Christine Essig, Amanda Kowalcze, Rhea Mcvey, Mary Stanko, Jamie Winchell

Dominican University LIS 773

October 16, 2012
DISTRICT STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL
Statement of Need
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are being implemented in the State of Illinois,
and our district is dedicated to being CCSS compliant by 2014. As we adjust to the Common
Core, library media specialists will be in a position to provide assistance and support to
classroom teachers who are modifying their curriculum to meet these new standards. Our
districts math teachers have begun to adjust their lessons accordingly, but there is still
important work ahead if we are to be Common Core compliant by our 2014 goal.
Much of the professional development district and state funding in this area relates to
understanding the standards but not to developing classroom and learning environment
applications. It is the perception of our department that due to a lack of communication and
established relationships, math teachers are unlikely to utilize their libraries resources
and staff when aligning their curriculum with the literacy standards presented in the CCSS.
Math instructors, librarians, and students alike share a skepticism about the relevance
of library resources for math concepts. As a result, math teachers are not receiving their
equitable proportion of the professional resources.
CCSS challenges math teachers to integrate real world scenarios and applications into their
curriculum. This initiative directly aligns with the American Association of School Library
(AASL) Standard 2.3.1, which is to guide students to Connect understanding to the real
world. We believe that librarian-math teacher collaboration will allow for an exchange
of resources, materials, and learning experiences through which students can apply,
synthesize, and evaluate the world around them. This type of professional relationship will
help students meet both CCSS and AASL standards.
Proposal Brief
We propose a one-day professional development opportunity for the 6th grade math
teachers of our district in order to familiarize them with library resources that they can use
while creating ratio and proportion lessons within the CCSS. The professional development
opportunity will aid teachers in creating innovative lessons that relate to CCSS, accessing
library resource relating to math, and using the library for math instruction. This
prefessional development workshop will assist teachers in meeting the districts goal of
being CCSS compliant by 2014, and will allow us to build teacher-librarian professional
relationships, which will benefit our teachers, students and the district as a whole.
Support

The Common Core State Standards have become central in educational discussions in
the last three years. The movement originally began in 2009 when representatives from
around the nation, primarily governors and educational leaders, decided to standardize
curriculum across the country, particularly with regard to the topics taught at each grade
level (Dunkle 34). A year later, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCCSO) and
the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA) brought out the
final version of these standards for all school grades. Forty-six states, including Illinois,
have now dedicated themselves to implementing the Common Core State Standards
(Gewertz, Success S6). The task ahead is bringing our district into compliance with these
standards.
The Common Core State Standards will also have a large impact on the educational
spectrum in terms of the assessments performed. The Partnership for the Assessment
of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and the Smarter Balanced Assessment
Consortium (SBAC) have been given approximately $300 million to come up with new
ways of studying student growth by the year 2014 (States). Students using the PARCC
tool will receive standardized examination questions, but will have their performance
evaluated several times per school year (Dunkle 96-97). Students using the yearly SBAC
tool will find that computer questions change based on comprehension (Dessoff 56-57).
These systems will basically be in an online format. Geoffrey H. Fletcher writes in the
article, Race to the Top: No District Left Behind, The systems are envisioned to include
assessments, repositories of student, work, attendance, discipline, and grades, and promote
collaborative problem solving and planning among teachers. In short, there is a lot at
stake in the near future regarding what students are learning in their schools.
The main goal of the Common Core States Standards is to get students ready for postacademic success. The standards themselves primarily focus on the areas of study
regarding language arts and mathematics. Language arts stands poised to be transformed
as readers will be expected to gain knowledge in the non-fiction realm and develop more
proficient ways in consuming and creating new forms of technology (Loertscher and
Marcoux). Mathematics will now require innovative lesson planning and educational
approaches. Stephen Sawchuk writes in his article, Common Standards Present New
Frontier for Teacher Learning, that, the common core emphasizes understanding of the
logical, structural concepts underpinning mathematicsthe idea being that understanding
how and why algorithms work is as important as crunching numbers. Educators will
now have to teach students to understand and support their responses, since math will no
longer be a simple question and answer process.
With all of the changes necessary to meet CCSS, districts and educators will need to
seek out additional support and guidance. Professional development will be necessary
if all math teachers are to redesign their curriculum. Matthew R. Larson looks at the
mathematics standards and the need to move forward in regard to this issue in his
work, Will CCSSM Matter in Ten Years. Here, he states: If implementing CCSSM is going
to emphasize the Standards for Mathematical Practice, then teachers will need professional
development time and a supportive environment in which to change the culture of

teaching by constructing their own understanding of CCSSM and successfully designing

