LLED 462 Assignment #2: Libraries as Centres for Literacy

In November of 2018, after my first few months as the new full-time TL at Kidston Elementary School, I realized we had a very "traditional" approach, physical layout, and culture of expectation from the teaching staff. While I did not have any experience with the idea of  Library Learning Commons, I was starting to hear some whispers of changes coming in the district. At this point, I decided it was time to do some research, learn, and find out what LLC are all about. Fortunately, this coincided with some of my UBC diploma courses and I was able to start planning for the future of our library at Kidston. 

For this assignment, I would like to take advantage of an opportunity to build on our original plan and set goals for the next three years of our journey. Using a past event, I will look at where we are now and the goals that we have will look to initiate in as we move forward. In our assignment overview, it was posed to us to think about our principal coming to us and saying:

 "I am interested in your ideas about turning the library into a learning commons. How can we do this slowly? What would be our proposed plan of action? Can you present it to the staff?"

I feel I can address this with purpose, as I have had this conversation with my principal and vice-principal (also the technology coordinator for the school), and some of our district team that is supporting our libraries as they all transition to learning commons. There is a district push and initiative to have all libraries move in this direction, to better support the literacy learning of all students at all grade levels. At Kidston it is an exciting time as we really do have a blank slate to work with in our future planning. 

I will also look at how this could support literacy learning during these times with Covid-19. This has been a different year and as we stand, we are running our library in a more traditional sense to account for cleaning and safety protocols. I do feel though, if we have the needed tools, we could in fact be servicing our students much better and impacting their literacy learning is a safe manner.

Below I have embedded a Google Slides presentation that I created as part of a 5-year plan to transition to a learning commons. If you click the link above, you will be directed to the presentation with speaker notes, to help understand the full vision and specific goals. This was to be presented to our PAC to help secure funding, but at the time there was a focus on an outdoor classroom. Much of the funding has gone to this initiative, so with this project coming to a close it will hopefully be a good time to present our goals to help put the plan into action. I would like to look at the current state of the library, some goals and events we would like to see in place, and some of the purchases we would like to make to support literacy learning at Kidston. 

When looking back at a personal quote about the 5-year plan, I do see value in the thoughts I had then, as we proceed now:

"As I spent the last two weeks, putting together my Google Slides presentation, I have been able to take the time to put even more thought into the changes I would like to make, and what the Kidston library will look like in the next 5 years. While at times it can be quite overwhelming, I've learned to take a deep breath, remember to start small, and take the time needed to reach the end goal. With that thought in mind, I also had to remember not to make my presentation too BIG and really try and hit the key points for the PAC at Kidston. This way they will get a solid snapshot of THE VISION." (Beck, 2018).

I think as we look at the next three years of our action plan and the goals we would like to achieve, it is important to remember that "slow and steady" is important to the process. Trying to do too much, will no doubt be overwhelming. But, slowly implementing some key literacy learning options will benefit our students and teachers, allowing the buy-in to the learning commons to take a step in the right direction. Ultimately we are looking to provide new literacy learning opportunities for our students, but also shift the "traditional" thinking of our current staff. While I may need to update the Google Slideshow, we really have not done much other than planning in the background, so most is still relevant to our current situation. 

To guide my way through the plan, I will use the Leading learning: Standards of practice for school library learning commons in Canada document. In each section, I will look at the Fostering Literacies Growth Indicators, to identify where we currently stand in terms of the overarching themes. As is stated in this document, "A learning commons is a whole school approach to building a participatory learning community. The library learning commons is the physical and virtual collaborative learning hub of the school. It is designed to engineer and drive future-oriented learning and teaching throughout the entire school." (2014). 

I will focus on five key areas as part of the action plan to create an environment that supports collaboration, exploration, critical thinking, multi-modal literacy and inquiry learning.

Year One:

• Virtual Field Trips
• School Literacy Activities: Read-a-Thon with a dual purpose of fundraising

Year Two/Three:

• Flexible Scheduling & Learning Environment
• Coding Club with a focus on Sphero, Ozobots, and Coding Quest

Ongoing Througout the Process (Beginning/Middle/End)

• Staff and professional development and the building of a LLC

Virtual Field Trips: Promoting Collaboration

This is an area where I feel I can start to increase the collaboration process with our teaching staff. As I have eluded to previously, the majority of our teachers are seasoned veterans and like to "stick to the program" as they have for many years. For them, collaboration with the TL means getting resources for research, stand alone lessons, and supporting reading groups and literature circles. I would like to advance this to the next level, and slowly offer new collaborative options for literacy learning. 

