CURATE - AASL Standards (Interview with Cindy Philbeck - Wando High School)

CURATE

After completing my internship at Wando High School with Cindy Philbeck, I felt that she was the perfect librarian to interview about the AASL Framework competency, CURATE.  I was able to witness how she and the rest of the library staff works to collect, organize, and share resources for academic reasons, but also for personal discovery and interest.  Through this interview and my personal experiences within the Wando Library, I was able to see how important collaboration and having the time to collaborate is essential to reach and engage students.

 

In the Wando Library, Ms. Philbeck and staff work directly with teachers and students to curate resources for research papers and presentations, whether for individual or group work.  In reflecting on my own internship experiences, we were able to work together to curate resources within MackinVia to teach a lesson on how to begin to locate resources.  Ms. Philbeck shared that she also works with students to teach them how to curate their own resources, which is a great way to demonstrate differentiation for students.  As I reflect on this, it makes me realize that while curating resources, we must also engage students in the legal and ethical use of the items they curate.  It is hard to think of one competency in isolation, there is always going to be overlap. 

Curating resources and teaching digital citizenship was an area we focused on during my internship, but was also an area I had addressed in my own library.  In reviewing my notes from the interview, Ms. Philbeck stated that she most often directs students to begin their searches through Gale and SC Discus that are found within our district's portal in MackinVia.  She has found that students seem to prefer to being with Gale Academic OneFile, where students can access millions of periodicals and scholarly articles.  This knowledge shows that students have already been EXPLORING resources and cultivated their own knowledge of where and how to locate sources.  Ms. Philbeck has made this ability for students to independently explore sources through the curated resources on the Wando website and Canvas course.  She stated that MackinVia has so much to offer that it can be overwhelming for students, so this allows for sources to be grouped with four to five "best" resources and makes locating the sources easily accessible.  On reflecting on her statements, it is clear that creating collections within our print and digital collections is essential for student success, as well as being able to provide teachers with needed resources to support student success. 

Not only does Ms. Philbeck focus on curating resources, but curating the library print collection.  Having hands-on curation collection experiences during my internship, including adding and weeding, I saw first hand how she used circulation and age impact her curation decisions, as well as student interests.  These experiences guided me to go back to my own library and print out a TitleWise Analysis to assess my collection by age and circulation.  Also, in the future, I hope to add surveys for teachers and students to be able to give input into what they would like to see within the library.   

While speaking with Ms. Philbeck, I was able to relate to her challenges, even being in an elementary setting.  She express that students seem to want to take the easy way when curating and locating sources.  They want to skim to gather information rather than taking the time to seek diverse perspectives or evaluating their sources.  This has had me rethink how to wean students into curating their own resource sources.  Is it ever too early?  It is important for students to have exposure and experience with locating their own sources, so instructing students on how to cite their sources will be easier.  Curation practices require thinking ahead for teachers and students.  As a teacher how will be help them curate, in a Pearltree, within MackinVia,  or on a Google Doc?  Building skills will have its benefits as students learn their own way to organize sources for easier retrieval because it becomes more important as they move through the grades and beyond.  

Curation has moved from print to a digital tool practice that students must acquire in before they move into careers and college.  As librarians, we must support students (and teachers) along the road to developing curation skills.  One of our key goals, as teacher librarians, is to curate inclusive collections that facilitate information sharing while also preparing students to be middle school, high school, college and career ready in alignment with SC Education and AASL Standards. 

AASL Standard - ENGAGE with Jennifer Gomez (Teacher Librarian at School of the Arts)

ENGAGE

Selecting Jennifer Gomez, teacher librarian at the School of the Arts in Charleston County School District, was a no brainer.  Having had experience as the middle school librarian at our previous school, I knew that she has the skills to address the competency of ENGAGE with the library.  I have had the pleasure of watching her BookTalks that not only engage students in the segment, but also models the ethical use of resources with a works cited page (BookTalk example - Spooky Stories).  In reflecting back over the course of my MLIS, Ms. Gomez has had a great impact on my standards and expectations for myself, as a librarian.  Her example of how to engage students has inspired me.  Thinking about this, it is important to collaborate with other librarians, as resources, to learn how they engage students.  

