Resnik

Heidi Resnik
Dr. Paul Gray
APU Library 500
September 21, 2014
Unit 3: The Joy and Challenges of Learning Outcomes for the LMC
Through my research this week, I have learned that neither my school nor my district defines
student-learning outcomes for the Library Media Center. This lack of tangible learning outcomes
seems to illustrate how the district in general views the LMCs among our schools. It is sad. I had
lengthy conversations about this with our Teacher Librarian, and she shared the many frustrations she
and her colleagues have at both a local and district level with regard to getting both administration and
faculty to see how LMCs should be functioning in the 21st century. As I conducted my research this
week, the notion of roadblocks became more and more evident. I find irony in how far behind our
district and sites are with regard to the LMC when we spend significant time and verbiage touting how
21st century and cutting-edge we are.
Before I wrote the student learning outcomes for this assignment, I read, considered,
interconnected, and synthesized the following: my schools Mission Statement, Vision Statement,
Values Statement, our ESLRs, the Library Mission Statement I rewrote (below, as per your
suggestions), the ELA CCSS, the Common Core Anchor Standards, the ALA Standards, the AASL
Standards, the Model School Library Standards, and the Information Literacy Standards for Student
Learning, and of course the wonderful examples and sharing from our online Threaded Conversations.
I admit, I underestimated the complexity of this assignment. What this assignment wrought forth for
me was the difference between my classroom perspective and a LMT perspective in terms of how we
teach.
Adolfo Camarillo High School library is a place where the diverse student body acquires,
evaluates, enjoys, and ethically uses information through reading and research and graduates
as good citizens who will contribute positively within the local and global communities.
1. ACHS Library Learning Outcomes: Students will
1. acquire and utilize relevant and appropriate reading and research material (print and
nonprint) from free and licensed databases and the librarys catalogue system.
2. use technology to produce and publish writing products accurately and ethically.
3. access and read an array of fiction and nonfiction literary genres for a variety of purposes.

2, 3, 4. Actions, Roadblocks, Solutions:

To manage the next section, I combined these into a chart. Like several of my peers, I liked the
clear and linear organization of presenting the material in this way. In putting ideas down, I discovered
a trend in the roadblocks column: time and money! I am beginning to see how many tasks and arenas
of organization are required of an effective Teacher Librarian.

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1. ACHS students will acquire and utilize relevant and appropriate reading and research
material (print and nonprint) from free and licensed databases and the librarys
catalogue system.
Action by Teacher Librarian:
1. Maintain up-to-date books,
materials, academic databases,
websites, and collections.

Roadblocks
1. Sufficient funding and time
to research.

Suggested Solutions
1. Involve the School Site
Council and the PTSA for
grants and financial allocation.
Use peer resources: TLs at the
other sites and our local
library. Research online
resources at other schools and
begin investigating.

2. Work with teachers to meet

the needs of their designed
lessons and projects, and
provide a list of resources.

2. Sufficient time to
collaborate. Teachers at my
site may not see the need for
curriculum collaboration.
They may not view the TL as
a co-partner in the educational
process.

2. Reach out to the teachers

who are open to working
together. Offer to meet after
school or during collaboration
days. Ask open-ended
questions about their needs
and listen attentively.

3. Survey the faculty at the

beginning of the year about
their goals involving research
for their students, and locate
sources to assist them in
reaching their goals.

3. Teachers may not fill out

the form. They may not fully
know their research plans as
they adjust to the CCSS.

3. Create a teacher-friendly
format. At a faculty meeting,
share a couple of resources
and databases that might be of
interest, and show them how it
works and connects to the
CCSS.

2. use technology to produce and publish writing products accurately and ethically.
Action by Teacher Librarian:
1. Keep the library open to meet
the needs of the students: before
school, nutrition, lunch, and
after school.

Roadblocks
1. Sufficient funding to pay the
TL or a certificated person to
help students during the
extended hours.

Suggested Solutions
1. Address the administration to
support this fiscal endeavor.
Perhaps have peer tutors
available to assist students. Talk
to club advisors and the AP and
Honors teachers for
recommendations.

2. Work with teachers to meet

the needs of their designed
lessons and projects with the
focus on producing
standardized writing products.

