22-23 Key MS Library Annual Report

INQUIRE

INCLUDE

COLLABORATE

CURATE

EXPLORE

kEY ms lIBRARY 2022-2023

A look at this year through the shared foundations of school libraries

ENGAGE

INQUIRE

Build new knowledge by inquiring, thinking critically, identifying problems, and developing strategies for solving problems.

This school year the librarian taught 280 classes in inquiry based lessons covering information literacy topics such as citation, ethical use of information and dissemination, genre exploration, information creation, media literacy, paraphrasing, reading strategies, reference skills, search strategies, source evaluation, and using primary sources.

Here are some examples of student work created from guided inquiry design units this year: After exploring the impact of Muckraking journalists from the Progressive Era, History 7 students researched issues of the era and created their own class Muckraking Newspapers that were shared with their families via Talking Points. After researching everyday uses of a segment of the electromagnetic spectrum, Science 8 students created jigsaw presentations about practical and future applications.

American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards addressed this year: I. Inquire A. Think 1. Learners display curiosity and initiative by formulating questions about a personal interest or a curricular topic. I. Inquire A. Think 2. Learners display curiosity and initiative by recalling prior and background knowledge as context for new meaning. I. Inquire B. Create 1. Learners engage with new knowledge by following a process that includes using evidence to investigate questions. I. Inquire B. Create 3. Learners engage with new knowledge by following a process that includes generating products that illustrate learning. I. Inquire C. Share 1. Learners adapt, communicate, and exchange learning products with others in a cycle that includes interacting with content presented by others. I. Inquire C. Share 2. Learners adapt, communicate, and exchange learning products with others in a cycle that includes providing constructive feedback. I. Inquire C. Share 3. Learners adapt, communicate, and exchange learning products with others in a cycle that includes acting on feedback to improve. I. Inquire C. Share 4. Learners adapt, communicate, and exchange learning products with others in a cycle that includes sharing products with an authentic audience. I. Inquire D. Grow 2. Learners participate in an ongoing inquiry-based process by engaging in sustained inquiry. I. Inquire D. Grow 3. Learners participate in an ongoing inquiry-based process by enacting new understanding through real-world connections. I. Inquire D. Grow 4. Learners participate in an ongoing inquiry-based process by using reflection to guide informed decisions.

We worked on all of the IB Approaches to Learning Skills this year in the library.

Portrait of a Graduate skills covered in the library this year: Communicator

• Applies effective reading skills to acquire knowledge and broaden perspectives.
• Employs active listening strategies to advance understanding.
• Speaks in a purposeful manner to inform, influence, motivate, or entertain listeners.
• Incorporates effective writing skills for various purposes and audiences to convey understanding and concepts.
• Uses technological skills and contemporary digital tools to explore and exchange ideas.

Collaborator

• Respects divergent thinking to engage others in thoughtful discussion.
• Demonstrates the ability to work interdependently within a group to promote learning, increase productivity, and achieve common goals.
• Analyzes and constructs arguments and positions to ensure examination of a full range of viewpoints.
• Seeks and uses feedback from others to adapt ideas and persist in accomplishing difficult tasks.

Ethical and Global Citizen

• Contributes to solutions that benefit the broader community.
• Communicates effectively in multiple languages to make meaningful connections.
• Promotes environmental stewardship.
• Understands the foundations of our country and values our rights, privileges, and responsibilities.
• Acts responsibly and ethically to build trust and lead.

Creative and Critical Thinker

• Engages in problem solving, inquiry, and design of innovative solutions to overcome obstacles to improve outcomes.
• Uses information in novel and creative ways to strengthen comprehension and deepen awareness.
• Demonstrates divergent and ingenious thought to enhance the design-build process.
• Evaluates ideas and information sources for validity, relevance, and impact.
• Reasons through and weighs evidence to reach conclusions.

Goal-Directed and Resilient Individual

• Persists to accomplish difficult tasks and to overcome academic and personal barriers to meet goals.
• Uses time and financial resources wisely to set goals, complete tasks, and manage projects.
• Shows strong understanding and belief of self to engage in reflection for individual improvement and advocacy.

Click on the round shared foundations icon on each page to see the standards addressed this year.

