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.

Week 6 - Curriculum Mapping

Reading Response #1

Everett, J. (2003). Curriculum Mapping and Collection Mapping: Otherwise Known as “The Camel with Two Humps”. In B. K. Stripling & S. Hughes-Hassell (Eds.) Curriculum Connections through the Library (pp. 119-137). Westport, Conn: Libraries Unlimited.

“Talk to teachers. Listen to students. Collaborate with grade levels and help write units and plan projects. Become an extension to each classroom. Avoid being a single spoke in the wheel – become the hub of resource-based learning.”

After reading and reflecting on the many roles of the school librarian, I think Jo Ann Everett sums up our role rather well in the above quote. In her chapter, Curriculum Mapping and Collection Mapping: Otherwise Known as “The Camel with Two Humps”, Everett talks about the importance of both curriculum mapping and collection mapping in every school. Both concepts seem kind of like common sense to me. Maybe it is because I have a rather type-A personality, but as I read through this chapter I wondered how school librarians handled their job before curriculum mapping and collection mapping came on the scene.

As a future school librarian, I look forward to organizing materials so they are easily accessible to students and teachers. Curriculum maps seem like a very practical way to organize and see when and where students will be taught different subjects. Since the school librarian manages all of the data and resources for the students, it only makes sense that the school library is also the hub for teachers when collaborating together to create these curriculum maps.

I have not worked in a school outside of my student teaching, but curriculum mapping seems to help turn the chaos of teaching and learning into a more organized chaos. Everett also talks about how useful a curriculum map is in creating collection maps. In her school, she was able to tailor her collection to specifically meet the needs of the curriculum. The curriculum and collection map gave her the confidence to weed a majority of the collection. She found that more volumes didn’t necessarily mean she was better supporting the students and teachers . She also brought out a good point that with budgets being cut in what seems like every educational system, a curriculum map and the collection guide really helped to focus purchases on what was needed. These two tools also helped to justify need when asking for money from the PTA, community, and when applying for grants.

After reading Everett’s chapter I have come to the conclusion that these two tools are such important and vital components to the school librarian, that without them it would be hard to do a good job.

Reading Response #2

Kallick, B. & Wilson, J.M. (2004). Curriculum Mapping and Software: Creating an Information System for a Learning Community. In H. H. Jacobs (Ed.), Getting results with curriculum mapping (pp. 83-96). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

“In other words, communication is mediated electronically, and through that medium, mapping becomes a dynamic collaboration. Educators no longer need to wait until the next staff development session for an opportunity to observe and understand the contributions of their colleagues.”

After reading in Curriculum Connections through the Library, I was interested by the title of this chapter. In the first reading, school librarians talked about how to create curriculum and collection maps and they did not mention purchasing software to do so. In fact, there process seemed so logical, the idea of purchasing software to help with curriculum mapping seemed wasteful to me since it seemed to work just fine putting pen to paper. However, this chapter brought up some interesting points on why using technology to help with curriculum mapping is beneficial.

First of all, as stated in the quote above, using software to do curriculum mapping allows teachers and administrators to continuously work on and use the information from the curriculum maps. They do not need to wait until they can find time to meet and discuss with their peers. The map can be updated with comments after or even during a unit of study.

Second of all, having curriculum maps and data in electronic form allows teachers across the entire district to see what is being taught, when it is being taught, what assessments are used, etc. I see this being valuable especially in districts where several elementary schools flow into one large junior and senior high. The district wide curriculum map can make sure that all students are coming to junior and senior high with the same background and knowledge. I also think it would be helpful to share what is working well in a particular school with the other schools in the district.

Finally, curriculum mapping software allows educators to run reports and easily see gaps and overlaps in the curriculum that otherwise might not have been noticed or would have taken longer to notice. As the authors discussed, it is very convenient for teachers to be able to do keyword searches and queries in the maps to find data on their units taught by other teachers.

Overall, if a district is new to curriculum mapping, it might be a leap to start off using a curriculum mapping software. Software certainly isn’t required to reap the benefits of curriculum mapping; however, it does seem like it would make the job a lot easier and more effective. I have often been told in my work that it is better to work “smarter” than “harder”. After reading this chapter, I believe that curriculum mapping software is a great tool to help educators work smarter.

Week 6 Website Abstract - Curriculum Mapping

www.curriculummapping101.com

Janet Hale, a curriculum mapping consultant and trainer, authors Curriculum Mapping 101. While the website heavily promotes her two books and services, it also has a great resource section with downloadable handouts that can be used to aide in creating your own curriculum map. Her only stipulation is that her name and contact information remains on the reproduced copies. She also has sample maps available to help aid educators who are new to curriculum mapping. The Connections section of the website has a list of books, a list of media (DVDs and web tools), research, and commercial mapping systems. This seems like a great site for those looking to start creating their own curriculum maps.

Week 5 Website Abstract - Inquiry

http://virtualinquiry.com/index.html

Information Age Inquiry is a website with a host of information on inquiry learning. This would be helpful to a new teacher or school librarian who wants to incorporate inquiry learning in their lessons. The site does a good job of explaining inquiry learning and then also introduces several different models that can be used. I enjoyed the section entitled “Learning Lab”. This area gives several ideas on how to create a learning space that fosters guided inquiry. It highlights resources that can be used, tools that foster inquiry learning (i.e. laptops and digital cameras) and it also gives ideas on how to design the physical learning spaces.

