Inquiry Learning Reflection

Word Cloud Definition of Inquiry Learning
By: Michelle Colquitt
created using ABCYA

People learn by doing and by inquiring in all aspects of daily life. As a juvenile probation officer, I probably see the negative side of inquiry learning on a daily basis. My caseload is comprised of approximately 70 juvenile offenders with various "levels" of involvement with the juvenile justice system--from being first offenders being charged with Curfew Violations to those troubled juveniles who have multiple very serious charges being supervised at a heightened level in the community or even being held at the RYDC (Regional Youth Detention Center) for very serious offenses. The great majority of my caseload is composed of first offenders who are being referred to various services or community-based programs for treatment, rehabilitation, and supervision.

The meetings I have with my first offender youth invariably follow a certain script with the juvenile offender stating...."I just wanted to see what would happen." At its heart, inquiry learning keenly reflects the idea of "I just wanted to see what would happen IF, X, Y, and/or Z happened" OR to frame this in the form of a question "What would happen if I broke the law?"

This is where I step in and become the child and family's steward to help them navigate the inquiry learning processes that can arise in the juvenile justice system. My ultimate goal is to empower the child and family to gain enough self-awareness and self-efficacy to not ever require the assistance of the juvenile justice system again. I am hopeful that the youth and family will not need my assistance any longer. I am helpful to the best of my abilities in navigating this often tough and confusing process. I can only hope that I am as helpful as teachers in delivering their inquiry-based learning instruction.

Neil Stephenson, in his Introduction to Inquiry Based Learning, relates that there is a cohesive eight element inquiry-based rubric to outline effective inquiry-based learning. The eight elements are:

1. Authenticity

2. Deep Understanding

3. Performances of Understanding

4. Assessment

5. Appropriate Use of Technology

6. Connecting with Experts

7. Student Success

8. Ethical Citizenship

For this class, we are tasked with creating a mini-lesson set conveying the ideas of inquiry-based learning that we have learned thus far and we are asked to apply these principles into teaching practice. I am busily brainstorming ideas for this mini-lesson. I am not employed as a teacher or in the educational field YET (I'm claiming my growth  mindset here) but when I am employed in this setting, I would prefer to work in a High School (first choice) or Middle School (second choice). One of my passionate interests has always been history of any time period or place, but particularly American History and the topic of World War II.

As background research for this assignment, I consulted the Georgia Performance Standards for United States History to determine if there was a specific area in which I was interested. The area that I found most interesting relates to the following standard:

SSHUSH19--The student will identify the origins, major developments, and the domestic impact of World War II, especially the growth of the federal government.

In brainstorming and determining how this topic can be articulated into a mini-lesson, I have thought about the ways in which the eight principles of inquiry-based learning can be utilized.

1. Authenticity--To make history an authentic experience for students it needs to relate to the life of the student in a meaningful manner. Stephenson provides some very interesting consideration questions at the end of this section. The two that especially resonated with me are:

a. How might students access or create authentic sources of data on this topic? 

b. Where will students have the opportunity to solve problems, test ideas, recognize patterns, or invent build or design a solution or product?

2. Deep Understanding--students need to have more than a superficial understanding of the topic. They should be able to deeply relate to the topic at hand. One question that Stephenson (through  Perkins) suggests is:

"What do you want your students to become better at through this task?"

Rather than jut being able to regurgitate materials back for a high-stakes standardized test, I would like for my students to have a deep understanding of the events surrounding World War II, and even the events that arose as a result of WWII (the Baby Boom, the Cold War, etc.).

3. Performances of Learning--once the student has become deeply immersed in thinking about learning and acting there are several ways in which they can demonstrate their understanding. Two particular ideas that resonated with me were the ideas of:

a. Democratizing Ideas--every voice is encouraged and respected

b. Discourse--students are encouraged to share differing ideas and also to debate about ideas. Again, all voices and opinions are encouraged and respected.

4. Assessments--once students have learned an authentic lesson with deep understanding they have the opportunity to perform what they have learned. After the performance stage comes the "dreaded" assessment stage. During this stage, the teacher has a responsibility to prepare their students for the stress of a standardized test.

Students should be assessed in a variety of ways: group presentations/projects, classroom discussions, multimedia projects, self-assessments, and a variety of other formative evaluations.

