Article no. 1
Fixed Schedules Can Support 21st Century Skills
In “Fixed Schedules Can Support 21st Century Skills” Formanack and Pietsch state that fixed library schedules can still lead to an effective school library program if there is a strong and committed teacher-librarian in place. I was drawn to this article because I’m currently thinking about how I want to organize my schedule for next year. When I first started at my school as a teacher-librarian in September I proposed that the library schedule be flexible since that is what I had experienced in other schools. The staff did not agree and convinced me to make a fixed schedule at least for the first term. At first, I was a little reluctant but now as the year comes to an end I have really enjoyed having a fixed schedule for the whole year. Creating a fixed schedule was a little difficult with all the prep periods and the schedule of other specialists but somehow we managed.
Formanack and Pietsch reminded me how important it is to be organized and to have a well-developed curriculum. This is something I lacked this year. I found it very difficult to meet with teachers to collaborate on lessons due to time constraints. The article also stresses the importance of building on communication. Formanack and Pietsch recommend that classroom teachers share their long-term plans with the TLs and that TLs need to “build trusting relationships with classroom teachers and help them understand that library time is an opportunity for their students to extend classroom learning and meet classroom goals”. I really tried hard this year to do this but it was harder than I expected. Many teachers jumped on board right away and understood what I was trying to achieve while others, the more experienced teachers, resisted the whole year and even made it difficult for me to do my job. I can see that I still need to work on building trust and that this will take time. I also need to develop my curriculum so that they can see how a TL can benefit their curriculum. Those teachers need evidence that I can serve a purpose.
I’m fortunate that I have time in my schedule to meet with all the classes once a week to do a lesson. Someone else takes care of the book exchanges since I only work 3 days a week, by choice. In many school districts where the TL job keeps getting cut back, it would be difficult to have a fixed schedule. TLs would have to get creative like perhaps having a schedule over 2 weeks or to divide classes by term.
To help develop a strong curriculum, the article goes on to talk about establishing professional learning communities (PLCs). I have been involved in some PLCs in the past and I think that this would be beneficial to me since I’m so new to the position of TL. The library PLC groups that were described in the article consisted of eight to ten librarians from schools with the similar grade-levels or similar demographics. They were established to “create effective professional development by examining best practices in the design of teaching and learning experiences.” The groups would meet monthly and focused on AASL’s Standards for the 21st century Learner. The group would then reconvene to assess the results and examine student work. The Omaha Public Schools took on this model and found that PLCs “are an effective way to meet with their library colleagues and determine an instructional focus, develop a curriculum-based project, and deliver common instruction.” I find having this kind of dialogue among colleagues is the richest kind of professional development that I could have at this point. The PLC group even had seven steps to follow:
-identify and clarify student needs;
-formulate an objective and identify student work to be analyzed;
-identify and adopt an instructional focus to address the need;
-prepare to try the instructional focus in the classroom;
-deliver instruction making consistent and genuine efforts;
-analyze student work to evaluate whether the instruction met student needs;
-reassess. Either repeat the cycle or move to another area of need
I work for the Catholic School Board and feel that creating PLCs could definitely be achieved since we are so small. We are spread out throughout the Lower Mainland but we could group ourselves geographically. I look forward to our next TL meeting in the Fall, perhaps I’ll be brave enough to suggest that we start PLCs!
In conclusion it is so important to get to know your students and staff to create an effective schedule. In my school a fixed schedule seems to be working very well. A good library program needs to be led by a strong TL. As Formanack and Pietsch state “those librarians advocate for their programs, foster positive professional relationships at both the building level and within the larger library community and take the lead in learning initiatives”. Most importantly like in all areas of teaching, there must be evidence to show that library programs are working and are impacting student achievement, this is what will help sell my program to my staff. I have a lot of work cut out for me next year!
References:
Formanack, G. and Pietsch, L. (2011). Fixed Schedules Can Support 21st Century Skills. School Library Monthly, v27 n6 p8.
Article no. 2
Transform Global Literature Circles with Web 2.0
In this article Collins introduces a project using literature circles to help students to discover “unfamiliar cultures, gaining knowledge and understanding of challenges faced by their contemporaries around the world.” The librarian and classroom teacher chose fiction books with a global focus and used student-centered technology to show their learning. Their goals were to: “enlighten students about the worldwide community; destroy misconceptions and stereotypes; develop new understanding of cultural differences; evaluate the author’s perspective or purpose.”
