Candidates model, share, and promote effective principles of teaching and learning as collaborative partners with other educators. Candidates acknowledge the importance of participating in curriculum development, of engaging in school improvement processes, and of offering professional development to other educators as it relates to library and information use.
Library media specialists’ important goal is to be able to collaborate or work together with someone in school with a common purpose and produce something that will benefit the students and teachers. This first quarter, I was challenged to collaborate with the teachers because first, I was hesitant to approach them because I was new in the building, and second, because some of them have not tried working with the librarian on a certain project.
During my course in ISTC 667, Instructional Design and Development, I learned how to create the Unit of Instruction: Modified ISD/Pebbles Model. The purpose of this project was to gain experience with implementing the collaborative design process, instructional delivery, and instructional analysis from the perspective of a school library media specialist (Syllabus, 2010). I created a lesson plan for using PowerPoint to create a life story presentation. I was able to implement this lesson with my fifth grade classes. With the help of the Language Arts teacher, we collaborated in a project and we both appreciate it because we helped each other to make this project work for our students. She started by teaching them how to write a time line of their life story, and checked the grammars and spelling. Afterwards, I applied my lesson plan by starting with a storyboard written on a paper. I thought them how to use PowerPoint and then they started making their projects. I also scanned their real photographs to make this project more appealing. During the presentation, I made a 10 point rubric for the Language Arts teacher to score. I was able to make this project for two consecutive years with the fifth graders and it was so meaningful because I was able to work with a classroom teacher and shared our ideas together as a team.
In my course ISTC 667, Instructional Design and Development, my small group and I reflected on needs and task analysis in Module 4. We discussed about using technology to support classroom instruction. Technology has been a great tool for motivating students, but as I have mentioned there, the professional development issues were the concern because teachers need to come and be trained before using the software or new technology. In my experience here at Rosa Parks Elementary, keeping teachers motivated to use the technology was a little difficult too. I invited them to attend a training about using the OPAC, Safari Montage and eBooks, but only a few came. In Module 7: Creating effective learning environment, I learned that giving a professional development needs planning. The school had been busy since day one; I should have asked to schedule it in early October. Since I was the only one who gave the training, I should have asked for help probably from the Reading Specialist of her suggestion in professional development since I am new in the school. I did some informal survey like asking teachers if they were using Safari Montage and the OPAC, and most of them said no. As a library media specialist, it is my goal to create an effective learning environment that is excited to learn new things about new books, EBooks, database or software. I should promote professional development and invite teachers to come and learn new things they can use in class. To solve this, I spoke with the person in-charged of PD schedules and I told her I would like to give a professional development during our staff meeting this November. That way, I can see everyone and get their insights about how they can use these resources from our online catalog.
In my course ISTC 601, Library Media Administration, we made a project called School Library Media Action Plan. When I was doing the project, I really had a hard time finding a school since I was not yet working at that time. But I did learn a lot from that project. I think every librarian should have an action plan that will reflect his work for the entire year. In my current job, I also made my own action plan because I felt that it will help me know my goal for the school year. My focus in this action plan was to promote the use of Destiny, EBooks and the free database from Destiny. The county has been paying for these, and I want at least 85% of my students to be confident to use these resources for research purposes. I also wanted to promote reading so I ordered more books in the beginning of the year using the school budget allocation of $2 per student. I spent $1,408.64 for 97 books from Follett. I also tried to promote reading by having the Six Flags Read to Succeed reading club, where all my students from kindergarten to sixth grades should read six hours from October to February 12, 2016. When they complete their reading log, they can get a free ticket to six flags by March. I also gave professional development to staff about using these resources and how they can use them in class. I also collaborate with the teachers every other week, and communicate with them through email. I ask them the theme of the week, so their classes will checkout books according to the theme. Since we only have one computer laboratory in the school, I have an iPad cart with 30 iPads, so my class will have 1:1 ratio of computers when we have lessons about these resources. I have started this for a month now, and the staff appreciates my effort on doing this for the students. My action plan is a work in progress, but for now I think it is effective to all my students.
