Category Archives: Maximizing School Librarian Leadership

Professional Connectedness 2019

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As we bid farewell to 2019, I am pausing to share my gratitude for just some of the professional learning opportunities I have taken this year—from the local to the global. In his book Renegade Leadership: Creating Innovative Schools for Digital-Age Students, Brad Gustafson writes about the importance of relationships and connectedness. “It’s important to point out that connectedness extends beyond traditional face-to-face relationships. Connectedness also includes how we build culture and community beyond the walls of our school through digital means” (Gustafson 2017, 19).

The reflection that follows includes both face-to-face and online connectedness. I am grateful for the sense of belonging and service that these collegial relationships and opportunities have provided. Thank you to all of you who have helped me continue to learn, create, share, and grow in 2019.

Local Advocacy Efforts
Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) School Librarian Restoration Project
Thanks to the support of TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo and the Governing Board Members, five state-certified school librarian positions will be posted in the spring of 2020. Members of our project worked with the TUSD Human Resources Department to revised the school librarian job description. Our project will support HR in recruiting effective candidates for these positions. We have also been invited to the table when the new strategic planning committee begins discussion in January, 2020.

Additionally, we are grateful to the School Community Partnership Council and the Educational Enrichment Foundation for their support. Also, we extend our thanks to the Arizona Daily Star for publishing two op-eds in 2019 in support of our work.

“Literacy matters every day”

“Committing to a brighter future for Arizona’s children”

State-wide Advocacy Efforts

Teacher Librarian Division (TLD), Arizona Library Association (AzLA)
At the AzLA Conference in November, 2019, I had the pleasure of co-presenting an advocacy session with Pam Rogers and Erin MacFarlane. I also keynoted a half-day workshop for school and public library youth librarians. In both cases, our focus was on advocating for full-time, professional school librarian positions.

In this coming year, we will be focusing on increasing our membership, our impact through administrator/school board conference proposals/presentations (American Association of School Librarians State-Level Leaders work), and the “Dear Arizona Voters Writing Contest,” a building- or district-level essay writing project resulting from classroom-library collaboration.

National Reciprocal Mentoring Activities
Lilead Project
For the past two years, the West Coast Lilead Team has given me the opportunity to learn with and from district-level school librarian leaders: Claudia Mason (Fontana, California), Janet Wile (Fresno, California), Jenny Takada (Beaverton, Oregon), and Trish Henry (Mead, Washington). Thank you for sharing your leadership journeys with me.

Dr. Pam Harland’s Dissertation Chair
It was my pleasure to learn from working with Dr. Pam Harland to complete her dissertation this fall. Pam expertly presented and passed her defense (with flying colors) on Wednesday, November 20, 2019. Pam has already begun sharing the results of her dissertation research, “Investigation into the Leadership Behaviors of School Librarians: A Qualitative Study,” in articles, conference presentations, and hopefully, in a forthcoming book chapter. Her work will influence the practice of school librarian leaders.

Online Graduate-Level Teaching
After a three-year hiatus from graduate-level teaching, I applied to teach for the iSchool at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. In 2019, I taught two courses for the school: IS445: Information Books and Resources for Youth (for both school and public youth librarians) and IS516: School Library Media Center. I had the privilege of learning with thirty-eight graduate students who have given me confidence that the future of our profession is in capable (and collaborative) hands of librarians with empathic hearts. Thank you for teaching me.

American Association of School Librarians (AASL)
This past year, I chaired the AASL School Librarian’s Role in Reading Task Force. Our task was to revisit and re-envision four position statements related to the work of the school librarian and the school librarian in helping students grow their love of reading and learning, build their reading proficiency and ability to make meaning from texts, and use their literacy skills to think critically and create new knowledge. In six short months, our task force developed what we believe is a clear, concise, and empowered position statement. We submitted our work to the AASL Board today. Thank you to Molly Dettmann, Christina Dorr, Mary Moen, and Sam Northern for your collaboration, commitment, and passion for this work.

AASL Conference 2019
I had the good fortune of kicking off the Educators of School Librarians research symposium: Researching and Educating for Leadership. I also co-presented two concurrent sessions and shared a solo presentation at the AASL Conference. Co-planning with others to share information, experience, and insights builds our understandings and relationships.

Taking Our Case to Decision Makers: Effective State- and District-Level Advocacy
Deborah Levitov (on the right) moderated our panel presentation. Three members of the panel shared their state-level advocacy work: Kathy Lester, Michigan, Pat Tumulty, New Jersey, and Christie Kaaland, Washington State. I shared our district-level work in TUSD.

Collaborate! To Build Influence
This was my solo presentation. I am delighted that several participants have been in contact with me regarding their cadre’s Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy book studies. I will be providing webinars, conversations, and support for their leadership and advocacy work in 2020. (A special thank-you to my ALA Editions editor Jamie Santoro, pictured above, for her unfailing support for my professional books.)

Collaborate, Evaluate, Advocate: Tales from the Trenches in Assessing Readiness for Change
I had the opportunity to moderate a panel presentation for four Lilead leaders who contributed articles in the January, 2019, Knowledge Quest “Assessment” issue: Jenny Takeda (Beaverton, Oregon), Jennifer Sturge (Calvert County, Maryland), Misti Werle (Bismarck, North Dakota), and Carolyn Foote (Austin, Texas). Each of us presented further adventures in assessment and leading for change.

International Association of School Librarians (IASL)
Although I had presented at two IASL conferences held in the U.S., participating and sharing at the 2019 conference held in Dubrovnik, Croatia was an even-more empowering experience. In my October 30, 2019 blog post IASL 2019 Reflection, I shared the impact this learning opportunity had on me. I am in contact with several “Empowered Leadership: Building Connections for Transforming Teaching and Learning” participants and look forward to continuing our global conversations.

