Inquire

          On March 25^th, 2019, I met with Traci Morrison, the librarian at Herbert A. Wood Elementary School, to discuss the AASL National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries Shared Foundations. Mrs. Morrison chose to discuss the Shared Foundation I., Inquire.  I asked Mrs. Morrison questions that were outlined in our instructions from SLIS 794. The Competencies addressed by Mrs. Morrison were based on the following statements:

A.   Think - School librarians teach learners to display curiosity and initiative when seeking information.

B.   Create - School librarians promote new knowledge generation.

C.   Share - School librarians guide learners to maintain focus throughout the inquiry process.

D.  Grow - School librarians implement and model an inquiry-based process.

         When I asked Mrs. Morrison what some examples were of how she implemented the Shared Foundation Engage, she gave me an extended example of a research unit that she teaches with one of the teachers at her school.  In this unit, students are supposed to select an animal that they are personally interested in and the do research about that animal.  Mrs. Morrison said that she models the selection process by first talking to the students about an experience she had where she and her husband got to do a nighttime sea turtle watch and how she was able to help make sure that newly hatched turtles made it to the water.  She said that she talks to the students about how she is intensely interested in sea turtles and therefore would choose to do research on them because of this interest and her experience.  With this example, she teaches students to inquire and display curiosity about topics that interest them personally.

         As far as the resources that Mrs. Morrison said she uses to engage her students, she said she pretty much uses Discus.  She said, “It’s safe and free.”  She also said that Epic eBooks is another source she uses.  Currency was one of her main concerns because she said her print collection was a bit dated. 

         As far as collaboration goes, Mrs. Morrison said that she always asks teachers a week ahead of their visit what they will be studying during the next week.  (She has a fixed schedule and sees all of her students weekly.) She said that she tries to fit her lessons into what the classroom teachers are teaching, but they mostly rely on her to pull books that she thinks the students may find interesting and that go along with some classroom topic.

         When asked what some of the challenges are that she faces when trying to address engagement with knowledge and creating a culture of inquiry she said with emphasis, “Time!”  She said it was not just her.  Teachers, too, have little time to plan with each other or with her to create collaborative lessons.  Mrs. Morrison said that there used to be a planning period where related arts teachers and she could get together and discover what lessons teachers were teaching so that they could support the curriculum.  However, that planning had been taken away. 

         Of all the librarians that I observed and interviewed during my internship, Mrs. Morrison was the one that spoke most clearly about the AASL standards in general.  She actually had her own copy of the book and referred to it when we met.  The other librarians knew that the standards exist and had a general idea about the domains and competencies but were not that well versed in discussing them.  Mrs. Morrison is part of a group of Lexington Two librarians that meets to do professional development about maintaining library standards.  (My group of librarians, in my district, mostly meets about technology and maintaining equipment.)  It was a pleasure to be allowed to interview and visit Mrs. Morrison as she provided a different, more academic, perspective to librarianship, maybe more by-the-book, than the others.  Not better, just different.

Engage

          On April 9^th, 2019, I met with Melissa Broadway, the librarian at Swansea High School, to discuss the AASL National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries Shared Foundations. Mrs. Broadway chose to discuss the Shared Foundation VI., Engage.  As with the interviews I conducted with Ms. Scaglione, Mrs. Morrison, and Mrs. Donovan, I asked Mrs. Broadway the questions outlined in our instructions from SLIS 794. The Competencies addressed by Mrs. Broadway were based on the following statements:

A.   Think - School librarians promote ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information.

B.   Create - School librarians act as a resource for using valid information and reasoned conclusions to make ethical decisions in the creation of knowledge.

C.   Share - School librarians promote the responsible, ethical, and legal sharing of new information with a global community.

D.  Grow - School librarians support learners’ engagement with information to extend personal learning.

         When asked what some of the ways were that she was implementing the Competencies for Engage, Mrs. Broadway spoke about how he teaches students to research and then cite sources when they write papers.  She talked about how some of the English teachers bring students to her library and how she shows students how to document information that they have gathered.  She said that even as the students have been in school for years, they still do not totally “get” paraphrasing and quoting sources and that she has to talk a lot about plagiarism.  She also said that she teaches students about peer reviewed sources and that students need to be reminded about choosing sources that are valid and relevant.

         The resources that Mrs. Broadway said she uses to teach her students to use information ethically were mostly from Discus and from sources that were suggested by the English teachers that she works with.  One example Mrs. Broadway gave where she got to collaborate with an English teacher occurred when English 2 students were asked to write papers about The Crucible.   She said she actually showed them a bibliography that she created with the exact MLA citations and then went through each step of how she created it.  The English teacher also added information to the lesson on using the citation machine BibMe, and showed students how a plagiarism scan can be done with research papers. 

         Mrs. Broadway stated a number of times throughout our interview that she really does not get to do a great deal of teaching and collaborating with teachers about writing and research, or about sharing new information because she has so many other duties.  She also said that she was new to being a high school librarian and that her background was with much younger students.

         When I asked if there were any other comments that she would like to make concerning the AASL Competencies and in particular the Shared Foundation Engage, she said that she was still learning.  She further explained that her library and the school in general was a bit out of sorts because of the construction and remodeling that was going on. Mrs. Broadway was very humble in her comments and said that the physical obstacles of the school and her administrative duties mostly overwhelmed her.  I believe she is considerably more adept at her job than she thinks.  I saw her interact with students and faculty members in a very professional manner and I believe that even though she feels like she is unable to focus on the AASL standards, per se, she does a fine job helping students engage ethically with information.