5. Appropriate Uses of Technology--Technology should be utilized in a meaningful way, rather than just "throwing" technology at students for the sake of using technology. In Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano's Langwitches blog, it is related that in order to impart 21st-century learning skills, Teacher Librarians must be willing to embrace technology and become fluent in using these various technologies. Therefore, we must be comfortable with technology, to include its successes and even its hiccups.

Technology can be implemented in a United States History class in a variety of ways. For example, a simple timeline could help students learn about the events of WWII. However, in order to deepen their understanding of WWII, students could be encouraged to create a highly skilled project such as a propaganda podcast that could possibly emulate "Tokyo Rose."

6. Experts and Expertise--Students can learn from experts in the field of study. While we more than likely would not be able to have a WWII veteran present in the classroom (simply because the population of WWII veterans is dwindling), we could possibly still have access to multimedia interviews of WWII veterans. For example, I know that the Athens-Clarke County Library's Heritage Room has digitized copies of interviews of WWII veterans that were taped in 1994 and 1995 (because I interned there and classified these interviews). I would love to show my students these  videos so that they could hear about firsthand experiences that local (Athens area) WWII veterans experienced. I would also love to find other ways to utilize multimedia technology into these lessons: radio broadcasts, viewing both primary and secondary sources, and listening to other interviews.

7. Success--Within the success area, teachers are encouraged to utilize technology to have students demonstrate an  understanding of the topic at hand. For example, if students were asked to complete a podcast group project, then they would be responsible for creating a script, recording the audio of the podcast (to include any extra sound effects), and then upload the podcast to a hosting program such as YouTube or iTunes.

8--Ethical Citizenship--Students must be taught to effective rules of 21st-century communication. Students must be positive citizens and, therefore, should understand about topics such as plagiarism, copyright, and netiquette, among others. Students should be able to associate ethical citizenship with the larger topics of this WWII unit by associating their communications with the freedoms that WWII soldiers fought for.

Of course, this is a brainstorming session/jumping off point for the creation of my mini-lessons. To be honest, I am very excited and also very trepidacious about this process since I lack the background that almost all of my fellow classmates have. I am excited to learn more about the lesson planning creation process and know this will be beneficial for my future Media Specialist days.

Marching Toward My Goals

After reading and viewing this week's resources, I recognize my own failures to have a good positive growth mindset in place. I have seemingly always fallen into a dark place about my negative experiences (failed job interviews, failed assignments, and other personal failures) and conducted an internal dialogue with aspects of a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset. This internal dialogue frequently follows this same script..."You're a failure. You're not ever going to be more than a Probation Officer. You're defined by WHAT you do....not WHO YOU ARE."

After this week's readings and videos, I have a keen understanding of my past failures and plan to work toward having a growth mindset. I will be the first to admit that this will probably be difficult, but I am consciously stating that things are going to change for the better, with the first change being having a growth mindset.

Carol Dweck relates that individuals generally fall into one of two categories about their intelligence, either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. Dweck relates the definitions of these two as:

Fixed mindset

"In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success--without effort. They're wrong." (Dweck 2010, para 3).

Growth Mindset

"In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work--brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities" (Dweck 2010, para 4).

A growth mindset is going to greatly impact my future goals and attitudes. Eduardo Briceno relates three ways in which we can instill a growth mindset in ourselves and others, these being:

1. Recognize that that growth mindset is beneficial and is supported by science. In other words, my brain (and those brains of others) will change and become stronger when I possess a growth mindset--or believe that I can develop skills through dedication and hard work.

2. Learn and teach others how to develop a growth mindset. Fostering a growth mindset in ourselves and others will plant the seeds for the beginning of change within our world. There has been growth mindset research about attaining peace in the Middle East. It would be great and amazing if today's learners could help to resolve some of the world's problems through growth mindset changes.

3. Listen to your fixed mindset voice and talk back with a growth mindset voice. For example "I can't become a Media Specialist........YET....I will become a Media Specialist one day."

Now that I am cognizant of the growth mindset, I am presented with the question of how I will apply the growth mindset toward obtaining my goals and toward the Information Technology field. The application of a growth mindset will require a judicious activation of prior knowledge, being unafraid of change, and even letting go of control.

