Objective 1.4: Integration of Twenty-First Century Skills & Learning
Standards
Indicator: Candidates demonstrate how to collaborate with teachers to
plan and implement instruction of the AASL Standards for
the 21st Century Learner and state student curriculum
standards.
plan and implement instruction of the AASL Standards for
the 21st Century Learner and state student curriculum
standards.
During my library internship, I certainly expected to perform tasks that were foreign to me. I never expected however, that I would be collaborating and creating lessons with a foreign language teacher. It was through this experience that I was able to transform a simple assignment into one that incorporated AASL Standards.
A teacher came into the library hoping to book computer time for her Spanish 2 Honors class. She wanted her students to use Google or TripAdvisor to gather information on Spanish-speaking cities in order to create a travel guide. The idea in itself was a fun and different way for students to conduct research, a skill that is essential for today’s students. While booking the lab for her, I couldn’t help but ask if she wanted to expand upon the project by enhancing the research component of the assignment. I informed her that the school’s databases would be ideal for students to conduct their research, and she was genuinely surprised that the library had resources that would support the Spanish curriculum. This conversation resulted in several meetings in which we developed her assignment into one that had students using the databases in order to locate the necessary information for their research needs. I was fortunate enough to meet with her classes three times, in which I introduced the students to Culture Grams, Student Resources in Context, and WorldBook, as well as showed students how to best navigate the databases to find the most pertinent information for their research task. I also reviewed other resources such as Noodletools as a reminder to conduct and cite their research in an ethical way. Lastly, for a more unique way for students to present their travel guides, I introduced Glogster, a virtual poster maker on which one can include pictures, maps, and text. Throughout the lessons, I was pleased to see that the teacher was actively working with me, either by chiming in to add to my information or assisting the students. I truly felt like we were approaching the lessons as a team, which made the experience very rewarding. When I reflect upon my experience with this Spanish teacher, I am proud of what I was able to accomplish with her classes. In a world where Google can easily be used for students to locate information, it is crucial that librarians know of other scholarly resources that can be used for the task at hand. Librarians must be seen as a person who has a firm grasp on resources that can supplement any subject area in a school. It was a wonderful feeling to show this teacher, who thought that the library would not have resources to support her curriculum, that in fact the opposite was true. Any teacher should be able to use the librarian as a learning resource—we are the ones who can ensure that all teachers are using credible resources and presenting their students with authentic learning experiences. Collaborating with this teacher helped me to see that it is easy to insert AASL Standards into a content area curriculum. The standards of both teachers and librarians have the same goals at heart—to challenge our students, expose them to new material, and assist them in demonstrating mastery of the concepts. Knowing this, it becomes natural to insert strategies and activities to ensure that all students are developing information literacy skills. When working with these Spanish classes, I saw children who were interested in the task at hand, quick to practice and assist others with the databases, as well as advocate for themselves in order to complete the task to the best of their ability. These things, along with the fact that they were engaged in the best research strategies for their task, ultimately made the students confident that they would find the information that they needed to succeed. What started out as a Google search turned into a more meaningful and practical research experience. The goal of any teacher is to help their students grow into more independent thinkers. By working with this Spanish teacher, I became a tool for her to accomplish this goal. It is my hope that in the future I am able to work with teachers of all content areas and help them to see that by pairing both curricular standards, we can create learning experiences that will lead our students to success. |
Artifacts:
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