Dear Librarians,
Thank you so much for your helpful advice!
I asked for input on teaching OPAC lessons to 3rd & 4th graders. You have
really helped me focus.
Here is a HIT of your responses. I was also sent an old HIT of responses
from 2001 & 2003 (which I didn't find in the archive, so I'm glad to see
them.....). I've included these as well.
Thanks again!
Really - this group has such generosity of spirit !!!
REBECCA REITZ Librarian PS 87, New York, NY Rebreitz@aol.com
MY ORIGINAL REQUEST:
I'd like to give a simple introduction to catalog searching to the 3rd and
4th graders. We have 5 OPACs and 25 kids in a class. I thought I might do a
kind of scavenger hunt with a work-sheet (quez & room for answers) so while some
are at the computers, others are running around the library finding books.
Does that sound too chaotic? What has worked for you?
THE RESPONSES:
The hard part is not showing them how to use it, but making sure they do use
it instead of always coming to me or just browsing the shelves. I use a
projector and go over it with them and then require that they look up a book in the
next couple of weeks via a worksheet. But they fall into old habits of asking
me the author, where is the book? Etc. Good Luck
****************
This is what I did with just that age group and less OPAC stations:
First off, do you have any of the Eyewitness books? I used these for this
activity, and they worked very well. Each child had their own Eyewitness book.
They had to write down:
Title
Author
What the book was about(subject)
Call number
I took as many kids as there was OPAC stations. The rest of the kids watched
a literature video--like a Reading Rainbow.
Each child looked up his or her own book. They had to look it up by title,
author, and subject. Because the Eyewitness books are essentially about the
subject their title says, the kids had no problem coming up with a subject. As
they looked up each part, I visually checked it on the screen, and they checked
it off on their paper. When they got to call number, I wanted to show how there
were many other books that you could find with this same number about the
same topic. I also, showed them about the series search too. I used this activity
several years in a row. It was simple, easy to do, but really got the kids to
understand how to navigate around the OPAC.
****************
I do this all of the time with students. Although I have lots more computers
with OPAC, they get a title of a book (one that never gets checked out) that
they must type in and locate the call number. Then they must find the book. I
choose two students who are "checkers" for me and they hand out a small ticket
for each book that a student can find . I have around 50 titles on separate
3X5 cards. Another student is the monitor and hands out a new card when the book
is located. Students stand in line waiting their turn to type in the title at
first, but as time goes on during the lesson, there are more kids in the
library searching the shelves for their book than on the computer. I tell them
that if they need
my help, then ask, but if I find the book, I get their ticket....thus, they
rarely ask for help. The 5th graders do this very quickly. It's a great lesson
to do once a month as "maintenance" for location skills and OPAC use.
****************
Do you have a data projector you could use? They may need some direction
instruction first.
****************
I have five tables for my students. I assign each table to a computer for
their group. For example, table 1 students use computer 1. Each seat at the table
is A-F. I have small plastic cups with a sticker to represent each table. On
the cup with the sticker is a letter of the alphabet A-F. All five person
"A"s bring their cups and comes to the computers. When each student is done I
call out for the next student. For example when table 1 person A is done I then
call out 1B. The next person brings up their plastic cup and puts it on top of
the cup that is already by their computer. This way I always know who is
working at the computer and how many more students I still need to see. It takes a
week or two to just get the students used to referring to their table and what
letter they are. I play other games just to get the students use to
responding when they are called. If you need more of an explanation just let me
know.
The other students are looking for books, checking out, reading quietly,
completing a worksheet etc. Yes, it is a little chaotic but worth the effort!
****************
Can you use a projector or a TVator to demonstrate the OPAC to your students
on a large screen ? This year I started to work in 6-8 school after spending
years in a K-5 setting. Our students are very limited in their "library skills"
due mostly to the fact that our 3-5 school offers library for 25 minutes once
a week. The kids do book check AND a lesson in that tiny bit of time ! So you
can imagine that they really haven't been exposed to too much as far as using
the library is concerned. Sorry, I'm going on and on .........
