Katkin’s weBLOG

Have you ever had the feeling that you were in the right place, at the right time? After reading through the articles published in the July 2008 issue of School Libraries Worldwide, that’s exactly how I am beginning to feel. After years of advocating for quality school library programs and promoting the role of the teacher-librarian as an instructional partner, it has become clear that the school library is poised to play a key leadership role in how students learn in the 21st century.

In Towards a transformative pedagogy for school librarian 2.0, authors Marlene Asselin and Ray Doiron identify the characteristics of today’s students and describe how “new literacies” are “constantly evolving.” These new learners are arriving at school with technological skills that differ greatly from their predecessors. Rather than dismiss their new skillsets, we need to look for ways to capitalize on what our students are already able to do with technology outside our classroom. For example, at first glance, social networking and video games may seem out of place in our instructional programs, but there is mounting evidence that recognizes “the connections between play and learning” (Sanford, 2008). In addition to supporting new ways of informal learning through socialization and entertainment, students are practising critical thinking and problem solving skills that are transferable to other areas of their lives.

Teacher-librarians find themselves in a rather unique position these days, as they have the opportunity to re-invent their role and develop more “meaningful user-centered services and programs” (Asselin & Doiron, 2008) that will engage and support this new generation of learners. In Youth and their virtual networked worlds: Research findings and implications for school libraries, Dr. Ross Todd encourages us “to rethink, re-imagine and recreate a dynamic learning environment for school libraries.” By moving the instructional program beyond accessing, locating and evaluating information, school libraries can focus on providing students with the following “essential knowledge-developing competencies:”

• critical thinking and communication competencies
• knowledge creation processes
• ability to develop arguments, positions and viewpoints
• dealing with conflicting ideas and evidence
• constructing creative and meaningful representations of new knowledge
• communicating ideas in thoughtful ways

(Source: Ross J. Todd – Youth and their virtual networked worlds: research findings and implications for school libraries)

So just how exciting is it to be working in school libraries in the 21st century? Listening to educator Joyce Valenza as she describes the most challenging year of her teaching career, there is not only positive change in the air, but re-newed enthusiasm and joy in learning… for both students and teachers. Joyce Valenza’s Manifesto entitled You know you’re a 21st century school librarian if you… provides a template for making the school library more relevant for today’s new learners. In conversation with students who have grown up connected online, we hear how increased access to new technologies in the library is highly valued, both for academic and social reasons. What is most encouraging is that students also identify “the human touch” of interacting with school library staff and view them as collaborative partners in their learning. “They value the real-time presence of and interaction with school librarians, their personal responsiveness and immediacy of help in their journey” (Todd, 2008).

The theme of “new learners, new literacies, new libraries” is coming to the forefront just as our teacher-librarian group is preparing to update our professional learning plan for the next few years.  As we sit down to identify both our short and long terms goals, it will be necessary for our teacher-librarian group to discuss the evolution of new literacies and how we can best support new learners through our school library program.  Revisioning our leadership role from within our schools will be critical to facilitating transitions during times of change, as well as addressing our division’s priorities for literacy development programming and implementing differentiated instruction.

I agree with Dr. Ross Todd when he states that “school librarians have a golden opportunity” to provide leadership in navigating the Web 2.0 environment. With our commitment to “inquiry, knowledge construction and communication,” we have already set the foundation from which students can build their new independence. However, even though today’s learners have been dubbed as “more tech savvy” than their teachers and parents, “they still require direction from mentors… like school librarians, in the development of appropriate online critical thinking and communication skills” (McPherson, 2008). Current research also confirms that we have “overestimated the impact of information technology on young people and underestimated its effect on the older generation” (Todd, 2008).

In a recent article in Teacher-Librarian, Allison Zmuda and Violet Harada describe how teacher-librarians “are strategically positioned” to move “from the margins to the mainstream of school leadership” (Zmuda & Harada, 2008). Our divisional leadership team meets this week and we have been asked to bring an article that we have found to be particularly useful to the role of the school or division-based leader. Both Zmuda and Harada heavily endorse the leadership potential of the teacher-librarian in “preparing students for the 21st century.”  The authors remind us that our goal is not to highlight the role of the teacher-librarian, but to support student learning and enhance our practise as teachers.

It would seem that we are embarking on a period of renaissance in our school libraries. Valenza, Asselin, Doiron and Todd are the Petrarchs and Medicis of our times. Whereas the Italian Renaissance unfolded gradually, the Web 2.0 environment shifts rapidly, propelling our school libraries to the frontlines. There is no question that technology is an integral part of our students’ lives, both in and out of school. School libraries are recognizing and addressing new literacies that students will need to be successful in the workplace and in a “global, networked society” (Asselin & Doiron, 2008).

Pre-Web 1.0 Teacher-Librarian meets future Web 2.0 Teacher-Librarian

“Unpack the good stuff you carried from your 20th century trunk” (Valenza, 2007)

With my mother at the grand opening of my first school library (circa 1992)