and daily executing lessons that embed and evaluate the effectiveness of the Standards
for Mathematical Practice (Larson 112). In short, collaborative opportunities have to be
present to move teachers forward in getting CCSSM into the classroom.
Our teachers will gain knowledge of the Common Core and its execution in workshops
dedicated to this purpose. The school librarian stands ready to address this need through
implementing the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, which mirror the higher level
thinking skills required by the Common Core.
Goals
We believe this staff development workshop will help us meet the following goals:
Short Term Goals
Familiarize 6th grade math teachers with a sampling of available resources and
collaborative opportunities for their ratio & proportion lessons
Fulfill CCSS and AASL goals by creating more experiential learning with real-world
applications in 6th grade math classes
Establish professional relationships between 6th grade math teachers and school
library media specialists
Long Term Goals
Create a pattern of math teacher-librarian collaboration that can be extended to 7th
and 8th grade math teachers in subsequent years
Remove preconceptions about a divergent relationship between the library and
mathematics and views of the library as strictly an extension of the English and
social studies departments
Examples
After the staff development workshop, 6th grade math teachers will:
Walk away with an updated ratio and proportion lesson plan that has been
enhanced using library resources
Develop an enhanced collaborative relationship with librarians and familiarity with
library resources
See an improvement in student understanding of learning objectives and in test
scores
Following successful collaboration between librarians and teachers, 6th grade math
students will:
Use library resources to practice and apply math lessons regularly and in a setting
that exemplifies the practical use of the concept
Gain a concrete understanding of abstract ideas while making a connection between
the classroom and their own lives
Be more independent using library resources outside of class
3

Through this process, librarians will:

Develop lasting professional relationships with faculty members and students
Experience an overall increase in library involvement
With the help of teachers and administrators, accomplish goals established by CCSS
and AASL Standards
Activities
Our team of librarians will facilitate the following activities during this professional
development time with our districts 6th grade math teachers:
Entrance slip: List 3 resources outside the textbook youve used in the last month.
Think-Pair-Share: Impressions of the CCSS in general and what they mean for math
standards.
Workshop of ratio & proportion lesson plan: take your lesson plan to the next level in
addressing CCSS with library resources.
Presentation of relevant library resources:
Library book materials
Databases
Online resources: video lessons, gaming resources
Online production tools: Glogster, Animoto
Exit slip: What did you learn today? What will you use in future lessons?
Timeline
Professional Development will be offered on the district wide institute day during the
morning session from 8:30 - 11:00 AM, March 1, 2013
Preparation We will begin preparations in early November. District middle school
library directors will meet once a month for one and a half hours before the professional
development begins, to develop and coordinate professional development agenda and
activities. Specific dates and locations for this are listed below:
November 8th at 8 AM at Middle School A
December 6th at 3 PM at Middle School B
January 10th at 8 AM at Middle School C
February 7th at 3 PM at Middle School D
March 1st at 7:30 AM at Middle School E
This flexible schedule takes into account that each librarian will miss a balanced portion of
his/her day and will only have to travel during 3 school days.
Promotion During the above listed meeting times, librarians will coordinate publicity
formats and frequency. Publicity will be delivered through district newsletters, building
principals and school librarians. In the months of February and January, librarians will
work with their building principals to highlight the professional development experience
during building faculty meetings.
4

Facilitation - The majority of professional development facilitation will take place

during the March 1st professional development. Any preparatory work that needs to be
completed will take place during the monthly planning meetings or during the building
librarians plan time.
Assessment Informal assessment will begin during the professional development
experience on March 1, 2012. Formal assessment in the form of surveys and data
collection will continue through June 1, 2012.
Materials Required
Computer lab with Internet access and gaming console
Tables for spreading out
Snacks and beverages
Teacher copies of ratio and proportion lesson plans
Hard copies of CCSS for Math (Introduction and Mathematics, Grade 6)
Pathfinder or slideshow of online ratio and proportion resources (including catalog)
Relevant titles from the catalog: juvenile literature--ratio and proportion
Facilitator Responsibilities
Our team of 5 librarians will collectively work on the process of planning and implementing
this staff development. As with everything we do, we will volunteer for aspects that match
our respective strengths and interests. Each member of the team will prepare and deliver
the activity she is slated to present. This is the likely breakdown of major implementation
responsibilities:
Rhea: Lesson Workshop and Assessment
Amanda: Databases
Christine: Online Production Tools
Mary: Library Materials
Jamie: Online Teaching Tools
Assessment
Formative Assessment - to be administered during professional development in the form of
entrance and exit (EE) slips completed by the math teachers. See EE slips in the Appendix.
Summative Assessment - Librarians will work together to create a variety of surveys using
Google Docs. Survey question will focus on increased use of the library, increase in student
mastery and teacher/student comfort level in regards to using library resources.
The following standards will be assessed through student and teacher surveys:

Common Core Standard

AASL Learning Standard

6.RP.1 Understand the concept of a ratio

and use ratio language to describe a ratio
relationship between two quantities.

