The main take-aways I had in Theme 2 is that the role of the Teacher Librarian is vast, complicated, and varies between individuals, schools, and districts. Fulfilling the role is a large order and does not necessarily mean that can be completely fulfilled. In lesson 5, we discussed the role of the Teacher Librarian through the lens of providing opportunities for collaboration, relief time, and interviews. Largely, what was discussed in the forum was that "modern day Teacher Librarians" are unable to sacrifice the amount of time Riedling recommends to conduct interviews with students to provide them the best service possible while using the School Library Learning Commons. Other perspectives in the forum indicated that Teacher Librarians work with a lot of classroom teachers to pull and collect reference materials to have ready for when the class uses the School Library Learning Commons. However, I noticed that this method was largely successful if there is contact, communication, and collaboration between the classroom teacher and the Teacher Librarian. In my own school, we submit year-long plans to our administration, so if we were to have a Teacher Librarian, it would be easy enough for them to ask for a copy from administration. In having access to year-long plans, the Teacher Librarian is best able to have an idea about what to discuss with a particular classroom teacher. Personally, the contrast between the documents we read was most explicit when considering the lack of teacher involvement in the reference interview with students, as well as the lack of independence in the Riedling text. To me, it seemed as if the Teacher Librarian was doing all of the work, which does not help foster a sense of independence for the student, and does not necessarily allow the student to meet the requirements of the assignment as set out by the teacher. For me, lesson 6, about the role description of the Teacher Librarian was frustrating because the description, in most schools or districts is vague, and across districts the duties differ. I also found it strange that the job description was hard to find, as well as lists of responsibilities. Often, in job postings there are duties and responsibilities, however, most times I found a list of qualifications when searching for those postings across Canada. One norm I did find in reading the posts by others was that overall, there was a general section which could basically be summed up as "duties as assigned" which to me indicated covering for a classroom teacher so they receive their prep, substituting in a class where a substitute cannot be found, as well as coaching and leadership opportunities. My opinion about "duties as assigned" is overwhelmingly positive: in that I largely find the role of the Teacher Librarian to be one of service to others - serving students in the school, serving teachers in their classroom and in the School Library Learning Commons, as well as serving administration and the school district in fulfilling the vision of the school or district wherever the School Library Learning Commons fits. Being in a service role, to me, is where I ultimately want to be. As a classroom teacher, service is not quite a term used in the job description, often because instruction, planning, and curriculum is more about delivering, not assisting or helping (like the role of the Teacher Librarian). The Teacher Librarian, therefore, must be humble - something I am still working on. I find myself able to distance myself from my classroom self, something that took years and a lot of self-care to achieve. I find that EAs in our schools are most skilled with distancing themselves from their work where they see fit, and I have taken a lot of their advice to achieve what I see as being a positive and workable balance. Image Source: https://fundamentalacademy.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/wearing-lots-of-hats-300x265.jpg?w=300 We also discussed in lesson 6 how some of the description of the Teacher Librarian is constrained by time and budget. I found my own thoughts to be validated in that collaboration requires time, but not all administration is able to offer that time for the Teacher Librarian to meet with others within the school. If I were in a Teacher Librarian role, I would certainly advocate for a floating substitute teacher to be brought in to relieve classroom teachers for a few blocks to meet with me. In that relief time, we could sit down and talk in the School Library Learning Commons and discuss what they are doing in their classroom, how I can help, and what I can do to take something off of their plate. It might mean receiving a lot of work all at once for myself, however, the potential for working ahead together is far greater than a few extra hours of work to help someone on my team. From my perspective, lesson 7, being about reference resource goals is incredibly timely. I am currently working toward transitioning my school for my departure, as well as readying the staff as they transition to one-to-one classes in grades 4-9. I personally have made inquires and suggestions to and about various programs, services, and databases for the school to use as they work on integrating technology into their classrooms. With a big curriculum change in Alberta, the school and administration is not looking toward replacing textbooks or "trying something new", and understandably so. I discovered in my Assignment 1 that we currently should have access to a variety of databases for our school and for reference resources online, provided that we know our jurisdiction username and password. I have asked many times, and my principal is not sure if we have received it this year or not, so I have been encouraging him to obtain it so I can help get the staff acquainted with the materials available to them to teach their students.