As part of year one, my goal is to get our library set-up to host virtual field trips. This is partly because the district technology team has secured the hardware needed for every school in the district. When I return form my leave in January, I am scheduled for one-on-one support with the technology as per the following plan sent to us recently:

Hello Teacher-Librarians,

Our district tech team has purchased some equipment for each of your libraries: 

1) Equipment to support Virtual Field trips for classes to connect virtually with experts in curricular areas, museums, places of interest, ect.  This equipment includes a wide-angle webcam, multi-directional microphone, and speaker.

2) A Rico Theta 360 degree camera to take 360 still shots or video for students to create virtual tours and experiences.

I would like to connect with you to provide this equipment, but I would also like to provide some support to use the equipment.  We are really hoping if we train you on how to use them, you will be able to connect with classes in your school to support virtual field trips and the creation of virtual experiences. We (TIC's) believe in investing in our Learning Commons with technologies to help with the pedagogical shift from traditional libraries.

The only roadblock we currently have is the set-up of our projector system. At the moment our projector is in the reading pit, which only allows us to share with a single class, and lacks feasible space to connect the hardware. I've had a requisition pending to install a new whiteboard/projector combo for two years. We just had phase one (measurements) done in June, but as to when this will actually be installed, we are hoping by the end of 2020. This is definitely a regular issue in terms of making physical changes to our space. 

The "Pit" area where we currently have our projector. This only allows for a single class at a time and there is a lack of space for hardware set-up. 

The space we would like to use for VFT and student collaboration. 

We will remove the top 3 shelves of D to G-H to make room for a new whiteboard/wall projector combo. This will allow us to host multiple classes for VFT. 

In the future, post Covid-19, we would like to offer VFT to multiple classes at one time with the opportunity for follow-up lessons in the LLC. This will promote team teaching, using the library as a learning space beyond researching, and allow the students to engage in collaborative learning opportunities. This would allow us to foster change in our Literacy Leadership, as one area we would move from the emerging stage to evolving. This along with the STEM activities discussed below, would be a major step-up from our traditional approach. As well, we could greatly increase our Cultural Literacy options, with access to field trips across the country and throughout the world. 

Engaging Students with School Literacy Activities: Read-a-Thon

This is an opportunity to promote literacy, engage readers, and allow the community to take part in fundraising for the school. This was an event that our library hosted yearly at my previous school in Victoria, and was something the students always mentioned in their highlights of the year. In looking at the Fostering Literacies to Empower Life-Long Learners standards from the Leading Learning Document as a guide to set goals, I would say we currently fall in the emerging stage in terms of engagement. 

For this event, each student receives a fundraising envelope, pledging a specific amount of reading time for donations from family and friends. During the week of the Read-a-Thon, students bring in their envelopes to be collected daily; parent support is needed, which is a great way to build community. Students receive tickets for every five dollars in pledges money, as well as every 15 minutes of reading, up to and including 2 hours a day! These tickets can then be deposited into one of 50+ book prize buckets to be drawn at the end of the week. 

I always found the participation rate to be quite high as most students would manage at least a $5 pledge, allowing them to take part in the daily reading minutes. The event always kicked-off with a pancake breakfast and the reading of a short (and usually funny) story by the principal on the morning announcements. Guest speakers from the community visit classes throughout the week, to promote a love of reading and share some of their favourite stories. Perhaps my favourite part was the teacher swap, where each teacher would read to a different class in the school. The community building in these "get to know another teacher" moments was invaluable in the culture of the school. 

Another aspect the students connected with, was the daily Drop Everything And Read as a school, where students would either engage in buddy reading or find a place in the school they liked to read and engage for 15 minutes. This opportunity to read in the hall, library, gym, outside (if weather permitted) was a way for students to take part away from the usual routine of sustained reading in class. 

While this all takes a lot of planning, when everyone comes together as a whole to make it happen, you create a culture of literacy and reading with both staff and student taking part. With the community involved, we would be working our way to being established Literacy Partners, as we build on our relationships with the local community. 

For me, the fundraising side of things would allow our library to build our book collection or perhaps contribute to our technology goals. Often, a good portion of our new books come from book fairs, which usually helps our fiction and picture book section grow. As we just weeded our non-fiction section, to the tune of 800 books, we could add much needed topics to this section. Where I might look to first use this funding, however, would be to purchase Ozobot and Sphero resources, as these can be used to build our coding collection, for use with a wide range of grade levels. While we have these resources available on request from our district tech team, having these resources as part of our school, would allow for use throughout the year so students can engage in continuous learning with STEM. This supports an environment that has a variety of spaces to provide multiple learning opportunities and hopefully create spaces to empower inquiry opportunities. 

