Alex Lawhon
Reflection for Standard 2.4 Literacy strategies
Candidates collaborate with classroom teachers to reinforce a wide variety of reading instructional strategies to
ensure P-12 students are able to create meaning from text.
Artifact Description
ISTC 651, Non-print Evaluation, PebbleGo:
In ISTC 651 an evaluation was conducted on the new database, PebbleGo. The review of the database
demonstrates ways that various instructional reading strategies can be applied so that students get the most out
of the information they are reading. The evaluation handout also addresses the issue of accessibility and giving
students opportunities outside of the school setting to make meaning from texts that they are reading.
ISTC 601, School Library Action Plan:
This action plan was created in order to showcase ways that the library media specialist and the
resources found within the media center can help the school meet its goals as set out by the school improvement
plan. The action plan includes professional development on methods and various resources in different formats
to be used to help students progress. It also has assessment tools to be used by teachers and the media specialist.
This resource provides educators with a variety of instructional strategies to enable students to read on higher
levels and to achieve goals set out by the school improvement plan.
Relevance
AASL Standard 2.4 is being demonstrated in both above artifacts. The review of the PebbleGo database
acknowledges that students are required to have multiple literacies (i.e., visual, digital, textual, and
technological) and provides ways to enhance those literacies to help students become successful readers that can
make meaning out of the texts. PebbleGo provides library patrons with access to information in various formats
(i.e. text, video, audio, and games). This means that educators can use the resources on PebbleGo to allow
students to make meaning of text through the format that appeals best to them. This resource is also accessible
outside of the library media center, allowing reading and learning to take place whenever students can remotely
access PebbleGo. By using this database in the library and creating handouts that promote the use of the
database, collaboration is happening between the library and classroom teachers that reinforces a variety of
reading strategies.
The action plan for the school library would not be possible without collaboration between the media
specialist and classroom teachers. The proposal is for the reading specialist and media specialist to work in
conjunction to provide professional development to teachers on instructional reading strategies that will
improve standardized test scores. After completing a needs assessment using data from previous standardized
tests, professional development will be provided on making meaning from nonfiction texts. As recommended
by the reading specialist, strategies include those found in The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo
and Reading Nonfiction: Notice & Note by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst. Teachers are also encouraged to
use multimedia resources as texts and to co-plan inquiry-based research projects throughout the year with the
media specialist to create authentic opportunities for students to make meaning from reading nonfiction texts.
Analysis
The use of PebbleGo in my classroom has enabled students to better understand and create meaning
from the information they are reading. AASL Standard 2.4 asks that candidates reinforce a variety of ways to
guarantee students are able to make meaning from texts and PebbleGo has allowed me to do that in my own
classroom. Because the database reads texts aloud to students, provides videos on the topics being researched,
and gives the opportunity for students to learn by playing games, it has become a rich resource that is used to
promote best practices in instructional reading strategies. As a library media specialist in the future, I hope to
continue to evaluate other resources that will prove to be indispensable to teachers and to endorse their uses as
instructional tools in reading.
I have been able to collaborate with the reading specialist at Fountain Green Elementary School to learn
about and use the instructional strategies that are found in the professional development resources listed above.
These strategies have proven to be extremely useful in aiding my students’ abilities to create meaning from
nonfiction texts. I also have been able to collaborate with the media specialist at my school to have students
complete inquiry-based research projects and look forward to promoting the literacy strategies I learned to
teachers that I will be collaborating with in the future. As I become a leader and instructional partner in the
media center, I will continue to learn about new instructional strategies through my own professional
development and then collaborate with classroom teachers to encourage the use of those strategies in the
classroom.
