Blog 2: You Are What You Eat - Our Consumption Choices Directly Impact our Health and Well-Being

This graphic shows the yearly and daily amount of data consumption by the average US citizen.

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In the digital world of today, unlike any other time in history, we can have any question answered with the click of a few buttons.  We are inundated with news/information on our phones, tablets, and computers.  Locating information is fairly simple but determining if the information we find is true or trustworthy often is not.

I very much enjoyed listening to “Fake News and Media Literacy”, an interview with Clay Johnson, author of The Information Diet, on The Liturgists podcast.  Prior to this podcast, I had not heard the term “information diet”, and I immediately had a misconception of what that meant. I was thinking of “diet” as a verb. When someone mentions, “going on a diet”, that term typically implies the consumption of “less” food – or cutting back.  When I first heard “information diet”, I figured this podcast was going to suggest consuming less information to prevent the overwhelm many of us feel from the constant stream of information that we receive daily. 

Instead, this “diet” was used as a noun, as in the kind of food a person regularly eats – a conscious decision.  This reframed my thinking to understand that an information diet is the total information a person regularly consumes. It is a deliberate and conscious decision made to manage the volume, quality and reliability of the information consumed.  To continue this food analogy, our diets can consist of nutritious food or junk. We can consume an appropriate amount of food to keep us healthy and strong or we can overconsume (even healthy foods) and become unhealthy. Similarly, our information diet can consist of an appropriate volume of high quality, relevant content or can consist of copious amounts of low value, untrue or possibly harmful content.  When our information diet becomes unbalanced, we often suffer the consequences mentally, emotionally, and relationally. 

The key to maintaining a “balanced” information diet is to be intentional and thoughtful about the information that we choose to digest.  Johnson shared a song to help the podcast listeners remember five key questions to ask to determine the credibility of sources.

1.  Who wrote this?

2. Who published it? Do they have an editorial review board?

3.  When was it published? (Date)

4. Are the sources cited? (Authors and contributors should be named.)

5. Was it written with proper grammar and mechanics?

 After reading this week’s assignments and listening to the podcast, I have realized that my information diet is bland.  Being a busy mama and teacher, I just don’t have a lot of extra time for anything other than household, family, and job responsibilities.  I typically avoid reading or listening to local and world news/politics because I don’t want to spend my time anxious and upset.  I spend a few minutes each day on Facebook, which is my only social media account.  It provides more entertainment than reliable information, though.  I love to listen to audiobooks and podcasts while doing my daily chores, but again, these provide more entertainment than information.  The bottom line is I need to do better.

As a school librarian, it will be important for me to model a healthy, balanced information diet.  It will also be important for me to show my students how they can achieve one, as well.  Explaining the importance of placing time limits on the amount of media consumed daily (particularly social media), exploring ways to determine credibility (using Valenza's (2016) strategies and tips), and taking intentional breaks from media consumption to read, play games, exercise, etc. are all helpful strategies that I can teach my students. 

References

Gungor M. (Host). (2017, March 7). Fake News and Media Literacy [Audio podcast]. In The Liturgists. The liturgists. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fake-news-media-literacy/id903433534?i=1000382332635 

Valenza, J. (2016) Truth, truthiness, triangulation: A news literacy toolkit for a "post-truth" world. School Library Journal, https://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2016/11/26/truth-truthiness-triangulation-and-the-librarian-way-a-news-literacy-toolkit-for-a-post-truth-world/

Blog 1: Comparing/Contrasting AASL and ISTE Standards

I was struggling to get a good grasp of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards when I read through them separately. Thankfully, the AASL formulated a crosswalk of AASL and ISTE standards that I found especially helpful when attempting to better understand each set of standards. The organized format of the crosswalk (a table) made comparing each set of standards much easier for me.

After my discovery that the crosswalk greatly aided in my comprehension of these two sets of standards, it was serendipitous that I happened across Courtney Lewis’ article, “Leveraging Crosswalks for Communication” in Knowledge Quest.  Lewis (2019) succinctly articulates two main reasons why this crosswalk is so helpful.  She explains that this crosswalk helps achieve common language between both sets of standards.   She also emphasizes how this crosswalk graphically represents the connection between administrators, learners, and teachers to the outside world with a big-picture view of the curriculum (Lewis, 2019).

The American Association of School Library Standards are composed of six foundations: Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore, Engage. Each foundation has a list of key competencies that outline its essential elements. The competencies are grouped into four domains that mirror the inquiry process – Think, Create, Share, Grow.   AASL standards provide an integrated framework for learners, school librarians, and school libraries.

The International Society for Technology in Education standards provide competencies for learning, teaching, and leading using technology. The focus of ISTE Standards is not on specific devices or tools but instead focuses on learning and the effective use of technology in schools worldwide.  These standards are categorized into four groups specifically for students, educators, education leaders, and instructional coaches.  There are five to seven standards listed for each group.

Both sets of standards emphasize the importance of students focusing on goal setting and becoming self-directed learners.  They both place an emphasis on student collaboration and interaction with students from a wide variety of backgrounds.  They also both promote the development of critical thinking skills in students.  Perhaps most importantly, both sets of standards encourage students to become lifelong learners who seek knowledge and use media, information, and technology ethically and responsibly.      

AASL standards place an emphasis on the process of learning and the role of the school library within that process.  Librarians and classroom teachers use the standards collaboratively to figure out how to best teach content standards.  Conversely, ISTE standards are content standards and focus more on the final product (what is learned) than the process of learning it.  Another obvious key difference between the two standards is the major emphasis on technology in ITSE standards.  While technology is integrated into the AASL standards, it is not the focus.   

When I am a school librarian, both the AASL and ISTE standards will provide guidance, structure, and support when I am developing a curriculum for the school library.  They will also be helpful when I am collaborating with classroom teachers to develop lesson plans for other content areas. The integration and implementation of both sets of standards will result in developing students who are knowledgeable and capable lifelong learners.

     infographic depicting a framework of the ASL Standards for Learners    

                           Link to AASL Infographic                                       

                    infographic depicting a framework of the ASL Standards for Learners

                                                        link to ISTE infographic

                                                                 

                                                           References

AASL. (2018). National School Library Standards Crosswalk.  Retrieved from https://standards.aasl.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/180828-aasl-                standards-crosswalk-iste.pdf             

Lewis, C. (2019). Leveraging crosswalks for communication. Knowledge Quest, 47(5), 42-43.