LIBE 467 Assignment #2 - Evolving Teacher Practice Through Reference Services

Meena

LIBE 467                            Evolving Teacher Practice Through Reference Services

I have been a classroom teacher for the last 16 years.  Over this time I have seen a gradual change in the school system in regards to the children we teach, the curriculum, use of technology, instructional approaches such as inquiry based learning and critical literacy, new pedagogies such as collaborative learning.  With all these changes, there has also been a change in research practices and resources themselves.  I remember as a highschool student sitting in the library with my social studies class preparing to undertake a research assignment and listening to our teacher and the TL talk to us about good research practice.  They showed us how to use the index for the encyclopedias and books stacked on the rolling cart already prepared for us.  They explained the importance of producing original work and not to plagiarize content.  The way in which students undertake research has changed considerably since the advent of the internet.  Rather than directing students to the book stacks, educators need to assist students on how to undertake an internet search, and how to critically assess whether information retrieved has authority, validity, and is authentic.  Information literacy has become an integral responsibility of teachers and TLs as students navigate and sift through all that is available on the internet.  

Source: Achieving Information Literacy, 2006

‘Educational leaders across the country identify information literate students as an outcome of schooling, and curriculum documents in every part of the country include information literacy outcomes. Several challenges appear to have prevented us from understanding clearly the vital role school libraries play in developing information literate students. Curriculum documents often omit the role of the school library and the teacher-librarian in achieving these goals.’ (Asselin et al., 2006).  It is the role of the TL to mentor classroom teachers on how to develop information literate students, show teachers where they can access reference resources and how to use them and ultimately elevate their teaching practice.

Many teachers approach new pedagogical practices with an open mind and some seem resistant to change.  Working in concert with a teacher librarian can evoke growth in one’s practice. ‘Learning brings change, and supporting people in change is critical for learning to "take hold." (Loucks-Horsley, 1996). A TL can use tools to assess how a classroom teacher implements reference resources in their practice.  By determining where a teacher falls on these scales can help a TL support them towards better usage. There are two models that will be used to evaluate two hypothetical teaching practices.

MODELS

The Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) is a framework consisting of seven Stages of Concern and eight Levels of Use that describe how teachers respond to a new innovation and whether and how they adopt it (Loucks-Horsley, 1996). The questions teachers pose when introduced to new materials and strategies can help a TL plan and support its staff members.  ‘Attending to where people are and addressing the questions they are asking when they are asking them’ (Loucks-Horsley, 1996) can guide a TL on how to engage learning through professional development days, one-on-one support, after school or noon hour workshops.   

Source: Loucks-Horsley, 1996

Source: Loucks-Horsley, 1996

Another model that can assist a teacher librarian in supporting classroom teachers is the Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition (SAMR) Model. This model categorizes four different degrees of classroom technology integration. 

Source: google.com

It is useful in showing how computer technology can impact teaching and learning and the progression of use of technology (Puentedura, n.d.).  

These two models, CBAM and SAMR, will be used to assess the practice of two classroom teachers. The effective use of reference services will be assessed for two hypothetical teaching practices.  Based on the two models, a plan can be developed to help move the teachers forward in their reference resources use.

TEACHERS

Mrs. P is a grade 2/3 teacher, who has been teaching for 6 years.  She is organized and she likes to find novel ways of teaching curriculum goals to keep students engaged and her teaching practice evolving from year to year.  She creates quizzes using the Kahoot app to engage her student’s understanding through the app instead of using pencil and paper.  She likes to collaborate with the two other grade 2/3 teachers and share ideas, resources and lesson ideas.  Mrs. P likes to use the laptops for inquiry based learning and research skills practice.  Students are able to type out their work instead of printing on paper.  She uses the online school catalogue to find print resources to prepare for units. She then goes to the LLC on her own time, either before or after school to gather print resources.  If she cannot locate enough print material she will perform google searches, for online read aloud books, informative youtube videos, and images to support her teaching.  Mrs. P knows that the district has online reference resources but does not know what is relevant to her needs and where to go to access them.

EVALUATION

From the perspective of the CBAM model, it looks like Mrs. P is between the management and consequence stage of concern.  She is spending a lot of time gathering print resources from the school LLC and online resources herself, but needs to ask how much of an impact these resources are having and whether it can be improved.  She is aware of online reference resources available within the district but has not taken action on how to access them and use them with her students.  Based on this information it can be said that Mrs. P is at the routine level of use for reference resources. She has established a comfortable pattern of use and is making few changes to her method of practice (Huang, P.-S., n.d.). According the SAMR model, Mrs. P is at the augmentation level.  She has enhanced her teaching and use of reference resources by looking for them herself online.  Students use technology to participate in online quizzes and to type out information that they have researched.   She is not yet at the modification or redefinition level as students are not yet independently using technology to enhance their learning.  

SUPPORT PLAN

Through a casual reference interview with Mrs. P, I learned that she is teaching a unit on water with her class.  She did not seem too enthusiastic about it through our conversation however.   I asked if she needed any help with her unit and she said she's been doing it for a few years and has accumulated enough print material of her own on the topic and borrows material from the other grade group teachers.  She also knows where to find print material in the LLC. She said she also found some videos and images through google searches that she has saved and keeps using.  I asked her if she would like to know how to find reference information online through the LLC site.  I explained that information here is vetted and sourced and easy to find and access.  The students may find it engaging and it might be fun for her to teach it differently than in past years.  She was intrigued and agreed to receive help.  Here is the plan I will use:

• Book Mrs. P and her class into one of my collaboration blocks in the following week.

• Book the Ipad cart for the students to use during this collaboration block.

• During the collaboration block show Mrs. P and the class where the online resources can be found. Bookmark the library catalogue page on her computer so she is able to access it quickly.  Provide her with the necessary passwords for students.  The online resources available through the SD36 library catalogues include:

• Tumble Book Library

• Discovery Education

• Early World of Learning

• Curio.ca

• National Geographic Kids

• Learn 360

• World Book Kids

• Surrey Schools Digital Resources

Source: https://library.sd36.bc.ca/

Project the LLC computer to the screen so that everyone can follow along.  As you navigate through different sites, show Mrs. P the benefits of online resources and how they can engage all types of learners.  

• Allow students to work in pairs and use the Ipads to explore the different sites.

• Give students the opportunity to share interesting facts, pages, games etc. that they encounter, with Mrs. P so she sees how easy it is for the student’s to navigate the sites.

• In a follow-up collaboration block, investigate the Discovery Kids site.  Show Mrs. P how to find information specifically about water on this site so that she can use the information to teach the lessons. Work of Water

• Again, allow students to freely navigate the Discovery site and teach Mrs. P what they have seen and learned.

Through this plan, Mrs. P can move from the management and consequence stage of concern in the CBAM model to collaboration and refocusing.  Within SAMR, hopefully this process will allow Mrs. P to go the augmentation level whereby the students and Mrs. P herself feels more engaged with learning and teaching.  Since Mrs. P works in collaboration with the other grade group teachers and she will be able to teach her peers what she has learned.  

Mrs. M is a grade 5, veteran teacher of 22 years. She is a vibrant and enthusiastic teacher who injects positive learning opportunities in the classroom.  Mrs. M likes to have her lessons well-planned and developed in advance because she feels the day and week runs smoothly if she is prepared and organized.  She keeps a disciplined classroom where students are engaged and on-task which she feels benefits her classroom instruction, classroom management and helps with challenging students.    Mrs. M uses the Points of Inquiry model to guide students through the research process.  However, she uses an outdated set of World Book Encyclopedia and atlases that were donated to her classroom.  Although she can be flexible, she would rather follow her routine and feels comfortable in her teaching practice .  The class has a library visit scheduled once a week but this is primarily for book exchange rather than for research or computer use.  She avoids the use of technology because she gets frustrated when the tools are not performing the way she has learned them as she does not know how to troubleshoot problems.  When she cannot troubleshoot she is hard on herself and it makes her feel like an incapable teacher.  Therefore she avoids the process.

EVALUATION

The challenge with leading Mrs. M into growing her practice is that she feels comfortable in her teaching practice and therefore sees no need to change.  According to the CBAM Stages of Concern, Mrs. M is at the awareness stage of concern.  She is not concerned about adding technology or accessing digital reference resources to use for herself or her students.  Consequently, she is at the non-use level of use and does not show interest in learning.   Her fear and anxiety about technology use is limiting her growth.  Through the SAMR model, Mrs. M is at the substitution level whereby technology use is not really changing the way information is being taught and learned since there is limited use of it.

SUPPORT PLAN

In order to build Mrs. M’s confidence in using technology, I would:

• Meet with her regularly to show her ways in which she can incorporate technology into her day to day teaching. I would prepare notes that outline, step-by-step, the process of using the app, website, or program, so that she has something to refer to when she attempts to use them in the future.  Some things I show her may include

• Google Forms to generate class surveys

• Teams to post assignments or for students to hand in assignments

• Powerpoint presentations to present information instead of handouts.

• TeacherTube to inject different methods of learning

She can use her own computer and follow along so she feels capable of doing it on her own.  This may help her to overcome her anxieties and include technology more regularly.

• Book Mrs.M and the class for a collaboration block.  Have laptops ready so that students can look for reference resources online through the school library catalogue.

• Allow students to perform searches on their own using search engines like Kiddle, Duckters, and Kids Discover.

• Future collaboration sessions can involve doing a simple inquiry project together so Mrs. M feels more comfortable using the LLC and the help of the TL and incorporating technology with the support of the TL.

With these steps, Mrs. M can move from the awareness stage of concern to information and since she now has an interest in learning, she will move to the orientation level of use under the CBAM model.  Within the SAMR model, Mrs. M can augment her teaching through the use of technology using the apps, programs and websites I showed her.

CONCLUSION

Source: (Loucks-Horsley, 1996)

  With all the demands on teachers, it is often the case that once their practice becomes routine, they never have the time and space to focus on whether and in what ways students are learning (Loucks-Horsley, 1996).  However, with the support of the TL and working in collaboration with them, growth can be attained.  The presence of print reference resources are becoming more rare within the LLC due to cost, space, and the easy accessibility and up to date resources that can be found online.   The library learning commons can help cultivate

and facilitate collaboration so that rich learning opportunities can take place (Leading Learning Framework, n.d.).  Thus, it is important for classroom teachers to self-reflect on their teaching practice or for the TL to evaluate a classroom teachers practice using the CBAM and SAMR models. This can help determine how TLs can work in collaboration with teachers to support them to update their use of reference resources and technology.

REFERENCES

Asselin, M., Branch, J. L., & Oberg, D. (2006). Achieving information literacy: Standards for school library programs in Canada. Canadian Association for School Libraries.

Huang, P.-S. (n.d.). Levels of use - concerns-based adoption model. Google Sites: Sign-in. Retrieved March 9, 2023, from https://sites.google.com/site/ch7cbam/home/levels-of-use 

Loucks-Horsley, S. (1996). Professional Development for Science Education: A Critical and Immediate Challenge. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM): A Model for Change in Individuals. Retrieved March 5, 2023, from https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/731/2015/07/CBAM-explanation.pdf 

Puentedura, R. (n.d.). SAMR Model - Technology is Learning. SAMR Model. Retrieved March 5, 2023, from https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model

Standards of practice. Leading Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved March 5, 2023, from https://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/standards-of-practice/ 

Welcome to SD No. 36 (Surrey) catalogue. Welcome to SD No. 36 (Surrey) Catalogue. (n.d.). Retrieved March 6, 2023, from https://library.sd36.bc.ca/