Exploring with Ms. Burbage

Background

Kelly Burbage is the Teacher Librarian at Mitchell Math and Science Elementary School. Mitchell has 320 students in pre-kindergarten through 5th grade. As a math and science-focused school, students are encouraged in their core and related arts classes to explore various topics and much of the learning is student-centered with inquiry-based activities. The library runs on a fixed schedule and students rotate through once per week. Students can also come into the library in the morning and afternoon for reader's advisory and checkout.

The Standard

The AASL defines the competency of Explore in the following way:

"Discover and innovate in a growth mindset developed through experience and reflection"

How She Does It

As a math and science school, there are plenty of opportunities for Kelly to use student-centered activities for her students to explore. One challenge she discussed was the difficulty for her to co-plan with teachers. She said that it's just not possible on a fixed schedule. 

Instead, she works to keep up with what they're doing in each of the content areas but has had to "be intentional" about reaching out to the teachers. 

To promote exploration in the library, Ms. Burbage does a variety of STEM activities that promote critical thinking and making. 

She will often pair a read-aloud with an activity where the students have to create something that relates to the story. One of her favorite activities was about shoes. After reading books about shoes (Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelt & Whose Shoes are These by Laura Salas) she showed them a video about shoe manufacturing. The students then used Intelligent Stix to create a machine that would attach to their shoes and then they demonstrated it to the class. 

She states that she "love(s) when a class comes into the library and recognizes the subject (she's) reading about from their classroom instruction. It helps them to understand that the classroom isn't a bubble".

Final Thoughts

Kelly Burbage is an absolute treasure for the students and staff of Mitchell Math and Science Elementary. She has established the library as a place to learn, make, tinker, refine and fix and students clearly feel safe; learning from their mistakes as they explore the standards and the world around them. 

American Association of School Librarians (2018). National school library standards for learners, school librarians, and school libraries. Chicago: American Library Association.

Explore. (n.d.). photograph. Retrieved from https://standards.aasl.org/shop/

Engage with Ms. Henley

Background

Ms. Susan Henley is the Teacher Librarian at Academic Magnet High School in North Charleston, South Carolina. Academic Magnet is a school with 642 students, grades 9 - 12. It is known as an academically rigorous program and is currently named the number 1 high school in the U.S. by U.S. News and World Report.
The Academic Magnet library runs on a flexible schedule and is open to students both before and after school. The library offers a print and digital collection, research databases, a learning commons area, printing, and reference services.

The Standard

The AASL defines the competency of Engage in the following way:

"Demonstrate safe, legal, and ethical creating and sharing of knowledge products independently while engaging in a community of practice and an interconnected world."

How She Does It

Susan uses real-world experiences to explicitly teach research skills. She states that "ethically using information is one of the best skills that we can teach our students". As the majority of her students are self-motivated and academically gifted, ensuring that she engages them by facilitating student-centered inquiry experiences is an integral part of her library program's success. This all starts with teaching the teachers. In fact, Ms. Henley stated that coaching teachers to use the databases is perhaps the most important part of her job. 

She feels that by empowering the teachers to feel comfortable teaching the ethical and responsible use of information is the best way that she can ensure that her students think, create, share, and grow while "engaging in a community of practice and an interconnected world" (AASL. 2018).

Final Thoughts

Ms. Henley works to ensure that her teachers and students have the ability to fully engage with the world around them in a meaningful way. She equips them with the knowledge of how to gather and use information in a responsible way so that they ultimately become better students, and more importantly, better citizens. 

American Association of School Librarians (2018). National school library standards for learners, school librarians, and school libraries. Chicago: American Library Association.

Engage. (n.d.). photograph. Retrieved from https://standards.aasl.org/shop/

Curating with Carol

Background

Carol Smith is the Teacher Librarian at North Charleston Creative Arts Elementary (NCCAE). NCCAE is a school located in North Charleston, South Carolina and serves pre-K through 5th grade.
There are 460 students at this arts-focused school, and each student has the opportunity for intense instruction in visual arts, performing arts and music.
The library at NCCAE runs on a flexible schedule meaning that it is open for checkout anytime during the day and teachers sign-up to come to the library for collaborative projects or alternative workspaces. 

