Success, motivation, thinking and self-awareness

Victor Davidson in Success, motivation, thinking and self-awareness, Access September 2005, p. 9-10 talks about various literacies, including listening to music from a variety of sources and formats and cooking (recipes, food groups, etc.) as being useful tools to engage students with the concepts, tools and skills that are needed to be information literate. An example I have used in this regard is selecting the exact item when a hypothetical Mum asks a hypothetical student to purchase some margarine on the way home from school. When you walk into the supermarket there are sometimes dozens of pots and pats of various sizes, and with a multitude of different ingredients. Unless you have asked 'Mum' the right questions, e.g. is it for baking a cake or spreading on bread, has someone in the family an allergy/intolerance to a certain ingredient, etc. you'll be lucky to come home with the exact item that is needed. It's the same when a student comes to the library and says "I need some information about XYZ". They need to ask themselves a few leading questions first so that they can be more specific and end up with exactly what they need rather than a plethora of trivia. Asking the right questions is an important skill for lifelong learning, and it doesn't just happen; it has to be taught and developed through practice.

Davidson also says that "In an ideal world, we would collaborate with all the [teachers] and team-teach to integrate information skills" but in the interim he will "embrace" those teachers who come and "subvert" those who don't "by teaching around" them in all sorts of creative ways. That seems to be the reality in a lot of school libraries.