Re: [LM_NET] Reflection on AASL's new standards

[Paula Yohe <paula_yohe@YAHOO.COM>]

With all due respect --
visionary is wonderful -- however - reality is - they
have to be concrete -- for the majority of end users

and there has to be a reason to use them -- and
normally that means tied to testing and/or funding or
you won't get most supt., administrators, principals
or teachers to use them

I do not mean to sound negative -- but I am at  the
district office now -- and also deal at State level
policy issues

\and unfortunately I have found this to be the case --
there are too many other things that do have concrete
measures and consequences for using --

this is not just for these standards  -- but for any
other standards that are not tested or does not have
funding tied to it.




--- "Beaman, Anita L" <albeam2@ILSTU.EDU> wrote:

> While I also found Sharon's post very thought
> provoking, for me it serves as insight into an
> opposing viewpoint.  I'm very excited about the new
> standards and looking forward to sharing them with
> faculty and adminstration over the next semester.
> For me, the standards seem visionary, not vague. 
> After all, the future of learning (technology,
> knowledge, skills, etc) is constantly changing, and
> specific standards can quickly become antiquated. 
> Specific standards need to be devised at the
> building or district leven and reviewed and revised
> frequently.
> Listening to education/tech gurus like David Warlick
> or Ian Jukes and witnessing what happens every day
> with my students has convinced me that education
> needs to/will change, and I think the new standards
> are the start (just the start) of a new road map for
> school libraries.  Am I doing everything suggested
> by the standards?  No, but I can envision it, and
> I'm seeing glimmers of it throughout our school.  I
> think the new standards expand information  literacy
> beyond the school library in a positive new way. 
> And if I do my job well, I'll be an integral part of
> the future of learning for our students.  I think
> the new standards fit well with what
> educators/adminstrators are hearing and seeing in
> their own professional development, and they can
> become a basis for discussion of the evolving role
> of the school librarian.  Who knew school librarians
> were such visionaries?  (Alright, we did, but now
> let's show them!)
> As for the old standards vs the new, why does it
> have to be either/or?  I recognize the continued
> value of Information Power, which, I will admit has
> much more "practical" (less visionary) standards. 
> I'll still teach these standards/skills, but the
> vison of the new standards will inspire me to teach
> them always in new ways.  I think the power of the
> new standards is that they ask us to move beyond the
> traditional roles we have played, and the
> traditional skills we have taught. What is the new
> definition of information literacy?  Who knows, yet?
>  It's ever changing in today's world, and the point
> is that we need to teach our students to continue to
> be information literate, even as what that means
> changes.
>  
> I'm teaching a class on Information Literacy for
> school library certification candidates at our
> university this semester, and I've organized the
> syllabus by the new standards - 16 weeks allows for
> a week or two of introduction, then we'll study a
> common belief or standard each week.  I'm excited
> about delving into the standards with my students
> and hearing the discussion (good and bad) they will
> provoke.  
> I'm sure some of my students will feel as Sharon and
> many others do, that the standards are not what
> they'd hoped for the profession.  However, as a
> group, I'm hoping we can flesh out what the new
> standards mean for each of us, and for our schools
> and students.  I'm hoping we can identify some
> agreed upon skills, targets, benchmarks, etc. that
> will be relevant to us in this time and place. 
>  I'm hoping the new standards will inspire each of
> my students to write her own future as a school
> librarian, and help her see all the possibilities in
> the future of our profession.
>  
> Anita Beaman
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: School Library Media & Network Communications
> on behalf of Jacqueline Henry
> Sent: Thu 1/3/2008 8:32 AM
> To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
> Subject: Re: Reflection on AASL's new standards
> 
> 
> 
> I must say that Sharon's post has really made me
> think & has helped me to understand why I feel so
> uncomfortable with the new standards.  I expected to
> LOVE them, because of their emphasis on twenty-first
> century learning.  Instead - they feel very
> "slippery" to me.  I have assumed the problem was
> because I have not yet studied them as thoroughly as
> I should - but perhaps there really IS little to
> grab onto. 
> 
> Of course I plan to study the standards more
> carefully.  But what if I decide that I prefer the
> "old" standards?  Do I continue using the standards
> which have been serving my program so well?  Or am I
> somehow obligated to use the new standards?  I tend
> to be an early adapter - so I feel really out of my
> comfort zone with this whole issue.
> 
> I hope this post will generate a lot of discussion. 
> I particularly look forward to hearing from people
> who really like the new standards and have ideas
> about how to translate them into practical teaching
> techniques and curriculum frameworks.
> 
> 
> Jacquie
> 
> "The Librarian, whose job is to heal ignorance, to
> keep life safe for poetry and to put knowledge smack
> dab in the middle of the American way."
> 
> From The Philadelphia Inquirer, 9-20-03
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Jacquie Henry, MLS
> Ruben A. Cirillo High School (GHS)
> Gananda Central School District
> 3195 Wiedrick Road
> P.O. Box 609
> Macedon, NY  14502
> 315-986-3521 x 3144
> jhenry@gananda.org
> Library Page:
>
http://www.gananda.org/library/mshslibrary/indexgcl.htm
> Blog:
>
http://nlcommunities.com/communities/wanderings/default.aspx
> 
>
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Paula Yohe
Director Of Technology/Library Media Center
Dillon School District Two
405 West Washington Street
Dillon, SC 29536
Phone: 843-841-3604 Fax:843-774-1214
paula_yohe@yahoo.com


      
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