02-Assignment+Two+(Community+Analysis+and+Report)


 * PART 1: COMMUNITY AND SCHOOL OVERVIEW ||

The following is an overview of the municipality and the school board in which Sentinel Secondary School exists—as well as an overview of the school itself:


 * WEST VANCOUVER MUNICIPALITY **



The Municipality of West Vancouver, which brands itself “the waterfront community,” includes this introductory message on the “about” section of its [|website]: “West Vancouver is nestled on the lush south-facing slopes of the Coast Mountains on the North Shore of Burrard Inlet, in British Columbia. The Municipality spans 89 square kilometres and is bordered by Howe Sound to the west, the Capilano River to the east, the Coast mountains to the north. Our picturesque community is known for its sandy beaches, seaside walks, marinas, hiking trails, ski area, and distinctive residential neighbourhoods. West Vancouver combines small-town charm with cosmopolitan amenities in several unique village business areas. The natural setting and proximity to downtown Vancouver completes our desirable setting.”



As of 2006 (the most recent demographic data available from [|Statistics Canada]), the median househould income for “couple households with children” was $128,820. [|Wikipedia] states that “West Vancouver is often referred to as one of the wealthiest municipalities in Canada.” The city features a population of 42,131 and the second-highest population of people aged 65 or older in British Columbia.


 * WEST VANCOUVER SCHOOL DISTRICT **

The [|West Vancouver School District] operates fourteen elementary schools and three secondary schools. Branding itself as “the premier place for learning,” the District is often referred to locally as “the light house district”—a reference both to the District’s logo and the suggestion that the District desires to remain a “lighthouse”—a light leading the way—within education in British Columbia and beyond.

[|Source]

Recent areas of focus for the District that are worth noting as a teacher-librarian (TL) include the [|District Technology Plan] and the [|District Literacy Plan]. Additionally, the District’s [|superintendent] is an avid education blogger and technology-in-education promoter.


 * SENTINEL SECONDARY SCHOOL **



[|Sentinel Secondary School] enrolls approximately 1,150 students from grades 8-12. (See also the school’s [|Wikipedia entry]). Families in West Vancouver have options when it comes to their students’ secondary education—three public high schools and at least two private high schools operate in the area—so the school operates with the awareness that students and parents themselves are aware that Sentinel is not “the only game in town.” This fact brings with it a number of pros and cons, and they are too many to enumerate here. However, one of the undeniable positives that results from our school’s placement within this context of relative competition is this: our school board is aware of the fact that a vibrant and appropriately funded and staffed library is at the heart of a school that works. Parents often feel similarly—or at least parents like to see a pulsating, busy library with students and staff hard at the work of learning. The happy result, from the point of view of a TL or English teacher (as I am), is that our school maintains a fairly functional [|school library] that hums along with research and reading from 8:00am to 4:00pm most days.

Sentinel strives to be known as a diverse school, and to promote and celebrate this sense of diversity. Some of the more visible “ethnic groups” include Chinese, Korean, and Persian students. The West Vancouver School District also maintains a robust international student program, which brings in a healthy number of students from all over the world and helps keep our school diverse and our hallways multi-languaged. Regarding socioeconomic levels: most students come from homes that are financially stable. Many students come from homes with parents who highly value education and are highly educated themselves.

An overview of available from the annual Fraser Institute Report provides a snapshot of some pertinent data on Sentinel:

[|Source]

Sentinel is well-known for its successful and robust [|Advanced Placement (AP) program]. In 2011, 195 students wrote 371 exams, and 95% of the exams written had scores of 3 or higher (out of a maximum score of 5), 79% of the exams had scores of 4 or 5, and 52% of the exams had scores of 5. The full list of AP course offerings (at the grade 12 level--other AP courses are offered in grades 10 and 11 as well) includes: AP 2-D Design Portfolio 12 AP 3-D Design Portfolio 12 AP Studio Art Drawing 12 AP Biology 12 AP Calculus AB //12 (taken concurrently with Pre-Calculus 12 or after completion of it)// AP Calculus BC 12A //(taken after completion of AP Calculus AB 12)// AP Chemistry 12 AP Chinese Language and Culture 12 AP English Language and Composition 12 (taken concurrently with AP English Literature 12) AP English Literature and Composition 12 (taken concurrently with AP English Language 12) AP French Language and Culture 12 (taken concurrently with French 12 or Français langue 12) AP German Language 12 (//Examination only//) AP Japanese Language and Culture 12 AP Music Theory 12 (//Examination only//) AP Physics B 12 AP Psychology 12 AP Spanish Language 12 //(Examination only)// AP Statistics 12

Student graduation rates are high. In the 2010-2011 school year, [|98% of students graduated]. University attendance rates are high as well, with many students attending such schools as UBC, SFU, Queens, McGill, Western, the University of Toronto, and other Canadian institutions. A handful of students each year also enroll in universities in the United States—often for specific fine arts-based studies or pre-med studies.

