SLIS 794 - Teacher Librarian Interview #2

 

Interview date: February 15, 2022

Librarian and school: Glenda Kern at Haut Gap Middle School, Johns Island, South Carolina

Shared Foundation: Collaborate

This semester, as part of my practicum experience, I have been given the privilege of learning from Haut Gap Middle School’s teacher librarian, Mrs. Glenda Kern. Mrs. Kern and I chose the shared foundation Collaborate from the National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians and School Libraries (American Library Association [ALA], 2017) as a topic of focus for her interview. Specifically referencing the school librarian domains and competencies, we discussed the Collaborate domains Share and Think and how she addresses them with her middle school students.

The domain Share states that, “School librarians promote working productively with others to solve problems by…advocating and modeling respect for diverse perspectives to guide the inquiry process” (ALA, 2017, p. 84). Mrs. Kern shared that she has placed a heavy emphasis on promoting diversity during her interactions with students this year.  One way that she accomplishes this is by consciously choosing diverse books to present during regularly scheduled book talks.  She is also very deliberate in modeling the validity of literature written for less represented student groups, such as LBGTQ+ and diverse culture groups. I especially appreciated the example she set for me regarding LGBTQ+ materials even in the face of immature snickering.  Controversy and conflict are things I naturally tend to avoid but watching her matter-of-fact demeanor reminded me of my experience teaching a health class for eighth grade girls years ago. Although I don't remember who, I was given the advice to run my vacuum cleaner at home and to just practice saying the word, "penis," over and over out loud until it was no longer uncomfortable. I'm not sure if the advice was meant to be humorous or practical but, by the end of the semester, I could speak of any body part or function without blushing!  Mrs. Kern also takes advantage of opportunities of natural dialog with her students. For example, when reminding students of the variety of library materials available to them, she does not shy away from topics that some adults might find uncomfortable but instead encourages them to pursue their unique interests when choosing independent reading material. Her conscious modeling of a respectful acceptance of all perspectives encourages her students to likewise be respectful of each other’s differences.

The domain Think states that, “School librarians facilitate collaborative opportunities by challenging learners to work with others to broaden and deepen understandings and…organizing learner groups for decision making and problem-solving” (ALA, 2017. P. 84). Mrs. Kern shared two specific ways she has successfully met this challenge. One strategy she has used to encourage collaboration is to create a Padlet, a digital collaboration tool, for each respective class so that students can record their individual book recommendations to help peers find their next great book. As a further enhancement the collaboration process, Padlet also allows students to post comments and questions about their classmates’ posts. The comment feature creates great potential for a naturally occurring ‘book club’ to ensue! A second way that Mrs. Kern encourages students to work together and problem solve is by teaching a semester long unit about evaluating online information.  Beginning with trying to differentiate between an original and altered photo, then analyzing the trustworthiness of websites, and finally discussing social media and one’s digital footprint, students are challenged to engage in peer discussions to share their thinking and to come up with viable solutions for these timely issues.

Mrs. Kern notes that most challenging factors in implementing Shared Foundation competencies are managing her time with students and being able to judge what skills students already have and which are lacking or need strengthening. To that end though, in her final comments Mrs. Kern praised the intensity of ALA’s new standards specifically noting the detailed guidance they give librarians and how very meaningful they are to today’s generation of students when compared to library standards of the past.

References

American Library Association. (2017). National school library standards for learners, 

                    school librarians and school libraries.