Blog Post 4: Technology Leadership Role of School Librarians

The standards for the 21^st Century Learners advocates equipping students to navigate technology while increasing critical thinking and collaborating skills (American Association of School Librarians, 2015).  Because of the nature of the library, it is imperative that librarians embrace these same philosophies.  The library is the one place in the school building where students are expected to function independently from teachers.  It is a place where inquiry learning is considered ideal. The holistic approach embraced by the 21^st Century Standards addresses personal and aesthetic growth, knowledge sharing and ethics, and inquiry and critical thinking (21^st Century Standards, 2015). 

The traditional library was mainly concerned with curating a collection of books and was happiest with all materials accounted for and tidily shelved.  A better use of a librarian is to focus on the student users rather than the collections.  The standards stress critical thinking skills because without them the use of technology is limited to prescriptive uses.  It is what the student user does with the new technologies that makes the difference between rote and inspired learning.  Typically, the education establishment ignores what students do outside of school, but teachers and librarians need to tap into the skills that students use regularly with social media and gaming to extend their understanding of how to use the library as a time saving and efficient resource (Jaeger, 2014, p. 5).  The education establishment must stop fighting the social aspects of technology and instead join students where they are comfortable.  Part of the responsibility for the bullying and rude behavior on social media can be attributed to educators ignoring the phenomena.  If instead, teachers, administrators, and librarians embraced it and taught students the educational and collaborative connections between social media and learning perhaps the negative aspects of social media could be minimized.  Generally when teaching students about technology, ethics is often overlooked in favor of manipulating and using the tool.  However, it is important as the standards suggest to “use information and technology ethically and responsibly” and the teacher-librarian can provide the perfect environment to practice these skills (21^st Century Learners, 2015).

Teachers are expected to accomplish so much every day grading, planning, classroom management, and communicating with parents and administration.  The collaborating required by current standards must be accomplished using online tools to save time and not create an added burden.  Librarian must create useful collaborative relationships in order to ease this burden and introduce easy to use tools to accomplish this in order to join in the curricular goals of the school.  Along the same lines, today’s employers expect students to be able to use 21^st Century tools to communicate and collaborate with colleagues in the next room or on the next continent.  Access to these skills is not available to everyone because some “children lack access to this new “hidden curriculum” outside the school hours and face policies in school that block them from exploring these emerging spaces for creativity and collaboration (Johns, 2008, p. 5).  Libraries can close this gap and provide the access needed so all students will have an equal opportunity to be successful.

The benefits the librarian can bring to teachers whose assignments include research is unlimited. It is time for the “research packet” and “fact-fetching” assignments to go (Jaeger, 2014, p. 5).  Students must follow a line of inquiry using primary source documents and write term papers that include non-fiction elements.  Librarians are very familiar with every facet of the research process and searching for information and as such are uniquely positioned to augment a teachers work in this required curriculum element.  Research skills will benefit students forever and a collaborative effort to ensure they are successful at it.

Finally, the most meaningful and life-long learning skill is the ability to be self-aware and reflective. Since learning is a reciprocal process, students must be taught to analyze the work they have completed to determine the next step in the process of whatever assignment they are completing.  This cannot be accomplished by filling in worksheets.  Students need the freedom to explore information with relevant skills and teachers need to collaborate with experts in the building to accomplish this goal.  Together teachers and librarians can push students to do their best work.

References:

American Association of School Librarians (2007). Standards for the 21^st-century learner.    Retrieved from:              http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_Learning_Standards_2007.pdf

Jaeger, P. (2014). Repackaging research: Rigor and relevance for 21^st-century learners.         School Library Monthly, 31(1), p. 5-7.

Johns, S.K. (2008). AASL Standards for the twenty-first-century learner: A map for student    learning. Knowledge Quest 36(4), p. 4-7.