Common Core and the Librarian
Common Core is as much a part of the librarian's life as it is the teachers. While teachers can focus on their grade level, the librarian looks at all grades that they teach and find ways to collaborate, integrate, and create. For our District, the elementary level began using the Curriculum Companion to guide us through the year. As a resource, the librarian has a flexible schedule to help work with the teacher and students. The librarians in our District created a document that looks at the Common Core, AASL Standards, ISTE Standards, Technology Resources, and Librarian Support & Library Resources (Elementary Crosswalk). This is based on our year-long guide of the Curriculum Companion. Our document will be ever changing to meet the needs of our staff and students. Free feel to reference our document. If you see something that needs to be added or fixed, please feel free to contact me. In addition, we found it difficult to find a good crosswalk that took a look at Common Core and the NETs Standards. We created a document for that here.
At the secondary level, Our District does not use Curriculum Companion. You can view the Secondary crosswalk document here.
At the secondary level, Our District does not use Curriculum Companion. You can view the Secondary crosswalk document here.
Common Core and the Teacher
In today's climate of increasing career and college readiness expectations, classroom teachers aren't alone in feeling the pressure to do more with less. With the infusion of 21st Century skills in Common Core, I have found myself needing to move away from traditional tools and relationships with resource people in my building. The flexibility of our librarian's schedule and her expertise in navigating 21st century skill acquisition,combined with my expertise in understanding my curriculum and student needs, has enabled us to create powerful lessons embedded with 21st Century skills that bridge curricular areas. When working with personnel who are in a fixed schedule, AASL and NETs standards can be met during weekly "scheduled" specials times, but it takes additional communication and collaboration to make sure the standards are being taught at a time when bridges can be created for students so they can apply the skills to meet the criteria set by Common Core.
image taken from: http://www.berylhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bridging-the-Gap-Between-Humans-and-Technology.jpg on 7-23-13
image taken from: http://www.berylhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Bridging-the-Gap-Between-Humans-and-Technology.jpg on 7-23-13