Assignment #2: Empower a Community of Learners

Picture fromhttps://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model

There are so many benefits for all involved in collaboration within our school.  According to, Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons, 2014, facilitating collaboration cultivates and empowers a community of learners.  Hayes, 2014 states that collaboration among teachers has been identified as one of the key ingredients for successful school improvement and increased teacher satisfaction.  As for students fortunate enough to work with a collaborative team of teachers, there are multiple studies to demonstrate greater success in student learning and an increase in achievement (see http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-2/librarians.html).  As a Teacher Librarian, I have the opportunity to make an impact on teaching practices and the potential to help teachers evolve their teaching approaches.  I am using the SAMR model approach to change (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition and the impact of technology on teaching and instruction), to look at where two teachers are currently at with their practice and then outline the potential of where we can go, working collaboratively.

I was fortunate to have a teacher in our school, Miss. Harmony, who wanted to work collaboratively with me (the Teacher Librarian), and her grade 6/7 class this past month.  Miss Harmony and I have worked together in her class before doing small book clubs so our working relationship is solid and we have mutual trust.  She came to me with little time for her students to cover a social studies unit on identity, society and culture: comparing Canada with other countries (IRP, Social Studies, Grade 6,P.41).  This month alone found her having the Health Nurse in for talks with the grade 7’s, FSA tests, two pro-d days, Family Day and four ski days for the class.  It left her little time for academics and limited time to cover this topic.  This is her second year in our school, but she has over seven years of teaching experience.  She sees value in using technology in the classroom, as she feels her students respond well and are more engaged than when working with print resources.  Students in her class have used computers to watch study jam science videos and have typed out some assignments.  However, she is concerned about how much time it takes to have students work on computers.  She was looking for a way for the students to have easy access to information and not have to spend hours searching.  Applying the SAMR  model, Miss Harmony sits in the Substitution level, with the typed out copies of an assignment being a substitution of the students’ written work and students being given a website link for study jams, thus a teacher directed lesson.  For this new unit of study on Canada, Miss Harmony decided on the criteria for what she needed her students to learn and I offered various resources for her to use with her class. 

Picture from https://www.newlenoxlibrary.org/culturegrams

I demonstrated to Miss Harmony the ease of using a new resource, Culturegrams, where all students in the class would have access to up to date information, they can all use the resource at the same time on their exact topic, and had 200 countries to choose from to compare to Canada.  I spent time in the class with the teacher and walked students through various aspects of the site.  We then allowed time for the class to explore the site on their laptops, before having students begin their comparison of countries.  I helped students find extra information for their research through the use of the district digital resources.  Miss Harmony opted on having students present their learning in the form of a poster, with pictures, text, and graphs printed off.

I feel I was able to help Miss Harmony move into the Augmentation level with our use of technology with her class.  With a small amount of support she was able to make a change in her teaching practice and found that the use of technology did make teaching easier.  She gained insight into a new resource to use with her students.  Students used technology for their information research, learned to make comparison graphs, watched slideshows and videos, and downloaded pictures (citing their finds, too!).  Miss Harmony saved time gathering materials and resources by working with me and students met their prescribed learning outcome efficiently, which was a goal for Miss Harmony.   Miss Harmony is now more comfortable using technology for research in her classroom.  This was one small step for Miss Harmony to help her gain confidence with the use of technology.  If Miss Harmony was allotted more time to experiment with other aspects in technology, such as at a professional development day or our curriculum meetings, then she could have practice time and continue to build up her confidence in the use of technology.  Allowing time for collaboration would allow me the opportunity to demonstrate other new resources.  For example, to continue helping Miss Harmony grow in her teaching practice in regards to the use of technology and help her move to the modification level, I would encourage Miss Harmony to have students use something like Google

Docs for the students to present their learning instead of a cut and paste poster.  With Google Docs, students would be able share their work directly with the teacher and receive peer and teacher feedback as they worked.

