Tag Archives: informationliteracy

category SLIS as Experienced Teacher–Library Lessons
Includes research skills such as problem-solving models, search & evaluation of resources, and academic honesty.

What’s a Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix & How Do I Use It?

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What's a Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix & How Do I Use It? - School Librarians often struggle to create a cohesive library skills curriculum when subject area library visits are so unpredictable. Here's a visual organizer that lets you take control of your lesson planning and promotes collaboration with all content area teachers! #NoSweatLibraryWhen we become a School Librarian we don’t cease being a teacher. What changes, however, is how we plan and present our lessons.

  • We no longer have a standard curriculum that is presented chronologically on a daily basis.
  • We rarely have contiguous days with students, but rather random, irregular library visits.

How can a School Librarian teach Library Information Literacy Skills under such circumstances? We have to scaffold stand-alone topical lessons in order to gradually build up knowledge, so students receive a comprehensive program of Information Literacy instruction during the time we have them with us.

In short, School Librarians must integrate info-lit skills into every subject and each grade level during single class periods throughout the school year. How, then, might we effectively do this?

A VISUAL ORGANIZATION TOOL FOR SUBJECT CURRICULA

School Librarians need to support what students are studying in the classroom, otherwise, teachers won’t allow time for a library visit. And the only way to do that is to become familiar with everyone’s subject area curriculum. We don’t need to know course content to the depth teachers do, but we must familiarize ourselves with content area units and their assessments so we can discern when students need an information literacy skill (even if it’s not written down and the teacher doesn’t realize it). With such an overwhelming prospect, we must have a way to:

  • identify when a library lesson is needed for students, and
  • keep track of intermittent library lessons in order to progressively build information literacy skills.

When I faced this challenge, I determined the best approach would be to create a grid with different subject areas along one side and Library Lessons along the other side. I began on paper, but as I worked my way through subjects and grade levels, the grid became quite unwieldy, so I digitized it into a set of spreadsheets. After a few modifications and adjustments, I arrived at the finished product that I use even today: the No Sweat Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix.

No Sweat Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix - School Librarians often struggle to create a cohesive library skills curriculum when subject area library visits are so unpredictable. Here's a visual organizer that lets you take control of your lesson planning and promotes collaboration with all content area teachers! #NoSweatLibrary

The No Sweat Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix Template is now available through my Teachers Pay Teachers store. The No Sweat Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix Template contains 5 tabbed spreadsheet pages:

No Sweat Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix snip of tabs

  • a year-long Library Schedule page.
  • 3 pages for Grade Levels. (In my case, 6g, 7g, 8g, but you can add pages by copying a spreadsheet and rename tabs to align with your own grade levels.)
  • an Example sheet with some of my No Sweat Library Lessons entered to guide you through filling in your own information.

For each grade level spreadsheet, the Subject Area rows are listed down the left side, along with a row for Information Literacy and one for National School Library Standards. The Grading Period Week columns are listed across the top with a numbered row also between each subject. There is a separate block for each of the two semesters. By using the “Freeze” feature, you can slide the relevant time period up next to the Subjects column to make it easier to read. (See image below.)
Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix Grade Level sheets - Grade level pages of the visual organizer Template that lets School Librarians organize subject curricula and Library Lesson. #NoSweatLibrary

BUILD YOUR OWN CURRICULUM MATRIX

Colleagues have asked for specifics about the No Sweat Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix, so here’s how any school librarian can easily use the No Sweat template to fill in their own subject curricula and library lessons.

A STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS FOR CUSTOMIZING YOUR CURRICULUM MATRIX:

  1. Begin with a single subject area for your lowest grade level. I suggest beginning with your former classroom subject area, since that’s what you’re most familiar with, which will make filling in the Matrix much more intuitive.
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  2. Using the subject’s curriculum guide or scope & sequence, enter content unit titles into the field for the week they begin. I italicize these to keep them distinct from my library lesson information.
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  3. Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix snip of color blocks - Lesson color blocks of the visual organizer Template that lets School Librarians organize subject curricula and Library Lesson. #NoSweatLibraryLook through the guide/s&s for classroom assignments that would benefit from a library lesson or library resources. For the week you determine it’s needed, colorize the block (I make it the same color as the subject area) and type the Library Lesson or library resources needed.
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  4. In the Information Literacy row, under the corresponding week, add the skills that are reviewed, expanded, or introduced. Or, add details about resources needed.
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  5. When finished with one subject, grab another subject area guide/s&s for the same grade level, and fill in those units, then identify probable library lessons or resources. Continue doing this for each different subject at that grade level.
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  6. Move to each grade level and fill in subject area units and possible library lessons & resources, until all subject areas at all grade levels are filled in.
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  7. Once you have this preliminary Curriculum Matrix, pull out all Library Lesson Plans that you currently teach and, in the appropriate fields, fill in other lesson info and the National School Library Standards, which is now included on another tabbed spreadsheet to copy & paste into the other sheets as needed. I like to enter my lesson Title into the subject row and the lesson Theme or Learning Target into the Info-Lit row.