In my ISTC 615, Collection Development course, I learned how to evaluate online materials that we used in the school. During that time, I was also wearing the hat of a technology liaison. I was more aware of what materials the staff were using in class. Here at Rosa L. Parks Elementary, we have a technology liaison and I am not very much aware of the technology our teachers use in class. Although I had some informal surveys, asking them if they are using Safari Montage in class, or CultureGrams database, I feel that I am not very much aware of their technology tools or other materials they use in class. Since I am teaching my students the different database and Destiny, I feel that it is one way to remind teachers that we have free and useful resources and they can use them in their classroom assignments. One example was the project about Mexico that the sixth graders were doing last week. I helped the teacher find books for her students, and I also taught the class how to use CultureGrams. Since I have not given this training yet to the teachers, I sent a personal email to the sixth grade teacher and gave her the step-by-step procedures on how to use CultureGrams. I received good feedbacks from my sixth graders after I taught them this research database. It was very motivating to know that they appreciate what I teach them. They said, they will use it in Social Studies class, and I felt that my objective was met for that day.
During my EDUC 717, Children’s Literature course, I learned how to make a text set, were there is one theme and I selected books that support that theme from Pre-K to third grade. Teachers always ask me what I can recommend to them to use in class. I have always experienced this everyday and Destiny has been a very helpful buddy for me when I need it. I have to recommend and know the reading and interest level of books, so I always refer to Destiny for reference. My school has majority of Hispanics and we have more ESOL students, so I always double-check the books that I recommend to teachers. I have to really look at the pages, the font size and graphics that are appropriate for their level.
I am taking this semester the course ISTC 651, Information Literacy and Access. Our first assignment was to pick a dictionary or thesaurus to review and evaluate in class. I appreciate this assignment because I learned that not all the dictionary books are the same and they also have their reading and interest levels. I have been teaching my students how to use the dictionary in class. Every time we have a quiet reading time, which is usually after they checkout their books, I tell them to use the dictionary if there are difficult words they cannot understand. I have picked the right dictionaries for their reading level. For the past three weeks, I have seen 40% of students using the dictionaries while reading books. I know it is a small number, but I am not losing hope. I will keep on inspiring them to use it everyday if possible. I also asked teachers to keep dictionaries in their classrooms so students can use them when needed. The reading specialist also borrowed several dictionaries from the library. This assignment was very helpful for me because I learned to evaluate reference books from my collections.
1.3 Instructional partner (Whole Cohort)
Candidates model, share, and promote effective principles of teaching and learning as collaborative partners with other educators. Candidates acknowledge the importance of participating in curriculum development, of engaging in school improvement processes, and of offering professional development to other educators as it relates to library and information use.Artifacts
ISTC 667- Unit of Instruction: Modified ISD/Pebbles ModelISTC 667 - Case Studies: Modules 4 and 7
ISTC 601 - School Action Plan
ISTC 615 – Material Evaluation
EDUC 717 – Text Set Assignment
ISTC 651- Dictionary and Thesauri Presentation
Relevance
Library media specialists’ important goal is to be able to collaborate or work together with someone in school with a common purpose and produce something that will benefit the students and teachers. This first quarter, I was challenged to collaborate with the teachers because first, I was hesitant to approach them because I was new in the building, and second, because some of them have not tried working with the librarian on a certain project.During my course in ISTC 667, Instructional Design and Development, I learned how to create the Unit of Instruction: Modified ISD/Pebbles Model. The purpose of this project was to gain experience with implementing the collaborative design process, instructional delivery, and instructional analysis from the perspective of a school library media specialist (Syllabus, 2010). I created a lesson plan for using PowerPoint to create a life story presentation. I was able to implement this lesson with my fifth grade classes. With the help of the Language Arts teacher, we collaborated in a project and we both appreciate it because we helped each other to make this project work for our students. She started by teaching them how to write a time line of their life story, and checked the grammars and spelling. Afterwards, I applied my lesson plan by starting with a storyboard written on a paper. I thought them how to use PowerPoint and then they started making their projects. I also scanned their real photographs to make this project more appealing. During the presentation, I made a 10 point rubric for the Language Arts teacher to score. I was able to make this project for two consecutive years with the fifth graders and it was so meaningful because I was able to work with a classroom teacher and shared our ideas together as a team.
