Tag Archives: professional development

Advocacy Tools from the AASL School Leader Collaborative

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Advocacy Word Cloud: leadership, job description, school librarians, interview questions, decision-makers, school administrators, videoThank you to the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) past-president Kathryn Roots Lewis for her presidential initiative that resulted in resources now available to school librarians and other school library advocates (see her Knowledge Quest 4/29/20 blog post “School Administrators and the Power of School Librarians”).

Kathryn’s initiative centered on championing the work of effective school librarians with educational leaders. The resulting advocacy tools are invaluable to practicing school librarians and district-level school librarian supervisors who can share them with library stakeholders, and to university-based school librarian educators who can use them in teaching preservice school librarians.

In this blog post, I shine a spotlight on three of these now essential advocacy tools.

Advocacy Video: “Administrators Partner with School Librarians”
In this video, the seven members of the AASL School Leader Collaborative offer testimonials related to how their school librarians serve as leaders in their learning communities. Thank you to Shawn Arnold, superintendent, Valdez City Schools, Valdez, Alaska; Sean Doherty, superintendent, School District of Clayton, St. Louis, Missouri; April Grace, superintendent, Shawnee Public Schools, Shawnee, Oklahoma; Kelly Gustafson, principal, Pine-Richland School District, Wexford, Pennsylvania; Joel Hoag, principal, Franklin Special School District, Franklin, Tennessee; Kim Patterson, principal, Grossmont Union High School District, El Cajon, California; and Melita Walker, principal, Columbia Public Schools, Columbia, Missouri.

Some sample excerpts from the video: “I think that librarians serve as the heart of the school. I think they serve as a support system for so many different people in the buildings beyond just the students. We need to make sure that people have the right mental model about what a school librarian does for a school and make sure we are fostering that” (Sean Doherty). “The impact of the library or the librarian can only be in direct proportion to your (administrators) own willingness to elevate, encourage, and empower that person or that space as a central part of the learning experience for all of your students and staff” (April Grace). “My school librarian and librarians across districts in Pennsylvania are the ones who are feeding the administrators. My success as school principal and administrator in Pennsylvania is a product of being shaped by school librarians” (Kelly Gustafson) (AASL 2020a).

Similar to “Principals Know: School Librarians Are the Heart of the School,” this video, focused solely on the perspectives and experiences of administrators, provides school librarians with insight into how their work is perceived and valued by education decision-makers. As an advocacy tool, it can support school librarians as they speak with and encourage administrators, school board members, and community leaders to become advocates for the school librarian’s role in education for today and tomorrow.

School Librarian Interview Question Matrix
In collaboration with AASL’s 2018-2019 Presidential Initiative Task Force, the AASL School Leader Collaborative developed a set of interview questions based on the five roles of the school librarian (leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher, and program administrator) and organized around the six shared foundations (inquiry, include, collaborate, curate, explore, and engage) from the National Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries (AASL 2018).

These questions provide future and practicing school librarians with specific criteria around which their job description and performance could (should?) be measured. While all of these questions are illuminating in terms of the school librarian’s potential to impact the learning culture in their school, these were the questions that stood out to me in the leader role:

* Give an example of how you would build a culture of collaboration throughout the school. How would you measure success?

* Give some examples of how you have been a leader, change-maker, thought leader.

* Describe your global learning network. How do you learn about trends and best practices in education and school libraries? (AASL 2020b).

School Librarian Job Description
The AASL School Leader Collaborative and the 2018-2019 Task Force also codeveloped a school librarian job description. These are some of the descriptors that stood out for me.

  • Collaborates and coteaches with classroom educators to establish learning objectives and assessment strategies to develop individual and group inquiry-based learning experiences.
  • Champions equity, access, and intellectual freedom for users within the physical space and beyond, including 24/7 access to the online library catalog; digital and audio books, and various information sources.
  • Models and champions digital citizenship and safety and adherence to copyright and fair use requirements.
  • Teaches all members of the learning community to engage with and use information in a global society (AASL 2020c).

Again, this is an invaluable document that can be used in so many ways to strengthen practice and the profession at large. Having worked with the Tucson Unified School District superintendent and the TUSD human resources department in fall 2019 to revise the school librarian job description, I will review our work in light of this document.

The Value of These Documents
These resources can only reach their potential to influence and strengthen the profession if school librarians review these documents, put effective behaviors into practice, and share the resulting student learning outcomes along with these tools. Then, these tools can help us reach our capacity to serve the learning and teaching needs of all library stakeholders.

Let’s take full advantage of the opportunity and express our gratitude to Kathryn Roots Lewis, her 2018-2019 Presidential Initiative Task Force, the AASL School Leader Collaborative, and the school librarian leaders who nominated them for making these resource available to us.

Works Cited

American Association of School Librarians. 2020a. “Administrators Partner with School Librarians,” YouTube.com, https://youtu.be/9fkTsLHFkS8

AASL. 2020b. “School Librarian Interview Matrix,” AASL.org, https://standards.aasl.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/SL-Interview-Matrix.pdf

AASL. 2020c. “School Librarian Job Description,” AASL.org, https://standards.aasl.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/SL-Job-Description_3-30-2020.pdf

 

 

 

Image Created at WordItOut.com

 

Professional Book Review: Collection Development for School Librarians

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In her book, An Introduction to Collection Development for School Librarians (ALA 2019), Mona Kerby offers school librarians a solid text with which to guide collection development to achieve the maximum benefit for the students, educators, and families they serve.

The ways school librarians select, provide access, promote, and integrate resources is an expression of social justice, a core value of librarianship.

Twelve Tasks for the First Weeks of  School (2-4)
Every new school librarian or librarian who is new to a building or district will want to follow Kerby’s guidelines in this section. I especially appreciate her insistence that “all learners must check out books and materials the first week. Teach lessons that are simple, memorable, and positive” (3). Note: She uses the term “lessons” not “orientations.”

