Philosophy

Educational Theory and Practice; Curriculum and Assessment

My educational theory has it's root in Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire in which as an educator its imperative I understand systems of oppression and that students are the primary agents of change and liberation (Freire, 2000). Additionally, Zetta Hammond's theory of culturally responsive teaching, Jeff Duncan-Andrade Critical pedagogy, and Bettina Love's call for educators to challenge oppression with intersectional justice (Love, 2020) constitute the foundation of my educational theory and how it is a transformational tool. In conjunction with the above theories, I believe that social emotional learning (SEL) teaching needs to occur in order to reach all students.

In terms of practice, curriculum and assessments, the strategy of teaching that mostly represents my knowledge is balanced literacy (Calkins, 2014). My experience with Teacher College and Fountas & Pinnell as a classroom teacher has grounded my theory in balanced literacy strategies such as Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop (Reading and Writing Project, 2020). Finally, theories that are emerging for me are based around the role of the teacher librarian in a school with the concept of the learning commons. The learning commons teacher challenges librarians to reinvent and revolutionize the library to be center or "hubs" of learning in a school. I continue to expand my knowledge of learning commons by expanding My knowledge of the LIIITES model: Literacies, Information, Inquiry, Instruction, Innovation, Technology, Expertise, and Service (.

Collaboration and Coteaching

The collaborative structures of the elementary schools in which I’ve worked as a classroom teacher and teacher librarian have provided opportunities for collaboration and co-teaching. As a classroom teacher I participated in collaborative teaching strategies such as Teacher’s College and Lesson Study. I believe it greatly benefits the school and especially students when school librarian and classroom teachers are co-teachers (Loertscher, D and Komper, F). When teacher librarians and classrooms teacher co-teach there is greater opportunity to teach inquiry and for students to pursue their interests.

Inquiry and Design Thinking

As a teacher librarian I have experience with makers space, question formulation technique and using the engineering design process as a teacher librarian. Teacher librarians have a unique opportunity to bring inquiry based lessons to their students because of their relatively flexible schedule. Inquiry lessons combine content and metacognition skills in which students learn to learn (Berger, W., Quinlan, M., & Brilliance Audio, 2014). In inquiry based lesson and the question formulation technique students learn to ask questions and be critical thinkers (QFT, 2020). Students are become empowered learners and have agency of their own education as they participate in the four stages of inquiry: structure, controlled, guided, and free. The inquiry student captures, reflects, and shares their Learning (Mackenzie, 2016).

Topic 4: Technology

I have knowledge and experience using the Google Suite but during distance learning I became a lot more experienced. Distance learning also have me experience with synchronous and asynchronous instruction. I am becoming more comfortable with us technology to learn and teach. I believe the Teacher Librarian play a special role is supporting the school community with technology in order to promotes inquiry-based education and currently Distance Learning. Consequently, technology is the bridge for teacher collaboration during distance learning (Hodnett, B, 2020). I am currently studying how to provide the best quality education that my students deserves. There many amazing resources that showcase bringing best practices in the Distance Learning model (Schroeder, S. 2020). In addition, technology provides tools for student collaboration and be creative. (Commonsense Media, 2020).

References:

Bay Area Discovery Musuem: Try-it Truck. https://bayareadiscoverymuseum.org/school-community-programs/visits-to-your-school/try-it-truck

Berger, W., Quinlan, M., & Brilliance Audio (Firm). (2014). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. Grand Haven, MI: Brilliance Audio. More information can also be found at http://amorebeautifulquestion.com/

Calkins, L. (2014). Balanced literacy is one effective approach. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/07/02/the-right-approach-to-reading-instruction/balanced-literacy-is-one-effective-approach

Collaboration and Inquiry. SSLA https://www.ssla.ca/collaboration-and-inquiry.html

Common Sense Media. Best Student-Collaboration Tools. https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/best-student-collaboration-tools

Duncan-Andrade, J and Ernest, M. (2008). The Art of Critical Pedagogy: Possibilities for Moving from Theory to Practice in Urban Schools ,1st Edition. United States.

Freire, Ramos, Macedo, Ramos, Myra Bergman, & Macedo, Donaldo P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th anniversary ed.). New York: Continuum.

Hammond, Z (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.

Hodnett, B (2020). Co-Teaching During Distance Learning: Tips for Partnering Virtually https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/for-educators/universal-design-for-learning/co-teaching-during-distance-learning-tips-for-partnering-virtually

Love, B (2020). We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom. Boston: Beacon Press.

Loertscher, D and Kompar, F (2018). LIIITES Model. Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/view/liiiitesmodel/home/introduction?authuser=0

Loertscher and Koechlin on the learning commons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7nX2cj7Dqo&t=1s

Loertscher, D and Zepnick, J. Co-teaching revisited: the replication study. The Teacher Librarian. Retrieved from: http://teacherlibrarian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Coteaching-article-1.pdf

Lynch, M. (2019). How to implement critical pedagogy into your classroom. The Edvocate. Retrieved from https://www.theedadvocate.org/how-to-implement-critical-pedagogy-into-your-classroom/

Mackenize, T. (2019)How Your Teacher-Librarian Can Be An Ally When Teaching With Inquiry. KQED. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/53417/how-your-teacher-librarian-can-be-an-ally-when-teaching-with-inquiry

Mackenize, T (2016) Bringing Inquiry-Based Learning Into Your Class. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/bringing-inquiry-based-learning-into-your-class-trevor-mackenzie

Mackenize, T (2018) Four Inquiry Qualities At The Heart of Student-Centered Teaching. KQED https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/51580/four-inquiry-qualities-at-the-heart-of-student-centered-teaching

Martinez, L. (2016). SEL Is good teaching. Edutopia. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/sel-is-good-teaching-lorea-martinez

Martinez, S. L., & Stager, G. (2013). Invent to learn: Making, tinkering, and engineering in the classroom. Torrance, CA: Constructing Modern Knowledge Press.

Maniotes, Leslie K. Inquiry Design in Action: Elementary School. Libraries Unlimited, 2018.

Question Formulation Technique. Right Question Institute. Retrieved from: https://rightquestion.org/what-is-the-qft/

Reading and Writing Project, (2020). Teacher's College: New York. Retrieved from https://readingandwritingproject.org/about.

Rothstein, D., & Santana, L. (2014). Make just one change: Teach students to ask their own questions. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Schroeder, S. (2020). Designing Your LMS to Make Distance Learning Better. Edutopia Retrieved from: https://www.edutopia.org/article/designing-your-lms-make-distance-learning-better?utm_content=linkpos2&utm_campaign=weekly-2020-07-15&utm_source=edu-legacy&utm_medium=email

The Lesson Study Group. Mills College. Retrieved from: https://lessonresearch.net/

Video definition of a library learning commons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz7PA5cm_N8