| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs

Page history last edited by lynda martin 10 years, 8 months ago

Section 1.1 Developing Visions for Learning Key points

"The mission of the school library media program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of information. The school library media specialist empowers students to be critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers, and ethical users of information by:

  • Collaborating with educators and students to be design and teach engaging learning experiences that meet individual needs.
  • Instructing students and assisting in using , evaluating and producing information and ideas...through use of a broad range of appropriate tools, resources and information technologies.
  • Providing access to materials in all formats and in all reading and interest levels. 
  • Providing students and staff with instruction and resources that reflect current information needs and anticipate changes in technology and education.
  • Providing leadership in the total education program and advocating for strong school library media programs as essential to meeting local, state and national educational goals. "

Section 1.3: The 21st Century Learning Environment can be thought of as a "support system that organizes the conditions in which humans learn best."  This is not limited to physical space.

 

Summary of the Learning Standards:  

  1. Inquire, think critically and gain knowledge.
  2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.
  3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as member sof our democratic society.
  4. Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.

Strands of Learning:

  1. skills
  2. dispositions in action
  3. responsibilities
  4. self-assessment strategies

Ranked Roles of the School Library Media Specialist

  1. Leader: The SLMS is charged with infusing 21st Century skills throughout the school.  "Leadership requires increased professional commitment and thorough knowledge of the challenges and oportunities facing the profession."
  2. Instructional Partner: "The SLMS works with members of the school community to develop policies, practices, and curricula to guide student learning."
  3. Information Specialist:  This role includes creating a virtual environment and being the expert on fair use.  The information specialist also models emerging technologies.
  4. Teacher:  "The SLMS empowers students to become critical thinkers, skillful researchers, and ethical users of information."  Encouraging self-evaluation of work is an important teaching charge.
  5. Program Administrator:  "The implementation of a successful SLMP requires the collaborative development of the program mission, strategic plan, and policies, as well as the effective management of staff, the program budget, and the physical and virtual spaces."

     ** All five roles are interdependent upon each other. 

 

Section II: Teaching for Learning:

Guidelines

 

  1. "The SLMP promotes collaboration among members of the learning community and encourages learners to be independent, lifelong users and producers of ideas and information." This includes working with teachers, community resource people, administrators and students to design learning plans."
  2. Promotes reading as a base for all learning and personal enjoyment. The SLMS models reading strategies and integrates these into units.  Collection development activities include selecting, acquiring and marketing" high-quality, high-interest" books and "reading resources in multiple formats."  The SLMS devises programs to promote and "engage learners in reading, writing, and listening for understanding and enjoyment, and finds ways to involve family members in reading.
  3. Provides instruction in multiple literacies.
  4. Provides inquiry-based instriuction
  5. The SLMP is guided by student assessment results 

 

III. Building the Learning Environment (with my notes)

  1. "The school library media program is built upon an long-term strategic plan that reflects the mission, goals and objectives of the school."  My school has no written strategic plan.  This should be my goal for 2013-2014.  The book recommends input from the mission and goal statements and well as from key stakeholders.  Basically, I have always been skeptical of mission and goal statements because they seem so lofty with no basis in the present.  That is good to have a point; my philosophy is simple: the mission of the school library is to support the curriculum and the recreational needs of the students.  That covers everything.  Nonetheless, I should have a written, concrete five-year plan that can guide my actions throughout the school year.Further reading suggests that an action plan with objectives, timeline and budget be developed, regularly consulted and updated. In addition, evidence in practice should be collected to prove the library program's relevance.  Clearly these are strategic areas that I need to improve upon. 
  2.  One full-time, certified LMS supported by qualified staff.  I am a fully certified LMS, but am I sufficient to meet my learning communities needs? No.  The solution is to recruit parent volunteers with clear-cut expectations of what they should do.  This should change.  I need to recruit volunteers for specific times when I cannot be in the library and for times I know I will be busiest, like Thursday and Friday mornings.
  3. Sufficient funding to meet program and school goals. Libraries in my district receives $12 per student for materials.  My principal gives me $100 annually for supplies.  This year, the elementary librarians were given $4500 for collection development at the district level.  To top this off, I raise about $3500 each year in book fair proceeds.  Would I take more if I had it?  Absolutely, but I realize that we here in Monongalia County are innumerably better off than most school libraries in the state. 
  4. "Policies and procedures that support equitable access to ideas and information throughout the school community."   I consider this a grey area.  I understand the principle, but I fall short of the practice. We in the school system have some responsibility to help parent the children.  In loco parentis.  It would be irresponsible to give children equal access to all ideas.
  5. Flexible and equitable access to the physical and virtual facility. Equitable access is a grave concern.  Of main concern is access to electronic resources off the school campus.  It would be ideal to provide each child with a tablet comparable to a Kindle with 4G that he could use to access ebooks and resources at home regardless of whether the family could afford Internet connectivity.  We do not have the resources to achieve this, and even if we did, there are child safety and privacy concerns to overcome.  There are issues we can overcome:
    1. Finding volunteer staffing to cover mornings, lunches and planning;
    2. Providing after school hours so that all will have access to facilities. 
  6. Well-developed collection. The collection is in good condition, but lately collection efforts have been geared toward pop fiction at the expense of strategic collection development. A thorough curriculum map of the collection should be carried out to determine the relevance of titles to the Common Core Standards.  A collection plan should be developed to reflect needs. 
  7. Guided by "an advocacy plan that builds support from decision-makers who affect the quality of the SLMP."  A schedule for advocacy activities should be developed and implemented.
  8. Includes support for professional development opportunities to "sustain and increase knowledge and skills." I have always enjoyed administrative support in my position at Brookhaven.  Most of my professional development is self-directed, but I have always been supported in my professional development requests.

 

  

  

 

 

 

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.