Post-Reflection

It's over!

Before this project started, I was very apprehensive about how to effectively collaborate with a partner using the Wiki. As the process unfolded, the scope of the project became clearer. I am glad that we worked with a fellow students rather than a classroom teacher since I do not think a working classroom teacher would have been able to contribute to this process like a fellow colleague. It would be asking a lot of a teacher's time and effort to put into this project when they would not be earning a grade and may not be vested in the outcome.

I could not have asked for a better partner. Susan and I communicated effectively through e-mail and were both receptive to each other's suggestions. For my first collaborative project between a teacher and media specialist, it went pretty well. Since we never had, the opportunity to work on this face-to-face, e-mail worked well with our varied work schedules and family obligations. Susan and I agreed upon some deadlines throughout the project to ensure that work was being done in an efficient manner. I am glad that Susan came up with the idea of setting mini-deadlines. By breaking down the tasks, the whole project did not seem as overwhelming.

After participated in and completing this collaboration, I understand how the process can be beneficial to the teacher and students. Being able to understand how the library media specialist is not there to only support the teacher but to help with the curriculum and teaching process. Since we all have teaching degrees and education backgrounds, we have a unique advantage of knowing how both positions operate and relate to each other.

I was leery about completing the peer evaluations. Sometime students can be intimidated about grading others work. After finishing the reviews of the other students Wiki's, I could see how I could improve upon my own work in the future. Many of my fellow classmates had great ideas and we all approached this project with a different plan and background. The constructive criticism that we received on our project can help us improve in the future.

When I get a job as a library media specialist, I now have a good idea of how to start the dialog with other teachers. As we have learned in class, it may be a slow process at first and starting with only one teacher or one department might be best instead of trying this will the whole school during your first year. We have learned many great ways to use technology and to support our teachers to help better our student's education. By working with other teacher, data can be collected to show the principal and other stakeholders how we as librarians can make a difference in the educational outcome of the students.

I would like to thank Susan for being such a great partner and the classes for helping each other become a better library media specialist in the future.

Assessment

Assessment

Our project is entering the final stages. Over this past semester, Susan and I have been able to work as a collaborative team. We have both contributed to the project and have worked well together. Our communication through e-mail has been effective. During the next week, we will be putting the final touches on our unit plan. The only obstical that has occurred is finding the time to work on this project. We both have commitments outside of class that take up much of our time but thankfully we have been able to put forth the effort to complete this project successfully.

For some of the lessons, we will be able to evaluate the base knowledge of the students by conducting a pre-test. The assessment piece can be loaded in Exam View Player (EV Play) so the teacher can get instant feedback and can view the data on what questions the students missed most frequently and concentrate more on those topics. EV Play is a good tool for collecting data that can be used to evaluate if the instruction is successful and areas that the teacher could improve in the future.

At the end of the unit, the students will produce a PowerPoint presentation displaying what they have learned. Students will use various research tools, both on-line and print sources, to gather information on a career that interests them. By having the students choose a career path, this gives them more flexibility, and provides them with a topic, that is 'real-world' to them. If the students have a personal connection to the project, they are more likely to investigate and conduct research on their chosen career path and are more likely to be vested in the outcome.

The PowerPoint presentation will not only demonstrate the knowledge gained on their chosen career, but it will also incorporate information on financial literacy as well. The PowerPoint will be assessed on both the information as well as the technology skills that they must display. The students will be given a rubric on the expectations for this project. This project will be shown to the class and can be used to illustrate to the parents what has been accomplished during this unit. By providing the student with a rubric and having peer evaluations, the students are given a chance to self-reflect on their accomplishments and determine how they may improve on future projects.

The evidence of learning can be demonstrated to the stakeholders in various ways. First, as mentioned above, the students can show their parents the finished project during student led conferences. If a school does not hold student led conferences, a few projects could be shown at conferences or at an open house. Other stakeholders like administrators, can also be shown a select group of projects and since much of the school decisions are data driven, the data collected during post and pre-test can be evaluated. In addition, the teacher can demonstrate how financial literacy supports the core subjects like math and how various assignments supports language arts and writing across the curriculum. One other way that people can have a chance to view some of the presentations is by uploading the PowerPoint to the schools web site. This would have to be done with the students and parents permission.

