Reflection

Reflection #24 - Assignment 5: - This assignment was challenging and extremely rewarding. Initially looking at the assignment, I felt a little bit overwhelmed and wondered if I would be able to take this on. However, once I started to brainstorm various ideas and talk through my ideas, I started to feel better and then once I decided to follow my plan of action, the goals, essential questions and enduring understandings almost wrote themselves. I have learned that I really like the UbD template and I think that it is not only one of the easiest lesson or unit plan formats to complete as a student, but, I think that as a professional, it would probably take less time to complete, thus allotting more time to other areas. Since I completed the UbD template first, the AASL Action Template was quite easy to complete as I moved over information from one lesson plan to the other. However, I don't really like the design of the Action Template. I think that it is a little bit too detailed and is a little bit too long. I think that if you were to present the two types of plans to a principal they would probably want to read the UbD plan rather than the Action Template. I think that this is for two reasons. The first reason being that it is a well-known and familiar template that many principals and other administrative staff have seen before and it is one page. The Action Template is longer, would most likely be new to most administrators and after all the text has been entered, can become quite a lengthy document. I felt like this assignment was the perfect way to end the semester. It took all of the things that we have learned throughout the semester and allowed us to utilize our creativity to express our understandings into a document that we can utilize in our professional portfolio. I am glad that this assignment challenged me and pushed me to complete something that I did not think that I would be able to complete. It made me more confident in my knowledge of various educational strategies as well as my ability to create lessons.

Reflection #23 - Differentiation/Carol Ann Tomlinson: - Differentiation is not just a technique that we learn about to become a teacher, it is something that we will have to utilize to reach the students we will be working with. It is also something that will take time to develop and will take some trial and error. To me, differentiation means understanding how a student learns and what I/we can do as a teacher/teachers to get this student to succeed. The theme of Carol Ann Tomlinson's article "Teaching as Jazz", which displays teachers as having similar skills as jazz musicians; the ability to improvise at a moment's notice, mix different strategies together and most importantly understand that students are all different, is the way to fashion your career as an educator. The four elements of good teaching, knowledge of the curriculum, knowing students, effective assessment techniques and instruction modified to the students you are teaching combined, in Carol's view, make beautiful jazz music. Another one of Carol's articles "One Kid at a Time", where she describes three separate experiences she had with three students over the course of her career, highlights why differentiated instruction is important to school librarians. In the article, Scott is a middle school student who loves drawing and comics. He only gets low C's because he knows that will only get him a talking to at home from Mom and Dad. So, Carol decided to foster his love of comics by encouraging him to draw a comic for the school paper. Scott then manages to get his comics into the local newspaper by creating advertisements for local businesses to sponsor his comic in the paper. Meanwhile, by fostering this love, he is developing vocabulary skills, grammar skills AND his grade improved as well. This example shows the huge impact we can have as school librarians by knowing our students and customizing the curriculum to motivate and engage a students.

Carol Ann's article "Intersections Between Differentiation and Literacy Instruction" connected a lot of dots for me. The four principals that guide Carol Ann's article are that students differ as learners, teachers must study their students to teach them well, effective teachers teach up and responding to student readiness, interest and learning profile enhances student success. The first point is the backbone of the entire theory of differentiation, however, what popped in my head when reading this section was the scientific information that we know about learners. There are different types of learners: visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic, and these learners focus on different things to gain knowledge and eventually create new knowledge from it. These different types of learners also learn how to read differently and at different paces. These different learners who learn how to read in different ways at different paces do however have one thing in common. In order to retain information, they have to be able to connect it to something they already know or have experienced. Differentiating instruction allows you as the school librarian to utilize your resources to find the item that makes the proverbial light go off in a child's head. Now, I understand that as a school librarian in the first year, I won't be able to do all of this in the first week or even first few months of school. However, that doesn't mean that it is impossible to learn about the students you are teaching. The people you will lean on the most to gain this information are the classroom teachers you will be collaborating with. As an educator you need to utilize their knowledge of their students and take their suggestions on how to reach particular students into account. I think that a goal for a first year LMS would be to come up with a way to differentiate one or two projects or assignments that you are teaching or co-teaching. At a steady pace, you will be able to have a substantial amount of differentiated lessons to utilize. As a school librarian, I think that it is important to always remember that differentiation isn't just another tool or theory that we learn about. It is something that is going to be used on an everyday basis with the students that walk through the library door. In the first video, where Carol Ann describes how she developed differentiated instruction, she mentioned a few times that it was done out of necessity and after a while it was just a natural way of teaching. As future school librarians, we have to follow Carol Ann's example and differentiate our instruction. It will take time to do so, but, it HAS to be done in order to be able to make sure that ALL students can reach their goals, meet our goals and dream about the possibilities the future holds for them.

Reflection #22 - Assignment 4: - The NYSED rubric is a document that does include the various aspects that school librarians need to have occurring in their facilities, however, I do not feel that it is a document that can be modified to meet the upcoming challenges that we as a profession will be facing in the next 3-5 years. Both of the LMS's that I observed were aware of the document and had copies of the document at their facilities. However, only the librarian at the elementary school I observed used the document to analyze and evaluate her facility. The middle school librarian I observed used the AASL's document titled " AASL's Empowering Learner's Planning Guide". I think that many of the topics listed in the NYSED rubric are things that are occurring in school libraries right now, but I think that some of the requirements for the "Distinguished" category in some topics are a little far fetched. At the middle school I observed, there were two full time LMS's serving 1,700 students. According to the NYSED rubric this would be "Basic" service. I can tell you that this was not the case as every student that came into the facility was greeted and assisted. In all honesty, I feel that NYSED's rubric is set up so that no facility can be a completely "distinguished" facility. Some of this could be due to a lack of staffing which can be out of the school librarian's control, especially if it is a new school librarian. This could be viewed as something that could motivate or utterly frustrate a school librarian depending on their viewpoint.