I want to especially thank IASL President Katy Manck for spearheading a collaborative, international effort to reach out to the International Literacy Association with questions about including school librarians and librarians in their recently published “Children’s Rights to Excellent Literacy Instruction.” Thank you for your leadership, Katy.

2020
“Like a world-famous trapeze artist would never attempt a brand-new death-defying act for the first time without a net, neither can we find the courage to lead without the help of others. Those who believe what we believe are our net” (Sinek 2019, 218).

I am looking forward to continuing to learn and taking action alongside my colleagues near and far as we co-create a brighter, equitable literacy learning future for the children, teens, and communities we serve. Thank you for being my “net.”

Works Cited

Gustafson, Brad. 2017. Renegade Leadership: Creating Innovative Schools for Digital-Age Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Sinek, Simon. 2019. The Infinite Game. New York: Portfolio/Penguin.

End of the Semester Reflection

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Monday evening was the last virtual synchronous class session for IS516: School Library Media Center. This week iSchool graduate students will be sharing their course learning in an online discussion forum . As a co-learner in this class, I am taking the opportunity to reflect here and will share this post with the class.

Time
There never seems to be enough time to accomplish all that we set out to do in a single class. All educators must prioritize. Inevitably the instructor’s values combined with the course description and stated student learning outcomes figure into those decisions.

Course Content and Textbook
To put this course in context, IS516: School Library Media Center focuses on instruction through the library program. Currently at the iSchool, school library administration topics are addressed in students’ practicums and in a general library management course. It was this focus on instruction that led me to apply to teach this course.

This was a golden opportunity for me to use my book Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018) in a graduate-level course for school librarians. I feel lucky to have had this opportunity.

I believe the book offered students a framework for exemplary practice. Each of the chapters fit into a flow of knowledge, skills, and behaviors that can lead school librarians into leadership roles on their campuses. Last June at ALA, I received one of the highest compliments of my career from a colleague who teaches school librarians at another university. She said, “We recommend your book to prospective students. If they see themselves serving at this level of leadership, we encourage them to enter our program.”

For me, the downside of using my book was that we could not take full advantage of the discussion questions, activities, and reflection prompts. The book was intended to be read one chapter a month, digested, and reflected upon over a nine-month period. Some of the questions, activities, and prompts are most effective for practicing school librarians rather than candidates. That said, I hope students in IS516 and other preservice courses will keep, revisit, and use the book in their practice of school librarianship. Perhaps they will share it with a principal or other decision-maker to start a conversation about how school librarians can serve as leaders.

Pre- and Post-Course Surveys
I asked students to complete a pre-course and a post-course survey. All students completed the pre-course survey; fourteen out of nineteen completed the post-course survey at the time of this blog post.

On the survey, I listed in alphabetical order the five roles identified by the American Association of School Librarians and asked students to rank them in importance: information specialist, instructional partner, leader, program administrator, and teacher. While leader remained number one by a narrow margin, both information specialist and instructional partner increased their rankings in the number one and number two slots. I assume this was a direct result of the content of this course and the assignment tasks as well.

The survey asked: “In your role as a school librarian, who will be your most critical ally and advocate, and why?”

Position  Responses
Classroom Teachers

7
District Level Librarian Supervisor and Site Instructional Leader

1
Principals

4
Teachers and principal

2

I believe the focus on instruction in this course put the emphasis on classroom teacher colleagues. I agree that classroom teachers and school librarians must collaborate and coteach in order to move the work of the school librarian into the center of the school’s academic program. This can be started without the explicit support of the school principal. But in terms of long-term success, in my experience and in school library research, the principal’s support for the school librarian and the library program are absolutely essential.

Students’ Top Priorities and Lingering Questions
The survey asked: “What is your top priority in maximizing school librarian leadership?” It was compelling to me that many students’ top priorities and their lingering questions were directly related. Top priorities included increasing understanding and gaining respect for the roles of the school librarian, the perception of administrators and colleagues that the librarian is an equal partner with classroom teachers, building relationships, and launching collaboration.

Many lingering questions focused on how to begin collaboration conversations and launch coteaching as an expected practice in their buildings. I would ask students to return to the “diffusion of innovations” Activity 2 on page 35 in our textbook. Who are the most promising partners? Who are the most strategic in terms of their ability to influence colleagues? To students who asked about collaborating in large schools, I would recommend identifying someone in the English language arts department, preferably the chair, as a first effort since every student must take ELA-R classes. (That was my strategy when I served in a high school with 1,800 students.)

Others asked about changing school cultures, (traditional) perceptions of school librarians’ roles or teaching as a “solo” activity. Although it seems like a simplistic response, everyone is from “Missouri,” the Show Me State. If you can show the benefits of clasroom-library collaboration to classroom teachers and students, you can begin your effort to create a collaborative culture of learning. When you strengthen that effort by partnering with administrators to help every school stakeholder reach their capacity, you have a recipe for successful change.

One student also wrote about advocating for full-time state-certified school librarians in every school in their district. (I invite you to follow the progress of the Tucson Unified School District School Librarian Restoration Project). Another asked about moving to a completely flexible schedule. Again, advocates for change must demonstrate how the need for professional school librarians and schedules that allow students to access the library at the point of need make a positive difference in student learning outcomes and in classroom teachers’ satisfaction and involvement in the library program and its resources, including its most valuable resource—the librarian.

My Reflection
The first time an instructor teaches a course can involve a steep learning curve. I was happy that I could align my book’s content with assignments that are prescribed for IS516. This course combined content from three courses I have previously taught at other universities. I was able to revise and update resources from those courses and identified or created many additional resources as well.

I created checklists and rubrics for all of the assignments in the course. All teachers learn from the first time out with assessment tools. This semester was no exception for me. Thank you to students for teaching me where the gaps were and where I can (and have) made improvements for next time.

