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I explored various resources that will help me find answers to my questions, and I shared personal learning from each of the references I used.

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What instructional practices improve student learning and understanding?

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How I might use makerspace to promote and encourage collaboration and inquiry?

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How can I  foster collaboration in the library?

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Learning Problem Solving and Growth Mindset in a Makerspace

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Learning Problem Solving and Growth Mindset in a Makerspace

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Learning: To extend students learning and be able to apply the skills they are learning in the classroom, having a Makerspace in the library will allow them to continue growing a growth mindset as well as strengthening their problem solving skills.

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Learning Problem Solving and Growth Mindset in a Makerspace

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About this link/resource: This is Trevor Mackenzie's site. It provides helpful resources when sharing ideas on how to use inquiry in teaching and learning with teachers. I have referred to Mackenzie's posters and blogs when applying it to my own professional inquiry and professional development.

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About this link: When sharing instructional practices with teachers, it is always important to refer to standards used by the school. In our context, we use the Common Core State Standards.

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Disclaimer: On this page you can find the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and English Language Arts. The standards are temporarily located on this page while we work to address technical challenges with CoreStandards.org. Thank you for your patience and we will share an update on CoreStandards.org when we have one.

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About this reading: This is related to the reading, Boosting Students’ Literacy Skills With Help From the School Librarian. Elizabeth Hutchinson referred this site on how inquiry learning can be used in teaching literacy to improve reading skills. It could be used as framework or resource for teachers when planning literacy or any topic of study for their students.

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Explore the FOSIL Inquiry Cycle by clicking on Connect | Wonder | Investigate | Construct | Express |

NEW: Download a simplified version of the FOSIL Inquiry Cycle for use with younger students ( or ).

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Inquiry is an approach to learning. FOSIL is a model of the inquiry process with an underlying PK-12 (age 4-18) framework of skills . These tools help educators to design and resource effective inquiries - often as a collaborative team involving teachers and librarians - and to support students engaged in inquiry.

The FOSIL Cycle, based on Stripling's Cycle of Inquiry, begins at the top with Connect. The arrows between phases are double-headed because students will inevitably move backwards and forwards between stages as they make their way clockwise around the Cycle. Without intervention they may become stuck in a particular stage or miss another out altogether, and a part of the educator's role is to intervene appropriately, either directly or by providing scaffolding resources.

Use the links in the Cycle above to explore each inquiry stage, including examples of scaffolding resources, and the underlying

The skills that enable the stages in the inquiry learning process form skills sets, which occur in logical order within each stage, and which may be downloaded below as A3 PDF documents or PNG images.

FOSIL Inquiry Cycle Skill Sets | Download as PDF or PNG

FOSIL Inquiry Cycle Skill Sets (Vertical) | Download as PDF or PNG

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framework of skills for inquiry learning

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Explore the FOSIL Inquiry Cycle by clicking on Connect | Wonder | Investigate | Construct | Express | NEW: Download a simplified version of the FOSIL Inquiry Cycle for use with younger students ( or ). - Inquiry is an approach to learning.

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Learning:  I think that how a librarian organize and thinkg about learning spaces for their students and teachers invite and foster collaboration. It is an indicator that you want them to be in the library to learn, to create and work with others because of the kinds of resources, spaces and facilities you've developed for your library users.
Source: Meteor Education. (2023, January 9). Hillsborough County Public Schools Media Centers Refresh | Meteor Education [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50VCREM3Xmw

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Hillsborough County Public Schools Media Centers Refresh | Meteor Education

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Modern STEM/Makerspace Design: High Impact Collaborative Spaces for FL Private and Charter Schools

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Modern STEM/Makerspace Design: High Impact Collaborative Spaces for FL Private and Charter Schools