I mentioned in my own post and was relieved to read others also mention that a lack of access (either portability or readability) prevents a lot of our students from learning the information in our reference resources. With the resources being so expensive already, acquiring a variety of them on similar topics with similar content with different reading levels is a significant challenge. This theme was timely and relevant in my own work, which I appreciated. I was humbled and learned about the various "hats" Teacher Librarians take on, which includes developing relationships by conducting reference interviews, as well as collaborating with classroom teachers, to advocating for funds for the School Library Learning Commons. I continue to believe that the role of the Teacher Librarian is that of a service role in the school community. Finally, I think that ultimately, the goal should be about providing access and opening doors, not closing them to our students, all while maintaining self-care. References Government of Alberta. (n.d.). Alberta Online Reference Centre. Retrieved February 15, 2019, from http://www.learnalberta.ca/OnlineReferenceCentre.aspx
KPMG Global. (n.d.). Union Budget 2018-19 [Digital image]. Retrieved February 15, 2019, from https://home.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/in/images/2018/01/budget18-Pre-Budget-Survey.jpg? Riedling, Ann, Shake, Loretta & Houston, Cynthia. (2013). Reference skills for the school library media specialist: Tools and tips, (Third Edition). Santa Barbara, CA: Linworth. Wearing Many Hats [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2019, from https://fundamentalacademy.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/wearing-lots-of-hats-300x265.jpg?w=300
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Learning Log 3 Krista Belanger In your own or imagined school context, discuss one factor that could foster collaboration and one barrier to collaboration. How could the school community work to overcome the barrier? In any collaboration task, a factor that could foster collaboration is the culture of the school community. From my experience, developing a sense of comradeship, support, and respect is what sets the tone for the school community’s culture. Previously, I taught in a public school in Manitoba, and there was no sense of support because the key players in the school were exclusive and held a different set of belief systems than others. When the school implemented a program called The Leader in Me (and became a Seven Habits school), a requirement of the program was to support one another and respect one another to work toward a common goal. Sometimes, bringing staff and the community together through a program can be what works. In my current school, we have an established sense of respect, support, and collaboration due to the nature of the school being an independent faith-based school. One barrier to collaboration is simple: time. While many teachers are well-meaning, and may know what the TL is able to do to support them in their own work, there simply is no collaboration built into the school day unless administration schedules it. A few obvious ways of overcoming the barrier of time is for TLs to promote themselves within the school by developing relationships with teachers to encourage teachers to see how they can be supported by the TL, to offering to take work off of the classroom teacher’s plate, and by being present at staff meetings, come in to work early and leave late. By a TL showing optimism, initiative, drive, and passion for their vocation, the TL can build a positive rapport with both students and staff. By the TL covering preparatory periods for classroom teachers, helping out with coaching and clubs, the TLs name is likely heard throughout the school day, which reminds classroom teachers that the TL is there to help. In my opinion, a lot of what the TL has control over is how they manage themselves and their space, and they cannot force classroom teachers into collaboration. According to Elizabeth Akingbola, in an article she wrote about misinformation in the subject of Social Studies (specifically Africa), she wrote about how teacher librarians need to be the ones to “take the lead” (Collaboration between teachers and librarians, 2017, pg. 20). She wrote that “librarians must initiate the conversation with teachers to collaborate. To simply tell them “If you need anything, let me know” no longer suffices. School librarians must be active partners in the teaching and learning exchange. They must be knowledgeable of all content standards and be willing to attend team meetings, communicate electronically, and if necessary meet with colleagues after hours to create engaging and empowering lessons that will deepen critical thinking” (pg. 20). This approach to collaboration will help the classroom teacher in leading an inquiry project, allow the Teacher Librarian to better get to know the classroom teacher and the students outside of book exchanges or random trips to the school library learning commons to better serve them in the future. Administration needs to build time into the schedule to allow for collaboration between classroom teachers and the TL. Administration can do this by hiring a floating substitute teacher to come in and cover for classroom teachers while they meet with the TL to discuss how the TL can best support and serve the classroom teacher. Hiring a floating sub can provide the opportunity for the TL to meet with more than one teacher in a day, which would be the best use of everyone’s time. In Inquiry Through the Eyes of Classroom Teachers, Stripling writes “By understanding inquiry from the teacher perspective, school librarians can integrate their services, resources, and teaching with classroom instruction more effectively” (2012, pg. 18). Often, how TLs and classroom teachers conduct inquiry can be vastly different. The TL must