Yes I do think it is realistic to use 5 computers with 25 students. I did
this year. I had them work by tables and look up certain things on the OPAC,
locate and write down the call number and title, and then try to locate the book.
Third graders are a lot younger than my sixth graders, so if the teacher is in
the room or you have an aide, I think you'll be fine.
And yes it may be a bit chaotic, but I'm not a "Shh, shh, Librarian" so I
don't mind the occasional chaos. Just set some ground rules before they embark on
their adventure and I think you'll be fine.
Also, in the past when I introduced 3rd graders to our OPAC I used a fill in
the blanks worksheet and had them partner up for the activity. I probably had
10-12 questions on it, all of which could be answered by using the OPAC
properly. Again, modeling the steps first is extremely important !!!
****************
I don't know if this is quite what you're looking for but our library is in
a somewhat similar situation in that we have 23-24 kids in a class and only 4
OPACs. Of course, a "one-shot" lesson on using the OPAC is not enough, but for
our 3rd graders (we are a 3-5 gr. school so they are our "newbies" and have
had little or no experience using an OPAC in their K-2 school), I have done a
powerpoint slide show. I used a digital camera and the "screen capture" feature
of Macintosh computers to create what amounts to an old-fashioned filmstrip
that models the step-by-step process of finding a book on the shelf. I
"borrowed" a couple of students and took digital pictures of them going through the
process of using the OPAC (this is where the "screen capture" comes in--I take
'pictures' of each step of what is happening on the computer--typing in the key
word, seeing the list of materials, sorting the materials into call number
order, choosing a particular book, seeing what a more in-depth look at the book
looks like (pointing out the call number and showing them writing it down),
etc. Then I take pictures of them deciding, depending on the call number, which
section of the library they should go to, looking at the labels on the ends of
the shelves to decide which row to go down, looking at the labels on the
shelves, then looking at the spine labels to find the particular book they are
looking for.
It sounds so basic, but it was, for many 3rd graders, a kind of "ah-ha!"
moment. After the lesson, they couldn't wait to get on the computers and try to
duplicate the process themselves. (Obviously, I didn't have a 'show me what you
just learned' activity--which is what I think you are looking for.) And the
whole thing, from taking the pictures to making the powerpoint with some written
narration, only took an hour or so. (Tho. I had kind of scripted the thing in
my head so I didn't have to agonize about what pictures to take or what to
write.) I think there were about 20 slides all together.
PLUS--I made print-outs of most of the slides (5 copies of each), laminated
them, and shuffled them up, put them in a manila envelopes and asked the
students to work in teams and put the pictures in order. And that was an activity
that I could do with the 4th and 5th graders (without showing them the slide
show) to just see if they could figure out what was happening in the pictures and
figure out the sequence.
****************
I've done this and it is a little chaotic. Things to consider: Is there an
assistant who can keep an eye on them? Show how at a big-screen computer first.
Are there para-professionals who can monitor them at the computers? Take
more than one week to give everyone time to finish Work in pairs; it will still
take awhile.
****************
I have done something similar with my 3rd graders. I've had as many as 26, as
few as 20. I have 4 OPACs. I split the kids into 3 groups - one group did
"paperwork" (wordsearch, crosswords, determining book titles into Dewey areas);
one group had oak tag book "spines" to go look for the book on the shelves (I
let them work with a partner and had about 10 titles for each pair); and the
last group worked on OPAC - I had them look up titles, authors, subjects, by AR,
etc. They had to answer questions along the lines of what is the call number,
who is the publisher, number of pages, etc. I see these classes weekly; I had
each group work two weeks in their "station," then switched, so it's about a
6 week "unit." It can get loud and look like chaos, but it is hands on
experience.