Throughout this unit, the teacher and media specialist will conduct non-formal assessments through guided practice, group discussions, and individual conferences with students. As the lessons continue, the teacher and media specialist can alter the lessons as needed to help make all students successful. This type of assessment is ongoing throughout the unit. Informal feedback helps guide the teacher to move students in the right direction and directs the teacher as to what topics should be addressed again in possible a different manner.

Being vocal about the successful collaboration between the teacher and the media specialist will help other teachers recognize the important role a media specialist can play in the instructional process and learning environment. The media specialist can use one of the PowerPoint examples to market how they can help other disciplines like science or social studies create a project that fits into various curriculums.

In conclusion, by next Friday, our unit plan will be finished and ready to be implemented within a classroom. This joint effort has been a learning experience on how to work on a collaborative project and how to complete a workable unit. This group effort has demonstrated that by working together, a team can produce a quality project that on many levels is better than what an individual could produce alone. As it has been stated before, two heads are better than one.

Mid Planning

The planning of our Financial Literacy Unit is going well. There are several ideas that we are working with to cover essential topics for this unit. I feel that there is so much that can be covered in the area of finances that we will have to narrow our focus to a specific theme and discard others to fit the parameters of this assignment.

The unit will start by introducing the topic of financial success and how people determine if they are financially successful. To do this, we will use a video that is from United Learning titled, What is Financial Success? Before the students watch the video, a pre-test will be given to determine the student's prior knowledge of financial success. Along with the video, there are student activities that will be completed as a class, as well as individually. When done, a posttest will be given.

After the initial introduction lesson, we will move on to topics of career choices, income, savings accounts, checking accounts and more. The library media specialist will play a vital role in these areas. For the activities of searching for a career, the media specialist can assist in showing how to use the Occupational Outlook Handbook and the accompanying web site (http://www.bls.gov/OCO/). Once the students have found a career of interest, the media specialist can direct them to other sources, both print and on-line, so the students can gather additional information. The students will need help in evaluating the web sites they have selected. The media specialist can use tools such as checklist or rubrics that we have covered in this class as a tool to help the students evaluate the web sites.

The demographics for our school are largely homogeneous and not very diverse. There is a sizable subgroup of economically disadvantaged students that we can focus some additional attention to meet their needs. These students can get some further guidance on career choices that will allow them to earn a living that will meet their expectations. Many times, students from this group are unaware of the schooling or training needed to get a job that pays well and allows them to live comfortably. During this lesson, these students can gain valuable insight to their educational options.

We are currently working on the summative project. For this, we would like to incorporated technology other than just the Internet by using Word and PowerPoint for a presentation. A rubric will be created to assess the student's presentation as well as their ability to meet guidelines for using PowerPoint.

I feel that we are working well together as a team and communicating effectively via e-mail. Even though we have completed or started on several areas of this assignment, I realize that there is still a lot of work to do.

Early Planning Blog

After some deliberation we have selected our topic of Financial Literacy for high school seniors. Susan was supportive in selecting something that I could use within my classes. Even though we recently decided on our topic, I think we are off to a good start. Susan has come up with a good plan for a division of task for our project.

Tentative Division of Tasks
Unit Narrative Intro - Susan
Roles (with explanation paragraph) - Susan
Essential Questions - both
Standards (Tech and Academic) - Kimberly
Standards (AASL) - Susan
Assessments (with input from Kimberly) - Susan
Communicating Assessment - Susan
Student Accommodations (special needs and culturally underrepresented) - Susan
Demographics/Student Info - Kimberly
Lesson Plans (with input from Susan) - Kimberly
Resources (print and electronic) - both
Organization/page layout - Susan


Michigan recently came up with a plan to address financial literacy in our schools since the recent economic downturn and the high rate of bankruptcies. My plan is to see how the new financial literacy’s benchmarks match up with the current benchmarks in the Career and Technical Education department.