When you’ve finished your Curriculum Matrix, you’ll have a thorough picture of all subject area curricula and your Library Lessons. Now, do some analysis:

  1. Look over each grade level and compare the information literacy skills you taught for the prior grade level and what you will teach at the next grade level.
  2. Make notes in your current lesson plans if you can activate prior knowledge from previous grade level lessons before you introduce new skills.
  3. Make a list of specific Information Literacy Skills which you need to introduce or build with new Library Lessons.
  4. Make notes of where you need to expand the library’s print or digital collection to meet a curricular need you weren’t aware of.

Your Curriculum Matrix may occasionally need to be updated as standards and course curricula change, but if you keep up with it, you’ll always have a broad view of library visits and the Info-Lit Skills you cover for all your grade levels.

The Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix is a great tool to show your principal during evaluations, so s/he understands how valuable you are to classroom learning!

HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH YOUR CURRICULUM MATRIX

Collaborate with Teachers using the Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix - Use the No Sweat School Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix Template to plan Library Lessons with subject area teachers, and take a printout along when approaching them to schedule a library visit. They'll be convinced that collaborating with the School Librarian will benefit their students! | No Sweat Library
Creating the Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix is the easy part. Developing specific Library Lessons is a bit more challenging. The really hard part is convincing teachers that students will benefit from a Library Lesson! Here’s how I do it:

  • At the start of each grading period I use my Curriculum Matrix to view upcoming possible library lessons & resources for that time span. I select & print out enough of the Matrix so I can visit with those teachers and show them how important their place is in building Info-Lit skills.
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  • I print out the related Library Lesson Plans—recurring or new—so I can show each teacher how I incorporate their unit Standards and activities as a focus for the library skills lesson. When only library resources are needed, I use my Library Lesson Short Form for Teacher Requests (available on my FREE Librarian Resources page) so the teacher can make any changes or additional requests.
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  • I also select and print-out the relevant portion of the Library Scheduler spreadsheet.
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  • I go to each subject area teacher during their conference period and show them the LLC Matrix and their Library Lesson Plan. I make it pretty easy for them to say “Yes, indeed, let’s do this!” Then I pull out the schedule to enter the teacher’s library visit, and they’re pretty impressed to see how busy a School Librarian really is! (For Short Form & resources I suggest a “quick lesson” so students know how to best use the materials.) 

You may be thinking, “Wait, shouldn’t we collaborate with the teacher before we create the Library Lesson Plan?” Uh, NO. In my experience, teachers who are unfamiliar with librarian collaboration can’t envision how we can help them. But, they’ll consider a library visit when we show them a concrete example of how we use their content to teach library skills that enhance classroom learning and increase student achievement. (Read my blog post, “How to Propose Library Lessons to Teachers ,” to learn more about this!)

GO FORTH & COLLABORATE WITH YOUR CURRICULUM MATRIX

Once you’ve completed your Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix, I know you’ll rely on it to develop your lessons and purchase resources. When colleagues, teachers, and administrators see this tool, your professional standing with them will skyrocket!

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My Teacher Collaboration Form is available for download from my FREE Librarian Resources page! My No Sweat Library Lesson Planner Templates are available for download from my FREE Librarian Resources page!
Image of single Library Lesson Teacher Collaboration Form. | No Sweat Library NoSweat Library Lesson Planner Template - page 1
Learn more about using my Library Lesson Planner Template from these blog posts:
Short, Simple, and Relevant School Library Lessons
How to Build a High Quality, Standards-Based School Library Lesson
The No Sweat School Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix Template is available from No Sweat Library, my Teachers Pay Teachers store. The No Sweat Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix product is designed as a set of spreadsheets for School Librarians to enter subject-area units & their assessments for each grade level to determine when a library lesson or resource is needed. | No Sweat Library

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To Teach Critical Thinking & Inquiry Learning, Entrust Your School Librarian

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To Teach Critical Thinking & Inquiry Learning, Entrust Your School Librarian - Research proves the link between critical thinking, content knowledge, and inquiry based learning. Learn why the School Librarian is the expert who can help students learn critical thinking skills and background content knowledge through authentic inquiry based learning. #NoSweatLibraryTo flourish in our modern global world, students need critical thinking skills, so educators are turning to inquiry based learning as the best approach. An Internet search explodes with models for teaching it.