The Standard

The AASL defines the competency of curating in the following way:

"Make meaning for oneself and others by collecting, organizing, and sharing resources of personal relevance"

How She Does It

Carol was fortunate to be the first librarian at NCCAE and was heavily involved in developing the collection. In fact, she got to select every single book in the library. In her free time, she "reads" her shelves, moving misshelved books to the right spot and refreshing her memory of where titles are located. She believes that knowing her collection is the first step at being adept at curating.

Carol can often be seen doing reader's advisory and recommends that librarians talk to their students one on one to find their interests. She likes to "serve them with books!".

With a flexible schedule, Carol often co-teaches with the classroom teachers, coming alongside them both in the planning phase through assessment. This often involves curating a collection of materials that support the standards, as well as ensuring that the materials are appropriate for the interest and reading levels of the students.

Carol advises that librarians should "read the books on (their) shelves". Librarians need to know their collection so that they can direct students and continue to curate meaningful collections. She states "students need to be able to trust your recommendations".


Carol keeps herself apprised of all of the book award committee activities, especially the South Carolina Association of School Librarian Book Awards. She does this so that she can be both specific and personal in her purchases and recommendations.

Additionally, she keeps a running list of books that students request and has both a suggestion box and a clipboard that is accessible to both students and teachers, the clipboard has a big sign that reads "I Want..."

Final Thoughts

By soliciting requests from all stakeholders, Carol can be sure that she has a collection that is meaningful and useful. She ensures that she has collection (digital and print) from which she can curate a relevant and purposeful collection.

American Association of School Librarians (2018). National school library standards for learners, school librarians, and school libraries. Chicago: American Library Association.

Curate. (n.d.). photograph. Retrieved from https://standards.aasl.org/shop/

Collaboration with Ms. Cooper

Background

Leslie Cooper is the librarian at Stiles Point Elementary in James Island, South Carolina. Her school has a little over 700 students, grades pre-K through 5th. Her library runs on a partial flex schedule meaning that she has scheduled class and check-out time for kindergarten through 2nd and teachers can schedule time in the library for the rest of the day.

The Standard

The AASL defines the competency of collaboration in the following way:

"Work effectively with others to broaden perspectives and work toward common goals."

How She Does It

Leslie admits that prior to the administrative decision to transition to a partial flex schedule, she found it very challenging to collaborate with classroom teachers as while they were in planning sessions, she had their students in library class. To overcome the lack of facetime with teachers, she worked to come alongside teachers to teach skills in the library that would complement their content. If she heard that a teacher was doing a research project, she would change her plans and teach students about databases and citing their sources. Rather than teach the whole research process (which may be a different method than the classroom teacher is using) she taught components of research.

As she was a member of the related arts team, she had a common planning time with the computer teacher. She would leverage that time to develop projects that she could split with the other teacher. While the computer teacher may discuss and teach different mediums for a project (google slides, powerpoint, etc.) she would curate digital and print resources that supported the standard they were teaching.

Leslie works to collaborate with all of the different teachers in her building including art and music and states that collaborative projects co-taught by a classroom teacher and a librarian need not fit one certain mold "you do what works for your teachers, it needs to be on their terms, not ours!".

Recognizing that "everyone has a lot on their plates" helps her to figure out how she can come alongside teachers to lighten their load while introducing all of those important research and inquiry skills to her students.

Final Thoughts

Leslie's thoughts on the importance of collaboration can be summed up in this one statement:

"Relationships are more important to me than my paycheck!"

Understanding her role in collaboration has allowed her to become an invaluable member of her school's instructional team.

American Association of School Librarians (2018). National school library standards for learners, school librarians, and school libraries. Chicago: American Library Association.

Collaborate. (n.d.). photograph. Retrieved from https://standards.aasl.org/shop/