Presentation by Bob Berkowitz at AASL 2011, "Turn the Page" Conference, Minneapolis, MN. Berkowitz poses the questions "What higher-level thinking skills will students need most in the future,"and "how can teacher librarians and classroom teachers integrate strategies that put students in a position to succeed for a lifetime?"

1. The Big6:
Information Literacy
&
Executive Skills
Future-Proofing Students
Bob Berkowitz, presenter

2. Raise you hand if you ever…
sung karaoke?
been without a shower for more than 2 weeks?
eaten frogs' legs?
been in love with someone who was vegetarian?
done volunteer work sometime in the last month?
had a close relative who lived to over 100?
been parachuting or done a bungee jump?
lived overseas for more than 1 year?
left your cell-phone on during a workshop?

3. Agenda
• Introduction
• Executive Skills
• Big6 Skills
– Task Definition
– Information Seeking Strategies
– Location and Access
– Use of Information
– Synthesis
– Evaluation
• Integration is the Key
• Q&A
• Closing

4. What are the skills that make Executives
successful?
• Write responses here • Write responses here

5. Executive Skills and Abilities
• Time management • Creative thinking
skills skills
• People management • Organizational skills
skills • Effective listening
• interpersonal skills
communication skills • Decision making
• business skills
communication skills • Problem solving
• verbal communication skills
skills • Negotiating skills
• Business management • Teamwork skills
skills • Coaching skills
• Strategic Thinking • Teaching skills

6. Executive Skills and Abilities
• Quick learning skills • Creativity
• Effective study skills • Determination
• Analytical Skills • Ethics
• Risk Taking • Critical thinking skills
• Sales Ability • Customer service
• Resourceful-ness skills
• Reliability • Patience
• Responsibility • Multi-Tasking
• Diplomacy Skills

7. EXECUTIVE SKILLS
What does that really mean?
Academic Soft Habits
Skills Skills of Mind
Informational reading Teamwork Analysis
Persuasive writing Work ethic Interpretation
Oral presentation Responsibility Precision & accuracy
Data analysis & • Attendance Problem solving
statistics • Punctuality Reasoning
• Time
management

8. FOUNDATIONAL BELIEFS
The purpose of education is to prepare
students to be:
 Successful learners for a lifetime
 Responsible citizens
 Productive members of a
global economy
 Productive members of an
information-oriented society

9. FOUNDATIONAL BELIEFS
Schools:
 Are capable of changing.
 Must change on a regular basis if
they are going to prepare students
for success in an ever-changing
society.
9

10. FOUNDATIONAL BELIEFS
Teacher Librarians:
 Care about their students
 Want their students to achieve at a
high level.

11. A Vision for students
In addition to narrowing gaps in four
key areas…
1. Leadership and executive-level
skills
2. Basic skills: the three “Rs”
3. Professional and industry-specific
skills
4. Management and supervisory
skills
…additional skills are needed
for success in the information
economy…

12. From the perspective of teacher librarians
Our students deserve:
• Write responses here • Write responses here

13. EDUCATION REALITY
What challenges do teacher-
librarians face when trying to
educate students at a rigorous
level?

14. Challenges faced by
Teacher-Librarians:
• Write responses here • Write responses here

15. THE BOTTOM LINE
 If we
 care about our students,
 understand information literacy,
we can no longer do business as
usual.
 We must
 do whatever it takes
to help all students learn at a
globally competitive standard.

16. ASK YOURSELF
1. Do we have high enough
expectations of our students?
2. Is the content we teach rigorous
enough?
3. Are our students engaged in their
learning?
4. Do teacher librarians use
assessments to evaluate the success
of their instructional strategies?
Based on Elements of High Achieving Schools, American Student Achievement
Institute, 2007

17. ASK YOURSELF
5. Do our students see the personal
connection between what they learn
at school and their futures?
6. Do our students learn in an
environment that supports learning?
• Disciplined environment
• Adequate resources for all students
• Appropriate balance of academic
and other activities

18. The Big6™ Skills:
Basic Themes
• The Big6 process can be applied in all
subjects, with students of all ages, and
across all grade levels (K-20).
• The Big6 is an adaptable and flexible; it
can be applied to any information situation.
• Technology skills take on meaning within
the Big6 process.
• Using the Big6 is not always a linear, step-
by-step process.

19. Basic Themes:
continued
• The Big6 process is necessary and
sufficient for solving problems and
completing tasks.
• The Big6 is an ideal approach for
integrating information literacy learning with
all subject area curricula at all grade levels.
• The Big6 provides a common vocabulary
for “metacognition” – that helps everyone
talk about how they learn and solve
problems.

20. What is the Big6?
When students are faced with an
information problem to solve or
information-based decision to
make, they can use a systematic,
problem-solving model –
they can use the Big6

21. Stage 1
1 Task Definition
1.1 Define the information problem
1.2 Identify information needed

22. Stage 2
2 Information Seeking
Strategies
2.1 Determine all possible sources
2.2 Select the best sources

23. Stage 3
3 Location and Access
3.1 Locate sources
(intellectually & physically)
3.2 Find information within sources

24. Stage 4
4 Use of Information
4.1 Engage
(ex. read, hear, view, touch)
4.2 Extract relevant information

25. Stage 5
5 Synthesis
5.1 Organize from multiple sources
5.2 Present the information

26. Stage 6
6 Evaluation
6.1 Judge the product
(effectiveness)
6.2 Judge the process
(efficiency)

27. Big6 and Super3
• Task Definition
• Info Seeking Strategies
Plan
• Location and Access
• Use of Information Do
• Synthesis
• Evaluation
Review
www.big6.com

28. Course
Big6
Curriculum

29. Course Integrated Big6
Curriculum Program

30. Taking Charge of Executive
Skills Instruction
1. Understand key strategies, goals,
and performance objectives
2. Identify competencies
3. Set goals and prioritize the path
to fill gaps
4. Implement solutions
5. Monitor and measure results, and
communicate the impact.
30

31. Q&A

32. To Get There….

33. So How Do You Implement
a School-Wide Big6 Initiative
for Authentic Learning?

34. Big and Small Steps
• Engage your principal
• Develop a plan
• District-wide implementation
• Start with a few teachers…build
success
• Put an END to topic research!
• Prominently display…
• Share one step at a time at staff
meetings

35. Jerry King http://www.jerryking.com/ and From Now On
http://fno.org.

36. Big6 Advanced
Key Points from this Workshop
• Incorporates HOTS - higher order thinking
skills.
• Helps students build knowledge
• Moves students beyond location & access to
construction, communication and assessment
• Keeps students engaged with ideas and
information
• Teaches students to be good researchers
• Helps students manage information
• Aligned with student outcomes
• Enables students to do schoolwork better
• Dynamic agent for learning.

37. Summarize Your
Thoughts
• An effective information literacy skills
curriculum helps teacher-librarians
to:
• An effective information literacy skills
curriculum helps teachers to:
• An effective information literacy skills
curriculum helps students to:

38. WE CAN MAKE A
DIFFERENCE
Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world. Indeed, it is the
only thing that ever has.
-- Margaret Mead

39. Q&A

40. The End
Think Thanks for
listening
Big6