The biggest challenges facing new LMS's will be advocating our positions, our facilities, keeping up with ever changing technology and standards and developing meaningful relationships with students and faculty. A lot of work has to be done outside of school hours to be able to do all of this and those that are willing to dedicate the amount of time and effort to do this successfully will be able to become a valued member of their school community. As for the rubric, I feel that the most important section of it are Inquiry Learning, Social Learning and Instructional Design. I feel that all three of these sections are interconnected in making learning student centered and including real-world examples that students will remember for years after they have completed a project or assignment. Motivating yourself as well as colleagues to become "Distinguished" in this category will allow students to get the best education possible and at the end of the day, that is what ALL teachers strive to do.

Reflection #21 - Online Discussion on 11/11/10: - I really enjoyed the online discussion last week. I felt like the three groups I was a part of were not only able to come up with great ideas and feed off of each others suggestion's, but, also knew how to explain themselves and their reasoning behind each statement they were making. I think that this was a common theme that I saw while reading all of the other postings as well. Another thing that I saw was a willingness to compromise between group members when someone's argument was persuasive enough to do so. This happens frequently during the collaboration process and is something that we all will have to deal with on a daily basis once we become school librarians. I think that it was also important that there were debates and disagreements between people on which models or theories to use as well as the challenges that face our field during the upcoming years. This shows that all of us have our own philosophy on how the school library should operate and the role it should have in the school community. These types of situations will come up during our time as school librarians. Having this type of experience in an unique environment such as an online class strengthens our ability to handle these types of situations when they pop up during our career. Overall, I believe that every single member of the class was able to express themselves in a manner in which they would as if they were a school librarian, which, I think might have been Linda's goal through this exercise and was able to do so very well. I feel lucky to be in class with so many smart people that have so many different viewpoints and ideas that they are willing to share with everyone. It makes the learning experience feel more real and worthwhile towards the ultimate goal: becoming a respected school librarian.

Reflection #20 - Thomas Chapter 7 and 8:

- Thomas and Harada/Yoshida both have compelling viewpoints on how to assess information skills instruction. Harada and Yoshida focused more on allowing assessment to be something that is a part of the everyday operations of the library through collaborative projects with students being the focal point. Thomas focused on how assessment is measured of is measured in most schools; through testing results, student portfolio's and how library can help positively affect these results. Harada and Yoshida would call this evaluation as it doesn't have any student involvement. I feel that from my experience from my observational visits, that Thomas' viewpoint is the one that is dominant in schools. There is great pressure to meet these test score benchmarks from various outlets and the key to showcasing the library's influence in increasing these test scores is key in promoting the value of the school library as a facility to help students and teachers not only learn valuable information and life skills, but, help students achieve on tests as well. I think that Harada and Yoshida's focus on student involvement in assessment is something that I will try to implement into my school library and is the major thing that I will take away from their theory. What I would take away from Thomas' are her major points on using libraries to help in improving student achievement on tests and other forms of authentic assessment.

If I were updating Chapters 7 and 8 in Thomas' book there would be a few things that I would update. First off, I would get rid of any mention of CD-ROM's as they have been completely removed from the school library setting. I would also include that while there is still a "digital divide" amongst some students, that divide is starting to become smaller with initiatives for community high speed Internet access and the proliferation of hand-held digital devices with Internet capabilities. I would also add that online resources not only add to the collection but in some cases are a more cost effective way of continually updating the collection that purchasing print materials. I would also add that students are coming to schools more technologically savvy than some teachers and that constantly refining and updating your technology skills is necessary to remain a viable school librarian. Finally I would add that motivating teachers to understand the information search process is a necessity for successful collaboration. For Chapter 8, I would change the Standardized Testing Imperative to the Standardized Testing Reality. Outcomes-based education is the reality of the current educational landscape and will be for the near future. This has to be emphasized. While Alternative assessment models can and should be used in schools, I would add a note of caution that some teachers may be wary of using them because of the emphasis of student performance on standardized tests. While this may be unfair, it is a reality that we face and changing the viewpoint on this matter is something that all school librarians must band together to do. I would also focus on updated studies that correlated higher level thinking skills with active school library programs. I think that data from this type of research would promote school libraries as a vital resource to help develop these skills.

I have seen information/media skills and inquiry skills be taught in the library media center. I have seen more of this in the middle school that I observed at as it has more updated technology and has a larger space to promote these types of activities. In the middle school I observed, students were instructed to pick a city in the world and to pick out landmarks that they would want their future children to visit. Students were prompted to answer why they chose the particular city they did and for each landmark, students had to explain why they wanted their future children to visit it. Some students utilized print resources, but most utilized Internet search engines or databases. The biggest problem that students had was getting to material on sites that the schools filtering software deemed to be inappropriate. But, interestingly enough students were able to cooperate together to find sites that not only had information on their city but had information on many various cities across the world and shared this with fellow classmates to help them complete their assignment. I found that this extra layer of unintended information search skill building was a challenge for students as they were challenged to come up with search terms and words that would yield them results to sites that did not have "inappropriate" materials. At the end of the period, the students were intrigued to learn on how each other went about finding their resources on the Internet and the steps and strategies they used to get to the information they needed. I'm sure not all libraries are doing this type of work, but I think that these types of assignments, while maybe not directly impacting standardized test scores, are just as important in developing skills students will need in order to be competitive in the 21st Century.

