Unit Plan Reflection

This assignment was a great learning experience for me since I have been removed from the school setting for a few years. I have to collaborate with my coworkers every day in my current sales job to make sure our customers are getting the best products and services. It reminded me that collaborating in the school setting allows us to give students our best when teaching.

I think Andrea and I worked really well together. I have more experience in a library and Andrea had more experience in a classroom, so I think we were both able to use our strengths to come up with a great unit. We based the unit on Andrea’s classroom in hopes that she can actually use this unit. This helped us during the creation of the unit as we had a tangible idea of the students’ needs and challenges. I also enjoyed incorporating technology into the unit where we could. Andrea’s situation seemed unique to me since she has access to so much technology but no school librarian or even paraprofessional staffing their library.

We worked together on a large portion of the unit development, and I’m not sure how realistic that would be when I am serving a whole school of teachers. Andrea was very willing to let me work with her in developing the essential questions, the assessments, and the outline of the lessons. I’m not sure if every teacher would be on board with such in-depth collaboration, but it was nice practice for me.

I think our only challenge was finding time to consistently work on the unit. We both had busy schedules and we found Microsoft Groove to be a very useful tool. This let us update files when we had time and we always had access to the most current version of the unit plan. We were also able to meet in person a few times which I think was much more efficient. I think I would encourage a face-to-face meeting with any of the school teachers I collaborate with in the future.

Week 9 Assessment Blog

If I have learned one thing about collaborating to create a unit, it is that both parties need to be flexible and willing to change or adapt the unit and lessons to better meet the needs of the students. For instance, Andrea and I decided that our students would create an infomercial on a Michigan product early on in the planning of our Michigan unit. As the unit evolved, we decided that we would like to have the students focus on goods produced or grown in their own neighborhood. This way they could reflect on how the good/product affects their life.

Since our school is located in downtown Detroit, we decided that it would be interesting to highlight the topic of urban gardening. This has been a growing trend in the city, and we thought it would be interesting for the student to learn how the urban farming movement began and how it impacts the community. Instead of having students create an informational advertising a Michigan product. We thought a commercial to the lunch ladies persuading them to use locally grown fruits and vegetables in their school lunches would be a more authentic assignment since it directly relates to their lives. This product would still be in video format so it can easily be shared with the stakeholders in the school community via the school website and even the local media outlets.

Week 9 Website Abstract - Evaluating School Library Media Programs

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/researchandstatistics/slcsurvey/slcsurvey.cfm

Michigan school librarians now have the SL21 document to help them survey their library programs. For even more feedback, school librarians can also participate in the ALA’s School Libraries Count program. This survey allows data to be collected and compared nationwide, which is helpful to see where improvements can be made nationwide. If you participate in this survey, you can also obtain a report of your school’s information and how you compare to other schools in your state and in the nation. An independent third party conducts the survey, and there is no cost to participate or to obtain the report with your school’s information. I think this would be a great tool for school librarian’s to use along with the SL21.

Week 8 Website Abstract

Authentic Assessment Toolbox

http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/index.htm

The Authentic Assessment Toolbox created by Jon Mueller, a Professor of Psychology at North Central College, is a great resource for teachers and educators looking to implement authentic assessment in their classes. The site explains what authentic assessment is and then provides instruction on how to create authentic tasks, rubrics, portfolios, and tests. Examples are also provided to give other educators an idea of how they can create authentic learning and assessment and apply it to their standards. The examples come from other educators who participated in Professor Jon Mueller’s classes. Professor Mueller also offers “workshops” that let you practice how to write a good standard, create an authentic task, and create a good rubric.

Week 8 - Assessment & Communicating Evidence of Student Learning

Reading Response #1

Harada, V., & Yoshina, J. (2005). Assessment in the Library Media Center. Assessing Learning: Librarians and Teachers as Partners (pp.10-18). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

“The critical point is that school library media specialists must seize the opportunity to show how our teaching reinforces and enhances classroom learning.”

Violet Harada and Joan Yoshina discuss assessment and what that looks like in the chapter, Assessment in the Library Media Center, located in their text Assessing Learning. They discuss the importance of teaching information literacy skills to students and integrating those skills into classroom lessons. They also talk about ways in which we can assess that the students are learning from the lessons taught in the library media center.