1.1.7 - Make sense of information gathered

from diverse sources by identifying
misconceptions, main and supporting
ideas, conflicting information, and point of
view or bias.

6.RP.2 Understand the concept of a unit

rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b with b
0, and use rate language in the context of
a ratio relationship.

2.2.1 - Demonstrate flexibility in the use

of resources by adapting information
strategies to each specific resource and by
seeking additional resources when clear
conclusions cannot be drawn.

6.RP.3a Use ratio and rate reasoning

to solve real-world and mathematical
problems.

2.3.1 - Connect understanding to the real

world.

from Crosswalk of the Common Core Standards and the Standards for the 21st-Century
Learner http://www.ala.org/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/commoncorecrosswalk
Budget
Amount

Purpose

Explanation

$630.00

Staff release time for

preliminary planning

Library staff will need substitute teachers for

their planning sessions. The 5 staff members
will need substitute coverage at the rate of $21
per hour for a total of 6 hours.

$75.00

Snacks

Snacks include 2 dozen bagels, fruit, coffee, and

juice

$100.00

Printing

We will provide one copy of the 6th grade math

CCSS as well as a variety of handouts and lesson
supplements.

$350.00

Teacher Resources

Each middle school team will receive a set

of 5 juvenile non-fiction ratio & proportion
storybooks:
Seeing Symmetry by Loreen Leedy
A Fractions Goal--Part of a Whole by
Brian P. Cleary

If Dogs Were Dinosaurs by David M.

Schwartz
Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in
Nature by Sarah C. Cambell
The Book of Perfectly Perilous Math by
Allen Sanders
Conclusion
Although the adjustment to the CCSS will be demanding, we district librarians are choosing
to see CCSS as an opportunity to build better relationships with a department that has
traditionally underutilized their due share of the districts professional resources. This
professional development workshop is focused on only one CCSS domain, 6th grade ratio
and proportion, but it will open communication between librarians and math teachers,
and will lead to further professional collaboration that will extend to the rest of the math
department. As this proposal demonstrates, the new CCSS and the AASL standards set
many similar and complementary goals for teachers and librarians. Together, we can put
our district in a position to not only meet these standards, but also to provide our students
with relevant and dynamic 21st century learning experiences.
References
American Association of School Librarians. Standards for the 21-st Century Learner.
Chicago, IL: American Library Association, 2007.
Common Core State Standards: Grades 6-8, Math, ELA video from Teaching Channel
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/common-core-state-standards-middle-school
(accessed October 3, 2012).
Common Core Speaker? https://listserv.illinois.edu/wa.cgi?A2=ind1210a&L=islmanetl&T=0&P=9241 Campus Information Technologies and Education Services (accessed October
12, 2012).
Crosswalk of the Common Core Standards and the Standards for the 21st-Century
Learner http://www.ala.org/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/commoncorecrosswalk
Dessoff, Alan. "Are You Ready For Common Core Math?." District Administration 48.3
(2012): 53-60. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Oct. 2012.
Dunkle, Cheryl. Leading The Common Core State Standards: From Common Sense To
Common Practice. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin, 2012. Print.
Fletcher, Geoffrey H. "Race To The Top: No District Left Behind." T H E Journal 37.10
(2010): 17-18. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.
7

