AASL Standard 3

AASL 3

Knowledge & Application of Content

Candidates in school librarian preparation programs are knowledgeable in literature, digital and information literacies, and current instructional technologies. Candidates use their pedagogical skills to actively engage learners in the critical-thinking and inquiry process. Candidates use a variety of strategies to foster the development of ethical digital citizens and motivated readers.

3.1 Reading Engagement: Candidates demonstrate a knowledge of children’s and young adult literature that addresses the diverse developmental, cultural, social, and linguistic needs of all learners. Candidates use strategies to foster learner motivation to read for learning, personal growth, and enjoyment.

3.2 Information Literacy: Candidates know when and why information is needed, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use and communicate it in an ethical manner. Candidates model, promote, and teach critical-thinking and the inquiry process by using multiple literacies.

3.3 Technology-Enabled Learning: Candidates use digital tools, resources, and emerging technologies to design and adapt learning experiences. Candidates engage all learners in finding, evaluating, creating, and communicating data and information in a digital environment. Candidates articulate, communicate, model, and teach digital citizenship.

HOW IT ALIGNS:

Understanding content is vital to being a successful school librarian. The Passport to Multicultural Literature puts focus on the need for diverse cultural needs on various levels of the education process. The Literature Log from LIS 618 not only showcases knowledge of the books that teens are reading, but various ways that those books can be relevantly utilized in both the classroom and library curriculum. The Book Talk in 618 and the Book Trailer in 617 also show a way to get students excited about books that they might not know about.

Information literacy, including the ethical use of that information, is a very large part of the middle and high school world. The instructional video created in LIS 620 helped explain how to utilize EBSCO and NCLive while the LibGuide created in that class contained a tab on tools to utilize when evaluating sources.

WHAT I LEARNED:

The Passport to Multicultural Literature might have been one of my favorite assignments. Being very comfortable with multicultural literature, it was a way to test out a technology I had not yet played with while also finding the best ways to make the information accessible.

The Literature Log made me focus my attention on how titles could best be utilized in the classroom as well as the library. Rather than simply reading for enjoyment, this project took current titles and made them relevant for curriculum. I also specifically used a S'more for this as it was a technology I had not yet worked with.

The Book Talk and Instructional Videos both used video, a tool that many students gravitate towards, to give information. While not my preferred method, both are important. Book talks are a great way to get students excited by titles and instructional videos are incredibly useful. I also really enjoyed making a book trailer in 617 and prefer watching those to book talks.

The tab on evaluating sources in my LibGuide is information that students often forget to think about. They are very accustomed to believing everything that they read online and utilizing Google before anything else. This assignment was done during my first semester in the program where my knowledge of database research was probably at a similar level as some high school students.

IMPACT ON STUDENTS AND CONNECTION TO BEST PRACTICES:

"Reading is the core of personal and academic competency" (AASL, 2018, p13).

We all know that reading is important. At the same time, we have all heard the child who complains that they don't like reading. What they really mean is that they haven't found a book that is right for them yet. Is it because they don't see themselves in the books on the shelf? Or is it because all they know are the books being assigned to them, perhaps "classics" that don't resonate with them at all? A huge aspect of our job as librarians is to help guide readers to books that matter to them, and for that we have to understand not only where they are developmentally, but how that connects to books and what their interests are. The biggest joy is having a student come back to the library gushing about how much they enjoyed the book that you recommended to them. For this reason, it is important that we try to get to know both the books on our shelves and the children in our libraries (Short et al., 2018)).

Learning to love reading is more than just helping children discover new books. As Short, Lynch-Brown, and Tomlinson explain in Essentials of Children's Literature, "[t]he ways in which we bring children and books together can either invite children to enthusiastically immerse themselves as readers or lead them to dread the worksheets they will have to complete once they finish reading a book" (Short, K. et al.., 2018, p193). We have to model reading behavior to our students. This is why book talks and book trailers work so well. When students see the excitement in our faces when we talk about a great book, it can be catching. We also have the ability in the library to use books in displays, in lessons, and book tastings, showing how literature can impact us in various ways.

When Dr. Rudine Sims-Bishop wrote "Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding-Glass Doors" in 1990, she was ahead of her time. It took many years for her wisdom to take hold, but we now understand the importance of children being able to see themselves in books and to also see that we live in a larger world with people of different shapes, colors, religions, and abilities. Now, diversity in teen and children's literature is one of the most important issues (Ishizuka, 2018)

Finally, today's students are accustomed to the constant bombardment of information that they get from their multitude of devices. They expect information to come to them from many sources and as librarians, we can offer that. Whether it is a booktalk on You Tube, bookstagram, or putting something on Tik Tok, we have to utilize the available technology to connect with students.

References:

American Association of School Librarians. (2018). National school library standards for learners, school librarians, and school libraries. ALA Editions.

Ishizuka, K. (2018). Can diverse books save us? School Library Journal, 64(11), 28–28.

Short, K. G., Lynch-Brown, C. M., &; Tomlinson, C. M. (2018). Essentials of children’s literature. Pearson.