Reflection #19 - Chapters 5 and 6 of "Inquiry Learning Through Librarian Teacher Partnerships":

- The focus of Chapter 5 was on the ever evolving world of assessment. The most important things that the authors stated was that assessment is an ongoing process that is done with the student and the importance of integrating it in the school library. Differentiating evaluation and assessment is key. Assessment allows for continuous student involvement. This is key in the beginning of a project or unit so students can see what they already may know about the topic at hand, during a project to allow students to see what they know and understand as well as what they need to work on and even at the conclusion of a project or unit to see how far they have come in gaining information. Evaluation really only occurs after the unit or project has been complete. While I think that all of the visual information management examples in Chapter 5 are useful to allow students to organize their knowledge on a certain subject, I feel that the KWL chart is the most effective in doing this. I actually would even add a letter to the KWL chart and make it a KWLH chart with the H standing for How will I acquire/get this informaiton to help me complete this project/assignment. If 7th graders are doing a project on the Revolutionary War and have to find 5 different sources to complete their assignment, being able to document the sources in the How section would not only develop information skills, but, would allow students to have a place to keep track of the sources they have used to help complete their works cited.

Inquiry Learning allows students to feel responsible and in control of what they are learning. Allowing the information search process to inquiry learning always seemed like a natural fit to me as most students usually are curious about the sources of information available to them. An important point that the authors make in Chapter 6 is that it is necessary for the teacher(s) to shape the inquiry learning experience around an engaging topic or assignment. This gets students excited about learning and makes them eager to share their ideas which in turn makes students start to feel personally and emotionally invested in the process. However, if the project or assignment they have to complete is not interesting to them for whatever reason, they won't become invested in the process and the results that you want will not come to fruition. I also liked that the authors included example lesson plans to show how to properly present a lesson plan that includes inquiry learning, effective teaching and the information search process. Reading through each step of the process allowed me to see how just the right amount of detail and description allows for wiggle room so that students can find their own way to complete a task, while still following the plan the teacher has set up for them to do. Of course, not every student is the same and can do the same level of work and the authors also addressed this topic by providing real-world examples and how to modify instruction and expectations for these students. In my opinion, being flexible is key to being a good teacher. If you fail to modify standards for students who cannot possibly reach them, they will eventually believe that they adopt that failure to achieve is the norm. Changing the goals for some students so that they can meet them will give confidence to meet higher challenges. Of course, knowing and understanding your students takes time, but, it is necessary that we spend the time to know our students because if we don't, they won't challenge themselves, which is a key to inquiry learning and for these students to become key contributors to the 21st Century.

Reflection #18 - WebQuest Inquiry Learning Strategy:

- WebQuest's have been used for a number of years to facilitate higher-level thinking skills in students as well as to integrate technology into the classroom. This activity also begs for collaboration between classroom teachers and school librarians. The two videos were good introductions to the philosophy Bernie had when he created this instructional technique as well as how it should be properly used in classroom instruction. I believe the most important thing that Bernie stated is that he felt that WebQuest's could be evolutionary instead of revolutionary. The Internet is a constantly evolving tool where various applications that are viewed as cutting edge and helpful can become obsolete within 6 months. Having an educational tool and strategy that can be modified to meet the ever changing landscape of the Internet, as well as the evolving landscape of education, allows the WebQuest to still be a relevant teaching tool 15 years after its' introduction. Two recently published WebQuests that I found to be interesting were titled "The Industrial Revolution Changes the World" and "Real Life Ratios & Practical Proportions". The first WebQuest is from a teacher in Buffalo, NY that prompts students to work in groups of 4 to explain the impact of the Industrial Revolution on world history to a group of historians. I think that the task is good but I don't know if explaining the impact of the Industrial Revolution to a group of historians is the best way to shape this lesson as historians know how important the Industrial Revolution was. Rather, I would have students explain the impact of the Industrial Revolution to the children of the future, showing how important the innovations from the time were in shaping the world we live in today as well as the world they will live in. The second WebQuest focused on teaching ratios and proportions using real life examples. In groups, students would learn how to define and use ratios and proportions and then solve real life example problems using this information. After this the group would have to create a real life situation where ratios and proportions can be used and present this to the class. I thought this was a clever idea and was a more exciting way to present this information than by drilling correct technique from textbook examples.

I thought that the three search tools that are available through the site give everyone a different way to find what they are looking for. The first search the "Free Text Search" is a keyword search tool that allows users to type in any word that thought would help them find a WebQuest that they could use. The second search type is titled Curriculum x Grade Level Matrix. This allows users to select a subject area and then select a grade level to find all WebQuests that have been published on the site in those areas. The final search method is titled Design Pattern Search which allows users to search for WebQuests by the type of activity they are to complete such as a simulated diary or persuasive message. I used the first search method to find social studies WebQuests on the Civil War. It returned 1,329 results most of which were submitted by college students as examples. For the second search type I used the subject area of Social Studies and grades 6-8 to search. This search returned 3,246 results on all types of topics covered in the middle school social studies curriculum. I did find a cool WebQuest published by Annette Webb of Beehive Elementary where students learned about the Middle Ages by having to go through life as pre-determined roles such as a serf, nun, etc and completing various assignments to show your understanding of how these different people lived in the Middle Ages. For the third search method, I chose to find WebQuests that had the design pattern of historical story. This search returned 754 results on various topics throughout various grade levels and difficulties. I really liked the way that the Create a WebQuest tool is designed. It doesn't allow any user to forget any critical part to the WebQuest and the suggessted resources that are provided throughout the various steps are extremely helpful as well as time savers. The language that is used to describe the different steps of the process does a good job of preventing a lot of users from forgetting to include information necessary to construct a proper WebQuest and there is also language that is included that reminds users to include language or items just in case they forget to.

