Task Outlined by the Course Instructor
Self Assessment and Reflection
Are you information literate? Are your students information literate? Are you familiar with information literacy standards and processes?
When reflecting on the major thrust of this question, I immediately arrived at an answer. My students, throughout the district, are not information literate to my knowledge. This is not to say that they are literate in this domain, it is that I am not aware if they are or not. This is due to a number of factors. One, I have not had the opportunity to interact with the majority of the students. My primary focus is creating an atmosphere and network where I am assisting teachers in integrating technology. My job title is that of District Technology Integration Specialist/ Media Specialist. Because I am most familiar, and because my superiors have told me to focus on technology integration, that is where I have devoted the majority of my time. I have left the day-to-day operations of the district media centers to the para-professionals who staff the centers, and they have done such a good job that I have not needed to focus my time there. The second reason that I am not aware of my student’s information literacy is that the media center is not, as yet, viewed as a curriculum resource. I have delivered instruction into the research process and academic integrity, but in terms of curriculum development I have not had the opportunity to assist. I plan on addressing this as teachers become more familiar with my skills and knowledge.
Self –Assessment #1: KSP 621 Instructor Created
If I am to aid content area teachers in their instructional delivery I must be literate in terms of information literacy myself. I was provided the opportunity to assess my skills in this area as part of my course requirements for KSP 621 through MSU, Mankato. I was tasked with completing a teacher created Self Assessment, and identifying one organizations standards and assessing my abilities against their stated goals. I chose to examine the Minnesota Educational Media Organization, after attending one of their conferences at the Education Minnesota conference. I often have my students, as part of a reflection task, identify a strength and what why they feel that made them successful in a task, and also a weakness that they identify. They have to create a tangible action plan of how to overcome or address that weakness. I ask my students to engage in this type of reflection, so I feel it is appropriate for me to do the same as I followed this format when reflecting on the two self- assessments.
In terms of the instructor created Self-Assessment I realized that I am confident in being aware of many standards and processes such as the ITSE and AASL Standards. I have utilized these standards to guide my actions as a Technology Integration Specialist and in my new specialty as a LME. They have provided solid frameworks that guide my overall actions. I do however; need to become more familiar with the MN Standards for Information and Technology Literacy and with the Big 6 Research Process. One might ask why an educator must consider a plethora of processes, and it is a simple answer. One, because some standards and processes are required by law, and two, an educator should always have benchmarks in mind when designing and delivering instruction.
When reflecting on how literate I am when it comes to finding relevant information I am able to find information that I need and assist others as needed; however, I tend to rely on sources of information that I am familiar with. These tend to focus on the social sciences. Outside of that realm I struggle with being able to assist others. I can normally find valid sources because I trust my ability to critique information. I am yet to articulate how to do that so I may teach others, so again I have another area to improve upon. I would like to be able to have a “hotlist” of valid and relevant sources for all content areas in order to best serve the needs of my “clients”, teachers and students alike.
When asked to reflect on my ability to integrate research into my teaching, I reflected on my classroom instruction. As a secondary teacher of Regents level history and Academic Intervention Support, I constantly designed learning activities that enabled to help students become effective and efficient users of information. My previous district required all students at grade levels 9-12 to complete at least one research assignment a year. That being the minimum, my team designed at least one a quarter, to include the National History Day competition. We provided students with a “Research Handbook” and a “Research Process Rubric.” Prior to submission of their assignments they had to self assess themselves against the rubric to identify areas of success and areas that they needed to improve upon.
Self Assessment #2: MEMO Personal Responsibilities
I was unable to find formal standards from the MEMO Organization section of their website. Instead, I assessed myself on the member responsibility section. I chose to identify the responsibilities that I am currently most confident and least confident in my attainment level. I am most literate in terms of the Professional Growth responsibility as outlined by this organization. I have always felt that being a teacher means one never stops being a student. Akin to this belief I also subscribe to the maxim that Jim Collins coined in his book Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t, “Good is the enemy of great.” I am currently enrolled in my second Masters program and I intend to begin either an ED.D or another Masters program after completing my current program. My motivation for striving for new knowledge is to remain literate in my content and pedagogy. I recall in my undergraduate days that a professor once claimed that a new teacher does not need to know his or her content, he or she only needs to know how to teach. I bought into this until my first day of teaching in the classroom. An effective teacher needs to be a master of their content knowledge and pedagogy. For this to occur a teacher must never stop learning. I am successful in this domain due to the fact that I attend continued professional development in my content areas (Social Studies, Instructional Technology Integration, and Information Literacy). When I attend these opportunities I always look for at least one piece of information and one method to implement into my daily tasks.
The domain that I feel least confident in at this time is in the realm of Collaboration. While I am a firm believer in effective collaboration, as evidenced by my past and current practices of co-teaching and being a PLC trainer, I need to improve in this realm with respect to my Library Media focus. I am new to the state of MN and to the discipline, and I have been more focused on my district technology integration hat than building networks for information sharing. One tangible remedy I could implement is to become more active in organizations such as SAMMIE and MEMO.
References:
American Library Association (1998). Information power building partnerships for learning. Chicago and London: American Library Association
KSP 621 Infromation Resources Content Page Containing Information Literacy Standards and the Big https://mnsu.ims.mnscu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=1333591&tId=10505169 .Accessed 1/18/11
MEMO Organization Section containing Member Responsibilities. http://memotech.ning.com/notes/Organization. Accessed 1/23/11
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