Advancing the Learning Community to Achieve School Goals: three key ways the library program makes a difference for students

"In a knowledge economy, and times of rapid change, we need people with the creative capacity to adapt knowledge to new contexts, generate new ideas, and use innovative approaches to problem-solving. Fostering creativity helps students develop resilience, resourcefulness, and confidence, and is positively linked to engagement, achievement, and innovation." (Measuring What Matters)Source:“Measuring What Matters.” People for Education, People for Education, 2018, peopleforeducation.ca/measuring-what-matters/.

TLs and the LLCs can help foster a school environment that embraces technology, that integrates into student learning, that uses it to explore and create, and that teaches how to communicate, collaborate, engage, and learn from its use.According to the Ministry of Education's indicator 4.3 Teaching and learning in the 21st Century is collaborative, innovative and creative within a global context, it states that students will do following:-Have access to and select appropriate technologies based on the task. -Use technologies to construct knowledge and document their learning. -Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information technologies. -incorporate the use of relevant data, tools and experts in and beyond the classroom. -Access, critically evaluate and use texts, including digital content (Ministry of Education).Not only that but technology can also benefit students by furthering their creativity and engagement, by supporting students in their learning with the use of "assistive technologies" (Ministry of Education)Source:Ministry of Education. “School Effectiveness Framework: A Support for School Improvement and Student Success K-12 .” Queen's Printer for Ontario. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/SEF2013.pdf

"Innovation contains elements of creativity and is often described as the realization of a new idea in order to make a useful contribution to a particular field" (21st Century Competencies: Foundation Document for Discussion).Sources:“21st Century Competencies: Foundation Document for Discussion.” Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2015. http://www.edugains.ca/resources21CL/About21stCentury/21CL_21stCenturyCompetencies.pdf

Image Source:“21st Century Competencies: Foundation Document for Discussion.” Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2015. http://www.edugains.ca/resources21CL/About21stCentury/21CL_21stCenturyCompetencies.pdf

Source:“A Vision and Learning and Teaching in the Digital Age.” Ontario Public School Board's Association. http://www.opsba.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/OPSBA_AVisionForLearning.pdf

According to the Ministry of Education's School Effectiveness Framework Indicator 4.4: "Learning is deepened through authentic, relevant and meaningful student inquiry" (Ministry of Education)As TLs we will partner with teachers to collaboratively design lessons that "promote learning through student inquiry" (Ministry of Education). We will support an environment within the school that promotes inquiry, that explicitly teaches the skills needed to navigate learning through the inquiry process, and that helps students make connections and develop understanding (Ministry of Education). In doing so, our students will be able to:Identify authentic problems and pose significant questions for investigations across all curriculum areas. Demonstrate curiosity and a positive and productive disposition to learning. Demonstrate skills of metacognition. Take risks to share works in progress (ideas, solutions, strategies) in order to test hypotheses, obtain feedback and suggestions from peers and teachers (Ministry of Education)Source:Ministry of Education. “School Effectiveness Framework: A Support for School Improvement and Student Success K-12 .” Queen's Printer for Ontario. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/SEF2013.pdf

TLs will provide "instruction [that] include[s] how to access and evaluate the reliability, validity and credibility of resources." (Ministry of Education)They will be able to look for and question the bias of the content of material that they encounter in their learning.Source:Ministry of Education. “School Effectiveness Framework: A Support for School Improvement and Student Success K-12 .” Queen's Printer for Ontario. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/SEF2013.pdf

Teachers establish authentic situations where learning occurs when real problems need solutions (Ministry of Education).This style of learning will benefit students in their problem solving skills, critical thinking, questioning. They will solve problems through the use of technology, working in collaboration with one-another and through creative and critical thinking.Sources:Ministry of Education. “School Effectiveness Framework: A Support for School Improvement and Student Success K-12 .” Queen's Printer for Ontario. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/SEF2013.pdf

• Students explore ambiguous and complex phenomena. • Students take paths or approaches different from their peers or teachers. • Students defend solutions and break conventions (Measuring What Matters)Sources:“Measuring What Matters.” People for Education, People for Education, 2018, peopleforeducation.ca/measuring-what-matters/.

• Students objectively assess the strengths and weaknesses of creative ideas, work or products. • Students critically reflect on the outcomes of the work. • Students refine and improve work (Measuring What Matters).As TLs and the school help to support and embed the practice of metacognitive learning, students will benefit by developing goals, practicing the language to describe their critical thinking, and reflect and how they can further their own development.Sources:“Measuring What Matters.” People for Education, People for Education, 2018, peopleforeducation.ca/measuring-what-matters/.

