How+to+Create+a+Pathfinder

=How to create a Pathfinder=

What is a Pathfinder?
====Creating and managing pathfinders are important parts of a school librarian's job. Effective pathfinders help student and teachers alike find resources on a given part of the classroom curriculum. They provide a centralized location where students and teachers know they can find help when they are stuck either studying a unit or finding new and creative ways to present information. It can be available digitally, in print, or both, but the important thing is that students, teachers, and parents know that it is available, and that they know where to find them. In short, a pathfinder is a compilation of a wide range of resources available on a given subject.====

Step 1: Identify Needs
====Before you begin work on your pathfinders, identify the units that need pathfinders. In order to do this successfully, the librarian will need a firm grasp of the curriculum of the classes in his or her school. If you are starting from scratch, this can be a daunting tasks, but most school have their curricula laid out and easily accessible. If it is not available on the school Website, a simple email to various department heads will usually result in a list of units covered in each class. Communication is key, especially at this early stage. As you prepare to begin creating pathfinders, communicating with teachers (department chairs might be the best place to start) will help you to strengthen your good working relationship with the teachers. Keep in mind, this project, like everything the school librarian does, is meant to improve student learning. You and the teachers within the various departments of your school have the same goals - communicating can help you achieve them together!====

Step 2: Gather Resources
====After identifying what units need Pathfinders, your next step is to decide what information to include. Again, communication is vital to your success at this stage. Classroom teachers are a great resource to help you as you compile your list of resources to include because they know what they use - they know what works for them and what doesn't. Be sure to include resources for both students and teachers. Some student resources might include some fun, interactive Websites, podcasts and videos relating to the subject, writing guidelines, essay topics, and places where they can find help if they are stuck. For example, in compiling resources for a Pathfinder on Romeo and Juliet, you may wish to include a link or an address for Sparknotes' No Fear Shakespeare, which puts the Bard's language in more modern English, which may prove very beneficial to students struggling with Shakespeare's language. Be sure the check with the English department chair on this one - some teachers shy away from inviting students to use such sites because of the risk of plagiarism. Again, you can never communicate too much. As far as the teachers go, some useful resources to include would be lesson plan sharing sites and other places where educators share effective strategies and fun activities geared toward enhancing student engagement, a list of film adaptations and any other print and digital material (including multimedia resources and project ideas) the library has available to supplement classroom instruction. Again, it's all about the students!====

Step 3: Organize Information
====OK, the hard part is finished (well, for most of us). You must now decide how to organize and present your information in order to maximize the ease and ability with which students, teachers, and others can access the information you've collected. How you organize your information will very likely vary with the nature of the unit itself, but all units require some level of organization. One long list of resources does not a pathfinder make. Your goal is to help school personnel navigate and access the multitude of available information more efficiently and more quickly. This is where organization comes in. Whether you choose to organize by intended audience (resources for teachers, resources for students, resources for both) or thematically (Romeo and Juliet example: Information on Shakespeare's life, historical information on the Elizabethan period, the Globe Theatre, costumes, staging a production, love through the ages, etc.), your resources should be grouped in a way that makes sense and that is easily understood by all who will use the information you provide.====

Step 4: Presentation
====Now comes the fun part, when you get to flex your creative muscles and decide on presentation options. You may choose to present your Pathfinder in a print or digital format or both. Both print and digital have advantages and disadvantages. For example, a digital presentation makes sense since many of the resources you include will likely be digital in nature. Thus, it is only natural (and much easier) that your presentation is in the same format, allowing users to simply click on links to the various digital resources. However, since technology on occasion fails, and even in our current electronic age, there are teachers and some students (far fewer students than teachers, to be sure) who have not yet gotten on the electronic bandwagon and feel more comfortable with a brochure or document they can touch. Since this is the case, and since the goal is to provide as much information to as many people as possible, it makes perfect sense for the librarian to take the extra step and make the Pathfinder, which will become a vital cog in the academic success of the students, available in both formats. Whichever format(s) you choose, make your Pathfinders colorful, inviting, useful, and user-friendly.====

Step 5: Promotion
====Now that you've done the work to put information at students' and teachers' fingertips, the next step is to bring the fingertips to the information! Be sure teachers and students alike know that your Pathfinders exist, what valuable tools they really are, and most importantly, how to access them. The road less traveled, while it worked perfectly well for Robert Frost, is not the road for you. You want your paths to be well worn! So spread the word! A brief appearance at department meetings can be a great way to get the word to teachers. A note in the daily announcements can do the same for the students, but the most valuable tool in promotion of anything within a school is the school's Website. Talk to the right person and make it happen!====

Step 6: Maintenance
====The creation of the Pathfinder is not the end of your journey. Much like any car dealer worth his salt will provide follow-up maintenance as part of the sale, you must stand behind your product, as well. This means you need to be vigilant and revisit your Pathfinders often. Information changes and becomes outdated, new information becomes available daily, and educational needs and requirements change seemingly hourly. There is nothing more frustrating than useless or outdated information. As the information specialist in your building, it is up to you to insure that your Pathfinders, like all other information to which you provide access, are kept current and useful. Broken links, nonexistent files, and inaccurate information are barriers to the learning process. Once you create your Pathfinders, weed them often to keep them clear of such barriers!====

Here is a sample pathfinder, created for that old staple of the freshman English curriculum, Romeo and Juliet:
media type="scribd" key="44863698" ARG0="key-1hxwmaf1wtw3nsg1bb68" height="600" width="800"

Learn More About Pathfinders on the Web:
[]