be conscious of how a classroom teacher conducts inquiry in their classroom to best help them in their teaching. Spending valuable time with those classroom teachers can help the TL develop a plan of action. Again, Stripling addresses this in her article, “librarians must decide how to enhance the teacher’s instruction and impact the learning without disrupting the teacher’s preferred teaching style” (pg. 19). The purpose for any Teacher Librarian should be about making teaching and learning easier for the classroom teacher, not encroaching on what they have set up, as noted by Stripling, “If inquiry-based teaching is the model that teachers follow . . . then librarians must adapt their services to teachers and students in the classroom at the point of need” (pg. 20). In working with the classroom teacher and not running the inquiry project, the classroom teacher is more likely to reach out for help or assistance in the future. Discuss how the integration or embrace of indigenous ways of knowing into teaching practice can enable learning to be accessible for all students. Embracing Indigenous ways of knowing into teaching is an incredibly important practice many educators are taking on. A number of the considerations and changes educators are making are similar to the way that they have recently been leading in the classroom, but must be brought into the forefront of how they lead. According to The Aboriginal Lens – Education for Reconciliation, the document “is designed to help educators challenge the current, established systems of belief that support Eurocentric practices that have silenced other ways of knowing and being” (2017, pg. 2). The main considerations include: respect, relationship-building, relevance, responsibility, reciprocity, reconciliation, and resilience (pg. 2). Having taught in a school with a high Indigenous population, the ideas put forth in the document are highly important in framing education for our students of today. I believe that the approach as outlined in the document serves all students, not only our Indigenous students. Our students want to come to school to feel like it is a safe place where they can be their best selves. They also want to come into the building to feel as if they are respected and their ideas are listened to, valued, and validated. In Learning and teaching together: weaving indigenous ways of knowing into education (2016), Michele Tanaka writes “The wisdom keepers believed that each learner comes into this world gifted with unique abilities. Adults should never try to shape a child; instead, adults should watch children and wait to see who they are becoming . . . From this perspective the wisdom keepers recognize each learner’s potential, grounded in who the learner was what he or she knew; they did not rely on external sources, such as their own experience or public curriculum documents” (pg. 71). It can be humbling as a teacher or Teacher Librarian to accept that the years of schooling we have gone through and life experience we may have should not impact how we interact with our students. Tanaka continues, “[this type of relationship] requires the teacher to be very open-minded about the possibilities of the learner in terms of what direction the learner might take, and what his or her needs might be” (pg. 71). In addition, it is important for the Teacher Librarian to be humble enough to accept that their vocation is about helping students learn, and is not a selfish vocation, as “teachers [must] ask themselves: ‘Is it my need that’s being filled, or is itthe student’s need that’s being filled? You know, if we were a real educator, it [would be] the students’ needs that we are trying to fil and not ours and not the system’s’” (pg. 71). Someone in a Teacher Librarian position is at a significant advantage to utilizing the framework, as often students come into the school library learning commons and have a different feeling than if they were in the classroom. A student may have had a particularly poor day in class, lost their homework, and maybe were sent out of the classroom. The school library learning commons becomes the place where none of that matters because the Teacher Librarian will likely not know what happened. The relationships built between Teacher Librarians and students in the school library learning commons are different than those developed in the classroom. In the classroom, students are constantly being held accountable and are likely being told the same things over and over again in all of their classes, but upon stepping into the school library learning commons, the baggage is dropped at the door. Therefore, it is up to the Teacher Librarian to be a positive, listening, and valuable resource in that students’ academic life as they may not experience positivity from other places in their school careers. According to the Aboriginal Lens document, “[reciprocity means] Eliminating power differentials in decision-making; genuine cooperation can only take place where there is a meeting of equals” (pg. 2) which is often the case in the school library learning commons. It should not be the goal of the Teacher Librarian to hold all of the knowledge, it should be the goal of the Teacher Librarian to be on the same team as the student, to encourage them, to listen to their ideas, to validate their feelings, and to mentor them when possible. References Akingbola, E. D. (2017, 12). Collaboration between teachers and librarians. Teacher
Librarian, 45, 18-21. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/1979764184?accountid=14656 BC Teachers' Federation. (2017). The Aboriginal lens: Education for reconciliation. In Aboriginal Education. Vancouver, BC: BCTF. Stripling, B. K. (2012a). Inquiry through the eyes of classroom teachers. School Library Monthly, 28(8), 18–20. Tanaka, M. T. (03/01/2016). Learning and teaching together: Weaving indigenous ways of knowing into education UBC Press.