The two-hour weekly synchronous meetings were new to me in a 16-week course. I still find this format challenging in terms of ensuring interactivity in that time slot and keeping our conversations fresh over the course of the semester. I especially appreciated students’ willingness to explore Twitter chats as a learning platform. Our chats were an ideal way for everyone to share in real time. They were also a way for me to learn more about what students were gleaning from the textbook and how they were connecting it to their current and future practice. I hope students will continue to grow professionally using this tool. This semester, I also learned about some new technologies and their applications in classrooms and libraries from students’ work products.

I am grateful to the students in IS516 and for the iSchool for giving me the opportunity to teach this course. I appreciate IS516 students for co-creating a culture of collaboration within our course. From my perspective, the course focus on instruction and my emphasis on leadership through coteaching combined to make this learning experience influential for students’ current and future practice. It also offered me the opportunity to practice what I preach—continuous learning. I will apply my learning in future courses with graduate students and in my work with school librarians practicing in the field.

“The conditions are right and ripe for school librarians to maximize their leadership roles in building collaborative school cultures. There is an urgent need for students, educators, administrators, and community to work together to create dynamic learning environments” (Moreillon 2018, x).

Our profession needs the best prepared candidates to serve school library stakeholders through the library program. I believe IS516 Fall 2019 students are prepared to create optimal conditions for teaching and learning and for taking leadership roles in their schools.

Work Cited
Moreillon, Judi. 2018. Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Making Connections for Learning and Advocacy. Chicago: ALA.

Image Credit
mrkrndvs. “Isolation vs. Collaboration.” Flickr.com, https://www.flickr.com/photos/113562593@N07/35978055230

Leadership Twitter Chat

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This fall graduate students in “IS516: School Library Media Center” have participated in bimonthly Twitter chats. The chats are based on the pull quotes from chapters in Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018).

We invite you to join us our final chat of the fall semester on Monday, December 9, 2019 from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. Central Time. Chat questions are posted on this blog on the Wednesday before our Monday chats.

December 9, 2019: #is516 Twitter Chat: Leadership

 This post is adapted from the Maximizing School Librarian Leadership preview podcast.

I believe school librarians have three converging pathways that point the way to leadership. School librarians are culture builders, professional developers, and changemakers.

School librarians are culture builders.
When we create a welcoming, accepting, risk-taking space for exploration in the library, our influence can spread throughout the building. With smiles, hellos, and a service orientation toward all library users, the library, the largest classroom in the school, can be as important as the front office in creating a climate of welcome.

With resources reflecting diverse perspectives, the library can be a place where learners – of all ages – come to explore their own worldview and the worldviews of others.

And with a commitment to exploration, the school librarian can model risk-taking—accepting missteps as an essential aspect of learning and growing from mistakes in order to fail forward. A whole-school, or systems thinking, approach helps school librarians serve as effective culture-builders.

School librarians are professional developers.
Through sharing our expertise and integrating the library’s resources into the classroom curriculum, school librarians practice reciprocal mentorship with the classroom teachers and specialists with whom we form effective instructional partnerships.

Collaborators coteach multiple literacies, inquiry, deeper, and digital learning. Educators model and coteach skills, such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity. We model and coteach dispositions, such as flexibility, openness, and persistence.

Through coplanning, coteaching, and coassessing student learning and our own instructional proficiency, we practice the best kind of professional development—job-embedded. As collaborating educators, we develop our craft by working as equal partners; we coteach with classroom teachers, real students, actual curriculum, available resources and tools, with the real supports, and within the constraints of our everyday teaching environments.

School librarians are also changemakers.
We understand that the teaching and learning landscape is in a constant state of change. Lifelong learning is an essential behavior for all education stakeholders. Preparing students for futures that we cannot imagine takes a leap of faith and a willingness to accept change as the defining feature of all our lives.

Rather than sitting back and waiting for change to happen to us, changemakers are proactive. We strategize; we experiment; we test and retest until we create learning environments and opportunities that engage, excite, and support students as agents in their own education.

All three of these pathways to leadership require collaboration.

Effective school librarians can maximize leadership opportunities by collaborating with others—with administrators, educators, and students, and with family and community members.

#is516 Chat Questions (for copy and paste)

Q.1: How do you/can you show a commitment to continuous change/professional growth? #is516

Q.2: Why is collegiality so important? #is516

Q.3: How do you bridge Ss in-school and out-of-school lives? #is516

Q.4: How can you help develop an effective teaching force in your school? #is516

Please respond with A.1, A.2, A.3, A.4 and bring your ideas, resources, experience, questions, and dilemmas to our conversation so we can learn with and from you!

For previous chat questions and archives, visit our IS516 course wiki page.

Thank you!

Post Adapted from
Moreillon, Judi. 2018. Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Book Study: Preview Podcast. https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/moreillon/episodes/2018-08-05T19_58_04-07_00

Spotlight on #AASL19

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Perhaps you are packing your bags today or about to travel to Louisville, Kentucky, for the American Association of School Librarians Conference and Exhibition. Or perhaps you’ll be learning from the conference via #AASL19, Facebook, or other social media.

The School Library Journal Staff posted a blog article last week to spotlight Attendee’s Top Picks. It is my privilege to be involved in three of these picks as well as additional conference learning experiences that I will highlight here (in chronological order).

Thursday, November 14, 2019
On Thursday morning, the Educators of School Librarians Section (ESLS) will hold a Research Symposium from 8:30 a.m. until noon in M103 in the convention center (KICC). One of the presenters, Dr. Daniella Smith wrote about it on the Knowledge Quest blog last week: “Let’s Talk about Research.” I was invited to kick off the symposium with a review and discussion of “Researching and Educating for Leadership.” You can access the research base for the discussion and learn more about my part in the event on my presentation wiki archive.

I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to spend a part of my day sharing an author visit with K-4 children at the Walden School in Louisville. Being with children (and teens) reminds me why this work is so important to me. Thank you to Walden for inviting me.