2. Sufficient time to collaborate.

Teachers at my site may not see
the need for curriculum
collaboration. They may not
view the TL as a co-partner in
the educational process.
Teachers do not always agree
about formatting standards.

2. Reach out to the teachers

who are open to working
together. Offer to meet after
school or during collaboration
days. Ask open-ended questions
about their needs and listen
attentively. Provide clear
information about their desired
student outcome with regard to
formatting: APA, MLA

3. Ensure the computers and

printers are working to meet the
needs of the students and staff.

3. Sufficient manpower to keep

all the hard and software
working. Communication
sometimes is delayed because
of the bureaucracy involved in
simply asking to get things
fixed.

4. Teach students the concept of

intellectual property and the
proper way and reasons why
handling information ethically
is a vital part of the research
process.

4. With the glut of information

and the lack of ethics among
popular culture, teaching this
concept of honesty, integrity,
and intellectual rights may
prove to be difficult.

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3. Know the proper procedures
for equipment maintenance and
repair. Become best pals with
the tech guy! J

4. Create a clear and concise

handout presenting the value of
handling information and
research with integrity. This
document would become part of
the values of the library, and I
would share it with all
stakeholders and post it online
and in a hard copy poster in the
library. I would also incorporate
it as part of library orientation,
Back to School, and establish a
partnership with PTSA with
regard to disseminating this
information.

3. access and read an array of fiction and nonfiction literary genres for a variety of purposes.
Action by Teacher Librarian:
1. Maintain up-to-date books
and collections in a variety of
genres. Also, purchase trending
book titles to motivate the
students to visit the library.

Roadblocks
1. Sufficient funding and time
to research.

Suggested Solutions
1. Involve the School Site
Council and the PTSA for
grants and financial allocation.
Establish a relationship with
local book clubs, Friends of the
Library, and other stakeholders
to assist with donations of
gently used books.

2. Work with teachers to meet

the needs of their designed
lessons and projects with an
emphasis on reading for
pleasure. Visit classrooms with
a quick book chat to inspire the
students curiosity.

2. Sufficient time to
collaborate. Teachers at my site
may not see the need to foster
the love of reading or will
argue they do not have time
with the wealth of content they
need to cover.

2. Reach out to the teachers

who are open to working
together. Offer to meet after
school or during collaboration
days. Offer a way to assist
students in selecting books and
to motivate them to read.

3. Keep track of books and

ensure students return them in
a timely fashion.

3. Students lose their books,

forget to return them, or mar
them.

3. Send notices and reminders

to students, impose small fines,
communicate through the
school bulletin and video news
show about the importance of
returning borrowed materials.

4. Create a way for students to

offer video reviews of a book,
so that other students can
access it and get ideas. Involve
teachers and staff to promote
books this way, too!

4. Sufficient time to produce

the videos, and technological
skills needed to create this
outcome.

5. Create incentives to inspire

students and staff to visit the
library more often. Maybe have
raffles for books. Create an
atmosphere of joy and comfort
(a low affective filter renders
an openness to learn).

5. Sufficient funding, approval

from the administration, and
staff buy-in, and time for
people to visit.

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4. Work with the Technology
Club and have students create
the videos. Put blurbs of
student book reviews on
Scorpion Connect (our Friday
video news show). Create a
monthly newsletter to promote
new books and resources.

5. I need to be an ambassador.
The more I investigate how our
LMC is perceived, the clearer I
am getting about how I will
need to be a true advocate and
teacher for the entire school.
Starting with books seems an
inviting way to start to shift
mindsets. I will partner with
Barnes and Noble (I have
established this relationship
already), the local bookstore,
and businesses to solicit
donations as prizes.

