Post-Reflection

Wow, this has been quite the experience and process. It is nice to have it completed and be able to look back at all the time and effort that was put into this project and see what was created. The unit that was created by my partner and I was a labor of love and I feel that we created some very nice lessons that would be very beneficial to use one day in a classroom. This semester has been a challenging one for me and it is nice to see such an accomplishment. I started a full-time job with a new company which in and of itself is stressful. Going from working 25 hours a week to 40 hours and still having time for my family and school has been a challenging experience. I also decided to not pursue my school library media endorsement and complete a practicum next semester. Instead, I will be graduating after this class is completed with a masters in library science. After seeing all the school librarians in the area that I live lose their positions it made me rethink the route I was going. Also, with working full-time now completing a practicum would be impossible. As much as I would enjoy working in a school one day as a librarian, I just don't see it happening with the way the schools in my area are going.

With all of that being said, there are quite a few things I have learned from this collaboration. The first and foremost is that it is not the easiest to work solely online to collaborate. I think we missed out not having the face to face interaction and bouncing of ideas of one another. A dynamic seemed to be missing by not having that. That is one area that a real collaboration will definitely be different. Also, with being in the same school the teacher or librarian could quickly poke their head in to ask a question or meet during lunch. They would have more opportunities to converse on the fly, so to speak. I have also learned that collaboration is a process that you will become better at the more it is done. Like anything, practice makes perfect and the more collaborations that are completed the more seamless they will become. Through this collaboration I learned that my partner and I had different ways of working. I like to get things done ahead of time and don't like to feel pressure towards the end of a project to complete tasks. My partner on the other hand seems to work better under pressure and work until the last minute. I don't think one way is better over another it is just a difference on personalities. I think this is a good aspect to learn when working with teachers in the school you will be in. If you know how the other works it will be beneficial for the flow of the collaboration so accommodations can be made on each person's part.

The one aspect that I would like to know more about is the flow of the collaboration and how it goes from the beginning stages to being taught. I'm guessing each collaboration is different in how it starts and finishes and what the in-between process looks like. For instance how many times should the team meet? Does the school librarian need to know every aspect of all the lessons or just what they are assisting with? Does the teacher normally have a base unit and the librarian helps to make it better or do they start from scratch with a new idea?

Assessment

The main form of assessment that will be used is by having each student complete a KWL chart for the various lessons. The lessons I am creating are more geared towards gaining the necessary background knowledge of the time period in which the book being used for the unit takes place. The KWL charts will focus on the Civil Rights Movement and various aspects of the time in which this took place in the book. Seeing what the each student learned after completing each lesson will help me to evaluate if they learned what was hoped from each. The other forms of evaluation will be from grading their presentations with a rubric and evaluating their answers they put for the guided learning sheets and comparison sheet. Looking specifically how they researched the various topics to see that used sources appropriately.

Communication of student learning to the community will take place a few different ways. As the school librarian an article about the unit will be written for the school newsletter that is sent out to parents. At the staff meeting for the school a short presentation will be made showing what learning occurred and how effective it was. Also, mention of the collaboration process will be made. This will hopefully prompt other teachers to consider a collaboration with myself (the school librarian.)