[|Source]
 * PART 2: PARTNERS AND COMMUNITY RESOURCES ||

The following is an overview of partners and community resources available to the Sentinel Library.


 * WEST VANCOUVER SECONDARY SCHOOL LIBRARY **


 * TL Lilian Trousdell maintains an excellent and highly functional [|school library] at nearby West Vancouver Secondary School (one of the other two secondary schools in the District). Lilian’s academic background—including an MLIS degree from UBC’s [|School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies] (SLAIS)—her years of experience in both school and [|public libraries], and her spirited demeanor all play a part in making Lilian an excellent partner in the work of promoting libraries and literacy. TLs in the West Vancouver School District meet regularly to discuss best practice issues around teacher-libarianship. Of particular value to me as a TL at Sentinel are strong working relationships with the other two secondary school TLs.


 * ROCKRIDGE SECONDARY SCHOOL LIBRARY **


 * TL Arlene Anderson, recipient of a [|2010-2011 British Columbia Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence], is known as an educator who connects with outside resources in the community and who knows that the library is not made merely of four walls. She also successfully integrates a meaningful teaching and learning program around digital literacy issues—a sometimes-difficult-to-teach but important topic and skill set for high school students. With a [|Masters in Education] degree from UBC with a focus on school libraries, Arlene is the embodiment of the often-bantered phrase “21st Century Learning” within a high school library context.


 * WEST VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY **

o Children’s librarian Roseanne Hinmueller does annual spring-time school visits to promote the library’s summer reading programs; the visits feature book readings and question and answer periods.
 * The West Vancouver public library, known as the [|West Vancouver Memorial Library], is a user-friendly space that features excellent support staff, an excellent physical collection, excellent online resources and connectivity, and comfortable reading rooms and study areas for high school students. This is a library that sees a lot of foot traffic.


 * NORTH VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARIES **

o Maintaining regular advertisements regarding the happenings at the North Vancouver Public Libraries is a simple way to maintain ties to community literacy institutions. Further, organizing student visits (acting as a simple logistics facilitator or actually organizing transportation logistics, etc.) is a great—and relatively simple—way to promote real-world literacy-related experiences for students.
 * While Sentinel is located in West Vancouver, a number of our students do attend from very nearby North Vancouver. The [|North Vancouver Public Library] features three locations and excellent collections and services. The libraries also include regular literary events such as poetry readings and book readings from locally-, regionally-, or nationally-known authors.


 * LOCAL WRITERS & LITERARY FIGURES **

[|Source] o Making connections with “real” writers works to engage students as a clear link is drawn between “classroom” and “the world.”
 * Local poet [|Shannon Stewart] (who is also a language teacher at a Lower Mainland secondary school and mother of a former student of mine) does poetry and creative writing workshops with students at local schools. Her workshops can be scheduled for classrooms or libraries.

o In addition to the benefit of students understanding “real writers,” the hip factor surrounding Coupland could ignite a small spark in the minds of students around the whole notion of what it means to work with words and literature.
 * Internationally-renowned author [|Douglas Coupland] is an [|alumnus of Sentinel Secondary School], and—to the best of my knowledge—has never actually been involved with Sentinel in any way since graduating and becoming a famous author. It only seems natural to want to change that fact.

o Providing explicit opportunities for students to write in venues that are not “school”—and that are, further, not even “writing contests”—is exactly what a certain segment of the student population requires: some students are talented writers who are very engaged with the world of words and cultures around them, but they simply need a venue in which to nurture that talent—and often times for these students if that venue is contained within or connected to the traditional walls of a school they are not interested. It is, after all, the nature of teenaged humans to turn away from traditional social structures and find their own ways. One of the tricks and challenges for TLs is to constructively and craftily allow such opportunities without giving the appearance to students that these opportunities have been “arranged by” or “overseen by” adults.
 * The [|Canadian Authors Association] has a Vancouver branch that sometimes holds events in West Vancouver.
 * PART 3: SCHOOL LIBRARY PROGRAM, GRADE LEVEL, CURRICULAR INFORMATION ||


 * SCHOOL LIBRARY PROGRAM **

Source: the author.