I am attaching my assignment above in PDF format because the formatting of the rubrics becomes confusing upon publishing on the blog. You will notice an additional blank rubric in the PDF and a rubric filled in regarding the evaluation of the new work. Evaluation of a Reference Work Krista Belanger LIBE 467 – February 3, 2019 1 Abstract SML Christian Academy should replace the existing reference source, Everything You Need to Know About Science Homework: A Desk Reference for Students and Parents by Anne Zeman and Kate Kelly (2005) and replace it with Scholastic’s ScienceFlix. The aforementioned reference work, published by Scholastic, is out of date and is inaccessible to many in our student population. 2 Background The reference work, Everything You Need to Know About Science Homework: A Desk Reference for Students and Parents by Anne Zeman and Kate Kelly is a resource published by Scholastic in 2005. The first year of publication of this particular resource was 1994 in the USA. SML Christian Academy has had and used this resource extensively since it’s purchase in 2006. The original intent of the purchase of this book, according to staff, was to give students an additional, easy-to-read resource which would cover outcomes in the grades 4, 5, and 6 Science curriculum in Alberta. Up until January 2019, SML’s library has been housed on the stage in the gymnasium. The majority of resource and reference materials have been circulating in classrooms for at least three years, which is the case with this reference work. 3 Rubric Rubric for evaluation of a reference work, based on Everything You Need to Know About Science Homework: A Desk Reference for Students and Parents by Anne Zeman and Kate Kelly: 4 Evaluation Everything You Need to Know About Science Homework: A Desk Reference for Students and Parents by Anne Zeman and Kate Kelly overall has served its purpose at SML Christian Academy and is overdue for replacement. With the growing needs of our student population, differentiation is required in our reference materials. This particular text is relevant in terms of the curriculum, as almost all sections of grade 4-6 science are covered, with the exceptions of the entirety of mechanisms and levers (grade 4), wetland ecosystems (grade 5), and forestry (grade 6). This particular text is irrelevant, however, to students in our school community as the Lexile level is far too complex for many of our students (Lexile level is 970). The absolute top end for grade 4 reading is 950, and this text comes in above that level, making it inaccessible for most grade 4 students. To assume that students in grades 4-6 are at the same reading level does those students a disservice. This text is also irrelevant to our school community as it does not contain Canadian spelling, measurements, or referents (in math). Canadian students are not typically taught imperial measurements or about American landmarks, so citing feet when discussing the height of a volcano is not something our students have as a referent. Speeds, as listed on page 18, in miles per hour do not mean the same thing to our Canadian students as American students. The purpose of the text is to inform, but in our school’s context the purpose of the text also appears to be both biased and persuasive. There are scientific understandings in the text which do not correlate with the school’s belief system, so up-front scaffolding is to be done by the teacher to offer an alternative viewpoint. For example, on page 16, dinosaurs are written as “[first appearing] on earth 230 million years ago,” to be fair, finding a reference which includes other viewpoints, including our beliefs will be next to impossible. The currency of this text is out of date, as most reference materials are kept a maximum of 5 years. This particular text is from 2005 and still lists Pluto as a planet. There are no sources listed in this reference book, which brings into question the entire accuracy of the text and how it is written. There is no “about the author” section, which brings into question the reliability of the author. It should be noted that this text was purchased for ten dollars, and given that it is used extensively within the school, it seems to have fulfilled its worth. Since this text floats between three different classrooms throughout the school year, it is efficient in its use of space, as it is small and covers a lot of content. It would be a more efficient use of space if it were reliable and accurate. 5 Potential Replacement The potential replacement I have found is ScienceFlix by Scholastic. ScienceFlix is a portal where students and teachers can log in to watch, read, explore, and be redirected to other sites about various topics in Science. Science experiments are offered, as well as career suggestions for students who may be thinking about their future. ScienceFlix is an annual subscription-based service, however, Alberta Education provides schools with portal access, so provided SML is able to obtain their jurisdiction code and password and activate the product through Alberta Education, it is free for anyone within the school’s walls and connected to the school’s wi-fi. There are other options available as well through the Alberta Government website on their online reference center page (Government of Alberta, 2019). 