Thursday evening after the exhibits close, Drs. David Loertscher and Blanche Woolls are co-hosting “Symposium of the Greats: Wisdom from the Past and a Glimpse into the Future of School Libraries.” The event will be held at the Seelbach Hotel, 500 S. 4th Street, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The evening will be divided into two one-hour sessions. The first will be focused on the papers submitted for the proceedings; the second hour will focus on table top discussions on future thinking for the profession. My paper is entitled: “School Librarians as Teachers of Reading.”

Friday, November 15, 2019
From 10:30 – 11:30 a.m., we will share “Taking Our Case to Decision Makers: Effective State- and District-Level Advocacy.” Room L017-018, KICC. I will be on a panel with Kathy Lester, from Michigan, Christie Kaaland, from Washington State, and Pat Tumulty, from New Jersey. I will be sharing information about the Tucson Unified School District School Librarian Restoration Project. Deborah Levitov will be our panel moderator.

Other events on Friday include meeting with the School Library Connection Advisory Board and the AASL School Leader Collaborative, where I will represent the Teacher Librarian Division of the Arizona Library Association.

Saturday, November 16, 2019
From 10:10 – 11:10, I have the privilege of sharing: “Collaborate! To Build Influence.” Room L013, KICC.  The content and activities we will discuss during the session come directly from my book Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018), which will be on sale at the ALA Store. (Thank you, ALA Editions.)

From 1:10 PM – 2:10 p.m., I have the pleasure of moderating a session for school librarian supervisors from the Lilead Project. The session is called “Collaborate, Evaluate, Advocate: Tales from the Trenches in Assessing Readiness for Change!” Room L007-008. The presenters/authors contributed articles in the January/February, 2019 issue of Knowledge Quest: “Evaluation and Assessment for Learning.” In addition to moderating, I will follow up my KQ article with a look at a Coplanning/Coteaching Checklist from my book.

Attendees and Followers
Attendees can download the conference app. The entire program book for the conference is available online.

If you are unable to join us in Louisville, please be part of the #NOTATAASL Crew. Jane Lofton wrote a blog post to help virtual attendees get the most out of their conference experience: “Unable to Come to Louisville for #AASL19– Join the #NOTATAASL Crew as a Virtual Attendee.”

Whether in person on social media, I look forward to sharing this ultimate school librarianship learning experience with you.

Truly,
Judi

Digital Learning Twitter Chat

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This fall graduate students in “IS516: School Library Media Center” are participating in bimonthly Twitter chats. The chats are based on the pull quotes from chapters in Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018).

It is fitting that we are preparing for our chat and talking about digital literacy and learning during “Digital Inclusion Week” (10/7/19 – 10/11/2019). For me, #digitalequityis fully resourced school libraries led by state-certified school librarians who provide access and opportunity to close literacy learning gaps for students, educators, and families.

Monday, October 14, 2019: #is516 Twitter Chat: Digital Learning

 “Digital literacy is the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information, an ability that requires both cognitive and technical skills” (American Library Association 2013). As educators with expertise in curating and integrating digital resources and tools into curriculum, school librarians and libraries are perfectly positioned to be leaders and coteachers of digital literacy.

School librarians serve as technology stewards. Stewardship is an activity that requires one to practice responsible planning and management of the resources one is given, or over which one has authority. In school libraries that serve as hubs for resources, effective school librarians curate resources that support standards-based curricula as well as students’ needs for independent learning. Students, families, classroom teachers, and administrators rely on proactive library professionals who plan for, manage, and integrate digital learning tools and experiences into the daily school-based learning lives of students.

Access and equity are core principles of librarianship. With their global view of the learning community, school librarians have an essential role to play as digital literacy leaders who help address gaps in technology access and in opportunities to use digital resources for learning and creating.

In schools with plenty, school librarians advocate for a digitally rich learning environment for students and coteach with colleagues to effectively integrate digital resources, devices, and tools. In less privileged schools, librarians will dedicate themselves to seeking funding and advocating for students’ and classroom teachers’ access to the digital resources and tools of our times.

School librarians can be leaders in codeveloping, coimplementing, and sustaining digital learning environments in their schools. They commit to closing the gap between access and opportunity by collaborating with classroom teachers and specialists and ensuring that the open-access library makes digital learning opportunities and tools available to all students.

#is516 Chat Questions
These are the questions that will guide our chat (for copy and paste).

Q,1: What are the benefits of #coteaching digital literacy/or collaborating to integrate #digital learning tools? #IS516

Q.2: What future ready dispositions are students practicing when engaged in #digital learning? #IS51s6

Q.3: How do you or how can you serve as a technology mentor for individual Ts? #IS516

Q.4: How do you or how can you serve as a school/system-wide technology mentor? (Share a tool or website!) #IS516

Please respond with A.1, A.2, A.3, A.4 and bring your ideas, resources, experience, questions, and dilemmas to our conversation so we can learn with and from you!

For previous chat questions and archives, visit our IS516 course Twitter Chats wiki page. Thank you!

Work Cited

American Library Association. 2013. Digital Literacy, Libraries, And Public Policy: Report of the Office of Information Technology Policy’s Digital Literacy Task Force. www.districtdispatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/2012_OITP_digilitreport_1_22_13.pdf

 

Inquiry and Reading Comprehension Twitter Chat Summary

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On Monday, September 23, 2019, graduate students in “IS516: School Library Media Center” participated in a bimonthly Twitter chat. The chat was based on the pull quotes from Chapter 3: Inquiry Learning and Chapter 4: Traditional Literacy Learning in Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018).

These are the four questions that guided our Twitter chat

As the course facilitator, Twitter chat moderator, and chair of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Reading Position Statements Task Force, I had a pressing reason to mine students’ thinking, experiences, and questions. While the critical role of reading competence is one of AASL’s core beliefs (AASL 2018, 4) and inquiry is one of the shared foundations described in depth in the new standards (67-74), the link between the reading comprehension and inquiry learning is not explicit.

