If only....

May 23, 2005
Alice in Brain crumbs, Chalk Dust, Politips

Imagine what might be accomplished if some corporate entity would sponsor and convene a
Libraries and Learners in the 21st Century conference
that brings together an equal and representative sampling of both practitioners and pundits
from the overlapping circles of K-12:

• school and public libraries
• educational technology
• curriculum development
• supervision and adminstration, and
• local Boards of Education

No pompous panels of presenters who pontificate but don’t participate here:
At this gathering our actively-engaged education advocates would have already analyzed a core set of readings and are now prepared to put their combined brain-power to work developing the following documents:

1. a glossary of information literacy terms with definitions that all stakeholders can agree on.
2. a comparison of the respective responsibilities of the classroom teacher /school librarian /technology specialist /curriculum supervisor in developing information literacy skills in grades K-4 / 5-8 / 9-12.
3. a matrix identifying how/where to integrate grade-level appropriate information literacy skills instruction within each of the major content areas.
4. benchmarks for developing effective professional collaborations across all areas of the curriculum,
5. an explanation of the teaching function of the library program in the K-4/5-8/9-12 school settings.
6. talking points to use with community groups, local news media, etc., to show  how effective school library programs increase student achievement.

After the conference is over, attendees and other interested parties would use the ‘read/write web’ to continue the initial work through:
— online forums for ongoing discussions to refine the working documents for publication, and
— a wiki to provide a holding place for all relevant links and readings.

And finally, within a year of the original conference:

• publication and free dissemination of the final documents to all attendees, teacher-training institutions, and state and federal departments of education, AND
  
  
• approval /adoption of these guidelines by AASL, AECT, ASCD, NEA, AFT, NSBA, NCTE, NCSS, NSTA, etc.

A girl can dream, no?

Article originally appeared on Alice in InfoLand; wandering through school / library / life. (http://www.aliceinfo.org/).