USING WIKIS AND CREDIT TO ENGAGE TEACHERS IN THE LIBRARY By Michelle Epstein and Robin Walters The Epstein School

HOW DO WE PROVIDE THE PD TEACHERS NEED WHEN… Professional Development

IT IS JUST ONE MORE THING TO FIT IN…

AND THEY ARE BEING ASKED TO DO SO MUCH… Teacher Breaking Down - FunnyTeacher

THEN, AN IDEA… The Curriculum Director had an idea and shared it with the Media Director and with their shared vision, they created…

A COLLABORATIVE LIBRARY PD PROJECT

“Committed to the process of collaboration, the library media specialist works closely with individual teachers in critical areas of designing authentic learning tasks and assessments and integrating the information and communication abilities required to meet subject matter standards.” - AASL  Teachers must earn 10 PLUs every 5 years.  The school provides professional development opportunities, but not always for credit.  Many times, teachers have to take their own time to obtain credit hours. THE SITUATION As the Media Specialist, Michelle was looking for a way to collaborate with classroom teachers. Robin was looking for a way to offer PLUs to teachers without taking too much of their out-of- school time.

THE SOLUTION

DETAILS Teachers attended 20 library lessons (1/2 hour each). They read and responded to prompts on the wiki, creating a discussion about the lesson and methods for classroom integration.. By flipping the prompts and discussion, teachers could choose where and when best fit their schedule to respond. A resource area was created for teachers. An observation of teachers integrating a resource or idea from the library lesson was used as the evaluation tool.

THE BALANCED LITERACY WIKI

OUTCOMES  More engagement from teachers during the library lesson  More teacher collaboration and integration  Library staff invited into the classroom  Teachers using the library resources  Message is being transferred to new teachers entering the grade  Staying power two years passed the PLU

WHAT OTHER INTEGRATION STRATEGIES COULD YOU USE? WHAT OTHER PLATFORMS? Now it is your turn… Go to for an idea forumhttp://bit.ly/17AUICj

RESOURCES  State website for PLU information and creation: Learning.aspx Learning.aspx   Page Page 

CITATIONS  American Association of School Librarians. Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. Chicago: American Library Association, Print.  FunnyTeacher.. YouTube - Teacher Breaking Down. May 22, Web. 10/21/ D55http:// 142D55.  unknown: Cartoon. Scusememiss. Web. 10/21/

QUESTIONS? CONTACT US Robin Walters Director of Elementary School General Studies The Epstein School (404) Michelle Epstein Media Director The Epstein School

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