Final+Report

Home Group Report – LIS 620 - Dr. Baaden Julie Amoroso Ronnie Farrell Anne Johnson Linda McManus Rich Law As a group, we conclude that SLMS' are in a unique situation in which they work in an environment that can lend itself to all five of the teaching methodologies that we have studied. As a SLMS, the five teaching methodologies will be very useful for teaching information literacy due to the array of options available. The Library Media Center and the Library media Specialist are uniquely positioned to support, suggest and foster these methodologies. This has to do with our innate characteristic of flexibility. We can provide learning outside the classroom curriculum, in flexible hours, serve individuals or groups, and may have support staff to assist in meeting student and teacher needs. The SLMC is the place to teach and advocate for 21st Century skills which are supported through these methodologies in one way or another. Rather than thinking about how useful inclusion may or may not be to us in our role as SLMS, let's look at how useful the school library is to the inclusive class: Technology in the library can be used to enhance development and function in children with disabilities. Computers and technology provide ways for children with disabilities to communicate and interact on a more equal level with children who have no disabilities. It also helps them to function as independently as possible. For children whose mobility is limited, email and other Internet tools focus on the content of the communications rather than personality or physical attributes, so that students can interact as equals without the encumbrances which sometimes isolate them, such as wheelchairs, canes or physical appearance. (Tech Inclusion, 2010) In an inclusive arena all students are given the opportunity not only to learn but to access information equally. The SLMS will provide print material in an assortment of reading levels and will also provide ready access to databases in a variety of grade levels through the school's virtual reference collection; discussing these available resources with the special education teacher that works with the inclusive class on a daily basis. As information specialist, the school librarian should always keep inclusion in mind when working on collection development, keeping audio books and other assisted technologies on hand. A welcoming and physically accessible library environment, with access to information technology and electronic information sources, can have a significant effect on the development of confidence, independence and self-esteem in students with learning disabilities. As a group we conclude that the methodology of cooperative learning is very useful in the school library. When the information research process is applied in a cooperative manner, students of varying levels of learning ability assist each other in gathering evidence, classifying it, referencing it and sharing it. Each member of the group contributes to the final project, and then describes their successes and failures in the information search process. The school library is the perfect place for utilizing this method, with its access to multiple sources and its big tables with plenty of room for group projects. In the school librarian's role as instructional partner, this methodology requires collaboration with the classroom teacher. In the information specialist role, the school librarian utilizing cooperative learning must address the library's collection, ensuring diverse sources for students and ample professional texts for their teachers. According to David and Roger Johnson, co-researchers and writers on cooperative learning, there are five basic components that must be in place for “circles of learning” to be successful.
 * 1 – How useful is this methodology (or not) to you in your role as SLMS? **
 * Inclusion: **
 * Cooperative Learning: **

1. Positive Interdependence. 2. Promotive (face-to-face) interaction. 3. Individual accountability. 4. Interpersonal and small-group skills. 5. Group processing. (Callison, 1997) According to Linda McManus, in practice, she has found that this type of instruction works best with high performing, motivated students in homogenous settings (high school.) “Classes with a heterogenous mix of students don't like it because they are not open to working with people they don't consider their friends, and unmotivated students who are not worried about their grade have no problem in holding up the rest of their group. It takes a lot of different strategies and assessment tools to be used by the teacher, which can be cumbersome and exhausting to implement, to get the group to work cooperatively together. Having said that, I do think that these skills of working together and collaborating are important skills to learn. I also think that the school library media center is in a unique situation to do this because of the variety of media that is present, the novelty of the environment which may assist students in being more open-minded since they are out of their ordinary routine, and if it is inquiry based, hopefully that will make it more engaging also”. As a group we conclude that the SLMS can use the teaching methodology of differentiated instruction to guide student learning in various ways, zeroing in on the individual student and the teaching/learning method that will best enhance that student's experience and understanding of the subject matter. Differentiation stems from the belief that different students learn differently, and that the classroom teacher should: first, know what works for each student (by learning about the student both academically and personally); and second, plan varied approaches to the curriculum and assessments. Teachers can differentiate the content of the curriculum, the process by which it is taught, and the product used for demonstrating mastery. Teachers may be also able to differentiate the environment of the classroom by creating centers, quiet corners, technology stations, etc. Differentiation is a way of life for the school librarian. Familiarity with the library's collection will ensure that the librarian can enable each student to get the most out of the resources available to them. Acting as instructional partners, school librarians can collaborate with teachers to design differentiated lessons and assessments. As information specialist, the librarian can create various physical spaces for group and individual study, and design virtual spaces for online study, support and self-evaluation. In her work as a teaching assistant, Anne Johnson witnesses teachers differentiating every day, even though some of them may not think of themselves as doing so. Johnson said, “Maybe a small group goes to the back table to work on extra math problems, or handouts are provided for when assigned work is finished early”. Differentiated instruction has become more commonplace and should be used in just about every classroom, regardless of academic level, due to the variety of learning styles possessed by students, as illustrated by Gardiner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Anne indicates ... " To put it yet another way, it means that teachers proactively plan varied approaches to what students need to learn, how they will learn it, and/or how they will show what they have learned in order to increase the likelihood that each student will learn as much as he or she can, as efficiently as possible (Tomlinson, 2003).”
 * Differentiated Instruction: **