I am making great strides in progressing towards my learning goals. I believe that my learning goals are goals that will be easily obtained upon completion of this class. I would like to add in that I need to learn more about the Information Fluency, and will be honest and relate that I did not adequately have the words to express that this was one of my goals at the beginning of this course. Education, much like any other profession, has its own language, and while I understood the concept of information fluency, I do not necessarily believe that I understood this in relation to education and the Media Center.

Upon understanding the growth mindset in regards to my personal mindset. How will this impact my time in the Media Center or in the classroom?

I will encourage students to have a positive growth mindset view of themselves. Yes, this is difficult, but it is not impossible (see, there's my growth mindset at work). My working experience with probationers and children involved with what can often be classified as the worst experiences of their lives has helped me to empathize with individuals who might be experiencing emotions that they are not comfortable expressing (specifically fear).

Given that, I can empathize with youth and that I am knowledgeable about the growth mindset, I will encourage all students I encounter to approach learning with a genuine curiosity with the absence of fear of failure. In today's high-stakes testing environment, I can understand that this could possibly be a difficult if not Herculean chore, but I am going to answer with my growth mindset thinking that I can help to foster learning without the fear of failure.

In Growth Mindset: Personal Accountability and Reflection Dr. Jackie Gerstein relates her personal experiences about growth mindset within the education world. Gerstein establishes that she is frequently challenged after assigning grades to students, so she created a reflection checklist for students. This checklist has a growth mindset bent and does not solely focus on receiving a poor grade.

Gerstein's checklist is comprised of the following questions:

• Did I work as hard as I could have?
• Did I set and maintain high standards for myself?
• Did I spend enough time to do quality work?
• Did I regulate my procrastination, distractions, and temptations in order to complete my work?
• Did I make good use of available resources?
• Did I ask questions if I needed help?
• Did I review and re-review my work for possible errors?
• Did I consider best practices for similar work?
• Is my work something for which I am proud – that I would proudly show to a large, global audience?

This is an outstanding resource for current and future educators to increase accountability within a growth mindset framework. I enjoyed learning about the growth mindset and have some changes to make within my perspective, and yes, all change requires a learning curve and might be painful, BUT my growth mindset allows me to know that I can and will be successful.

Letting Go

Learning about education is so very fascinating to me as an almost complete novice in this area. As a complete disclaimer, this is not a native area where I know oodles and oodles about this topic. I had two undergrad education classes both roughly ten years ago and was an education major for a brief scintilla of time. Therefore, I was a relative newbie when I jumped headfirst into the education world starting my M.Ed. in School Library Media from Georgia Southern University.

I have always loved to learn. I found great joy in going to school and learning new things. I'm that nerdy girl no one needed to be warned about because I was sitting in the corner reading. Anyway, I digress. I can always remember my days of learning (from Elementary School to High School with a few college classes thrown in) where teachers taught in a very rigid manner not really allowing for a whole lot of questions. I was able to learn, flourish, and love school despite (or maybe in spite of) this manner of teaching. In fact, I am much more comfortable in school than in "real life."

Therein lies the problem, unfortunately. School should immediately be considered "real life," and should prepare students for a multitude of experiences, positive, negative, neutral, or uncomfortable. Truly great teachers who empower learners should encourage their students to ask questions for which the teacher might not have an answer.

Having the autonomy and authority to ask answerless questions was not the norm in Hart County, Georgia. However, there were still great teachers who fostered learning and were truly kind and compassionate individuals. So, what exactly does a "great" teacher look like?

First, the teacher is an active participant in the educational process. The teacher encourages inquiry and also encourages questions that might be ambiguous or not have a TRUE answer. It is essential for students of education to have a good working understanding of inquiry learning. Neil Stephenson relates that "the power of an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning is its potential to increase intellectual engagement and foster deep understanding through the development of a hands-on, minds-on and ‘research-based disposition’ towards teaching and learning. Inquiry honours the complex, interconnected nature of knowledge construction, striving to provide opportunities for both teachers and students to collaboratively build, test and reflect on their learning" (n.d. para 2). Rather than the teacher reading from the textbook or lecturing for hours on end (I have witnessed both teaching styles) inquiry based learning encourages students to ask questions, to get their hands dirty, and to engage in a kinetic style of learning that fully engages the body and the mind.

