Candidates demonstrate their ability to design and adapt relevant learning experiences that engage students in authentic learning through the use of digital tools and resources. Candidates model and facilitate the effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research, learning, creating, and communicating in a digital society.
SLM 502 Facilities Project (library redesign) I have had the experience this year to be a part of our Ed Specs team, a team that was developed by my administration to help design our new school, which will break ground next year. Being included on this team has been a very intriguing experience for me. I was asked as the journalism and English teacher to help the architects and engineers of the project to design the ideal classroom for these academic areas, but as my internship progressed my mentor asked me to go to the meetings with my library cap on to help the architects gain a clear vision of what our ideal library should look like. AASL requires librarians to “demonstrate their ability to design…model and facilitate the effective use of current and emerging digital tools…to support research, learning, creating, and communicating in a digital world.” Participating in the Ed Specs’ meetings and designing my own library for SLM 502 helped guide me both in the meetings and with reaching this standard’s goals. During the SLM 502 Organization and Access course I designed a library floor plan I believed fit the needs of y school community including students, teachers, and administration. I also believed that the floor plan fit with the school’s mission of preparing our students to be college and career ready by creating a space for all. The final floor plan included spaces for quiet independent work, comfortable seating areas for personal reading, computer lab and workstations, kiosks for self-checkouts, and bigger larger tables for group meetings and projects. Working on the library floor plan was eye opening for me. I was so caught up in keeping the layout similar to my current library that I felt that I didn't let my creativity shine through. If I would have let go of what I am used to seeing, I think that I could have made a library more inviting and accommodating to teachers and students. From this project, I feel that I learned that it is all about accessibility as with everything else. The more accessible I can make my library, the more my students and teachers will be willing to work with my stacks and me. The main focus, while it needs to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye, is to use this space to promote and encourage life long learning. With that said, I was able to use some of my inhibitions from this assignment and put them to good use in helping with our buildings design process. I hope that the end product is everything and more for our staff and students. |
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