We’ve all heard it said that a leopard can’t change his spots, but if he could, bet he would. Clairol has over 100 color dyes to prove that there’s a market for change. Our students are our market, and we have students in all colors, shapes, sizes and abilities. So, why do we hang tight onto a one-size-fits-all instruction model?  Millennial learners are our market, and they want change. They want a voice. They want engagement, and the research shows that lessons which provide an opportunity for voice, choice, and creation succeed in engaging our students. (In this issue, don’t miss Judi Moreillon’s article, “Experiential Learning and the School Librarian,” to understand why.)

Instructional change requires us to move from teacher-directed to student-centered instruction. Try this self-check:  Have I changed a lesson lately? Or do I arrive and feel like it is Ground Hog’s Day again? Am I a leopard or a chameleon? This month, we will challenge you to be like the chameleon and change up your instruction to fit your environment. Please use one of the many ideas shared here for engaged, experiential, and effective learning. If you haven’t modified your instructional game plan for a while, then the time is now.

I knew a librarian who lost her aide. Rather than bemoaning and becoming a high-priced clerk, she changed up instruction and taught her elementary kids to reshelve their books. Another librarian cooked up a lesson on vocabulary using her unshelved books. EQ:  How do fancy words make us sound smarter? She became part of the achievement equation.

Whether you thrive on change or hide from change, we encourage you to take this challenge: identify your most lecture-like lesson and ask yourself, “how can I repackage this for student engagement?”  

I used to teach keyword identification and database use to eighth-graders by making a game: 

• Present a question. (Example: What’s the last animal on the “red list”?)
• Students had to identify the most important words and search for the answer
• The student who found the answer first got a point for their team.

This was a “substitute plan” for teachers that I knew were signing out the library expecting to be absent—and most often it was a Friday. I felt like a scapegoat, but we all enjoyed it. Was it taught in isolation? Yes. Did I care? No. Students were building skills that they would later use for Harlem Renaissance Impersonations, Biography Inquiries, and other research endeavors. When they arrived in the library for real research assignments, I did not have to teach two skills: Keyword Identification and Database Searching. Was it a game? Yes. Did I have an objective? Yes. Was it effective and engaging? Yes.

To help you change, don’t miss Mary Ratzer’s tour of the engaged brain this month in her Inquiry Ideas column. If you have to repackage your explorer report, you might get engaging, experiential ideas from Timothy Horan on walking the Silk Road. Don’t miss suggestions for Green Screening from two award-winning librarians. And, if you are teaching in an analog environment, don’t miss suggestions from Eric Neuman on teaching the disconnected. Make it your goal today to embrace engaged, experiential learning this month. Let’s change a few spots.