Standard 4: Advocacy and Leadership: Candidates advocate for dynamic school library programs and positive learning environments that focus on student learning and achievement by collaborating and connecting with teachers, administrators, librarians, and the community. Candidates are committed to continuous learning and professional growth and lead professional development activities for other educators. Candidates provide leadership by articulating ways in which school libraries contribute to student achievement.
Working at a public library that’s so conveniently close to two elementary libraries makes it very easy to network with library communities (standard 4.1). Through the Digital Family Literacy Night in LIS 693, I partnered with Cornelius Elementary School’s library to teach parents how to use public library digital resources through One Access while also allowing parents to explore the school library’s grant-funded STEM technology centers.
My One Access goal project in 692 involved me (as a public library employee) giving presentations to seniors at Hough High School about public library electronic databases they can access by using their student ID to help with their senior project research papers. Surveys were administered to assess how much these students actually utilized these databases as part of the public library One Access partnership.
Through my 693 professional development assignment, I went to both Cornelius Elementary and J.V. Washam and showcased specific public library databases the teachers could use in their classrooms for specific, upcoming curriculum projects they were preparing to teach.
Finally, last summer, my public library co-worker and I gave presentations to K-5th grade classes at Cornelius Elementary promoting the public library’s summer break (reading) program.
While it’s rather easy to find ways to push into classrooms or conduct professional development trainings for teachers to promote public library resources, it’s much more difficult to get documentation that the students or teachers actually used the resources you’re promoting after the training is over. Survey results from my One Access goal project in 692, revealed very few students actually used the resources, which could have been because the teachers did not incentivize the students to use these resources; I also had poor timing (many of their projects were already underway when I was able to come speak with them). Likewise, the teacher professional development was only mildly beneficial as they’re just so busy and quickly forget to look back at the resources they’re shown when the time comes to actually teach that research project with their class. Likewise, summer reading participation from kids at Cornelius Elementary didn’t increase from last year despite our presentations; communication was sent home with the parents to reinforce our presentation, but again, everyone is so busy!
The School Libraries Work! Report indicates that 51 percent of school librarians seek and share ideas at least weekly through online networks and communities while only 23 percent of educators overall do this (School Libraries Work!, 2016). Collaborating with other school librarians can also occur through monthly or quarterly district meetings; however, since most school librarians don’t have the advantage of collaborating with other school librarians in their buildings as classroom teachers can, virtual networks are much more likely. It’s important for school librarians to collaborate to share ideas that can improve student learning; each school and school library is different so what works in one setting may or may not work in another. It’s an expectation that school librarians both engage in and offer professional development throughout the year; as such AASL offers a guide to leading professional development (Keeling, 2013).
Engaging in professional development for myself (standard 4.2) has been something throughout all three years of graduate school. For the past three years, I have been an active member of NCLA and ALA. As a member, I have attended professional conferences including both the Youth Services Fall retreat (October 2014 in Brown Summit, NC) and the NCLA conference (October 2015: Greensboro, NC). I was also awarded the Appalachian Scholarship for School Libraries while attending the NCLA conference in 2015. I receive the ALA bimonthly magazine and subscribe to weekly ALA Direct library news highlights. While at Ashe County Public Library, I participated in a couple of webinars, one about children's programming for DIA and STEM activities and another about Every Child Ready to Read early literacy tips and techniques. I have heard that NCTIES (North Carolina Technology in Education Society) and the North Carolina School Library Media Association both offer excellent conferences here in North Carolina for practicing school librarians, so those are two I plan to go to in the future if I end up becoming a school media specialist.
Additionally, I follow several children’s librarian blogs, including Storytime Katie, Sunflower Storytime, Abbey the Librarian, and Jbrary. Through conference attendance and reading these ALA publications, I have gathered several tips for best practices in the field of children’s librarianship, including multi-age storytime techniques, implementing StoryWalks, and STEAM programming. It’s also given me the opportunity to network with other children’s librarians, several of whom I continue to follow through social media channels. And these conferences have also exposed me to the larger trends and academic conversations in public libraries as well as the library world as a whole, including digital libraries and up-and-coming authors in all genres.
Upon more closely examining the leadership role of a school librarian, Purcell’s article challenges the assumption that all librarians do is check out books by arguing that “actively participating in local, state, and national professional organizations strengthens personal skills and serves as a foundation to advance the profession” (Purcell, 2010). Participating in these kinds of professional development conferences allows school librarians (especially new librarians) to meet other professionals, gain fresh ideas and take on leadership roles within these organizations that will better school librarianship as a profession and improve the lives of their student’s one school library at a time.
