Reflection

9/22/10

Shortly after our first class I had a real life opportunity to reflect on our "readings" on Powerpoint. Sitting through my son's third grade teacher's presentation at Back to School Night at times felt like a demonstration of what not to do: no visuals, too much text, too much boring text, too much text that was not paraphrased or synthesized in a meaningful fashion. I left the classroom thinking about "Brain Research". It wasn't just that the presentation lacked "Art" and inspiration. Where was the evidence that the writing and reading programs so briefly touched upon would be effective? Ironically, my excitement regarding my son's teacher and curriculum was diminished by her Back to School Night presentation! Reading __Information Literacy and Information Skills Instruction__ for our first class, I thought hard about demonstrating value; substantiating the overall effectiveness of library media programs. In one of my earlier classes at LlU I came across a study discussing the value of school library media programs which sought to demonstrate a direct correlation between spending on trained library media staff and resources and improved test scores in elementary, middle and high schools. I thought of this study while doing the reading. As media specialists during these tough times, we have a responsibility to prove our value and we will need not only empirical evidence but strong presentation skills to do so.

9/23/10

Reflections on the NYS Standards and the New York State Social Studies Curriculum. Reviewing the standards for all subjects. I can think of ways to collaborate in all these subjects thanks to my LIU coursework. Of course it's easiest to image lessons for social studies and English: Using Goggle Earth teaching Standard 3 relating to geography for example, or blogs to illuminate Standards 1, 2, 3 and 4 for English. It makes perfect sense to review these standards which I have read before in conjuction with this week's readings. Using our technology expertise we can be the "delivery person" for these state standards, whether by teaching students or faculty or, of course, both. By choosing reading materials and preparing supplementary library lessons to go in depth into topics that classroom teachers may be lacking due to time constraints or provide additional related information/topics that a subject area teacher can't' cover. In Math there are many ways to collaborate by using text and technology. My own child's favorite project last year was a movie he created about shapes on his laptop for extra credit in 6th grade math. As for languages -- perhaps the media specialist is the individual to create a program where "our" kids can virtually visit a classroom in another country!

10/1/10 Last night through a gallery walk LC had us thinking about leaders in our field and what they mean to **us.** For me, thinking about those leaders was a bit different than some of my colleagues in the class. As I stood at the beginning of the line - 1964 - I was reflecting on some of the "older" members of my new chosen profession and how accomplished they were. How they continued to adapt and grow.and redefine themselves and their fields. I was thinking about how they changed course.later in life -- albeit unlike me taking a more direct route, changing within their profession more than changing their profession. During our discussion i was also considering how, hopefully for most, thier work was about what they did for children and for education -- how it wasn't about them. I see that connection between how I practiced law (public interest) and how I hope to practice as an LMS and why it matters to me to go into this work that I hope to love. At the end it was also interesting to pick groups. Some people seemed very strategic about who they tried to work with - I just picked the person sitting closet to me since in this particular class I don't know anyone too well. But I see this as an opportunity not to pick the person who is the smartest or most hard working -- as someone in the class expressed to me -- but to practice collaborating as I will need to do in real life with people who may have different work styles and/or strengths. I've found in the past years running various volunteer projects that the person you think may or even is difficult or different to work with can teach you quite a bit in ways that I could not have predicted..

10/2/10 Reflections on Module 2. First it's easy to see the connection between the 21st Century Learner and the ISTE/NeTs. They are both about using technology to let students create knowledge, develop skills and attitudes (dispostions). I think they are completely compatible. The latter does not explicitly discuss personal growth, so there is one difference. As for the ELA standards and how we can help students meet these standards I think there are a myriad of ways. STandard 1 seems to me to be the most obvious. Arter all collecting and using data fits right in with our research knowledge and expertise, but all the standards lend themselves to the school meda program. Consider standard 4 speaking with different ages and cultures lends itself to using technology to create a virtual class trip or the presentation piece could mean imovies or podcasts. Ela and the common core connect as of course they focus on reading, writing and speaking but in my opinion, the core standards are looking more towards the 21st century and future preparedness of our kids to meet their post school goals.

10/7/10 "Information, Communications, and Technology (ICT) Skills Curriculum Based on the Big 6 Skills Approacah to Information Problem-Solving" was interesting to read and think about. I liked how the article went from emphasizing how information skils have to directly relate to the content area curriculm and classroom assignments **and** be tied together in a logical and sytematic informational process model. I have observed at many school libraries that are **not** combining both and are definately less effective. But what I really liked was how the article went on to present the curriculum which identified skills and technology capacies tied to the big 6 approach. Using the Big Six in this fashion definately worked for me as a method of really thinking about potentially teaching this material. It also made me think about what I know, what I need to know, and what I need to know better and more of.

10/12/10 Reflecting on Chapter 7 and the impact of technology on teaching information literacy. Librarians have always tried to teach students to evaluate information for veracity, relevance and authority. The abundance of information available on the web makes this task much more challenging. Yet the internet increases the possibilities for authentic learning by giving students access to perspectives and viewpoints that they would not otherwise have access to. It also allows for more opportunities to pursue individual interests. We should also consider that English is the predominant language of the internet and how that affects our students. Information retrieval is difficult for children for whom English is a second language -- a very large part of our country's school population.

