AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Library Media Specialists:
Standard 1: Teaching for Learning: Candidates are effective teachers who demonstrate knowledge of learners and learning and who model and promote collaborative planning, instruction in multiple literacies, and inquiry-based learning, enabling members of the learning community to become effective users and creators of ideas and information. Candidates design and implement instruction that engages students' interests and develops their ability to inquire, think critically, gain and share knowledge.
1.4 Integration of twenty-first century skills and learning standards: Candidates advocate for twenty-first century literacy skills to support the learning needs of the school community. Candidates demonstrate how to collaborate with other teachers to plan and implement instruction of the AASL Standards for the21st-Century Learner and state student curriculum standards. Candidates employ strategies to integrate multiple literacies with content curriculum. Candidates integrate the use of emerging technologies as a means for effective and creative teaching and to support P-12 students' conceptual understanding, critical thinking and creative processes.
Artifact Descriptions: ISTC 541 Information Literacy and Access - Research role in Literature Circles Discussion. This assignment, leveled for the eighth grade learner, looks at the Big Six and blends research strategies with a reading and sharing strategy of classroom conversation. With use of video and digital photographs from the Library of Congress including the example of Race relations during the Great Depression students can engage in research that enriches the discussion of a book with the setting for that period, such as Sharon Draper's Stella by Starlight. ISTC 789: Practicum and Portfolio in School Library Media - Pre-Observation description on Paraphrase lesson. The lesson focuses on note-taking skills and paraphrasing by using digital tools to research followed by note-taking and discussion to make connections from community environment to local school habitat. It is within a lesson unit which leads up to a culminating activity to produce a communication about the local schoolyard habitat.
Relevance: ISTC 541 Information Literacy and Access - Research Role in Literature Circles Discussion. The lesson guides students through reading strategies to gain meaning from text by considering the development of the twenty-first century learner. It considers standards where student monitors their own information seeking (1.4.1) and uses knowledge and information skills to engage in public conversation and debate around issues of common concern (3.3.3). The candidate meets AASL standard 1.4 by implementing instruction of the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. ISTC 789: Practicum and Portfolio in School Library Media - Schoolyard habitat research and paraphrase. After note-taking and paraphrase, students will discuss and create ways to communicate information about their schoolyard habitat. Because of their research they will be able to make a sign or to create a public service announcement to inform their student peers about the schoolyard habitat. They may extend learning if they plan to maintain an existing sites or write a letter to recommend developing a new site. When the LMS encourages twenty-first century skills of student collaboration, making choices, and authentic product, the AASL standard 1.4 is met.
Analysis/Reflection: The LMS uses the AASL standards for the 21st-century Learner when designing and developing instruction and assessment. In this artifact students who were in a book discussion were assigned different roles every week. The role of researcher enables the students to create a better historical picture of the time and place when discussing a book. This artifact contains lessons where the candidate has met the AASL standard 1.4 when integrating twenty-first century skills and learning standards that allow students to share knowledge and participate in discussion with valid information. The candidate collaborated with the eighth grade homeroom teacher who would later require students to write a research paper on World War II. The candidate anticipates continued collaboration with teachers to support learning needs of the community to meet the AASL standard 1.4, integration of twenty-first century skills and learning standards.
The LMS creates opportunities for multiple literacies within the library media program. One example is shown in a lesson from the Schoolyard Habitat Research and Paraphrase unit, a collaborative unit with incentives to benefit school community and develop students' twenty-first century skills. When the LMS enables students to research and apply knowledge to real-world situations (2.1.3) while using technology to research and to create a product, this supports the student's conceptual understanding and creative processes. This lesson can be used in future opportunities to extend student knowledge of the world around them and their impact on it. This lesson unit demonstrates one way the candidate can meet AASL standard 1.4.