the library practicum

Page’s Purpose:

The information found herein is in partial fulfillment of the LIS courses I’m currently taking as part of MIS degree at Southern Utah University. The evidence presented is in support of my knowledge of the the ALA/AASL/CAEP Librarian Preparation Standards.

In addition to the artifacts included on this page, a curriculum vitae and statement of my educational philosophy can be found here. If you are a professor from SUU, you can find my practicum hours here (unless you’re my current professor in which case my hours have been logged on the form you supplied in Canvas).

Please note that this page will be updated at least bi-annually.

Standard 1: The Learner and Learning

Candidates in school librarian preparation programs are effective educators who demonstrate an awareness of learners’ development. Candidates promote cultural competence and respect for inclusiveness. Candidates integrate the National School Library Standards considering learner development, diversity, and differences while fostering a positive learning environment. Candidates impact student learning so that all learners are prepared for college, career, and life.

Standard 1.1 Learner Development. Candidates demonstrate the ways learners grow within and across cognitive, psychomotor, affective, and developmental domains. Candidates engage learners’ interests to think, create, share and grow as they design and implement instruction that integrates the National School Library Standards.

Being able to engage all students in one lesson is a falsehood that is, in modern pedagogical study, upheld as truth more often than not, especially in light of the deification of standardized exams and prescribed curriculum offered up in compensation for teacher intensification. However, what is true, is that each of our students are at unique developmental stages and that our role as librarians is to attempt to meet every student where she is and guide her, via our resources, toward an individual who has the ability to successfully contribute to her life, her community, and her nation. To illustrate my understanding of this librarian duty, I offer my lesson plan on media literacy created for my LIS 6100 course.

The lesson engages students by tapping into their video laden world, providing them with the language and knowledge they need to decode that world, and assists them in practicing their analytical and presentation skills. Find the lesson attached here: Library Inquiry Lesson: Medium & Message.

Standard 1.2. Learner Diversity. Candidates articulate and model cultural competence and respect for inclusiveness, supporting individual and group perspectives.

This standard’s ambiguity regarding “cultural competence” makes it difficult for me concur with the standard as presented. If cultural competence means an adherence to erecting displays that match the celebratory months in order to show support for group perspectives, then I cannot demonstrate competence.

However, if cultural competence means that I greet each patron as a member of my campus community, impress upon them the expectations of the library, and invite them to explore the wonders contained therein without alteration, then I will point to my interactions with students. A few opt to come in and assist me during their lunches; one comes in when there is a substitute (I’ve checked that his teachers are okay with this) as well as during lunch, and he moves things about and I listen to his digressions and observations and ask questions when I can to pivot his thoughts to differing perspectives. Today he stayed after his last final and moved a great many heavy art books that need adding to the collection from the wall that needs to be painted to the back room where they can wait. He commented, almost surprised, that he is “more helpful here [in the library] than [he] is at home.” When asked why, he said that it’s because I treat him with respect. I responded that that’s what I’m supposed to do. I also shush him when he gets too loud, remind him to put things back, and ask him to move heavy things — in other words, I expect him to act like a polite young man and correct him towards that behavior. It is what I do with each student that enters our learning commons - the expectations are the same: respect self - respect place - respect others — and when those expectations are not met, correction is given and, if it’s still not met, consequences meted and second chances earned.

Still, I’ve no displays celebrating one gender over the other, nor any photos illustrating how one pigmented group is spotlighted over another, nor any other item that may satisfy this requirement. The only thing I do have is my certainty that every individual who enters will be greeted, assisted, and welcomed into the space I designed to help them believe in themselves.

Standard 1.3 Learning Differences. Candidates cultivate the educational and personal development of all members of a learning community, including those with diverse intellectual abilities, learning modalities, and physical variabilities.

The photo to the left demonstrates my understanding of a cultivation of patrons’ educational and personal levels despite their mental and physical abilities and aptitudes. Most specifically, the photo illustrates recognition of possible physical limitations of patrons as the width of the area, which will ultimately house a table and four chairs, allows for those in wheel chairs or on crutches or unbalanced to have enough room to move around the shelves without bumping into the bookcases or other patrons. Additionally, the bottom row of novels is pushed to the edge of the shelf to allow for easier access to patrons with limited mobility.

What the image does not illustrate is the varying reading levels held in the works remaining in the collection. While the volumes average 20 years old and will need replacing, I’ve attempted to retain both higher and lower reading levels in every area so that patrons interested in a subject will be more likely to find a volume they can read.

