Building a Participaory School Culture

1.   LOERTSCHER, D. V., & KOECHLIN, C. (2015). Coteaching and the Learning Commons. Teacher Librarian, 43(2), 12-16.

This article, by Dr. Loertscher, along with his collaborator Carol Koechlin, highlights many of the things we are learning in class about the optimal design of a learning commons, and specifically about co-teaching and collaboration.  It describes ways in which classroom teachers and librarians can co-teach, how that might look in a real setting, and how student learning outcomes can benefit from the practice.  The article also touches on some of the other staples of the high-functioning library learning commons such as Makerspaces, and participation from other specialists.

This article is beneficial in many ways, and for many audiences.  For our class and for others in the library community, it gives a great overview of the foundational principles of a learning commons.  It also provides new ideas and inspiration.  For educators or other stakeholders not familiar with the idea of a library learning commons model, it provides an introduction and shows some ways that this model can be beneficial for student achievement.  I especially appreciated the fact that there is so much to glean from this article.  I expect to refer back to it often.