Professional+Development

Contribute ideas for successful Professional Development
High school librarians -- Look at your ELA scope and sequence and determine where and when the research process should be embedded. For example: what are the products that are required of your ninth grade English students. My ninth grade students currently need to produce 6 papers; narrative/expository, summary of fiction or non-fiction, extended definition, opinion/support, a one-source report, and a response to literature paper. Yes, I agree that is a bit exorbitant, but it is what it is. We all know that our students will need skills to succeed to produce this work. I look at AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner and the Core Curriculum State Standard that would apply to ninth graders and be appropriate to those products. Then, take a look at CCSS for alignment. Consider stepping back one grade level to CC.8.W.7. Can AASL 1.1.1, 1.1.5, 1.3.5, 1.4.1, and 1.4.3 apply as well? Now, do that for all grades and present it to your district librarians as an option for more Professional Development. I am experimenting with cross-curricular thematic research instruction that will culminate in the required senior paper. It makes sense, is easy to assess growth, and will connect (with technology applications) to the students through all four years. ~Doc Hock