I feel that this site is perfect for beginning teachers to use to create WebQuests as it is formatted in a way that doesn't allow you to forget to include any steps and guides you along the way to creating a successful WebQuest.

Reflection #17 - Chapters 2-4 Harada/Yoshida Text:

- Chapters 2-4 on Harada and Yoshida's book had three distinct themes: explaining what an inquiry-driven curriculum is, how to develop collaborative relationships and how to design inquiry-driven instruction. While each chapter covered a different topic, there was the overarching them relating back to the book's title: Inquiry Learning Through Librarian-Teacher Partnerships. I really like this book because of all of the examples that are published to show how the theories look in action. For example, in chapter 2 there are numerous examples of how a lesson plan should be designed in the inquiry-driven model. It allowed me to how important the wording and phrasing of questions is in the inquiry driven classroom is and also how this model can be easily tied into the NYS standards and the 21st Century Standards. Chapter 3's focus on developing collaborative relationships emphasizes the point that these types of relationships have to be developed over time and do not magically appear when you get take over a school library. The detailed description of the type of relationship that does constitute a collaborative one was also helpful. I think the biggest points to the collaborative relationship are the joint responsibility for student learning and "power sharing". These aspects allow a school librarian to have an increased level of involvement with student learning during various aspects of the unit and "power sharing" allows for a seemingly never ending flow of information between the collaborating teachers to be going back and forth modifying their plans to meet the needs of their students. From what I gathered from Chapter 4, designed inquiry-driven curriculum is time consuming, but, the results from students make all of the planning worth it. The 6 step process that Harada and Yoshida lay out in figure 4.1 on page 34 is a great template to work off of and should allow all collaborating teachers the freedom to get the information, skills, etc, they feel needs to be included in the unit included. I also enjoyed the theme-based unit and problem based learning. I feel that the key for both of these types of learning allow students to build upon previous knowledge to make new knowledge, think critically and solve problems, all of which are at the heart of the 21st Century educational philosophy. An inquiry-driven curriculum gives librarians the opportunity to include themselves as integral parts of various unit plans making the library an essential facility for the 21st Century school.

Reflection #16 - Discussion Responses:

- Last week's online discussion was a great view into everyone's personal view of the future of libraries and the increased role technology will play in it. Judging from most of the responses, I think that the class was in favor of Joyce Valenza's "Manifesto". I think that the main thing that we all realized while reading this was that not every single thing in the manifesto could be completed in a day's work, but, had to be built and modified over time. Obviously, every district is different and thus the path by which a school librarian would be able to make their library into a 21st century library would be unique. However, never losing sight of the main goal, providing students an educational environment where everyone has the same access to the best facility that can be provided to them. I also think that last week's discussion gave insight into everyone's leadership skills as well as the way that they begin to tackle solving a problem. I think that being able to express why you believe one information skills instruction method is better than another allows you to gain the trust of colleagues and shows that you have the background knowledge necessary to help students complete their assignments in the best possible way. I think that most people in every group had a different method that they preferred and elaborated on why they believed it was the best for the situation provided. Being able to have these methods as "tools" in your instructional "toolbox" will allow you to meet the challenges and demands of 21st Century schools. I'm sure that every single person in the class has their own philosophy on education and how a school library should operate to meeting 21st Century Standards. However, it is always important to be aware of your peers' philosophies and ideas because you never know when you may need to utilize a method you are not familiar with to meet the needs of your students, which, should always be the goal of the school library.

Reflection #15 - Inquiry Learning Through Librarian-Teacher Partnerships: Chapter 1

- The first chapter of Harada's and Yoshina's book focuses on the qualities that an inquiry based school shows. These qualities engage students in what they are learning and make them feel responsible for the material they are learning and for the work they are completing. I loved that Harada and Yoshina included a chart to show the differences between inquiry focused and conventional schools as well as an example of how an inquiry focused school would work through a unit. I think that it showed how easily a classroom could be transformed from conventional to inquiry-based. Saying that you have an inquiry based school and implementing these changes are two different things. If not all staff members are on the same page on creating this type of learning environment, students can receive mixed messages and become confused about how they are supposed to learn. A strong school library can have a great impact on creating or maintaining an inquiry based learning environment. Working collaboratively with staff members to create lessons that focus on making sure that students not only develop information skills to answer questions, but, also making sure that lessons allow students to utilize prior knowledge to help them successfully complete their assignment. Inquiry based learning allows librarians to be partners with teachers instead of a specialty teacher. Not only does this increase our value to the school community, but, it reaffirms that our expertise and knowledge is vital for the 21st century student and to call your school a 21st century establishment.

