Fran Bullington said in a blog post, "School librarians are often so busy teaching that they forget to assess the learning taking place. Can you imagine a classroom teacher NOT assessing student learning?"
This statement certainly resonates with me as I do often feel too busy to fit assessment into the 40-minute block of class time that includes both a mini-lesson plus a book exchange. Classroom teachers are given curriculum and assessments to use (on top of regular state testing). Librarians have to develop their own lesson plans and assessments. We are both library administrators and teachers who are often expected to teach all day and to perform library administration tasks (without a library aide) with whatever time is left. So, time management is a genuine challenge. I agree that assessment is important because it helps inform my instruction and provides data to prove that I'm impacting the teaching and learning at my school. However, my experience has also taught the following:
In addition, I use a bulletin board in the hallway to display student work. In the past I have also sent a survey to faculty/staff to solicit their feedback on the library program, bribing them with a gift certificate from the book fair! As a result of this study on the topic of evidence-based practice, I have done or plan to do the following:
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The Danielson Framework for Library-Media Specialists is the current way that school librarians are evaluated in the Rochester City District. Component 1f states that a highly effective "librarian's evaluation plan is highly sophisticated, with imaginative sources of evidence and a clear path toward improving the program on an ongoing basis."
Researching evidence-based practice seemed like a good path to improving my evaluation plan. I started by reading Joyce Valenza's article, "Evolving With Evidence: Leveraging New Tools for EBP." I was challenged by her essential questions:
Seems like lots of people at my school at talking about Flipgrid (including the principal!), so I decided to check it out. I like that you sign in with Google and it's free. I started by reading The Educator's Guide to Flipgrid. Honestly, this 38-page PDF felt a little intimidating, so I read what I needed to get started and know that I can go back to it as I try new features. In library class, second graders have been reading books by William Steig. I created a Flipgrid to enable the students to talk about which William Steig book they liked the best and why. Our Cool Tools for School class began with an opportunity to introduce ourselves using Flipgrid, so I also tried that out to get a feel for what the student view looked like. Each new Flipgrid automatically adds the "topic" of students introducing themselves to their classmates. I think it's a good idea to let the students introduce themselves as the first experience with Flipgrid to get used to using the platform. Our sixth-graders do a debate each spring, and Flipgrid would be a great way to prep them for the debate. The challenge would be in moderating the posted videos and responses and providing feedback in real time, but I think it would engage the students.
The video AASL Standards - Evolved and Familiar is an excellent overview of this topic. After watching it, I felt validated as a librarian and eager to dive into a deeper understanding of the new standards. It helped me to understand that The National School Library Standards:
The School Libraries Transform Learning Message Box provides talking points for justifying and explaining school library programs. I think it would be a great tool to review when prepping for a job interview, too.
Sometimes when I talk with teachers about collaborating, I get a blank stare in return. What School Libraries Mean to Educators is a handy document that quickly states tangible possibilities for relevant collaboration based on the six shared foundations. However, looking at it made me feel a bit overwhelmed as I thought about delivering on all the promises it makes! So, I was relieved and thrilled to discover Allison Mackey's Tech Tools & Resources: AASL Standards for the Learner. What pure genius to create it as a Google Doc so that I can make a copy to learn from it then edit it to suit my purposes and student grade levels! For my learning activity, I followed Paige Jaeger's advice to identify what I am already doing well and what needs improvement. The results are below: Needs improvement:
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May 2019
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