#AASL17 Redux

Dear Colleagues,
If you are an AASL member, you now have access to the concurrent sessions that were recorded at the AASL National Conference & Exhibition last month in Phoenix. In order to access this content, you will need to go to AASL’s eCOLLAB archive.

1. Go to AASL’s eCollab: http://www.ala.org/aasl/ecollab
2. Click on the link titled: Brand-new eCOLLAB platform.
3. Log in with your username and password.
4. Click on: Archive Sessions.
5. Click on: AASL National Conference & Exhibition 2017 “View Product.”

You will find the archives for seventy sessions. One of the great things is that the sessions are edited so that listeners can focus on the information presented and participate in the interactive pieces on their own time.

Conference participants from Arizona were asked to volunteer to assist at as many sessions as we could fit into our schedules.  I attended and volunteered at three sessions focused on the new National School Library Standards for Students, School Librarians, and School Libraries. “Inquire and Include,” “Collaborate and Curate,” and “Explore and Engage” sessions are all available on the site for your review.

These are a three of the sessions I missed in Phoenix and have now been able to view.

Mark Ray, Director of Innovation and Library Services, Vancouver Public Schools, and Future Ready Librarians Lead for the Alliance for Excellent Education, and Shannon McClintock Miller, Future Ready Libraries and Project Connect Spokesperson, co-presented “#futurereadylibs: Which Wedge Gives You the Edge?” on 11/10 at 11:20 a.m. (page 2 in the archives). This session is essential viewing for those who want to learn more how they can become Future Ready Librarians (FRLs) and access FRLs resources. As part of their presentation, they asked participants to compare AASL’s “Everyone Is a Learner” infographic with the Future Ready Librarians Framework . Mark and Shannon’s resources are at http://bit.ly/AASLFRL.

Maria Cahill, Associate Professor, University of Kentucky, and Amanda Hurley, Library Media Specialist, Henry Clay High School, Lexington, Kentucky, presented “Survey Says: School Librarians Identifying Stakeholders’ Needs” on 11/11 at 9:30 a.m. (page 5 in the archives). Maria introduced the session with information about and an invitation to participate in the monthly School Library Connection One-Question Survey. Amanda and Maria continued the session by giving examples and promoting the idea of one-question surveys as effective and efficient ways for school librarians to gather data on which they can act to improve their library services.

Judith Kaplan, from the University of Vermont and former coblogger on this site, and Deborah Ehler-Hansen, School Librarian, Fair Haven Union High School in Vermont, presented “Transform Teaching and Learning with Technology and Competency-based Standards?” on 11/11 at 3:10 p.m.(page 7 in the archives). In their interactive presentation, Judith and Deborah made connections between empowered technology tool use with personalized learning, blended learning, open access resources, Future Ready Librarians, ESSA, and more. Their resources are available at: https://goo.gl/zYoRa5 You can also search their hashtag #PDforlib.

If you missed my session, “Investing in Social Capital Counts,” you will find it on page seven in the archives and on a pbworks wiki.

Not all of the sessions were recorded. I regret that I was unable to hear the research papers panel I missed on November 10th. Assistant Professor Karen Reed from Middle Tennessee State University was part of a panel that presented research papers: “‘Computational Thinking,’ ‘Information Seeking in School Library Makerspaces,’ and ‘School Librarians as Co-Teacher of Literacy’: Research Papers from the Field of School Librarianship.” She contributed the third paper.

Access to these seventy sessions can be an enticement for our colleagues who are not yet AASL members. The opportunity to view these resources and develop an understanding of the importance of participation in our national association and conference can be an invitation to join AASL.

Please “Share the Wealth” of AASL membership with your colleagues and your name will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win registration, airfare, and hotel accommodations for the next AASL national conference taking place in Louisville, Kentucky, in November 2019.

Thank you to AASL for making these resources available to all AASL members. I look forward to reviewing more of the sessions I missed in the coming weeks. I encourage you to take full advantage of this opportunity to learn with and from our colleagues.

Log in soon!

 

Instructional Leadership Opportunities

School librarian leaders belong to school library professional organizations. We read the journals and magazines focused on research and practice in our own profession. We participate in Facebook, Google, and Twitter chat groups and more to learn with and from each other to develop our craft.

While it is essential that school librarians stay abreast of new developments in our own field, it is also important to read the journals and magazines our administrators and classroom teacher colleagues read as well. In addition to library-focused organizations, I belong to two non-library organizations, the International Literacy Association and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) in large part to read their journals and access their online resources.

Last May, ASCD’s Educational Leadership published an issue titled “Lifting School Leaders.” Check out the table of contents. From my perspective, school librarian leaders could benefit from reading every article in the issue. These are my comments on four of them.

In her column, “One to Grow On,” Carol Ann Tomlinson notes four ways school leaders claim their authority: bureaucratic (hierarchy), psychological (expectations and rewards), professional (training and experience), or moral (values and norms). In schools where leaders with “moral authority” have invested in building relationships, reaching collective values, and establishing shared norms, they lead their colleagues in creating a collaborative culture based on interdependence and reciprocal mentorship. School librarians can be coleaders along with their principals in creating the conditions that make such a school culture possible.

