Can you recall the last time you visited a doctor due to an injury or illness? As you dealt with the pain, you undoubtedly considered what actions your physician would take to remedy your situation. Much like a doctor diagnoses medical problems, a school library media specialist must assess learner needs, instructional practices, and information processes in order to effectively carry out his/her role as a teacher of information literacy skills.
Artifact 1 is a collaborative lesson plan that demonstrates how an 8th grade social studies teacher and I examined what his students needed to learn and how we identified their preferred learning styles. The students read the correlating textbook information beforehand in order to establish some background knowledge. During my internship, I also did research using the paper documentation provided in the MCPS social studies curriculum guide. With this information, I helped arrange the format of this assignment to be totally accessible from the school's webpage via curriculum links (Artifact 2). Open the Treatment of the Disabled link as an example. My mentoring school library media specialist uploaded the information I provided in a format consistent with the other curriculum links that the school uses. This learning experience was further enriched with information literacy by having each group of students present their findings in a simple PowerPoint. (Artifact 3 provided the students with an example of a finished product.)
My partner and I both understood that the students needed to learn the social studies content
which required a "description of the impact of the various reform movements including the abolition movement." There was an even broader need, however, to incorporate the appropriate literacy skills to accomplish this learning. These information skills included applying strategies for utilizing computer/online resources; applying appropriate note taking processes to gather information; and generating appropriate formats to display information.
Reinforcing comprehension, analysis, and synthesis skills and distinguishing between relevant and extraneous information were probably the most important, yet most challenging skills to teach within this lesson. This was due to the long, wordy documents. The format of the Social Reform Note-Taking Template in Artifact 2, however, guided the students to search only for what was relevant to their needs. The headings helped students to identify specific information about the social problem, who was impacted, what methods were used, and what changes were achieved in the various reform movements. By anticipating needs and finding efficient methods of integrating information skills into content lessons, I am able to work with teachers to deliver prescriptive learning experiences. Hopefully, these experiences will lead to a prognosis for students who are successful, information-literate citizens.
OBJECTIVE: Knowledge of Learners and Learning