Reflection #14 - ITC maps for Social Studies and English

- The ITC maps for English and Social Studies provide many examples of how to effectively integrate various forms of technology into instruction to turn learning into an inquiry based process. While only 3 specific grades were targeted: 4th, 8th and 12th, I believe that the examples provided at each level could be modified to fit at each grade level. I think that the most important thing about the ITC maps is that it exposes students to different technologies relatively early on in their educational careers, thus, making it easier for them to use the same or similar products in the future to complete assignments. However, it is also our responsibility as a school librarian to stay current with technology and to integrate it into lessons where it could benefit student learning. Combining some of the examples provided in both maps could also be beneficial to students as it could meet various standards at once while introducing new technology or information skills while developing critical thinking, problem solving, communication, creative and collaborative skills. Utilizing technology to teach is a wonderful way to make a great lesson or unit better, but, it cannot cover up bad planning, execution or resources. The ITC maps give teachers a wealth of examples to build upon and hopefully customize to meet their students needs so that they can develop the important skills they will need after school.

Reflection #13 - Partnership for 21st Century Skills

- The mission of the Partnership is "to serve as the catalyst to position 21 Century readiness at the center of US K12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders." The key members of the Partnerships for 21st Century Skills are the Chair; Julie Walker of AASL, Vice-Chair; Lillian Kellogg of Education Networks of America and the President is Ken Kay of e-Luminate Group. This group has a lot to do with school librarians. 21st Century skills are essential for our students to know and develop and for us as librarians to instruct. The 4 C's: Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity are all skills that can be developed in the library through various types of instruction.

The Skills framework is a "holistic view of 21st century teaching and learning that combines a discrete focus on 21st century student outcomes... with innovative support systems to help students master the multi-dimensional abilities required of them in the 21st century." The skills identified by the Partnership relate quite well to AASL's Standards. The main difference that I see is that Information, Media and Technology Skills are a listed skill in the Skills framework while they are integrated into each AASL Standard in some way. I also believe that the Skills framework fits in well with AASL's mission by including critical thinking, collaborating, technology, and life skills. The skills identified by the Partnership, much like the 21st Century skills are essential for the 21st Century student. However, the main difference with the Partnership's skills in my opinion is that their diagram shows that these skills should affect professional development and learning environments. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills gives librarians another educational theory to show teachers how together, we can create engaging lessons to get students interested to learn as well as exceed standards.

Reflection #12 - Information Literacy and Information Skills Instruction: Chapter 7

- The impact that various forms of technology have had on the school library is quite immense. As technology has evolved greatly over the past decade, the school library and the staff that operates it has had to evolve as well. As we begin the second decade of the 21st Century, the integration of various types of technology into everyday instruction has become commonplace. A school librarian is supposed to be able to know how to operate various types of technology, troubleshoot problems, be able to instruct faculty and students on how to properly use equipment and in some districts, is in charge of purchasing new equipment. However, as we are all aware, not all districts have the same value of technology and are able to allocate the appropriate resources to keep the technology they have in their district current. This is where we, as knowledgeable consumers and evaluators of various types of technological hardware and software are able to help our districts make smart decisions on what to upgrade, discard or change; lead tutorials on new hardware and software for faculty and students, and most importantly, become an active collaborative partner with classroom teachers to create ways to integrate new technology into engaging lessons. The biggest challenges I see concerning technology is schools are being able phase out lessons that while utilize technology are ineffective in teaching students what they are supposed to learn, staying on top of tools that could help students create new and exciting work and being able to upgrade technology when needed. Children are growing up in a "wired" world and schools need to keep up with technological advances not only to engage students who may have the same equipment at home, but, to give those who don't have the opportunity to use technological equipment at home the chance to do so.

Reflection #11 - Information Literacy and Information Skills Instruction: Chapters 3, 4 and 6.

- Chapter 3 focused mostly on Kuhlthau's Information Search Process. I understood why the source approach model would be seen as limiting to students. However, I do believe that it could be effective for young elementary students as a way to introduce them to the available resources in the library. Slowly introducing resources to them over a period of time will not overwhelm them and will build up their knowledge of the available resources in the library. I would definitely use the pathfinder or process models approach with older students. Callison's Free-Inquiry Model was also very interesting to me. I liked how while collaboration was involved, specific goals were not planned beforehand and that students had an opinion on their evaluation. It seemed to me that this model keeps students in a controlled environment while at the same time letting them run the lesson. I think that the most important part of Kuhlthau's research was that she focused on the mood that the participant was in. Disposition has a great effect on the willingness to learn as well as what information is retained by the learner, whether they seek and/or accept assistance and how much of the information they retain. The illustrations of the zones based on need for student assistance were also incredibly helpful. Most of the time, I feel that school librarians stay in between zone 2, lecturer and zone 4, tutor while not really ever being in zone 1 and being in zone 5 with individual instruction.

Chapter 4's focus on process models for information skills instruction was also interesting as the only one that I really knew in detail was the Big6. I found that Irving's model and the REACTS model were quite similar to the Big6 and influenced the Big6 model. I liked that the REACTS model had the cognitive tasks associated for each level as I feel that would keep teachers working on a lesson based on this model focused on developing specific skill or skills at each level. The advantage with the Big6 is the emphasis on creating lessons collaboratively, which in the 21st Century education landscape is a necessity and because of the influence that the Big6 has had, I'm sure that most teachers would feel more comfortable using this model of information skills instruction. The Pathways to Knowledge and I-Search models were also interesting. The problem I envisioned while reading about the Pathways to Knowledge was that certain stages, Evaluation and Communication, may take too long to complete with more socially reluctant or socially active classes and may cause the lesson to not be effective. However, the thing that probably stick with me most from this chapter is the I-Search Model. I think that presenting a research report from a first person perspective gives students a sense of ownership of the material they are creating and gives them extra incentive to find, use and evaluate information efficiently.