We have come up with these essential questions for our unit but may need to adjust them as our unit progress.

Essential Questions for the Library Media Specialist:

1. How can I ensure the assessment is an accurate reflection of student performance?
2. How can I ensure that there are enough appropriate resources for each student, and that students have the proper skills to locate the resources?
3. How can I communicate the successful collaboration with teachers, administrators, parents and the community?
4. How can I ensure the special needs of individual students are met?
   

Essential Questions for the Students:

1. What are sources of income and how does education and career choices affect income?
2. What is the difference between wants and needs?
3. How does a savings account differ from a checking account?
4. How is credit card different than debit card?
5. What are some types of investments?

Essential Questions for the Teacher:

1. How can I incorporate the benchmarks for the Jump Start Coalition with the Benchmarks for Career and Technical Education?
2. What are ways that I can get the students to understand that financial literacy can affect them the rest of their lives?
3. What are ways that I can take this information and make it relevant to the student’s lives?

We are now ready to start setting up our Wiki for this unit. Our group collaboration has gone well and both of us are participating and willing to listen to each other’s concerns and we have been working well together. I do not anticipate any problems in the future working with Susan and look forward to moving onto the next step.

Pre Planning

Welcome to my first blog! This site will host the details of the Collaborative Unit Plan for LIS 7320 ~ The Media Specialist as Teacher and Instructional Consultant. This will be a group project between Susan and myself. Susan will be the library consultant and I the classroom teacher.

I am a bit apprehensive about this blog and unit plan, since I am unsure of what the final project is suppose to resemble. My feeling is that the overall directions for this project are a bit vague at this point. I am unsure of how to approach the unit and lesson plans since I do not have a good picture of the overall project. I anticipate that this will become clearer as the class progresses.

In addition, I am leery of using the blog and wiki since I have not used these in the past. I am not a 'blogger' and I do not participate in any other blogs, so this is new. Therefore, as I am completing the objectives of the project, I am also learning new software and technology skills as well.

I am excited to work with Susan as a team member for this project. From what I can see, my classmates are very enthusiastic and conscientious about their work. At the graduate level, usually most people pull their own weight because we all want to be here for one reason or another. I am however always worried about communication and working together on-line. Since I work full time and have children that keep me very busy, it is always a challenge to find the time for my own schoolwork. Once we start the unit, I am sure that Susan and I can work out a schedule that will be satisfactory for both of us.

I feel that one of my strengths is working as a team member. In my current job and previous work experiences, I have gained the valuable skill of being a team player. I feel that as a person grows and acquires more experiences, they are able to adapt too many different situations. Sometimes, you and your co-works get along wonderfully, and sometimes, you have to work with people whom you would otherwise not associate. This is all part of life. From what I gather after viewing the introductions, Susan and I have similar interests so I do not anticipate any problems working together.

One weakness that I feel I bring to this project is the lack of experience in a library setting. I have never worked in a library and am still new to this program so I am learning more all of the time. Since Susan has library experience, I am sure she will help me out in this aspect.

As far as a unit plan goes, I am not sure what to do. I would like to complete something that I can use within my own classroom. That would make is something practical and not just an assignment to be completed. I teach high school business computer classes and have a few ideas such as a unit on desktop publishing. I currently teach a desktop publishing simulation but it really lacks the foundation of what desktop publishing really consist of. I think an introduction to desktop publishing 'rules' would be something I could use. Susan and I will together decide on a topic that will work for both of us.

Even though I have been teaching for several years, I honestly can say, I have not consulted with the school librarian in any planning issues nor have I ever taken my students to our media center. This concept of coordinating a unit plan with a media specialist is foreign to me. I am however, excited to see how this will work so in the future, I can assist teachers when I become a school librarian. In my experience, I do not know of any true collaboration going on. Our librarian is helpful but I do not think teachers ask for her help in planning or assisting in a unit.

I am excited to work on this project and to learn how to use the blog and wiki. Even though I think this will be a challenge, I am willing to grow and learn to become a better teacher and in the future, an excellent school librarian.