Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action

This book is a great resource, that helps Teacher Librarians implement AASL's Standards for the 21st Century Learner. As I create lesson plans for my own use and for this blog I will refer to it often. In this handbook, the somewhat general Standards are broken down into specific Skills, Dispositions in Action, Responsibilities, and Self-Assessment Strategies.

Skills are just that, an ability that a child has learned, perhaps as a result of great lesson planning on your part. For example, the first AASL Standard (2009), "Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge," lists Skill 1.1.2 "Find, evaluate, and select appropriate sources to answer questions (p. 13)." What does that skill look like for a first grader? It might be that she is able to show the location of fiction and non-fiction books in the library. She knows that if she wants to find a photo of a real frog she will find it in a non-fiction book. You may be thinking something along the lines of "Okay, thats a no-brainer, of course I want kids to learn how to find the answers in my library., Why do I need a book to tell me that?"

The beauty of the AASL Standards, and of this book, is in it's thorough and concise nature. Sure we want students to be able to find answers, but thats not all. Ideally our students will be able to sift through the vast amount of information available to them, in a wide variety of formats. They will choose the best information, from the most appropriate source and answer their question. Even better, they will work with others, as we so often do in the adult world, to create something new.

Right now our first grader is looking for photos of real frogs, because she likes them and wonders if they are always green. When she is in graduate school we would like for her to be able to find outstanding literature that relates to her own studies, contact the author who may be another continent away and collaborate on better experiments that lead to a greater understanding of the environmental needs of amphibians. Many, many skills and even personality traits are needed to reach this level of ability. 21st Century Learner in Action breaks these needed abilities down so that we can incorporate them into our lesson plans quickly, at any grade level.

American Association of School Librarians.(2009). Standards for the 21st Century Learner in Action.
Chicago: American Association of School Librarians.

No comments:

Post a Comment