One of the tasks Kerby recommends is skimming the district’s school librarian handbook. She gives a list of 14 subtopics that should be found in that resource. I don’t know how many times librarians have posted to our distribution lists asking people to share their administrative handbooks or at least the topics within it. When I taught School Library Media Center at Texas Woman’s University, students in my course created a handbook as a way to learn about school library administration. So, if you are one of those librarians who does not have access to one, this section in Kerby’s book can help you create one that is useful in your practice.

Selection and Reconsideration Policies
Selection criteria are at the heart of collection development. Kerby offers a list of criteria that could and should be included in a district selection policy (24-25). She also provides the bread crumbs to access ALA’s Selection and Reconsideration Policy Toolkit and summarizes it (25-26). Endorsed by the Intellectual Freedom Committee in 2018, this is a must-read and follow guideline for that section of a library administrative handbook.

The chapter entitled “How Do I Turn a Complaint into a Positive?” is must-reading (and re-reading) for novice and seasoned librarians alike (69-72). Building relationships, active listening, and modeling respect are essential in remaining true to library values while valuing the perspectives of all members of the learning community. I especially appreciate this word of caution: “Please don’t censor your collection because you’re afraid that a complaint might happen” (italics preserved 72).

Aligning Resources with the Curriculum
In the book, Kerby provides two sample curriculum charts—one at the elementary and one at the high school level (20-23). She describes how these charts could be created in terms of grade levels, topics, and length of units of study for each. “You can make a questionnaire asking these same questions—what, how many, and when—and then tabulate the responses, but not only are you creating more work, you’re also missing any opportunity. Talking to the educators gives you the opportunity to listen, plan, and collaborate” (24). I totally agree with her recommendation to actually sit down with colleagues to create or confirm and elaborate on a curriculum map for the entire school.

Labeling Books with Reading Levels
Kerby reminds school librarians that the ALA document “Labeling Systems: An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights” warns against the use of labeling systems that violate the privacy and choice of readers. “Prejudicial labels are designed to restrict access, based on a value judgment that the content, language, or themes of the resource, or the background or views of the creator(s) of the resource, render it inappropriate or offensive for all or certain groups of users” (ALA 2015). Reading-level labeling in school libraries violates the privacy and may restrict readers’ choices and should not be used. (One alternative for the elementary grades is to place reading levels inside of books where readers can privately access them as needed.)

Quotes and Examples from the Field
One of the strengths of An Introduction to Collection Development for School Librarians is that Kerby weaves quotes and examples from practicing school librarians throughout the book. District-level school librarian supervisor Jennifer Sturge, Calvert County, Maryland, encourages school librarians to develop engaging first lessons followed by book checkout from the very first day of the school year (5). Gail Dickinson, Old Dominion University, Virginia, offers an analogy between weeding the collection and curdled milk (49), Margaret Gaudino, Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland, offers a list of the twelve databases she provides for students and educators at her elementary school (63).

The book also includes writing prompts and reflection questions with pages where readers can record their practices, thoughts, and questions within the book itself.

I highly recommend Mona Kerby’s thoughtful and practical introduction to collection development to all. .

Work Cited

Kerby, Mona. 2019. An Introduction to Collection Development for School Librarians. 2nd ed. Chicago: ALA.

Professional Book Review: Dare to Lead

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In her book, Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts (2018), Brené Brown sets out to answer this question: “What would it look like to combine courage, connection and meaning with the world of work?” (2018, xvii). This question could and perhaps should be asked by all of us. Brown’s research process includes conducting and analyzing interviews. When asking senior business leaders what they would change, if anything, about the ways people are leading today, they replied, “We need brave leaders and more courageous cultures” (2018, 6).

Brown defines a leader as “anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential” (2018, 4). I believe this is what school librarian leaders do as we develop our own knowledge and skills and use our toolkits to influence others to help all library stakeholders, including ourselves, to reach our potential, our capacity.

Four Skills Sets
According to Brown, there are four skill sets at the heart of daring leadership: rumbling with vulnerability, living into our values, braving trust, and learning to rise. In her book she describes each of these in detail. Here is a snapshot:

Rumbling with Vulnerability: “Courage and fear are not mutually exclusive. Most of us feel brave and afraid at the same time” (2018, 10). In a “rumble,” people show their vulnerability, risk what is important to them, in order to build, honor, and keep relationships open while solving problems (addressing the hard stuff). Learning to feel fear and refusing to let it armor or stop you helps you demonstrate courage and influence the courageous behaviors of others. Rumbling with vulnerability is taking the risk being truly “seen.”

As Brown notes, “developing a disciplined practice of rumbling with vulnerability gives leaders the strength and emotional stamina to dare greatly” (2018, 167). She shared a brief case study vignette of Dr. Sanée Bell, principal, Morton Ranch Junior High, Katy, Texas. Bell, a principal who is rumbling with vulnerability said this, “I changed the narrative of our school by growing power with people through distributive and collaborative leadership, and by empowering others to lead. Ultimately, being true to who I am as a person, respecting my journey, and owning my story have given me the opportunity to lead in a deeper, more meaningful way” (2018, 181). According to the school’s website, Ellen Barnes serves as the school librarian. I would love to talk with her about working and coleading with her principal.

Living into Our Values: I think the leading quote for this section is so very true. “Who we are is how we lead” (2018, 165). I believe that our core values in librarianship are “who we are” and are our source of strength and power. When we remain true to our values, we can respond to tough conversations and difficult situations.

As Brown writes, “living into our values means that we do more than profess our values, we practice them. We walk our talk—we are clear about what we believe and hot important and we take care that our intentions, words, thoughts, and behaviors align with those beliefs” (2018, 186). She provides three steps toward this practice. First, we must be able to clearly articulate our values. Brown defines this as integrity. “Integrity is choosing courage over comfort; it’s choosing what is right over what’s fun, fast, or easy; and it’s practicing your values not just professing them” (2018, 189). Secondly, others must see our values evidence in our behavior. And thirdly, we must develop empathy for others and cheer them on while practicing self-compassion for our own steps and missteps toward consistently practicing what we preach.

