SLIS 761, Module 2: AASL & ISTE Standards
- DeAnne Anderson
- Aug 26, 2021
- 3 min read
This week’s module 2 has been extremely helpful to me, someone who is working towards my teaching certificate whilst getting my library science degree. I have worked as a “teacher” by way of being an ESL tutor and a preschool teacher, but never as a public-school teacher that must consult standards for lesson planning. In a few of my classes thus far in the MLIS program, my professors have required me to use standards to create some lessons, programming, or an entire unit of curriculum. I then gave myself a crash course on the CCSS and the AASL standards, so that I could complete the projects without it being obvious I did not have much experience in this area. So I am grateful to have these links to a more through explanation of the AASL and ISTE standards to start off the semester in my Information Technologies in the School Library class. I will feel much more comfortable moving forward now. Here are some things I noticed after studying the standards, and reading others’ perspectives in articles in Knowledge Quest:
The first thing I noticed was that the AASL and the ISTE both separate their standards into three different categories of standards. The AASL has learner, school librarian, and school library standards separated. The ISTE has students, educators, and education leaders’ standards separated. As I scrolled through, I could see why this is necessary, because each category is very different. We want to put the learner/student first of course, but I also understand how having set standards for the school librarian/library can be so important. I have heard from several of my professors that a large part of being a school librarian will be advocating for the best way for the school to utilize my position. I’ve learned that there are some schools that use the librarian as the person who handles all the laptops and has the children while the teachers have their planning period, and they leave no time for library programming and tailoring to the needs of each grade level or class. Having a set of standards for the library and the school librarian seems extremely useful when advocating to administration as to what would be the most useful allocating of your time. In the article from Knowledge Quest Volume 47, issue 5, entitled, “Collaborating to Communicate: Librarian Reading Groups and Understanding Standards,” it was mentioned that because the new standards include ones for school librarians and their programs, these could be used as a tool of explanation to other members of the school community.
Image taken from Gilstrap, C. (2019). The start of something new: A Relationship between the AASL
standards framework for learners and IB approaches to learning. Knowledge Quest, 47(5), 32-37.
Another important thing I learned from a different article in Knowledge Quest Volume 47, issue 5, was how important teaching workplace skills is to students. I find that looking through both the AASL standards and the ISTE standards, I can see that these important life-long skills are addressed. This is wonderful, because I know that many people complain about how little k-12 school prepared them for ‘real life.’ It reminds me of the popular tweets and memes going around on the matter:
(images from me.me.com. https://me.me/i/school-thank-you-for-teaching-us-nothing-bc835532437a4f188983eac9958c0b51)
I really enjoyed the crosswalk handouts created by the AASL Standards Crosswalk Task Force. I was able to really see the standards side by side from the AASL and the ISTE, and one thing I do notice is that both standards are setting students up for ‘real life.’ These are skills that students will begin using immediately upon graduation whilst looking for jobs, in college, and all the way through their careers. Some examples would be forming questions, taking ownership of learning goals and outcomes, continuing to seek knowledge, and actively pursuing real world issues. It makes me so much more excited to begin my journey of helping students to know that these standards align so much with my own personal goals as a future school librarian.
American Association of School Librarians. (2018). National school library standards crosswalk.
Retrieved August 25, 2021, from
Gilstrap, C. (2019). The start of something new: A Relationship between the AASL
standards framework for learners and IB approaches to learning. Knowledge Quest, 47(5), 32-37.
Lewis, C.L. (2019). Collaborating to communicate: Librarian reading groups and understanding
standards. Knowledge Quest, 47(5), 38-45.
DeAnne,
I also noticed the similarities in the grouping of the AASL and the ISTE standards. It makes it easy to use the crosswalk and see how they are related. Also, I love the use of memes in your Blog.
Kristinia Driggers
DeAnne,
I enjoyed reading your blog post. I also noticed and found it interesting that both the AASL and ISTE standards were categorized into three sections. It was really helpful to have an opportunity to see both set of standards side by side in the crosswalk. The crosswalk allowed me to see how the two overlapped. I look forward to reading your future blog posts.
DeAnne,
Being familiar with standards definitely helps with planning! My first 11 years of teaching was at a private school and state standards were not a focus during planning. Thankfully, our administration carefully chose curriculum that addressed them so, as long as we covered the curriculum, we could feel assured that we were addressing them. After taking a position at a public school where more importance was given to notating standards, I sometimes found the practice annoying but most of the time it gave me more confidence in my lesson planning knowing that I was covering material and addressing skills that had been deemed important by others besides myself. Hopefully the trend of implementing AASL standards will cement in…
Deanna, I enjoyed reading your blog post. I can't imagine not having an education background and planning units! When I was teaching, I printed out the state standards, laminated them, and put them in a binder for easy reference. As I dug into the AASL and ISTE standards, and learned that librarians pull from different sets of standards to create their own framework, I wondered how that would look for me. I did find the Crosswalk document to be very helpful. I liked the way it was organized and presented. I look forward to learning more from seasoned librarians ways to merge the state standards as well.
-Crystal Smoak
Deanne, I love the quote you highlighted from the article about how the standards for libraries could be used for advocacy. I think it could be a great accountability measure for librarians to point to within their schools for the ways that the library contributes to the school community and to demonstrate what a successful library should look like. I also like how, although different, each domain has standards for learners, librarians, and libraries, because I think it points to how each part of the learning community is ultimately working toward the same goals of helping students.
Another resource that might be helpful, at least within South Carolina, is this document from 2012 that outlines what an exemplary library should…