AASL Standards Interview- "Explore"

Explore

Mrs. Gaelyn Jenkins
Riverside Middle School
Greer, SC

Explore: “Discover and innovate in a growth mindset developed through experience and reflection” (AASL, 2018, p.103).

I interviewed Mrs. Gaeyln Jenkins at Riverside Middle School on the Shared Foundation Explore. Mrs. Jenkins has some great things going on at her school to encourage exploration. She implements these in the library space with book displays to encourage the kids to “take a chance” on different types of books. The library fiction section is divided into genres, so this makes it easy to explore books within the genres that they enjoy reading. Maker Spaces are a huge part of exploring in the library, and she encourages students to come in to use this space before and after school, and during school if they have a pass. There’s a variety of ways that they can explore and be creative. RMS was my primary site for my internship, and I can say from experience that the maker space area is quite popular. It was so exciting to see these students explore and show their creativity each day.

There are many resources that are in the RMS library that promote exploration. Of course, the biggest one is the Maker Space area. Some of the items in this space include a 3D printer, 3D scanner, button maker, Spheros, cubelets (robotic blocks), Little Bits, Makey Makey controllers, and a sewing machine. Other non-equipment items are origami supplies, coloring sheets, legos, and other smaller items that still spark exploration and creativity. The Maker Space area is a designated space with plenty of room for exploration and collaboration. It even has a counter height table so that it provides space for students to work together. I think that Mrs. Jenkins has done a wonderful job putting all of this together. It provides such a great opportunity for students to work together to examine things and seek out information on their own and with peers. This maker space is definitely a model for other libraries. I hope to incorporate a maker space like this one in my future library.

Mrs. Jenkins led a service project the Library Club a few years ago where they explored a real-world problem and applied it to a service project. She called it a “global problem, with a local solution” in which the students made a free library and also a food pantry for an elementary school close to them (G. Jenkins, personal communication, November 8, 2019). It provided an excellent opportunity to explore a real-world problem and think about how they can solve it on a local level. They worked cooperatively and learned how to take constructive feedback, so it was a great experience for them” (G. Jenkins, personal communication, November 9, 2019). What a great opportunity for students to investigate solving a problem to fulfill a need in their community.

Mrs. Jenkins collaborates with teachers to promote exploration. She worked with a social studies teacher to teach a few lessons where the class completed a project on the transatlantic slave trade. Mrs. Jenkins found primary sources from this time period, and students explored these by guiding themselves with their own questioning. At the end of the unit, Mrs. Jenkins gave them opportunities to grow and learn from each other by allowing the students to respond to each other's FlipGrid videos. She gave another example where she collaborated with an 8th grade science teacher so that students could explore force and motion. Using a “sphero”, a chariot, and a weight, teams had a competition with how fast their sphero would go in its chariot. It was a really fun and meaningful activity that everyone enjoyed.

Although some teachers like to collaborate, a challenge is that most do not. The biggest barrier is the lack of time. Teachers have so many standards to cover, and they do not want to give up the time to collaborate with her. In addition, some teachers do not want to give up lesson plans that they have always done and replace them with exploration projects. Mrs. Jenkins has given me so many ideas of how I would like to encourage exploration in my future library.

References

American Association of School Librarians, (2018). National school library standards for learners,                  school librarians, and school libraries. Chicago: American Library Association