Engaging the Learning Community
Course
Start Engaging Your Community [4:33]
https://players.brightcove.net/2566261579001/HyuWsfFhb_default/index.html?videoId=4895700783001
About
Let's begin with the why, or the rationale for engaging the learning community in the school library.Transcript
So, why is it important to engage this school community as a learning community? If we're already working on stakeholder's perspectives of the library for advocacy, you might wonder; why do we need to consider their learning, or their contributions to our learning? A few reasons that we might think about to start this process are that by engaging stakeholders in the learning community, we expand perspectives; we strengthen relationships, and we demonstrate the value of the school library program while we're building it. So, that's a "two-for," we build value, and we showcase it.
Violet Harada writes in Cultivating Cultures of Inquiry that learning is about thinking together. It involves a social process of meaning-making. She continues to say that constructive dialogue and problem solving within a community are key to a learner's center process of content development and decision making. She cites Fosnot and Perry there. So, with this idea of social context for learning, we might envision, at the start, these skills and dispositions in terms of student-to-student or peer-to-peer scenarios. And in many cases that's the form that social learning will take.
But there's value for our kids and for the community in embracing different approaches to a social or collaborative context for learning, including involving adults from the school and from the community. Thinking about college and career readiness for instance, what a great opportunity to prepare for communication in a multi-generational or maybe multilingual work environment. Diversity in both local and global perspectives becomes more immediate.
Social context for learning is also part of our standards. In the standards for the 21st century learner, it appears in the common beliefs. So, quoting here "learning has a social context; learning is enhanced by opportunities to share and learn with others. Students need to develop skills in sharing knowledge and learning with others, both in face-to-face situations and through technology." That's the end of that quote there. And you'll see in the examples that I've provided for you that we'll consider both of those, face-to-face and tech-based situations.
The social part of the standards for the 21st century learner is also reflected directly in the third standard in the academics standards piece; share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society. And that's far-reaching; that's not just limited to student-to-student, that goes across levels and domains.
If you recall, the previous standard, information power, the current standards build from social responsibility as reflected in information power. Standard seven, under social responsibility, if you recall, is about the student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society, is information literate and (here's the social part) recognizes the importance of information to a democratic society. Standard nine includes participating effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.
So, with this background in mind about the curricular standards, the benefits for students in terms of learning, we can start to formulate why it makes sense to build and engage this community of learners. At the moment, take a few seconds and think about how this "why" might take shape for your school and school library.
Stick with the conceptual for now; think about what do you, as a librarian, value in terms of social learning opportunities. How is this theme reflected in your school or library mission, or your vision?
That concludes our section on rationale and we'll move next to the "how."
Activities
School library standards and research provide a sound foundation for building and sustaining a social context for learning. By fostering a thoughtfully planned, inclusive community of learning in the school, we expand perspectives, we strengthen relationships, and we demonstrate the value of the school library program while we're building it. This community may include students, school educators and staff, families, and community partners.
Review the article, "Concept Mapping: Early Stages of a Plan for Engaging the Learning Community," provided in the Resources below. Follow the instructions provided in the article to create a concept map of the big picture of your learning community, including stakeholders, resources, goals, and potential processes. View the two samples to help you get started.
Concept Map Examples
Entry ID: 2122860
Additional Resources
About the Author
Email: rmorris@schoollibraryconnection.com
Twitter: @rebeccajm87.
Select Citation Style:
MLA Citation
Morris, Rebecca J. "Engaging the Learning Community. Start Engaging Your Community [4:33]." School Library Connection, ABC-CLIO, June 2016, schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2018652?learningModuleId=2018650&topicCenterId=2247902.
Chicago Citation
Morris, Rebecca J. "Engaging the Learning Community. Start Engaging Your Community [4:33]." School Library Connection video. June 2016. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2018652?learningModuleId=2018650&topicCenterId=2247902.
APA Citation
Morris, Rebecca J. (2016, June). Engaging the learning community. Start engaging your community [4:33] [Video]. School Library Connection. https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2018652?learningModuleId=2018650&topicCenterId=2247902
https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/course/2018652?learningModuleId=2018650&topicCenterId=2247902
Entry ID: 2018652