Collaboration and Communication

  

Photo: AASL, 2018

Collaboration and Communication

AASL Shared Foundation III. Collaborate 

Work effectively with others to broaden perspectives and work 

toward common goals (AASL, 2018).

     I chose to interview Patsy, a librarian at a public middle school with only sixth grade students that live within the city limits. We discussed the Shared Foundation, III. Collaborate, which is part of the AASL National Standards for School Librarians. The student population of the school is not very diverse, with most students being of African-American descent (Patsy, personal communication, November 17, 2020).  

Some resources that Patsy uses to advocate diversity include having a diverse school library collection of materials where students can see themselves, but also learn about people who different from them. SC Discus database is used frequently by the students for information seeking.  

Patsy continually changes library displays to promote interest in books by different authors, viewpoints, and genres. A book club for boys is one that is much needed in her school, along with diverse guest speakers. She has book clubs that foster collaboration which meets AASL competencies:  

III.A.1. Challenging learners to work with others to broaden and deepen understandings. 

III.B.1. Modeling the use of a variety of communication tools and resources. 

III.D.1. Stimulating learners to actively contribute to group discussions (AASL, 2018). 

Patsy has approached a Social Studies teacher about collaborating with her to plan a unit on Medieval times, which would include book talks, inquiry-based learning stations, research, and other activities. She is currently waiting on a response from the teacher. 

Some of her collaborative efforts have been cancelled or revised due to schedule changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Challenges to her collaborative effort is that teachers are laser focused on covering the content standards, keeping up with pacing guides, and frequent standardized testing throughout the year, that they don’t have time to devote to collaborate lessons.  

Patsy has carefully mapped the curriculum and curated some great resources in the media center to support the teachers and students, but those resources are not being utilized as often as she would like. 

 

American Association of School Librarians (2018). National school library standards for learners, school librarians, and school libraries. Chicago: American Library Association. 

American Association of School Librarians (2018), AASL standards framework for learners: Include. Chicago: ALA  https://standards.aasl.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/SharedFoundations_Collaborate_2017.pdf