Monthly Archives: March 2015

April is School Library Month

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kids_plus_libraries_sizedApril is School Library Month (SLM). The BACC co-bloggers will join this effort this month and share information and perspectives on advocating for the essential role of school librarians and libraries in education.

The American Association of School Librarians has a Web site devoted to providing marketing and promotional materials for SLM.  Actress Julianne Moore provided a public service announcement to kick off this annual advocacy campaign. What I especially appreciate about AASL’s SLM effort is that it supports three premises of advocacy that I have been reminded of in an advocacy course in which I have been participating this spring. (See end of this post.)

  1. Advocacy is not an emergency response.
  2. Advocacy is a planned and deliberate strategy.
  3. To be successful, it must be sustained effort over time.

Through this annual national effort, our association supports the on-going advocacy work of site-level librarians. To be effective and sustained, advocacy must be simultaneously local and global. To this national campaign, building-level librarians are called upon to provide site-specific examples of how their work positively impacts teachers’ teaching and students’ learning and contributes to strengthening literacy in our communities.

Another example of a more global advocacy campaign is “Principals Know: School Librarians Are the Heart of the School,” a crowd-sourced video funded by a grant from Demco in which principals share their first-hand experiences of the work of exemplary school librarians. This effort shows how important it is to consider the authority of advocates and who they have the power to influence. The intended decision-maker audience must be able to listen to and act on messages from “influencers” who have their respect – in the case of this video, principals.

Research shows that “Kids + School Libraries = Learning.” The image above is a license plate from an advocacy campaign in which I participated more than a decade ago. The simplicity of the message was one of its strengths. Today, I wonder if the school librarians who engaged in this campaign could have done something more to prevail against the economic downturn that ended up undermining the health of school librarianship in that state.

For the past seven weeks, I have been participating in a MOOC called “Library Advocacy Unshushed: Values, Evidence, Action.” The course was sponsored by the University of Toronto iSchool, the Canadian Library Association, and the American Library Association. Participants from both countries and from around the world have been meeting online to listen to video presentations by experts in the field of advocacy, review resources, and discuss the course content. Our final assignment was to write 500 to 600 words about how we will use our course learning in the real world of our library work. I will share my assignment on Thursday.

Image: School Library License Plate, Marketing Tool, Arizona, circa 2000

Models for PL and CBE in Practice

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Reaching for SuccessA View from Northern New England

Right now, I am posting from Old England (London) where I am visiting family and trying to find spring flowers and green grass. I have deserted New England, which is still waiting for snow to melt and to turn the mud into something that indicates that spring has arrived-and not just on the calendar.

Last week I explored the changes that are on the horizon in school systems across the nation, and this week I will share some of what’s happening in Northern New England with a different take on collaboration.

New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont are in various stages of implementing competency based education policies that have been adopted recently. New Hampshire (2005) has led the way, Maine (2012) is close behind, and Vermont (2013) is catching up. What these states have in common, besides snow and ornery natures, is a reverence for self-determination.

Competency based education has been defined at the state level (a bit differently within each state), but the framework for implementation is being developed at the district and school level. Instead of top down, it is happening bottom up. The state education agencies are providing resources to help districts develop implementation plans. The three states are collaborating to explore best practices and to provide professional development so that educators can learn from one another. The progress is faster in some places than others, but there are shining examples for possibilities to improve educational experiences for now and next gen students. The League of Innovative Schools is one of the opportunities for professional development across the region.

Find out more here: “Innovative Schools turning Around Lives in New England,” http://www.centralmaine.com/2013/05/20/innovative-schools-turning-lives-around_2013-05-21/

If you are interested, here are a few snapshots of what’s happening around the northern NE states

New Hampshire: PACE-Performance Assessment of Competency Education

Maine: Education Evolving: Maine’s Plan to Put Education First

Vermont: Act 77: Flexible Pathways

One School’s Journey

Mt. Abraham Union Middle/High School (Mt. Abe) in Bristol, Vermont has been headed down the personalization path for the past ten years.  In order to keep high school students in school and to make learning relevant for those who were at risk of dropping out, educators developed a program, “Personal Pathways to Graduation.”  It has been one of the choices that high school students can make as an alternative to the traditional course based track for graduation. Other high schools have developed similar models to meet the varied goals and needs of diverse students.