In my course ISTC 667, Instructional Design and Development, my small group and I reflected on needs and task analysis in Module 4. We discussed about using technology to support classroom instruction. Technology has been a great tool for motivating students, but as I have mentioned there, the professional development issues were the concern because teachers need to come and be trained before using the software or new technology. In my experience here at Rosa Parks Elementary, keeping teachers motivated to use the technology was a little difficult too. I invited them to attend a training about using the OPAC, Safari Montage and eBooks, but only a few came. In Module 7: Creating effective learning environment, I learned that giving a professional development needs planning. The school had been busy since day one; I should have asked to schedule it in early October. Since I was the only one who gave the training, I should have asked for help probably from the Reading Specialist of her suggestion in professional development since I am new in the school. I did some informal survey like asking teachers if they were using Safari Montage and the OPAC, and most of them said no. As a library media specialist, it is my goal to create an effective learning environment that is excited to learn new things about new books, EBooks, database or software. I should promote professional development and invite teachers to come and learn new things they can use in class. To solve this, I spoke with the person in-charged of PD schedules and I told her I would like to give a professional development during our staff meeting this November. That way, I can see everyone and get their insights about how they can use these resources from our online catalog.
In my course ISTC 601, Library Media Administration, we made a project called School Library Media Action Plan. When I was doing the project, I really had a hard time finding a school since I was not yet working at that time. But I did learn a lot from that project. I think every librarian should have an action plan that will reflect his work for the entire year. In my current job, I also made my own action plan because I felt that it will help me know my goal for the school year. My focus in this action plan was to promote the use of Destiny, EBooks and the free database from Destiny. The county has been paying for these, and I want at least 85% of my students to be confident to use these resources for research purposes. I also wanted to promote reading so I ordered more books in the beginning of the year using the school budget allocation of $2 per student. I spent $1,408.64 for 97 books from Follett. I also tried to promote reading by having the Six Flags Read to Succeed reading club, where all my students from kindergarten to sixth grades should read six hours from October to February 12, 2016. When they complete their reading log, they can get a free ticket to six flags by March. I also gave professional development to staff about using these resources and how they can use them in class. I also collaborate with the teachers every other week, and communicate with them through email. I ask them the theme of the week, so their classes will checkout books according to the theme. Since we only have one computer laboratory in the school, I have an iPad cart with 30 iPads, so my class will have 1:1 ratio of computers when we have lessons about these resources. I have started this for a month now, and the staff appreciates my effort on doing this for the students. My action plan is a work in progress, but for now I think it is effective to all my students.
In my ISTC 615, Collection Development course, I learned how to evaluate online materials that we used in the school. During that time, I was also wearing the hat of a technology liaison. I was more aware of what materials the staff were using in class. Here at Rosa L. Parks Elementary, we have a technology liaison and I am not very much aware of the technology our teachers use in class. Although I had some informal surveys, asking them if they are using Safari Montage in class, or CultureGrams database, I feel that I am not very much aware of their technology tools or other materials they use in class. Since I am teaching my students the different database and Destiny, I feel that it is one way to remind teachers that we have free and useful resources and they can use them in their classroom assignments. One example was the project about Mexico that the sixth graders were doing last week. I helped the teacher find books for her students, and I also taught the class how to use CultureGrams. Since I have not given this training yet to the teachers, I sent a personal email to the sixth grade teacher and gave her the step-by-step procedures on how to use CultureGrams. I received good feedbacks from my sixth graders after I taught them this research database. It was very motivating to know that they appreciate what I teach them. They said, they will use it in Social Studies class, and I felt that my objective was met for that day.
During my EDUC 717, Children’s Literature course, I learned how to make a text set, were there is one theme and I selected books that support that theme from Pre-K to third grade. Teachers always ask me what I can recommend to them to use in class. I have always experienced this everyday and Destiny has been a very helpful buddy for me when I need it. I have to recommend and know the reading and interest level of books, so I always refer to Destiny for reference. My school has majority of Hispanics and we have more ESOL students, so I always double-check the books that I recommend to teachers. I have to really look at the pages, the font size and graphics that are appropriate for their level.
I am taking this semester the course ISTC 651, Information Literacy and Access. Our first assignment was to pick a dictionary or thesaurus to review and evaluate in class. I appreciate this assignment because I learned that not all the dictionary books are the same and they also have their reading and interest levels. I have been teaching my students how to use the dictionary in class. Every time we have a quiet reading time, which is usually after they checkout their books, I tell them to use the dictionary if there are difficult words they cannot understand. I have picked the right dictionaries for their reading level. For the past three weeks, I have seen 40% of students using the dictionaries while reading books. I know it is a small number, but I am not losing hope. I will keep on inspiring them to use it everyday if possible. I also asked teachers to keep dictionaries in their classrooms so students can use them when needed. The reading specialist also borrowed several dictionaries from the library. This assignment was very helpful for me because I learned to evaluate reference books from my collections.