The focus on constructivism was interesting as many of the things written about in the Chapter are essential entities of the AASL 21st Century Standards and Standards in Action, the NYSED standards and the Common Core Standards. The school librarian's role in developing information seeking and handling skills is probably more important than ever with the ever expanding information society we live in today. Being able to help students learn these two skills at a early age will allow them to not feel as overwhelmed when searching for information in a new facility or new medium and will feel comfortable using the information when they find it. The passage in Chapter 6 that stuck with me was always remembering that while most school librarians were drawn to the profession because they find problem-solving tasks fun, not everyone has this same enthusiasm. Part of being a school librarian is being able to motivate students in a variety of ways to complete their assignments whether it is by encouragement because they completed part of what they were supposed to do and need a little extra push to get the rest of the information or by intervening at a time when a student feels hopeless. Helping a struggling student succeed not only builds their self-confidence, it shows that you are a true professional that is able to reach all types of learners in your library.

Reflection #10 - “Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT) Skills Curriculum Based on the Big6 Skills Approach to Information Problem-Solving”

- I believe that the curriculum set up in this article is a fantastic way to solve the problem that is addressed at the beginning of the article: What does technologically literate mean? Having a detailed curriculum with examples of how to utilize various types of technology in a lesson gives teachers and administrators a picture of how a lesson would look like with different technological options. I really liked the Synthesis section of the curriculum as each point could be developed into a separate lesson to not only strengthen or instill new technology skills, but, also develop problem solving and organization skills as well. Also, basing these standards on the Big6 gives this curriculum instant credibility among school librarians as well as administrators and teachers that know and use the Big6 already in their instruction. One thought that came to me after finishing this article was how most of these standards and goals set in the ICT skills curriculum were goals and standards that school libraries were expected to meet, but, were modified so that students could utilize various technological devices to complete assignments. I also thought that while I believe that the vast majority of educators know and understand that integrating technology skills into their lessons is essential to properly instruct today's students; I do worry that because of the current economic climate, districts that are already behind in technology, will fall even further behind because of budget and personnel cuts. The ICT Skills Curriculum provides a over-arching set of standards and goals while managing at the same to provide educators examples of how to achieve these goals in the classroom with detailed descriptions. This document provides the information needed to integrate technology into lessons, how effectively it is completed is up to the instructor.

Reflection #9 - Assignment #1 - Questions 1,4,5 and 7

- Assingment #1 for me was a constant learning process. I chose to complete option 2, promote your program, and I felt that I was learning throughout the entire process of designing the PowerPoint presentation. The main thing that I learned from this assignment is how the smallest detail in a presentation can make the biggest difference. At numerous times, I felt like my presentation was missing something. I experimented with different quotes and pictures and eventually found the right fit for each slide. This process was laborious, but very gratifying because when the presentation was finished, I felt a great sense of pride in what I created. Personally, the most difficult process was trying to convey a large theme without using many words. I must have spent a couple of hours going back and forth between choices before ultimately deciding on what went in the final PowerPoint presentation. The easiest part of creating the presentation was finding the theme to use for the presentation. Once I found a neutral theme to use, I knew that I could craft words and place images in the presentation that would focus the audience's attention on the content, not the context. I believe that Linda created this assignment for us so that we would have experience creating a presentation to communicate, promote and/or defend our program before we entered the field. Some of us will be asked, assigned or volunteer to create a PowerPoint presentation about one of these subjects and I feel that Assignment 1 has prepared me to do so if asked to do so in the future.

Reflection #8 - Comparison Between Common Core "Key Points In English Language Arts" and NYS ELA Standards:

- The Common Core "Key Points in English Language Arts" have many of the same goals as the NYS ELA Standards, however, the "Key Points" are more detailed and specific to what they believe students should be accomplishing in an English classroom. What I noticed is that the first bullet in each section for the "Key Points" had a similarly worded goal as compared to the NYS ELA Standards and each had a detailed way of attaining the goals, I feel that the "Key Points" format is more effective. For example, the Reading section of "Key Points" states that "certain critical types of content for all students, including classic myths and stories from around the world, foundational U.S. documents, seminal works of American literature and Shakespeare" will be given to students. The NYS ELA Standards do offer what is. The other main difference I noticed between the NYS ELA Standards and the "Key Points" was the extra standard that the "Key Points" added for Media and Technology. While this standard is broad: "skills related to media use (both critical analysis and production of media) are integrated throughout the standards", it does smash open the door for collaboration between English teachers and school librarians. The specific language used in the "Key Points" can allow a school librarian and English teacher to collaborate on various projects concerning specific topics that are listed. For example; an English Teacher and School Librarian could collaborate on a project where students create their own wiki or blog about a famous American author chronicling their works as well as a biography on the author. The English Teacher could assign each student an author and give students the information they need to find and the School Librarian could help students with designing their wiki or blog and locate print and digital resources to use to finding information about their author. In this instant information world, the "Key Points" are quick, easy and give the standards that English teachers need to meet, while the NYS ELA Standards, which have very similar goals, are written in a way that is incredibly detailed, separated by school level so that English teachers at each level know what their responsibilities are. In closing, I think that the "Key Points" do not mention specific age level materials because they want to encourage English teachers to be creative and think "outside of the box" while the NYS ELA Standards are more traditionally written to cater to each school level.