Source:“Towards Defining 21st Century Competencies for Ontario.” Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2015. http://www.edugains.ca/resources21CL/About21stCentury/21CL_21stCenturyCompetencies.pdf

Source:Todd, Ross J. “Evidence-Based Practice & School Libraries: Interconnections of Evidence, Advocacy, & Actions.” Vol. 43, no. 3, Jan. 2015, bcpslis.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/104713363/KQ_EBP_for_School_Libraries.pdf.

"Education develops students’ capacity to value different perspectives. It builds their sense of agency and supports them to become responsible, active citizens" (Measuring What Matters).Source:“Measuring What Matters.” People for Education, People for Education, 2018, peopleforeducation.ca/measuring-what-matters/.

"Collaboration — work in teams, learn from and contribute to the learning of others, social networking skills, empathy in working with diverse others" (Fullan)The Ministry of Education Indicator 4.3 states that "teaching and learning in the 21st Century is collaborative, innovative and creative within a global context".As TLs we will help to establish this collaborative school learning community by helping to construct a "safe learning environment, free of discrimination bias and systemic barriers" (Ministry of Education). This collaboration would include problem solving and working together and expanding the learning community far beyond the boundaries of the school walls. Collaboration would benefit students as they would then be able to work well in groups by respecting and valuing a wide range of diverse learners from varying backgrounds. By creating a collaborative learning environment students could contribute to, lead, and motivate collaborative teams and understand how to resolve and overcome conflict (Employability Skills). The collaboration between teachers is equally just as important. As TLs we canSources:“Employability Skills.” Income Per Capita - Economy Provincial Rankings - How Canada Performs, The Conference Board of Canada, 2018, www.conferenceboard.ca/edu/employability-skills.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1.Fullan, Michael. “Great to Excellent: Launching the next Stage of Ontario's Literary Agenda.” https://michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/13599974110.pdfMinistry of Education. “School Effectiveness Framework: A Support for School Improvement and Student Success K-12 .” Queen's Printer for Ontario. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/SEF2013.pdf

Source:“Measuring What Matters.” People for Education, People for Education, 2018, peopleforeducation.ca/measuring-what-matters/.

According to the Conference Board of Canada's Employability Skills, communication is composed of a set of skills that our students will need to enter and stay in the workforce. As TLs we will help our students achieve the following:read and understand information presented in a variety of forms (e.g., words, graphs, charts, diagrams)write and speak so others pay attention and understandlisten and ask questions to understand and appreciate the points of view of othersshare information using a range of information and communications technologies (e.g., voice, e-mail, computers)use relevant scientific, technological, and mathematical knowledge and skills to explain or clarify ideas (Employability Skills)We will help students attain these skills through our teaching of the appropriate use of electronic communication via blogs, social media (Twitter, Instagram, on-line comments etc.). We will provide students with a wide range of technology that they can use as tools to further their knowledge and express what they know (Mindomo, Symbaloo, Googlesites, Noteability etc.). We will teach and explore using a variety of forms in which information is presented in a variety of forms and styles (videos, images, graphs, charts, etc.)Source:“Employability Skills.” Income Per Capita - Economy Provincial Rankings - How Canada Performs, The Conference Board of Canada, 2018, www.conferenceboard.ca/edu/employability-skills.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1.

As TLs we can help to create communities that are inclusive by including diverse perspectives and voices in the resources that we bring in to the library and promote with students and staff. This is supported by the Ministry of Education's Indicator 4.6, which states "Resources for students are relevant, current, accessible, inclusive and monitored for bias". In doing so we can help to create a community of engaged an active readers, where students can see themselves represented.Part of the TLs role is to create a community that shares a love for reading. This could be accomplished as a whole school by increasing daily independent reading, book talks, purchasing a wide variety of books based on student interest, and inviting guest authors to visit the school etc. The impact would result in increased literacy, which ultimately results in better overall student success across all subject areas. Better readers make also for better writers.We can also make connections with our school community, local and global communities through the incorporation of guest speakers and human libraries.By providing students with voices from diverse backgrounds we are helping students see the world critically through multiple lenses.Sources:Ministry of Education. “School Effectiveness Framework: A Support for School Improvement and Student Success K-12 .” Queen's Printer for Ontario. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/SEF2013.pdf