Hood rush?

5)      What ending do you prefer to Little Red Riding Hood?

Questions on a bibliographic record. Music CDs are like any other resource and can be catalogued with a bibliographic record. Here is a record from the Bankstown Library catalogue found at http://www.bankstown.nsw.gov.au/lib/index.cfm

Answer the following questions.

1)      Title :

2)      Name :

3)      Description :

4)      Place of Publication :

5)      Subjects :

6)      Call Number :

7)      Number of copies available:

 Questions on learning. 

In the last lesson we talked about the need to take time to reflect on our learning.

I played some meditation music and we thought about how we relax.

Answer the following questions.

1)      Do you listen to music while you study?

2)      Do you listen to music to relax and/or study?

3)      Do some kinds of music help you study better?

4)      What kind of music is that?

5)      Who is your favourite singer/artist?

Mr. Davidson