Shared Beliefs

I've just had a big "AH-HA" moment! So, I'm drudging through the last  pieces of my (almost final) graduate classes - putting the final touches on my e-portfolio, taking a final exam, reflections, and more reflections - when it all came together. For almost every major assignment for the past twelve classes, I've had to align with standards - ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians, ALA’s Core Competences of Librarianship, NC Standards for the Master of Library Science Degree, the Common Core standards, and the NC Essential Standards for Information and Technology. And, let's not forget the biggie - the North Carolina School Library Media Coordinators Standards. As a teacher, I get it when it comes to standards. We should be working towards common goals with our students, and these goals are outlined in the standards. My "Ah-Ha" is with the standards, specifically the new NC School Library Media Coordinators standards, as they relate to me personally. My realization is that the standards outline what I believe to be true of effective school librarians.

My core beliefs are that School Library Media Coordinators...

• should demonstrate leadership. 
• should build a learning environment that meets the instructional needs of a diverse population of students. 
• should implement a comprehensive 21st library media program.
• should demonstrate knowledge of learners and learning and promote effective instructional practices. 
• should reflect on their practices. 

Further, I fully share NCDPI's Vision for School Library Media Coordinators:

The demands of providing a 21st century education dictate new roles for School Library Media Coordinators. School Library Media Coordinators are called on to have a larger role in their schools and school communities. School leadership is distributed among the staff and administration in order to bring consensus, common understandings, and shared ownership of the vision and purpose of the school. School Library Media Coordinators are valued for their leadership abilities throughout the school as well as in the media center. 

School Library Media Coordinators help make the content engaging and meaningful to students’ lives as they support teachers and facilitate the integration of curriculum and related projects across disciplines. In the school and the media center, School Library Media Coordinators facilitate instruction, encouraging all students to use 21st century skills to discover how to learn, innovate, collaborate, and communicate their ideas. They serve as facilitators of information skills development through the provision of professional development, coaching, mentoring, and co-teaching activities. Their work includes supporting the development of authentic and structured assessment strategies to assure that students demonstrate understanding of the content taught and ability to apply the skills they have learned. School Library Media Coordinators demonstrate the value of lifelong learning and instill a love of reading and learning in the students with whom they come into contact.

To pull all of this together, I am sharing WCPSS's Instructional Technology and Library Media Services team's work philosophy:

We build supportive relationships by guiding students and educators in using the right resources and tools for the right learners at the right times.

These words resonate with me - I truly feel that my primary responsibility is to do just this! My job is to  build relationships with my staff, students, and community so that I can guide them in using the right resources and tools for the right learners at the right time. Thanks to NCDPI and the new standards, along with my county's team for helping to clarify what exactly it is that I believe. How fortunate I feel to work as part of a system with which I share the vision!

I Can!

Students are at their highest level of engagement when their task is purposeful and authentic. Actually, this statement should read....people are at their highest level of engagement when their task is purposeful and authentic. For example, if I told one person to walk around the block, and then gave another person $10 to walk to the store to buy a snack, which person would be more motivated to go for a walk? Motivation is key to learning, and students are motivated when they have a meaningful reason. So how do we give students meaningful reasons to learn? By empowering them with choices of what (and how) to learn!

Kiran Bir Sethi, founder of Riverside School in India, teaches kids life's most valuable lesson: "I can." Watch her students take local issues into their own hands, lead other young people, even educate their parents.

Kiran Bir Sethi asserts that students should be made aware (so they feel), which enables them (to imagine), and then empowers them to do something. Since watching Sethi's video, I have quoted her many times to fellow teachers - (inquiry is) "a shift from 'the teacher told me' to 'I am doing it." I Can! When students are empowered, they learn. I have also thought about Sethi's suggestion to "take one idea, anything that bothers you, choose one week, and change a billion lives."

As librarians, we should be encouraging the inquiry process so that students are empowered to do just this - change a billion lives. This will not happen if we continue to assign a specific topic, with specific facts to find, from specific resources, etc. We must open the doors for our students, guiding and supporting them along the way.