Braving Trust: Brown cites Charles Feltman who authored The Thin Book of Trust. Feltman defines trust as “choosing to risk making something you value vulnerable to another person’s actions” (quoted in Brown 2018, 222.) Trust is at the heart of relationships and must first be given to others in order for it to develop.

She provides seven categories in her “Braving Inventory,” behaviors that demonstrate trust: establishing boundaries, reliability, accountability, value (keeping confidences), integrity, nonjudgment, and generosity (225-226). Trusting requires courage and “building courage with a partner or in a team is more powerful than doing it alone” (Brown 2018, 227).

Learning to Rise
Resilience is essential for all of us today and is especially critical for decision-makers. “Grounded confidence is the messy process of learning and unlearning, practicing and failing, and surviving a few misses” (2018, 165). Leaders will inevitably make missteps. Owning and learning from mistakes is the hallmark of a true leader.

Standing Up for Our Values
For me, Brown’s work speaks to the need for all educators and school librarians, in particular, to stand up for our values. In our role as leaders, our library values will be put to the test if decisions are made that limit students’ access to the library or threaten their privacy or confidentiality; if books or other resources are challenged or banned, or students’ choices for reading materials are restricted in some other way. When we lead from the library as the center for literacy learning, our values will be tested.

Brown writes that daring leaders who live into their values are never silent about hard things. “Our values should be so crystallized in our minds, so infallible, so precise and clear, and unassailable, that they don’t feel like a choice—they are simply a definition of who we are in our lives. In those hard moments, we know that we are going to pick what’s right, right now, over what is easy. Because that is integrity—choosing courage over comfort; it’s choosing what’s right over what’s fun, fast, or easy; and it’s practicing your values not just professing them” (2018, 189).

There is abundant food for thought in Brené Brown’s work. I invite you to dive in and find the wisdom she has collected through her research and consulting practice. Read Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts or Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone (2017). Search for her TED Talks or YouTube videos. You will find inspiration for our work.

Work Cited

Brown, Brené. 2018. Dare to Lead. Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. Vermillion: London.

Side Note: In the month of February, I will write about Brown’s Dare to Lead section focused on empathy (pp. 118 – 163). For me, this was one of the most powerful components of the book. For school librarians, her work in this area relates directly to relationships with library stakeholders as well as to collection development.

Professional Connectedness 2019

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As we bid farewell to 2019, I am pausing to share my gratitude for just some of the professional learning opportunities I have taken this year—from the local to the global. In his book Renegade Leadership: Creating Innovative Schools for Digital-Age Students, Brad Gustafson writes about the importance of relationships and connectedness. “It’s important to point out that connectedness extends beyond traditional face-to-face relationships. Connectedness also includes how we build culture and community beyond the walls of our school through digital means” (Gustafson 2017, 19).

The reflection that follows includes both face-to-face and online connectedness. I am grateful for the sense of belonging and service that these collegial relationships and opportunities have provided. Thank you to all of you who have helped me continue to learn, create, share, and grow in 2019.

Local Advocacy Efforts
Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) School Librarian Restoration Project
Thanks to the support of TUSD Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo and the Governing Board Members, five state-certified school librarian positions will be posted in the spring of 2020. Members of our project worked with the TUSD Human Resources Department to revised the school librarian job description. Our project will support HR in recruiting effective candidates for these positions. We have also been invited to the table when the new strategic planning committee begins discussion in January, 2020.

Additionally, we are grateful to the School Community Partnership Council and the Educational Enrichment Foundation for their support. Also, we extend our thanks to the Arizona Daily Star for publishing two op-eds in 2019 in support of our work.

“Literacy matters every day”

“Committing to a brighter future for Arizona’s children”

State-wide Advocacy Efforts

Teacher Librarian Division (TLD), Arizona Library Association (AzLA)
At the AzLA Conference in November, 2019, I had the pleasure of co-presenting an advocacy session with Pam Rogers and Erin MacFarlane. I also keynoted a half-day workshop for school and public library youth librarians. In both cases, our focus was on advocating for full-time, professional school librarian positions.

In this coming year, we will be focusing on increasing our membership, our impact through administrator/school board conference proposals/presentations (American Association of School Librarians State-Level Leaders work), and the “Dear Arizona Voters Writing Contest,” a building- or district-level essay writing project resulting from classroom-library collaboration.

National Reciprocal Mentoring Activities
Lilead Project
For the past two years, the West Coast Lilead Team has given me the opportunity to learn with and from district-level school librarian leaders: Claudia Mason (Fontana, California), Janet Wile (Fresno, California), Jenny Takada (Beaverton, Oregon), and Trish Henry (Mead, Washington). Thank you for sharing your leadership journeys with me.

Dr. Pam Harland’s Dissertation Chair
It was my pleasure to learn from working with Dr. Pam Harland to complete her dissertation this fall. Pam expertly presented and passed her defense (with flying colors) on Wednesday, November 20, 2019. Pam has already begun sharing the results of her dissertation research, “Investigation into the Leadership Behaviors of School Librarians: A Qualitative Study,” in articles, conference presentations, and hopefully, in a forthcoming book chapter. Her work will influence the practice of school librarian leaders.

Online Graduate-Level Teaching
After a three-year hiatus from graduate-level teaching, I applied to teach for the iSchool at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. In 2019, I taught two courses for the school: IS445: Information Books and Resources for Youth (for both school and public youth librarians) and IS516: School Library Media Center. I had the privilege of learning with thirty-eight graduate students who have given me confidence that the future of our profession is in capable (and collaborative) hands of librarians with empathic hearts. Thank you for teaching me.

American Association of School Librarians (AASL)
This past year, I chaired the AASL School Librarian’s Role in Reading Task Force. Our task was to revisit and re-envision four position statements related to the work of the school librarian and the school librarian in helping students grow their love of reading and learning, build their reading proficiency and ability to make meaning from texts, and use their literacy skills to think critically and create new knowledge. In six short months, our task force developed what we believe is a clear, concise, and empowered position statement. We submitted our work to the AASL Board today. Thank you to Molly Dettmann, Christina Dorr, Mary Moen, and Sam Northern for your collaboration, commitment, and passion for this work.

