AASL Standards for Framework - Interview 4

 Librarian Interview AASL Standard - Engage Competency

    For my fourth librarian interview regarding the AASL Standards Framework for Learners, I focused on the engage competency and interviewed a middle school librarian in the Fort Mill School District (FMSD). The middle school is one of 11 in the FMSD and has an enrollment of 961 students. The middle school focuses on students in the 6th—8th grades. The student demographics are 66% White, 13% Asian or Pacific Islander,  9% Hispanic, and 7% Black. 16% of the student population comes from low-income families (Great!Schools.org, 2025).  The middle school librarian works collaboratively with the ELA teachers, and the ELA classes visit the media center once a month.  The librarian co-teaches ELA and research lessons to each class, which was very interesting to observe. When asked the librarian pulls resources for other classes and tries to attend PLC meetings.

    I had the privilege of observing the librarian for a school day and watching how she actively incorporates the engage standard in her library programming.  The librarian offers students resources for finding a place to belong in the library, especially during "blacktop time," when students go outside for recess.  The librarian uses Google Classroom to help students learn about opportunities in the media center during their blacktop times.  These opportunities include: Sketchy People (students are encouraged to draw), Book Review Team (students check out and review new shipments of books), Poetry and Prose, Teacher Assistants, Library Ambassadors, SCASL Book Award Banners.  I appreciated using different activities and organizations in the media center to encourage student engagement and help students find alternative activities to "blacktop time."

    The librarian utilizes Google Classroom as a main resource for reaching student engagement in the media center.  In addition, the media center website is a primary resource for reaching students, teachers, and caregivers.  The school newsletter also includes media center advertisements for student engagement.  Next year, the librarian hopes to utilize Smart Paths more effectively to facilitate Google meet-ups and also pop-ups for student meetups in the media center. 

    Families are invited to engage with the media center and library programming through annual events such as the STEAM Literacy Night.  This year, the Steam Literacy Night incorporated student poems and a student quilt featuring the topic "I Am." The literacy night centered around the One School, One Book challenge that the entire school read and discussed.  In addition, caregivers are welcomed into the media center during the Fall Family Night, which features the choir's performances.  The Fall Family Night corresponds with a book fair, which engages students with reading and putting books in their hands. 

    The librarian stressed the component of time when trying to facilitate the engage competency.  The librarian meets with the ELA classes monthly, leaving little or no time to engage with other subject levels.  The librarian needs more time to assemble a resource guide to help grade-level teachers engage and pull resources from the library website.  The engagement piece is critical because it is the literacy component.  My conversations with the middle school librarian stressed the literacy piece and the crucial need to incorporate the standard into elementary library programming.  

    

    

Reference

Great!Schools.org. (2025). Pleasant Knoll Middle. https://www.greatschools.org/south-carolina/fort-mill/4246-Pleasant-Knoll-Middle/#Students

AASL Standards for Framework - Interview 3

Librarian Interview about the AASL Inquire Domain

    For my 3rd blog interview regarding the AASL Standards Framework, I interviewed a middle school librarian at a middle school in the Fort Mill School District (FMSD).  The middle school is one of six middle schools in the school district, with an enrollment of 535 students.  The middle school encompasses grades 6th - 8th and has the following demographics: 61% White, 17% Black, and 9% Hispanic.  36% of the student population are from low- income families (Great! Schools.org, 2025). Unlike the elementary schools in the FMSD, middle school librarians work with an instructional assistant specifically geared towards the library. I interviewed the librarian regarding the Inquire domain for the AASL Standards Framework.

    The librarian involves students in the inquiry process through program development, which piques student interest.  For example, the librarian creates a scavenger hunt for 6th-grade students at the beginning of each school year.  The scavenger hunt focuses on student learning and locating different resources of the library.  This is an activity that I could incorporate with the older elementary grades to facilitate and engage students in the library resources.  In addition, the librarian has 6th-grade students sort different books into different genres, which provides additional instruction in learning the different areas of the library.  The 7th-grade students work on a digital escape room project in which students solve problems using different parts of speech and research methods.  Students use resources such as Google Forms, Padlets, and fiction books, which expand upon the Inquire competency.

    The librarian collaborates with other grade-level teachers to incorporate the Inquire competency.  The ELA classes are invited and scheduled to visit the library once a month. During this time, the librarian works with teachers to prepare students for their media lessons.  Teachers and librarians collaborate and create escape rooms based on information they are learning in class and information they need to review for tests or other assignments. I am intrigued by the digital escape rooms and will be implementing this concept in the elementary school library next school year.

    As with my other interviews, the librarian mentioned that time constraints create challenges for implementing the Inquire competency in library programming.  Students are only in the library for 45 minutes one time a month.  When using inquire competencies, the librarian must complete the entire lesson in that period or risk students forgetting it before returning to the library.   

    The librarian added that there are multiple ways that she can include the inquire competency in the media center for lessons. However, getting students to go the extra mile in the media center is challenging when they are already burnt out from classwork. Due to student burnout, the librarian focuses on keeping the lessons fun and engaging with technology and hands-on activities.  This is another aspect that I strive to include in my library programming to fulfill the Inquire competency.