A question posed recently on a popular school librarian Facebook group heightened my level of concern for how school librarians perceive their roles as teachers of reading and how they view the relationship between information literacy (or inquiry) and reading comprehension strategies.

These are a sampling of the students’ tweets.

Beliefs (about information, inquiry learning, and reading comprehension strategies)

@the_bees_knees
A4. Inquiry, information literacy, and reading comprehension are like a three-legged stool. Without any one of the three, we don’t really understand why we keep falling down.  #is516

@K8linNic
A.3: Common beliefs: Literacy is IMPORTANT & ESSENTIAL! Reading = foundational skill necessary for success in school/life. Literacy support is more than promoting reading #is516

@OwlsAndOrchids
A3: Both classroom T’s and #schoollibrarians highly value traditional literacies. Reading, writing, listening & speaking are core parts of learning. Without mastering these skills, students aren’t able to properly learn about other subjects or succeed in life. #is516 @iSchooK12

@bookn3rd2
A.3 SLs & Ts believe literacy learning involves giving Ss listening, speaking, writing, technology, print, inquiry, & reading comprehension strategies thru multimodal texts. SLs serve as literacy leaders in their schools. #is516 @iSchoolK12

@clairemicha4
Ts discuss all the time the transition from learning to read and reading to learn. Ss have to have solid reading skills to thrive in an academic setting. This Ts and #schoollibrarians can agree on.

@spetersen76
A.4. All (reading comprehension/information literacy/inquiry learning) require strategy and skill to be successful. With purposeful planning and teaching, Ss will learn how to critically evaluate sources, & read deeply/comprehend across various types of text/media, to be able to successfully participate in inquiry at its fullest.  #is516

@ScofieldJoni
A.3 Another common belief between both teachers and librarians is that the reading element of literacy is not the only important kind. In this day and age, digital literacy is just as important. #is516

@MFechik
A.3: They share a belief that inquiry is an important foundational skill for literacy, which leads to larger opportunities for students as they grow. They also both believe strongly in students’ right to privacy and intellectual freedom. #is516 @ischoolk12

@MsMac217
A.4 @iSchoolK12 Inquiry can’t be done w/o reading comprehension. Ss must be able to support themselves thru difficult texts in order to inquire & reach sufficient conclusions. Plus, inquiry can’t be done w/o the ability to sort thru information & determine what’s valuable #is516

Current Experience

@malbrecht3317
A1: In #Together203, our middle school science curriculum is entirely inquiry-based. There is a guiding essential question for each lesson & students come to an understanding of the world around them by participating in hands-on research labs. #is516 @ischoolk12

@karal3igh
A.1. Inquiry/Research is mostly left up to the teacher, but it is very heavily encouraged! Our math and science curriculum have geared strongly towards #inquirylearning in just the 6 years I’ve taught at my school. #is516 @iSchoolK12

@litcritcorner
A1. Our Juniors currently engage in very inquiry through their research projects. Students get to choose an independent reading book and then research a theme or question based on their book. This gives students a choice but also provides a focus. #is516 @iSchoolk12

@TravelingLib
A.1 Currently, research is used much more in our school compared to inquiry.  Inquiry is mostly seen in science and social studies, but has yet to be integrated well into other subjects. #is516 @ischoolk12

@bookn3rd2
A.1 I mostly saw traditional research in my school. Inquiry research was only done in gifted classes. Low Socio-Eco school, admin wanted classes CC & curriculum-centered. Gifted Ts got all the fun! SLs did no classroom literacy instruction #is516 @iSchoolK12

Less-than-ideal Current Practice

 @lovecchs165
I have never worked in an educational environment when Librarians/Teachers collaborate and have only seen traditional research done in the classrooms…I wonder if other teachers realize what they are missing out on by not collaborating with librarians?

@burnsiebookworm
A1 We’re pretty traditional – more research than inquiry based. Individual classes do their own lessons. For instance, ELA classes do a WW2 project in 8th grade, focused on life on the homefront. @ischoolk12 #is516

@bookn3rd2
A.1 I mostly saw traditional research in my school. Inquiry research was only done in gifted classes. Low Socio-Eco school, admin wanted classes CC & curriculum-centered. Gifted Ts got all the fun! SLs did no classroom literacy instruction #is516 @iSchoolK12

@CydHint
#is516 in the study on teacher and librarian #perceptions about #collaboration, #less than 50% of #librarians believed they should help with teaching note taking skills. #whoshoulddowhat remains an issue

Quote Tweet
@CactusWoman
A.3 Common beliefs are essential starting places for #collaboration. In my experience not all middle & high school Ts in all disciplines saw themselves as “teachers of reading.” This is also true of some #schoollibrarians who do not see themselves as “teachers of reading.” #is516

Effective Practices

@OwlsAndOrchids
A4: #inquiry is reliant on information literacy & reading comprehension. Without understanding text, the information is lost. Being able to recognize when info is needed, find it, assess it, & apply it is a fundamental part of inquiry. #is516 @iSchoolK12

@OwlsAndOrchids
The skills do seem to build upon one another and they are all necessary for total success. #is516 @ischoolk12

Quote Tweet
@burnsiebookworm
A4: Once Ss can get a handle on reading comprehension, skills like making predictions come more naturally, which allows them to move thru the inquiry process. @ischoolk12 #is516

@bookn3rd2
A.3 In the past few years Ts across disciplines within my school have started purposefully teaching reading strategies within their classes. It’d been greatly beneficial in increasing student comprehension, esp. w Nonfiction texts. #is516 @iSchoolK12

@GraceMW
A.4) #InquiryBasedLearning works best when there is a solid foundation of #infoliteracy and #readingcomprehension skills. Ts and #schoollibrarians who help foster these skills are helping curious students be stronger researchers and info seekers #is516 @iSchoolK12

