SLIS 794 Blog Post 4 Include

 Mrs. Laura Bouknight at Newberry High school is trying to keep students engaged in the library program this year. She keeps students engaged by including many different facets of learning. Because of COVID restrictions, students are using more varied resources and sources this year. She is including more digital resources that students can use at home because for the first half of the year, students were on a hybrid schedule. These digital resources include Follett eBooks, Follett audiobooks, and JLG Digital. Students were also encouraged to use Teen Book Cloud through DISCUS. She is also utilizing the collections tool in Destiny to promote books online since students cannot use the library like in previous years. Ensuring students have equitable access to all library materials is of utmost importance to Mrs. Bouknight which is why she is trying to diversify the collection to allow for more digital content. 

Mrs. Bouknight is providing ways to include teachers in the learning as well. She creates video tutorials for the teachers to watch about new resources and technology tools. Because of COID restrictions, the whole faculty rarely meets together. By creating these video tutorials, she is able to show teachers new library and technological resources. All teachers are included in the learning, and they can rewatch the videos as needed. Teachers have also been including Mrs. Bouknight in lessons virtually when she is not able to come to classrooms. 

Professionally, Mrs. Bouknight is using the new diversity analysis tool in Follett to help make sure that her library has an inclusive collection where all students are represented. She is looking for areas to build on so that she can serve all users more powerfully. As gaps are identified, she is looking to find materials, either print or digital, that can fill the need. 

As with all the other librarians that I interviewed, time is the biggest challenge that she faces. Technology troubleshooting is taking up the majority of the day since this is the first year that the whole school is 1:1 with devices. Students come to the library to get help with the device because there is not a IT person on in the building. She puts in the work orders for students if she cannot repair the device. Teachers do not have as much time to collaborate either because they are busy learning a new learning management system. Trying to build an inclusive culture in the library is hard when classes are not utilizing the library in the same way as years past. Mrs. Bouknight has been proactive meeting students and teachers where they are. By responding to the needs, her library is still an inclusive place for all stakeholders even though it looks a little different this year. 

SLIS 794 Bog Post 3 Explore

 Mrs. Cara Morris at Prosperity Rikard Elementary School works hard to let her students explore in the library. Her goal is to create high interest library sessions with cross curricular ties. She continues to engage the students even though COVID restrictions have forced her to rethink the ways student interact with information. Students now have the opportunity to explore more varied types of sources and books because all students now have an iPad or laptop. The school district provides some eBooks through the SORA platform. Mrs. Morris saw that students enjoyed reading books in SORA, so she used some funds set aside for magazines to purchase more eBooks. Students are having to adapt to new a new learning environment quickly this school year, but through her guidance they are learning to navigate the new technology that the library has to offer. 

Because of COVID restrictions, students are having to engage with text in a different ways than before. Students are provided several lessons about how to effectively inquire and purse topics of interest. Library lessons support student inquiry through use of varied texts. Creation is limited because of physical and time constraints, but students have the freedom to explore databases and the internet. Final projects may look different this year, but students still have time to explore and find resources that support student inquiry. 

Mrs. Morris collaborates with teachers frequently. Teachers ask questions and seek her help when curating resources or introducing new technology. Mrs. Morris tries to be proactive and anticipate teachers' needs either in technology or classroom resources. She helps them find resources that enhance instruction. There are a few times built into the school year where she leads professional development sessions, but she says that collaboration and learning with teachers happens more organically. Often, suggestions and resources come from a need in the classroom and Mrs. Morris finds materials to help teachers meet those needs. 

One challenge with the explore shared foundation is time. Mrs. Morris is on a fixed schedule as part of the related arts rotation. Students cannot come to the library, so they cannot explore the print collection like they have been able to in the past. Mrs. Morris brings as much of the library as she can into the classroom for her lessons. Students are learning how to find and use information, but she wishes that she had more time to let students be creative in final projects. Most of the research that is done related to a classroom standard. Mrs. Morris wishes that students had more time to truly explore their interests and create projects that interest them. Time constraints do not allow for students to explore to the depth that Mrs. Morris would like them to. 