AASL Conference 2019
I had the good fortune of kicking off the Educators of School Librarians research symposium: Researching and Educating for Leadership. I also co-presented two concurrent sessions and shared a solo presentation at the AASL Conference. Co-planning with others to share information, experience, and insights builds our understandings and relationships.

Taking Our Case to Decision Makers: Effective State- and District-Level Advocacy
Deborah Levitov (on the right) moderated our panel presentation. Three members of the panel shared their state-level advocacy work: Kathy Lester, Michigan, Pat Tumulty, New Jersey, and Christie Kaaland, Washington State. I shared our district-level work in TUSD.

Collaborate! To Build Influence
This was my solo presentation. I am delighted that several participants have been in contact with me regarding their cadre’s Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy book studies. I will be providing webinars, conversations, and support for their leadership and advocacy work in 2020. (A special thank-you to my ALA Editions editor Jamie Santoro, pictured above, for her unfailing support for my professional books.)

Collaborate, Evaluate, Advocate: Tales from the Trenches in Assessing Readiness for Change
I had the opportunity to moderate a panel presentation for four Lilead leaders who contributed articles in the January, 2019, Knowledge Quest “Assessment” issue: Jenny Takeda (Beaverton, Oregon), Jennifer Sturge (Calvert County, Maryland), Misti Werle (Bismarck, North Dakota), and Carolyn Foote (Austin, Texas). Each of us presented further adventures in assessment and leading for change.

International Association of School Librarians (IASL)
Although I had presented at two IASL conferences held in the U.S., participating and sharing at the 2019 conference held in Dubrovnik, Croatia was an even-more empowering experience. In my October 30, 2019 blog post IASL 2019 Reflection, I shared the impact this learning opportunity had on me. I am in contact with several “Empowered Leadership: Building Connections for Transforming Teaching and Learning” participants and look forward to continuing our global conversations.

I want to especially thank IASL President Katy Manck for spearheading a collaborative, international effort to reach out to the International Literacy Association with questions about including school librarians and librarians in their recently published “Children’s Rights to Excellent Literacy Instruction.” Thank you for your leadership, Katy.

2020
“Like a world-famous trapeze artist would never attempt a brand-new death-defying act for the first time without a net, neither can we find the courage to lead without the help of others. Those who believe what we believe are our net” (Sinek 2019, 218).

I am looking forward to continuing to learn and taking action alongside my colleagues near and far as we co-create a brighter, equitable literacy learning future for the children, teens, and communities we serve. Thank you for being my “net.”

Works Cited

Gustafson, Brad. 2017. Renegade Leadership: Creating Innovative Schools for Digital-Age Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Sinek, Simon. 2019. The Infinite Game. New York: Portfolio/Penguin.

Leadership Twitter Chat

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This fall graduate students in “IS516: School Library Media Center” have participated in bimonthly Twitter chats. The chats are based on the pull quotes from chapters in Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018).

We invite you to join us our final chat of the fall semester on Monday, December 9, 2019 from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. Central Time. Chat questions are posted on this blog on the Wednesday before our Monday chats.

December 9, 2019: #is516 Twitter Chat: Leadership

 This post is adapted from the Maximizing School Librarian Leadership preview podcast.

I believe school librarians have three converging pathways that point the way to leadership. School librarians are culture builders, professional developers, and changemakers.

School librarians are culture builders.
When we create a welcoming, accepting, risk-taking space for exploration in the library, our influence can spread throughout the building. With smiles, hellos, and a service orientation toward all library users, the library, the largest classroom in the school, can be as important as the front office in creating a climate of welcome.

With resources reflecting diverse perspectives, the library can be a place where learners – of all ages – come to explore their own worldview and the worldviews of others.

And with a commitment to exploration, the school librarian can model risk-taking—accepting missteps as an essential aspect of learning and growing from mistakes in order to fail forward. A whole-school, or systems thinking, approach helps school librarians serve as effective culture-builders.

School librarians are professional developers.
Through sharing our expertise and integrating the library’s resources into the classroom curriculum, school librarians practice reciprocal mentorship with the classroom teachers and specialists with whom we form effective instructional partnerships.

Collaborators coteach multiple literacies, inquiry, deeper, and digital learning. Educators model and coteach skills, such as collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity. We model and coteach dispositions, such as flexibility, openness, and persistence.

Through coplanning, coteaching, and coassessing student learning and our own instructional proficiency, we practice the best kind of professional development—job-embedded. As collaborating educators, we develop our craft by working as equal partners; we coteach with classroom teachers, real students, actual curriculum, available resources and tools, with the real supports, and within the constraints of our everyday teaching environments.

School librarians are also changemakers.
We understand that the teaching and learning landscape is in a constant state of change. Lifelong learning is an essential behavior for all education stakeholders. Preparing students for futures that we cannot imagine takes a leap of faith and a willingness to accept change as the defining feature of all our lives.

Rather than sitting back and waiting for change to happen to us, changemakers are proactive. We strategize; we experiment; we test and retest until we create learning environments and opportunities that engage, excite, and support students as agents in their own education.

All three of these pathways to leadership require collaboration.

Effective school librarians can maximize leadership opportunities by collaborating with others—with administrators, educators, and students, and with family and community members.

#is516 Chat Questions (for copy and paste)

Q.1: How do you/can you show a commitment to continuous change/professional growth? #is516

Q.2: Why is collegiality so important? #is516

Q.3: How do you bridge Ss in-school and out-of-school lives? #is516

Q.4: How can you help develop an effective teaching force in your school? #is516

Please respond with A.1, A.2, A.3, A.4 and bring your ideas, resources, experience, questions, and dilemmas to our conversation so we can learn with and from you!

For previous chat questions and archives, visit our IS516 course wiki page.

Thank you!

Post Adapted from
Moreillon, Judi. 2018. Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Book Study: Preview Podcast. https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/moreillon/episodes/2018-08-05T19_58_04-07_00

Spotlight on #AASL19

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Perhaps you are packing your bags today or about to travel to Louisville, Kentucky, for the American Association of School Librarians Conference and Exhibition. Or perhaps you’ll be learning from the conference via #AASL19, Facebook, or other social media.

The School Library Journal Staff posted a blog article last week to spotlight Attendee’s Top Picks. It is my privilege to be involved in three of these picks as well as additional conference learning experiences that I will highlight here (in chronological order).

Thursday, November 14, 2019
On Thursday morning, the Educators of School Librarians Section (ESLS) will hold a Research Symposium from 8:30 a.m. until noon in M103 in the convention center (KICC). One of the presenters, Dr. Daniella Smith wrote about it on the Knowledge Quest blog last week: “Let’s Talk about Research.” I was invited to kick off the symposium with a review and discussion of “Researching and Educating for Leadership.” You can access the research base for the discussion and learn more about my part in the event on my presentation wiki archive.

I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to spend a part of my day sharing an author visit with K-4 children at the Walden School in Louisville. Being with children (and teens) reminds me why this work is so important to me. Thank you to Walden for inviting me.

Thursday evening after the exhibits close, Drs. David Loertscher and Blanche Woolls are co-hosting “Symposium of the Greats: Wisdom from the Past and a Glimpse into the Future of School Libraries.” The event will be held at the Seelbach Hotel, 500 S. 4th Street, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The evening will be divided into two one-hour sessions. The first will be focused on the papers submitted for the proceedings; the second hour will focus on table top discussions on future thinking for the profession. My paper is entitled: “School Librarians as Teachers of Reading.”

Friday, November 15, 2019
From 10:30 – 11:30 a.m., we will share “Taking Our Case to Decision Makers: Effective State- and District-Level Advocacy.” Room L017-018, KICC. I will be on a panel with Kathy Lester, from Michigan, Christie Kaaland, from Washington State, and Pat Tumulty, from New Jersey. I will be sharing information about the Tucson Unified School District School Librarian Restoration Project. Deborah Levitov will be our panel moderator.

Other events on Friday include meeting with the School Library Connection Advisory Board and the AASL School Leader Collaborative, where I will represent the Teacher Librarian Division of the Arizona Library Association.

Saturday, November 16, 2019
From 10:10 – 11:10, I have the privilege of sharing: “Collaborate! To Build Influence.” Room L013, KICC.  The content and activities we will discuss during the session come directly from my book Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018), which will be on sale at the ALA Store. (Thank you, ALA Editions.)

From 1:10 PM – 2:10 p.m., I have the pleasure of moderating a session for school librarian supervisors from the Lilead Project. The session is called “Collaborate, Evaluate, Advocate: Tales from the Trenches in Assessing Readiness for Change!” Room L007-008. The presenters/authors contributed articles in the January/February, 2019 issue of Knowledge Quest: “Evaluation and Assessment for Learning.” In addition to moderating, I will follow up my KQ article with a look at a Coplanning/Coteaching Checklist from my book.

Attendees and Followers
Attendees can download the conference app. The entire program book for the conference is available online.

If you are unable to join us in Louisville, please be part of the #NOTATAASL Crew. Jane Lofton wrote a blog post to help virtual attendees get the most out of their conference experience: “Unable to Come to Louisville for #AASL19– Join the #NOTATAASL Crew as a Virtual Attendee.”

Whether in person on social media, I look forward to sharing this ultimate school librarianship learning experience with you.

Truly,
Judi

Advocacy Twitter Chat

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This fall graduate students in “IS516: School Library Media Center” are participating in bimonthly Twitter chats. The chats are based on the pull quotes from chapters in Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018).

We invite you to join us our chat on Monday, November 11, 2019 from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. Central Time. Chat questions are posted on this blog on the Wednesday before our Monday chats.

November 11, 2019: #is516 Twitter Chat: Advocacy

“Good leaders get people to work for them.
Great leaders get people to work for a cause that is greater than any of them—and then for one another in service of that cause”
(Pearce 2013, 40).

Leadership and advocacy go hand in hand; both are necessary for achieving future ready learning. Leaders seek to influence the attitudes and behaviors of the members of their team as well as other stakeholders in their endeavors. Trust is the foundation on which these changes are built. School librarians can be coleaders with principals to positively affect school climate and culture. They do so through developing trusting classroom-library instructional partnerships.

“Leadership is about social influence, enlisting the engagement and support of others in achieving a common task” (Haycock 2017, 11).  One common task of school leaders is to ensure continuous improvement in teaching and learning. Working together, school leaders and stakeholders are able to transform traditional pedagogy into future ready education for the benefit of students. This is a cause and an effort that requires the commitment and dedication of a team that includes administrators, educators, students, families, and community.

Advocacy begins when library programs are aligned with the vision, mission, and strategic plan for their schools and districts. School librarians match library programs with the agenda and priorities of library stakeholders. Working from that shared vision, mission, and plan, school librarians codevelop a vital, integrated, and results-oriented school library program.

School librarians have the responsibility to educate stakeholders about the value added by their teaching and leadership. They serve as “centralized” instructional partners who work with all school library stakeholders. This global impact gives school librarians opportunities to positively impact learning and teaching throughout the building. School librarians collect and share data and use promotional materials to educate stakeholders about the benefits that result from the learning opportunities that happen through the library program. This is the most effective way to advocate for the library program and build a cadre of advocates among library stakeholders.

#is516 Chat Questions
These are the questions that will guide our chat (for copy and paste):

Q.1: For what instructional improvement would you/are you advocating? #is516

Q.2: What does it mean to make advocacy “an organic part” of your daily practice? #is516

Q.3: How do you embrace advocacy as a long-term activity? #is516

Q.4: What does the term “future ready” learning mean to you? #is516

Please respond with A.1, A.2, A.3, A.4 and bring your ideas, resources, experience, questions, and dilemmas to our conversation so we can learn with and from you!

For previous chat questions and archives, visit our IS516 course wiki page.

Thank you!

Works Cited

Haycock, Ken. 2017. “Leadership from the Middle: Building Influence for Change.” In The Many Faces of School Library Leadership, 2nd ed., edited by Sharon Coatney and Violet H. Harada, 1–12. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Pearce, Terry. 2013. Leading Out Loud: A Guide for Engaging Others in Creating the Future, 3rd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

#IASL2019 Reflection

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The International Association of School Librarianship Conference was held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, from October 21 – 25. Two hundred forty librarians from forty-five countries gathered, for five days of learning, sharing, and networking. I met so many fine members of our profession who are serving children and teens through vibrant school library programs and educating preservice school librarians from all around the globe. This was a profession-affirming experience for me.

Rather than hanging out exclusively with U.S. colleagues, I made an extra effort to meet and talk with school librarians and school librarian educators from non-U.S. countries. I met and talked with many Croatian school librarians, including Tatiana and her colleagues. Heather, a school librarian educator from Norway, shared aspects of her program that intrigued me. My path crossed frequently with three school librarian colleagues from an international school in Switzerland; Corinne earned my giveaway copy of Maximizing School Librarian Leadership and will share it with her library services partners. It was also a deep pleasure to re-meet Kathleen who serves an international school in Jordan. Nine years ago, Kathleen was a Texas Woman’s University graduate student in “Librarians as Instructional Partners.” She is doing well… leading and collaborating.

I based this reflection on a review of my notes and tweets. This post could never be comprehensive in all that I heard and learned, but these are some of the highlights. You can access all of the conference tweets; I collected them in a #IASL2019 Wakelet.

Highlights from Keynotes
Dr. Ivanka Stričević, University of Zadar, Department of Information, Croatia, and Vanja Jurilj, President of the Croatian Association of School Librarians kicked off the conference: “School Libraries and Librarians: Wild Waters and an Anchor.” Ivanka, the “wild waters” portion of the talk, shared three necessary conditions for the school library to serve as a learning agent in transforming information into knowledge. The third condition, situating the library in the curriculum, she attests is the most challenging and yet a whole-school concept of information literacy and inquiry are essential. Vanja, “the anchor,” asked us to think deeply about our source, the our values that give us the power to enact change.

Darryl Toerien, Head of the Library and Archives at Oakham School in the UK retold his journey to influence his colleagues toward an inquiry model of learning. In his quest to focus on research-based pedagogy, he discovered Dr. Carol Kuhlthau’s information-seeking process and the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum heavily influenced by Barbara Stripling. His example of leadership with a focus on changing the educational paradigm in his school was empowered. I wished current students in “School Library Media Center” could have heard and been inspired by his talk.

Dr. Ross Todd, School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University, provided the final thought-provoking keynote: “Young People Living Safe Lives: Convergence, Challenges, and Chances.” Ross challenged us to think about how adults view children’s safety in online environments. Do we acknowledge and honor what kids already know about interacting online? Do we underplay the benefits of online learning when we focus on safety? Do we exaggerate risks and instill fear, or even bully youth and rob them of agency? Students in “Information Books and Resources” in spring 2020 will have the opportunity to test and comment on Dr. Todd’s thinking and research findings when we analyze lessons from Common Sense Education.

Workshops
In his thoughtful workshop, “The Vital Role School Libraries Play in Developing Empathy,” Doug Johnson, Media and Technology (Retired), Burnsville, Minnesota, USA, included 7 myths about empathy and research that supports the idea that people who read fiction have more developed “people skills” than other readers. Doug’s workshop made a strong connection for me with a thread that runs through the UI-UC course I teach called “Information Books and Resources.” We focus on global books and resources in the course and discuss and experience the ways various genres of books touch our hearts and minds. Thanks to Doug, I will have an additional way to approach literature to build empathy in our classroom.

Janine M. Asmus, school librarian at Leyden High School District 212, Illinois, USA, shared a fast-paced, multimodal presentation to spotlight engaging, creative library programming. She noted unique partnerships within the school building and with school alumni that helped make these programs successful. The result? Library stakeholders’ value for the library (and the librarian, too – my inference) has skyrocketed. Participants left the room with many adaptable ideas and “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Jonathan Cain, a Leyden alum, running through our heads!

And I would be remiss if I did not share my own workshop: “Empowered Leadership: Building Connections for Transforming Teaching and Learning” (Judi Moreillon). About fifty participants engaged in hands-on activities to uncover the forces that propel or restrain their leadership. They created a diffusion of innovations map to support their efforts to be strategic in spreading their influence in their school communities. The librarians pictured here hung around after the workshop to continue the conversation. I was honored by their interactivity and their willingness to explore strategies for leading.

Research Papers
There were so many excellent presentations, I only have space to share a few standout paraphrases or quotes here.

When students consider whether or not to apply a new technology tool, they consider the ROI (return on investment) before investing time in learning a new tool. When introducing, suggesting, or requiring a new tool, educators are wise to consider the student perspective. Dr. Lyn Hay, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia

“STEM is community based and responds to community needs,” Dr. Melissa P. Johnston, University of West Georgia, USA (Melissa is conducting research to learn how to support school librarians with humanities backgrounds in becoming STEM literate.)

“We need to emphasize not only the skills, but the heart of this profession,” Dr. Karen N. Reed, Middle Tennessee State University, USA (Karen is studying how librarians’ emotional connectedness to their school communities guides their work.)

Professional Papers
“The school library is the most powerful classroom,” Dr. Mary Moen, University of Rhode Island, USA. In her research, Mary found that many effective school librarians are described as “exceptional teachers,” “champions of change,” and “digital divas.” Mary also shared an in-progress advocacy video focused on school librarians telling their stories. She asked the audience for feedback.

Madeleine Jane Viner’s eyes sparkled when she shared how fourteen-year-old boys clambered to get to her read-aloud events at St. James College, Bentleigh East, Victoria, Australia, every face in the room lit up with bright smiles. Madeleine shared how she increases student ownership in the library at their all-boys school.

International Association of School Librarianship
Although I have attended two IASL conferences in the past, both were held in the U.S. A conference held in another country ensures that our U.S.-centric perspectives and experiences do not dominate the conference. I feel as though I have been given a gift to truly see school librarianship from a global perspective

If you haven’t had the opportunity to attend an IASL conference, I highly recommend it. The next one will be in Denton, Texas, in June, 2020. If you are a library science student, consider becoming a student member at a reduced rate. To learn more, visit the IASL website and check out the GiggleIT Project, too!