Reflection #7 - NYS ELA Standards:

- The New York State English Language Arts Standards are designed to prepare students for reading, writing, listening and speak in ways that will prepare students for the 21st Century. As School Library Media Specialists, we can help students achieve these standards in a variety of ways. One way that I think is very helpful to help students develop their social interaction skills is by blogging or creating a wiki. Wikis can be developed by students to be a gateway to a topic of interest if done correctly, and, with a school librarian's help in the designing and phrasing of sentences on the wiki, can be an effective tool to pique peer interest and encourage collaborative learning. Blogs can also accomplish the same goals, and some students may feel more comfortable using blogs instead of wiki's. Creating podcasts could be another way to help students strengthen their English Language Arts skills. Creating podcasts would allow students to practice their oral skills as well as utilize their writing skills and listening comprehension skills too. I think a good example of how this could be implemented is for a school librarian to show how to use the podcast equipment and help students with drafting a script of the book review of a current novel they are reading in class. The students would then record the podcast and other students would listen to it and write down what they liked and what could have been improved on in the podcast. I believe this would satisfy multiple standards as well as teach students a new technological skill. A school librarian's skills greatly compliment the NYS English Language Arts Standards and curriculum and the opportunity for collaboration can allow for lessons that actively engage learners while meeting the NYS ELA standards as well as incorporating AASL Standards in unique ways.

Reflection #6 - Chapters 2 and 6 from "The Many Faces of School Library Leadership":

- Both of these chapters reinforce essential ideas and theories that all school librarians need to be able to do. Chapter 2, written by Violet Harada gives great documentation of how to be a learning leader, how to engage students in thoughtful learning and how school librarians can be leaders in learning. I really liked how Harada broke down how learning is more complicated than just being able to retain and recite facts; it includes the student being able to connect the information presented to them to something they already know, being able to demonstrate this and doing so within a collaborative environment. Another thing that I realized while reading Harada's chapter was that becoming a learning leader is something that occurs over a period of time. While education students do learn the theories that influence the way that we as professionals teach our students, the experience that can only be had by instruction is the key that helps each educator utilize these theories in their classroom and use these experiences to guide younger teachers to become better at their profession. Understanding what types of instruction does and what does not work in the modern classroom, as well as why and how the type of instruction did or did not work, is a crucial element to improving instruction and outcomes. - Chapter 6, written by Dr. Howard gives a glimpse into a school librarian being a curriculum leader. I believe that this is going to be an ever increasing part of being a school librarian and being aware of the federal and state curriculum and more importantly, what your district focuses on within that curriculum is essential to being an indispensable part of your school. had heard of curriculum mapping before, but, was unaware that there were two types, horizontal and vertical. Personally, I believe that a vertical curriculum map is better because there is more detail to it which makes it easier for teachers of the subject to explain to staff and administrators, eliminates any excessive duplication of material between grade levels and schools and in theory puts every school at the same starting and ending points for the school year. Obviously, some classes may do more or less depending on various outside forces that can get a class behind schedule. I also liked that Dr. Howard split the responsibilities of a school librarian leader into two areas: information specialist and instructional partner. An information specialist would be a school librarian that knows the national, state and district standards as well as what to use to meet these standards and an instructional partner knowing the AASL standards and being able to create lessons that meet information literacy and inquiry learning standards. It became apparant to me as I was finishing this chapter that without knowing the information listed in these two roles, it would be hard for me to be considered a valued member of a staff. Finally, I think that Dr. Howard's passage about being involved in curriculum planning and designing at a state or even national level was very important. Having your presence be acknowledged at important meetings such as these can only increase your profile within your district as well as to the influential and important individuals on these curriculum planning committees which will only make you a more valued and essential member of your school community.

Reflection #5 - Common Traits of AASL's Standards and ISTE's NETS for Students:

- AASL's Standards and ISTE's NETS for Students have a lot more in common than they have differences. For example; AASL's and ISTE's standards share similar goals to develop critical thinking, problem solving and decision making which is shared by numerous other organizations as one of the most, and by some //the// most, important skills to develop in students today. While AASL's 1st and 2nd standards focus on these skills, ISTE's 4th Standard is completely devoted to these skills with a focus on using appropriate digital tools and resources to complete the tasks. Another example of a common goal shared by AASL and ISTE is developing citizenship in students. However, while AASL frames their standards as "participating ethically and productively as members of our democratic society." ISTE states their citizenship standard more directly and in a way that utilizes technology by naming Standard 5 "Digital Citizenship" with an emphasis on "understanding cultural and societal issues related to technology as well as ethical and legal behavior". I also see a common trait between AASL's 2nd Standard and ISTE's 1st Standard. Both standards focus on creativity and both ISTE's standards are worded to include the importance of technology in demonstrating creative thinking (ISTE) and creating knowledge (AASL). These standards, while created by different organizations, obviously share many common goals. I believe that as the school library media profession depends more and more on technology, our standards, created by the AASL, will be modified to reflect this. Both organizations have well thought out goals that not only give teachers a good basis to design lessons and units from and that is only to benefit our students in the end.

Reflection #4 - AASL's Standards for the 21st Century Learner:

- The way school librarians have tried to teach students has gone through many changes over the years; however, the Standards for the 21st Century Learner offers school librarians a path to effectively instruct today's students. These standards give us a template to design, implement and model lessons from and since the standards are written for a broad and wide reaching audience, school librarians can differentiate instruction so that all students can learn the information presented to them. I believe that since we are going to starting our careers by utilizing these standards, along with NYS Curriculum and individual district standards, we start our careers as educators at an advantage. This is because we are learning a model of instruction that gives an educator flexibility in that whichever standard you choose to model a lesson around it can teach skills, dispositions in action, responsibilities and self-assessment strategies all of which will help student develop skills they will need when they get out into the real world. I feel that the 21st Century Standards have breathed new life and given a new path to follow for school library media specialists and gives us a indispensable resource that can be used in a variety of collaborative and non-collaborative teaching situations.