5. Statement for assessing outcomes:

1. To measure how students at ACHS will acquire and utilize relevant and appropriate reading and
research material (print and nonprint) from free and licensed databases and the librarys catalogue
system, I will create a common, simple form to be used as an Exit Ticket for students to fill out during
their library visit. The form will be a combination of a checklist, a grid to input information about the
sites they used, and a free response section to indicate if they felt they were successful in their search.
The form will be standardized, page, student-friendly, and be administered to the student(s) as she
arrives to the library to work on a task. If a teacher brings his class in for research, I will meet with the
teacher ahead of time to discuss the logistics of administering this document. I will also determine a
way to catalogue the sites the students access and the number of times they use any particular one. I
will be able to accrue data by using both direct and indirect assessments.
2. To measure how students at ACHS use technology to produce and publish writing products
accurately and ethically, I will use observational data as the students actively work on their
documents. I will note how the students are formulating and formatting their papers and I will keep
notes in a journal to locate trends, patterns, and anomalies in their production. In addition, I will create
a Self-Assessment/Reflective Survey for the teacher who has assigned a research report or project. I
will ask the number of students who met the criteria for the stated formatting criteria and to what
degree (in addition to asking free response questions, I would probably create and integrate a 4-point
rubric to gather quantitative data). This will be in chart form with questions about the number of
students who accurately cited sources, and how, and the number of students who plagiarized. I will be
able to accrue data by using both direct and indirect assessments.

Resnik

3. To measure how students access and read an array of fiction and nonfiction literary genres for a
variety of purposes, I will create a good ole paper survey (I have attempted online surveys with
students before and do not render enough participation to garner valid data). I would need to get some
baseline data in order to measure if the students are actually reading an array of works and for what
purpose. I would work with one of the core curriculum teachers to create a way to disseminate the
survey (I am inclined to work with either the science or social science teachers; by my going into each
of those classes, I would be sending the tacit message that the library and reading for fun and other
purposes is not limited to the English classrooms. Modeling is so important, especially when it comes
to fostering a love of reading for pleasure. To inspire conversation about books across the curriculum
would be one of my goals as a teacher librarian). After collecting the surveys, I would work with the
math teachers to help record, sort, and organize the data. Depending on the findings, I might create a
post-survey and compare the data (that would be a job! But the results could be very interesting and
really inform my fiscal decisions for the subsequent year).
I would also use Destiny to track which books are being checked out, the number of times, which
books keep getting lost, and note the trends. I would like for students to keep track of the books they
read during the year. To do this, I would need to set up a link on our website with some way for
students to log their books. This would be more for observational data and to get impressions about the
how the students interact with the library media services. I would establish some sort of reward each
quarter or at each grade level to instill fun and some motivation. This year our ASB has begun class
competitions; I would consider partnering with our ASB director and maybe link the number of books
read to class competitions.
6. How will I use the published standards for the ALA and AASL?
As I have conveyed, our district and school site do not seem to view the Library Media Center
as the hub for learning on campus. In addition, most people seem to view it as a building to house
books and a computer lab for students to get their homework done. After researching the ALA and
AASL Standards and happening upon some other interesting reading (primarily at the collegiate-level
library systems), I realize I need to start at the beginning in terms of educating my sites staff and
students about the responsibilities and purposes of a Library Media Center in the 21st century.
Here is where all my years as the Staff Development Coordinator seem to be converging. In the
year 2001, I had the unique opportunity to be selected to start a new comprehensive high school in our
district. As part of the original staff and as the SD Coordinator, I was charged with helping to create a
school culture. The rewarding and complex process enabled me to grow as an educator and person in
ways that changed my approach to adult learners forever. I quickly learned that having a supportive
principal is THE only way to move through the mire of obdurate mindsets. In my reading this week, I
was inspired by the article in the School Library Management text entitled Leverage Your Library
Program: What An Administer Needs to Know (Repman and Dickenson 103-105). I found myself,
highlighting, annotating, and responding passionately to it. I want to copy it and share it with my TL. I
think I will not share it with my principal just yet. What the information unveiled for me (yet of sort of
already knew): so goes the principal, so goes the school. I thought about how to connect the idea of
using the published standards to the reality that probably fewer than 2% of the staff even knows they
exist. I realized that when I become a teacher librarian (hopefully at my site in a couple years), I would
first and foremost need to educate the staff about the national and state expectations for 21st century
libraries.