A huge thank you to our Croatian hosts and conference committee. We all appreciate your generosity, hard work. and attention to details. This was a stellar learning, sharing, and networking conference experience.

And if you ever have the opportunity to visit Dubrovnik, take it! The Old City is rich in history and culture, the people are friendly, the food is delicious, and if you are as lucky as we were, the sun will shine on the salty Adriatic Sea and invite you in for a refreshing swim!

Inquiry and Reading Comprehension Twitter Chat Summary

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On Monday, September 23, 2019, graduate students in “IS516: School Library Media Center” participated in a bimonthly Twitter chat. The chat was based on the pull quotes from Chapter 3: Inquiry Learning and Chapter 4: Traditional Literacy Learning in Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018).

These are the four questions that guided our Twitter chat

As the course facilitator, Twitter chat moderator, and chair of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Reading Position Statements Task Force, I had a pressing reason to mine students’ thinking, experiences, and questions. While the critical role of reading competence is one of AASL’s core beliefs (AASL 2018, 4) and inquiry is one of the shared foundations described in depth in the new standards (67-74), the link between the reading comprehension and inquiry learning is not explicit.

A question posed recently on a popular school librarian Facebook group heightened my level of concern for how school librarians perceive their roles as teachers of reading and how they view the relationship between information literacy (or inquiry) and reading comprehension strategies.

These are a sampling of the students’ tweets.

Beliefs (about information, inquiry learning, and reading comprehension strategies)

@the_bees_knees
A4. Inquiry, information literacy, and reading comprehension are like a three-legged stool. Without any one of the three, we don’t really understand why we keep falling down.  #is516

@K8linNic
A.3: Common beliefs: Literacy is IMPORTANT & ESSENTIAL! Reading = foundational skill necessary for success in school/life. Literacy support is more than promoting reading #is516

@OwlsAndOrchids
A3: Both classroom T’s and #schoollibrarians highly value traditional literacies. Reading, writing, listening & speaking are core parts of learning. Without mastering these skills, students aren’t able to properly learn about other subjects or succeed in life. #is516 @iSchooK12

@bookn3rd2
A.3 SLs & Ts believe literacy learning involves giving Ss listening, speaking, writing, technology, print, inquiry, & reading comprehension strategies thru multimodal texts. SLs serve as literacy leaders in their schools. #is516 @iSchoolK12

@clairemicha4
Ts discuss all the time the transition from learning to read and reading to learn. Ss have to have solid reading skills to thrive in an academic setting. This Ts and #schoollibrarians can agree on.

@spetersen76
A.4. All (reading comprehension/information literacy/inquiry learning) require strategy and skill to be successful. With purposeful planning and teaching, Ss will learn how to critically evaluate sources, & read deeply/comprehend across various types of text/media, to be able to successfully participate in inquiry at its fullest.  #is516

@ScofieldJoni
A.3 Another common belief between both teachers and librarians is that the reading element of literacy is not the only important kind. In this day and age, digital literacy is just as important. #is516

@MFechik
A.3: They share a belief that inquiry is an important foundational skill for literacy, which leads to larger opportunities for students as they grow. They also both believe strongly in students’ right to privacy and intellectual freedom. #is516 @ischoolk12

@MsMac217
A.4 @iSchoolK12 Inquiry can’t be done w/o reading comprehension. Ss must be able to support themselves thru difficult texts in order to inquire & reach sufficient conclusions. Plus, inquiry can’t be done w/o the ability to sort thru information & determine what’s valuable #is516

Current Experience

@malbrecht3317
A1: In #Together203, our middle school science curriculum is entirely inquiry-based. There is a guiding essential question for each lesson & students come to an understanding of the world around them by participating in hands-on research labs. #is516 @ischoolk12

@karal3igh
A.1. Inquiry/Research is mostly left up to the teacher, but it is very heavily encouraged! Our math and science curriculum have geared strongly towards #inquirylearning in just the 6 years I’ve taught at my school. #is516 @iSchoolK12

@litcritcorner
A1. Our Juniors currently engage in very inquiry through their research projects. Students get to choose an independent reading book and then research a theme or question based on their book. This gives students a choice but also provides a focus. #is516 @iSchoolk12

@TravelingLib
A.1 Currently, research is used much more in our school compared to inquiry.  Inquiry is mostly seen in science and social studies, but has yet to be integrated well into other subjects. #is516 @ischoolk12

@bookn3rd2
A.1 I mostly saw traditional research in my school. Inquiry research was only done in gifted classes. Low Socio-Eco school, admin wanted classes CC & curriculum-centered. Gifted Ts got all the fun! SLs did no classroom literacy instruction #is516 @iSchoolK12

Less-than-ideal Current Practice

 @lovecchs165
I have never worked in an educational environment when Librarians/Teachers collaborate and have only seen traditional research done in the classrooms…I wonder if other teachers realize what they are missing out on by not collaborating with librarians?

@burnsiebookworm
A1 We’re pretty traditional – more research than inquiry based. Individual classes do their own lessons. For instance, ELA classes do a WW2 project in 8th grade, focused on life on the homefront. @ischoolk12 #is516

@bookn3rd2
A.1 I mostly saw traditional research in my school. Inquiry research was only done in gifted classes. Low Socio-Eco school, admin wanted classes CC & curriculum-centered. Gifted Ts got all the fun! SLs did no classroom literacy instruction #is516 @iSchoolK12

@CydHint
#is516 in the study on teacher and librarian #perceptions about #collaboration, #less than 50% of #librarians believed they should help with teaching note taking skills. #whoshoulddowhat remains an issue

Quote Tweet
@CactusWoman
A.3 Common beliefs are essential starting places for #collaboration. In my experience not all middle & high school Ts in all disciplines saw themselves as “teachers of reading.” This is also true of some #schoollibrarians who do not see themselves as “teachers of reading.” #is516

