EDCI 598 Section 802 Module 6 Collaborating with the Community

Module 6: Collaborating with the Community

Module Objectives

• Identify strategies for collaboration with the broader school community.

Think

• Parent advocate toolkit. (n.d.). American Association of School Librarians. https://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/tools/toolkits/parent-advocate#top
• Module 21: Assessing Your Current Practice from Hughes-Hassell, S., Rawson, C. H., & Hirsh, K. (2019). Project READY: Reimagining equity and access to diverse youth [online curriculum]. https://ready.web.unc.edu/

Choose one or more of the following:

• News: Calendar of Events & Celebrations (2020, Jan 30). Programming Librarian. https://programminglibrarian.org/articles/calendar-events-celebrations
• D’Orio, W. (2021, Oct 25). The fine art of working with parent volunteers. School Library Journal. https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/story/the-fine-art-of-working-with-parent-volunteers
• National library week activities celebrate Children’s Book Week. (n.d.). Education World. https://www.educationworld.com/a_special/national_library_week.shtml
• Knutson, J. (2017, Aug 23). Improving your parent-outreach strategy. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/improving-your-parent-outreach-strategy
• Grant, R. (2021). How Memphis created the nation’s most innovative public library. Smithsonian Magazine.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/memphis-created-nations-innovative-public-library-180978844/
• Johnson, A. (2018, Nov 1). Outside-the-box outreach. American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/11/01/outside-the-box-library-outreach/
• Public Library and School Library Collaboration Toolkit from Toolkits. (n.d.). American Association of School Librarians. https://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/tools/toolkits
• Celebration weeks & promotional events. (n.d.). American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/celebrationweeks

Create

Step Six: Teach! Continued

Continue to work on your lesson / unit plan. Take observational notes. What works? What doesn’t? How do learners perform? Are they engaged? How is the collaborative relationship working? What does each educator bring to the working relationship?

School Community Overview

Compile the following information as a means of understanding your school community. If you are unable to find / access this information for your specific community, use Find The Best K-12 Schools - U.S. News Education (usnews.com) to locate as much information as you can. You will summarize your findings in the module 5 discussion forum.

• Gender mix
• Languages spoken at home
• % of English language learners
• Number of students reading below grade level
• Is there a local public library that students can access easily? Does your school have an established relationships with the public library?
• Does your school have a separate tech program or is it part of the library?
• How is library use scheduled?
• % of students receiving free or reduced lunch
• How do teachers currently use your school library?
• Are there / will there be learning spaces or innovative learning environments?
• Describe any programs involving library use by parents, families, and community members.
• Describe any other community initiatives that might impact student literacy or learning.

Share

In the Module 6 forum, add to the discussion around the following prompts. Do not create a new thread, but rather continue the discussion your classmates have started. You may still reply to a specific classmate. 

• Share a brief list of events that your school holds, including events held by the school library. What is the purpose / objective of these events? Are there too many to manage? Are there not enough? Describe your favorite in more depth; share what you like about this event and what you might do to improve it. Optionally, share one you would like to discontinue and explain why.

In the Resource forum, share the item you explored from the Think and then reflect on your choice by answering three of the following questions. Then, respond to three of your classmates:

• How has my prior experience and personal values influenced my understanding of this topic?
• What are other theories of this topic that might provide me with a different viewpoint?
• How could my education colleagues support me or collaborate with me in learning more about this topic?
• What new information did I learn? What questions do I have?
• How could I apply this information to my practice?
• If you disagree with the information presented, how so? Why?
• What opportunities / challenges could this information lead to?

Respond to three or more classmates in either discussion forum.

Optionally, use the Collaboration Helpforum as needed to share ideas and questions with your classmates.

Grow

Continue your Project READY journal.