AASL Shared Foundations in Action Part 1: Include (ISCI 794)

 

As an MLIS student, I know that my work with the AASL National School Library Standards is only beginning. I have decided to dedicate this and the next three blog posts to focus on some of these shared foundations in action.

For the first post in this series, I turn to the expertise of my mentor, Kay LeRoy from Emerald High School. Kay has been a library media specialist for over 20 years and also mentored Stacey Trent and Mary Margaret Madden who are professionals in this series. We sat down after school to chat about the Include Shared Foundation which is something that she does well at the media center. The student users who frequent the library media center come from a variety of backgrounds, academic abilities, and peer groups. Kay is passionate about making all students feel welcomed.

As we talked about how she implements these competencies, we discussed the role that diversity plays in this shared foundation. It is not enough to include a range of subjects (religions, hobbies, cultures) and diverse books, but we need to remember the wide range of reading abilities present at the high school level too. One way to make students with lower reading level abilities to feel included is through low level, high interest books. It makes sense when you think about high schoolers not wanting to carry around books that look like they are for younger readers. Kay also shared that spreading this theme of inclusion to the students is also important, so there are books targeted at respectfully treating those different from yourself are also in the collection.

While there are many resources available to help foster inclusion and diverse thinking, Kay recommends Titlewave as a tool to find diverse books. I also like that if you use Follet Destiny for your catalog, Titlewave will suggest books not in your collection. There have been several times where Kay has gone on a hunt for books on specific topics that were submitted by students through a Google Form on the media center website. I like that the form can offer students a safe way to suggest books of interest to them. Some students may not want their friends to know what they’re interested in because they are afraid of getting picked on.

One area of the Include Shared Foundation focuses on helping learners reflect and share different perspectives. I was able to observe and even participate in one method of this in a Socratic Seminar collaborating with an English teacher to discuss The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. During this activity, the students had to learn the difference between debate and discussion. This is a great activity to try to help students learn how to express their perspectives and give others a chance to share.

The difficulties that arose during a collaboration like this was not with the teacher, but rather with the students. Some students want to argue or push their thoughts/ agenda on others. There can be other challenges when thinking about the Include Shared Foundation like simply getting students in the door to see what all the library media center has to offer. Some students are hesitant to speak up and ask for certain books, which is why it is so important to have a positive atmosphere where students feel accepted.

When we think about the diversity of a student population, sometimes we focus more on cultures or gender identities, and we forget about some pockets of our student population. Kay shared that Emerald High School goes a long a way to include a range of learners through various activities. Students in the Trainable Mental Development (TMD) class are encouraged to participate through library media center visits, participating in pep rallies, being Chorus’ audience for their Christmas program practice and welcomed by other students.

Our actions, thoughts and collaboration in the library media center should flow into the school community. We need to create an atmosphere where all students can share and are valued. Just imagine if this atmosphere carried into the school community. Let’s make it a reality by thinking about what we can do in our own part of the world.