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Learning: This webinar got me excited about makerspaces. This is one of my goals for the library as the center of learning for students. As we want to develop critical thinking, creativity and student voice and choice among students, the makerspace would be a great space for students to apply understandings, skills and explore passions.
Source: Meteor Education. (2019, July 23). Modern STEM/Makerspace Design: High Impact Collaborative Spaces for FL Private and Charter Schools [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf_wCPBbeyA

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0:00 / 33:32•Watch full video

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Modern STEM/Makerspace Design: High Impact Collaborative Spaces for FL Private and Charter Schools

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Building a culture of collaboration in schools

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Building a culture of collaboration in schools

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Learning: This reading shares key strategies in building a collaborative culture in schools. One of the take-aways I learned from this reading is that creating a culture of collaboration stems from the explicit moves to empower teachers and involve them in every facet of the school improvement, a mind-shift on how students learn and hot teachers teach (PBL), and empowering them to develop teacher-led professional learning.
Sutton, P. S., & Shouse, A. W. (2016). Building a culture of collaboration in schools. The Phi Delta Kappan, 97(7), 69–73. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24893374

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EDT 516- Resource #2 - Building a Culture of Collaboration in Schools.pdf

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How might the library be the learning hub of the school?

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About this page: A created this Padlet link to curate resources that can be shared with teachers to enhance instructional practices for student learning.

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School Librarians and Teachers Must Work Together To Make School Fun

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School Librarians and Teachers Must Work Together To Make School Fun

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About this reading: Collaboration is highly pointed out in this reading, but there are several instructional practices that librarians can share and work with teachers to improve learning for students, and these are:

Curating classroom libraries based on units of instruction (sharing librarian's skills with teachers on curating classroom libraries would help students in having a vibrant and choices of reading materials)

Co-teaching (A s needed, you can model or co-teach research process, teach informational literacy₎

Lesson planning (library integration, inquiry, PBL)

Lesson support (creating videos, book talks, makerspace)

Curating resources for instruction (with local, national and global connections)

Collaboration (the library is a learning commons where teachers and their students can utilize the space and resources for inquiry-based or project based explorations)

Source: Fitzpatrick, J. (2021, July 8). School Librarians and Teachers Must Work Together To Make School Fun. The Educators Room. Retrieved February 23, 2023, from https://theeducatorsroom.com/school-librarians-and-teachers-must-work-together-can-make-school-fun/

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What instructional practices improve student learning and understanding?

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What instructional practices improve student learning and understanding?

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How I might use makerspace to promote and encourage collaboration and inquiry?

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How I might use makerspace to promote and encourage collaboration and inquiry?

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How can I  foster collaboration in the library?

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How can I  foster collaboration in the library?

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Learning: Below are direct quotes on how Sharing, Cooperation, Coordination and Integration are powerful ways to collaborate with teachers and colleagues.
"Sharing

Sharing is the level that which collaboration begins.  This involves me sharing resources with my colleagues.  It also includes when teachers request books or research materials for lessons or projects.  Sharing is the level that school librarians can control.  You cannot make someone work with you, but you can be open and willing to share whenever the opportunity arises.
Cooperation

At this level, the classroom teacher and I do not plan together, but we do talk about what we are each teaching so that lessons can coordinate.  We also share teaching methods and strategies so that students can have a consistent form of instruction.
Coordination

This form of collaboration includes lessons or projects that we schedule and discuss together but are taught by one teacher or the other.  At times, both the teacher and school librarian are present, but the lessons are not truly co-taught as one teacher is truly the lead and doing the majority of the preparation.
Integration

This is when our curriculum objectives are truly aligned.  We have planned together and developed a lesson or project that meets the goals of the subject area as well as the information needs of students through the library.  We co-teach the lesson or project together.  This level requires trust by both people and includes shared ideas and decision-making. "

