The LIIITE Model

The LIIITE Model was developed by David V. Loertscher and Fran Kompars as a result of a question by a group of school superintendents who were attending a workshop about the conversion of school libraries into library learning commons. Here was their question: "What is it that we should expect the teacher librarian to contribute to the teaching and learning in the school?"

The following is a large poster that was created by Mark Loertscher followed by a rough draft that may be a bit easier to read:

The LIIITE Model (pronounced as Light Model) includes six specific things Teacher Librarians can fold in or embed in a learning experience:

1. L for Literacy

2. I for Information

3. I for Inquiry and Discovery

4. I for Instructional Design

5. T for Technology

6. E for Expertise

Let’s go deeper into specifics with examples of each of the six strategies that might make a major difference in a particular learning experience (CT = Classroom Teacher; TL = Teacher Librarian):

Literacy Cutting Edge: Builds skills and enjoyment including wide reading, digital production and citizenship across many types of media and information formats and devices.

The TL and CT realize that the topic at hand will require the learners to build considerable background knowledge to be successful in the main project. They assemble a range of their favorite resources but also invite students to discover more. Instead of a “one-size fits all” textbook chapter, every student has a number of choices of background reading, viewing, and listening that they consume both as homework and in sharing the best of the best sessions with their peers. The adults recognize that the students have created substantive questions and are prepared to create their own projects. Perhaps we call this strategy personalized reading/viewing/listening since we end up with many levels of difficulty, languages, and interest levels in the range of choices.
While reading, viewing and listening to information resources, the CT and TL introduce the learners to mind-mapping to help them draw pictures of the major ideas they are encountering. The students use their mind maps during small group discussions mentored by both adults. The adults note that pictures often help ELL students join in the conversation much more easily. A much higher number of learners exhibit deeper learning of complex texts and ideas.

Information Cutting Edge: Helps learners take command of connecting to high quality print and digital resources across the global network.

While doing an inquiry project, the TL and CT encourage the learners to get picky about what they read/view as they are exploring many resources. For each source the students choose, they need to justify their selection and tell why they rejected other sources. When examining the bibliographies used, the CT and TL note an improvement beyond just Wikipedia and random selections. In addition, the learners start to realize that there is wide choice in what they select to read/view; in addition to what the adults are suggesting.
As a part of the Big Think^[1] activity after an inquiry project, the learners reflect that they are starting to make judgements about information quality, fake propaganda, and who is telling me what, for what reason, and for what gain. Those students who express failure and discouragement receive encouragement from their peers that the next time they do such a project, everyone will try to help everyone else to be healthy skeptics.

Inquiry and Discovery Cutting Edge: Co-teachers inquiry projects from beginning to end; facilitates self-directed learning, making, and creativity.

During the introductory portion of a learning experience, the students get so interested in the relevance of the topic that they start suggesting what they would like to learn. The CT and TL give up their prescriptive plans and allow individuals and small groups to do what they want. They end up with self-directed projects that are much better than what they were going to prescribe. The difference in motivation, success, and progress in both topical knowledge and soft skill development are very apparent.
At school lunch, a CT and TL happen to sit together for the first time and the CT is telling the TL about this unit she is teaching and how boring it is to the students and all the behavior problems that are resulting. The TL says, “Suppose you bring the students into the library learning commons for this assignment? I’ll come up with a couple of ideas over the weekend and let’s eat lunch together on Monday and we will see what you think.” On Monday, the TL presents two ideas and on Tuesday the students find themselves in a makerspace with a very different idea about what they can do to help them learn about the original assignment. The result is not spectacular but certainly not any worse than was going on before. The adults decide to continue the conversation.

Instructional Designs Cutting Edge: Co-designs engaging learning experiences that combine content knowledge and learning how to learn skills.

Tired of the old bird projects, where students chose a bird, did research, and made oral presentations, the CT and TL create an umbrella question about the various characteristics birds have. After initial research, learners are jigsawed to do a compare contrast of characteristics. As merged groups they build a giant wall collage of various birds with similar characteristics and act as docents on parent’s night. The adult mentors note the difference in deeper learning about individual birds but also about birds in general.
The CT and TL have usually collaborated by taking turns: You teach this in the classroom and I’ll teach this in the library learning commons. After reading an article about the difference between turn teaching and true partnering, they decide to both be mentors with the students at every stage of the unit. Their first trial is a bit awkward, but they soon learn how to create a symphony together! The percentage of students who meet or exceed both adults expectations increases dramatically.

Technology Boosts Cutting Edge: Co-designs engaging learning experiences that combine content knowledge and learning how to learn skills.

The CT and TL recently attended a workshop on using the Google Suite of tools with their classrooms. They are both intrigued with the idea of collaborative writing, thinking, designing, and editing that can be done in real time with groups of students. They decide to embed collaborative work into a unit they have done together previously to see if it makes a difference. Their first experience doesn’t yield much, but after they practice a few times with the same class, they see major improvements in how the students work together and the sophistication of the learning when compared to what they had seen earlier.
When faced with a science project, the CT has a class of many ELL students, they decide to test out a couple of tech games designed to build vocabulary. On the first day of working on the games in the library learning commons, they split the class into two groups that will test the games. After 30 min. of trial, they talk to the students and find out that one of the programs is fun and the other boring. The second day, they abandon the boring program and pair up students so that they both get to work on the better program. The students are so interested in the adults respecting their opinions, that their motivational level goes up and so does their vocabulary.
Previously, the CT has been using Google Classroom to give and grade assignments. Likewise, the TL has created suggestions for research on the library website. In conversation, they find that they are dissatisfied with the research products that the students have created. To work more efficiently, the CT makes the TL a collaborative partner in Classroom for that assignment. The new collaborative space combines the ideas of the two professionals and the students discover there is only one place to go for everything they need for their assignment. This simple change in the partnership makes a big difference in the outcome.

Expertise and Leadership Cutting Edge: Contributes expertise to enhance teaching and learning through collaborative leadership.

After a Big Think with their students about a current project, the CT and TL realize that they could improve as adult mentors and they decide to attend an upcoming professional development seminar together to see if they can get some fresh ideas. They do and it does.
When confronted with a Biology project coming into the library learning commons, the TL recognizes that she knows very little about the topic of the unit. She asks the teacher for some recommendations and “does her homework” before the scheduled project. The CT notices the difference as they mentor the students throughout the unit.