AASL Standard 1
The Learner and Learning
Candidates in school librarian preparation programs are effective educators who demonstrate an awareness of learners' development. Candidates promote cultural competence and respect for inclusiveness. Candidates integrate the National School Library Standards considering learner development, diversity, and differences while fostering a positive learning environment. Candidates impact student learning so that all learners are prepared for college, career, and life.
1.1 Learner Development: Candidates demonstrate the ways learners grow within and across cognitive, psychomotor, affective, and developmental domains. Candidates engage learners’ interests to think, create, share and grow as they design and implement instruction that integrates the National School Library Standards.
1.2 Learner Diversity: Candidates articulate and model cultural competence and respect for inclusiveness, supporting individual and group perspectives.
1.3 Learning Differences: Candidates cultivate the educational and personal development of all members of a learning community, including those with diverse intellectual abilities, learning modalities, and physical variabilities.
1.4 Learning Environment: Candidates create both physical and virtual learner-centered environments that are engaging and equitable. The learning environments encourage positive social interaction and the curation and creation of knowledge.
How it Aligns
The artifacts contained in this standard both include information that centers on the learner and the learning environment. The lessons included in the Collaborative Learning Experience include AASL standards that are covered as well as inquiry phases as well. This Experience speaks to the diversity within the learners and different learning styles. The School Library Presentation takes into account that the physical space is important as well for learning and the learner as an individual.
What I learned
Before starting the MLIS program, I had been a classroom teacher for over 15 years. Lesson plans were something that I had learned how to do and had quite frankly perfected over the years. I could carry out a lesson without writing one thing down. However, upon entering the MLIS program I realized that the type of teaching and learning that would be happening in the library was going to require some planning and research. It was going to require collaboration and buy in from other staff members, and it was going to require me to write something down.
The Collaborative Learning Experiences was one of my most favorite, but also most difficult tasks in the program. It required dependency on another teacher and cooperation from a room full of kindergarteners! I loved working with the teacher and helping her see that working together, not only did we cover my standards for the library but her standards for the classroom as well. It was fun and the students loved it. I did learn not to plan too much in one lesson. I need to be more realistic in what I can accomplish in the short bouts of time I have.
The School Library Presentation was one of the first presentations I did in the program. It not only helped me to acclimate myself with college and being a student again, but opened my eyes to the importance of the actual school library environment. I learned about the physical library space and how important it is and that the library isn't just about the books, but the the space itself.
Student Impact
"Libraries are much more than storage spaces for information. They are dynamic spaces where groups of people come to learn, access resources, and build a life." (Lurie, 2018)
Libraries and Librarians play a huge role in a school setting. They are a place where everyone in the school can access information and technology. They help connect students with information to enhance their classwork or in addition to what they are learning in their classroom. The library supports the curriculum and the standards that are meant to be taught and learned by teachers and students. The library is a "safe" place for the school community.
At some point in their school years, all students pass through the library. So then it would only make sense that the library space should be learner-centered, engaging and have equitable access for every student in the building. Library spaces must, "encourage creativity and invention, allow discovery, increase collaboration, generate interaction and foster innovation." (Pichman, 2015)
Through my classes at UNCG I've realized that helping the learner develop isn't just about the lessons we teach or the texts the students have access to, it is also important that the student's learning environment, aka the library, is a place where all of their needs can be met as well.
The collaboration between the librarian and the teacher has been shown to not only "develop higher level thinking skills in students, but also help with self esteem and confidence" in other areas of their school day. (Gates, 2018) By designing units and lessons that are a collaboration, the students are learning skills that they can take outside of the classroom, skills that will enhance their leadership skills and will make for an overall better learning experience for the students.
References
Colorado Department of Education. (2010, November 1). The Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: Exploring the School Library Impact Studies [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/showcase/1480129
Gates, S. (2018, October 18). Benefits of Collaboration | NEA. Nea.Org. https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/benefits-collaboration
Lurie, L. (2018, April 12). The Importance of a School Library. Kids Read Now. https://kidsreadnow.org/the-importance-of-a-school-library/
Pichman, B. (2015). Designing Interactive Learning Spaces [Slides]. Word Press. https://lilrc.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/lilrc_makerspaces-_bpichman_final.pdf