Flexible Scheduling & Learning Environment

Moving to year two and three, this will be one of the biggest culture changing aspects of the LLC and its use with our staff and students. This year, with the protocols in place in our district, I didn't feel it was the time to suggest a change, as the idea of a flexible schedule has not always been met with support. Many of our teachers feel it is critical to have circulation blocks, get books in students hands, and give them an opportunity to interact with the library by simply selecting reading resources. Simply said, I think many do not like "change in routine" in general. This will be an area where I may need to assert myself and demonstrate to the staff the benefits a flexible schedule can provide and the collaboration that can take place. This will be something I will endeavor to once we have made it past Covid protocols and everyone is feeling safe and secure when sharing common space in the school. 

In terms of our learning environment and inquiry engagement, we are stuck between the exploring/emerging stages in relation to both Information Literacy & Leadership. There would be a few teachers in the school that are working towards the evolving stage, but overall we have a lot of work to do in this area.

Our goal as a LLC is to to create a more flexible learning environment, promoting creativity, inquiry, and exploration. Ultimately we would like to have a Makerspace area, add some new tables and flexible seating options, a couch and bean bags chairs, a LEGO wall,  and coding technology to be explored in the next stage. We would also like to add some movable shelving, to replace the existing static layout. This would provide more space and option for inquiry and project based learning. To do this we will need to work with the district technology team and likely pursue grants and PAC funds to gain access to these resources. 

This is an area we would like to turn into a LEGO wall. 

Our existing bookshelves take up a lot of room and restrict our options for open space learning. We are looking into options on wheels, but funds will be needed to make this happen!

Coding Club with a focus on Sphero, Ozobots, and Coding Quest

Once we have established some flexibility in our learning environment, we will then look at purchasing and using Sphero, Ozobots, introducing Coding Quest Clubs, which will hopefully initiate further interest from our staff in implementing the inquiry based learning, both in classrooms and in the LLC. These coding resources would allow for STEM learning across all grades. 

Sphero and Ozobots work well with our available space and can be housed easily in our secure storage area. Bringing technology to the library would be a first for Kidston (beyond laptops), and would truly be a big first step in the transition from traditional library to Library Learning Commons. Again, I see further potential for collaboration with teachers and multi-modal learning opportunities for students. This would be an area where I would use Symbaloo, to create a collection of resources to support the use and understanding of new technology at the school. This tool would be a valuable resource for teachers, parents, and students as they gain the knowledge and confidence needed to embed these tools in their learning. 

 

CODING QUEST GR 1 - 3 USES A FUN, NEW PLATFORM — DASH’S NEIGHBOURHOOD FOR EXPLORING, CREATING AND LEARNING! CODING QUEST GR 4 - 8 USES SCRATCH WITH STORYTELLING & GAME DESIGN STREAMS  

("Coding Quest | The Learning Partnership", 2020)

I have personally done Coding Quest with my Gr. 6/7 class, but as a T-L, I would like to open this up to all students with an interest, with the potential for groups to engage in coding fair and present their projects to their peers, parents, and members of the community. 

The piece of the puzzle that I think will take some careful planning, is that of technology that will be located and used primarily in the LLC. We would like to have a Chromebook cart, and enough iPads that will give us a 1 to 2 ratio. As the school is currently working on a tech plan to upgrade our technology in general, I am advocating for some of the new hardware for use in the LLC. We may be a couple years away from having our own technology in the LLC, but this falls in within the current time frame of the plan going forward. 

Staff and professional development: The creation of a LLC & learning with technology

To support all of the resources and opportunities I have presented in this action plan, a large portion of time will need to be supported with professional development, technology support, and an understanding of a flexible learning environment.  

As I will do with PAC in a fundraising sense, I will also present my Google Slideshow to the staff at a staff meeting or Pro-D, to let them know what the next three years will look like. However, I will be sure to do my best to ease what could be some apprehension, with regular learning opportunities. My vision of a collaborative environment, will be driven by the findings of Merga, stating that, "...good collaborations include but are not limited to these 11 characteristics:" (2019)

1. Respectful communication
2. Goal setting
3. Timely and regular planning
4. Open and flexible mind-sets
5. Student-centered approaches with student benefit as the shared goal
6. Valuing of the expertise and perspectives of others
7. Advocacy for what each member can offer the collaboration
8. Generosity
9. Commitment to meeting both the group and individual needs of students
10. Willingness to evaluate the collaborative and provide supportive critical feedback
11. Safety to articulate concerns and issues without irrevocably damaging the collaborative relationship

The fact that respectful communication is at the top of the list, reflects the need for on-going opportunities for discussion and learning in a safe environment. 

