Delivering Information Literacy:
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If flexible library scheduling is not practiced in a school, administrators need to offer strong leadership to shape the culture to embrace collaboration with the library and technology integrators. That way, vital 21st century skills can be embedded in classroom learning and curricular activities... not as “one-off lessons” that are quickly forgotten because the librarian offered a lesson out of context and the skills are never assessed. The Teacher-Librarian should assist teachers to ensure that rubrics used by classroom teachers assess information literacy skills that are demonstrated in both process and product. But through collaboration, the Teacher-Librarian can help write those rubrics. Timed with the progress of long-term research projects, the library provides modeling, instructional materials, and “how to” lessons that empower students to research skillfully, cite properly, use materials ethically, and avoid plagiarism. This information literacy program is not haphazard; it's intentionalized when it is managed and championed proactively by a library faculty with a K-12 research process model (like the Big6) such as we adopted at Taipei American School.
A Teacher-Librarian constantly exposes patrons to the range of resources a library provides within and also beyond its walls. My information literacy program with youngest learners spirals learning to help them to master the layout of the library and develop an awareness of its various types of print resources. Using those as a basis, students next gradually learn about electronic resources when we use a constructivist approach. The Teacher-Librarian can introduce to teachers the kinds of Internet tools that harness the social drive that is the reason why so many kids go to the web (for entertainment and social networking.) As one of the school's technology leaders, she can help faculty to develop lessons that are collaborative and interactive in nature. But the Teacher-Librarian needs to be a real advocate and anticipate the needs of faculty and students to understand how to access, select and use those resources or the array of resources can be confusing and frustrating to use. Libraries are typically shifting more and more resources towards electronic resources for learning, and this is good because as they mature, students do gravitate from print to the web, and web resources often offer multi-modal learning opportunities (with video, sound recordings, and interactivity.) Digital resources offer "anywhere" access to multiple users at once --which in most cases increases a resource's accessibility. Digital resources don't wear out or get lost, requiring replacement, either. But they are not as easy to use and teachers must connect with librarians to help students learn how to access, navigate, select and use them. As I collaborate on a unit with teachers, I identify the content and skills goals. I see where a teacher's resource awareness and abilities lie and I help them to understand where the prior grade level's work got the student... what the zone of proximal development is for the the typical student's information literacy development. We brainstorm together how to employ a new tool or resource and usually I walk away from the meeting with a to-do list. I package a proposal before e-mailing it or meeting face-to-face again. (I love this work, have a schedule that allows me to develop the media-rich resources and rubrics for the learning activity, and give the project legs.) We meet together to integrate the teacher's reflection and fine-tuning and then we teach the material together and we document this new curricular piece at Atlas-Rubicon. Because the Teacher-Librarian sees students at all grade levels, she develops a good sense of the way a class runs when we're using new technology. The teacher-librarian can anticipate the time and steps required to take students through their learning experiences efficiently and productively. (How many of us have been in the computer lab when one student's machine stops a whole class's learning?) The pitfalls as well as the opportunities need to be planned for, and the Teacher-Librarian can really model, partner, and smooth the way as we all take sensible risks in this adventure of learning. I've worked to select and subscribe to online materials that allow scaffolded and spiraling research skills instruction from grade level to grade level. I am committed to sharing with teachers and documenting an articulated vision of K-12 skills development. We don't, for example, send 2nd graders to find their own web sites for learning by using a search engine because they don't have the ability to evaluate the millions of sites that Google pushes to them. (But by 8th grade, we've had students using subscription databases and have also skilled them for internet searching and web site evaluation.) I do work with teachers to select sites for elementary school learners, and my ability to make web pages helps ease student access to them. Curriculum integration work of this kind leads to professional development. As we discuss how to meet students' learning needs, teachers and I often get into exciting discussions that help faculty members become better users of information and technology. For example, our American History teachers needed to conduct a review of the year's learning, and I shared Gretchen Ann Reilly's US history podcast lectures-- something a student can listen to on the bus or while doing the dishes. I love audio and video podcasts for what they offer, but a lot of faculty don't know about those rich and free resources on the web or how a couple of steps within I-tunes or with an RSS feeder or with Google Alert can make deliver them content with currency almost effortlessly. As a result of these one-on-one meetings, I can package what I shared for a broader group of teachers. I have a track record of “IT/IL Bits” offerings that offer easy-to-digest and focused instruction... just an “little bit” at a time. |