ISCI 794
Blog Post #2 
Interview with Amber Eaves - AASL Shared Foundation - Explore

This interview was with Amber Eaves. I worked with Amber last year in her library and we met over spring break to talk about some of the changes that have happened and to catch up with each other. Amber chose to answer questions based on the shared foundation of explore. 

The first question revolved around building hurricane houses to withstand winds and water. When students do research, they are explore and constructing new knowledge. I built a unit around topographic maps this year and after talking with Amber, I want to incorporate more exploration into this unit. We built topographic maps with Legos. I provided the map and the students had to construct that map. I want to encourage more exploration next year by having students possible create their own maps and exchange these to have the different group construct the maps. We can talk more about how the different Legos can represent land features and to possibly look at any constraints that we may need to put in place to help students or to make the task more difficult.

Our conversation also covered topics like time in the library schedules for collaboration. We are both on a fixed schedule and this makes it very difficult to meet with teachers to collaborate on lessons. We both try to make a point of responding quickly to teacher requests to show our enthusiasm for helping, we also try to be visible and get out of our spaces often to be seen and available for questions. Neither of our schedules accommodate attending grade level meetings so when there are staff meetings we also offer our assistance. 

Amber also stated that she struggles with students being disengaged with many or all lessons. This mainly is seen in the older students and she has tried a variety of lesson types, formats and structures with little success. In most instances, 80 to 90% of the class is engaged but there are that one or two that are not willing to participate fully or give their best efforts. I see this as well in my library classes and like Amber, I try to vary lessons and choose engaging topics that are of interest but there are still those few students who are not motivated or engaged. For the future, I want to try to get more student work hanging around the library and the hallway as way to possibly motivate students. I also want to find ways to incorporate more STEAM lessons into my programming. The lessons will also encourage more problem solving skills which was the final are we talked extensively about. 

We talked about students lack of problem solving skills and what some of the cause of this could be. We both considered how technology provides answers at the touch of a button and that this convenience may be a small part of the issue. Our conversation prompted me to look at different ways students can develop these skills in the library. Maybe have problems task cards that groups of students can discuss ways to solve these or have group discussions once a month about the task card. Adding Lego or other STEAM challenges also can improve these skills in the future.