Craig M.

Kubiak LSC 5565 Module 5, Library Lesson 22 April 2014 Before and After the Nazi Occupation Project The lesson that I taught was to a small class of seventh grade students that receive English Language Learning (ELL) services with Dr. Faith Ibarra. The class was obviously multicultural with some special needs students in it as well. There were about nine students in the class that day. The classroom teacher, Dr. Ibarra, spends half of her time at our school, J. Michael Lunsford Middle School, and the other half of her time at the accompanying high school, Freedom High School, located in Loudoun County Public Schools in an unincorporated area called South Riding in the southeast area of Loudoun County, Virginia, about 25 miles west of Washington, D.C. The subject of the unit was World War II and the Holocaust, and Dr. Ibarra asked me to collaborate with her to create a lesson that could utilize this content with regard to some of her English standards. As ELL students, they are not required to take the Virginia Standards of Learning standardized tests; rather, they are to create a Virginia Grade Level Alternative (VGLA) binder detailing that they have mastered the standards. As such, we devised a 45-minute lesson, in which I could introduce the resources needed for them to complete their project, then students would have approximately 45 minutes that class and the entire 90 minutes of the following class to complete their project, which was to research and create either a Glog from Glogster or a flipbook (students choice). Since the class was so small, the entirety of the project was to be completed in the library, both in the conference/teaching area and then in the computer area. Further, due to the allotted class time, none of it was to be completed outside of class, per Dr. Ibarra. The Virginia Standards of Learning that were covered for this lesson/unit in seventh grade English include the following: 7.5i Summarize text relating supporting details. 7.6a Use prior and background knowledge as a context for new learning. 7.6b Use text structures to aid comprehension. 7.6e Differentiate between fact and opinion. 7.6f Identify the source, viewpoint, and purpose of texts. 7.6h Identify the main idea. 7.6k Organize and synthesize information for use in written formats. 7.9a Collect and organize information from multiple sources including online, print and media.

Kubiak 2 7.9c Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate, and communicate information. 7.9d Cite primary and secondary sources.

Note that Virginia does not adhere to the Common Core State Standards. Since the students did not know who I was, Dr. Ibarra introduced me and introduced the topic of what we were going to discuss, as well as the project as a whole. Then, I went over some of the ways to research, utilizing the pathfinder that I created. I showed the students how to access the pathfinder, the related subscription databases, and where they could find accurate and relevant information for their research. After clarifying any questions and misconceptions that the students had, we moved to the computer area of the school library where they began. I believe most of the students chose to complete a Glog for this assignment. As such, I assisted in their location of and navigation through the various databases, as well as reminded them of how to use Glogster.

Kubiak 3 SELF REFLECTION Preplanning Overall, this lesson was put together rather quickly, which is what I assume it is usually like as a school librarian. During pre-planning, my mentor asked Dr. Ibarra if I could work with her students, as it was a small class but one that could benefit most from the librarys services. Dr. Ibarra was more than gracious and excited in having me assist her. During the planning, we exchanged emails for about a week before the lesson trying to figure out what she needed, tweaking anything I had come up with, etc. It seemed as though I received all of the information from Dr. Ibarra, but there was not much direction from what she wanted in the end. Therefore, much of what I initially created for the assignment was altered by her. I would have liked a bit more time in planning, but if I were a full-time school librarian, it likely would have been an appropriate amount of time. Lastly, I knew enough about the students before to the lesson for adequate implementation. Implementation During the actual implementation of the lesson, I believe that it went great! It was nice that Dr. Ibarra was there collaborating with me, since I was not necessarily aware of everything that they have actually covered related to the topic. My only regret was that I felt as though I left the class hanging. There was really no other way that we could get around that logistically. Dr. Ibarra had to clarify the instructions to a couple of the students more than once, but that is just how those students are, she later told me. Regarding background skills, they had all been exposed to Glogster before and a couple of the databases, so some of this was a refresher, while some was new. Case in point, they really learned a lot and liked very much the database CultureGrams (even Dr. Ibarra was impressed with it!) Otherwise, I think that everything worked well (i.e., technology, space, etc.) Assessment of Student Learning Unfortunately, some of this is not on the DVD because it was presented to students before they came to the library. However, based on some of the students work that I had access to, I believe that they adequately understood the essential questions. Students were assessed by Dr. Ibarra on their final product,

Kubiak 4 which was either a Glog or a flipbook (students choice). Perhaps my favorite part of this whole experience was working with these particular students, as they were completely engaged and actually excited to learn about the countries that they chose/were assigned. I was unable to take part in any of the final grading of student work. Assessment of Lesson/Unit I believe that the lesson went well and that we all (me, Dr. Ibarra, and the students) really enjoyed it! I suppose that the only thing I would change is maybe to delve into examples of fact vs. opinion and reliable vs. unreliable information more. This would have allowed greater student involvement, although I do think that their involvement was appropriate. Personal Reflection I believe that I did an adequate job of presenting the material to the students and assisting them; however, I believe that I could have been more proactive in the planning phase. It would have been nice to actually sit with Dr. Ibarra and hash things out; but I think that as a full-time school librarian, rather than a full-time classroom teacher/part-time library intern, that would have been much more of a possibility. Unfortunately, the DVD is a bit difficult to see, but there was no way around that as the lights in that area of the school library needed to be turned off so that students could see what was projected on the screen.