The authors list several tools that can be used to assess the students in the media center. They list rubrics, checklists, rating scales, graphic organizers, informal and formal conferences, logs, notes and letters, and portfolios as good options for assessing student learning. Harada and Yoshina also discuss how these tools can be used to assess by observation, through personal communication, and through the examination of student work. Their point in writing this is to point towards the fact that the school library media specialist needs to help students reach their greatest learning potential.

While I was reading this, I agreed that all of assessment tools and strategies would be great to use in the library media center; however, I am curious about the practicalities of these assessments. Flexible scheduling in the library seems to be fairly popular right now, and this means that the school librarian only sees the students when the teachers plan and arrange for them to come to the school library. I wonder how can the school librarian effectively assess through observation and personal communication when they may not see the students regularly. It seems to me that the school librarian might not be able to gather enough information to assess students if they only see them intermittently and without regularity.

Reading Response #2

Turner P. & Riedling, A.M. (2003). Assessment of Student Performance. Helping Teachers Teach (pp. 145-158). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.

“Assessment must measure how well students have mastered the objectives; assessment must be reliable; assessment must allow students to demonstrate what they know rather than what they do not know; assessment must provide feedback to teachers on the effectiveness of instructional techniques, materials, and activities.”

Assessment is an integral part of instructional design. So what does the school librarian have to do with assessment? How do they make sure that students are provided with authentic opportunities to show what they’ve learned? Barbara Stripling tries to make the school librarians role in creating and conducting assessments clear in the chapter Assessment of Student Performance found in Helping Teachers Teach by Philip Turner and Ann Marlow Riedling.

At the very basic level, Stripling writes that the school librarian should advocate for authentic assessment to teachers in the building. They can build a collection of resources on authentic assessment for the teachers to use. Different articles and books on authentic assessment can be discussed at meetings and during planning periods. The school librarian can also be sure to make the media center available to classrooms and individual students when teachers are implementing authentic assessment.

At a more in depth level, the school librarian may actually collaborate with teachers to create authentic assessment. The school librarian may offer the needed supervision and instruction to watch different groups of students while the teacher actively assesses other groups. Because authentic assessment requires flexibility and access to a diverse selection of resources, the school librarian can help to be a guide for the teachers and the students.

At the highest level of involvement, Stripling talks about how the school librarian can become the resident expert on authentic assessment in the school and provide in-service instruction for teachers informing them on the benefits of authentic assessment and different ways to incorporate authentic assessment in the classroom. This requires much knowledge on the part of the school librarian. However, if the school librarian does not feel qualified to provide the instruction, they can still provide an in-service and arrange for guest speakers to come in and speak.

Week 7 Website Abstract - Assessment

http://www.nmsa.org/publications/webexclusive/assessment/tabid/1120/default.aspx

The National Middle School Association has a few good resources on assessment. They posted an article entitled Formative and Summative Assessments in the Classroom by Catherine Garrison & Michael Ehringhaus that does a good job of defining assessment and giving examples of what assessment looks like in a middle school classroom. Many of the assessment strategies discussed, including questioning strategies, observation strategies, and self and peer assessment strategies seem like they would transfer to the library very well. The association also broadcasts different podcasts, and I found that two of the podcasts are about formative assessment. I haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet, but they look very interesting!

Week 7 Mid Planning Blog

Andrea and I are continuing to develop our unit. We have the bones in place and are continuing to develop our ideas. I have found that it has been hard to divide up tasks in the creation of the unit. Together we decided on the subject, the grade level content expectations, and the information literacy standards to cover, and the essential questions. However, Andrea is working on the lesson overviews for each lesson, and I am working to find a diverse selection of materials to support the unit. One of the information literacy standards I would like to cover and work into the unit is 1.1.4, which requires students to find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions. I am hoping to find all types of materials including books, periodicals, maps, websites, databases, etc. for the students to use in order to show them how different resources are appropriate for different tasks.

As far as evaluation, we have decided that the students will create a mini infomercial on a Michigan product/good. They will explain where the product is made or grown in the state, what resources are needed to make the product, and they will convince the audience why they should buy the Michigan based product. The students will have an opportunity for the infomercials to be taped so that they can be shared with the class. We will create a rubric together in order to assess the final product.

The most frustrating challenge in this project so far is working from a distance via chat and Microsoft Groove. Both Andrea and I feel that we would be much more efficient if planning was done face to face, and we have actually arranged to meet in person to finalize the details of our unit. Other than that, we have been working very well together and we are making good progress.