****************
I give the kids who are not at computers crossword puzzles, wordfinds, hidden
pictures, etc. I would try to keep them in their seats as much as possible. I
know what you are facing. I have 20 kids and 4 computers. I tried giving them
a packet of library lessons to do and I ended up working more with the kids
not on the computer than with the kids on the computers. I relented and now
have them doing stuff they do not need mee for. I also told them the only
question they can ask me was permission to use the bathroom.
****************
Here is a power point and you might search this site that several of us have
developed
****************
I took classes into the computer lab and did a short demonstration of the
online catalog. When we were done we went back into the library and 5 students at
a time used the lookup computers to find a book. Since that time I have
played a game every couple of weeks - I have a jar filled with search topics:
subjects (dogs-nonfiction, weather, dinosaurs, etc), authors, favorite story
characters (Curious George, Froggy, etc.) and book titles. The kids pull a paper
from the jar and find a book to fit the topic. Yes it is chaotic and yes I have a
lot of books to reshelve but they have a great time. Of course as soon as the
kids want to find their own books they are back to asking me to find them,
but I can then point out that they just demonstrated that they could do it
themselves!
****************
I highly recommend doing a scavenger hunt. I do at least one each year with
each of 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. We are just now in the process of automating,
so the hunt forced the students to learn to use the card catalog in the past.
I made up a new hunt using books that are on OPAC. I just started it last
week with my 5th grades. The hunt involves finding 16 clues. It used to take 5-6
classes with the card catalog. Many students completed 1/3 of the current hunt
in one class with OPAC.
I choose books from each section of the library so they have to use all types
of call numbers. When they find the book, I require them to turn to a
specific part of the book (like the index or table of contents) to find the clue.
If you would like, I can send you a copy of the hunt for you to get a better
idea. Of course, it would have to be customized to fit the books you have in
your collection.
One thing I find very helpful is to spend a class period before starting the
hunt explaining how it will work, rules, and going over examples. I review all
the sections of the library and how the call numbers help you to find books,
giving specific examples. I review parts of books since I use that in the
hunt. I go over directions very carefully and make it very clear that if someone
is found not following the rules, I can kick them out of the hunt. I am strict
about having the students use sticks to mark the spot of the book they pull
from the shelf to find the clue. I tell them up front anyone not using a stick
will be
kicked out of the hunt. Since we are not yet scanning out books, all of our
books have the pockets in them for cards. I place an orange paper in each
pocket of the book used. It has a message on it stating that the book is being used
for a hunt and may not be checked out today. When the student doing the hunt
sees this slip, he/she knows that it is the right book.
When students know what the rules and what to expect ahead of time, a
potentially chaotic class runs well. In fact, I have trouble stopping them when
class
time is over and it is time to leave. It is an activity that is quite
enjoyable for both myself and the students.
The first hunt takes a while to organize, but can be used the following year
with the next group of students. Subsequent hunts that I've done took less
time to make up.
****************
I did the scavenger hunt idea that you mentioned. Yes, it was very chaotic,
BUT the kids loved it!! It went well over 2-3 weeks with my 5-6th graders and
they learned a lot. Hope this helps.
****************
RESPONSES FROM 2001 IN A HIT CALLED "OPAC WORKSHEETS"
The most effective way to do practice activities is if they match your
collection and holdings. I know this is not what you want right now, but hopefully
you will work in that direction. I developed work sheets that were topical --
Halloween subjects for Oct. Japan for use with 3rd gd. during their unit etc.