Stephenson then relates "it is crucial to recognize that inquiry-based teaching should not be viewed as a technique or instructional practice or method used to teach a subject. Rather, inquiry starts with teachers as engaged learners and researchers with the foundational belief that the topics they teach are rich, living and generous places for wonder and exploration" (n.d. para 4).  Inquiry-based learning is not just a fad, it is a practice which should be encouraged to foster lifelong learning and creativity. Students should be autonomous and empowered to ask questions in an inquiry-based manner for their entire lifespan, not simply the twelve to fourteen years they are a student in a PreK-12 situation.

So, now that we have a grasp of inquiry-based learning, how can we grapple with the idea of instructional technology and truly great teachers? From previous classes about instructional design, I remember that instructional technology and design have a keen focus on how the learner learns the information (which takes a backseat to the actual information learned at times). Wayne State University's College of Education effectively relates that "Instructional Technology's goal is to understand how people learn and how to best design instructional systems and instructional materials to facilitate that learning. We also use appropriate technology to aid us in the design and delivery of the instruction" (2015 para 6).

Given that instructional technologists are facilitators of learning, what should learning actually look like? Learning should look like uncertainty and ambiguity peppered with autonomy and independence to learn and make mistakes. Learning should entail the freedom to ask questions, both big and small, to which the teacher might not necessarily have a good answer. Grant Wiggins, Ed.D. (2014) relates that he learned two vital lessons about education on the soccer field: outlining that learning is about a genuine experience not merely parroting a behavior and that learners, with effective preparation, can respond to prompts in scarier situations in order to live productive lives.

Wiggins later outlines what should be a driving argument to educators and administrations why are teachers and administrators dumbfounded when students do poorly on standardized testing after not properly being taught how to problem solve without explicit signals of what should be done? (2014 para. 7-8). Great teachers teach their students to autonomously answer questions that might not have answers. They also teach their students how to deal with the stresses that high stakes standardized testing brings to the mix, all in preparation for the stresses that life will present.

In a recent review of Nonsense: The Power of Not Knowing, Linda Flanagan stated "if students can be made to feel comfortable with uncertainty--if they're learning in an environment where ambiguity is welcome and they are encouraged to question facts--then they are more apt to be curious and innovative in their thinking. Approaching knowledge this way is difficult for students and teachers, however, because ambiguity spurs unpleasant feelings. Indeed, studies show that the typical response to uncertainty is a rush for resolution, often prematurely, and heightened emotions" (2015 para 6-7). It is very difficult to embrace uncertainty, but life is full of uncertainties, and students must be prepared to deal with these in the manner that this is a soft skill area of knowledge that is crucial to be an adult.

Chris Lehmann, a truly inspiring educator in Philadelphia made a dynamic argument for inquiry and project-based learning in this video. Principal Lehmann outlined that parents give their students to us in education in a "sacred trust" in order to prepare students for the future. He further relates that he is upset by the idea that we are preparing a 21st-century workforce because he believes in the humanity of our student body. Lehmann related so many gems during this interview, but one important takeaway I received was that "we have to understand our role is changing as teachers where we must be mentors in our classrooms--kids need us more than ever before...Every teacher that has ever taught knows that there has been a moment in time where they were the adult that mattered in a child's life more than anybody else" (2013).

Those truly great teachers I have been fortunate enough to have--Mr. Corbett--my eighth grade Georgia History Teacher, Mrs. Dickerson--tenth-grade geometry and twelfth grade Pre-Calculus, and so many more were always there for me when I had questions or needed guidance. While their teaching domains were in the more fact driven areas, they did encourage questions and frequently held discussions where every student was made to feel as if they mattered and had a great opinion.

In short, the teacher and Media Specialist of today should encourage inquiry-based learning, embrace uncertainty, and enable their students to become autonomous. There is a connection between instructional design (which takes into account the learner versus the material learned) and great teaching. Those great teachers we are fortunate enough to experience are imprinted upon our souls and allow us to transition from being children into being decent human beings through guidance, encouragement, freedom, and autonomy. I will be best served (when I am fortunate enough to become a Media Specialist) to surrender my control-freakish ways (I am very precise about work) and become a teacher who helps to facilitate autonomy all the while preparing my students to become productive and decent human beings.

Reflective Searching

I admit that I have often, rather immodestly, considered myself to be the self-appointed "Queen of Googling." After obtaining my MLIS from Valdosta State University where I had many reference based classes, I thought I knew how to properly craft the most effective reference queries possible. However, after watching the Even Better Search Results: Getting to Know Google Search for Education, this old dog learned many new tricks for crafting a search; especially in regards to the education world (of which I am quite a novice).

