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.