Standard 1.4 Integration of 21st Century Skills & Learning Standards: Candidates demonstrate how to collaborate with other teachers to plan and implement instruction of the AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner and state student curriculum standards.
Heather, the third grade team leader, was starting her second year in a new grade. She was looking for a novel way for the students to analyze features of fairy tales as well as to identify the problem and solution of a literary text. This artifact is an introductory lesson to the literary study of fairy tales with a focus on story elements of Cinderella. Through collaboratively teaching, as the school librarian, I would be able to help the classroom teacher hit her content standards through the Maryland Voluntary State Curriculum (VSC) as well as hit my own information literacy curriculum through the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner. This fusion creates an inquiry-based project where students would think critically about how cultural influences change the story elements of a Cinderella Story.
Heather and I bridged the third grade Maryland VSC standards for demonstrating an understanding of genres of fictional texts, with the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner for inquiring, thinking critically and gaining knowledge. In the classroom, Heather’s focus was on students identifying characteristics of a Cinderella story and explaining the plot of a literary text. My focus, as the school librarian, was to aid the students during the research process. After researching a new culture using the web, students would create their own Cinderella story incorporating important cultural elements.
Although Heather and I had our own standards to instruct, in order to keep the student/teacher ratio manageable, we still wanted to co-teach – an essential part of the collaborative process. Heather and I worked collaboratively to meet the needs of struggling students by splitting the class into two groups providing small group instruction. This would make for more individualized instruction since there would only be around ten students in each group.
To begin the unit, I would reserve an additional media block for Heather and her class to come to the library. This way Heather and I could co-teach without her giving up planning time. Students would read and compare Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, an African tale by John Steptoe, and Sootface, a Native American tale by Robert D. Dan Souci. Students would then be guided to think critically about how both stories conveyed cultural information. As I reflect on the current plan, I will consider the boys in the class so that they do not feel disgruntled over reading Cinderella. I would want to add Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, an Arabian tale by Carol Carrick, so that the boys can relate to a male lead while still studying the elements of a Cinderella story.
After looking through the state curriculum I found many areas where the VSC and AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner curriculum standards could overlap. I have concluded that the genres of fictional texts merged cohesively with the AASL standards of critical thinking lead to inquiry-based instructional practices. Heather and I would link our curriculums through the creation of the final Cinderella project. This project is a great example of how collaboration with the information literacy curriculum can be intertwined with the classroom content standards to meet the needs of students.
Heather and I bridged the third grade Maryland VSC standards for demonstrating an understanding of genres of fictional texts, with the AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner for inquiring, thinking critically and gaining knowledge. In the classroom, Heather’s focus was on students identifying characteristics of a Cinderella story and explaining the plot of a literary text. My focus, as the school librarian, was to aid the students during the research process. After researching a new culture using the web, students would create their own Cinderella story incorporating important cultural elements.
Although Heather and I had our own standards to instruct, in order to keep the student/teacher ratio manageable, we still wanted to co-teach – an essential part of the collaborative process. Heather and I worked collaboratively to meet the needs of struggling students by splitting the class into two groups providing small group instruction. This would make for more individualized instruction since there would only be around ten students in each group.
To begin the unit, I would reserve an additional media block for Heather and her class to come to the library. This way Heather and I could co-teach without her giving up planning time. Students would read and compare Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, an African tale by John Steptoe, and Sootface, a Native American tale by Robert D. Dan Souci. Students would then be guided to think critically about how both stories conveyed cultural information. As I reflect on the current plan, I will consider the boys in the class so that they do not feel disgruntled over reading Cinderella. I would want to add Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, an Arabian tale by Carol Carrick, so that the boys can relate to a male lead while still studying the elements of a Cinderella story.
After looking through the state curriculum I found many areas where the VSC and AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner curriculum standards could overlap. I have concluded that the genres of fictional texts merged cohesively with the AASL standards of critical thinking lead to inquiry-based instructional practices. Heather and I would link our curriculums through the creation of the final Cinderella project. This project is a great example of how collaboration with the information literacy curriculum can be intertwined with the classroom content standards to meet the needs of students.