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To help the staff at ACHS begin to adopt a growth mindset (I have studied Stanford Professor
Carol Dweck and embrace her ideology about this; http://edglossary.org/growth-mindset/), I would put
together binders for each faculty member. I would use tab dividers to fill the binder with pertinent
information, including a separate tab for the library standards. I would centralize all the information for
the certificated faculty, so they would begin to perceive the numerous aspects of the LMC. I developed
this technique before when I helped create the school culture at the new school. These binders became
an integral part of our school. When faculty left, they returned their binders; when new faculty was
hired, they received it as a Welcome Binder. Getting people comfortable is very important when
working to impose a paradigm shift. In the LMC binder, I would include hard copy of all the CCSS
Anchor Standards, Literacy Standards, and CCSS. I would include forms, procedures, and other
valuable information relating to our LMC. My vision is to create a resource binder all faculty
associates with the Adolfo Camarillo High School Library Media Center. I would make the binder
aesthetically pleasing and find grant money to make this happen. I feel we have been inundated with so
much information about standards and shifts to the Common Core, and the onus has been put on
teachers to do all the investigative work that people are saturated. I would want to introduce the
standards and the shift in perspective in a way the faculty perceives I have done the groundwork for
them and want to serve as a leader and support teacher. I believe they will be more open to change by
creating a comprehensive and tangible document.
In addition to reaching out to the faculty with all the standards, I would communicate to all
other stakeholders: students, classified staff, parents, and community members. I would, however,
modify the communication and number of standards on which to focus (see box below). While I would
set up the librarys website with links to all the LMC standards, I would create (with teacher input of
course) power standards on which ACHS would focus. Working with our county office graphic design
department (I have done this before), I would create posters and flyers to be disseminated to all
stakeholders with the intent of bringing the LMC to the forefront of peoples minds. Using the
standards will be a legitimate way to begin educating my school community about the purposes and
services of our library.
I have chosen the following Power Standards on which to focus. While all the standards are
important, I feel these will be most apt for our school community as we begin this journey. I chose
ALA Standard 5 as the overarching standard because we have significant issues with cheating and
plagiarism at our school. If the big idea presented in Standard 5 becomes a norm, perhaps the
plagiarism occurrences will diminish. The other standards directly align with the other learning
outcomes for ACHS. In addition, I believe knowing my faculty, they will be open to embracing these
particular standards and see their value as they relate to their own content areas.
ALA Standard 5: The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal,
and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses
information ethically and legally.

1.1.4 Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions.

1.2.4 Maintain a critical stance by questioning the validity and accuracy of all information.
2.1.6 Use the writing process, media, and visual literacy and technology skills to create products that
express new understanding.
2.3.2 Consider diverse and global perspectives in drawing conclusions.
3.1.6 Use information and technology ethically and responsibly.
3.3.7 Respect the principles of intellectual freedom.
4.2.4 Show an appreciation for literature by electing to read for pleasure and expressing an interest in
various literary genres.
4.3.4 Practice safe and ethical behaviors in personal electronic communication and interaction.
AASL Standards: 2007 by the American Library Association

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7. Chain of Command:
In relation to the needs of the Library, the chain of command at ACHS works like this: the site
Administrator who oversees the Library, the Department Chairs (we have no Leadership Team with
representatives from all stakeholder positions), the departments, and the district Assistant
Superintendent in charge of the Library Media Services. Ultimately, any proposals and changes would
also need to go through the principal. At my site, choosing only three levels to consider is challenging
because these different entities often work in a linear way.
The predominant roadblock to implementing change and a mission statement accompanied by
student learning objectives right now is the collective inexperience of our site administrative staff and
their collective ability or inability to advocate for change. Our school has been through significant
administration changes in the past three years. Two of our most experienced men and one female have
moved on to pursue their careers in other districts (these three had at least 12 years experience each in
administration). Last September we employed two females who were both new to administration. One
was a teacher who was from our district, and one was an elementary and middle school teacher and
administrator with no secondary experience. This September, our district hired another female with
zero experience in administration. So right now, we have three female administrators who together
have 2.1 years practical experience. Our principal, a male, has been in his position for nine years. I am
grateful for these women who have taken on these administrative roles; they are hardworking, caring,
and bright people who seem to get along with our staff, students, and parents, and have a fundamental
understanding of how a comprehensive high school operates. However, because of their inexperience,
most of the time they need to defer to our principal for final decisions on matters. It has been my
experience that implementing change becomes a greater challenge whenever schools are in a period of
flux.
The first step in presenting the idea about creating a mission statement accompanied by student
learning outcomes would be for the LMT to present it to the Associate Principal, Alexis Ortiz. By her
nature, Mrs. Ortiz is open to new ideas. She is an excellent listener and responds openly to new ideas. I
believe she would support the idea and would want to help expand the use and perception of the LMC
at ACHS. She would, however, suggest taking the idea to our principal before moving forward. She
would attend the meeting and offer her opinion and support, but the ultimate decision to move forward
would be from the principal.
The next step, after presenting and obtaining the green light to proceed from the principal,
would be presenting the idea to the Department Chairs. The DCs would be helpful in accomplishing
this goal by seeing and affirming the value of the idea and by presenting the ideas enthusiastically and
with integrity to their respective departments.
The third step would occur when the DCs presented the idea of adopting a mission statement
and learning outcomes for the library to their department members. The LMT would need to develop
handouts for them to present to ensure the information is presented with efficacy and ease for the DCs.
The teachers would be helpful in adopting this idea if they believed it would assist them in their
classroom teaching and foster 21st century skills.
The next steps, if the site approves to implement this change, would occur at the district level:
approval by the Assistant Superintendent, the Superintendent, and finally the Board of Education.