Effective Practices

@OwlsAndOrchids
A4: #inquiry is reliant on information literacy & reading comprehension. Without understanding text, the information is lost. Being able to recognize when info is needed, find it, assess it, & apply it is a fundamental part of inquiry. #is516 @iSchoolK12

@OwlsAndOrchids
The skills do seem to build upon one another and they are all necessary for total success. #is516 @ischoolk12

Quote Tweet
@burnsiebookworm
A4: Once Ss can get a handle on reading comprehension, skills like making predictions come more naturally, which allows them to move thru the inquiry process. @ischoolk12 #is516

@bookn3rd2
A.3 In the past few years Ts across disciplines within my school have started purposefully teaching reading strategies within their classes. It’d been greatly beneficial in increasing student comprehension, esp. w Nonfiction texts. #is516 @iSchoolK12

@GraceMW
A.4) #InquiryBasedLearning works best when there is a solid foundation of #infoliteracy and #readingcomprehension skills. Ts and #schoollibrarians who help foster these skills are helping curious students be stronger researchers and info seekers #is516 @iSchoolK12

@burnsiebookworm
A4: Reading comprehension is paramount. We use the making #textconnections strategies in ELA classes. Being able to connect to a text is the 1st step. @ischoolk12 #is516

@rural0librarian
A.4  #inquiry, info literacy, & reading comprehension are all tools and strategies that allow Ss to build their knowledge, encourage deeper learning, and become personally and academically competent #is516 @iSchoolK12

Reading Proficiency: A Foundational Skill
The importance of the foundational skill of reading can support or hinder a student’s ability to negotiate meaning in both print and digital texts. Readers applying comprehension strategies such as activating background knowledge, questioning, making predictions and drawing inferences, determining importance or main ideas, and synthesizing regardless of the genre or format of the text. Readers “read” illustrations, videos, audiobooks, and multimodal websites. In this environment, “school librarians can do more than promote reading. We can accept the role as instructional partners in teaching reading [and inquiry] and thrive in performing it” (Tilly 2013, 7).

These preservice school librarians agree that people can be reading proficient without being information literate, but a person cannot be information literate and engage in inquiry learning without comprehending what they read, view, or hear. It is my intention that they will take this understanding into their practice as educators and librarians.

Note: The tweets quoted here are used with permission and the whole class provided me with permission to link to our Wakelet archive (see below).

Works Cited

American Association of School Librarians. 2018. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. Chicago: ALA.

Inquiry and Reading Comprehension Strategies. Twitter Chat #2. Wakelet.com. https://wakelet.com/wake/546a25ea-5595-4882-bc71-e883ef153e12

Tilly, Carol L. 2013. Reading instruction and school librarians. School Library Monthly 30 (3): 5-7.

 

Twitter Chat: Inquiry and Reading Comprehension

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This fall graduate students in “IS516: School Library Media Center” are participating in bimonthly Twitter chats. The chats are based on the pull quotes from chapters in Maximizing School Librarian Leadership: Building Connections for Learning and Advocacy (ALA 2018).

We invite you to join us our chat on Monday, September 23rd from 7:00 to 7:30 p.m. Central Time. Chat questions are posted on this blog on the Wednesday before our Monday chats.

September 23, 2019: #is516 Twitter Chat: Inquiry Learning

When students engage in inquiry learning,
they “build new knowledge by inquiring, thinking critically, identifying problems, and developing strategies for solving problems”
(AASL 2018, 34).

Inquiry learning can spark students’ curiosity and ignite their passions. Inquiry puts learners in the driver’s seat and leads them to invest in and care about the literacies, skills, and dispositions they develop during the process. As students pursue the answers to personally meaningful questions and engage in real-world projects, they learn how to learn and build their confidence.  Hands-on, minds-on inquiry learning experiences help prepare young people to problem solve when confronted with the inevitable learning challenges that will characterize their futures.

Educators are responsible for creating the conditions in which inquiry learning can flourish. Inquiry doesn’t just happen; it must be expertly designed.

Building connections between required curriculum and students’ interests is essential. When two or more educators plan for inquiry, they increase the resources and knowledge at the collaboration table. They push each other’s creativity and codevelop more engaging learning experiences for students. When school librarians and classroom teachers coplan, coteach, and comonitor students’ inquiry learning process, they create opportunities for students to increase their content knowledge. They help students develop their ability to comprehend all types of texts and build future ready skills and strategies that are transferable to other learning contexts—both in and outside of school.

Comprehension strategies are essential for success in our personal, educational, and professional lives. Throughout the inquiry process, students (and adults) access and use information for which they have little, incomplete, or no background knowledge. “Regardless of the content and whether ideas and information are communicated in print or multimodal texts, students begin and progress on their literacy journeys by learning and developing their ability to effectively read and write” (Moreillon 2017a, 87). The traditional literacies—reading, writing, listening, and speaking—are called into service during inquiry learning.

School librarians can be leaders in codeveloping, coimplementing, and sustaining a culture of reading and inquiry in their schools. When school sites or entire districts adopt and practice a single inquiry model, and teach and reinforce reading comprehension strategies, students will have multiple opportunities to achieve successful deeper learning.

#is516 Chat Questions

These are the questions that will guide our chat (for copy and paste):

Q.1: How is research/inquiry currently taught in your school?

Q.2: What is/could be the connection between inquiry and #makerspaces?

Q.3: What common beliefs about literacy learning do classroom teachers and school librarians share?

Q.4: What is the relationship among inquiry, information literacy, and reading comprehension?

Please respond with A.1, A.2, A.3, A.4 and bring your ideas, resources, experience, questions, and dilemmas to our conversation so we can learn with and from you!

For previous chat questions and archives, visit our IS516 course wiki page.

Thank you!

Works Cited

American Association of School Librarians. 2018. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. Chicago: ALA.

Moreillon, Judi. 2017. “Literacy Leadership and the School Librarian: Reading and Writing—Foundational Skills for Multiple Literacies.” In The Many Faces of School Library Leadership, 2nd ed., edited by Sharon Coatney and Violet H. Harada, 86-108. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.