Google is often our one-stop shop for finding information. According to information established in the Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future, a member of the "Google Generation" is anyone who was born after 1993 (2008, p. 5). I would argue that the Google Generation is now and that anyone who attempts to surf the web, even one time a year is subject to the rules of the Google Generation. The authors of this study state "in general terms, this new form of information seeking behaviour can be characterised as being horizontal, bouncing, checking and viewing in nature. Users are promiscuous, diverse and volatile and it is clear that these behaviors represent a serious challenge for traditional information providers, nurtured in a hard copy paradigm and, in may respects, still tied to it. Libraries must move away from bean counting dubious download statistics, and get much closer to monitoring the actual information seeking behaviour of their users" (CIBER, 2008, p. 9).

After attending Library School and also attending Georgia Southern University's School Library Media M.Ed. program, I realize that my current searching behaviors are an example of "squirrelling" as outlined by the authors of the Information Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future (2008 p. 10). As mentioned before in this post, I want to quickly craft an effective search query, and then will take the time to evaluate the results that are returned. The authors state that someone who "squirrels" information "...assess authority and trust for themselves in a matter of seconds by dipping and cross-checking across different sites and by relying on favoured brands (e.g. Google)" (2008 p. 10).

As mentioned in a prior blog posting, we are constantly being bombarded by information. Likely any Google search we conduct will provide some relevant results. The question we as Media Specialists and Librarians are facing is: How do we effectively craft a search that will result in information that provides all distinct points of view about the topic? Eli Pariser's TED talk Beware online "filter bubbles" should allow us to realize and understand how information is presented to us and how to overcome and provide different points of view to our students and patrons.

Pariser establishes that the internet provides users with what it thinks we want to see versus what we are actually asking about. A quote was presented by a representative from Google in this TED talk, Erc Schmidt from Google stated, "it will be very hard for people to watch or consume something that has not in some sense been tailored for them." I don't want to sound like a conspiracy hound or even someone who predicts doom and gloom, but there is a distinct possibility for an abuse of power in this situation, and therefore, we must be vigilant in the quality and differing types of information that is provided to our patrons and students. It is our responsibility to provide high-quality information that properly presents all points of view about a given subject.

In comparison with the "typical teen," I believe that my research strategies and reliance upon technologies are somewhat above their grasp, but this expected after attending 2 years of library school and thus far 1 year into an M.Ed. program. However, prior to attending this level of school about libraries and accessing information, I was very much on the level of the "typical teenager." I admit that my searching strategies would often lead to incorrect information and also could become easily distractable. I admit that I would often research one topic and end up serendipitously learning information about another topic. In the study How Teens Do Research in the Virtual World establishes the information seeking behaviors a myriad of participating AP and NWP (Advanced Placement and National Writing Project) teachers witnessed. Their findings indicated that predictably, students are more likely to rely upon search engines without the addition and juxtaposition of printed materials, reliable news sources, and assistance from a research librarian or Media Specialist (2011, para 4-5).

The authors of this study later point out that "overall, the vast majority of these teachers say a top priority in today's classrooms should be teaching students how to "judge the quality of online information." As a result, aignificant portion of the teachers surveyed here report spending class time discussing with students how search engines work, how to assess the reliability of the information they find online, and how to imporve their search skills. They also spend time constructing assignments that point students toward the best online resources and encourage the use of sources other than search engines" (2011, para 6).

As a future Media Specialist one of my driving educational goals will be spreading the "gospel" of critical thinking, evaluating informaiton, and teaching my students to look beyond the first five results of a Google Search or a Wikipedia page. Students must be taught about finding quality information, rather than just merely regurgitating information from a simple Google search or from a Wikipedia page. Students must learn to evaluate information for themselves and to pick and choose from higher quality results.

Bombarded by Information

Bombard--verb

to assail vigorously

(Dictionary.com)

Information bombards us on a quanta (smallest unit of time) basis (PhysLink). As intelligent adults, we all must do our very best to wade through this information and determine what is truthful. After utilizing our critical thinking skills, we are left with the basis for what we can learn and think of as the Truth.
  