She also mentions ... In the classroom, there are “different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products so that each student can learn” (Tomlinson, 2001)." Differentiated Instruction is a classroom / class teacher methodology and my opinion is that the LMC and LMS can play a valuable role in support of such. As a group we conclude that the LMC that has been structured as a "learning commons" is the perfect environment for the instructional methodology of multiple intelligences. There are many choices within the LMC to accommodate each different intelligence: databases, Websites, a variety of print material, and Playaways (the newest audiobook). Students are free to learn utilizing resources that will enhance their individual learning style, so that an optimal educational experience will be achieved.  The methodology of multiple intelligences (different learners use different intelligences to learn, retain and share information) allows for a robust exchange of information between and among school librarians, students and teachers. It takes advantage of the school library's strengths - including flexible hours, group work, the use of various media and digital information, and even quiet solitary reflection. It challenges the school librarian to broaden the library's collection, and encourages leadership in order to utilize this technique within the curriculum. Therefore, it is extremely useful in the school library. It, too, encourages collaboration between librarians and teachers when planning lessons and projects. In their role as teacher-librarian, school librarians can strive to recognize the different intelligences students are exhibiting, and work to support them by highlighting different sections of the library's collection and/or online resources. As information specialist, the librarian can maintain a professional collection with ample information about this intriguing methodology. "MI challenges us to broaden our collection to include materials that support the seven different types of learning, assessment and sharing styles that constitute MI … Clearly we need to add to, and maintain in, our collections not only books but audio recordings, play-aways, dvd's, author visit's, xbox based educational games, computer simulations, Kindels, iPads and additional "out of the box" circulation materials now and in the future, Rich Law." Problem-based learning is inquiry learning, wherein students are presented with a problem they must first clearly define. They then set about investigating, researching and writing up solutions for the problem. Finally, they present their conclusions and review their performance. This methodology is very useful to the school librarian. As instructional partner, the librarian can collaborate with the content area teacher to develop the problem, and then provide access to databases, websites or print material. The librarian can also provide instruction in the use of information such as how to find it, evaluate it and extract meaning from it. Students involved in this type of inquiry-based, collaborative learning are building information literacy skills which will enable them to become life-long learners. Problem-based learning can be used by the SLMS to create a lesson plan that will actively engage students in the learning process, while fostering social skills. This can be a very different learning experience for students and is an excellent way to get each student actively involved in library research. The idea of presenting a problem and researching information on it in order to present and reflect upon is timely given the information age that we live in and lends itself particuarly well to the school library media due to the variety of sources that should be available. Unfortunately, all the members of this group are of an age in where the above mentioned methodologies were not common practice. All the group members agree that they were not part of inclusive classrooms; “special ed” was segregated from “regular ed” and students were taught by fact accumulation and regurgitation. But, Anne Johnson remembers being in a program called the "interdisciplinary Program" (ID) in junior high school. This program was built upon the model of cooperative learning and problem based learning. Students rotated an English, Social Studies or Science class during first period, and then were to work on group projects for the next two periods. It was fun for the students, but Anne isn't sure just how much learning took place. She thinks the program could have used more teacher and librarian supervision and guidance. The program phased out a few years after that first experimental group moved on to high school.
 * Multiple Intelligences: **
 * Problem-Based Learning: **
 * 2 – Identify any of these methods in your memories of elementary, secondary or higher education and give specific instances or examples of their use. **