What most teachers don’t realize is that their best resource already resides within their own building: the School Librarian.

School Librarians have been integrating curriculum content, critical thinking, and inquiry based learning for a long time, and this is exactly what educational researchers have recently discovered is needed.

ABOUT CRITICAL THINKING

The Foundation for Critical Thinking describes a critical thinker as one who:

  • raises clear and precise questions
  • gathers, assesses, and interprets relevant information
  • derives well-reasoned conclusions, tested for relevance
  • is open-minded, evaluating assumptions, implications, and consequences
  • effectively communicates solutions to complex problems.

According to a recent article in The Hechinger Report, teaching critical thinking skills in isolation isn’t effective because students aren’t able to transfer skills between disciplines. Critical thinking is different within each discipline, so the skills needed for one subject area aren’t necessarily relevant to another subject area. Rather “the best approach is to explicitly teach very specific small skills of analysis for each subject.”

And this is where content knowledge becomes important. In order to compare and contrast, the brain has to hold ideas in working memory, which can easily be overloaded. The more familiar a student is with a particular topic, the easier it is for the student to hold those ideas in his working memory and really think. (Jill Barshay, 9/9/19)

ABOUT INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

The crux of inquiry based learning is to pique a student’s curiosity and motivate the desire for answers—it is self-directed, not teacher-directed. The numerous models for inquiry based learning take students step-by-step through the process, but we can consolidate them all into 4 basic stages:

  1. Develop background knowledge & formulate focus questions
  2. Research to discover answers & build understanding
  3. Analyze & interpret information, then synthesize into a worthy action or product
  4. Impart results & reflect on the action/product and the process

By its very nature, inquiry demands that students apply critical thinking, or what educators often refer to as higher-order thinking, at every stage of the process. But, we cannot assume that our students have the necessary knowledge and skills to be successful at inquiry learning—it’s our responsibility to give them the guidance and time needed to learn.

Unfortunately, most teachers have no idea how to do this. Leslie Maniotes & Carol Kuhlthau summed this up in a Knowledge Quest article:

In typical schools of education teachers do not learn in their teacher education courses about the research process. …teachers are simply relying on their own experience in school to direct their approach to research. … Although teachers have good intentions, they don’t realize that their traditional research approach is actually not supporting student learning. (p9)

Maniotes & Kuhlthau point out that teachers are particularly ignorant about the difference between the exploration stage and the collection stage. During that exploration stage, students build the necessary background content knowledge so they can think critically throughout the rest of the process. When that stage is (too often) ignored, both the inquiry process and the resulting product suffer, and students are even less likely to learn, use, and transfer critical thinking skills.

THE GRAND INTEGRATOR: YOUR SCHOOL LIBRARIAN

The one person in the school who has all the necessary knowledge and training to guide students through inquiry learning is the School Librarian, who has examined multiple inquiry models as part of their graduate coursework. As Maniotes & Kuhlthau put it:

School librarians know the inquiry process like language arts teachers know the writing process and science teachers know the scientific method. (p11)

A School Librarian: The Perfect Person for Inquiry Based Learning - With their knowledge & training, the School Librarian is the perfect person to integrate relevant content, critical thinking skills, and an inquiry process for Library Lessons that help students develop authentic, worthy products. #NoSweatLibraryThis makes a School Librarian the perfect person to teach students an inquiry process for any subject area & product. A School Librarian excels at finding content—information and media—so can provide background knowledge that helps students through the crucial exploration stage. Plus, a School Librarian’s broad familiarity with everyone’s curriculum means s/he knows which critical thinking skills are relevant for each subject area.

School Librarians are authorities on critical thinking because the library’s Information Literacy curriculum is all about analyzing, evaluating, inferencing, synthesizing, and communicating complex information in multiple formats. Ann Grafstein of Hofstra University ties Info-Lit to critical thinking and to content knowledge:

Information literacy is a way of thinking about information in relation to the context in which it is sought, interpreted, and evaluated. …effective critical thinking crucially involves an awareness of the research conventions and practices of particular disciplines or communities and includes an understanding of the social, political, economic, and ideological context….

So, it is the School Librarian who can weave together relevant content, an inquiry process, and critical thinking skills to help students develop authentic, worthy products.

INFO-LIT = INQUIRY + CRITICAL THINKING + CONTENT

My Library Lesson Curriculum Matrix - Composite example of an older version for the 1st grading period.