INCLUDE

Demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to inclusivity and diversity in the learning community.

Including student voice in the library was an important goal this year. Student volunteers worked in the library as an enrichment during Key Time. These students served as a library advisory board and helped to curate displays for winter, Black History Month, Women's History Month, Arab American History Month, poetry, and Jewish American Heritage Month. Student artwork is also now a prominent feature in the library, which we hope to expand in the future.

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Key Middle School Students took an active role in curating displays this year, including using their graphic design skills in Canva to create signage. Pictured here are students working collaboratively to on a Winter Wonderland theme that they chose.

American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards addressed this year: II. Include A. Think 2. Learners contribute a balanced perspective when participating in a learning community by adopting a discerning stance toward points of view and opinions expressed in information resources and learning products. II. Include B. Create 1. Learners adjust their awareness of the global learning community by interacting with learners who reflect a range of perspectives. II. Include B. Create 2. Learners adjust their awareness of the global learning community by evaluating a variety of perspectives during learning activities. II. Include B. Create 3. Learners adjust their awareness of the global learning community by representing diverse perspectives during learning activities. II. Include C. Share 1. Learners exhibit empathy with and tolerance for diverse ideas by engaging in informed conversation and active debate. II. Include C. Share 2. Learners exhibit empathy with and tolerance for diverse ideas by contributing to discussions in which multiple viewpoints on a topic are expressed.

Here are some examples of student work focusing on the "Include" standards this year: AVID students participated in mini debates using Flip in our Using Academic Journals as Evidence lesson after applying Keshav's Three Pass Approach to reading academic journals for evidence. After watching a clip of Into the Woods, Theater students wrote their own reviews of the musical in a process that involved peer critique and revision.

Examples of student artwork that now have a home in the library:

COLLABORATE

Work effectively with others to broaden perspectives and work toward common goals.

This year the Key MS Library collaborated with AVID, Civics, ESOL, English 8, Family and Consumer Sciences, Global Classroom Project, History, LAP, Science 8, Spanish, and Theater. In addition, we organized a buddy reading meeting between Key MS and Key Center reading students to practice their fluency. Collaboration also included providing professional development for...

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Photo from our Key to Key Buddy Reading session. Another example of student collaboration was a lesson through the Global Classroom Project taught simultaneously at Key and our partner classroom in Peru on website evaluation.

American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards addressed this year: III. Collaborate A. Think 2. Learners identify collaborative opportunities by developing new understandings through engagement in a learning group. III. Collaborate B. Create 1. Learners participate in personal, social, and intellectual networks by using a variety of communication tools and resources. III. Collaborate B. Create 2. Learners participate in personal, social, and intellectual networks by establishing connections with other learners to build on their own prior knowledge and create new knowledge. III. Collaborate C. Share 1. Learners work productively with others to solve problems by soliciting and responding to feedback from others. III. Collaborate D. Grow 1. Learners actively participate with others in learning situations by actively contributing to group discussions.

Collaboration also included providing professional development for other FCPS librarians, to Key MS staff on cultural responsiveness and sustained sustained silent reading, and to Key Center staff on using eBooks to increase accessibility.

CURATE

Make meaning for oneself and others by collecting, organizing, and sharing resources of personal relevance.

This year the Key MS Library added 646 new books to the collection as of May 19, 2023. Our school community checked out 5,317 books in that time.At the beginning of this school year, the library was genrefied to increase browseability. Signage and shelf readers were also added to help students find materials of interest.To increase a sense belonging and to help students destress, games, legos, and soft seating were added to the collection.

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Here are some examples of lessons focusing on the "Curate" standards this year: English 8 students came to the library for a two-part research lesson on Making Your World More Just to connect the larger themes of justice to their everyday lives, which they could then use as evidence in their persuasive writing. Civics students worked to create an innovative product idea and researched their resource needs and potential competition.

Key MS students enjoy destressing in the library.