The Sentinel school library operates on a flexible schedule where the TL sees a constant stream of humanity flow in and out of the front doors. When peaking at the TL’s schedule book for any given day, the image of an airport’s electronic arrivals/departures board often comes to mind: a constantly-updated barrage of groups of people all coming from different places, going to different places, and visiting for different reasons. To continue the analogy, some of them will be happy to visit and only use physical resources (booksmagazines, reference materials), while others will demand the use of relevant technology and media as a means to acquiring information.

The library program at Sentinel maintains a full-time TL and a full-time teaching assistant. All three secondary schools in the West Vancouver District feature the same staffing levels.

Source: the author.

As the library does operate on a fixed schedule, I have noticed that, as Kay Bishop notes in //The Collection Program in Schools//, that some students “never or infrequently visit the media center”; this is most often due to the fact that the student’s particular teacher does not find the need or does not have the inclination to include the library in his or her regular program delivery (27). It is true that the curriculum of some courses may be—depending on the teacher—just as effectively delivered without the use of a library. Further, more than once throughout the year do I hear the TL mention that there is not enough time in the day to “take care of other management responsibilities” in the midst of a barrage of students and teachers visiting the library (Bishop 27).

The library is one of the most popular places for students to gather from 8:00-8:30 and from 3:00-4:00. The library includes a “pit” area—a two-steps-down lower area with sofa cushioned bench seats on nearly all sides and floor-to-ceiling glass on one side. This area is popular with students before school, after school, and during classes (while some students // do // attempt to escape to the soft cushions with the sole intention of stealing a nap, I // have // known of some students who have tried to skip class with the sole intention of escaping to the pit…to read a good book in relative peace and quiet. Some TLs have noted that it is difficult to become too upset with such students. On a related topic, as Bishop notes, some teachers do tend to send their “problem students” to the library at times (particularly in the spring, I notice, when students become perhaps more unruly as they pine for the upcoming academic freedom that summer represents) (27). This causes obvious and predictable headaches for the TL and library aides. Just last week at Sentinel I noticed a collection of newly printed signs, highlighted with pinks and yellows, posted throughout the library that said something to the effect of, “Grade 12 students: please help to maintain the library as a // QUIET // place for studying and working together.”

Sentinel’s TL works proactively to recruit teachers into the library for research projects. Once a teacher does a single project on any given topic, the TL always takes and keeps notes on that project, what was involved in making it work, and how it could be better next time. The TL then also contacts the classroom teacher the next year a month or two before the date that the teacher did the project the year before. In this way,

The library space includes plenty of tables and desks for both individual and collaborative work. The library space proper also includes a few computers at the edge of the stacks. Additionally, the library features a full computer lab adjacent to the library: this lab has its own dedicated and alarmed door, 28 student computers, one teacher computer with a projector, and a white board.

Referring to the list of general services noted by Bishop on page 28, the following are the services offered by the Sentinel library:
 * Orientation sessions for students and teachers
 * Copy machines
 * Access to online databases
 * Possible to print online resources
 * Assistance with research projects
 * Provide reading and viewing guidance
 * Provide booktalks for classes (usually subject-specific talks linked to research)
 * Conduct professional development workshops for teachers

The Sentinel library does not feature any special programs. However, the West Vancouver Secondary and Rockridge Secondary libraries have developed and promoted the use of the [|Lighthouse Reads] blog, a place where “senior and junior book clubs meet…virtually…to share their thoughts about the books they are reading” as a means to “improving literacy skills across a range of media and technologies” ([|Rockridge Library website]).