Sample Matrix

Through my years as a Middle School Librarian I use my Library Lesson Matrix to choose which strategies and skills are timely for each subject, at each grade level, across all grade levels, throughout the school year, in order to scaffold short Information Literacy lessons into any library visit.

My Library Lessons present inquiry strategies & skills in a way that students understand why, when, and how to use them. I believe students learn best with visual and aural “helpers”:

  • I use infographics to illustrate strategies and processes.
  • I use graphic organizers for conceptual knowledge because they help students develop the understanding for themselves.
  • I use short videos (~3 minutes) to make explanations more engaging and understandable for students.

Here are some practices and resources that have been most successful with students, most appreciated by teachers, and have garnered positive feedback from my colleagues when teaching the 3 components of Information Literacy:

Research Process Models

Get This Comparative Overview Chart of Research Process Models - School Librarians can plan a unique experience for inquiry-based learning in any subject area with this PDF chart of 18 popular problem solving models. Read about integrating critical thinking skills, content knowledge & IBL and then download the chart from my FREE Librarian Resources page! #NoSweatLibraryPlanning and exploration must be the beginning of all effective inquiry-based learning. Simple brainstorming can be a quick & easy way to begin a project; however, implementing a model to guide students through the inquiry learning process assures a more successful outcome.

Popular models have from 5 to 20 different steps, so it’s important to choose one that is appropriate for the grade level, subject-area, and duration of the project.

To help School Librarians choose the appropriate design process for any inquiry assignment, download my comparative chart of 18 different research process models, available on my FREE Librarian Resources page.

image of PACE Research Model

A model created for my 6th graders is a simple way to “PACE” students through a project from planning to evaluation. Join my email group and you’ll gain access to my exclusive e-List Library where you can download my PACE PDF or editable DOCX graphic template and assessment rubric.

Search & Evaluation Skills

This Info-Lit component has 3 parts: source selection, search strategies, and resource evaluation. I like to use KWHL charts to guide students in the selection of materials suitable to their needs and abilities. I encourage them to use our library online subscription services for the most reliable information by showing this video:

clip of keyword search formIt’s crucial to allow students time to develop keywords so they receive useful results quickly. My successful keyword search form is available on my Free Librarian Resources page. For evaluation I use a simple ABC acronym. An earlier post explained why that’s all I use with my middle schoolers.

Academic Honesty

image of Academic Honesty Slogan: Give credit when credit is due. Why? Because it's the right thing to do!It may surprise you that I don’t teach “plagiarism.” I’ve found it’s much more effective to give students the positive messages of Academic Honesty and teach them how to be legal & ethical, before getting to the cautions about plagiarizing. I begin each lesson with short relevant videos and then have hands-on activities, that introduce:

  1. Intellectual Property and how to do bibliographic citation
  2. Copyright & Fair Use, along with proper note-taking and in-document citation
  3. Public Domain & Creative Commons, especially for images & media
See my Intellectual Property, Copyright & Fair Use, and Public Domain & Creative Commons lessons in NoSweat Library, my TPT store.
product cover for No Sweat Library Academic Honesty-Intellectual Property & Bibliographic Citation product cover for No Sweat Library Academic Honesty Lesson-Copyright & Fair Use Academic Honesty: Public Domain & Creative Commons Lesson

RESOLVED…TEACHING CRITICAL THINKING & INQUIRY

Inquiry based learning and critical thinking should always begin with the School Librarian. Their raison d’être is helping students inquire and think critically to take in content knowledge and produce multimedia products that can change our lives.

Collaborative planning with teachers for inquiry based learning is essential, but it is hard to convince teachers to allow School Librarians more than a single day for these important Library Lessons. Those that do see their students produce better products more quickly, so they make the School Librarian part of their planning for the next such project. It’s even better when they tell others about how we contribute to their students’ research success!

Sources:

Barshay, Jill. “Scientific research on how to teach critical thinking contradicts education trends.” The Hechinger Report. Teachers College at Columbia University, September 9, 2019. https://hechingerreport.org/scientific-research-on-how-to-teach-critical-thinking-contradicts-education-trends/

Grafstein, Ann. “Chapter 1 – Information Literacy and Critical Thinking: Context and Practice: Abstract,” Pathways Into Information Literacy and Communities of Practice. Chandos Publishing, 2017. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081006733000010

Maniotes, Leslie K.; Kuhlthau, Carol C. Making the Shift: From Traditional Research Assignments to Guiding Inquiry Learning. Knowledge Quest, v43 n2 p8-17 Nov-Dec 2014. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1045936.pdf

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