Reference

Great!Schools.org. (2025). Banks Trail Middle. https://www.greatschools.org/south-carolina/fort-mill/3565-Banks-Trail-Middle/?searchWhatType=autosuggest&searchLocationType=undefined&searchWhatKeywordValue=banks+trail+m

AASL Standards Framework for Learners - Interview 2

 

 Interview with Librarian on the AASL Collaborate Standard

I interviewed a librarian at an elementary school in the Fort Mill School District regarding how she incorporates the collaborative competency from the AASL Standards Framework.  The elementary school is one of eleven elementary schools in the district and has an enrollment of 782 students.  The student demographics are 68% white, 10% Hispanic, and 10% Pacific Islander or Asian.  15% of the student population is from low-income families (Great! Schools.org, 2025). The library operates on a fixed/flexible schedule, with the library rotating on and off with the guidance lessons. I was most interested in learning more about how the librarian incorporates the collaboration piece into her library programming.

The librarian attends planning meetings with the grade-level teachers.  She interjects with ideas and resources that she can help with lessons in the library.  I appreciate how she enters these meetings without an agenda, listens, and observes.  At the beginning of the school year, the librarian requests long-range plans from each grade level, which helps her analyze how she can support the teachers in the library.  She assists grade-level teachers by taking the research piece off of their classroom agendas and incorporating it into the library planning.  For example, the 4th grade was conducting a biography research project, and the librarian pulled non-fiction resources and allowed students to search topics on the computers.  Students became excited and engaged in selecting a biography topic to research and present. In addition, the librarian pushes into the classroom to co-teach lessons, like poetry. The collaboration with teachers helps the librarian build relationships throughout the school.

The librarian collaborates with the many resources that the library space has to offer.  In addition, she pulls bins of materials to deliver to classrooms.  The librarian presents professional development topics to teachers, such as features with SC Discus.  She surveys the needs of students at the middle school level and conducts presentations with the elementary teachers on ways to better prepare students for the middle school curriculum.  Through examining the long-range plans, the librarian arranges for presenters to come into the library space for presentations that match the curriculum, for example, the local mayor for a civic duty lesson.  She also attends the new employee orientation so that she can talk with new teachers about the vision for the library and how she can best help them.

Problems arise with collaboration because teachers are so exhausted and overwhelmed with their day-to-day stressors.  Often, collaboration is seen as an extra additive to the teacher’s responsibilities, even though it is not meant to be extra.  The librarian is also overwhelmed with the need to constantly explain and display all that a librarian does for the school.

The school that I will be a librarian in for the next school year operates on a fixed schedule.  Collaboration will be more difficult on a fixed schedule, but it is doable in small increments.  The librarian reassured me to take “baby steps” and focus on collaborating with one teacher or one grade level.  She advised me to not take too much on at once.  The key to collaboration is getting the school on board with the mission of the library, which is a process and will take time.

Reference

Great! Schools.org. (2025). Tega Cay Elementary School. https://www.greatschools.org/south-carolina/fort-mill/4149-Tega-Cay-Elementary-School/?searchWhatType=autosuggest&searchLocationType=undefined&searchWhatKeywordValue=tega+cay

AASL Standards Framework for Learners - Interview 1

 Interview with Librarian on the AASL Explore Standard

I interviewed my supervisor librarian on the ways that she incorporates the Explore standard of the AASL framework in her library programming.  The library is in a suburban school district in South Carolina; the school includes grades between PK and 5th grades.  The school population is 459 students, with 100% of the students being from low-income families.  The student demographics are 45% of the students are Black, 30% are White, and 15% are Hispanic (Great! Schools.org, 2025).  

I asked the librarian for examples of how she includes the Explore standard in her library programming.  The librarian regularly uses SC Discus to explore different lesson topics to expand upon the student’s interests and knowledge.  For example, I have watched the librarian cover biographical information, specifically regarding Langston Hughes and Faith Ringgold. During these lessons, the librarian utilized different platforms to acquire the most accessible information for the students.  In addition, the librarian gives students plenty of time to explore the topic in the various formats. All resources are highlighted that explore the topic, such as fiction and non-fiction books. 

The library does not currently include families for school activities.  However, outside the library, a local volunteer plants a school garden for the students to learn about and enjoy.  The volunteer works with the librarian to select a picture book that is displayed as a story walk through the garden.  Students learn about the life cycle of plants and the nutrients needed for the garden to survive. In addition, students explore the growth and development of the garden while also enjoying the picture book selected, which is prominently displayed.

In order to maintain the explore standard with students, the librarian regularly weeds and improvises the collection development.  Books are selected based on award winners, such as the South Carolina Book Award winners, book reviews, and the resources that are available. The library receives a small budget from the school district and also a donation from a private donor.  The allocated budget is a problem that the school librarian faces when trying to allocate resources toward library programming.  In addition, another challenge is encouraging the students to be receptive to exploring the topic and resources enough so that they also become familiar with the information.

Challenging students with the information and taking ownership of their information-seeking abilities is a critical component that the librarian referenced with the Explore standard.  She does not meet regularly with grade-level teachers but has the foresight to know the curriculum taught and can implement the curriculum standards into the library programming.  Teachers also communicate with the librarian via email for needs.  The librarian stresses that the students need to understand the worldview of topics and explore what they currently know and how it correlates to what they heard in the lesson.  The interview further expanded my views on how I will incorporate the Explore standards of the AASL Framework into my library programming. 

Reference

Great! Schools. org. (2025). Ebinport Elementary School. https://www.greatschools.org/south-carolina/rock-hill/1077-Ebinport-Elementary-School/?searchWhatType=autosuggest&searchLocationType=undefined&searchWhatKeywordValue=ebinport