Leadership (standard 4.3) through evidence based research action is a something I’ve examined briefly in the LIS 653 School Libraries Work! assignment. Utilizing recent research including IMPACT guidelines, the School Libraries Work! report and other research findings (particularly those by Keith Curry Lance), my group and I found several key ways in which the school library plays an instrumental part in enhancing school improvement efforts by boosting student achievement, promoting a lifelong love of learning and building professional development for teachers.
I did not realize how powerful and effective school library research can be in convincing principals and district administrators about the value of a school library program; since principals are very concerned with data regarding student achievement it just makes since that they’d want to analyze the school library program quantitatively instead of qualitatively which is a little disheartening from a school librarian’s perspective, but at least it can serve as justification enough to keep the program running!
My LIS 693 goal project and analysis is also a strong example of utilizing leadership skills to effect change. My goal was to host a joint literacy and technology family night that showcases the school library’s new technology and recent redesign, that promotes public library digital resources, and that educates parents about literacy practices they can model with their child at home. The event was held in the newly remodeled school media center and featured 6 stem centers, a literacy garden, two self-directed crafts, and a how-to download public library resources table.
This program was a very successful example of community collaboration as myself, a public library co-worker, a volunteer, and the school librarian agreed to help me with the event and I delegated responsibilities to each of them. My public library co-worker taught people about the public library digital resources and another public library volunteer from Davidson College came to take pictures and award people prizes. Mrs. Lilley, the media specialist, and her son were also there the entire time so it was a great public library and school library initiative.
Although it was a very small turnout (only 11 people from the entire school attended), it was a very diverse representation of families. There was a Russian family (a mom with a 1st and 4th grade daughter), a third grade boy with his mom and two high school siblings, and a kindergarten Mexican girl whose family didn’t want to stay, and then Mrs. Lilley (the media specialist) and her 1st grade son. I think the biggest reason for this lack of attendance was poor advertising.
Even though this event could have been much better attended, it still strongly aligned with library and school goals to effect change. The goal met the AASL standards of “teaching for learning” by allowing for collaboration within the learning community (parents, students, and public librarians) and the goal of “building the learning environment” by “encouraging visits to and use of the library by parents.” The goal still tied in directly with the school’s mission to be a place “where responsibility for teaching and learning is respectfully shared among students, parents, staff and community.” And lastly, the goal did work toward increasing the school’s student reading scores by educating the few parents who attended in the ABCs of active reading to model this for their student at home.
In terms of effecting student achievement, I can only comment on the two evaluations and in-person comments of the two families who provided them. Both families indicated on the survey that they strongly agreed that the event: increased their knowledge of how the school library encourages active learning through STEM centers; taught them ways to model best literacy practices with their child at home; and increased their awareness of and comfort with downloading digital resources from the public library on a device. The two centers they enjoyed most were 3D shapes and spheros, which have been two of the more popular centers in the media center when Mrs. Lilley lets her classes explore the new technology. One participant said they learned to model best literacy practices by playing a guess-that-book character headbands game. For this game, I covered a plastic baby pool with a brown table cloth and glued pictures of book characters or vegetables on popsicle sticks like gardening markers and stuck them in the tablecloth “dirt. Then the kids would pick one of these pieces from the garden and stick it in their headband and the other kids would give them clues to guess which character or vegetable they picked. It would have been a lot more fun with more people, but it still worked out okay.
Another participant said on their survey that they liked learning about digital literacy, but her kids still liked the old-fashioned books much better. That parent wanted to learn more about the sphero and coding and also found my active reading tips very interesting to learn how to read more effectively with their child. I had a literacy garden set up. The baby pool garden (described above) was in the center and around the garden I had colorful flower mats with a tissue paper flower and book of various reading levels at each mat. The idea was that I would talk about the ABCS of active reading (see handout) and model this briefly with a couple picture books I had on hand about gardening (Munch! Muncha! Muncha! By Candace Fleming). Then each parent and child would sit on their flower mat and practice modeling the ABCs of active reading with the book in front of them. That kind of worked with the one family who tried, but again, it would have been better with more people. Overall, despite limited attendance, I think the program was as effective as it could have been at meeting my goal and I now have ideas for improving attendance next time.