SLIS 794 Blog Post 2 Curate

 Mrs. Angela Thole at Chapin Middle School showcases the Curate Shared Foundation. Part of her library goal this year was to work with classes to help students create research projects. She focused on helping students find and use credible sources. Students learned how to use DISCUS to find and evaluate sources for credibility and validity. Before students begin the process, Mrs Thole meets with teachers to determine topics for research. She then begins to look for resources to help model the research process for students. Within DISCUS, she makes sure that students know where to look to find diverse perspectives on the topic. Students also learn how to curate resources using Google. Mrs. Thole shows students how to evaluate these sites since they have not been vetted like a DISCUS resource. Students need to know how to evaluate and use all types of sources in order to effectively research a topic.  She then shows students how to locate their print sources in the library. Students work through the same process of finding information from their print source. By exposing students to a variety of resources, she is creating life-long learners that know how to use all types of resources effectively. 

Another goal that Mrs. Thole has is to curate a collection that meets the needs of the special needs classes in the building. She spends time working with the teachers to find reading levels and interests for the students. She believes that it is important that all students see themselves in a book, so all ability levels need to be represented in the library. Ebooks and audiobooks are also included to help make this collection inclusive and responsive to the needs of the students. 

Even though the library serves 7th and 8th grade students, Mrs. Thole believes that pictures books play an important role for students. She keeps a collection of picture books that are used with the special needs classes, but other teachers use these books for read a louds as well. She is working with all teachers to show the importance of reading a loud to students, so she must have picture books that meet the content standards. She has been working with classroom teachers to curate this collection. By looking at content standards and student interests, she keeps adding to the picture book collection.

The biggest challenge that Mrs. Thole faces is time. Teachers are not always willing to collaborate because they see library lessons as taking time away from classroom instruction. She is working to change this perception. As other teachers see how collaboration enhances classroom instruction, they are more willing to schedule library time. Mrs. Thole is always willing to help curate resources for classes, but she also wants to teach students how to curate their own resources. Through collaborative research projects, Mrs. Thole can teach students how to find and use resources that are credible and fill an information need. 

SLIS 794 Blog Post 1 Collaborate

 Mrs. Angela Durham at Oak Pointe Elementary School showcases the Collaborate Shared Foundation. Collaboration is the undercurrent of everything that Mrs. Durham does in her library because she is on a flexible schedule. Students do not have a set time to come to the library which means that classroom teachers are giving up class time to have library lessons. 

In order to implement collaboration in her library, Mrs. Durham begins meeting with teachers before school starts. She sits down with grade levels to determine what days and times she will see each class. During these planning meetings, Mrs. Durham and the classroom teachers decide what units that she will teach each semester. She tries to do one large project with each grade level a semester. As standards change, these projects evolve too. 

Mrs. Durham also collaborates to provide professional development sessions for the staff. This year she worked with the literacy coach to help create a Diversity Cafe program for the school. This initiative is year long. During the first part of the year, she polled the teachers to see what diverse titles they already knew about. She then curated books that showcased diverse characters. Then, the staff took part in the Diversity Cafe to learn about the books and how these books could be implemented in classroom curriculum. Mrs. Durham checks in with teachers which books they have been using in the classroom. These meetings are not always formal meetings. Usually, she stops in the hallway for a brief chat because teachers do not always have time for a formal structured meeting. 

Mrs. Durham also teaches the students how to collaborate. She has them work in pairs as much as possible with the current COVID restrictions. Technology helps students to collaborate and maintain the CODID protocols. Students work together to code the robots or to discuss the stories that she reads to them. The online book club also allows for student collaboration. Students meet to discuss the book award nominees that they are reading. Mts. Durham secures community sponsors for this program which helps engage the community as well. During a normal school year, these sponsors would be invited to the Battle of the Books culminating trivia game at the end of the school year. 

Mrs. Durham is an excellent example of collaboration. She involves the students, staff, and community in her library. She does note that it takes time to learn to collaborate effectively, and that collaboration does not happen over night. Relationships with teachers takes time to cultivate and grow, but once when teachers see how the library can help enhance classroom instruction, they are more apt to collaborate. Collaboration does not need to take lengthy planning meetings either. Time is valuable in a school building, so often email collaboration works just as well as a more formal meeting. Mrs. Durham was a wealth of knowledge and I am thankful that she mentored me this semester.