Instruction
Substandard #1: Design instruction to meet standards.
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Substandard #2: Demonstrate the capacity to design multiple measures of assessment.
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Standard #3: Students use multiple instructional techniques for diverse student populations.
"It is an awfully sad misconception that librarians simply check books in and out. The library is the heart of a school, and without a librarian, it is but an empty shell."
— Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Author and Illustrator
My six years of experience as a classroom teacher have profoundly shaped my approach in my role as a Teacher Librarian. At my core, I am an educator: being a Teacher Librarian allows me to make a broader impact across the entire school campus by building a strong literacy program, teaching students directly, collaborating with teachers across content areas, and supporting both students and teachers to enrich learning experiences.
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The majority of my time at both sites is spent working directly with students. At the start of the year, I meet with all departments to discuss their goals and develop a cohesive plan for how my services can enhance student knowledge and understanding within each content area, ultimately strengthening students’ multiliteracies (e.g., reading, writing, cultural awareness, communication, digital media literacy). Over the past year, I have collaborated with teachers across disciplines to tailor my instruction to the specific needs of each class, offering comprehensive lessons on research, writing, and digital media literacy. Drawing from my interdisciplinary teaching experience in science and history at New Valley High School in Santa Clara Unified School District, I continuously seek innovative ways to provide instruction that promotes literacy across all content areas on campus.
Substandard #1:
Artifacts and Evidence
Evidence #1:
Where Does Your Media Come From? – Canva Lesson from the Media Manipulation and Fact-Checking Unit
Since joining ESUHSD in November 2023, I have worked closely with teachers across various subject areas, including Social Science, English, Ethnic Studies, Biology, Environmental Science, Forensic Science, Art, Digital Media, and Math I, II, and III. I provide general library media instruction and also design tailored units and lessons based on specific teacher and content area needs.
This artifact highlights my instructional design work for Ms. Kylee Gonzalez's Sociology classes (Grades 11-12), for which I taught a specialized unit on Media Manipulation and Fact-Checking that complemented her unit on Credible Authorities. Her unit focused on helping students understand the social, political, and systemic factors influencing authority and credibility in the United States. My unit on Media Manipulation and Fact-Checking aligned with her goals by teaching students how to recognize misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, especially on social media platforms.
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In this lesson, I incorporated interactive activities and independent work to allow students to research, analyze, and assess news items found on social media platforms. The lesson addresses the growing concerns on both campuses about how students consume, process, and share information on social media. As a preparatory activity, students monitored news items they received on social media before the lesson. On the day of the lesson, they shared their findings, selected two news items to conduct an in-depth analyses, and applied evaluation criteria I developed to assess each source's purpose, validity, bias, and credibility. They then shared their findings with peers, participated in a gallery walk to read and provide feedback on each other's work, and engaged in a class discussion to reflect on their experience.
Where Does Your Media Come From? – Lesson Plan from the Media Manipulation and Fact-Checking Unit
This lesson plan provides a comprehensive overview of the instructional approaches, content, purpose, goals, learning objectives, and assessments—both formative and summative—that were used, along with a step-by-step guide to implementing the lesson. Aligned with the California Model School Library Standards, Common Core State Standards for English and History Social Science, and English Language Development Standards, this lesson is designed to deliver a thorough and effective learning experience for all students in Ms. Gonzalez's classes. The plan includes an outline of prior work done with her students, the unit's essential questions, anticipated academic language challenges, necessary materials with direct links, and a detailed breakdown of timed activities, as well as modifications and accommodations for diverse learners.
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Providing Ms. Gonzalez with an in-depth lesson plan in advance not only improved our collaboration but also offered a transparent framework that enabled her to give feedback and suggestions prior to implementation, ensuring the lesson’s effectiveness for her students. Additionally, this collaborative process gave me insights into the specific accommodations her students needed, allowing me to adapt each activity to provide ample time for collaboration, research, and sharing of findings. By developing a standards-aligned, detailed lesson plan, I was able to create effective and engaging instructional materials and follow a precise blueprint, therefore enhancing both the quality of my instruction and my impact in the classroom.