** GRADE LEVEL AND CURRICULAR INFORMATION **

The focus of this assignment is English 11. The following is an overview of some pertinent information with regards to English 11 and the library.  o approximately 250.  o Approximately four in any given year. The actual teachers and number of teachers who teach English 11 fluctuates in any given year—these numbers are driven by students’ course timetable requests and meeting these requests. As such, there can be some change from year to year in terms of which teacher teaches the course. This detail is not ideal for the TL as the lack of consistency makes it more difficult from a fluidity and logistics standpoint to liaise with teachers on recurring library projects.  o Most English 11 teachers have taught English at the secondary school level for at least ten years; many of them specifically have taught English at Sentinel or in West Vancouver for much of that time. Most of these teachers have an advanced degree in education. Most teach at least one AP English course, which is a fact that tends to include a paradoxical outcome: “Advanced Placement” connotes rigor and engagement, which for many people also connotes the idea of advanced use of technology and media—this, however, is not always the case. This English teacher and TL-wannabe has noticed that in some cases the AP teacher might actually have a tendency to run a classroom that is less technologically-focused than the regular stream classroom. The reasons for this are, however, fairly simple: a teacher’s time is finite, and with increased focus on rigor and writing composition skills, additional time for the inclusion of new technologies may sometimes literally and simply be nonexistent. At Sentinel, then—at least for a course like English 11—this fact often translates into relatively light use of the library: students may occasionally use computers for research, database searches, or writing. Students may occasionally access the 800’s for author studies or topic-specific research (a popular “topic”—and author—for library projects is Shakespeare).  o A side note: as perhaps a sign of the times, our TL recently—around two months ago—sent out an email to the English department that she was doing some serious weeding and was removing a large swath of English-related books from the 800’s. The total number of books was at least 200. Many of them, she said, had not been checked out for nearly a decade. As such, there was some conversation around what to do with the books and where to place them. At the end of the day, I cleaned out a handful of fixed bookshelves in my classroom fairly adjacent the library, and volunteered to house the now-weeded collection of English/literature books in my classroom. This solved the immediate problem—and also provided me with a great-looking wall of shelves tidily stocked with an attractive collection of subject-relevant titles. However, the more general and larger problem is unanswered for the time being and can be summarized as something like this: we are standing at the crossroads of physical and digital ages in libraries; we are accessing both older and very new technologies in order to power the teaching and learning engine; a result of this reality is that, sometimes, TLs don’t know what to do with a veritable gold mine of fine books that have not been utilized for years—and the thought of removing these books from the collection is a thought that often sends chills up the spines of both TLs and English teachers alike.  o Since English 11 is a subject with learning outcomes based on concepts and skills that can be achieved using literally any number of content pieces—generally at the discretion of the teacher—the way in which the library collection gets used by an English 11 course varies dramatically.  o Some teachers value using the physical collection for perhaps one or two research-type of assignments per year. But more often these days these projects are being carried out using more and more online resources. More students, of course, are comfortable using online sources today, which brings up at least two immediate areas for consideration: § Teachers and TL must explicitly teach students how to use the subscription-based online databases the school provides (this lesson is part of the larger digital literacy lesson) § Teachers and TLs must also specifically continue teaching—reteaching?—basic skills with regards to access the physical collection: with more and more of students’ time spent solely using computers, many of what we would consider basic and traditional library information retrieval skills are entirely unknown to students. o The library’s physical collection is most used by English 11-aged students not in their English classes, but as a source for finding pleasure-reading books.
 * Number of students using the collection:
 * Number of teachers using the collection:
 * Teachers’ backgrounds:
 * How students use the collection generally:

 Source: the author.

Bishop, Kay, and Orden Phyllis. Van. //The Collection Program in Schools: Concepts, Practices, and Information Sources//. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. Print. he following is an overview of partners and community resources available to the Sentinel Library. <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 2876px; width: 1px;">** WEST VANCOUVER SECONDARY SCHOOL LIBRARY **
 * WORKS CITED ||

<span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 2876px; width: 1px;">** IMAGE **

<span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; margin-left: 0.5in; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: -0.25in; top: 2876px; width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">· TL Lilian Trousdell maintains an excellent and highly functional [|school library] at nearby West Vancouver Secondary School (one of the other two secondary schools in the District). Lilian’s academic background—including an MLIS degree from UBC’s [|School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies] (SLAIS)—her years of experience in both school and [|public libraries], and her spirited demeanor all play a part in making Lilian an excellent partner in the work of promoting libraries and literacy. TLs in the West Vancouver School District meet regularly to discuss best practice issues around teacher-libarianship. Of particular value to me as a TL at Sentinel are strong working relationships with the other two secondary school TLs. <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 2876px; width: 1px;">** ROCKRIDGE SECONDARY SCHOOL LIBRARY **

<span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 2876px; width: 1px;">** IMAGE **

<span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; margin-left: 0.5in; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; text-indent: -0.25in; top: 2876px; width: 1px;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">· TL Arlene Anderson, recipient of a [|2010-2011 British Columbia Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence], is known as an educator who connects with outside resources in the community and who knows that the library is not made merely of four walls. She also successfully integrates a meaningful teaching and learning program around digital literacy issues—a sometimes-difficult-to-teach but important topic and skill set for high school students. With a [|Masters in Education] degree from UBC with a focus on school libraries, Arlene is the embodiment of the often-bantered phrase “21st Century Learning” within a high school library context. <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 2876px; width: 1px;">** WEST VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY **