AASL Experiences #4: Jana

My final conversation about the AASL Shared Foundations was with Jana, a middle school media specialist who serves grades 6-8. We discussed the competencies for the Include Shared Foundation, and it was a great conversation. The competencies for Include revolve around ensuring that students and learners have access to resources and materials that reflect a variety of viewpoints. The Include competencies also ensure that students have opportunities to debate and reflect on various viewpoints. Jana holds the belief that all students should have access to stories and materials that they can see themselves in. This was a belief that was reinforced at the recent South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL) conference, where she heard an author from Pakistan speak about the fact that she was exposed to many stories, but none that she could see herself being a part of.

Jana has had some difficulty enforcing this in her library, though. Specifically, when it comes to the LGBTQIA+ community, she says that there are so many books and materials that she has ready to put on shelves. However, due to backlash that her school has already received from the community about giving this group visibility, she has been unable to make these resources available for students. It also doesn’t help that there is not a firm policy in place to protect her ability to do so. (She’s working on that!) Jana commented that the biggest challenge with implementing the Include competencies has been trying to give students what they need without stirring the pot and causing distrust among the community where her school is located.

Reflecting on my conversation with Jana left me a bit troubled, even though it was a wonderful conversation with someone I hope to work with next school year. Jana has been working in her community and school district for more than 20 years, and she is well-known and respected. All of the recent media coverage about book bans and bills regarding “controversial” topics has parents and stakeholders uneasy about what students have access to in schools. If she is having trouble providing access to certain books and materials, what hope is there for me as someone who hasn’t built that rapport with the community yet? It is disheartening that so many people easily believe that educators, librarians, and information professionals are “indoctrinating” students and sharing with them “explicit” information. I know that ensuring there is a firm policy in place regarding collection development and challenged materials is important, but it will also be important to build relationships with students, stakeholders and community members so that I am trusted to provide students with age-appropriate and student-relevant materials in order to do my job well.

AASL Experiences #3: Jami

My third conversation about the AASL Shared Foundations was with a middle school librarian named Jami. Jami is the media specialist at the school where I teach, and I chose to talk to her about how she encourages students to Collaborate in her library space. We also talked about her collaboration efforts with classroom teachers during our interview. Jami has a semi-fixed schedule, so she sees each 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Social Studies class every two weeks. For 6th grade classes, Jami spends the majority of the year getting students acclimated to the library: familiarizing them with what’s available, where everything is located, and how they can access online and print resources. For 7th and 8th grade classes, she incorporates research skills into Social Studies lessons to support the topics that teachers are covering in their classrooms.

For all three grade levels, Jami aims to provide as many opportunities as possible for students to collaborate and learn from their peers. For example, during her lesson with a 7th grade class this week, students analyzed a primary source related to the Civil War. She set them up to collaborate and use problem-solving skills in order to determine the topic of a map, and she only gave them a small section of the map to use before she showed them the entire map. Students also worked together recently in all grade levels to construct a local building out of LEGOs. The major challenges that she faces when encouraging collaboration among students are when students don’t want to work together, or when students don’t feel as successful after the project/activity as they would’ve been had they completed it on their own. She said it is also difficult sometimes to meet the varying levels of students within a single class, and that collaboration can either help or hinder that need.

The more conversations that I have regarding the AASL Shared Foundations, the more I notice how connected they are. Jami even pointed out how collaboration increases engagement, which is another Shared Foundation in the AASL standards. The competencies for Collaborate are related to the competencies for Explore in that students can be given opportunities to try new things, ask questions as outlined in the competencies for Inquire, and work together to make meaning and connections. Creating experiences to accomplish the competencies outlined in the AASL standards takes intentionality, and for some media specialists, it also takes creativity to manage time so that these experiences can be planned effectively.

AASL Experiences #2: Lena

My second conversation about the implementation of the AASL Standards was with Lena. Lena is a school media specialist in an elementary school that serves students in 4K through 5th grade, and she served as my supervising librarian for my internship. I chose to center my conversation with Lena on the Inquire Shared Foundation of the AASL Standards. A library can naturally lend itself to aid in inquiry by providing a media-rich environment with print and online sources, as well as items and materials that students can use to create or build. These items and materials may also be provided through apps and websites so that students can create or build in a digital space.

Lena’s library schedule is fixed, which means that she sees multiple classes each day and all of the students in the school once a week. One competency for the Inquire Shared Foundation is to activate the prior knowledge of students as they gain new knowledge and make meaning. Lena aims to do this in every lesson, whether she is teaching about a reading skill or providing information about a topic in a read aloud. She is in communication with teachers often, and they will let Lena know what skills they are working on in class so that she can support classroom instruction. For example, she recently taught a rhyming lesson to a Kindergarten class that was having trouble understanding that concept. Lena says that she has shared the Big 6 research strategy with students and teachers, but that it is difficult to help implement it when she only sees a group of students once a week.

While reflecting on both my interview with Lena and my interview with Kay, the importance of communicating with teachers regularly and making yourself known as the media specialist has been emphasized. I can say from personal experience that sometimes, classroom teachers aren’t sure what to ask a media specialist for or do not know of ways that the media center even applies to their subject area. Availability and communication will be key when working to collaborate with teachers. The AASL standards can be applied across all curricular areas, and the school media center can be instrumental in helping students master content.

AASL Experiences #1: Kay

My first interview about the implementation of the AASL Shared Foundations was with a high school librarian named Kay. After observing for a day in Kay’s school library, I decided to talk to her about how she implements the competencies outlined in the Explore domain. Kay has worked hard to make sure that her high school library space is welcoming, engaging, and provides students with ample opportunities to explore their interests. There are several activities that take place in the high school library at any given time. Students are able to participate in a community coloring page, where each individual is coloring their own section of a large picture. They can also play games that Kay has made available, work on homework or read, and socialize with peers. Kay has noticed that since fostering such an open environment in the high school library, students are more likely to explore various activities and interests, as well as interact with students that they may not otherwise associate with.

Not only does Kay create this environment in her library, but she also collaborates with teachers regularly to provide students with resources that help them achieve the competencies in the Explore domain. She discussed a recent collaboration with a teacher where she was helping students identify multiple print and online resources to complete a project. She said that opening students’ minds up to multiple sources of information and giving them a say in how they present that information helps to encourage exploration and further learning.

I really appreciated the opportunity to see Kay’s library in action, and to hear more about how she has worked so hard to create such an engaging and open environment. Based on my observations and my conversations with her, it is clear that providing a media-rich space for students to engage in play, creating, and tinkering causes a natural curiosity in students. My conversation with Kay also made me realize that providing students with opportunities to explore games and activities that aren’t necessarily academic-based may also lead students to be more open to exploring topics related to their academic classes, and equip them with the skills needed to do so. I will be transitioning into a role as a middle school media specialist, and I look forward to implementing opportunities that foster exploration in my students.