Standard 1.4 Learning Environments. Candidates create both physical and virtual learner-centered environments that are engaging and equitable. The learning environments encourage positive social interaction and curation and creation of knowledge.

A neon outline of the Las Vegas Strip from the east side and of the mountains that loom over the campus; an Abraham Lincoln portrait as Batman; a metal image of chocolate crystals that look like sunrise over a calm ocean. Butcher block tables and bench seating, artistic coaster for water bottles (no food here), and gathering areas for small conversations or quiet study. An 18 foot high top table with green seats (my one nod to different colors) tucked in the alcove that will one day become two study rooms but for now suffices as a gathering space for gamers and groups. A showroom zSpace lab with 40 stations and its own accent color. This is what is to come. It is my design and, as such, indicates my understanding and implementation of this particular standard. (See video at left.)

Standard 2: Planning for Instruction

Candidates in school librarian preparation programs collaborate with the learning community to strategically plan, deliver, and assess instruction. Candidates design culturally responsive learning experiences using a variety of instructional strategies and assessments that measure the impact on student learning. Candidates guide learners to reflect on their learning growth and their ethical use of information. Candidates use data and information to reflect on and revise the effectiveness of their instruction. ALA Librarian Preparation Standards 2.

(Hello, Ms. Frost’s class. Please click THIS LINK to find today’s lesson.)

Standard 2.1 Planning for Instruction. Candidates collaborate with members of the learning community to design developmentally and culturally responsive resource-based learning experiences that integrate inquiry, innovation, and exploration and provide equitable, efficient, and ethical information access.

I believe that my role as a librarian is to support my faculty and their students in their exploration of education. This is evidenced by the ease with which my colleagues and I collaborate, their enthusiasm for the re-imagining of the library, and their desire to work in media literacy and library lessons despite the curricular micromanaging of the district. That I exhibit this standard is evident in the following assignment completed for LIS 6200 in the fall of 2023.

Standard 2.2 Instructional Strategies. Candidates use a variety of instructional strategies and technologies to ensure that learners have multiple opportunities to inquire, include, collaborate, curate, explore, and engage in their learning.

This can be seen in the design of the webpage for the biology and media literacy lesson piloted on 13 October 2023 with middling success. The webpage can be found at this link.

Standard 2.3 Integrating Ethical Use of Information into Instructional Practice. Candidates teach learners to evaluate information for accuracy, bias, validity, relevance, and cultural context. Learners demonstrate ethical use of information and technology in the creation of new knowledge.

This standard is the essence of media analysis. While there is not a solid lesson on it, there is the following created teaching script and lesson that indicates I understand this standard. There are also my credentials as a teacher and teacher-educator that would, hopefully, satisfy this library science standard.

Standard 2.4 Assessment. Candidates use multiple methods of assessment to engage learners in their own growth. Candidates, in collaboration with instructional partners, revise their instruction to address areas in which learners need to develop understanding.

The assessment most utilized by me is observation and experience. This formative assessment is cumulative, not formalized. However, the following forms

• Co-teaching Reflection

• Media Literacy and Information

• Group Analysis of Scientific Presentations

as well as the informal Ticket-Out-of-the-Door and sundry other preparations are indicators of successful completion of this assessment.

Standard 3: Knowledge and Application of Content

Candidates in school librarian preparation programs are knowledgeable in literature, digital and information literacies, and current instructional technologies. Candidates use their pedagogical skills to actively engage learners in the critical-thinking and inquiry process. Candidates use a variety of strategies to foster the development of ethical digital citizens and motivated readers.

Add my thoughts on this here.

Standard 3.1 Reading Engagement. Candidates demonstrate a knowledge of children’s and young adult literature that addresses the diverse developmental, cultural, social, and linguistic needs of all learners. Candidates use strategies to foster learner motivation to read for learning, personal growth, and enjoyment.

evidence here.

Standard 3.2 Information Literacy. Candidates know when and why information is needed, where to find it, and how to evaluate, use[,] and communicate it in an ethical manner. Candidates model, promote, and teach critical-thinking and the inquiry process by using multiple literacies.

evidence here.

Standard 3.3 Technology-Enabled Learning. Candidates use digital tools, resources, and emerging technologies to design and adapt learning experiences. Candidates engage all learners in finding, evaluating, creating, and communicating data and information in a digital environment. Candidates articulate, communicate, model, and teach digital citizenship.

evidence here.