One area of focus will be Digital Literacy and Citizenship. As we stand, we are just scratching the surface of the emerging stage. We as a school have established with our students the need to be safe online, but there is no doubt in this day and age that we owe it to our community of learners, to "empower students to take ownership of their digital responsibilities." (CLA, 2014). Collaborating with our classroom teachers to understand what it means to be a digital citizen, with a digital footprint is key in teaching our students how to interact with the digital world of today. Sharing the Symbaloo I created as part of this course and the tools available with MediaSmarts and Common Sense Media, allows an entry point into the vast and ever changing digital world.

These resources could also be shared with our community of parents, to support their understanding of social media, the gaming world, movies, and online world in general.

To sum it all up, we have to look at a quote from the Leading Learning document:

"New technologies and evolving methods of communication and sharing drive expanding understanding of literacy. This reality has made the refinement and demonstration of strong literacy skills ever more important for learners. Exploring and connecting various ways of knowing and learning is part of the process of personalizing learning and involves embracing new literacies and skills. The school library learning commons has a leading role in assisting learners to hone and apply an expanded notion of literacy as well as fostering an active reading culture." (CLA, 2014). 

Final Thoughts and Reflection

As a final reflection, this has been a very practical and useful exploration as this has narrowed the focus for the next few years. I see this as being "realistic and doable" as we move ahead from our current situation. Having a clear plan is highly valuable to our school. While I had originally created a 5 year plan, I now feel more confident with the support of the growth stages in Leading learning: Standards of practice for school library learning commons in Canada, that I can begin to implement the action plan provided. While I know that there will continue to be obstacles along the way, I feel better prepared to meet those challenges, make the necessary adjustments and change the course of the path and head in another direction if needed. Even with our Covid-19 situation, I believe I can begin the journey and make our LLC a place where teachers and students can engage with literacy in a variety of ways as part of their learning. 

In bringing things full circle, I would feel confident showing this to my principal and the staff, to give a vision that would answer that initial set of questions:

"How can we make the transition to a LLC slowly? What would be our proposed plan of action? Can you present it to the staff?"

I would hope these questions would be answered and the next statement would be...When do we get started!

References

Canadian Library Association. (2014) Leading learning: Standards of practice for school library learning commons in Canada. Ottawa: Ontario.

Canadianschoollibraries.ca. (2020). Learning Commons in Action – Canadian School Libraries. [online] Available at: http://www.canadianschoollibraries.ca/learning-commons-in-action/ [Accessed 23 Oct. 2020].

Coding Quest | The Learning Partnership. (2020). Retrieved 24 October 2020, from https://www.thelearningpartnership.ca/programs/coding-quest-1?utm_expid=.6zuVAH4aSw-GAVBdM93hmw.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca. (2020). What is a Library Learning Commons? – Leading Learning. [online] Available at: http://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/library-learning-commons/ [Accessed 23 Oct. 2020].

MacKenzie, Trevor. (March 18, 2019). "Classroom inquiry's secret weapon: the teacher-librarian." Canadian School Libraries Journal.  Retrieved from: https://journal.canadianschoollibraries.ca/classroom-inquirys-secret-weapon-the-teacher-librarian/

Masrour, C. (2014). Library Learning Commons: Benefits, Challenges, and Characteristics. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/tYvoF9m2soU [Accessed 22 Oct.. 2020].

Merga, M.K.(2019).Collaborating With Teacher Librarians to Support Adolescents’ Literacy and Literature Learning Links to an external site.Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,63(1),65–72.

Opeduca Project (2018). Inquiry Based Learning. [image] Available at: https://www.opeduca.eu/Inquiry_Based_Learning.html [Accessed 23 Oct. 2020].

Tyrrellmuseum.com. (2020). Royal Tyrrell Museum | Programs | Distance Learning | The Royal Tyrrell Museum Virtual Visit. [online] Available at: https://tyrrellmuseum.com/learn/distance_learning [Accessed 23 Oct. 2020].

Sphero (2020). What is Sphero SPRK Edition?. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8LmEkI_0c [Accessed 23 Oct. 2020].