Skip to main content

AASL Standards in Action: "Curate" with Ms. F

     This entry is the third in a series of four.  This series reflects on interviews I held with various Teacher Librarians in Southern California.  We spoke about the  National School Library Standards for School Librarians.  Each entry will discuss how a single librarian implements a particular Shared Foundation in their program.  Since the interviews were conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we discuss both how their program typically addresses the standards and how that has changed during the pandemic.

Ms. F is a high school librarian.  We discussed how she implements Shared Foundation IV: Curate.  The Key Commitment for this Foundation is to make meaning by collecting, organizing, and sharing relevant resources.  

A stack of over-full binders
Sear Greyson on Unsplash
Ms. F is a master of curation.  Whether its a 17 "room" Bitmoji library, google slide presentations, a Symbaloo, or an extensive school library website with specific pages for specific teachers' projects, Ms. F provides students with a variety of sources (B.2).    She adapts graphic organizers so her students can assess information (B.3) or organize it for their own understanding (B.4).  Her presentations are interactive, they have clickable links or QR codes to engage students. 

She has created an entire professional development website for teachers encouraging them to teach the research process in small chunks (instead of one big project).  The website contains a page on Evaluating Sources with quick lesson ideas and examples of how Ms. F, the librarian, can help prepare.  The lessons explore media bias and she provides a clickable chart of news sources organized by their self-reported political leaning (D.1-3).

Ms. F's catalog of work is extensive.  It is clear she is always thinking, striving, and designing ways to support her students.  Even in the pandemic she has found ways to curate resources for her students and provide content.  Since she has created open access websites, her work can reach beyond her school as well. Of all the librarians I interviewed, she came closest to really achieving the depth of the standard.
As stated before, however, the standards are extensive and in Southern California each library typically only employs only one librarian without an assistant regardless of school size.  Is it any wonder then, with individual librarians doing the job of several people, that even the most industrious librarians cannot achieve them in full? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SLIS 761: On the Flipgrid Side

I recently got the chance to visit a local elementary school's Literacy Night.  Students rotated through a series of literacy-themed stations: a book tasting, the local library, 2 real-live children's authors (!), and Flipgrid book reviews.  Before this night, I had heard about Flipgrid, but hadn't seen it in action.  Students sat at computers and browsed book recommendations their peers had made using Flipgrid.  The effect was both charming and incredibly engaging.  Students were delighted to see videos made by their friends and to show their own video to their families.   https://www.pexels.com/photo/boy-watching-video-using-laptop-821948/ by Bruce Mars Flipgrid is accessible online at  flipgrid.com .  Flipgrid is free to use.  Educators need only sign-up, then provide their students with a Flip Code.  After entering the Flip Code, students can make a short video based on a prompt recorded by the teacher. Much like popul...
6 comments
Read more

SLIS 761 Makerspaces

A few years back the school district I taught for decided the school needed a Makerspace.  They bought a big cart, some Littlebits , and some  Code and Go Robot Mouse  sets.  The library was the natural home for this cart.   Unfortunately I was in only my first or second year of being a school librarian and hadn't started my MLIS yet.  I had only really heard of Makerspaces in passing and didn't have a lot of extra time to figure it out.  I wish I had access to Teach Outside the Box back then. So You Want to Start a Makerspace Educator Brooke Brown recently published a gloriously extensive intro to Makerspaces.  Having begun hosting a Makerspace five years ago, she recently decided to share all that she has learned along the way.  The post begins with a definition of a Makerspace and why they are important.  The rest of the blog is broken down into her 5 S's of a Successful Makerspace: Space, Stuff, Schedule, Structure, ...
2 comments
Read more

SLIS761: Turn and Face the Strange

"Being a connector is like being a weaver of a learning web for students." (Cromartie & Burns, 2019). By I, Luc Viatour, CC BY-SA 3.0,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3626879 Cromartie and Burns' article in the May 2019 issue of  Knowledge Quest  acknowledges that the role of librarian has been different in the past and calls for school librarians to shift their mindset for the present. Though written about the AASL standards, this article could easily pertain to the ISTE standards.  Both sets of standards focus on supporting learners by helping them create knowledge instead of feeding it to them.  In the past, librarians have been keepers of knowledge, collectors of materials, and enforcers of rules.  The AASL standards, and ISTE standards alike, require more fluidity from educators.  It is the educator's job to provide tools that encourage inquiry, creativity, and exploration.  The ISTE standards for educators ...
7 comments
Read more