In the personalized learning program, students set goals and makes plans that are meaningful for their future. They take selected regular academic classes combined with apprenticeship opportunities. Some may take online courses or enroll in college classes, and go to other schools for classes.  There are about 23 full time students in the program and up to 50-70 others, who cycle in and out part time.  Two full time coaches lead participants and keep them on track in school, and also in outside school learning experiences.

Now, with the Act 77 timeline, all 7-12 schools in Vermont should have a system in place by 2017 that reflects the Flexible Pathways Initiative. The Addison Northeast Supervisory Union (home of Mt. Abe) is in the process of formulating plans, and providing professional development for educators that is modeled on the personal pathways program success.

Mt. Abe has an innovation team that has been offering professional development and training in personalized learning pedagogies for district educators,  and has been helping set up record keeping systems and portfolios for students and teachers to coordinate progress. Students move toward mastery of knowledge and skills within areas of competency, rather than to take a course and get a grade.   The personal pathways program is now a model for changing the traditional path to graduation that incorporates personalized learning opportunities for all students. It is a paradigm shift that will not happen overnight, so there is ongoing support for teachers to adopt and adapt.

Lauren Parren, the Innovation Coach for the school district, heads up the Instructional Coaching Services Team. The team includes other content specialists and consultants, and is located in a flexible learning space within the school learning commons area. The team works one on one or with small groups of teachers and students, or can embed in the classroom to encourage and model best practices in personalized learning. They have a very busy schedule.

Laura Mina, the high school library media specialist, is one of the team consultants. Her role is central to the work of the team, as the expert on information services.  She has been renovating the library learning space for the past few years, and has a powerful virtual library that uses LibGuides as an organizational tool.  https://sites.google.com/a/mtabevt.org/library/

Laura has compiled various resources and pathfinders for both teachers and students who are involved in creating personalized learning plans or developing curriculum. She is available for just in time teaching and learning, or for more formal classes, workshops, or other training opportunities.

If you would like to learn more about the progress for personal pathways at Mt. Abe, follow Lauren’s blog or join her, Barbara Bray, John Parker, Jon Tanner, Kathleen McClaskey, and Pat Lusher who will be speaking at the ISTE Conference on June 29 and July, 2015.

Off to do some sightseeing-Cheerio!

Image: Microsoft Clipart

 

On the Horizon

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ocean_sunset_with_sailboat_and_seagulls_as_the_sun_sinks_beneath_the_horizon_0515-0909-2920-5913_SMU

This month, Judi and Lucy have highlighted some ways that school libraries and teacher librarians have continued to provide resources and instruction that support the variability of all learners in a diverse school community. At the heart of our mission is the concept of equitable access to information and the freedom to read a range of literature in many formats. Another part of the vision for library service is to provide a safe and welcoming environment for active learning for contemporary learners to “Think-Create-Share and Grow.”

On a personal level, teacher librarians get to know learners’ individual reading tastes, interests, strengths, and challenges in a setting other than the classroom. Often, we have a longer view of student growth over time because the school library space is a constant from year to year. We develop relationships with students that extend through their time in elementary, middle, or high school as we see their talents and personalities evolve. I always found that to be one of the most rewarding aspects of my work.

As Lucy has said, “to remain effective and relevant, we must constantly update our skills and keep up with the movements and trends affecting our practice.” Now there is a new/old opportunity on the horizon for teacher librarians in the emerging field of personalized learning, and we should be ready to collaborate with our teaching colleagues in a shift from teacher centered learning to student centered learning that has the potential to change teaching practice now and in the future.