Student Work
The day before my lesson, students received the Sources of Information Log from their classroom teacher, Ms. Gonzalez, and were instructed to monitor their social media apps for any news items or information sources related to current events, issues, or notable past events. On the day of the lesson, students shared their findings with peers and selected two news items to explore further using the evaluation criteria provided in the log. During the lesson, they analyzed their chosen news items to better understand the source, its purpose, validity, and content. Students also participated in a gallery walk, providing feedback for three classmates by reviewing their analyses and leaving responses on Post-It notes. We concluded the class with a discussion about the evaluation process, during which many students noted that users on social media apps are particularly susceptible to receiving deep fakes, misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation due to the lack of effective vetting for accuracy, credibility, and validity by social media platforms.
Co-Teacher Response
After my lesson, I sent a Feedback Form to Ms. Gonzalez to gain insights into the effectiveness of the session. I included a few targeted questions and open-ended prompts for her to share feedback on what worked well, areas for improvement, and any additional suggestions for our next lesson together. I regularly send feedback forms to teachers I collaborate with to refine my instruction, adjust or revise materials, and better support students in future lessons. Since this lesson was split into two parts, the feedback from Ms. Gonzalez, along with the formative and summative assessment data I gathered, allowed me to fine-tune the second part of the lesson to better address student needs. Self-reflection is essential to my role as a Teacher Librarian, and I rely on these valuable insights to continually improve my teaching.
Substandard #2:
Artifacts and Evidence
Evidence #1:
Instructional Design Unit for Teacher Librarians: Teaching Online Databases to High School Students
When I first joined ESUHSD, there was an outdated and unused Library Media Curriculum Plan (click here for more information). After the Library Plan was updated, it became clear that further work was needed to develop comprehensive unit plans. I recognized the need to address this gap given that a unified, detailed blueprint is essential for building strong library programs across all school sites within the district. A well-structured unit plan not only ensures equitable library media education for all students but also improves our efforts to enhance instruction, foster collaboration, and promote self-reflection within the Teacher Librarian (TL) Team.
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I volunteered to create a comprehensive unit plan specifically focused on teaching online database skills for all high school grade levels. This unit plan is a resource that all Teacher Librarians in the district can use to deliver consistent educational services to students across content areas. It includes unit goals, Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs), the instructional rationale, information on how to collect data regarding our site-specific learning community, essential skills and background knowledge needed, pre-planning actions, required instructional tools, key skills and concepts, a step-by-step instructional guide, a detailed overview of lessons and activities, formative and summative assessments for each lesson, strategies for student engagement, and methods for evaluating and understanding student learning.
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For details on formative and summative assessments embedded throughout the unit, see pages 19 through 21. I have also included recommendations on how assessment results and data can be used to guide and improve future instruction. The formative and summative assessments are designed to offer multiple options, promoting differentiation and providing accommodations to meet diverse student needs.
Student Work
The following student samples are from Mr. Aaron Cruz's Biology classes and illustrate the formative and summative assessments used throughout the Teaching Online Databases Unit. The two summative assessment options—a final research paper or a PowerPoint presentation—allowed students to choose how to demonstrate their learning. Formative assessments, including Kahoot!, reflections, and Exit Tickets, showcase the variety of assessment types incorporated into the unit, providing students with multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding. Offering students choice in their summative assessments has proven to be valuable in increasing engagement and participation. Additional formative assessments throughout the unit included small group and whole-class discussions, scavenger hunts, self-reflections, feedback forms, surveys, and research workshop activities.
Co-Teacher Response
Mr. Cruz completed a Feedback Form to provide insights and suggestions for improving the formative and summative assessments I developed for the unit, as well as my instructional approaches and content.
Opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding through class discussions, collaborative activities, reflections, Exit Tickets, and self-assessments were key assessments that helped me refine my instruction and offer targeted feedback to enhance their skills in navigating scholarly databases for research.
Mr. Cruz’s feedback also included valuable suggestions on how to better evaluate and support students in interpreting charts and data found in research articles.
