Reading+Notes

These are the notes from my readings for Module 1.

__Module 2 Reading Notes__ AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner (Introduction) "The degree to which students can read and understand text in all formats and all contexts is a key indicator of success in school and in life" (AASL 1). As a teacher, I have seen students who struggle with reading struggle in all aspects of their education. Struggling readers are at a disadvantage academically because in order to acquire knowledge in any content area, students must be able to read and comprehend the information. "Inquiry provides a framework for learning" (AASL 1). ​Inquiry itself promotes knowledge and learning. The more knowledge an inquirer has, the more questions there will be to answer. Inquirers always question their own learning and understanding to gain new knowledge. "In this inreasingly global world of information, students must be taught to seek diverse perspectives, gather and use information ethically, and use social tools responsibly and safely" (AASL 1). It is not enough for students to be provided with an answer. Students should learn to seek their own answers and create their own understandings after they have a thorough understanding of the topic with the goal of being productive members of the democratic process and society. "Today's students need to develop information skills that will enable them to use technology as an important tool for learning, both now and in the future" (AASL 1). The positive aspect of this situation is that many students have experience with technology because they are provided access either at home, at school, or both. "Equitable access is a key component for education" (AASL 1). All students should have access to the same information and technology. It is especially important for students who might not otherwise have access at home to have access to information and technology at home. "Multiple literacies, including digital, visual, textual, and technological, have now joined information literacy as crucial skills for learning" (AASL 2). ​Being literate in today's global world is more important than ever. Even government documents are now being published for access primarily online. Navigating the Internet with all of its different media can be overwhelming, especially to those who struggle with literacy. "The amount of information available to our learners necessitates that each individual acquire the skill to select, evaluate, and use information appropriately and effectively" (AASL 2). Choosing the best information for any given situation requires the ability to process, apply, and sythesize the information for a specific learning outcome. "Students need to develop skills in sharing knowledge and learning with others, both in face-to-face situations and through technology" (AASL 2). Depending on the learning environment, students may need to be able to work in groups and collaborate with fellow students or they may need to collaborate with students from around the world to apply knowledge or solve a problem. "School librarians collaborate with others to provide instruction, learning strategies, and practice in using the essential learning skills needed in the 21st century" (AASL 2). Librarians must be able to work with all members of the school community using technology tools. They must also be knowledgeable of the curriculum and best practices for teaching all learners incorporating various learning styles. ​ "Learners use skills, resources, and tools to: 1. Inquire, think critically, and gain new knowledge. 2. Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge. 3. Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society. 4. Pursue personal and aesthetic growth" (AASL 2). These skills are the foundation of learning. Learners need to use these skills to be able to succeed. These skills are helpful in developing new understandings that can provide learners with the ability to be more informed. Being informed leads to better decision making. Making informed decisions and seeing things from a variety of perspectives can lead to enlightenment.

//Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.// Chicago: American Association for School Librarians, 2007. []//.//

Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action (p.5-15) "All learners must be able to access high-quality information from diverse perspectives, make sense of it to draw their own conclusions or create new knowledge, and share their knowledge with others" (AASL 5). Students have to decide which inormation is of "high-quality" and use the necessary tools to pass this information on. ​ Reading and inquiry are considered the "two core approaches" for learning in the 21st century. (AASL 6) "The environment must enable students to share and learn from each other because learning is enhanced by a social context" (AASL 6). People learn more when they feel comfortable. Learning cannot occur if the student is preoccupied or their affective needs have not been met. Without sharing, there cannot be learning. "The school library media center serves as a laboratory of active learning where students may develop their skills, hone their attitudes, practice their responsibilities independently, and regulate their own learning" (AASL 6). The SLMC is not bound by the scope and sequence constraints that classrooms are. However, the skills, attitudes, and responsibilities developed in the SLMC are equally as important as those developed in the classroom. For this reason, SLMS should collaborate with classroom teachers to create lessons that will benefit students both in the classroom and SLMC settings. "Dispositions can be taught by structuring assignments and learning environments so that they require persistence, flexibility, divergent thinking, or any other behavior. Dispositions can be assessed through documentation that proves the student has followed the behavior during the learning process" (AASL 8). Some students may lack the dispositions required to persist through a learning task to the outcome. Other students may not be capable of the divergent thinking required for other learning tasks. Accomodations and modifications must be made in order for students to be successful. Checklists can be used to assess students. In addition, students may self-assess or peer-assess to improve learning. "Probably the most effective method of teaching responsibility is to follow a process of gradual release of responsibility, in which the teacher assumes a strong guiding role at first and then gradually transfers that responsibility to the student as the student develops the capacity to assume it" (AASL 8). This is also known as the "I Do," "We Do," and"You Do." "Learners must be able to look at their own work to determine its quality gaps in their own thinking, ask questions to lead to further investigation, find areas that need revision or rethinking, recognize their new understandings, and determine when they need to ask for help" (AASL 8). This practice is inherent in some students but must be taught to others. All students should be taught to inquire further until they find the answers they are looking for or how to get help finding the answers. "Dispositions, repsonsibilities, and self-assessment strategies must be developed through an iterative teaching process conducted over time and through many experiences" (AASL 9). Students must be exposed to a variety of knowledge in order to develop the experience needed to assess their own learning. Students should also have the experience and knowledge to assess their peers. "Although inquiry is a guiding principle for learning, students obviously do not have to work through the entire inquiry process every time they come to the library" (AASL 9). With the limited amount of time available to students in the SLMC, it would be difficult to complete the inquiry process in a quality manner. "The social nature of learning - the reality that all learning is co-created - may be particularly valuable for differentiating instruction" (AASL 9). Students with disabilities should be paired with a student who is capable of assisting them. Pairing students of varying ability levels helps students who are academically weak by giving them what amounts to a peer tutor. Students who are academically strong can cement their understanding by explaining to another student. 21st-Century Learners Key Questions: "Does the student have the right proficiencies to explore a topic or subject further?" "Is the student aware that the foundational traits for 21st-century learning require self-accountability that extends beyond skills and dispositions?" "Is the student disposed to higher-level thinking and actively engaged in critical thinking to gain and share knowledge?" "Can the student recognize personal strengths and weaknesses over time and become a stronger, more independent learner?" (AASL 12). These questions are important to consider when evaluating and assessing student success. If the answer is "no" to any question, the SLMS should ask how the lesson or environment could be changes to guarantee success. Review the Skills, Dispositions, Responsibilities, and Self-Assessment Strategies on pps. 13-16.

