What does awesome look like?

Awesome to me, as a librarian, is when a lesson/ unit is designed collaboratively with the classroom teacher and the librarian. When designing a lesson we keep the student and the end in mind. Together the classroom teacher and I discuss the skills and standards we want the students to have mastered in the end. Then as we begin to plan the unit, we are able to integrate our skills and content in an inquiry based lesson or unit that is student focused and we as the teachers act as facilitators. Each of the units take the students through the WISE process where they are required to ask questions, investigate, synthesize, and express. Through this process students are taking charge of their own learning and developing critical thinking skills where they are required to infer and apply knowledge in order to make decisions.

One of my favorite units that we did last year & have just started doing again this year is with fourth grade. The entire fourth grade teaching staff worked collaborative with Megan and I to set up an inquiry based unit that integrated, SS,  english language arts, information literacy and technology skills. We followed the process that I discussed above to create this unit. This is a student centered activity where students are given the EQ: If you were a colonist living in NY during the time of the American Revolution would you have been a loyalist or a patriot? Students have to build evidence for their decision and are walked through the entire inquiry process. Students need to figure out what they need to know, develop questions, use the resources and skills they are taught through instruction from me (databases, primary resources, encyclopedias, keyword searching, etc.), then they need to synthesize their information and often times make inferences from the information they have gathered. Once they have gathered information they need to evaluate whether they have enough information and are ready to develop a knowledge project or if they need to go back through the cycle of inquiry and gather more evidence to make their decision. In the end students have to create a knowledge product that shows their decision to become a loyalist or a patriot backed with evidence from their research. Last year all the kids produced an i-movie, but this year since each of the students have an ipad, they have a much larger toolbox of apps and they are able to app-smash to create an individualized knowledge product.

When looking at our notes from the last meeting on PBLs, this unit has everything in it from driving questions, inquiry, need to know, voice and choice, revision, and reflection, significant content, and 21st Century Skills. One area we could continue to work on is the public audience. Although we do share the knowledge products with the class, it would be nice if we could make it a bit more authentic.

One final thought is just like Megan mentioned in her meeting about making her learners (us) aware of the way her instruction was set up. When teaching this unit, the teachers and I make the students aware of each stage of inquiry that they are going through when trying to answer their question. After all we want to provide students with the life-long skills that they will need to solve problems, why not make they cognitively aware of the steps as they are going through them?  One tool that really seems to help with this is the Inquiry poster that Lynne Gauger and I designed last year.

As a librarian, I am beyond excited to be able to work at a school where the teachers are willing to collaborate with me on this unique and valuable approach to learning. It is AWESOME that we are providing students with the skills to take charge of their own learning, collaborate, create, and critically think. These are skills that they will need to be life-long learners. If they have they skills they will be equipped for success and that is AWESOME!