@burnsiebookworm
A4: Reading comprehension is paramount. We use the making #textconnections strategies in ELA classes. Being able to connect to a text is the 1st step. @ischoolk12 #is516

@rural0librarian
A.4  #inquiry, info literacy, & reading comprehension are all tools and strategies that allow Ss to build their knowledge, encourage deeper learning, and become personally and academically competent #is516 @iSchoolK12

Reading Proficiency: A Foundational Skill
The importance of the foundational skill of reading can support or hinder a student’s ability to negotiate meaning in both print and digital texts. Readers applying comprehension strategies such as activating background knowledge, questioning, making predictions and drawing inferences, determining importance or main ideas, and synthesizing regardless of the genre or format of the text. Readers “read” illustrations, videos, audiobooks, and multimodal websites. In this environment, “school librarians can do more than promote reading. We can accept the role as instructional partners in teaching reading [and inquiry] and thrive in performing it” (Tilly 2013, 7).

These preservice school librarians agree that people can be reading proficient without being information literate, but a person cannot be information literate and engage in inquiry learning without comprehending what they read, view, or hear. It is my intention that they will take this understanding into their practice as educators and librarians.

Note: The tweets quoted here are used with permission and the whole class provided me with permission to link to our Wakelet archive (see below).

Works Cited

American Association of School Librarians. 2018. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. Chicago: ALA.

Inquiry and Reading Comprehension Strategies. Twitter Chat #2. Wakelet.com. https://wakelet.com/wake/546a25ea-5595-4882-bc71-e883ef153e12

Tilly, Carol L. 2013. Reading instruction and school librarians. School Library Monthly 30 (3): 5-7.

 

Twitter Chat: Inquiry and Reading Comprehension

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This fall graduate students in “IS516: School Library Media Center” are participating in bimonthly Twitter chats. The chats are based on the pull quotes from chapters in Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018).

We invite you to join us our chat on Monday, September 23rd from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. Central Time. Chat questions are posted on this blog on the Wednesday before our Monday chats.

September 23, 2019: #is516 Twitter Chat: Inquiry Learning

When students engage in inquiry learning,
they “build new knowledge by inquiring, thinking critically, identifying problems, and developing strategies for solving problems”
(AASL 2018, 34).

Inquiry learning can spark students’ curiosity and ignite their passions. Inquiry puts learners in the driver’s seat and leads them to invest in and care about the literacies, skills, and dispositions they develop during the process. As students pursue the answers to personally meaningful questions and engage in real-world projects, they learn how to learn and build their confidence.  Hands-on, minds-on inquiry learning experiences help prepare young people to problem solve when confronted with the inevitable learning challenges that will characterize their futures.

Educators are responsible for creating the conditions in which inquiry learning can flourish. Inquiry doesn’t just happen; it must be expertly designed.

Building connections between required curriculum and students’ interests is essential. When two or more educators plan for inquiry, they increase the resources and knowledge at the collaboration table. They push each other’s creativity and codevelop more engaging learning experiences for students. When school librarians and classroom teachers coplan, coteach, and comonitor students’ inquiry learning process, they create opportunities for students to increase their content knowledge. They help students develop their ability to comprehend all types of texts and build future ready skills and strategies that are transferable to other learning contexts—both in and outside of school.

Comprehension strategies are essential for success in our personal, educational, and professional lives. Throughout the inquiry process, students (and adults) access and use information for which they have little, incomplete, or no background knowledge. “Regardless of the content and whether ideas and information are communicated in print or multimodal texts, students begin and progress on their literacy journeys by learning and developing their ability to effectively read and write” (Moreillon 2017a, 87). The traditional literacies—reading, writing, listening, and speaking—are called into service during inquiry learning.

School librarians can be leaders in codeveloping, coimplementing, and sustaining a culture of reading and inquiry in their schools. When school sites or entire districts adopt and practice a single inquiry model, and teach and reinforce reading comprehension strategies, students will have multiple opportunities to achieve successful deeper learning.

#is516 Chat Questions

These are the questions that will guide our chat (for copy and paste):

Q.1: How is research/inquiry currently taught in your school?

Q.2: What is/could be the connection between inquiry and #makerspaces?

Q.3: What common beliefs about literacy learning do classroom teachers and school librarians share?

Q.4: What is the relationship among inquiry, information literacy, and reading comprehension?

Please respond with A.1, A.2, A.3, A.4 and bring your ideas, resources, experience, questions, and dilemmas to our conversation so we can learn with and from you!

For previous chat questions and archives, visit our IS516 course wiki page.

Thank you!

Works Cited

American Association of School Librarians. 2018. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. Chicago: ALA.

Moreillon, Judi. 2017. “Literacy Leadership and the School Librarian: Reading and Writing—Foundational Skills for Multiple Literacies.” In The Many Faces of School Library Leadership, 2nd ed., edited by Sharon Coatney and Violet H. Harada, 86-108. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Twitter Chat: Job-Embedded Professional Development

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This fall graduate students in “IS516: School Library Media Center” are participating in bimonthly Twitter chats. The schedule is listed below. The chats will be based on the pull quotes from chapters in Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018). We invite you to join us for our first chat on Monday, September 9th from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. Central Time. Chat questions will be posted on this blog on the Wednesday before our Monday chats.

Monday, September 9, 2019: #is516 Twitter Chat: Job-embedded Professional Development

“A team is not a group of people who work together. A team is a group of people who trust each other” (Sinek, Mead, and Docker 2017, 104).

Professional learning embedded in the everyday practice of educators is an effective way to transform teaching and learning. In this model, school librarians can serve as professional learning leaders. They enact this role in a number of ways: through providing formal staff development; by serving as a member or team leader in one or more professional learning communities (PLCs); and through classroom-library collaboration, which involves trusting colleagues in coplanning, coteaching, and coassessing learning outcomes.