Another teacher in our school, Miss Hugs, was willing to try collaborative teaching with me.  She has been a primary teacher for about 15 years and we have been in the same school for three years.  We have a friendly relationship and I have helped solve minor technology problems in her class over time and so she knows I am willing to help.  With a promise of being with her each step, Miss Hugs accepted an offer from me to try using just a bit of technology in her grade 2/3 class instead of doing her usual research topic with print resources and learning demonstrated through a book report.  She is not even in the Substitution level, as Miss Hugs has never used computers with her class.  Miss Hugs was doing a life science unit on animals (IRP, Science, Grade 2,p.25).  I set the students up with their passwords and they quickly learned to log on.  I role modelled with the students how to search, copy, and save pictures of an animal on the internet using our digital World Book Encyclopedia (a new resource to Miss Hugs).  Once students chose their animal and found and saved 5-7 pictures, I introduced digital storytelling. 

Picture from https://americantesol.com/blogger/teach-with-digital-storytelling/

 I demonstrated how to upload their pictures, add captions, add music, and order their pictures.  Students LOVED recording their voice, as they talked about each picture describing the appearance, habitat, life cycle, classification, and diet of their animal.  Once all students completed their project, they were shared with the class and students classified their fellow classmates’ animal as a mammal, reptile, amphibian, etc. after listening to the recorded stories.  We then emailed the presentations to parents.

I feel that Miss Hugs made a huge step in her teaching practice!  She took a risk and went from no computer use, skipped over the substitution level and collaboratively we augmented and modified her lesson.  Miss Hugs is willing to experiment more with her current practice, is open to change, and immensely enjoyed the collaboration!  It was a small step together but an impressive demonstration of the value of collaboration.  The more you practice something the better you become at it, so Miss Hugs knows she needs to keep using technology in her classroom to become more comfortable and work her way through the SAMR levels.  Few factors stand in the way for Miss Hugs and I to continue collaborating.  Miss Hugs is open to continue collaborating and our professional rapport has only strengthened.  Access to all ideal resources due to limited library budgets and time to get together to collaborate are the only factors that could hamper our gains with her students’ learning.  We hope to use extra time at the ends of our curriculum meetings and lunch hours to collaborate and continue experimenting with different resources, new practice means, and are ready to start in on other research projects in the new curriculum.

Collaboration was a winner for Miss Harmony, Miss Hugs and me.  My colleagues were inspired by trying something new and so was I!  The ripple effect found students engaged with their learning and all students in both classes feeling success, as all of them completed the assignment.  Parents of Miss Hugs’ students loved the opportunity to see their child’s learning in a new format.  Time allotted for collaboration will motivate teachers to adapt their teaching practices and consequently their teaching effectiveness will improve.   With the new curriculum focussing on research and inquiry models, it is a perfect time for our school to look at how we want to structure our learning to make lessons more interactive and engaging.  I believe an increase in teacher librarian hours would allow for more flexibility in the schedule meaning, more teachers have opportunity to work collaboratively with the teacher librarian.  We can look at how techniques and resources need to be shared for more powerful learning. Helping students with their information processing and analysis skills will help to create lifelong learners.  It is a gradual process that requires time, trust, and connecting to truly infuse technology into teaching and learning, which will enhance our learning successes.

Picture from http://www.parkviewalliance.com/life-long-learning/

References

Bced.gov.bc.ca,. (2016). Curriculum. Retrieved 4 March 2016, from https://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/welcome.php

Canadian Library Association,. (2014). Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada. Retrieved 4 March 2016, from http://clatoolbox.ca/casl/slic/llsop.pdf

Cea-ace.ca,. (2016). Library to Learning Commons | Canadian Education Association (CEA). Retrieved 4 March 2016, from http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/library-learning-commons

Cea-ace.ca,. (2016). Library to Learning Commons | Canadian Education Association (CEA). Retrieved 4 March 2016, from http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/article/library-learning-commons

Culturegrams.com,. (2016). CultureGrams: Concise, reliable, and up-to-date country reports on 200 cultures of the world. Retrieved 4 March 2016, from http://www.culturegrams.com/

Ericdigests.org,. (2016). Teachers and Librarians: Collaborative Relationships. ERIC Digest.. Retrieved 4 March 2016, from http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-2/librarians.html

Google.ca,. (2016). Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.. Retrieved 4 March 2016, from https://www.google.ca/docs/about/

Sites.google.com,. (2016). SAMR Model - Technology Is Learning. Retrieved 4 March 2016, from https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model