Emerging technologies and new pedagogies focused on learners and learning have already brought about tremendous change in the traditional classroom, and there is more to come.

What is personalized learning?

Personalized learning is a term that is used to describe many approaches to customizing instruction in the field of education. The term is used in multiple ways to describe an approach to learning that gives students voice and choice in their own learning. When learning is personalized, teachers help students set goals based on their interests, knowledge, and skills. As “guides on the side,” teachers help them to develop learning plans to achieve the goals, and monitor progress. The objective is for students to master competencies and demonstrate evidence of learning through performance. Self-assessment and reflection are integral to student success in mastering learning. Gradually, students will be able to take responsibility for their own learning and chart their own pathways for the future.

Personalization of learning, personal learning plans, and performance portfolios will impact the way that students will be using classroom and library learning spaces, and how teachers and teacher librarians interact with students. Students will be trained to set personal goals, and to develop a system for designing what, why, and how they learn.  Teachers will become coaches, and provide instruction as needed, and how this will impact the traditional way that schools and curricula are designed is in transition.

Why should teacher librarians be at the PL table?

When you look at Standards for 21st Century Learners (AASL 2007), the dispositions and competencies in the document align with concepts for personalized learning. These are the standards that teacher librarians use to guide their daily practice in designing learning for students. Along with Common Core State Standards, or other state standards as frameworks to guide curriculum, teacher librarians collaborate with colleagues to create meaningful and engaging performance tasks that provide authentic learning opportunities. Teacher librarians are already in the business of partnering with students in their inquiry, problem, project, and place-based learning assignments, so personalized learning is an extension of their professional practice.

Across the nation, there are 41 states and the District of Columbia that are in various stages of exploring, developing, or implementing competency based education policies that are driven by personalized learning for students. The state legislation or education rules already in effect or being proposed provide “flexible pathways” for determining graduation requirements from high school. Instead of using the Carnegie Unit (time), there can be alternative ways to evaluate performance through mastery of competencies, and local school districts are charged with developing systems for tracking individual performance, and mastery. This is a major paradigm shift in educational delivery models, as well as a change in school culture. There is lot to talk about, and teacher librarians should be part of the conversation, too.

How can I learn more about personalized learning?

There are journals, websites, and professional texts that are excellent resources for gaining understanding about the concepts and challenges for shifting the way we approach teaching and learning for our increasingly diverse learners in an age of information and ubiquitous technology.

Here some recommendations that you can share with your colleagues to get the discussion rolling:

  •  Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey. Make Learning Personal. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2015. Website: http://www.personalizelearning.com/
  • John H. Clarke. Personalized Learning: Student-Designed Pathways to High School Graduation. Thousand Oaks, CA: 2013.
  •  Allison Zmuda, Greg Curtis, and Diane Ullman. Learning Personalized-The Evolution of the Contemporary Classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2015.
  • Competency Works website:
  1.  State Policy Resources http://competencyworks.pbworks.com/w/page/67261821/State%20Policy%20Resources
  2. A Snapshot of Competency Education Policy Across the United States http://www.competencyworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/inacol_competency_snapshot_oct_2013.pdf

It’s time to get personal!

 Next week-A look at models for PL in practice.

Image:

http://www.birdclipart.com/bird_clipart_images/ocean_sunset_with_sailboat_and_seagulls_as_the_sun_sinks_beneath_the_horizon_0515-0909-2920-5913_SMU.jpg

 

Differentiating Instruction as the School Librarian

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I’m not sure about you, but it has been *cough, cough* several years since I completed a degree in education and obtained teacher certification. Most of us in the education profession realize that to remain effective and relevant, we must constantly update our skills and keep up with the movements and trends affecting our practice. But sometimes, these trends are cyclical. We see an educational approach or method repackaged or rebranded for a new generation of students. My father is fond of exclaiming “There is nothing new under the sun!” and many times I am inclined to believe he is right. When I first heard the terms: “differentiated instruction,” these brought to mind some of the ideas we have discussed in the field of instructional design for quite some time. Ideas like learner analysis (who are my learners? what do they know? what are their learning struggles? where do they need support?) and content analysis (what am I teaching? What are the key ideas, concepts? What is the best order to introduce these concepts?) were some of the most obvious and immediate connections.

