Page+Three

Joe, I FIGURED IT OUT! I am very excited. This is just a test. I need to change her hair. I hope you like the idea behind it. Heather
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I like her hair...she looks like she's got a sense of humor. (I don't know what her hair would have to do with that...but that's the impression. Glasses? Or is that too stereotypical?

Personal Background Information (for Page #3):**
 * 1) Name. ** Jeath Kruppley **
 * 2) ** School Name: Kodia Middle School (We'll pull this out later) **
 * 3) Age. ** 35 **
 * 4) Ethnicity. **Native American, Cambodian (Khmer), Caucasian**
 * 5) Degrees. ** Bachelor of Arts, English Literature, University of Texas; Master of Library Science, School Library Certification, Texas Women's University **
 * 6) Years in education. **12 years.**
 * 7) Classroom teaching or specialist background. **Classroom teacher (English/Language Arts, grades 7-8), 10 years**
 * 8) Years in school librarianship. **2 years**
 * 9) Special talents, hobbies, and interests. **Reading, basketball coaching, golfing, traveling, tinkering with technology**


 * Personal Educational Philosophy that reflects the FIVE roles for school librarians (For Page #3):**
 * 1) Leader.
 * 2) Instructional Partner.
 * 3) Information Specialist.
 * 4) Teacher
 * 5) Program Administrator.

**Joe, Here are some of the key points that I have come up with. I wanted us to see them before I start elaborating on them: Joe, I warn you that I have to work in stages. I am not as eloquent a writer as you, but I will get there. It just takes me a few drafts. ;-) Please feel free to change anything. I am going to relook at the wording of things. (4/19)**


 * 4/22 (Cambodia): I like what you've done so far. We're definitely on the way with this thing. In terms of organization, we can do it as you've done it here, or we could shoot for getting something under each of the 5 roles of the librarian, like she did in the sample.

I'm fine with either. The main thing--as I found out the hard way on my educational philosophy-- is that we have to make the connection with the roles very explicit. I lost points because I didn't mention collaboration explicitly, since I was focused on learning (rather than teaching). You've covered us there, though. Maybe the thing to do there is play around with our organization a bit. I can do that Friday morning (Cambodia time) if you'd like.

Don't worry about the drafting...it takes a long time and a lot of back and forth to nail down something like this. **

4/22- What do you think about meeting again on your Saturday morning and my Friday night? And maybe again the next day. If we do that, we might get a ton done!

4/23: I started playing around with the educational philosophy this morning...but I'm not sure how "philosophical" it is. It seems more like a set of actions Jeath takes based on her beliefs. (Even though later, I changed this a lot.) Anyway, I tried to incorporate what you'd gotten from our educational philosophies. Let me know your thoughts on this. Joe

4/23 Later: I played around a bit more, Heather. Have a look and let me know what you think. If you think we need to change direction, that's fine, too.

4/23- This is great. You are a fabulous writer. Thank you for taking some of my ideas and making them sound so good. :-) Something to think about...the first paragraph IS the elevator speech. 4/23- This is just a few comments. I love everything and what is in blue is all I would change.

This shouldn't be too tough to finish. Then we can work on the "tool" and the elevator speech. Joe

**I am an activist librarian who believes first and foremost in the centrality of a library to a school building and community. In short, our library is the heart of our school, a place that represents and promotes learning for all members of our school community. For my students, the library is a place where they can come to work on assignments, collaborate with their classmates, experiment with technology, and further their own literacy with books and materials for their reading and interest levels. For teachers and administrators, the library involves itself in classroom instruction on many different levels while also providing a venue and ideas for professional development. For school families, the library offers links to information to help them in their daily lives and to improve the education of their children, especially in building literacy. **


 * In the course of my work as a librarian at Krumbodia Middle School, I wear many hats and involve myself in our school and community in many different but related ways. **

__**As a Leader. ** __ **Librarians have to lead, not only to increase our our learning but also that of our students and all those with whom we come in contact. My belief in the library as the learning center on our campus stimulates my participation both locally with students, teachers, administrators and school families and also further afield with librarian colleagues around the country and throughout the world. If we are going to improve learning as we move into the 21st century, we have to be willing to work together to examine our understanding of learning and teaching. Ongoing assessment and feedback is equally important to all learners (even teachers and librarians) and enables us to improve our practices. Education has the ability to transform us, and by taking responsibility for our learning and encouraging others to do the same, we can initiate and sustain this ongoing process.**