According to the AASL Framework for Learners, the competency for ENGAGE requires the "safe, legal, and ethical creating and sharing of knowledge".  This is something that Ms. Gomez highlights through her school website.  Students have access to resources on the school's website here and she collaborates with teachers to ensure that students have the resources needed to become ethical users of information and are able to give credit where credit is due.  In many cases, she is finding that she is finding that many teachers aren't expecting or requiring students to give any sort of citation and students haven't had exposure to the idea.  She has also found that teachers themselves often lack the skills needed to model information literacy.  To address these challenges, Ms. Gomez has been able to collaborate with some teachers on evaluating sources and identifying bias, but this is not occurring with all students due to having to wait for teachers to request lessons.  The website she has built for her school (and previous school) not only engages students, but it I find it engaging and, it encourages me to work to provide similar resources for my school community. 

In working with teachers, Ms. Gomez has been able to create and curate resource guides and graphic organizers to assist in gathering and citing resources.  During a recent lesson on documentaries, Ms. Gomez was able to provide this resource.  This was developed to make sure that students realize that they not only need to cite information from the documentary, but also any music, photos, art, or other media provided within the documentary.  Providing a rubric and note taking forms was one way that Ms. Gomez could assist in making sure that students had access to the resource materials needed to support their "engagement" with resources in an ethical manner.  Ms. Gomez has been able to offer digital citizenship lessons and lessons about their databases, but not all teachers sign up for these sessions.  To address this, Ms. Gomez has posted resources on their school website and guidance on how to use the databases.  Within the library environment, they provide computers that are in "kiosk" mode for accessing sites like Destiny and MackinVia.  Ms. Gomez stated that she is always happy to help students with this at any time!

Ms. Gomez reiterated that students need constant reminders and practice to use and cite their sources to be ethical users of information. It is imperative that there is always a consistent expectation to attribute sources, as it is so easy to find information on the internet. Students need to be reminded that not all sources are reliable, and you may need to go back to evaluate sources for their truthfulness and reliability.

Engage may be one of the most important competencies, but it is also one that requires constant vigilance, as resources are always changing. As librarians, it is our responsibility to be vocal models of safe, legal, and ethical ways to access information, as well as include its tenets at every opportunity. If we as teacher librarians follow these guidelines, we can help to raise responsible and engaged learners for life.

AASL Standards - INCLUDE with Regina Stephens (Springfield Elementary)

 INCLUDE

When looking at the AASL Framework, the competency include focuses on diversity, showing awareness and empathy in order to promote inclusiveness.  To address the AASL standard number two: INCLUDE, I decided to interview Regina Stephens at Springfield Elementary.  As my district mentor, I wanted to better understand how she works to include students, as well as how she promotes students' activities to include others within the learning community.  Ms. Stephen's stated that this all starts with modeling inclusiveness within her space and reaching students at THEIR individual levels.  To promote inclusiveness in her lessons, she considers how to adjust activities based on the individual student's needs and pairing students with peer buddies to ensure all are included.  When planning, she often incorporates the use of songs and movement.  This engages all students, but allows all students to actively participate in the experience and contribute to the lesson.

One way that student diversity is highlighted from the library is during the morning news show.  Students are encouraged to create and produce segments that include different groups within the school community.  This allows students to "articulate an awareness of the contributions of a range of learners", as well as demonstrating empathy and building their knowledge of others.  How Ms. Stephens options and different ways to include all students makes me reflect back on assignments I have completed throughout this program.  My principal would like to start a morning news show, I could also include segments highlighting students talents, differences, outside interests, etc.  I also have started building my own Library League, which can include a variety of different students on different levels completing tasks within the library.  Tasks can be differentiated for different levels of student ability.  These can be group collaborative tasks that allow for students to work in small groups, large groups, or at times, independently.  Whatever the make-up, students are all practicing inclusiveness and learning to respect diversity. 

Another way that Ms. Stephens includes students interests within the library is by using student input QR codes.  These codes take students to Google Forms, which ask for students to request book titles, areas of interest, areas of diversity they would like to see, and ideas for stations and tinkering.  With this information, she is able to apply this to orders and grants.  Most recently, she applied and earned the Laura Bush Foundation grate with a focus on adding diverse books, including books for students from Hispanic and Russian cultures within the Springfield school community.  This is definitely an area that needs attention within my own library with my school's diverse population.  Students need to be able to see themselves in literature, which includes their cultures and languages.  

To ensure that students are included within the library community, Ms. Stephens stated that collaboration with her teachers is key.  She attempts to attend grade level Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings, but struggles to attend on a regular basis due to her schedule.  Because of this, she relies on sending out emails to teachers, as well as her own knowledge of the EL modules.  One of her most often used resources is the EL website and curriculum maps.  This allows her to have insight in what is being taught before approaching teachers.  Other resources she relies on are the district teacher librarian website, as well as websites like ReadWriteThink.  Not being able to collaborate regularly with teachers face to face does present a challenge, but she continues to work towards finding solutions and advocating for a more flexible schedule.  