AASL. //Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action.// Chicago: American Association for School Librarians, 2009.

Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension p.10-18 "Educators must design lessons that stimulate readers' curiosity and help them make connections and find relevance between school-based and community-based literacy" (Moreillon 10). Students always want to know how what they are learning applies to the "real world." A common question that I have heard in the classroom is, "When am I ever going to use this?" "These lessons are based on five foundational best practices in school librarianship and instruction: evidence-based practice, backward planning, aligning and integrating information literacy standards with the classroom curriculum, using research-based instructional strategies, and modeling with think aloud strategies" (Moreillon11). When preparing a lesson, teacher librarians should construct lessons with these foundations in mind. "By coteaching reading comprehension strategies alongside classroom teachers, teacher-librarians can gather evidence that their instruction makes a difference in student learning" (Moreillon 11). The SLMC, with all its resources, is an ideal place for reading comprehension strategies to be taught. By collaborating, students benefit from having two certified teachers planning lesson for student success. In addition, students also benefit from having more attention than can be provided by only one teacher. "With its focus on outcomes, the backward design framework is ideal for evidence-based classroom-library collaborations. Collaborative planning must always begin with learning objectives as well as criteria and tools for assessing student outcomes" (Moreillon 11). Lesson planning should begin with the end in mind. What do you want students to accomplish? How are they going to accomplish it? "Active readers utilize multiple comprehension strategies as they engage with texts. Teachers and students must remember that the ultimate goal is to utilize combinations of strategies when they are appropriate to different types of text, purposes for reading, and comprehension challenges" (Moreillon 14). In order to use the strategies, students must first have strategies to use. Modeling reading strategies by thinking-aloud and using self-correction strategies helps struggling readers understand what good readers dowhen they are reading.

Moreillon, Judi. //Collaborative Strategies for Teaching Reading Comprehension Maximizing Your Impact //. New York: American Library Association, 2007.

Teaching the Inquiry Process to 21st Century Learners "Unlike the static, set-in-stone research project, the inquiry process is an interactive cycle used to teache research in any content area" (Carnesi & DiGiorgio 32). Inquiry can be used in conjunction with any subject, whereas the research paper was strictly done in upper middle school or high school English classes. Students of any age can participate in the inquiry cycle, but could not complete a research paper. "And if that's not enough reason to teach the inquiry process, consider the fact that students are learning a process of gathering evidence to solve problems or answer questions that they can use throughout life, as opposed to finding and regurgitating a set of facts they will never need again" (Carnesi & DiGiorgio 32). Using inquiry helps create lifelong learners with skills that can be used in all aspects of education and career. "Integrated learning is also possible because the inquiry process can take one project through all of the major content areas" (Carnesi & DiGiorgio 32). This is easier with elementary level students than with students at the middle and high school level, but not impossible. "With the technological resources available today, it makes more sense to begin the inquiry process with a Web quest" (Carnesi & DiGiorgio 33). Students can work at their own pace during a Web quest. They are engage and the teacher(s) act as facilitators. "The first step is to determine what is already known about the topic. From there, students will easily be able to create a list of questions to discover what they need to know about their topic" (Carnesi & DiGiorgio 34). Questioning is the first step students need to take in the inquiry process. Questions should be open-ended. "Once students create a plan for completing their inquiry project, with resources included, then review and revise their plan, it is on to the collecting and crediting phase of the inquiry process" (Carnesi & DiGiorgio 34). Making a plan is the second step in the inquiry process. "After students review and revise their notes and bibliography, it is then time to organize notes into a form that can easily be translated into the rough and final draft project" (Carnesi & DiGiorgio 34). Taking notes and citing sources is the third step in the inquiry process. Students prefer to use online tools to help with these tasks. "To progress in the inquiry process, teacher-librarians will have to get their students to buy into the concept of organizing their notes" (Carnesi & DiGiorgio 35). Organization is an important fourth step of the inquiry process. Students must be able to organize the information collected in order to utilize it. "After reviewing and revising the final product, students will be ready to complete the last step of the process - presenting the project to others" (Carnesi & DiGiorgio 35). Students may use media or other presentation/technology tools to complete and present their projects. "Teacher-librarians can assist students who have to make oral presentations by directing them to Web sites containing tip sheets and suggestions for making oral presentations" (Cabresi & DiGiorgio 36). Presenting the information from the inquiry is the fnal step in the process. "Technology is not only requisite in teaching today's digital native students, but it is the preferred means for the teacher-librarian in guiding students through the inquiry process" (Cabresi & DiGiorgio 36). Technology is a useful and necessary tool for students to be proficient with in a society that is very technologically dependent.

Carnesi, S., & DiGiorgio, K. (2009, March). Teaching the Inquiry Process to 21st Century Learners. //Library Media Connection//, //27//(5), 32-36. Retrieved September 26, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.