10//13/10 I don't think you want us to answer ALL the questions posed in section 2 of Module Four about the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, I'm thinking you want us to explore them on our own rather than record them. But I will copy down the mission: "P21 is a national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student. As the United States continues to compete in a global economy that demands innovation, P21 and its members provide tools and resources to help the U.S. education system keep up by fusing the three Rs and four Cs (critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration, and creativity and innovation" and note that Julie Walker is the Chair of AASL.

10/18/10 Reflecting on our on-line class the Joyce Valenza discussion was definately the most engaging to me. I'm constantly thinking about what the role of the LMS is and what I aspire for it to be. While in the discussion I felt like, shifiting from topic to topic and composing my thoughts, I was sometimes a step behind. But reading our group's entries now it's amazing how much they flow. Also I found myself looking to see who wrote what -- including myself -- because we all had so many complementary ideas. My current observation at the local middle school has been one of the best so far. It relates directly to what Joyce Valenca is writing about. In the school I'm visiting the librarian retired and the media specialist is new to the school -- she was at another westchester middle school before. So she is coming in trying to bring her vision -- which is very much the vision(s) we are studying at school. She is integrating technology to a much greater extent -- having kids make movies and wordles and taking on-line surveys-- as she teaches the research process.. Doing on-line book talks as well as in the classrooms. Doing teacher training sessions as she tries to forge collaborative relationships and get teachers who have never used the school library website and databases to do so. Since she is new, I am able to imagine how to get started with this vision and how it will grow and progress as she has more time and opportunities.

10/26/10 The LMS at Mamaroneck Avenue Elementary School is running a marathon. During the day I observe her as she teaches nine (yes 9) classes. This is by far the most classes I have seen anyone teach in one day. Moreover, she teaches children from preK through 5th, children of wide varying economic backgrounds, children of different ethnicities and races. A significant portion of her students do not speak English. She is not on the cutting edge. This school has only recently receveived a grant for additional computers. Now she has 6 computers -- very soon she will have sixteen. For the youngest children, she focuses on literature, reading them Halloween stories. The fifth graders are practicing a play about standard information in the library. There is a stage and puppets. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades are learning about where things are in the library and the Dewey Decimal System. She is often impatient, there are children in this population that she has difficulty managing. But here's the surprise, after a somewhat uninspiring morning there is a moment of grace. The special needs class arrives right after lunch. I can't imagine what this teacher who lacks patience with mainstream children will do with these severely autistic children. But she is great with them. She reads an interactive book, plays on her guitar weaving the children's names into her songs and then plays them her music box -- for a few minutes these children actually appear engaged..It's something I'm glad to have seen.

11/4/10 Pretty much every year since my kids have been school age I take on a substantive job for the PTA. There was the two years I ran after school clubs (alot of work for no pay, although I was proud of essentially running a small business and serving our school community!) and the years I was grade level rep (alot of complaints for no pay). Starting last year I also took a position on the special ed pta knowing my son was returning to the district. So when Committee Chair sign ups came around end of last year I tried to be strategic. As long as I was going to volunteer for a significant postion, why not pick something that would relate to my future goal to be an LMS. So I asked both the PTA and SEPTA to make me grant chair. I don't think any LMS can survive wtihout grants these days and I'd get a birdseye view of the process. Of course the elementary PTA gave me a different job -- knowing my interest in special ed they asked me to Co-Chair Building Bridges which is a good program new to our school about understanding disabilities, and I think working with the administration and teachers on this can only be a good experience. But the special ed PTA did make me the grant chair. All to say that I had expected that being the grant chair would help me for being an LMS. I expect it will, but in a twist, for now, instead being in school to be an LMS has helped me as grant chair. I'm observing in the district and seeing autistic classes in the library. Last week a grant proposal came in for music therapy for autistic kids as an afterschool club. As my the president and my co-chair and I began to formulate questions I could visualize these children and have some information about them that was helpful. I generally feel that my field service is very beneficial in my learning, but here it had an unexpected benefit. Last night at a meeting I was telling the SEPTA president how excited I was about the grant. He just nodded and smiled, but I **really** was excited having actually met those kids and witnessed them respond to music in the library.

11/10/10 Some of the semesters I've done Observations I've tried to fit in several schools to get a broader experience and also because I didn't want to overstay my observation welcome! This semester I stuck to two schools and I found this gave me a more in depth view of what was happening at the library. At the elementary school I was observing the lms originally spoke about her lack of collaboration with teachers because of her fixed very busy schedule and at first glance she seemed to have few connections. But on my last visit I began to see that in fact she was collaborating with the teachers and grade level teams and trying to tie her lessons into the curriculum This was not obvious at all at first because she spent much of the first part of the year establishing what procedures and what i think she would call basic library knowledge before engaging in any real projects. The hardest thing I think at this school was that the LMS had so many classes -- 6 to 9 classes a day -- with such a varied population -- she had 3 autistic classes plus preK through 5 plus non english speakers and different economic backgroud -- with only half hour periods. It took a very long time to get through any project/unit.

