Inquire

 Building Knowledge Through Curiosity

 

I was able to interview Brenell Harris, a school librarian at East North Street Academy.  She serves students from Kindergarten through 5th grade.

The questions I asked Brenell were: 

What are some ways you are incorporating the shared competencies in the school library?

How important are the shared competencies when you are planning lessons in the library?

Are any of the competencies overlapping with the SC state standards and how do you collaborate with teachers when planning your library lessons to align with their classroom instruction?

Do you face any challenges when implementing these competencies?

We talked about a lesson she completed with 3rd grade students.  They were working on a Titanic unit with their teachers after reading I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, and the teachers wanted the students to be able to research for their projects in the library.  Brenell was eager to collaborate with teachers and support their curriculum and instruction.  The students developed their own questions about the Titanic that they would work to discover the answers to while in the library using various resources.  Brenell would also be teaching these young students how to use Destiny in the library to find books on the topic as well as use SCDISCUS, specifically Britannica Encyclopedia and Pebble Go to jump start their research in databases online.

 

I discussed with Brenell the AASL Shared Foundations specifically, Inquire, along with the domains: think, create, share, and grow within the foundation and how important it is to use during lessons in the library.  She said the shared foundations--domains and competencies-- are easily integrated into the work we do as librarians and really define what we do as school librarians.  As we talked about Inquire, it was easy to see that inquiry units are often completed in the library collaboratively with teachers and librarians working together to accomplish the task.  Students are building new knowledge, adding to what they already know, correcting things they misunderstood, and furthering their search as they learn new information and direct their wonderings into searches.  In this particular lesson, and as Brenell and I discussed, students were really demonstrating the "think" domain within the shared foundation as they brainstormed what questions they had about the Titanic.  Students, especially younger students, naturally have many questions when they are learning about something new, so the teacher had presented the idea to the librarian because the students had so many questions about the Titanic while reading the book.  Brenell was encouraging students to form their questions while activating their prior knowledge from their previous reading.  I absolutely love the idea of having students inquire and research based on personal interests and curiosities after reading books or working in content areas.  Students learn more when they are motivated and they are more motivated when they have an interest in the topic and some ownership in the project. 

When I asked Brenell about aligning the AASL standards and SC state standards, she said that it is something she has been working on for several years and shared a working document of a long range plan/ curriculum that she and other district librarians were working on together.  I loved seeing how they chose topics and units of study and aligned both the standards to the project being taught during library instruction.  This is a valuable tool, not only to guide your lessons and determine what is being taught and what needs to be taught, but it also provides an opportunity for teachers and librarians to work together for a common purpose.  This also reinforces the work we are doing in the library and provides administrators documentation of that instruction.  

 

We discussed how within the "inquire" shared foundation, the biggest challenge is probably teaching students to think critically, teaching them they have to actually read the information they find to look for answers to their questions, and especially within the Domain: Think-- allowing students to research a topic of personal interest.  Students are often given a topic  by their teacher to research whether they are interested in that topic or not.  I understand that teachers have content to teach, however, allowing the students opportunities to research topics and questions of their own choosing really develops and prepares them for the work they will do outside of the school setting.

 

What’s next?

I look forward to creating a long range plan/ curriculum guide that aligns AASL standards and the SC state standards in a document to ensure I am covering material that my students need as well as support the teachers' instruction as well.  I think this will be most beneficial to me as we work together to accomplish a common goal.  I also would love to implement student-led inquiry projects in the library, something like Genius Hour, where students lead the way and I help guide and direct their learning by providing the resources and assist in the inquiry-based research process.  Empowering students by allowing choice will help to motivate students and get them excited to learn new information and seek the answers to their questions and problems!

Include

 Building Balanced Perspectives

 

I was able to interview Mandy Cox, a school librarian at Dawkins Middle School.  Mandy works with students in grades 6-8.

The questions I asked Mandy were: 

What are some ways you are incorporating the shared competencies in the school library?

How important are the shared competencies when you are planning lessons in the library?

Are any of the competencies overlapping with the SC state standards and how do you collaborate with teachers when planning your library lessons to align with their classroom instruction?

Do you face any challenges when implementing these competencies?

We talked about a lesson she completed with a 7th grade English Language Arts class which helped build skills to prepare for their argumentative essays. She used the magazine called The Week Junior . In the magazine each week, there is an article that poses a question and presents two sides to the topic or issue.  Students read the article and analyze the evidence shared for both sides.  Then they choose a side to defend and build their argument using evidence from the article.  She created an organizer and interactive handouts students use with the lesson.  I was excited that she shared such a great resource with me that I could take back immediately and use with my students.