Substandard #3:
Artifacts and Evidence
Evidence #1:
Providing Support and Differentiating Instruction for the Article of the Week (AoW)
Several English teachers at both sites have expressed a strong interest in collaborating to provide students with consistent media literacy lessons that foster critical thinking, reading comprehension, peer collaboration, and awareness of current events and issues. In response, I developed the Article of the Week (AoW) assignment and offered teachers the opportunity to schedule weekly sessions in the library for these lessons and activities. I designed a series of workshops and lessons that introduce students to the AoW assignment, teach them how to locate credible news sources, guide them in annotating texts using the CATCH method, and encourage them to write reflections on the content, main ideas, arguments, and evidence presented. To further develop communication skills, I also included opportunities for students to share their insights in small groups or through whole-class discussions.
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This lesson plan was specifically tailored to meet the needs of Mr. Alberto Camacho's English 9 classes. After reviewing initial information about his student population, I incorporated differentiated instructional techniques to cater to various learning styles, including auditory, visual, kinesthetic, reading/writing, social, and multimodal. By integrating videos, modeling and demonstrating key skills, encouraging collaboration, and providing additional supports such as graphic organizers, sentence frames, student work examples, and translations for ELD students, I ensured that students with diverse learning preferences and needs were accommodated. The lesson plan also includes assessment and evaluation methods with multiple checks for understanding, as well as strategies for fostering student engagement and monitoring their progress. Accommodations for students requiring additional language and learning supports, such as audio recordings, graphic organizers, and sentence frames, are also provided to ensure an inclusive learning environment.
Introduction to the Article of the Week (AoW) – Canva Lesson from the Selecting Sources of Information Unit
The Canva presentation I created for this lesson incorporates diverse instructional techniques to differentiate for students with varied learning styles, needs, and skill levels. To introduce the Article of the Week assignment, I selected an article for the entire class to complete together. We begin with a visual aid: a video titled "Starving Gaza," which highlights a current event and relates to the content of the article. The video includes subtitles and allows students to select their language, making it accessible to Mr. Camacho's ELD students who are fluent in Spanish. Following the video, I included guiding questions to prompt discussion and encourage participation, with students having the option to choose a speaker. This setup lowers the pressure to speak for students who may feel uncomfortable and promotes a supportive, collaborative environment that builds listening and communication skills.
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Using the Doc Camera, I demonstrate and model how to read and annotate the first page of the article with the class, guiding them through the CATCH method step-by-step. This approach supports multiple learning styles and ensures all students experience how to apply the method in real time. Additionally, I provided two resources for further differentiation: (1) a link to a text-to-speech app for students who prefer auditory support when reading the article independently, and (2) a QR code that gives Spanish-speaking students access to the presentation in Spanish. Each activity in the lesson is accompanied by timers to manage time effectively and prompts to select speakers, along with guiding questions that foster meaningful collaboration and discussions.
Instructional Materials
These artifacts are instructional materials designed to provide differentiation and accommodations for students who may need additional support, scaffolding, or translations to fully access the content. In the "Introduction to the Article of the Week (AoW)" document, I included a sample of an annotated paragraph that demonstrates the CATCH method, along with paragraph frames for the reflection portion to support students who benefit from structured sentence frames. To further guide students, I provided an additional resource—the "CATCH Sentence Frames" document—which includes specific sentence frames tailored to each criterion of the CATCH strategy. For Mr. Camacho’s class, I ensured that these resources are available in students' native languages to enhance accessibility for those who need translations. I also adjusted the reflection word count between 175 and 500 words to accommodate different levels (i.e., mainstream, advanced). Additionally, I included a sample from another teacher’s class to help inspire students as they approach their writing assignment.
Co-Teacher Response
After implementing the lesson, Mr. Camacho provided valuable feedback on the content, instructional materials, differentiation, and accommodations offered to his students. Overall, he felt that the instructional materials, lesson design, and additional supports successfully encouraged student participation, collaboration, use of the annotation method, and facilitated easier access to the content.
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Mr. Camacho also suggested an improvement for his ELD students: incorporating basic, remedial sentence frames to further support reading and writing in English. He noted that the existing sentence frames may be too advanced for ELD 1 students, so adjusting these resources would help ensure they can effectively engage with the material.