Collaboration is an important value reflected in the AASL Shared Foundations for school librarians (2018). Not only must school librarians collaborate with classroom teachers to design opportunities for inquiry for their students, but they must also make that learning relevant by connecting student learning to their lives and interests. However, collaboration is not always prioritized given constraints placed on educators in today’s K-12 environment. The University of South Carolina proposed a way to address this concern by incentivizing participation in professional development workshops that pair classroom teachers and school librarians as they explore historical topics illustrated in popular graphic novels. Through the workshop sessions, participants are able to leverage their respective strengths in designing powerful instruction for K-12 learners. Graphic novels are a compelling and popular visual medium, and one way to make learning engaging for our k-12 students, who live in an increasingly visual and participatory culture. Connecting and pairing primary sources with graphic novels that explore curricular topics like WWII is one way to breathe life into the traditional research tasks of finding, analyzing, and citing primary sources. In this session, presenters will discuss the creation and implementation of a professional development workshop (supported by a grant from the Teaching with Primary Sources program at the Library of Congress (LOC)) that was offered through a partnership between a university and local literacy organizations to encourage collaboration for deeper student engagement. The workshop for high school librarians and classroom teachers focused on World War II and was created through partnerships with guest speakers, and a place-based exploration of the Anne Frank Center on campus at the UofSC. Participants paired up to collaboratively design instruction using Library of Congress resources, resources available through the UofSC, and popular and exemplary graphic novels that explore the complex history related to WWII. As part of this workshop, participants were also able to learn from a graphic novel illustrator who spoke to the power of the medium for teaching about important historical moments.
AASL. (2018). National school library standards for learners, school librarians, and school libraries. ALA Editions. https://www.alastore.ala.org/content/national-school-library-standards-learners-school-librarians-and-school-libraries-aasl
Learning Objectives:
appraise professional development models that encourage collaboration between school librarians and classroom teachers.
summarize opportunities for connecting Library of Congress resources with graphic novels.
examine the connection between the analysis of different visual mediums like graphic novels and primary sources (photos, maps etc.).