Our Vision
GUHSD Libraries are excited to have our doors open once again for students, teachers, staff, and admin. We start off the school year, continuing to work guided by our vision for Equity & Access and Student Learning through Collaboration and Literacy.
While each site library develops individual goals to customize their program to meet the unique needs of their learner community, GUHSD Library Council brings together Teacher Librarians from all nine comprehensive school sites to plan and coordinate district-wide program initiatives. Below, see resources GUHSD Library Council presented Spring 2019.
As described in those linked resources, we strive to Open Doors for Students!
3 Highlights from 2018-19
Reflecting on the 2018-19 school year, each site library has its own story of successes. For a glimpse into site-level highlights, see some curated from El Cajon Valley and West Hills. As a collective GUHSD Library Program, below are three major accomplishments we have identified from 2018-19.
Highlight #1: Growing Literacy Support for Students and Teachers
It should be no surprise that libraries support literacy. All the same, our GUHSD libraries continue to expand ways to support literacy. Below are some examples from 2018-19.
- Collection Development is a constant goal for all site libraries. What does this look like? Monte Vista secured a Snapdragon grant to create fiction sections for underserved populations and also created an English Language Learner Collection and CTE Pathways Collection. Mount Miguel and Valhalla expanded home language collections to support EL students. Lit Circle collections expanded at both Valhalla and El Cajon Valley to support the English Department.
- Professional Development and Curriculum Resources on Literacy continue to be created. 2018-19 examples include Benefits of Reading, Your Reading Rights, Light on Literacy Resources, and Research Toolkit updates in alignment with GUHSD's Information Literacy Standards we developed. Presentations include Digital Portfolios: Share Your Learning Story, Information Literacy in the Age of Fake News, Amplifying Student Voices: Things Students Wish Teachers Knew, Scaffolding Without Spoonfeeding When Teaching Research, and Reading Revolution: New Literacies in Future Ready Learning
- Book Clubs continue to grow! Monte Vista hosted an advisory period book club, Valhalla had both a teacher and student book club, and library clubs continue to thrive at all the schools. Outside of school, Teacher Librarians extend their reading knowledge through personal book clubs such as the Comic-Con Educators Book Club.
- Author visits at El Cajon Valley, El Capitan, and Mount Miguel were a hit!
- YALLWEST Book Festival field trip organized by Mount Miguel was also attended by students from El Cajon Valley, Valhalla, and West Hills this year.
- Literary Magazines support and celebrate student voice such as with Clamor Journal of the Arts and Inkwell Literary-Art Magazine.
- Book Fairs often end after elementary school, but Valhalla hosted one with independent bookstore Mysterious Galaxy, perhaps starting a new trend!
- Public Library Collaboration continues with the San Diego County Library system, including El Cajon Valley collaborating with the El Cajon Branch Library and Santana and West Hills collaborating with the Santee Branch Library.
- Summer Reading was promoted by El Cajon Valley launching a Summer Reading Program and a Summer Reading Menu offered to students by West Hills.
Highlight #2: GUHSD Online Database Subscription Review
To complement general Web and print resources, academic institutions subscribe to online databases to enable access to quality, research-based content. While packages are generally maintained for several years, it is necessary to review contracts periodically.
During the 2018-19 school year, Library Council completed a full review of GUHSD's online database subscriptions (in concert with offerings from the California State Library and San Diego County Library), piloting new vendor offerings and negotiating contracts for the 2019-20 school year.
We are excited about the new offerings, which will better support college and career exploration, English Language Learners, and college-level researchers such as AP and IB students. In addition, pending full implementation, all students will benefit from streamlined searching functionality that will improve their access to content for learning.
Highlight #3: First Full Cycle of FutureForward Chromebook Support
Our GUHSD Libraries have transformed immensely due to FutureForward and the introduction of 1:1 Chromebooks.
Seniors from 2018-19 were the first graduating class to have had Chromebooks all four years of high school. For many libraries, this meant that we checked out Chromebooks to these students as 9th graders, helped them with troubleshooting and repairs over the years, and then closed out their high school career by coordinating the sales of their Chromebooks to use as they pursue post-secondary plans.
In addition to taking on the immense workload of in-person help desk service for device management, FutureForward has also changed the way that we teach research, allowing us to make better use of online databases and to help students gain critical digital literacy skills. We are Future Ready!
3 Major Goals for 2019-20
Library Council met during Summer Institute to not only reflect on lessons learned during the previous school year, but to also set some overarching goals for 2019-20. While we aim to maintain and continue many elements of our programs, we identified three major objectives that we are committed to achieving as a collective.
Goal #1: Increased Outreach and Information Sharing with Students and Teachers, including Non-Comprehensive Sites
While we each do information sharing at our own sites, having time to create resources is always a challenge. This year, we aim to increase collaborative efforts to better share information district-wide and are looking into options for working with other programs and departments to share resources via their websites, newsletters, and social media.
Goal #2: GUHSD Online Database Change Implementation, User Experience, and Curriculum Integration Improvements
Continuing work from 2018-19 on revising online database subscription contracts, we are currently collaborating with vendors and GUHSD's ETS to integrate new functionality that will optimally serve our students.
Goal #3: Improve Efficiency and Balancing of FutureForward Chromebook Management
Having completed the first full cycle of FutureForward Chromebook support, we are working with ETS, ITS, and our sites in order to refine and optimize Chromebook management so that responsibilities are more balanced across staff units. Taking time to share and implement best practices may hopefully ensure better service to students while also reducing staff workload allocated to Chromebook management over other core responsibilities.
Connect With Us!
We would love to hear from you! Let us know about your program and how we may best support your goals and initiatives.
Visit our libraries! We are proud that GUHSD is a school district that has invested in keeping libraries open with credentialed Teacher Librarians. Come experience our libraries!
Find out more! There is much more happening in all of our libraries than we have been able to share here. Please feel welcome to contact us for more information.
Credits:
Banner photo by Reuben Hoffman; all other photos by GUHSD Teacher Librarians