 

I discussed with Mandy the AASL Shared Foundations specifically, Include, and how important it is to use during lessons in the library.  She said the shared foundations--domains and competencies-- are easily integrated into the work we do as librarians and really define what we do as school librarians.  Using the framework, we can see that the aspects of "Include" are important, not just because they highlight a skill students are expected to master in middle school, but also, they encompass a skill that is necessary to participate in a positive productive manner out in the world beyond the four walls of a school building and test-taking scenarios.  It is imperative that students learn to not only build strong evidence to support their own opinions and perspectives, but also learn how to share those with others while also remaining open to hearing the opinions and perspectives of others.  Students can learn to take the perspectives of others, reflect on their own opinions, and possibly rethink these points of view as they build upon these ideas.  It's easy to see that many of these shared foundations--domains and  competencies-- work together with each other within the school library setting.  Students who are working collaboratively will also demonstrate including others as they master this concept.

Mandy said that it is very easy to align the domains and competencies with the SC state standards.  She works closely with her ELA teachers to incorporate their SC Standards into the library instruction.  Many times the wording is just different, but the same lesson can be taught to address standards in both the SC state standards as well as the AASL standards.  For example, within the Domains: Think, Create, Share, and Grow, the word "argumentative" may not be used in the AASL standards, but words like "evaluating multiple perspectives" and "reflect on diverse viewpoints" and "engage in active debates" and "discerning between multiple points of view and opinions".  So, it is often easy to align the two sets of standards, even if it isn't worded exactly the same.  Mandy shared that often crosswalks really help librarians align their instruction so that they can address library standards and ELA standards when creating a library curriculum.  I think as I develop my own lesson plans using SC state standards and AASL standards, I would like to have a crosswalk to help design a curriculum that meets the needs of both teachers and librarians as we help students learn and grow within the school setting together.

 

We discussed how with the "include" competency, the biggest challenge is probably within the Domain: Share.  Students have thoughts, ideas, opinions, and their own perspectives, but often they are hesitant to share them for various reasons.  It could be they are not as confident in defending their stance, but most of time it is that students lack verbal communication skills.  We can easily address the domains Think, Create, and Grow-- creating opportunities for students to participate in learning activities, guiding and supporting them to think and understand, but often the share piece is what is not as strong as other domains.  While talking with each of the librarians, this seems to be a common thread across grade levels and school environments. 

 

What’s next?

I am excited to incorporate this argumentative lesson into my own library instruction because I think it will benefit students in many of the domains and competencies within the shared foundation: Include.  I know I will have to work harder to create experiences for students to share.  I know that developing relationships with students and "creating an atmosphere in which learners feel empowered" will help build their confidence and allow them to feel comfortable sharing with each other during library visits.  

Curate

 Curating Resources to Evaluate Information

 

I was able to interview Colleen Hitchcock, a school librarian at Woodruff High School in October.  Colleen serves students who are in grades 9-12.

The questions I asked Colleen were: 

What are some ways you are incorporating the shared competencies in the school library?

How important are the shared competencies when you are planning lessons in the library?

Are any of the competencies overlapping with the SC state standards and how do you collaborate with teachers when planning your library lessons to align with their classroom instruction?

Do you face any challenges when implementing these competencies?

We talked about a lesson she completed with a high school English class where they created an annotated bibliography after finding and evaluating resources.  The major portion of the lesson was her modeling and having students use lateral reading to evaluate information to determine if the source was credible.  She spent time showing the students how to investigate their source.  So instead of just vertical reading and staying on one site, with lateral reading they leave the site and go out to other websites to find out about that site to see what others say about that source. The students then worked collaboratively and had specific sites to look at together to evaluate using lateral reading.

 

I discussed with Colleen the AASL Shared Foundations specifically, Curate, and how important it is to use during lessons in the library.  She said Curating is essential to the work we do as librarians.  Curating is the bulk of what we do in our school libraries including collecting, organizing, and sharing resources with our students.  We as librarians must be able to evaluate books and resources to determine the credibility, relevance, validity, and appropriateness for our students, but we must also model that skill so that our students learn to do the same when they are researching and looking for information.

Colleen said that it is very easy to integrate the domains and competencies with the SC state standards.  Much of the standards really focus on inquiry, so it is easy to use those inquiry standards and align those with the AASL standards.  One website I love to use is commonstandardsproject.com  You can actually choose a grade level and content area standards and the AASL standards to align and display side by side.  I love looking at the standards this way so I can find similarities and overlaps between the standards.

 

We discussed how with the curation competency, the biggest challenge is getting students into the library!  High school students are much more independent, and teachers are not regularly bringing students into the library for lessons and instruction, so it's more difficult to get the information to the students and teach the skills they need.  Students are navigating an information-rich world that seems to bombard them everywhere with information, both factual and misinformation alike.  These skills are necessary to teach students, but it is so difficult to do so without fostering relationships with teachers and collaborating to plan instruction.  Another challenge is the amount of information students are having to sift through because it is available at their fingertips within seconds.  The technology-driven world we live in overwhelms even the best researcher with abundance of information, and with AI, this has become even more challenging to decipher between credible and fake.  