Information has grown by leaps and bounds. In fact, according to information from the video InfoWhelm and Information Fluency, (2010) information output has increased 10,000% in six years. This was only five short years ago, and I wonder just how much this figure is now. The last figure presented in this video indicated that in 2009 the information output was 500 Exabytes (or 500,000,000,000 gigabytes).

Two striking idea in this video should easily become the thoughts behind the future of education in America.  

1. Can we truly be experts in any discipline?

2. Why is education still focused on memorization and regurgitation of information?

Given that we are constantly bombarded with information outputs how do we wade through this information in order to become experts. Bryan Alexander's post-My Daily Info-Wrangling Routine provides a great starting point for wading through the information that bombards us on a daily basis. Alexander establishes a great framework for personal knowledge management, whereby, he will seek information (through various sources such as Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds, podcasts, and email resources) then reflect on the given information (searching for patterns, signals, and futures while reflecting on his own experience) and then share through various mediums such as blogs or social media.

As consumers of information, how can we impact the lives of our students? In Creating Classrooms We Need: 8 Ways Into Inquiry Learning Tina Barseghian establishes that educators should be flexible by stating "the less educators try to control what kids learn, the more students' voices will be heard and, eventually, their ability to drive their own learning" (2013 para 3). As someone who has not been employed within the educational environment, and having virtually no experience as a teacher, the educational arena has always seemed to be inflexible and very rigidly designed.

I was particularly struck by information from Diana Laufenberg's TED Talk: How to Learn? From Mistakes where she stated "...learning has to include an amount of failure because failure is instructional in the process."

Given that students are so bombarded with information, it is essential that we as teachers and Media Specialists provide our students with an effective framework to become digitally fluent. In The Journey from Digital Literacy to Digital Fluency Karen Lirenman established that teachers and learning professionals should integrate new technologies balanced with their well-established teaching practices. Ms. Lirenman provided great definitions of both digitally literate and digitally fluent. Digitally literate being able to utilize technologies in a variety of ways for a variety of purposes sharing this information in a variety of ways (Lirenman, 2012 para 3 and 4). Also, Lirenman established that digital fluency is thinking in a new way and "...using the tools of technology to do things completely differently than...ever done before. It is less about using technology to make a routine task more exciting, and more about transforming how I think about teaching and learning with technology and how it applies to my students" (para 7, 8, and 9).

My takeaways from this week's blogging resources are:

1. We are constantly bombarded with information. There is more information output than could ever be stored on hard drives, therefore, we must become fluent in how to understand the cloud.

2. We must have a grasp on how to process this information. Personally, I appreciate Alexander's framework of wrangling information and will try to adapt this routine to my personal daily information consumption.

3. I will not be afraid to fail or afraid to let my potential students fail. I will also take several steps to become more digitally fluent. This started by having a good working grasp on the topic of digital literacy, which was provided by Ms. Lirenman's posting. I will work to become much more digitally fluent in order to provide the best information possible to my future students. 

Learning Goals

Most students, when faced with short semester classes can start to feel overwhelmed very easily. Hi, I am Michelle Colquitt and I am one of these easily overwhelmed students. As a distance education student in Georgia Southern University's School Library Media M.Ed. program I have spent the past year enhancing my educational knowledge all in hopes of one day attaining my ultimate goal of becoming a librarian, particularly a Media Specialist.

For this class, FRIT 7234--Information Fluency and Inquiry Learning--I have several learning goals.

Some of these important goals being:

1. As someone who has not worked in a school setting before, I want to learn the ins and outs of Inquiry Learning. That is, I want to have a good grasp on a working definition of Inquiry Learning and specifically how that I can employ this strategy as a Media Specialist. 

2. I want to have a good working grasp of the governing ALA/AASL Standards for the Initial Preparation of School Librarians (2010) by understanding these standards and how effective Media Specialist practice relates back to these standards. 

3. I want to be prepared to provide high-quality customer service experiences through my knowledge of information technology. I want to impart knowledge into both my student population and also be able to collaborate with my colleagues (district wide Media Specialists and staff within my building), wherever this may be. I know that this is a lofty goal, but it is one that I will be mindful of as I begin my Practicum, which should occur this time next year. 

I look forward to learning more about the exciting topics of information fluency and inquiry learning. I welcome all comments and suggestions to become a better student and potential Media Specialist.

Thank you for joining me on this educational journey! 

Michelle