Purcell’s article also suggests that school librarians can advocate for the value of the school library program and its impact on student achievement by “contributing to listservs, by generating and collecting evidence to identify best professional practices, through collaboration with all members of the learning community, by developing relationships with decision makers, through publication of professional articles, by developing community partnerships, and through various public relation events” (Purcell, 2010). Staying abreast of library trends and then having first hand, day-to day experience to justify what works and what doesn’t is a great way to build data to illustrate how school libraries impact student achievement.
For school library advocacy (standard 4.4), I created an advocacy plan. Through this plan I clearly articulated two major goals each with two objectives and supporting strategies which aimed to advocate for school library and information programs, resources, and services. The first goal was getting students to see the value in using the library’s digital resources for both curriculum based research projects and pleasure reading. The second was aimed at getting the administration (the principal) to understand how the school’s librarian directly contributes to student achievement.
Without the backing of your principal and other stakeholders in your community, your school library program would be unable to survive. It’s vitally important to advocate for funding and support from administration and the town’s people by inviting them into your library so they can see for themselves the kind of dynamic environment you’re creating; your job will be far less likely to be on the line if you make this effort.
Johnson’s article articulates ways a school librarian can digitally advocate to parents, teachers, administrators and the Board of Education. Her students create videos using Screencast-O-Matic, Animoto, and iMovie to showcase the projects they’ve been working on in the library, which can then be sent to these decision makers. Developing an active social media presence and creating an engaging, frequently updated website are other great digital methods for connecting and advocating with stakeholders (Johnson, 2015). AASL advocacy Toolkit provides great ideas for formulating an advocacy plan for a school library. Advocacy, simply put, “links evidence gathered with the education of the stakeholders to answer the essential question: How does the school library instructional program affect student achievement?” (Kramer, 2010).
Artifacts used to support standard 4
LIS 693 Digital Literacy Night Goal project
Working at a public library that’s so conveniently close to two elementary libraries makes it very easy to network with library communities (standard 4.1). Through the Digital Family Literacy Night in LIS 693, I partnered with Cornelius Elementary School’s library to teach parents how to use public library digital resources through One Access while also allowing parents to explore the school library’s grant-funded STEM technology centers.
My One Access goal project in 692 involved me (as a public library employee) giving presentations to seniors at Hough High School about public library electronic databases they can access by using their student ID to help with their senior project research papers. Surveys were administered to assess how much these students actually utilized these databases as part of the public library One Access partnership.
Through my 693 professional development assignment, I went to both Cornelius Elementary and J.V. Washam and showcased specific public library databases the teachers could use in their classrooms for specific, upcoming curriculum projects they were preparing to teach.
Finally, last summer, my public library co-worker and I gave presentations to K-5th grade classes at Cornelius Elementary promoting the public library’s summer break (reading) program.
While it’s rather easy to find ways to push into classrooms or conduct professional development trainings for teachers to promote public library resources, it’s much more difficult to get documentation that the students or teachers actually used the resources you’re promoting after the training is over. Survey results from my One Access goal project in 692, revealed very few students actually used the resources, which could have been because the teachers did not incentivize the students to use these resources; I also had poor timing (many of their projects were already underway when I was able to come speak with them). Likewise, the teacher professional development was only mildly beneficial as they’re just so busy and quickly forget to look back at the resources they’re shown when the time comes to actually teach that research project with their class. Likewise, summer reading participation from kids at Cornelius Elementary didn’t increase from last year despite our presentations; communication was sent home with the parents to reinforce our presentation, but again, everyone is so busy!
The School Libraries Work! Report indicates that 51 percent of school librarians seek and share ideas at least weekly through online networks and communities while only 23 percent of educators overall do this (School Libraries Work!, 2016). Collaborating with other school librarians can also occur through monthly or quarterly district meetings; however, since most school librarians don’t have the advantage of collaborating with other school librarians in their buildings as classroom teachers can, virtual networks are much more likely. It’s important for school librarians to collaborate to share ideas that can improve student learning; each school and school library is different so what works in one setting may or may not work in another. It’s an expectation that school librarians both engage in and offer professional development throughout the year; as such AASL offers a guide to leading professional development (Keeling, 2013).
