CSL Leading Learning Committee:
Carol Koechlin & Judith Sykes, Co-Chairs
A New Theme for Leading Learning
The CSL Leading Learning / L’Apprentissage en tête Committee has been busy over the summer reviewing and updating Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada. Broken links were fixed and 50 new exemplars to help schools advance learning commons approaches were added. We were also able to update many areas of the French website L’apprentissage en tête: Principes relatifs à la transition de la bibliothèque scolaire vers le carrefour d’apprentissage au Canada, thanks to our original translator, Marie-Josée Proulx St-Pierre.
The committee also invested in checking the standards for relevance and currency. We discovered an area of urgent need for overtly addressing student well-being. Of course, we discuss developing safe and welcoming environments throughout the standards but the need is much more complex than that. The current COVOID-19 pandemic has disrupted school programs presenting many physical and virtual learning challenges, and the evolving social justice movements have brought to light a need for the school library learning commons to step up and address what can be done to contribute to student well-being in the LLC.
The new theme found a natural fit in the standard Designing Learning Environments to Support Participatory Learning. The theme evolves through four accumulative growth indicators which focus on student safety, mental health, equity and voice and choice respectively.
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| Designing for Student Well Being in the LLC | LLC physical and virtual spaces, and learning experiences are designed to address physical, emotional and academic safety of learners. | LLC Learning experiences are designed to support mental health and well being. | LLC works to build a culture of equity and inclusiveness in learning opportunities, facilities. | LLC ensures opportunities for student choice and voice in designing for well being. |
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| Conception pour le bien-être des élèves dans le CA | Les installations physiques et virtuelles et les expériences d'apprentissage du CA sont conçues pour s'assurer de la sécurité physique, émotionnelle et scolaire des apprenants. | Les expériences d'apprentissage sont conçues pour soutenir la santé mentale et le bien-être. | Le CA travaille à mettre en place une culture d'équité et d'inclusion dans ses occasions d'apprentissage et ses installations. | Le CA s'assure de laisser une place aux choix et aux voix des élèves dans la conception pour le bien-être. |
New Exemplars
We have linked “See it in Action” exemplars to illustrate the many ways school library professionals are already addressing student well being in the LLC. We urge you to please share your initiatives with us so we can keep growing fresh exemplars.
We sincerely hope that this new theme will help school library professionals to not only foster student well being in the LLC but also help link the important work you do to school and district goals and initiatives with regard to this critical need.
Resources to Explore
Access Copyright. (2020). Read Aloud Canadian Books Program. Retrieved from https://www.accesscopyright.ca/read-aloud
Beaudry, R. (2020). Being a Teacher-Librarian During a Pandemic. Canadian School Libraries Journal 3 (2). Retrieved from https://journal.canadianschoollibraries.ca/being-a-teacher-librarian-during-a-pandemic/
Child, J. (2018). School libraries enhancing student wellbeing. Connections 105 (2), 8-9. Retrieved from https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-105/school-libraries-enhancing-student-wellbeing/
Merga, M. (2020). A place to get away from it all: 5 ways school libraries support student well-being [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/a-place-to-get-away-from-it-all-5-ways-school-libraries-support-student-well-being-145180
Merga, M. (2020). How Can School Libraries Support Student Wellbeing? Evidence and Implications for Further Research. Journal of Library Administration 60 (6), 660-673. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01930826.2020.1773718#
Mowery, S. (2020, July 22). School librarians: Remaining present in a remote learning environment [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.infohio.org/blog/item/school-librarians-remaining-present-in-a-remote-learning-environment
OECD. (2017). Students’ well-being: What it is and how it can be measured. In PISA 2015 Results (Volume III): Students’ Well-Being (pp. 59-66). Paris, France: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264273856-6-en
Rose, C., Godfrey, K., & Rose, K. (2016). Supporting Student Wellness: De-Stressing Initiatives at Memorial University Libraries. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research 10 (2). Retrieved from https://journal.lib.uoguelph.ca/index.php/perj/article/view/3564
Toronto District School Board (TDSB). (2020). Mental Health and Well-Being Resources During Covid-19. Retrieved from https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Return-to-School/Resources-During-Covid-19
Wall, J. (2020). School libraries in a ‘learning from home’ era. Retrieved from https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/past-issues/vol-39-2020/school-libraries-in-a–learning-from-home–era