American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards addressed this year: IV. Curate A. Think 2. Learners act on an information need by identifying possible sources of information. IV. Curate A. Think 3. Learners act on an information need by making critical choices about information sources to use. IV. Curate B. Create 1. Learners gather information appropriate to the task by seeking a variety of sources. IV. Curate B. Create 2. Learners gather information appropriate to the task by collecting information representing diverse perspectives. IV. Curate B. Create 3 Learners gather information appropriate to the task by systematically questioning and assessing the validity and accuracy of information. IV. Curate B. Create 4. Learners gather information appropriate to the task by organizing information by priority, topic, or other systematic scheme. IV. Curate C. Share 2. Learners exchange information resources within and beyond their learning community by contributing to collaboratively constructed information sites by ethically using and reproducing others' work.

Circulation at the beginning of this school year started high, but declined steadily throughout the year. While there was a lack of interest this year, I would like to have all English classes have a monthly checkout visit to the library next school year.

EXPLORE

Discover and innovate in a growth mindset developed through experience and reflection.

Throughout the year, the Key MS Library has encouraged students to explore their reading interests. The library has a year-long Reading Challenge open to all students and staff, an after school book club, a March Book Madness competition based on highest checkouts, and a Battle of the Books team focusing on book trivia. The library also hosted a Scholastic book fair and organized a choice book give away for all students using ESSER funds.

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Here are some examples of lessons focusing on the "Explore" standards this year: History 7 students had some fun with Question Formulation Theory, and practiced their questioning techniques by playing Jeopardy before exploring a research question of their choosing. After demonstrating their conservation skills during the month of April, Science 8 students came to the library to tinker and create catapults in an iterative process to demonstrate Newton's Laws of Motion.

March Books Madness had broad participation throughout the month of March. A tradition started at Key, Battle of the Books continues to be a fun extension activity that combines teamwork and a love of reading.

American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards addressed this year: V. Explore A. Think 1. Learners develop and satisfy personal curiosity by reading widely and deeply in multiple formats and write and create for a variety of purposes. V. Explore B. Create 1. Learners construct new knowledge by problem solving through cycles of design, implementation, and reflection. V. Explore B. Create 2. Learners construct new knowledge by persisting through self-directed pursuits by tinkering and making. V. Explore C. Share 1. Learners engage with the learning community by expressing curiosity about a topic of personal interest or curricular relevance. V. Explore C. Share 3. Learners engage with the learning community by collaboratively identifying innovative solutions to a challenge or problem. V. Explore D. Grow 1. Learners develop through experience and reflection by iteratively responding to challenges.

This year's Scholastic book fair saw significant property losses, but little in the way of sales. We did not earn enough to get cash for library funds. As the library was closed to student checkout and classes during the duration of the fair, it poses an inequitable situation for access to information. Future book fairs have been cancelled at this time.

ENGAGE

Demonstrate safe, legal, and ethical creating and sharing of knowledge products independently while engaging in a community of practice and an interconnected world.

The Key MS Library provided opportunities for students to engage with the world beyond our school walls by hosting a travelling museum exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution, an author visit from Pura Belpre winning author, Ernesto Cisneros, and guest speakers including Peter Marks, Washington Post Theater Critic, and Shally Stanley, SVP of Global Delivery at Salesforce.

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Here are some examples of lessons focusing on the "Engage" standards this year: Civics students dove into media literacy strategies to question and assess new information, particularly on social media, before sharing as ethical consumers and producers of information. Science 8 students got the chance to create their own planets and practiced ethical use and reuse of copyright neutral and licensed images in their intergalactic travel brochures.

English Language Development students explored the Smithsonian Institution's exhibit on Central America before creating their own artifacts representing their identities.

American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards addressed this year: VI. Engage A. Think 1. Learners follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information by responsibly applying information, technology, and media to learning. VI. Engage A. Think 2. Learners follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information by understanding the ethical use of information, technology, and media. VI. Engage A. Think 3. Learners follow ethical and legal guidelines for gathering and using information by evaluating information for accuracy, validity, social and cultural context, and appropriateness for need. VI. Engage B. Create. 1. Learners use valid information and reasoned conclusions to make ethical decisions in the creation of knowledge by ethically using and reproducing others' work. VI. Engage B. Create. 2. Learners use valid information and reasoned conclusions to make ethical decisions in the creation of knowledge by acknowledging authorship and demonstrating respect for the intellectual property of others.