Engaging in professional development for myself (standard 4.2) has been something throughout all three years of graduate school. For the past three years, I have been an active member of NCLA and ALA. As a member, I have attended professional conferences including both the Youth Services Fall retreat (October 2014 in Brown Summit, NC) and the NCLA conference (October 2015: Greensboro, NC). I was also awarded the Appalachian Scholarship for School Libraries while attending the NCLA conference in 2015. I receive the ALA bimonthly magazine and subscribe to weekly ALA Direct library news highlights. While at Ashe County Public Library, I participated in a couple of webinars, one about children's programming for DIA and STEM activities and another about Every Child Ready to Read early literacy tips and techniques. I have heard that NCTIES (North Carolina Technology in Education Society) and the North Carolina School Library Media Association both offer excellent conferences here in North Carolina for practicing school librarians, so those are two I plan to go to in the future if I end up becoming a school media specialist.
Additionally, I follow several children’s librarian blogs, including Storytime Katie, Sunflower Storytime, Abbey the Librarian, and Jbrary. Through conference attendance and reading these ALA publications, I have gathered several tips for best practices in the field of children’s librarianship, including multi-age storytime techniques, implementing StoryWalks, and STEAM programming. It’s also given me the opportunity to network with other children’s librarians, several of whom I continue to follow through social media channels. And these conferences have also exposed me to the larger trends and academic conversations in public libraries as well as the library world as a whole, including digital libraries and up-and-coming authors in all genres.
Upon more closely examining the leadership role of a school librarian, Purcell’s article challenges the assumption that all librarians do is check out books by arguing that “actively participating in local, state, and national professional organizations strengthens personal skills and serves as a foundation to advance the profession” (Purcell, 2010). Participating in these kinds of professional development conferences allows school librarians (especially new librarians) to meet other professionals, gain fresh ideas and take on leadership roles within these organizations that will better school librarianship as a profession and improve the lives of their student’s one school library at a time.
Leadership (standard 4.3) through evidence based research action is a something I’ve examined briefly in the LIS 653 School Libraries Work! assignment. Utilizing recent research including IMPACT guidelines, the School Libraries Work! report and other research findings (particularly those by Keith Curry Lance), my group and I found several key ways in which the school library plays an instrumental part in enhancing school improvement efforts by boosting student achievement, promoting a lifelong love of learning and building professional development for teachers.
I did not realize how powerful and effective school library research can be in convincing principals and district administrators about the value of a school library program; since principals are very concerned with data regarding student achievement it just makes since that they’d want to analyze the school library program quantitatively instead of qualitatively which is a little disheartening from a school librarian’s perspective, but at least it can serve as justification enough to keep the program running!
My LIS 693 goal project and analysis is also a strong example of utilizing leadership skills to effect change. My goal was to host a joint literacy and technology family night that showcases the school library’s new technology and recent redesign, that promotes public library digital resources, and that educates parents about literacy practices they can model with their child at home. The event was held in the newly remodeled school media center and featured 6 stem centers, a literacy garden, two self-directed crafts, and a how-to download public library resources table.
This program was a very successful example of community collaboration as myself, a public library co-worker, a volunteer, and the school librarian agreed to help me with the event and I delegated responsibilities to each of them. My public library co-worker taught people about the public library digital resources and another public library volunteer from Davidson College came to take pictures and award people prizes. Mrs. Lilley, the media specialist, and her son were also there the entire time so it was a great public library and school library initiative.
Although it was a very small turnout (only 11 people from the entire school attended), it was a very diverse representation of families. There was a Russian family (a mom with a 1st and 4th grade daughter), a third grade boy with his mom and two high school siblings, and a kindergarten Mexican girl whose family didn’t want to stay, and then Mrs. Lilley (the media specialist) and her 1st grade son. I think the biggest reason for this lack of attendance was poor advertising.
Even though this event could have been much better attended, it still strongly aligned with library and school goals to effect change. The goal met the AASL standards of “teaching for learning” by allowing for collaboration within the learning community (parents, students, and public librarians) and the goal of “building the learning environment” by “encouraging visits to and use of the library by parents.” The goal still tied in directly with the school’s mission to be a place “where responsibility for teaching and learning is respectfully shared among students, parents, staff and community.” And lastly, the goal did work toward increasing the school’s student reading scores by educating the few parents who attended in the ABCs of active reading to model this for their student at home.