11/17 /10 Creating the WebQuest was much more time consuming than I’d imagined it would be. Ironically, one of the hardest parts was choosing a topic. I spent considerable time researching and discarding different WebQuest ideas. I wanted a topic the kids would be interested in and I was also concerned about understanding the “science” of my topic so my research links and my tasks would make sense. Many topics I originally investigated felt too big and complicated for me to simply dive in. n the end, I felt that if I was working in a school library I’d have a science teacher to collaborate with who would help make sure the topic was meaningful and appropriate in scope. Similarly, I was torn about adding visuals to my WebQuest. Originally I was attracted to WebQuests with images and cartoons, but when I sat to start drafting my project and considered which WebQuests were the best and I might use for models, the ones I admired didn’t have any visuals. The best thing about the Webquests I admired was organization and tasks. In the end, I only added one image, but if I might consider adding more to make it more eye catching.

11/25/10 I've found it to be a particularly useful opportunity to have one of my observations this semester be at a school with a new librarian. It's been a great opportunity to watch someone who is experienced teacher and librarian but who is new to a particular school that had a longstanding libriarian begin work to integrate herself into the school and begin to reform and reinvent the library program. Because she is new to the school, I can really see and ask what her priorites are for change and updating and how she plans to accomplish these priorities. I've gotten alot of ideas and resources from this particular experience that I hope to use in the future.

11/29/10 So today was my last day observing for this semester. It was really a great observation because the Librarian really shared her thought process with me. As the weeks went by I really got to hear how her vision for the library program was developing and see how she was altering her lesson plans for this five week class she taught to the sixth graders as she saw what worked and didn't and what was insufficiently challenging for them. I'd love to see what happens in a couple of years! Perhaps I will when my third grader goes to the middle school. That will really be interesting for me.

12/1/10 Ok first, that You Tube video about her transformative moment with the lesson about prepositions and the girl who ran away really got to me. Now back to the guiding questions. Like all the assignments and questions you put forth in this class I find myself struggling because there is so much to say and you allow what feels like so few words to say it in. So just a cursory response to some of the guiding questions b/c I could go on and on for many of them. What must I know, understand and be able to do to b/c a leader. After this semester in particular I think there are so many ways to begin making your mark as a leader. Expertise is a part, resources offered another, collaboration another aspect -- in order to lead I think an LMS must have and know what she is offering to her teacher colleagues. Whose Standards are they and how do I make them mine? It's so important that teachers understand how our standards relate to the subject matter standards. Understanding, alignment and communication. Differentiation is something that I find intimidating but this semester through my observation and readings I saw that there were many ways to differentiate which was comforting to me as a place to start. Reflection and self-assessment to me are crucial to inquiry and therefore curriculum design and I look forward to employing them. The frameworks and curriculum design questions are the ones that I worry least about, yet I'm cognizant of the story by Carol Ann about the teacher who wrote beautiful curriculum but never reached her students.

12/7/10

I really disliked filling out the Template. I started it one evening, grew tired and returned to it the next morning, procrastinating as I went along filling it out. I was thinking: “Why must I complete this? I thought about the items on the Template, at least in general terms, when designing my unit. This is just a repetitive exercise.” However, when I went back to read it over and edit what I had entered into the Template form, I was surprised to find that it really caused me to think more carefully about how I would actually present the lesson – what I would be doing and what the students would be doing at different times. It helped me better visualize the teaching of the lesson. Of course, since I am not actually doing the lesson with a real class, it’s hard to definitively say how valuable using this Template is. But to my surprise I found it really did help me crystallize my thinking. Also, as I’m writing this I’m realizing that since the Template forces you to articulate all the standards, dispositions and benchmarks it’s a good document to have to show your principal should he or she be willing to take a look.

12/17/ 10 It was fitting that right around our last class my eight year old, not usually the most enthusiastic writer, came home all excited about his nonfiction writers workshop. "Mommy, I have research!". It was astonishing how excited he was. In conjunction with the nonfiction essay he was writing in class, the librarian had taught him how to do research using the on-line databases and he knew how to access them from home to obtain articles for homework. Oh, he was so proud, not just to use the computer, but to figure out what databases he perferred and how to improve his search and what articles were appropriate. His enthusiasm knew no bounds. Everyday last week he could hardly wait to do his research! In our last class we explored creativity and collaboration. But what was interesting to me during my son's project was how excited he was just by doing some basic research on a his usual topic (he **always** writes about dogs). He felt very grown up and accomplished conducting research on-line and in print materials. He saw it as a real world grownup task and that meant everything to him. On Friday he was off again to the computer, with great self importance he told me he needed to check something on EBSCO. Perhaps it's just geeky genetics, or maybe my son is empiracle proof that library class increases literacy!