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I believe the most challenging roadblock would occur at the Department Chair level. Last
year, though it was only my second year back at ACHS (I taught there for seven years before I went to
the new school for 11, and have now transferred back to my hometown), and I was in a leadership
position for standards implementation working with the freshmen English teachers. Having this
position enabled me to attend the DC meetings and interact with the lead teachers and the
administrators in that setting. I have learned in my 28 years in education that each school has its own
culture and dynamic within the social structure of the adults working on campus. ACHS has an
extremely established, entrenched culture, one where teachers have many, many years of experience.
The majority of teachers working on our campus have seen all the vast changes in education over the
past 20 or so years, and they often view more change as a waste of time, invaluable, or a nuisance. In
fact, many of our teachers have flat out refused to teach to the new standards. They may listen politely
as I present the ideas for the library, and then as a duty present the information to their department
colleagues in a dismissive, inaccurate, or unenthusiastic way. I have seen this happen on numerous
occasions during my first tenure at the school and now. On other campuses, I have seen the Associate
Principals step in and attend department meetings and present such ideas with authority and openness,
or they clarify or authenticate what the DC is presenting. At our school, as I explained above, that may
be the second roadblock: the lack of credibility of the APs among the staff to go to the meetings and
assert authority with the intent of instituting a new plan.
To overcome these challenges I would know how to manage a plan. First, let me say I have
earned my wisdom in this area having made so many mistakes at this site; in some cases I experienced
great sadness or emotional distress at having been misunderstood in my intentions. I know first hand
this can be an unforgiving staff (I have worked at other sites where I have seen and experienced
converse reactions to similar situations). I am an outspoken, progressive educator who loves change,
learning, sharing, making mistakes, growing, and collaborating ideas. I am a strong, creative leader,
and I work hard and very long hours. I am unafraid to take risks in the classroom. My reputation
among students is I have extremely high expectations coupled with the commensurate tough love to
get them where they need to be to pursue their future dreams and goals. My personality does not gel
with all students, but if they stay in my class, they come to see my sole intention is to serve and guide
them. With regard to the staff, many of my colleagues and all my administrators look to me for help
and leadership, and admire and respect my strengths and laugh with me and accept my weaknesses. As
you would imagine, however, many do not. Since I am self-aware, and know my strong personality can
work against me, I would develop a plan for implementing the library mission statement carefully.
First, I would want to be in the Teacher Library position for a year before I would begin doing
new things. I would make it a point to befriend as many teachers as possible across the curriculum and
find ways to meet them one-on-one to see how I could personally assist them with their lessons by
bridging activities to the library. I might spend time in their classrooms, invite them to the library,
speak at DC and department meetings, offer prizes and incentives, create some fun activities among
staff, and generally survey for a year. My goal would be to establish trusting relationships with the
people on campus, certificated and non-certificated. I have worked in leadership long enough to know
that top-down mandates do not render openness and buy-in. Then, I would begin putting together my
ideas for presenting the mission statement and learning outcomes to the chain of command. I would
argue that the plan of implementing these changes to the LMC would align with the growth goals we
set for our WASC Action Plan, would support and align with the CCSS, ALA, AASL, and truly would
bring our library into the 21st century.