 

What’s next?

School librarians should create an environment that allows students to watch them model curating information and resources and gives them the opportunity to practice these skills and do the same during their inquiry and search for information and resources.  I learned how difficult it is for high school librarians to teach students the skills they need for the future.  Thinking back to my discussion with an academic librarian earlier in the semester, she told me how students enter college as freshman really lacking the skills they need to independently navigate the library and complete research.  This shows me there is a need for high school librarians to teach students how to complete these tasks, however, they are not able to do so because of the lack of collaboration with teachers on the high school level.  We assume high school students are independent and give them the project to complete, but we haven't modeled the process well enough or given them the support and practice to prepare them.  In the future, I will work to prepare my 8th grade middle schoolers for high school and remind them they do have access to a school librarian who can help them.  I will also continue to model curation in my own library and collaborate with teachers to plan lessons to teach our students how to evaluate information and resources. Developing our learning community will also support my high school librarian and the work she is doing at the next level.  I will also collaborate with her to ensure we work together to help students navigate the media overload students are exposed to daily.

Collaborate

 

Working Together For A Common Goal

 

I was able to interview Jenny Summey, a school librarian at Cowpens Elementary School in November.  Jenny serves students who are in kindergarten through fifth grade. 

The questions I asked Jenny were: 

What are some ways you are incorporating the shared competencies in the school library?

How important are the shared competencies when you are planning lessons in the library?

Are any of the competencies overlapping with the SC state standards and how do you collaborate with teachers when planning your library lessons to align with their classroom instruction?

Do you face any challenges when implementing these competencies?

We talked about a lesson on theme she had just completed with students.  Theme is in the state standards across multiple grade levels.  When students join her for the lesson, she reviews the concept with a graphic organizer and connects with other books they’ve read and the theme of those books.  She said she had students turn and talk and come up with ways the books share a theme.  She asked students to share with their partners said. She read a new book and again had students share whole group about the theme after turning and talking once again.  Finally, students worked in pairs to choose a book and create their own shared theme “bumper sticker”.  In the end student pairs shared their bumper sticker and why they chose it for the book and theme.  Allowing students to connect with peers, collaborate, and share keeps students engaged while they are adding to their learning, developing new ideas, and also challenging understanding with others’ thoughts and perspectives.

 

I discussed with Jenny the shared domain, Collaborate, and how important it is to use during lessons in the library.  She said it was absolutely necessary and essential and that it really jumpstarts conversations and extends learning with her students.  Students working together to solve a problem, develop an idea, or investigate the unknown together is what collaboration in the library is all about!  This also gives students who may not be able to solve problems or develop ideas independently the opportunity to work with someone who can help them achieve common goals by working together.  I love how during the turn and talk to a neighbor and partner sharing, students are able to learn from others and clarify any misunderstandings or change their own thinking while learning new information or rethinking about ideas and concepts previously taught.

 

Jenny said that it is very easy to integrate the domains and competencies with the SC state standards.  She plans with teachers regularly to help coteach and present the same concepts in the library lessons that students are working on in the classrooms.  I can tell that having relationships with teachers, whether it is through planning times or via emails and google doc lesson plan sharing, it is important to work together towards a common goal.  Collaborating with teachers ensures we are all effectively working together for the common goal—to help our students learn and grow.  This is exactly what we want to be able to teach them how to do while in the library working together.  Modeling a collaborative environment while working with teachers shows students we can learn more and deepen our thinking as well as correct misunderstanding when we work together and are open to others’ perspectives and ideas. 

 

We discussed how with the collaboration competency, the biggest challenge is getting students to actually talk.  We live in such a technology driven world, that when we give students the opportunity to talk and discuss a topic, they often do not know how to collaborate.  This is a skill that really has to be modeled and taught, and it’s almost like pulling teeth to get students to speak sometimes!  Jenny also said that collaboration can be really tough with the younger grades because they haven’t had any opportunities to develop this skill, so it can sometimes be a little challenging (chaotic) doing collaborative work with kindergarteners! 

 

What’s next?

School librarians should create an environment that allows students to work together for collaboration through library programs and instruction, helping students to develop and strengthen their problem-solving and critical thinking skills.  Allowing students the opportunity to collaborate and setting the expectation of physical discussion, helps students develop necessary skills of collaboration, communication, and working with others which are skills everyone needs when working outside of a school environment as well.  In the future, I will model a collaborative environment while promoting students to engage and learn from each other.