Questions asked the students to make decisions as to best item to meet a
described need. For example using the subject Costume - identify a book for a good
reader in which a costume is used to solve a mystery. Point being it needs to
be a fiction chapter book not an Easy picture book or non-fiction book and they
need to read the annotations to find one that includes reference to using the
costume. Another
similar question asked them to find a chapter book mystery set in a
neighboring state. Amazing how many 5th graders. had forgotten what states are
neighboring states to Maryland which was fourth grade social studies content. I
would ask things like which would be the best book for making your own Halloween
costume again making them read the annotations and make decisions based on fact
vs. story and level of difficulty. We have an * in front of non-fiction call
numbers in the OPAC which indicate the book is shelved in the easy non-fiction
section. I have them practice sorting and choosing appropriate segment of the
collection as well as answering specific content for the question. It takes
some time to generate the worksheets, but the learning is more meaningful and
can be transferred to actual needs easily. Problem can come up when reusing the
sheet another year and the specific book related to the question has been
lost and withdrawn. My initial activity is to use a word such as farmer and have
them compare and analyze the results of using the same word to initiate a
title, author and key word search. I would ask why did a biog. of James Farmer
come up for example. As with other skills they need to be taught in terms of
application to real needs not just in isolation.
****************
I take a screen shot of the OPAC screen with search results, then import it
into a document and add questions. For example, it will show the search for the
subject "flags" and will list out the hits. I'll ask questions about who is
the author of "Our Flag" or what is the Call Number of a particular book or in
which section of the library will I find this book? I find it needs to be
very specific to the OPAC that I have in my library for elementary students.
****************
You might try making a packet of screen prints of different functions on the
OPAC. I do this to demonstrate the "front" page and then show the hits when y
ou do keyword, title, author, and subject. I also demonstrate some of the other
features. If you have the ability to use a large screen for demonstration,
you might do that instead of or in addition to the screen print packets. Don't
have any ideas for worksheets unless you want to quiz them after you go over
the material.
****************
I'm not sure you are going to find anything appropriate as all systems look
slightly different. I even find it hard to find good worksheets for call
numbers, etc. because they don't necessarily catalog things exactly the way I do. I
found what I thought would be great lessons for my older kids, only to realize
that they used Cutter Numbers in the call numbers. I don't know any school
library that does that. I think you will find that same thing with your OPAC.
When I wanted to do that, I took a screen shot, saved it, copied it into Word
and then added my own questions at the bottom.
****************
Check the web site of your automation company or call your rep. Sometimes
they have pre-made worksheets and then you don't have to reinvent the wheel.
****************
I just made screen prints of my various OPAC screens and then printed them on
transparency sheets - use them on an overhead and you have an instant lesson!
********************
RESPONSES FROM 2003 IN A HIT CALLED "Activities for teaching OPAC"
We just got the new Follett system this year and I couldn't wait to show the
2nd-5th how to use the OPAC! For 2nd I'm using the visual and for the rest,
the text. Of course, some of the big kids want to use the visual, just to play
with the mouse.
I started out by telling each class that I was tired. Tired of telling them
exactly on which shelf the book could be found and that they were going to
learn how to locate books themselves.
What I did for the 3rd-5th was to take 30 3X5 cards and make 10 each for
author and title. The other 10 were divided between subject and keyword. I wrote
what search method I wanted them to use on the top left and what I wanted
them to find in the middle.
It is amazing how 5th graders (who think they know everything) will just
click on any of the buttons!
The 2nd graders I had just "play" with the visual and try to find the entry
for any book.
The success story was my Emotional Support kids! They absolutely loved it and
didn't want to check out new books.
****************
We have a full MARC record in our OPAC. Thankfully, it is backed up
regularly. But either way, I put the class in the lab in order to use the projector
and
give them hands-on experience. In another school I didn't use the hands-on
part. So either one will work. I show them how to get into the OPAC. Then I
demonstrate looking up something: cats for a subject search, Pilkey for an author
search, goosebumps for a keyword search. Then I have them choose a title they
are interested in to use for the title search. If they are in a lab, I tell
them to think of the books they already have checked out or think of something
they want to look for next time they are in the library and then spend the
next several minutes practicing. If they are not in a lab, then I have them take
turns at the actual look-up computers.
**************************************
I did a video for Schlessinger this year on the DDC and the OPAC. Part of
Library Skills for Children. I think it might help.