In terms of effecting student achievement, I can only comment on the two evaluations and in-person comments of the two families who provided them. Both families indicated on the survey that they strongly agreed that the event: increased their knowledge of how the school library encourages active learning through STEM centers; taught them ways to model best literacy practices with their child at home; and increased their awareness of and comfort with downloading digital resources from the public library on a device. The two centers they enjoyed most were 3D shapes and spheros, which have been two of the more popular centers in the media center when Mrs. Lilley lets her classes explore the new technology. One participant said they learned to model best literacy practices by playing a guess-that-book character headbands game. For this game, I covered a plastic baby pool with a brown table cloth and glued pictures of book characters or vegetables on popsicle sticks like gardening markers and stuck them in the tablecloth “dirt. Then the kids would pick one of these pieces from the garden and stick it in their headband and the other kids would give them clues to guess which character or vegetable they picked. It would have been a lot more fun with more people, but it still worked out okay.
Another participant said on their survey that they liked learning about digital literacy, but her kids still liked the old-fashioned books much better. That parent wanted to learn more about the sphero and coding and also found my active reading tips very interesting to learn how to read more effectively with their child. I had a literacy garden set up. The baby pool garden (described above) was in the center and around the garden I had colorful flower mats with a tissue paper flower and book of various reading levels at each mat. The idea was that I would talk about the ABCS of active reading (see handout) and model this briefly with a couple picture books I had on hand about gardening (Munch! Muncha! Muncha! By Candace Fleming). Then each parent and child would sit on their flower mat and practice modeling the ABCs of active reading with the book in front of them. That kind of worked with the one family who tried, but again, it would have been better with more people. Overall, despite limited attendance, I think the program was as effective as it could have been at meeting my goal and I now have ideas for improving attendance next time.
Purcell’s article also suggests that school librarians can advocate for the value of the school library program and its impact on student achievement by “contributing to listservs, by generating and collecting evidence to identify best professional practices, through collaboration with all members of the learning community, by developing relationships with decision makers, through publication of professional articles, by developing community partnerships, and through various public relation events” (Purcell, 2010). Staying abreast of library trends and then having first hand, day-to day experience to justify what works and what doesn’t is a great way to build data to illustrate how school libraries impact student achievement.
For school library advocacy (standard 4.4), I created an advocacy plan. Through this plan I clearly articulated two major goals each with two objectives and supporting strategies which aimed to advocate for school library and information programs, resources, and services. The first goal was getting students to see the value in using the library’s digital resources for both curriculum based research projects and pleasure reading. The second was aimed at getting the administration (the principal) to understand how the school’s librarian directly contributes to student achievement.
Without the backing of your principal and other stakeholders in your community, your school library program would be unable to survive. It’s vitally important to advocate for funding and support from administration and the town’s people by inviting them into your library so they can see for themselves the kind of dynamic environment you’re creating; your job will be far less likely to be on the line if you make this effort.
Johnson’s article articulates ways a school librarian can digitally advocate to parents, teachers, administrators and the Board of Education. Her students create videos using Screencast-O-Matic, Animoto, and iMovie to showcase the projects they’ve been working on in the library, which can then be sent to these decision makers. Developing an active social media presence and creating an engaging, frequently updated website are other great digital methods for connecting and advocating with stakeholders (Johnson, 2015). AASL advocacy Toolkit provides great ideas for formulating an advocacy plan for a school library. Advocacy, simply put, “links evidence gathered with the education of the stakeholders to answer the essential question: How does the school library instructional program affect student achievement?” (Kramer, 2010).
Artifacts used to support standard 4
LIS 693 Digital Literacy Night Goal project
northcote_demographic_report.pdf | |
File Size: | 410 kb |
File Type: |
northcote_final_goal_reflection.doc | |
File Size: | 774 kb |
File Type: | doc |
northcote_digital_literacy_stations.docx | |
File Size: | 12 kb |
File Type: | docx |
northcote_digital_literacy_survey.docx | |
File Size: | 13 kb |
File Type: | docx |
LIS 692 One Access goal project
northcote_goal_presentation.pptx | |
File Size: | 615 kb |
File Type: | pptx |
northcote_goal_reflection.docx | |
File Size: | 23 kb |
File Type: | docx |
LIS 653 School Libraries Work! assignment
school_libraries_work_report.docx | |
File Size: | 16 kb |
File Type: | docx |
LIS 653 advocacy assignment
northcote_advocacy.docx | |
File Size: | 25 kb |
File Type: | docx |
LIS 693 professional development assignment
northcote_professional_development.docx | |
File Size: | 1070 kb |
File Type: | docx |