I’m so excited about this article! In my last article summary I spoke about the importance of curriculum development and finding projects that teachers will get excited about. This article gives me a great project to do with the grade seven teacher in my school. I’ve wanted to do a project or an activity that used different kinds of technology and this project does just that. This comprehensive article gives all the necessary information to easily take on this project. Collins provides a booklist for the seventh graders and talks about the criteria in selecting a novel. To help motivate the students Collins recommends using Animoto (http://animoto.com/) to create professional looking video clips. Instead of doing a typical booktalk she used this with images and sounds to help represent the books. I think this is a great tool to motivate the students. I was intrigued by this site and spent way too much time creating my own video using family pictures! This is a good reminder for me to always have something interesting to start off any project. With enthusiasm and creativity students will jump right into the activity or project. Instead of doing the typical book discussion groups, Collins used Moodle, a closed learning environment, to create an online threaded book discussion. This is another simple way to integrate technology into a lesson. Once the students have answered the questions and have discussed thoroughly about their book the next step is doing a global community exchange. Collins contacted the librarian at the International School of Boston. She provided contacts to staff members who were from different cultures. Using Skype, the students asked questions and listened to the different experiences of these global citizens. Following that, students used Glogs, online posters that integrate text, photos, audio and video, to express the knowledge that they had gained from the book. The last thing students had to do was complete a self-reflection sheet about the book and about the technology used.
In conclusion I think this project is a wonderful way to include literacy of the 21st century into the curriculum. By integrating “Web 2.0 tools into projects, today’s digital natives will become thoroughly engaged. Curriculum will be more relevant to their lives as they become Web 2.0 savvy global citizen.”
References:
Collins, J. (2010). Transform Global Literature Circles with Web 2.0. Library Media Connection, v29 n2 p24-25 Oct 2010. 2 pp.
Article no. 3
School Library Website Components
I’m very interested in creating a school library website. I was searching for an article that would help me get started. In Jurkowski’s article he gives a nice overview of the different elements that should be included in a library website. Jurkowski states that “school websites are a necessity” and I totally agree with him. I think it’s the role of the librarian to be a leader in technology and what better place to start than in creating a website. My school doesn’t have any kind of website for the library. The school website is very informative and is kept up to date with all the information that parents and teachers need. Every teacher has their own page where they post the daily homework and class schedule. Since parents and teachers are already used to looking at the school website for information I think that they would find a library website quite useful.
The first website I ever made was for LIBE 465. I stuck to the basics and found the process to be quite easy. Jurkowski mentions that the technical aspects of designing a good website are no longer the biggest problems that librarians face when creating a website. There are so many great sites that make it very easy for you. Jurkowski explains that the more difficult hurdle is the actual design and organization of the website. He also suggests that any school website should be simple and easy to follow. Librarians don’t need to worry about designing a flashy site. As long as the site is age appropriate and easy to navigate then the website will be used.
Jurkowski’s article mainly focuses on the content that a library website should have in terms of information and resources for its users. During 2003 Jurkowski analyzed 34 school library websites in Missouri. He provided a list of website features for basic functions, features more specific to a school library, features for content area and additional features that might be worth adding. I’m sure these lists of features will be very useful when I finally have the time to start working on my website.
Jurkowski suggests that the best way to decide what to put in the library website is to look at many library websites that are already done. He recommends incorporating the best into your own. “Therefore, the more you look, the better representation you can find.” To start he recommends to first decide what exactly you want to include and do with the website. Something to remember is that websites go through periods of change and you can’t keep the same site for too long without making significant changes. Something that I’m struggling with and that worries me is the time needed to firstly create the site but then to also maintain it. It’s so important to keep the site up to date and interesting. If students can rely on you to introduce new and interesting sites then they will keep coming back to see what is new. The worst thing would be to create a site that no one uses!
I look forward to the experience of creating a dynamic library website for my school and incorporating many of Jurkowski’s suggestions.
References:
Jurkowski, O. (2004) School Library Website Components. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, v48 n6 p56-60 2004. 5 pp.