Instructional coach Anne M. Beaton wrote an article called “Designing a Community of Shared Learning.” She cites the work of Roland Barth, one of the educational researchers who has greatly impacting my thinking about the community of school. Anne realized the richness of instructional expertise that classroom teachers in her school were missing by not being able to observe one another teaching. She set up a rotation and a protocol for educators to learn from visiting each other’s classrooms. For me, her article made a connection to the enormous benefit school librarians have to develop their craft through coplanning, coteaching, and coassessing student learning with every classroom teacher and specialist colleague in their building!

Kenneth Baum and David Krulwich wrote about “The Artisan Teaching Model” as a way to develop instructional expertise. In their article “A New Approach to PD—and Growing Leaders,” they describe the importance of writing, practicing, and delivering engaging lessons as the “defining work” of educators. I could not agree more! The Artisan Teaching Model involves co-creating quality instruction in grade-level, content-area teams facilitated by a team leader. After writing high-quality plans, a teammate observes a colleague teaching and provides feedback. Again, my connection is to the opportunity school librarians have to learn with and from their colleagues through instructional design, delivery, and assessment.

In “Building a Schoolwide Leadership Mindset,” Sarah E. Fiarman, a former school principal, shares how principals can support educators who think in terms of how their actions will benefit the entire school. Rather than focusing their work at the classroom (or library) level, educators with a whole-school perspective can influence the practices of their colleagues. Principals create opportunities for educators, including librarians, to share responsibility for improving teaching and learning by “getting out of their way” and giving them tasks they have never done before. Supporting educators in taking risks helps them grow as leaders in a culture of professional learning.

School librarians have limitless opportunities to serve as instructional leaders in their schools. (Sadly, but it seems all too common, I did not note that a school librarian was mentioned in any of the articles in the “Lifting School Leaders” issue.)

If you do not have access to the May, 2017 issue of Educational Leadership, ask your principal to share her/his copy. Make time to read the articles and note how you are serving and can grow in your instructional leader role. Follow up with an appointment with your principal to discuss what you learned and how she/he can help you further build your leadership capacity.

As Google’s Educational Evangelist Jaime Casap proclaimed in his keynote at the American Association of School Librarians’ conference in Phoenix last month, it’s time for educators to step up our work. Jaime said, “Take the best ideas we have (in education) and bring them to the next level.”

Let’s make sure our administrators and colleagues experience how school librarians are coleading as we build on the best ideas in teaching and learning. In collaboration with our principals and classroom teacher colleagues, we can best serve our students by taking those ideas to the next level.

Image Credit: Educational Leadership Cover courtesy of ASCD

Maximizing Leadership: Chapter 1

Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy was published by ALA Editions in June, 2018.

Chapter 1: Building Connections for Learning

“In a school that learns, people… recognize their common stake in each other’s future and the future of the community” (Senge et al. 2012, 5).

Taking a systems thinking approach helps school leaders effectively connect the pieces of the teaching and learning puzzle. Systems thinking involves taking stock of the whole system before attempting to change any part of it (Senge et al. 2012, 8). Systems thinkers closely examine the interdependent relationships among people and practices. They identify what is working and where they can improve in order for their school to reach full capacity. In collaborative culture schools, systems thinkers use their shared commitment and individual talents to collectively solve the dilemmas that hinder students from achieving success.

Systems thinking has the potential to revolutionize the way school librarians interact with administrators and classroom teacher colleagues. School librarians who seek to be leaders in their schools, districts, and beyond benefit from taking the education ecosystem into account. They understand how their work aligns with the beliefs of education thought-leaders and leading education organizations, and education transformation initiatives. When school librarians have a deep understanding of the education ecosystem, they can make connections to the priorities of their administrators, classroom teacher colleagues, and decision-makers in their district and state.

What you will find in this chapter:

1. A Rationale for Taking a Systems Thinking Approach to School Transformation;
2. The Components of Future Ready Learning: Literacies, Skills, and Dispositions;
3. Visions for Schooling by Notable Education Thought-Leaders and Organizations;
4. The Components of a Collaborative School Culture;
5. Responsibilities of School Librarians; and
6. Strategies for School Librarians to Build Connections for Learning and Leading.

As the blog logo illustrates, principals, school librarians, and classroom teachers collaborate in order to build a culture of learning in their schools. School librarians have a unique role to play in supporting the success of administrators who are leading their schools through a transformation process. Classroom-library collaboration for instruction is one central strategy that helps school librarians position their work and the library program as the hub of academic and personal learning in the school. As instructional partners, school librarians codesign effective instruction, provide professional learning opportunities for colleagues, and improve their own teaching practice in the process.

Chapter 1 frames the entire book by situating school librarian leadership and classroom-library collaboration for instruction within a collaborative school culture. School librarians help their schools by building capacity through classroom-library coteaching future ready learning: literacies, skills, and dispositions. In this empowered learning culture, school librarians, principals, and other educators colead to optimize student success.

At the end of each chapter in the book, readers will find three discussion questions, three group activities, and three sample reflection prompts. This study guide approach is intended to support cadres of school librarians, school faculties, and others in using this book as a professional book study selection.

Work Cited

Senge, Peter, Nelda Cambron-McCabe, Timothy Lucas, Bryan Smith, Janis Dutton, and Art Kleiner. 2012. Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education. New York: Crown Business.

Image Credit: Word Cloud created at Wordle.net

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