Coteaching offers educators the opportunity to hone their craft while teaching “actual students in real time, with the taught curriculum, available resources and tools, and within the supports and constraints of their particular learning environments” (Moreillon 2012, 142). School librarians add value when they co-collect evidence (student learning outcomes data) to demonstrate the effectiveness of their teaching in terms of what is important to colleagues and administrators. These data point the way toward continuous instructional improvement. Coteaching also creates the opportunity for school librarians to co-lead in a culture of adult as well as student learning in their schools.

#is516 Chat Questions
These are the questions that will guide our chat on September 9, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. CT.

Q.1: What does the term “reciprocal mentorship” mean in terms of classroom Ts & #schoollibrarians #collaboration? #IS516

Q.2: What is your experience in coplanning w/Ts? #IS516

Q.3: What’s an example of “engaging curriculum”? #IS516

Q.4: How do #schoollibrarians & administrators work together for change? #IS516

Please respond with A.1, A.2, A.3, A.4 as each question is posted.

Join us and bring your ideas, resources, experience, questions, and dilemmas to our conversation so we can learn with and from you!

Thank you!

Works Cited

Moreillon, Judi. 2012. “Job-embedded Professional Development: An Orchard of Opportunity.” In Growing Schools: School Librarians as Professional Developers, edited by Debbie Abilock, Kristin Fontichiaro, and Violet Harada, 141-156. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited.

Sinek, Simon, David Mead, and Peter Docker. 2017. Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team. New York: Penguin.

 

#IS516 Twitter Chats: Time: 7:00 – 7:30 p.m. Central

Second and Fourth Mondays – Fall 2019

September 9 | Twitter Chat #1
Topic: Chapter 2: Job-embedded Professional Development
Questions posted on Twitter and on my blog (SchoolLibrarianLeadership.com) on: 9/4/19

September 23 | Twitter Chat #2
Topic: Chapter 3: Inquiry Learning
Questions posted on Twitter and on my blog (SchoolLibrarianLeadership.com) on: 9/18/19

October 14 | Twitter Chat #3
Topic: Chapter 6: Digital Learning
Questions posted on Twitter and on my blog (SchoolLibrarianLeadership.com) on: 10/9/19

October 28 | Twitter Chat #4
Topic: Chapter 7: Assessment
Questions posted on Twitter and on my blog (SchoolLibrarianLeadership.com) on: 10/23/19

November 11 | Twitter Chat #5
Topic: Chapter 8: Leadership and Advocacy
Questions posted on Twitter and on my blog (SchoolLibrarianLeadership.com) on: 11/6/19

December 9 | Twitter Chat #6
Topic: Chapter 9: Sustaining a Connections in a Culture of Collaboration
Questions posted on Twitter and on my blog (SchoolLibrarianLeadership.com) on: 12/4/19

Next Steps

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Dear Maximizing School Librarianship Readers and Blog Post Followers,

We/I have come to the conclusion of a ten-month cycle of book study blog posts to support my book Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (MSLL) (ALA 2018). When I wrote the book, composing posts and podcasts related to each chapter in the book was a commitment I made to myself and to readers. I planned for blog posts by interspersing four pull quotes in each chapter. After the introductory posts, I have based each blog post on a pull quote. The content of the podcasts evolved beyond my own recordings to include interviews with selected school librarian leaders.

This photograph was taken at a California beach in May, 2019. The smaller footprints belong to my grandson who was fifteen months old at the time. The larger footprints belong to his dad, my son-in-law. This image came to me when I was walking with them on the beach and thinking about this final MSLL blog post. I knew I wanted to address “next steps” but it wasn’t until I saw their footprints that I realized how I could so.

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” Lao Tzu

Small First Steps
It has often been said that change agents should start small; that the best strategy to sustain long-term improvements is to take measured steps. When you come to the realization that it is time for you and the library program to move forward in a new direction, you are ready to begin a change process. Aligning your steps with the goals of your administrator, school, or district is the most effective way to make sure that your “library” goals will help others succeed. Remembering the charge to serve others serves school librarians well.

Having a plan helps you chart and measure your progress. Developing your plan with school library stakeholders is a wise choice. As a team, you may take two steps forward and one step back, but if you keep your goals in mind, you will always be able to see your reality in terms of forward progress (see Chapter 9: Figure 9.3: Your Plan and Reality.) When missteps and reversals happen, having a supportive team can give you encouragement and ideas for taking a new step and moving forward again.

Each step you take—with purpose—is one that leads to your goal. Your goal may be related to students’ or classroom teachers’ equitable access to the resources of the library and your expertise. Your goal may be a flexible schedule that offers students opportunities for deeper learning through the library program. Your goal may be increasing access to and the effective use of technology tools for learning and teaching. It may involve informal or formal professional development, or grant writing, or an advocacy campaign. Whatever your goal, each step along the way can get you closer to your desired outcome.

“Anything can be achieved in small, deliberate steps. But there are times you need the courage to take a great leap;
you can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.”
Former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George

Crossing Chasms
Great leaps are possible. These steps require courage; they also require a community of support. Large-scale change in any school should be led or colead with the school principal. Again, aligning “great leaps” with initiatives underway at the site or district level gives “library initiatives” a leg up.

One leap that many elementary librarians have taken involves scheduling. Flexible scheduling allows for school librarians to reach their capacity as leaders, instructional partners, information specialists, and teachers. A flexible schedule based on classroom-library collaboration for instruction makes deeper learning for students possible. It also helps school librarians measure and document their impact on student learning outcomes. Without this evidence, school librarians’ value may not be recognized.

