Excellence in School Librarianship

This is a really powerful video (less than 5 minutes) compiling feedback from administrators of different schools located around the nation on the impact of school librarians. It was posted on the AASL forum yesterday and was created by Judi Moreillon, who is known for her advocacy of school librarians. This would be a fantastic resource to share with principals and other supervisors! 

*Personal side note, feel free to take or leave it: the only two aspects I really wish they had tweaked were the consistent reference to librarians in the feminine (as we all know we have some rockstar guybrarians in our midst!) and the emphasis on school librarians as the Most Important Person. We are each free to have our thoughts on this, but personally I don't think that touting ourselves as the most important members of our faculty is beneficial or accurate. We are equal partners with our teachers and administrators and students and support staff...we just have unique training that helps us fill some special roles!

Common Core PowerPoint

In doing a little research on Common Core, I came across this PowerPoint that is a great starting point for exploring Common Core.

Here is the link: Increasing Informational Text in ELA, Social Studies, Science, Math. The PowerPoint is from the Long Island Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Their website is filled with Common Core strategies, rubrics, ELL, ESL, math and literacy information. Although the PowerPoint was created in 2011, all of the information is still relevant and fresh.

Collaboration at its Best!

Collaboration can be achieved through short meetings, forms, and tweaking annual projects that teachers turn to year after year.

It can turn to fun when the teachers are so "on fire" with teaching and collaborating with you that they say things like, "What cha got next?" That's when  it no longer feels like such hard work.

The picture here is of an 8th grade Social Studies class getting help from their teacher with downloading a video on Islam.

In the January 2013 issue of School Librarian Monthly, A Matrix for School Librarians: Aligning Standards, Inquiry, Reading, and Instruction is available. The columns include CCSS, AASL Standards Indicators, Inquiry Process, Reading Comprension Strategy, and Learning Applications.

In Alabama we use the College- and Career-Ready Standards (we added a lot of standards, such as cursive writing). Here is a look at one line of the Matrix graphic and how it compares to my collaborative lesson with an 8th grade Social Studies teacher:

CCSS: Production and Distribution of Writing (Students had to research and write a script before beginning filming). 6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

AASL Standards Indicators: Use writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings. (2.1.6) Students had to use a creative scenario like freinds from differing religious backgrounds meeting up at a camp.

Inquiry Process: Demonstrating ability to integrate knowledge and apply it to answer inquiry questions. They have definitely done this with their project!

Reading Comprehension Strategy: Synthesizing information. They have done this as well! Some are teaching lessons and recording their lessons.

Learning Applications: Using Multiple literacies to create and share final products that inform, persuade, or explain new understandings. This project accomplishes that.

All of this goes to show that many lessons you already use are going to mesh with CCRS. If you are interested, this Matrix is an amazing chart and very helping for cross-checking.

The Matrix was created by Judi Moreillon, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Library and Information Studies at Texas Women's University. Click here for a link to the Matrix and search for the January 2013 article in the search window.