Technology Enhanced Process-Google Doc Collaboration
The goal of this project was to emulate what I hope to do with my own school faculty. Using a Google Doc, teachers could pre-plan library activities that connect to their in-class activities. There were many benefits to this including better preparation of materials on my end, Google Drive to promote library collaboration, and an official record for all parties involved to refer back to. With such limited time, I was only able to receive feedback from one teacher. We decided that after my citation lesson, the following lesson should look at each students' individual project resources and building a bibliography. In this case, the model was successful with this class. However, there is no way of telling whether the same will happen after my fieldwork experience.
Program Administration/Leadership-Library Data PresentationI decided to present library data to the faculty to help promote collaboration. As a whole, Nelson Academy either schedules a library time to check out research materials, or requests a specific library lesson last minute. The only exception are the 6th grade classes that have a weekly scheduled time every week. I wanted to present to the staff that 7th and 8th grade student attendance is low when it comes to lunch time and morning library time. My presentation consisted of several screen-casts of morning and lunchtime logs. My goal was to encourage 7th and 8th grade language arts classes to schedule more library time. The classes that I observed that came to the library didn't really utilize Mr. Noble, or bothered to integrate library in any way. Instead, the upper grade teachers used the library space for a meeting room. After my presentation I opened up the remainder of the meeting for questions, comments, or concerns from the staff. Because the school was on testing schedule, most teachers weren't concerned with library attendance for the next few weeks. However, this opened up a conversation about some of the ways library media can be integrated into different class activities. Mr. Noble and I were able to provide some examples of when teacher and librarian can collaborate to develop media and research skill lessons that align with the pacing plan. Through this, we were able to encourage the idea of bringing classes to the library more often and collaborating on activities prior to their arrival.
Model Librarian Handout Meeting Presentation
Collaboration/Teaching and Learning-Citations Student Lesson
I did not want my field work to interfere with the lesson flow of the library I observed, so I designed a lesson that would flow with what was being done. Mr. Noble was in the middle of a research and reference unite, so I designed a lesson on citations that connected to his paraphrasing lesson. I activated students' prior knowledge by asking students how to turn important information into their own words. I continued to explain that just paraphrasing is not enough because at the end of a research project they still need to give credit to the author by citing their sources. I showed students a website they were paraphrasing from the week before on the okapi. Students were given time to browse the website and look for information that they believe they would need in a citation. I then showed them how to use the activities page on their iPads by filling in the blanks. With a different okapi site, students filled in the blanks and cited the site. The final activity required students to partner up and look for their own okapi source to cite. I once again connected to paraphrasing by asking students to paraphrase their new okapi information. The students were engaged the whole time, and the collaborative discussions were on target. The main struggle was my comfort level with using an iPad That is something that I just need to continue to practice.
Presentation Lesson Activity Lesson Evaluation
Ethnographic Study-Library Lessons with Teacher Collaboration vs. Library Lessons without Teacher Collaboration
This study was a comparison of library activities done with teachers that collaborate vs. teachers that do not collaborate with the librarian. My methodology was comprised of interviews and observations of these classes in the library. All of the 6th grade classes came to the library on a weekly basis, and even though the teachers stayed with their classes, they did not participate in the lesson. They sat there and did not know what the library lesson was going to be until they arrived at the library. When the AVID teacher approached Mr. Noble able organizing a community field trip, they had to look at what standards were being covered, and how to turn a visit to the library into a career opportunity field trip. Students visited the library to pick a storybook, and read their books to the neighboring preschool. They got to tour both facilities and get a feel for the day. Collaborating with support staff is all about creating more opportunities for our students.