Ensuring that all students are included and feel included in a top priority for Ms. Stephens.  She stated that being involved within the school community is very important to guarantee that the library is considered.  She is currently a member of the Leadership Team, an advisor for the Student Council, leader of the Safety Patrol, and runs the morning news.  This allows her to engage in conversations with other adults within her building, as well as assist with including students from diverse cultures and with diverse abilities within her library community, but also within the school community.  As the teacher librarian in my school, I have the awesome chance to promote and support the inclusiveness and level of acceptance within our school to help inspire students to grow into inclusive citizens.  

COLLABORATION - Shared Foundation/Competency from AASL (Jennifer Thrift - Pinckney Elementary)

Collaboration 

When thinking of collaboration and the standards set down by the AASL National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries, I immediately focused on interviewing Jennifer Thrift, school librarian at Charles Pinckney Elementary in Mt. Pleasant, SC.  After observing her library in February, it was evident that collaboration was front and center with the lessons designed and taught.  

When speaking with Ms. Thrift, she noted that you will always want 100% buy in from all stakeholders, but that may never be the case.  You must have buy in from the teachers and staff that you are working with, which means that they must see what you can bring to the table to add to the students' learning and understanding.  You must be viewed as a valuable teacher resource.  This may be easier said than done, as a new to the library teacher.  Having resources and ideas ready to share can be a game changer for teacher collaboration, which can then impact how students work in groups and collaborate within the classroom and library settings.  

One way that Ms. Thrift ensures that collaboration on both levels will occur is to make sure that what she can bring to the table is  communicated to the staff at her school, Pinckney Elementary in Charleston County School District.  One key way that she is being taken seriously as a resource within her school is by having her administrator's support as a key member of the school's Personal Learning Community (PLC) communities.  Being able to attend grade level PLC  allows her the opportunity to show how valuable the library can be and how it can support teachers and students.  Teachers are able to witness that the library is so much more than just "fluff".  Most recently in a fourth grade PLC meeting, the team took the iReady data and were able to pinpoint target areas that were not met on the last round.  The team found that student results showed a weakness in secondary sources.  With this information in hand, Ms. Thrift was able to collaborate with teachers to create Breakout session focusing on this specific area.  Currently, they are planning a scavenger hunt using Goose Chase, which will focus on reviewing primary and secondary sources. Reflecting on this, it is obvious that collaboration with teacher librarians and administrators is a must.  Being able to work together to establish the schedule (whether flexible or partially fixed) impacts the ability to attend PLCs, which impacts teacher collaboration, and ultimately student achievement.  This is definitely an area that I am advocating for within my own school.  Having these experiences with veteran teacher librarians inspires me to collect data and learn how to collect the data.

Ms. Thrift is a firm believer in bringing in innovative ways to engage students in a format that is not completely direct instruction, but another way to reach students that may need instruction in another format.  Besides Breakouts and Goose Chase (scavenger hunt), Ms. Thrift is a strong proponent of MakerSpaces.  Recently, students entered the MakerSpace classroom to build animas and their habitats.  This was not just a free for all, but standards and expectations were set before students were allowed to create their own examples.  This is purely student work, but does have a direct purpose in line with the curriculum.  This is one example of where using databases, like Mackinvia, are invaluable.  Students are able to research their topic before creating, which allows students to explore before creating.  

These activities planned with teachers allow students to collaborate with their peers.  As the AASL standards state, collaboration for learners involves them working "effectively with others to broaden their perspectives and work towards common goals".  This was more than evident during the Breakout Box sessions.  Student groups were selected purposefully, so there would be effective working environments and students had the support from peers (and teachers) that they would need to be successful.  This does not happen without teacher/librarian collaboration, which Ms. Thrift stated was essential for preparing for the Breakout session success.  

Based on the interview and the observation, collaboration with adults is a key component to ensuring that the learners' collaboration is successful.  This requires finding the time within teachers' schedules, as well as helping them to understand what we, as the teacher librarian, are offering is valuable  and supports the standards.  Finding the time for collaboration comes from administrative support, which does require advocating for a schedule that allows for this to occur.  Collaboration is a multifaceted competency on multiple levels with the end goal being the impact on student achievement and success.