Opportunity Knocks

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Starting my third year in the position of Teacher-Librarian at a small JK-Grade 12 independent International Baccalaureate (IB) school on Vancouver Island, BC brings me many opportunities and challenges. The last two years have been focused on supporting the work in the Primary Years Programme (JK - Grade 5). This year, I would like to focus more on finding ways to enhance the resources and services of the Library Learning Commons (LLC) for the students and teachers in Grades 6 - 12 in the Middle Years and Diploma Programmes.

Given the physical constraints of the current LLC, there is not enough space to welcome an entire class to come into the space to work. Therefore, I have been trying to create more of a virtual LLC to support resources for reading and research to reach this part of our community. Given that many of these people already use digital resources to support their learning, do they understand how to use them responsibly and know when something is fact or fiction? Do they know what resources the school subscribes to and how to use them?

What I am starting with:

As a teacher-librarian, there are standards of practice that I am working to achieve in my LLC. One of these is, “cultivating effective instructional design to co-plan, teach, and assess learning” (Canadian School Libraries). Furthermore, this standard is described as:

Knowledge-building, creativity and innovation, and honing of information management and literacy skills are key goals of the learning commons. The intentional teaching of these skills, as well as opportunities to utilize a variety of resources, technologies and spaces to support learning require collaboration and planning and thoughtful instructional design, as does the effective assessment of learning. Learners also need to ‘learn how to learn’ through deliberate design of opportunities to build metacognition of learning skills, process and content. It is essential to support both student and teacher growth and success in these areas. (Canadian School Libraries)

Given my professional context is within the scope of the BC Ministry of Education, I am required to follow the curriculum documentation provided by them. In the Curriculum Overview document is the statement, “Literacy is the ability to understand, critically analyze, and create a variety of forms of communication, including oral, written, visual, digital, and multimedia, in order to accomplish one’s goals” (British Columbia Ministry of Education). Additionally, as my school is a member of the IB World Schools, I also need to follow the IB Organization curriculum and guidance documents.

Given this background, being able to narrow down my exploration topic for my LIBE 477(B) course this semester is difficult due to the fact that I have a variety of interests based on the needs within my community. Outlining them will help me to determine my short-term and long-term plans to support the Grades 6 - 12 community.

عناصر ايفنتو, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

My current goals are to help teach:

1) What is academic integrity? By providing regularly scheduled workshops in collaboration with subject area teachers I will help to support research and writing skills development. I will also provide assistance in how to use the writing tool, TurnItIn Draft Coach, to support writing skills development and a better understanding of academic integrity.

2) How to access a selection of videos that can be accessed “just-in-time” by community members to help them to remember how to access LLC resources. These videos still need to be created.

3) How to curate reliable resources through the use of subscribed databases (EBSCO, Sora Encyclopedia Britannica).

4) How to conduct effective searches on Google by understanding Powersearch tools.

5) How to improve their digital literacy skills by helping students to determine whether something is fact or fiction, finding reliable sources online and using social media platforms appropriately.

6) In addition, to collaborate more with colleagues on how I can support their unit development and co-teach lessons on digital literacy. It is through this work that I hope to coordinate the creation of a scope and sequence of the digital literacy skills being taught.

Key words that will help begin the search for more information on these topics will be:

• Digital literacy curriculum scope and sequence
• Digital literacy skills development
• Academic integrity
• Powersearching
• Resource curation
• Fact or fiction - developing lateral reading skills

During our Professional Learning Community (PLC) time at school this year, I will have the opportunity to learn and reflect with colleagues on my progress in meeting my goal(s) and to find out what would best help them in their work with students. My Library Leadership group of students will also be instrumental in this work as they can provide input into what their needs are and their current knowledge of the LLC services and resources. 

Having been a member of the staff for twelve years, I have seen the power of community working together for the benefit of the students and I am looking forward to progressing with these goals this year. Stay tuned for more information on my journey.


Works Cited

British Columbia Ministry of Education. “Curriculum Overview | Building Student Success.” B.C. Curriculum, Province of British Columbia, 2022, https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/overview. Accessed 18 September 2022.

Canadian School Libraries (CSL). “Leading Learning.” Leading Learning – Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada, Creative Commons, 2020, https://llsop.canadianschoollibraries.ca/. Accessed 18 September 2022.