Hinks, K. (2020, March 31). 4 Levels of Collaboration for Teachers and Librarians [Review of 4 Levels of Collaboration for Teachers and Librarians]. Knowledge Quest; AASL. https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/4-levels-of-collaboration-for-teachers-and-librarians/#:~:text=As%20school%20librarians%2C%20we%20know%20that%20collaboration%20is,also%20understand%20that%20collaboration%20can%20take%20many%20forms.
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Learning: This blog provides ideas on how to teachers can tap onto school librarians to support their instructions and enhance student learning.
Many of the ideas she shared in her blog resonates with me when I was a classroom teacher. I've always come to the librarian to collaborate with my units of study, support students in providing additional informational literacy understanding, explaining and showing the process of research, and so on. Libraries and librarians are the heart of learning, and by providing my colleagues with this information, I am hoping that they will take advantage of the library and the support of the librarians to help them with their instructional practices for student learning.
Source: Laura. (2022, February 12). More ideas for collaboration in the School Library • The Trapped librarian. The Trapped Librarian. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://trappedlibrarian.org/2020/06/more-ideas-for-collaboration-in-the-school-library/

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Ten ways to work with your highly trained colleagues in the library to enhance literacy instruction.

©Shutterstock/wavebreakmedia

Literacy instruction, especially on the secondary level, is currently undergoing a major overhaul. Teachers and authors Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher, Donalyn Miller, and others are leading the way in this resurgence-advocating for book clubs and student choice of reading material, promoting diversity in reading selections, and even providing grants for teachers to build classroom libraries.

While it's easy to get excited about educators promoting these research-based literacy strategies, there is one group of educators who know that none of this is new: school librarians.

The South Carolina Association of School Librarians is a strong network of school librarians working across the state to advocate for school librarianship and our vital role in student achievement. In 2016, for example, the network presented research showing that standardized test scores increase in schools with a full-time, certified school librarian.

Importantly, the research showed that students were more likely to score Exemplary (the highest rating) on South Carolina state testing "where librarians spent 20 or more hours per week teaching." Teaching? The librarian? Yep, the librarian.

It's no accident that librarians hold positions in schools. We are highly trained literacy professionals, in print, visual, digital, and technological formats. The school librarian position requires teaching certification, and gaining that certification requires completion of a master's in library and information science. School librarians can also achieve National Board certification in library media. All of this makes the current trend of eliminating positions or replacing them with assistants, community members, or computer technicians even more troubling.

10 Suggestions for Collaborating With Your School Librarian

1. Certified school librarians take courses in children's and young adult materials, learning American Association of School Librarians standards and building standards-based instructional units using those materials. Revisit your content standards and ask your school librarian how books and readings can be incorporated to reach those standards.

2. Many school librarians serve on book award committees, reading hundreds of new books each year to vote on winners. Secondary classroom teachers may not be aware of the Printz Award, the Odyssey Award, or the Alex Awards, to name just a few. Let us help you bring award-winning books from across the curriculum to your students. Historical fiction and young adult nonfiction science books are vastly underused in classrooms.

3. Classroom teachers know they shouldn't rely on textbooks and PowerPoint presentations as teaching strategies, but they may not know that school librarians can provide reliable online, real-world texts from databases and websites for a student-centered classroom.

4. As you build a classroom library, collaborate with your school librarian to determine which books will ensure diversity and equity-we're professionally trained in building collections with equity, access, and diversity as key components. Your school librarian can supplement your classroom library with the school collection. Ask about ebooks and digital audiobooks, books for displays, and mentor/anchor texts.

5. In our required coursework, we learn how to teach research skills to students, how to retrieve information from all types of databases and web browsers, and how to choose appropriate tools for student use. These are skills that require explicit teaching and are needed across academic disciplines.

6. School librarians read professional journals related to book publishing and literacy as well as lesson plans published by other school librarians to learn how others promote reading in their schools. You can enhance your personal learning network by tapping into your school librarian's network.

7. We also take courses in how to build successful reading programming. We set up reading contests, writing contests, book clubs, book giveaways, reading goals, Skype sessions with authors, and more.

