Author: Kristie Ennis September 30, 2015 0 Comments

This afternoon, I had the distinct pleasure to practice one of the most important CEBS dispositions (if we can place one above another): Values Collaboration. In my effort to actually teach classes in the library, rather than just helping with collection management, circulation, policies, and such, I reached out to various content area teachers to collaborate with me.  One team has taken me up on my offer.  The medical PLC team decided that the first class to work with English and the library in a collaborative project will be Sports Medicine.  Today, I met with the teacher of this course and discussed our plan.  He has taken a poll of the student beliefs and has begun instruction on the use of supplements, vitamins, and performance enhancing drugs in sports to boost athletic ability and results.  This is a current topic that has received vast media coverage in high school, college, and professional sports, so the students are actively engaged in discussion about it.  We planned a unit today that revolves around this essential question: Is the use of performance enhancing drugs or supplements ethical?  In this unit, various medical issues and topics will be explored in Mr. Hudson’s class; then, students will choose a side (pro or con) to research.  The students will come to the library for a lesson on using the KYVL databases and our library’s online catalog to locate relevant source material, properly citing, quoting, and saving these sources, and paraphrasing and/or summarizing the sources for a debate that they will have in Sports Medicine class.  I will teach them how to use index cards to cull information and quotes that will help them debate and how to anticipate the opposition.  The students will have a lesson with the Debate Coach about etiquette and effective debate techniques; then hold a debate in class.  They will reflect, and the culminating project will be an editorial using outside sources for evidence that I will review and publish in the school newspaper, Waggener’s Chit Chat.

This is so exciting to work with Mr. Hudson and his students!  The students are predominantly young men in the 11th grade, so I don’t know them very well and will get the opportunity to work with them.  Mr. Hudson feels strongly that all students need to read and write daily, which is amazing, and he welcomes my input.  I truly feel that this is an excellent opportunity to show the rest of the faculty that we can successfully triangulate the library media center, English/language arts, and content areas for project-based learning.  Stay tuned!