Include

          On April 9^th, 2019, I met with Karen Donovan, the librarian at Sandhills Middle School, to discuss the AASL National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries Shared Foundations. Mrs Donovan chose to the Shared Foundation II., Include.  As with Ms. Scaglione, I asked Mrs. Donovan the questions outlined in our instructions and recorded her answers. The Competencies address the following statements:

A.   Think - School librarians direct learners to contribute a balanced perspective when participating in a learning community.

B.   Create - School librarians establish opportunities for learners to adjust their awareness of the global learning community.

C.   Share - School librarians facilitate experiences in which learners exhibit empathy and tolerance for diverse ideas.

D.  Grow - School librarians explicitly lead learners to demonstrate empathy and equity in knowledge building within the global learning community.

         

          When asked what some of the ways were that she was implementing the Shared Foundation Include Competencies into her library program, Mrs. Donovan spoke at length on her collection development. She talked about having several focus collections that she made sure her students spent time exploring.  She told me that when she came to her school, there were no books for or about LGBTQ students.  She further stated that the collection had only a few Spanish language books.  As she settled into her school, she built up both a section for LGBTQ and Spanish books.  Further, she added titles about diversity.  Mrs. Donovan explained that at the beginning of school year, as students come for library orientation, she does a book tasting that includes these books.  This helps her get her students to understand that all types of perspectives are valued and accepted. 

         The resources she uses to promote a global perspective and teach empathy are these focus collections, but she also pointed out that she has many, many digital copies of books that students can check out or peruse online.  Mrs. Donovan also talked about how she does collaborate with teachers very often and in many of these joint lessons she teaches directly towards tolerance and empathy.  I actually witnessed one of these lessons when I spent the day with her in March.  On this day she and another teacher were teaching about primary sources, but part of the lesson included looking at Jewish heritage documents from the Holocaust.

         When I asked Mrs. Donovan if she had faced any challenges while trying to implement Competencies, she said no.  Mrs. Donovan has a strong personality and has been at Sandhills Middle for six years.  She has gained a reputation for being highly professional and is very respected by both the school administration and district officials.  She has made her program the epitome of what, I think, the AASL Standards exemplify.  I believe this is partially because of the force of her personality and beliefs.  Also, I believe she has had much success because she had very supportive administrators early on when she was beginning to create her program.  As the years have passed and new administrators have cycled through, each set immediately recognized that she was a great asset and has relied on her judgment and professionalism to do things her own way.  This was a very refreshing thing to see.

Explore

          On January 30^th, 2019, I met with Joy Scaglione, my cooperating librarian, to discuss the AASL National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries Shared Foundations. I let Ms. Scaglione choose which of the six she wanted to talk about since this was my first interview.  She chose the Shared Foundation V., Explore. I asked her the questions outlined in our instructions and recorded her answers in paper notes. The Competencies address the following statements:

A.   Think - School librarians foster learners' personal curiosity.

B.   Create - School librarians stimulate learners to construct new knowledge.

C.   Share - School librarians prepare learners to engage with the learning community.

D.  Grow - School librarians help learners develop through experience and reflection. 

         When I asked Ms. Scaglione what some of the ways were that she was implementing these competencies she said that she addresses fostering personal curiosity by trying to introduce numerous different topics and genres during her students “library time.”  Her classes come on a fixed schedule and she said that each week she chooses something new and different to introduce or talk about.  She also explained that she gets to know many of her students and suggests for them new ways for them to branch out.  She also makes it a point to help them find information about things they are curious about like different breeds of dogs or places on the planet. 

         Ms. Scaglione talked about how she uses different resources to help  her students construct knowledge.  She said that she teaches her students how to use Discus to do school research, however, she also shows them how to search for things that interest them personally, not just academically.  Further, Ms. Scaglione talked about how she encourages students to go beyond physical books and use the eBook collection she has provided for them.  In addition, she talked about being able to get visiting authors to come to the school to expose the students to writers and illustrators that they may not be familiar with.

         When I asked if Ms. Scaglione got to collaborate with teachers on lessons, she said yes, especially with 3^rd and 4^th grade teachers.  She said that the teachers do sometimes ask her to go to their classes and do lessons on research.  She mentioned that the main way that she gets to collaborate with teachers is through them asking her to do lessons about specific genres from time to time.  She gave the example of discussing fantasy and historical fiction with kids and then reading excerpts of both to the students.

         Ms. Scaglione said that her fixed schedule partially keeps her form doing more elaborate lessons and from spending more time with students to help them learn how to reflect on their learning and try new things, but that the schedule does work for her as a primary elementary school librarian because she must see every last student in the school at least every other week.  She added that she believes this is important in establishing students’ patterns of using the library early on so that they will be more comfortable in a library later and be able to navigate the OPAC and resources when they get to middle and high school.

         Reflecting on my interview with Ms. Scaglione, I see that primary school librarians spend a great deal of time functioning as more of a related arts teacher than a collaborator.  Ms. Scaglione is very content in her position and feels that for the age of her students she very much addresses the Shared Foundation “Explore.”  I agree with her.  I lack the experience with students in her age group to even begin to do as much as she does with over one thousand students.