**************************************
I used the projector first and modeled a search by title, author,
series,subject, and keyword. I used the results screen to explain some thingslike
the
fact that the authors are sorted by last name first, so if they look by author
they need to type last name first. I showed them the call numbers and used it
to review the different sections of the library and where an E, B, R, etc.
would be found and what they stand for.
Then I let the students choose a partner to work with because I only have10
computers in the library. I had previously made up search terms and what type
of search to perform. The students had to do the search on the OPAC, then find
the book on the shelf and bring it to me to check. It worked well. Many
students voluntarily did several searches because they thought it was fun.
**************************************
I understand what you're dealing with since I went through the same thing
last year at my last school (with the exception of losing all of our records). I
taught OPAC by asking the students for a few topics they were studying in
class and a few titles/subjects they were interested in. Then I had a student
come up to the laptop. I asked the rest of the class to state something the
individual should search for, and the
person had to figure out what he should type. I then repeated the process
with 2 more kids. The students were very well-behaved, and they seemed to
understand. Following that lesson, all of them were making a beeline for the
computers for the rest of the year. Good luck!
**************************************
I do a lesson where the kids look for books by an author with the same last
name as they have. In your case, you could do a keyword based on their first
name.
**************************************
My kids like working in pairs to find a particular book on the shelf. If you
don't have enough OPAC stations, you can write out cards ahead of time with
title and call number.
**************************************
I do a treasure hunt with the 6th graders. First I review the rules of the
library and expected decorum, etc., then I let them run around in small groups
looking for all the treasure, aka, knowledge. Afterwards, they share out. They
seem to love the activity.
**************************************
You might try having cards with call numbers (E BER Berenstain Bears & 599.74
ARN Black Bears) to hand to the children. The job is to decide which book
would be good for research purposes and then locate it. The following week,
switch books and put them back in the correct location. Check their work as it's
done or put names on cards and check later.
**************************************
After you show them what the record looks like on the screen. Give an example
that you printed out to each pair of students. Have them go to the library
shelves and pull that particular book and return to their seat with it. After a
quick check have them put the book back. Takes about 8 minutes altogether.
This ties the OPAC to the shelves and gives practical experience.
Besides that it is FUN.
****************
Question do you want them to practice going from OPAC to shelf or learn to
search the OPAC hits? Two different sets of skills. I would put teams at each
computer and have then explore the results of different types of searches (use
a term such as FARMER and do keyword, author, title and subject searches and
analyze what happens in each and discuss why different items come up where they
do i.e. James Farmer the civil rights leader or Jimmy Carter peanut farmer. I
used thematic searches such as using terms like COSTUMES, GHOSTS etc at
Halloween time, SNOW, ICE in the winter and units of study such as JAPAN in the
spring for practice. I would ask questions that required the students to read the
annotations to determine the "best" resource for the described purpose i.e.:
Which is the best book to help you make your own Halloween costume? or In what
novel does a character use a costume to solve a mystery? or What is the title
of a ghost story for a good reader that is set in a neighboring state? To
answer this type of question they have to evaluate the quality of different
resources to meet their need. Major skill needing to be developed. Provides
practice in sorting,
using the annotations etc.
Students could take turns controlling the mouse/keyboard for each search.
Group could reach a consensus as to best answer or provide reasons for
differences of opinion. good discussions result.
Going to shelf to find call number is another skill set. You could have kids
take turns looking up a book you assign and then going to the shelf and
returning to the end of the group line at the computer to work back to doing another
search etc. You will be going nuts trying to help both at the computers and
the shelves with this approach unless you have additional help. Might be better
to have large screen display of OPAC and then have a student go to the shelf
and have class do a "getting warmer" getting colder" clues if needed to direct
student to the book. Problem is keeping all involved without lots of books to
re-shelve or chaos.
Fini!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-
All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation.
LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/el-announce/
LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-
LM_NET
Mailing List Home