Early Planning Blog

Andrea and I are working on a social studies unit on Michigan with an emphasis on economics. I will be taking the role of the school librarian and Andrea will be working as the classroom teacher. Andrea has been teaching third grade and is very familiar with the subject and I hope to be able to supplement her knowledge with some new resources and technologies that can be used to present the information.

Andrea and I have been using Microsoft Groove to plan our unit. However, we are not certain that Microsoft Groove would be accessible to a lot of classroom teachers and school librarians. We have decided that Google Docs would be a better tool to use in a real world setting since it is free and does not require software. I also like that Google Docs can be accessed from both a PC and a Mac.

As far as assessment, Andrea and I have not decided exactly what they will do. We want the students to create a product of some sort so they can demonstrate their knowledge in an original and creative way. We discussed the possibility of creating a poster and having the students create some sort of presentation, but we are still deciding on what would be the best assessment. We would like to take advantage of the classroom set of iPads available to Andrea, and we would like to use the ResponseWare Application for one form of assessment. This application would allow us to poll the students and get instant feedback that can be displayed to the class.

Andrea and I have been working well together. I think the only roadblock we have faced so far is finding time we are both available to work on the unit. We are both busy with work, classes, and our personal lives. This is probably a good challenge to face as time seems to be the number one hindrance in actual teacher/librarian collaboration.

Week 4 - Collaboration

Website Abstract – Programming Librarian

www.programminglibrarian.org

The Programming Librarian is meant to be a resource for all types of programming for the librarian, and is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The blog section of the site is written by several different bloggers. I chose to highlight this website this week because I found a handful of different blogs dealing with partnerships and collaboration. In our readings, we discuss the importance of collaborating with the teachers in our building. This site has a great blog regarding teacher/librarian collaboration, but it also has insightful blogs regarding collaboration with the public library and other organizations within the community. I plan on returning to this site for tips and ideas on how to have successful collaboration with the community around me.

Week 4 - Collaboration

Reading Response #1

Abilock, Debbie. (2002). Ten Attributes of Collaborative Leaders. Knowledge Quest, 31(2), 8-10.

“If you believe that teachers should learn what you know, then you should learn from them. If you believe that students should love to read, then you will read voraciously. If you believe that you are essential to student learning, then you will spend more time on teaching and curriculum development than on processing and shelving books.”

In the article, Ten Attributes of Collaborative Leaders, editor Debbie Abilock compiles a list of practices that are essential to being a collaborative leader. The quote above jumped off the page at me. As a library science student, I have gathered so many suggestions on how to do my job well. We are learning about the several roles we will be filling and the complex task of getting everything done, and it does seem overwhelming to me at times. I love this quote because it reminds me that we will be much more successful in the task of collaboration if we actually spend our time on our top priorities.

If someone asked me what is most important in my personal life, I would probably respond that my faith, my family, and my friends are most important to me. However, if someone actually took a look at my day they would see that most of my time is devoted to cleaning the house, cooking, and checking Facebook. It’s easy to lose your priorities and devote all of your time to the checklist of items you need to get done.

From the discussion board posts and readings, it seems like it is very easy for the library media specialist to forget what their priorities are and get busy with the day-to-day tasks of shelving, processing materials, and keeping order in the media center. If we remember that we need to be learning from teachers, teaching students, helping with curriculum design, and staying up to date with our reading we will have no problem becoming leaders in collaboration. When we spend our time working on what is important to us, I believe the rest of our job will fall into place.

Reading Response #2

Farwell, Sybil. (1998). Successful Models for Collaborative Planning. Knowledge Quest, 26(2), 24-30.

“Both the principal and the library media specialists were enthusiastic about the Library Power program and its potential to improve library service in the school, but they all considered the lack of planning time to be the major obstacle to the total success of the project."

Sybil Farwell, an elementary media specialist in the Miami-Dade County, highlights successful media specialists who have used collaborative planning to create interactive and memorable learning experiences for the students. As she discusses a program at another school she stated the two biggest challenges; lack of time and the conflict between grade level planning and individual teacher planning. I think the solution to these problems lies in the above quote where she highlighted that “both the principal and the library media specialists were enthusiastic about the Library Power program and its potential to improve library service in the school.” This school’s program was a great example of how important it is to have the principal on your side when trying to implement collaborative planning. Only the principal can encourage and carve out time for collaborative planning to take place.

In the school highlighted, the principal spent money from the school budget to pay for substitutes to come in and allow for a two-day grade level planning session in every marking period. The principal believed in the media specialist at this school and stated, “She [the library media specialist] is part of everything. Her input is constantly asked for. You know when you do webbing? She is the one in the middle.” Nancy Larsen talked about how important it is to advocate within your school building, and this article proves her point. I took a class from Dr. Larsen last spring, and she impressed on us that the library media specialist and the principal are in a unique position in the school because they are the only two people who see all of the students. Where teachers want their students to succeed, the library media specialist and the principal are working to make sure every single student in the school succeeds. By working together, the library media specialist and the principal can help to make this happen through collaborative planning.

Farwell highlighted some of the great projects that came out of collaborative planning in her article. She talked about a media center that housed a “cosmos” created by students complete with planets, meteors, and constellations. The students even recorded facts about space for other visitors to the media center so they could share what they learned. Another school library specialist helped to highlight the Hispanic culture in the school by celebrating Hispanic Heritage month. The media specialists and the teachers created a unit on biographies and the students read several different biographies and created a “Hispanic Hall of Fame”. Successful collaboration highlighted in this article are inspirational to me as a library media center. When I am facing the difficulties of collaboration in my media center, I will remember the potential I have to create an engaging learning experience for my students.