I have learned so much throughout my MLIS journey at ODU. This program has taught me how to be an effective librarian educator, ready to engage students to think, create, share, and grow. It has also taught me how to be an effective leader for students, school staff, community, and beyond. My portfolio provides insight into my journey and showcases how I have accomplished the ALA/AASL/CAEP School Librarian Standards. The artifacts I included in my portfolio show the understanding I have gained about each standard throughout this program.
Below is a reflection of each standard, along with evidence (my artifacts) on how I met each one.
Standard 1—The Learner and Learning
This is a very important standard to me. As a long-time teacher, building lasting relationships with my students has always been of top priority. Building trust and showing how much you care allows students to feel safe and confident. I feel this standard is where building a positive rapport with students occurs. In order to be an effective librarian educator, it is necessary to first consider the learner. The learner drives the instruction. Not all students learn in the same manner. It is important for an educator to understand the various intellectual levels and learning styles, so they can create impactful learning experiences where students can have choice and reflect on their learning.
My 17 years’ experience as a classroom teacher has mostly been in Title I schools (schools that receive extra funding for the high percentage of economically disadvantaged children), where there is much diversity among the student population. This makes students a wonderful resource when it comes to providing understanding and respect for diverse perspectives through shared experiences. However, providing access to more diverse resources is necessary. My Grant Proposal was designed to do just that. It outlines plans to increase the opportunities for the diverse children of Elizabeth Vaughan Elementary School to read relatable books by putting up Book-Sharing Boxes throughout the neighborhoods of the students. It also aligns with part of Elizabeth Vaughan’s mission of using resources to broaden understanding and respect for the diversity of individuals and cultures from the carefully chosen books that are relatable to students.
My Pathfinder shows the importance of considering student learning differences. Students are able to work through the material in my Pathfinder on ancient Mali at their own pace. Students will find rich images, books from the school library listed, e-books available, websites, and even videos on the 3rd grade Social Studies standard of ancient Mali.
Standard 2—Planning for Instruction
This standard was a little challenging for me. I was so used to planning for content standards, like math, science, and so on, that it took me some time to plan with a librarian standard frame of mind. My Collaboration Unit shows my competence in this standard. It was developed and taught in collaboration with an eighth-grade gifted teacher at Lake Ridge Middle School, Ms. Tallman. Students used inquiry-based learning throughout three lessons. The students learned to locate and evaluate sources which culminated in a personal list of relevant, reliable sources on their chosen research topic. Students were assessed and given multiple opportunities to reflect on the process of locating and evaluating sources throughout the lessons using self-created graphic organizers.
Standard 3—Knowledge and Application of Content
There were many opportunities for me to grow with this standard during my MLIS program. I was fortunate enough to be a part of a Children’s Literature course, a Graphic Novel course, and a Storytelling course, all of which gave me a special insight on reading engagement within the library. My Paired Text Teaching Guide, created during the Children’s Literature course, gives instructional strategies and resources for teaching using the reviewed texts When the Storm Comes by Linda Ashman and Our World Out of Balance by Andrea Minoglio. With the 3rd and 4th grade Science SOLS on weather in mind, the guide was developed to teach students about extreme weather and the effects it has on the ecosystem through reading. Included in the guide are suggested cross curricular activities to help educators promote literature while teaching the challenging science standards. The curated resources (websites and further reading) also induce reading engagement. The Storytelling event created by a colleague and me was specifically designed to teach about diversity and literature through storytelling. We used fairytales from around the world to bring together a diverse community. I curated a list of graphic novels containing “diverse developmental, cultural, social, and linguistic needs” of children and young adults in the Graphic Novel course (American Association of School Libraries, 2019, p.11). The list will prove useful when engaging students in reading. The Graphic Novel course also showed me how a picture can be worth a thousand words and that many students gravitate toward visual learning making graphic novels perfect for student engagement.
With so much information at our fingertips, it is extremely important for students to learn how to navigate that information and judge its worth. My Collaboration Unit shows my skills in teaching critical-thinking and inquiry to students as they curate a list of reliable sources for a school research project. They learned how to navigate their middle school library catalog and various databases located in the electronic resources of the public library. My Collection Development Plan would increase technology-enabled learning by making those types of resources more accessible to the Elizabeth Vaughan student population and the school community.
Standard 4—Organization and Access
Most of my artifacts support my competence of standard 4 because so many of the artifacts focus on making a variety of resources accessible to the student population and their families. My Advocacy Plan demonstrates my ability to listen to my stakeholders’ concerns and create a plan to combat those concerns. My plan makes resources more easily accessible for students and families and it also helps parents learn strategies for effectively accessing resources and information, which they can utilize at home with their student. Standard 4 is another important standard for me. As stated previously, most of my teaching career has been in Title I schools and this student population can be at a disadvantage when it comes to having access to resources. Many of the materials and plans I have made during this MLIS journey have been with those students in mind and based on the data collected from their Title I school.
Standard 5—Leadership, Advocacy, and Professional Responsibility
The MLIS Program has taught me how to be an effective leader, ready to collaborate and offer support and professional development whenever necessary. My VAASL Conference Professional Development write-up reflects the sessions I attended in March 2024. These professional learning sessions focused on the importance of differentiating student learning and giving students a sense of value with the tone that is set within the school library. My Advocacy Plan, Collection Development Plan, and Grant Proposal each propose reaching out to the community is some way and promote access for all, which benefits all the learners within the school.
A part of being a good leader is being able to make appropriate decisions when faced with difficult challenges. The Leadership and Management course allowed me to show how I would examine and approach various ethical dilemmas with my Ethics assignment. Working through ethical dilemmas can be challenging, so it’s nice to know that the American Library Association (2024-a & b) provides helpful resources with the Library Bill of Rights and the Interpretations of the Library Bill of Rights, which provide basic library policies and interpretations of those policies. They are excellent resources I can use to help guide my services.
The ODU MLIS program has equipped me with the knowledge and skills necessary to become a successful school librarian. I look forward to putting all I learned into practice!
References
American Library Association. (2024-a). Interpretations of the library bill of rights. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations
American Library Association. (2024-b). Library bill of rights. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill
American Association of School Libraries. (2019). ALA/AASL/CAEP School Librarian Standards.https://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aasleducation/ALA_AASL_CAEP_School_Librarian_Preparation_Standards_2019_Final.pdf