Gewertz, Catherine. Common Core Thrusts School Librarians into Leadership Roles.
Education Week 32.3 (2012): 1-19. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 12 Oct. 2012.
Gewertz, Catherine. "Success Of Standards Depends On Translation For Classroom."
Education Week 31.29 (2012): S6-S11. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.
Kopple, Jody. Rev. of Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers In Nature, by Sarah C. Campbell.
School Library Journal 56.4 (2010): 174. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
Larson, Matthew R. "Will CCSSM Matter In Ten Years?." Teaching Children Mathematics 19.2
(2012): 108-115. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.
Loertscher, David V., and Elizabeth Betty Marcoux. The Common Core Standards:
Opportunities for Teacher-Librarians to Move to the Center of Teaching and Learning.
Teacher Librarian 38.2 (2010): 8-14. Academic Search Premier. Web . 11 Oct. 2012.
Marzano, Robert J. Teaching Argument. Educational Leadership. 70.1 (2012): 80-81.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
Mayer, Brian. "Games and the 21st-Century StandardsAn Partnership." Knowledge Quest
40.1 (2011): 46-51. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.
Parott, Justin. Rev. of The Book of Perfectly Perilous Math, by Sean Connolly. School Library
Journal. 58.08 (2012): 96. ABI/INFORM Global. Web . 11 Oct. 2012.
Rothman, Robert. Nine Ways the Common Core Will Change Classroom Practice. Harvard
Education Letter v. 28 (4). July/August 2012. http://www.hepg.org/hel/article/543#home
(accessed October 10, 2012).
Sawchuk, Stephen. Common Standards Present New Frontier for Teacher Learning.
Education Week 32.1 (2012): 4-6. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 12 Oct. 2012.
Schuman, Jennifer. Schools Incorporate New Standards into Instruction. Oak Leaves
October 4, 2012. http://oakpark.suntimes.com/news/15433376-418/schools-incorporatenew-standards-into-instruction.html (accessed October 4, 2012).
States Leading Sea Change in K-12 Assessment. Education Week 31.35 (2012): 2-3.
Academic Search Premier. Web 11 Oct. 2012.
Vander Ark, Tom. 14 Open Resources for High School. Education Week Vander Ark on
Innovation October 10, 2012. http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/on_innovation/2012/10/
14_open_resources_for_high_school.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-FB (accessed October 14, 2012).
Winner, Matthew C., and Meghan Hearn. Wii Learn. School Library Journal 58.04 (2012):
18-. ABI/INFORM Global. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
8

Appendix: Teaching Tools

Games
Arcademics. Arcademics Skill Builders. Arcademics, 2012. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.
Wii Fit. Redmond, Washington: Nintendo of America, 2008.
Wii Sports Resort. Redmond, Washington: Nintendo of America, 2009.
Library Book Resources (Ratio and proportionjuvenile literature)
Campbell, Sarah C. Growing Patterns: Fibonacci Numbers in Nature. Honesdale, PA: Boyds
Mills Press, 2010.
Cleary, Brian P. A Fractions Goal--Parts of the Whole. Minneapolis, MN: Milbrook Press,
2011.
Leedy, Loreen. Seeing Symmetry. New York: Holiday House, 2012.
Sanders, Allen. The Book of Perfectly Perilous Math. New York: Workman, 2012.
Schwartz, David M. If You Hopped Like a Frog. New York: Scholastic Press, 1999.
Schwartz, David M. If Dogs Were Dinosaurs. New York: Scholastic Press, 2005.

Online Databases
EBSCOhost Middle SearchPlus: A search for ratio and proportion returned 77 articles that
can be broken down by different subjects.
ProQuest: students could research careers that use ratio and proportion

Online Lesson Resources (ratio & proportion)

Free Technology for Teachers

great list of online math applications here

such as MathTV which has videos on ratio
& proportion

Khan Academy

online index of video lessons and practice

http://www.khanacademy.org/

opportunities that relate to the CCSS

Exemplars
http://www.exemplars.com/

student tasks that align with the CCSS

texts can be made available to teachers in
through library loan

How to Smile
http://howtosmile.org/

All the best science & math activities

Brain Pop http://www.brainpop.com/

educators/state_standards/

search by standards, subject & grade to find

lessons & online experiences

CK-12 Community Site http://

www.ck12.org/about/

learning objects with many modalities

The Gateway to 21st Century Skills http://

www.thegateway.org/

find lessons by filtering by level, type, topic,

medium, mediator, and more...

Curikki
http://welcome.curriki.org/

open-source learning space with a huge

variety of math resources

OER Commons http://

www.oercommons.org/

open source resources that can be filtered

by subject, level, and material

Gooru http://www.goorulearning.org/
gooru/index.g#!/home

multimedia resources, digital textbooks,

videos, games and quizzes

Power My Learning http://

powermylearning.com/

games, quizzes, and lessons

YouTube EDU http://www.youtube.com/

education?category=K-12/Mathematics

a global video classroom

PBS Learning Media http://

www.pbslearningmedia.org/content/
#q=ratio+and+proportion&go=

curriculum resources: lesson plans, videos,

interactive tools

Online CCSS Resources

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. http://www.corestandards.org/assets/
CCSSI_Math%20Standards.pdf
Crosswalk of the Common Core Standards and the Standards for the 21st-Century
Learner http://www.ala.org/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/commoncorecrosswalk

10

Guide to the CCSS Progression for Ratio & Proportion written by the CCSS Writing Team:
this might be a helpful document for teachers to read/review as the enhance their
understanding of the CCSS.
Online Production Resources
Glogster projects like this one. students could make their own to demonstrate their
knowledge!
Animoto projects like this one. We could equip them with digital cameras or iPads to
take photos of examples of ratio/proportion in their lives and then put them together on
animoto
Math in Daily Life. Annenberg Foundation. (From the crosswalk page for math resources)
Math in Daily Life
Cooking Using Ratios and Proportion

11