8. School librarians can help classroom teachers implement various reading strategies, such as chunking a difficult text, journaling during reading, listing difficult words encountered while reading, and making reading goals.

9. We can plan events using resources from local public libraries, museums, businesses, community leaders, and more for students to engage in authentic learning experiences. A school librarian can help you connect students with local historical resources, for example.

10. Using information ethically is arguably one of the most important parts of teaching digital literacy, and we teach students how to cite information appropriately, guard their privacy, and share information ethically.

School librarians are passionate about new literacy trends that classroom teachers are eager to implement, and there are several ways they can collaborate:

English language arts teachers and school librarians share similar passions, and we can maximize all of our talents by combining forces to achieve our goal: guiding students to become literacy leaders themselves.

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Collaborating With Your School Librarian

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Ten ways to work with your highly trained colleagues in the library to enhance literacy instruction.

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Learning: With 21st century learning, librarians are called on adapt to the ever-changing roles and expectations in the library. Leveraging technology in the library setting and library design are an on-going area that librarians need to keep up to support 21st century teaching and learning.
Source: Teich, A. G. (2021, October 4). How School Librarians Are Evolving. TechLearningMagazine. https://www.techlearning.com/how-to/how-school-librarians-are-evolving

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(Image credit: Unsplash: Michael Fallon)

The traditional role of school librarian has changed. New technology and changing expectations are causing librarians to reimagine how they support students and teaching in a fast-moving environment. Many have become media specialists, dipping into areas and subjects well beyond the printed word.

Librarians now create and manage learning hubs in which students can interact with one another, the collections, and the physical space itself. In addition, inquiry-based learning, data science, and demand for collaborative working spaces are also transforming the work of librarians.

With the correlation between high-quality school library programs and certified librarians to higher ELA test scores, at-risk learners are benefitting the most. Even as they continue to support reading instruction, librarians encourage students to be self-directed problem solvers, innovators, and creators using the library's resources. Librarians also are providing cross-curriculum reading connections to science and math content areas.

Part of the evolution to a learning hub has meant dramatic changes in the library's design, says Sharon McCubbins, school media librarian and tech coordinator at Cumberland Trace Elementary in Warren Public Schools in Kentucky. "Some libraries now have LEGO walls and active furniture, such as tables on wheels, to provide flexibility to easily and quickly rearrange the space to adapt to each new learning activity," she says. "The library can shift from independent study to group activities quickly by changing the furniture arrangement."

McCubbins first incorporated maker space elements into her library in 2016. She began with puzzles and tinker toys. The next year she received a grant to bring in makerspace materials, coding devices, and robots. "LEGOs and robots are exciting, but not necessary," she said. "Maker spaces don't have to include technology, although they often do."

A maker space allows students a deeper dive into a story by offering a chance to create and share content, McCubbins says.

School Librarian: An Increased Focus on Technology

Amy Buss, instructional coordinator for the Warren Public Schools, says that librarians have now become the tech coordinators in their schools. "During COVID, our librarians stepped up into leadership and coaching roles to help teachers set up Google Classroom and design engaging tasks using technology that was new to them," she says. These are "we'll do whatever it takes" librarian teachers who didn't let challenging restrictions keep them from ensuring that kids-and staff-had continuing access to learning resources throughout the pandemic.

Librarians often lead the teaching of information and media literacy in schools-helping students understand the difference between fact and opinion, teaching students how to evaluate online information and be good digital citizens. Educating students about social media is increasingly important as research indicates the negative impact on middle and high school students in particular.

Many librarians have also become first adopters of new digital tools and platforms, and even lead technology integration for staff, including organizing professional development and training.

They are also being relied upon as a key part of family communication strategies, often tasked with creating and sending emails and newsletters, or creating and maintaining school websites. For example, during remote learning, Shannon McClintock Miller, District Teacher Librarian and Innovation Director, Van Meter Community School District in Iowa, relied on social media tools (opens in new tab) such as Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter to stay connected. "When we went to remote learning in March, our social media became critical because I was able to constantly share items from there," she says. By using multiple social media tools, she can reach every audience.

A typical day in a school library will find it full of students working individually and in groups on laptops, accessing digital resources, reading ebooks, researching databases, learning research skills, and reading print books. Teachers will be reviewing instructional resources curated for them by the librarian, who also introduces them to emerging technologies and new teaching resources.

As school libraries evolve into learning hubs with a range of services and opportunities for both students and teachers that go far beyond checking out books, it is essential for a vibrant school culture to have a full-time, certified teaching librarian on staff.

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(Image credit: Unsplash: Michael Fallon) The traditional role of school librarian has changed. New technology and changing expectations are causing librarians to reimagine how they support students and teaching in a fast-moving environment. Many have become media specialists, dipping into areas and subjects well beyond the printed word.

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Boosting Students’ Literacy Skills With Help From the School Librarian

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Boosting Students’ Literacy Skills With Help From the School Librarian

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Learning: In this reading, collaboration and instructional support from a librarian plays a significant role in improving literacy and reading skills of students. Using inquiry based learning supports both teachers and students to find quality resources and support reading with purpose and understanding.
Source: Hutchinson, E. (2023, February 3). Boosting Students’ Literacy Skills With Help From the School Librarian. Edutopia. Retrieved February 22, 23 C.E., from https://www.edutopia.org/article/improving-literacy-skills-school-librarian

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Teachers in every content area can build partnerships with the school librarian to support students' academic literacy across the curriculum.

Raising literacy levels has always been a priority for schools, and even more so since the pandemic. Literacy is a fundamental skill that can be applied across all academic subjects. As we know, students who are literate are more able to engage with and understand the information they are being given or find for themselves and, in turn, are able to gain a deeper understanding of each subject. It's widely recognized that a student who is literate is more likely to become a confident, self-motivated independent learner.

School librarians have always had a role to play in promoting literacy-especially through reading for pleasure-and because of this, it's often linked to the English department. This is not something that should be dismissed. As we know, students who read widely do better academically, as it introduces them to lots more vocabulary and also supports and engages their imagination.

The Librarian's Role Can Support Policy Development

However, the conversation around literacy seems to have changed over the last few months. There's far more talk about literacy across the curriculum and the need to create cross-school literacy policies. I feel that this is a massive opportunity for the school librarian to demonstrate their role in the wider context.

School librarians have always been a cross-curricula resource. They provide physical and online resources to meet the needs of the teachers and students, but they are also able to teach information literacy skills (including academic reading) through inquiry across all subjects. School libraries and librarians should be included in these policies in order to help teachers understand their wealth of expertise and remind them that the school librarian is there for everyone.

Harness Librarians' Expertise in Academic Reading

There are three aspects to raising literacy levels: first, teaching children how to read; second, supporting those students who need extra help through interventions; and finally, helping students to read academically-the skill that school librarians have the expertise to support.

Academic reading comprises three tiers of vocabulary:

Tier 1: This level includes everyday words that children come across regularly through reading; conversations with their peers; listening to the world around them; watching TV, YouTube, TikTok, etc., such as happy, baby, table, and cloth.

Tier 2: This level relates to academic vocabulary that appears frequently across content areas, such as analyze and evaluate.

To gain access to vocabulary in Tiers 2 and 3, it's important for students to read nonfiction from either physical books or online resources, as fiction doesn't often include these types of words. Because Tier 3 vocabulary is subject specific, our specialist teachers will make sure that students know and understand the keywords for their subject. Tier 2 vocabulary can be found across the curriculum, so it's often the vocabulary that everyone presumes someone else will be teaching.

Inquiry-Based Resources Support Vocabulary Through Reading

School librarians not only can provide the resources that each subject needs but also can ensure, by working alongside teachers, that the topic keywords and Tier 2 vocabulary are accessible (at the right age level or appropriate for students with special needs) within those resources. Because they have an overview of the whole school, they are likely to be aware of what is being taught in various grade levels.

School librarians have a wealth of resources through the IFLA School Library Guidelines and FOSIL (Framework of Skills for Inquiry Learning) that allow them to support teachers across the curriculum. FOSIL is a free framework that can be used worldwide and supports students from prekindergarten to 12th grade. It uses inquiry as the building block of skills that can be taught across all subjects.

School librarians can use inquiry skills to not only teach teachers and students how to find quality resources but also support reading with purpose and understanding and so much more. Inquiry is about helping our students become high-level critical thinkers. Through supporting reading skills, we're helping our students go beyond the list of facts to gain understanding and meaning.

This is best done by a strong library program linked to the whole school curriculum policy, which will help teachers understand the expertise and role of the librarian within their own subject. Alongside research skills, academic reading needs to be embedded at all levels of inquiry, which means that the resources that the school librarian provides are hugely important.

Collaboration Between Teachers and Librarians is Key

Teachers and the school librarian need to work together to ensure that the resources needed are not only available but also age appropriate. This is only possible through collaboration. It's important that the school librarian not be an afterthought in this process. If teachers need time to plan a lesson, school librarians also need planning time, and ideally this should be done together.

Some school libraries might stock only a small number of resources. However, if given time, it's possible to provide online and physical resources for specific lessons. Planning together will also provide the opportunity to create lessons that include the skills and appropriate keywords to engage students in academic reading with purpose.

If teachers are unsure how to get started, they can use an initial inquiry planning form that is available via the FOSIL website and which helps teachers understand the information that school librarians need in order to be able to help them and their students. This type of planning tool can lead to some great collaboration.

If you want to raise literacy levels at your school, include your school library and librarian. Why struggle to do this on your own if you have an expert in your school who can help? Maybe it's time to have a conversation with your school librarian and find out how they can support academic reading across the curriculum. Finally, check to see if your school library and librarian are mentioned in your literacy policy; if not, that is also a good place to start.

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Boosting Students' Literacy Skills With Help From the School Librarian

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Teachers in every content area can build partnerships with the school librarian to support students' academic literacy across the curriculum. Raising literacy levels has always been a priority for schools, and even more so since the pandemic. Literacy is a fundamental skill that can be applied across all academic subjects.

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Learning: Collaboration is an important role of a librarian, and there are several factors that could hinder you if you are fixed only on success. Listening again to Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset helps me challenge myself to go out of my comfort zone, to take risks, to be creative, and resourceful finding ways to build collaborative atmosphere in the library.
Source: Khan Academy. (2014, August 19). The Growth Mindset [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh0OS4MrN3E

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Administrators on School Librarians Leading Collaboration

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Administrators on School Librarians Leading Collaboration

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Learning: Librarians who are empowered and supported by school leaders and administrators builds confidence for positive collaboration in the school.
Source: American Association of School Librarians. (2020, July 23). Administrators on EDI and School Libraries [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n-peqbB50g

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American Association of School Librarians

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Administrators on School Librarians Leading Collaboration

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About the Article:
Andie Craley, a Manager for Technical Services
and Government Documents Librarian at Harford Community College Library, shares his experience about the ever-changing of roles of librarians, and that how networking and building a collaborative relationship with his community inside and outside of his district have provided family-like support to sustain the needs of the library to serve its patrons efficiently.  Flexibility, compassion, cross-training along with knowledgeable staff, professional development, and valuing teamwork builds effective partnerships.
Learning: What resonates with me about this article is that building a positive relationships helps create teamwork and collaboration. And in my role as librarian, it is important have that "family-like" environment to gain trust, confidence and support.
Citation: Craley, A. (2018). A Community of Collaboration. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 58(2), 73–75. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26588780

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EDT 516 - Resource #1 A Community of Collaborators.pdf