Reflection #3 - NYS Standards and NYS Social Studies Curriculum, K-12:

- There were many connections that I found concerning information literacy spread throughout the standards for all of the different subject matters. All of the different subject matters had at least one standard that could be connected in some way to information literacy. I also found that all of the subjects had an emphasis on either teaching critical thinking skills, analysis, communication skills and evaluation. Most subjects had many of these different learning techniques integrated throughout the entire curriculum. I also think that reading these learning standards allows school librarians to brainstorm while reading them and devise different ways they could incorporate these goals into their lessons for the various classes that utilize the library.

- I think that the way the NYS social studies curriculum is organized is very much in a way that promotes lower to higher level thinking and information processing. While I was going through the K-8 curriculum, I felt that while I was reading I could see the connection from Kindergarten classes learning about their family, themselves, other families, their school and other basic concepts, to Grade 1 learning a little bit more complex issues about their family, symbols of citizenship, and the history of the family and then Grade 2 focusing on the community around the students' family as well as communities across the United States. I think that the information taught in Kindergarten is built upon in 1st, 2nd and each after that with more complex, varied and detailed information being taught to the students at each grade level. I believe that a similar theory can be applied to the 9th-12th grade curriculum. For example, the 9th graders in Global History 1 start from the B.C. Era and end with Columbus' voyage. They use the lessons, information and knowledge presented throughout the year to help with understanding each new topic that is presented to them. Obviously, social studies has a great connection to information literacy and having the materials to help classroom teachers do so, whether they be print or electronic, is our responsibility to the students. Being able to instruct and guide students towards being able to effectively evaluate whether the information via lessons that not only engage students, but, also meet the curriculum standards and hone their information literacy skills are lessons that truly prepare students for the real world.

Reflection #2 - __Information Literacy and Information Skills Instruction - Introduction and Chapter 2.:__

- There was one thing that stuck with me from the introduction which was the profound impact that the evolution of the Internet has had on the school library profession. After reading the introduction, I tried to visualize myself and a school librarian around this time, mid to late 90's, and wondering how I would have reacted to it. I think that I would have been cautious about using the Internet about that time, but, I would have embraced it and would have tried to incorporate it into instruction as necessary. I really don't know how many school librarians around that time envisioned how powerful a tool the Internet would become, but I am pretty sure that those who embraced the new technology were glad that they did.

-The thing that struck me most from Chapter 2 was how recently some processes or theories were implemented into the school library. I was very surprised that it took until the 1980's for flexible scheduling to become commonplace in school libraries. I also found the impact of the book //Information Power// to be interesting as well as to see how much things have changed since the book's publishing. I also found a pattern that since the 1960's, every ten years or so, a new wave of standards for instruction on information literacy skills and instruction as well as the basis for running a school library, have been updated, modified or completely re-written. It shows that as a profession, we can band together to realize when our standards for what is appropriate to be taught, how to do so and why the material is being instructed. I also found it interesting that as the profession progressed, instead of individuals having large impacts on the professions such as DeWitt Clinton, Charles Francis Adams, Jr. and John Dewey, critical and scholarly works done by professional organizations had larger impacts such as the aforementioned //Information Power,// as well as AASL's //Media Programs: District and School.// I believe that this shows the evolution of the profession from something where every individual made their own rules to a system where a generally agreed upon set of directives guided professionals to operate their facility

Reflection #1 - __The Many Faces of School Library Leadership.__ Chapter 3; __Today's School Library Media Specialist Leader__ article and __It's Not About Us__ blog posting:

- Advocacy will something that I feel all school library media specialists will be spending a lot of time on during the next few years. With the current economic situation, school library programs are being targeted for significant budget cuts that negatively affect students and staff. However, an effective advocate, a leader in their school, a consummate professional in their position(s) and someone that has the vision to look towards the future and connect staff and students to their desired outcomes, will have a distinct advantage is being able to avoid most, if not all, of the damaging cuts that could possibly occur to their program. Also, being able to show proof of positive results coming from your library is a way to advocate that your program is helping the school community. Sharing these statistics with administration, parents and the school board via newsletters, e-mail, website or presentation will enlighten those who are unaware of the importance and impact that your facility has on the students of your school.

- Today's School Library Media Specialist Leader is a person with an unwavering passion and commitment to providing their students with the best possible facility they can. They keep up with current teaching methodologies, popular new titles and exciting new technological tools. They also collaborate with fellow staff members to address future lessons and units as well as to resolve possible roadblocks or conflicts. A feeling of professionalism is noticeable in everything that they complete and they are active in curriculum planning sessions as well as local and even national education and library associations. Some may even host workshops to teach their fellow staff members how and where they can utilize new technology in their lessons. A School Library Media Specialist today is a leader that anyone in the school can utilize for advice, information, new ideas or even just to vent. In short, today's School Library Media Specialist is a person who is an invaluable member of the school community.

- Kristin Fontichiaro is right. It is not about us. It is about the students. It should always be about the students. Any decision that affects anything that has to do with the school library media center should be seen not as how it you, but, ultimately the students who use your space on a daily basis. Understanding, addressing and advocating their needs is of the utmost importance for any school librarian. Accepting this challenge is something that shouldn't even be addressed as a question, as Fontichiaro does at the end of her blog posting; it should something that any school librarian does without questioning because ultimately is for the benefit of the students to do so.