Even so, recognizing “differentiated instruction” as containing approaches we find familiar, and actually enacting and supporting this practice as school librarians are vastly different situations. If we are to collaborate with teachers and support learning for all, then we need to be able to verbalize differentiated instruction, recognize what it looks like, plan for it, and support its implementation. Differentiated instruction is “a way of thinking, an approach to teaching and learning that advocates beginning where students are and designing experiences that will better help them achieve” (Koechlin & Zwaan, 2008, p. 2).

There are four design elements that can be conduits for differentiation:

1. Content (the subject for student mastery, curriculum materials that introduce the subject)

2. Process (student learning activities)

3. Product (student artifacts of learning)

4. Learning Environment (classroom set up and conditions)

When you read through those four conduits, did your eyes light up with recognition? Did you think to yourself: “I do design these four elements differently depending on student needs! I differentiate!” If so, then congratulations! However, if you are struggling a bit to envision how you might have a role impacting these four elements when you are not the classroom teacher, then I encourage you to set aside fifteen minutes this week and read Everyone Wins: Differentiation in the School Library by Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan. In this article, Carol and Sandi list concrete examples of ways you can implement, as well as support differentiated instruction in your school. As the authors state: “connecting kids and content in meaningful ways is the work of all educators, and helping every child achieve is our mutual goal” (p. 2).

 

Resources to Support All Learners

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sign_tagxedoThis month the BACC co-bloggers will share thoughts and examples of the school librarian’s role in differentiating instruction so that all learners have opportunities to succeed.

This word cloud image encapsulates many keywords associated with learning through the school library program. The work that school librarians do in their schools is always interdisciplinary and supports students in making connections to crystallize their learning.

English language arts learning objectives related to reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking are part of every lesson we coteach. We collaborate with educators teaching various grade levels and all content areas. The learners we work with have a wide range of background knowledge and are at various measures of proficiency for any skill or strategy we set out to coteach.

How does the library environment support the differentiation that students need to succeed?

Due to ubiquitous access to the library’s electronic resources and the Internet, some classroom teachers and students may think that involvement with the library’s print collection is unnecessary. For those who take that view, I highly recommend reading “Why digital natives prefer reading in print: yes, you read that right,” an article that appeared in the Washington Post on February 22, 2015. The article notes: “Readers tend to skim on screens, distraction is inevitable and comprehension suffers.”

I have had this experience more times than I can count. After introducing an online pathfinder of electronic resources, high school students quietly call me over to whisper in my ear, “Isn’t there a book about this?” Classroom teachers are often surprised by such student requests; I am not.

With the print and electronic resources of the library and the Internet, school librarians develop expertise at integrating resources in multiple genres and formats into students’ learning opportunities. Of course, classroom book collections offer some range of resources, but the library collection’s range is far wider. School librarians develop print collections at the widest possible range of reading proficiencies on topics that cover all areas of the curriculum.

School librarians’ ability to connect the “just right” resources to meet each learner’s needs is one of the strengths, in terms of differentiation, that we bring to the classroom-library instructional partnerships.

Works Cited

Rosenwald, Michael S. “Why digital natives prefer reading in print: yes, you read that right.” Washington Post.com. 22 Feb. 2015. Web. 02 Mar. 2015 >http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-digital-natives-prefer-reading-in-print-yes-you-read-that-right/2015/02/22/8596ca86-b871-11e4-9423-f3d0a1ec335c_story.html>.

Word cloud created at Tagxedo.com