Instructional Design, 2008 Titles

• Collaborating for project-based learning in grades 9-12, by Violet H. Harada, Carolyn H. Kirio, and Sandra H. Yamamoto (Linworth Books, 2008, 225 p. $36.95, ISBN: 978 1586832913)

  Project-based learning is popular in many schools because evidence that students become engaged and excited about learning abounds assuming that the projects themselves are of interest to the students. For teacher librarians, they present an opportunity to integrate inquiry and information literacy into real projects and make collaboration and co-teaching a natural activity with classroom teachers. The great Violet Harada has teamed with two “cybfrarians” in a SLMPY award-winning high school to detail just how the teacher librarian moves directly into the heart of project-based learning. Thus, the trio are as good as it gets. In this book, the first few chapters give a foundational view of project-based learning and how teacher librarians fit in as partners with classroom teachers. Then, the rest of the book details sample units of instruction ranging from science to art and most curricular topics in between. Using this book, there is ample opportunity to recognize how project-based learning flourishes in the information-rich and technology-rich environment of the library. We particularly liked the reflection piece at the end of each experience between teacher librarian and classroom teacher as a part of the professional learning community thrust toward excellence. Superb. It is all about how did we do and how could we do better next time. These excellent examples make this book a must purchase and read by every secondary teacher librarian who has a ghost of a chance of working with project-based learning. This is one of the best educational ideas out there that fits perfectly with the goals of the learning commons idea. So, buy this book, study it with colleagues, and then use these expert’s ideas and improve upon them with your students in your school. Having said that, let me as a reviewer reflect on project-based learning in general. There are two major ideas out there: problem-based learning and project-based learning. Both are very similar in structure and central idea. Both promote inquiry and collaboration with the library/learning commons although we find many books on these topics in the general education literature that never mention the need to have the library involved! That puzzle aside, our authors bring the learners successfully through a long journey and then reflect as professionals about that journey and its outcomes. We would recommend that the learners do the same at the conclusion of their own journey or project or solution to a problem. During the project or problem investigation, if learners are asked to briefly journal the journey, then after the journey is over and the grades are in, there is an opportunity to engage learners in a major reflection activity about the process used, the journey itself, the things we as learners did well, and the things we could do the next time to do even better.  Perhaps that is the best contribution of the new AASL Learning standards. It is not just getting an assignment done. It is all about me as a learner. It is my disposition toward the learning process. It is the skill of working though inquiry to get better and better in areas such as organization, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. Add this activity to the journey our excellent trio recommends and this reviewer would pronounce the collaboration as close to perfect as it ever gets.

   

• Teaching With Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, Taking Action, Grades K-5 by Debbie Miller (Stenhouse, 2008, 149 p., $_____, ISBN: 9781571103872)

  Debbie Miller is the perfect traditional teacher. She knows her stuff, she’s organized, she has her units down pat, she has her classroom organized perfectly, she has the perfect classroom library in tubs filled with exciting books to use at the precise moment. And, if your child were in her classroom, she’d be an impressive person to talk to on parent’s night. She sometimes goes to the public library even though there is one down the hall. And she has mastered direct teaching so that kids not only learn content, but they reflect and apply what they have learned. Technology is absent. No need for a library or collaboration. However, given a very diverse classroom with lots of English learners, something seems to be missing here. We’d like Miller to be more constructivist and demonstrate differentiation, take advantage of technology, the library down the hall, and learn how to collaborate with her teacher librarian. One suspects that a super giant would even be better at her craft with a brand new vision that would retain the best of the old and a mix of the current real world. This approach is not our cup of tea and reflects a world that is fast disappearing, however, there are teachers who could find ideas here from a master organizer. However, we can’t recommend it.

• TransFormative Assessment by W. James Popham (ASCD, 2008, 150 p., $_____, ISBN: 9781416606673.

  Most educators are familiar with the terms formative and summative assessment. Summative assessments happen at the end of a learning experience or semester or year and include the various standardized tests. Formative assessments are measures that happen during a learning experience to decide if the learners are developing the skills needed along the way in order to achieve the aims of the entire learning experience.  Popham is a major scholar in the area of assessment and has been sharply critical of the current high stakes assessment practices where all progress is measure by a single summative exam. He recommends four major assessment strategies during a learning experience that classroom teachers and teacher librarians or other specialists can use to measure progress. (1) The teacher and specialists adjust the learning activities during the learning activity based on the progress of the students. (2) Learners adjust their strategies or learning to learn skills as they encounter the expectations of a learning experience. (3) Classroom climate and the library climate changes to meet the needs of learners as they make progress on various learning journeys. (4) The whole school learning climate changes to become more friendly to how learners are making progress. It is his notion that if we are measuring constantly during learning experiences and responding appropriately, then both the learners and we are making continuous progress that will affect the outcomes on the summative tests. This is an extremely important book for both classroom teachers and teacher librarians to read, study, and use to guide their progress toward excellent. Bottom line: One of the most important professional books of the year.

   

• Schoolwide action research for professional learning communities : improving student learning through the whole-faculty by Karl H. Clauset, Dale W. Lick, and Carlene U. Murphy (Corwin Press, 2008, 278 p., $_____, ISBN: 9781412952071)

  We have reviewed a number of books concerning action research in the past. There are many voices calling for the professional learning community of the school to focus its attention on school improvement based in research. These authors emphasize that research findings read about in educational research journals must be tested in the environmental context of the school community. In other words, what may work in one community school may not work in another because of a wide variety of factors that we all recognize: poverty, culture, diversity, school-wide program focus, etc. The authors then proceed to lay our a full structure of how action research can be carried out by study teams joined together as an entire faculty learning community. In an effort to make the library media center the hub of school improvement, here is another strategy to consider seriously. If yours is in a state of disrepair or needs a boost, here is a volume worth considering for its substantive ideas and planning forms. Recommended.

•  Differentiated Instructional Strategies in Practice: Training, Implementation, and Supervision, 2nd ed  by Gayle H. Gregory (Corwin Press, 2008, 150 pp., ISBN: 1412936527) This handbook is a companion volume to Differentiated Instructional Strategies: One Size Doesn’t Fit All written by the same author and published in 2007. The two books together provide a recommended and very practical plan for instituting differentiation in an entire school. The handbook provides many many handoust, planning sheets and flow charts for each stage of planning, developing, teaching, and assessing the work of both the adults and the students involved. A CD contains all the forms in the books so that they are reproducible.  Like many other professionals books in education, there is no reference to the one vast store of information, materials, and knowledgeable  partners who would and could be the key to differentiating for a