One leap that secondary librarians have taken involves classroom-library collaboration for instruction; it involves coteaching with classroom teachers in more than one subject-area department. Classroom teachers and school librarians plan for learning from an interdisciplinary perspective. “Each disciplinary perspective contributes specific concepts or findings as well as specific modes of thinking to shed light on a particular problem” (Wineburg and Grossman 2000, 27). This type of learning design mirrors they way people work and live outside of school (see also Chapter 5: Figure 5.1: Cross-Discipline and Discipline-Specific Questioning Matrix).

The “size” of your steps forward may be irrelevant. Their impact on teaching and learning depends on the culture and goals of the community you serve. Only you, along with library stakeholders, can decide if a step is a small one or a big one. Plan, take action, reflect, revise, and repeat in order to bring your vision into reality.

Advocacy and the School Librarian Leadership Blog
Each school librarian is the representative of the profession for the students, educators, administrators, families, and community members they serve. In your daily practice, you show others why a state-certified school librarian is an essential member of every school faculty. With your expertise and extensive literacies toolkit, you have the opportunity to fill a niche that would otherwise be lacking to the detriment of students, colleagues, and families.

The blog posts I have authored and the podcasts I have published to support a year-long book study are available and linked from the menu at the top of School Librarian Leadership. com. These resources will be available for future MSLL book readers. In many ways, for me, this feels like the end of an extra long teaching semester.

When I taught at Texas Woman’s University, I often pulled out and posted this quote at the end of each semester. (It is one that I had hanging in our library office when I was a practicing school librarian.)

“True teachers use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross; then, having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own.”
Nikos Kazantzakis

In your role as a school librarian leader, I know you will build bridges/connections for learning with the students, colleagues, and families you serve. I know you will reach out into the wider community of librarians and library stakeholders to move our profession forward. The school librarian profession is in good hands with professionals such as you who are continuously developing their craft, deepening their knowledge, and growing their leadership.

I invite you to use the MSLL book study posts and podcasts in any way that supports your work. I also invite you to continue following this blog. My posts from June 10th on will be aligned with the courses I’m teaching, research, events, and issues related to effective professional school librarian leadership.

Thank you for reading and listening and most of all, for leading.

Work Cited

Wineburg, Sam, and Pam Grossman. Eds. 2000. Interdisciplinary Curriculum: Challenges to Implementation. New York: Teachers College Press.

An Effective Teaching Force

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When marketing the expertise of the school librarian and services of the library program, it is imperative that we find out what our administrators, colleagues, students, families, and community want and need. While stakeholders may have numerous specific needs for resources and tools, there may be one thing everyone agrees upon.

Every school needs an effective teaching force.

An Effective Teaching Force
An effective teaching force contributes positively to school climate and embodies the school culture. Effective educators build positive, supportive relationships with students, colleagues, and families. They create a welcoming environment in their classrooms, libraries, and labs. They spread welcome in the hallways, at student performances, and athletic events. They are committed to creating a climate in which learners and learning can thrive. In such a school, the library is a “hospitable” space for learning, teaching, meeting, and simply hanging out.

Effective educators also have shared values and practices that create and sustain the school culture. Through open and honest communication, educators collaboratively reach, revisit, and revise agreements regarding the core teaching and learning practices based on shared values. They have contributed to and embody the school/school district’s vision, mission, and goals. They are team players who know it takes an entire village to raise joyful (and effective) readers, writers, and thinkers.

Educators Matter
According to the RAND Corporation organization, one of the least-biased research and reporting non-profits in the U.S., teachers matter.

  1. Teachers matter more to student achievement than any other aspect of schooling.
  2. Nonschool (sic) factors do influence student achievement, but they are largely outside a school’s control.
  3. Effective teachers are best identified by their performance, not by their background or experience.
  4. Effective teachers tend to stay effective even when they change schools (RAND).

In short, effective educators help level the playing field for students.

School librarians are about equity of access to the resources students and educators need for success. Equity, however, applies to intellectual as well as physical access. Getting a book or a resource into the hands of a student is an essential first step, but it does not ensure that reading and learning will follow. Students need the tools to make sense of text. They need comprehension strategies, opportunities to discuss their learning with peers and experts, and support in making connections to school-based learning and taking action in the world outside of school. Equity requires vigilance and continual instructional improvement.

Continuous Improvement, On-going Assessment
As the lead learner in a school, principals are deeply invested in and charged with elevating the instructional proficiency of classroom teachers, specialists, and other certified staff, including school librarians. To that end, school librarians can be principals’ partners in providing formal professional development and job-embedded informal PD that results in improved teaching and learning opportunities for students.

A focus on “development” suggests that learning is about change over time. “Viewing learning as a never-ending journey that students and educators undertake together keeps the focus on development (assessments) rather than on a final destination (evaluation)” (Moreillon 2018, 110). While students’ standardized test scores may occupy an overrated top slot in the hierarchy of evaluation, wise educators focus on the daily relationships they build with students; They focus on improving their ability to spark students’ curiosity and help them find their inner motivation to pursue learning. Wise educators focus on their own skill sets in order to improve the school-based learning lives of students. They focus on a continuous cycle of assessment, feedback, and improvement.

School librarians are partners with principals, classroom teachers, and specialist colleagues on a continuous improvement, on-going assessment journey. School librarians can commit to improving their own ability to learn and lead. This is how an effective teaching force is developed and sustained. In fact, that is precisely how school librarians achieve their capacity to influence and improve teaching and learning their school communities.

Questions for Discussion and Reflection

  1. What is your commitment to supporting all of your colleagues in reaching their capacity?
  2. How do you frame your contribution to other educators’ learning (and your own instructional improvement) such that your principal and school community value the role you play in school improvement?

Works Cited

Moreillon, Judi. 2018. Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy. Chicago: ALA.

RAND Education and Labor. nd. “Teachers Matter: Understanding Teachers’ Impact on Student Achievement.” https://www.rand.org/education-and-labor/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness/teachers-matter.html