Serving as a point of connection, the library relies upon and thrives through collaboration with others, including those listed here. There is not one right way to collaborate. Collaboration may be small or large in scale, but the key is that it makes sense for a given situation, making work better, easier (at least in some respects), and more fun simply by working together. Thank you to all who have collaborated with the library this year!
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CONTENT CURATION & COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
One way that Teacher Librarian Ms. Sannwald commonly collaborates with teachers is by curating both print and online resources. This work also informs collection development (i.e., books to buy) for the library. Below are some content curation projects from 2016-17:
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The art books on display above complement digital resources.
Theater students above scour through monologue books.
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LINKED LEARNING |
The collaborative project shared here actually took place at the end of the 2015-16 school year, but it is shared as a recent standout effort. Given dedicated collaboration time thanks to GUHSD's Career Technical Education (CTE) program, Medical English teacher Michelle Liddell and Sports Medicine teacher Ardy Riego collaborated with Teacher Librarian Suzanne Sannwald in order to plan and implement a full Project-Based Learning unit, which resulted in students creating the impressive web resource linked below.
The cross-curricular "Linked Learning" project was an immense challenge, and we are proud of what the students accomplished by working together. Check out their creation! |
JUVENILE JUSTICEThroughout the 2016-17 school year, English teachers Barbra Ruggles and Michelle Liddell collaboratively planned a Project-Based Learning unit on juvenile justice for the spring semester of their 12th grade ERWC classes. They reached out to include Teacher Librarian Suzanne Sannwald and created the following framework of guidance for students.
Throughout the project, even more teachers joined the collaborative effort, including Individualized Instruction co-teacher Don Rutledge, long-term substitute teacher Katlin Hoff, and district Digital Learning Coach (and former West Hills High math teacher) John Berray. It is inspiring to see so many adults working together with the common goal of helping students.
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On this day in the library, students got to work with the quadruple threat of Mr. Rutledge, Ms. Liddell, Mr. Berray, and Ms. Sannwald!
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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
This year, Biology teachers Penny McDowell and Amy Wann included Teacher Librarian Suzanne Sannwald in collaboratively planning and delivering a Project-Based Learning unit on environmental issues.
While students were eager to jump into creating their Public Service Announcement videos (or websites), McDowell and Wann encouraged students to focus on the process over the product, challenging them to conduct deeper research to gather information and form understanding prior to production. Check out some standout projects that students created linked below. |
STUDENT NONFICTION BOOK GALLERY
During the Fall 2016 semester, Ms. Liddell's AP English Language students were offered the opportunity to read nonfiction books of their choice, including checking out books from the West Hills Library collection. The students then created "book trailers" to share with the library and and others to promote reading.
Visit the virtual galley of book trailers that students created. |
SECOND+ ADULT, THIRD SPACE
We all know that teachers can deliver instruction alone, but sometimes learning experiences can be enhanced by having another adult (or more) helping and/or by getting students into a different environment such as a "third space." If you haven't heard of third spaces, the idea is that there is value in having spaces for people to be that are neither home nor work (i.e., the regular classroom at a school).
Throughout the year, some teachers will bring their classes to the library simply to make use of our flexible space with tables that facilitate group work, easy access for printing, etc. The videos below capture when Global Studies teacher Matt Norris and World History teacher Josh Reyes brought their classes to the library, making use of having a second adult and third space to engage students with innovative, high interest activities.
Throughout the year, some teachers will bring their classes to the library simply to make use of our flexible space with tables that facilitate group work, easy access for printing, etc. The videos below capture when Global Studies teacher Matt Norris and World History teacher Josh Reyes brought their classes to the library, making use of having a second adult and third space to engage students with innovative, high interest activities.
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BEARING WITNESS TO WORK
Even if teachers do not officially collaborate with the library, we feel fortunate that we regularly get to bear witness to student learning across the curriculum.
In the library, we get to see what students are learning when they ask for help with assignments or even when we simply observe what they are working on. It is always fun to ask students about what they are learning and creating, and they always seem proud to share! Whether we are helping with printing, lending out office and art supplies, providing a quiet space for recording a video, troubleshooting technical glitches, helping format or proofread a paper, or simply celebrating a student's creation - we are continually impressed by the wide range of educational experiences our students engage in at West Hills. We are grateful to work in a community filled with dedicated and innovative teacher colleagues who challenge and support our students, and we love our students who consistently demonstrate admirable effort to learn and grow. |
SAN DIEGO COUNTY LIBRARYEach month, community partners from our San Diego County Library (SDCL) Santee Branch visit the West Hills Library to provide book talks, introducing our students to new, interesting books to read. Students then have convenient access to check out the books on the spot. There are generally multiple copies of titles available so that students and their friends may read the same book together; it is a treat that school budgets do not often allow, and students always look forward to the visits.
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The SDCL collaboration is one that started years ago by a previous West Hills Teacher Librarian. We are proud to work together in serving our shared community, supporting more recent initiatives such as United We Stand: California School and Public Libraries Working Together. Thank you to our SDCL partners for helping inspire our students!
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