__**As an Instructional Partner. ** __ **Educators often ask students to collaborate in order to achieve a specific goal. To focus on learning, my belief is that the library, as the learning center on campus, is an active participant in instruction. While teachers may be more familiar with the finer points of the subject matter, the librarian brings a unique perspective of a teacher without a class, someone with the time and training to find, integrate, teach and assess materials to enrich the overall lesson. Equally important but often overlooked, students need to see educators collaborating and examining their own process together. By modeling a collaborative spirit and reflecting on it together and with their students, classroom teachers and librarians demonstrate behaviors** **that could remain with their students long after the unit has finished. **  __**As an Information Specialist.**__ **Learning is dynamic, and in the information age it is not confined to the walls of the school or even to extensions to research materials in the public library. ** **Learning opportunities exist everywhere and at any time. In the classroom, we work with teachers to find resources inside and outside of our school walls to enhance student learning experiences. Outside of the classroom, we connect the all of our stakeholders the information they need for whatever task they have, and we also work with them on using that information ethically and responsibly. Equally important to opening up the worldwide information to everyone at our library is the understanding of building worldwide connections. ** **Learning is not as confined to a particular place as it was in the past. Part of beginning the idea of change to make the world a better place is my belief that we are better off sharing our lives and learning about others' lives. Global connections to students and teachers in other schools around the world help us to do this.**


 * __As a Teacher...and Student. __<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In order to participate in this connected world, learners need guidance and direction. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">My belief is that even though we adults teach students, we are also engaging in our own formal and informal learning. This simple idea of lifelong learning assists us in staying current in our field and, perhaps more importantly, in better understanding ourselves and our students. By examining and reflecting on how we and those around us learn, we can develop a more varied educational approach to working with a number of diverse learning styles. With our students In the library, we can find creative ways of working with them while supporting them and ourselves as we take risks to learn new ideas, concepts and practices. In this sense, we are all resources for each other. **


 * __<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">As an Administrator. __<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"> As the client-centered learning hubs in our schools, school libraries are dynamic places by nature and require ongoing, skillful administration. <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">In addition to providing resources and means of accessing them, we school librarians evaluate library programs and services in terms of the needs of our users and also in terms of the mission and goals of our school. A basic four-part cyclical practice helps us fulfill this role: listening, sharing, enacting and reflecting. We learn about needs by listening and using our experience, respond to those needs by sharing ideas with stakeholders (students, teachers, administrators, library volunteers and other), enact programs and services, and work with everyone involved to assess those programs. We undertake these practices with those in our building and district to strengthen both our daily and long-term work. Outside of our schools, a similar process is critical for connecting librarians throughout the country and our world. Above all, however, with our wide-ranging administrative or collaborative tasks, we librarians must always remember that librarianship is a human endeavor and that mutual respect and understanding are critical to all of our success. **

** Key Points **
I believe that the library is the hub of the school. Within a school there should be a location that is the heart of the school. Some place that is neutral and represents learning. The library is some place that students can come to and read, work on assignments, and be taught new materials. I believe that collaboration is essential between the librarian and the classroom teacher. (Underneath is taken from mine.) Collaboration is at the heart of reaching all of the students. Collaboration involves co-planning, co-teaching, and co-assessing (Woolls and Loertscher 168). What is sometimes overlooked is the fact that not all collaborations have to be with a “teacher”, but rather a librarian. Librarians are overlooked, but they have a vast knowledge of units that could be covered. Teachers also need to realize that many school librarians are former classroom teachers. Let the teacher bring the knowledge of the students and how they best learn, and the librarian can bring the knowledge of technology and new ideas to teach. I believe that learning requires guidance. Students need a person who can guide them to the answers. Many times the answer is just given to the student, but the librarian leads teachers the students to learn how to find their answers. Librarians teach the students where to look, how to search, and how to create questions that will center their focus. I believe that learning is local and global, and requires critical thinking. <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Learning begins with changes in learners. Increasingly, learners around the world are connecting with each other in various types of communities. Part of this is social networking and another part consists of examining challenges facing the world and searching collaboratively for creative solutions to them. In view of this, education should promote critical thinking so that each learner may participate more productively in this local and global interconnectivity. (From yours) I believe that the teacher student roles are interchangeable. (From mine)

[|Joe.doc] My philosophy may be unusable for this, but here it is anyway...