6 Evaluation of Replacement To see the evaluation on the rubric at a glance, please see Appendix B. According to the rubric above, ScienceFlix meets the acceptable standard for Canadian content. When searching on the site for “colour” no results were returned. However, in an article about volcanoes, the measurement was taken in feet, but listed metres in brackets afterward. There are some Canadian places listed, but mostly American content is noted. There seem to be less images on each webpage than there were in the book, which brings the image criteria into the below expectations standard, rather than the exceeding expectation standard. However, it should be noted that there are videos on the webpages as well. There is an appendix and a glossary available on each article page as well as the top of each page, which brings the appendix, glossary, or index criteria to the acceptable standard. In terms of the ease of use, ScienceFlix falls into the acceptable category, mainly due to access being limited to being used on school property and using the school’s internet connection to be used without a fee. Many of the readings on the site are sectioned in such a way that navigating the site is easy, with the table of contents and lists of sections along the left navigation pane, with tabs at the top for science experiments and other exploratory opportunities. Accessibility to students was one of the largest shortfalls of the previous reference book, and ScienceFlix seems to exceed expectations in many ways. There are a variety of texts students can choose from for learning about many of the provided topics, at a variety of Lexile levels. In looking at articles related to volcanoes, I noticed the range in Lexile levels between 750 and 1200. This is much more accessible to students in terms of choice versus a hardcopy book. Built into the site is options to have the text read aloud sentence by sentence, and as each word is read it is highlighted. There is no need for students to use or have a read-aloud extension in Chrome while using this site. Another reason this text is more accessible is that key words are written in a bold font and definitions are linked below the text. As mentioned earlier, adding videos increases the accessibility of the text as well. In terms of reliability, the sources are listed at the bottom of each webpage, which demonstrates that the text comes from an external source. The Scholastic book company has some reliability as a source in the community, but not enough to indicate that it can fall in the exceeds expectations category. Based on what I have read, the accuracy of the information exceeds expectations, as it offers sources for their findings and I could not find any information on the site which was inaccurate. The currency of the text is less than three years old, which exceeds expectations for this piece of criteria. Since the reference is an online resource, adding or substituting text in favour of more current research is easier than publishing another book to make a small correction or addition. The purpose of the text is clear and student-friendly as it provides students opportunities to “go deeper” in the left navigation pane, it provides information which is presented to students in an accessible way, and it does not show its bias outright. I would have liked to have observed this resource explain multiple perspectives in regard to dinosaurs and the timeline of the Earth, but as I mentioned earlier, it would be incredibly difficult to find a completely unbiased scientific work or one that included every alternative viewpoint. Finally, curricular connections between the Government of Alberta and the various databases the Government provides to schools in Alberta are available through the Alberta Government website. A specialized list for Division Two (grades 4-6) is available through the ORC Support site (Online Reference Center, 2016). 7 Conclusion In conclusion, the reference work, Everything You Need to Know About Science Homework: A Desk Reference for Students and Parents by Anne Zeman and Kate Kelly, is out of date and inaccessible to many students in grades 4-6 at SML Christian Academy. A free option for substitution, provided the school is able to obtain their jurisdiction username and password for each school year is ScienceFlix, which provides students opportunities to learn much of the same content, more current content at their level. References Division II Science. (2016, April 10). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from
http://www.onlinereferencecentre.ca/division-ii-science.html Online Reference Centre - LearnAlberta.ca. (n.d.). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from http://www.learnalberta.ca/OnlineReferenceCentre.aspx?lang=en ScienceFlix. (n.d.). Retrieved February 3, 2019, from http://scienceflix.scholastic.com Zeman, A., & Kelly, K. (2005). Everything you need to know about science homework. New York: Scholastic Reference. |
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