From: ProQuest [noreply@proquest.com]Sent: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 7:47 AMTo: Applegate, SarahSubject:[http://proquest.umi.com/images/common/logo_proquest.gif]________________________________The following document has been sent by sarah at NORTH THURSTON SCHOOL DISTRICT via ProQuest, an information service of ProQuest LLC. Please do not reply directly to this email.________________________________Documents*Dispositions: Getting Beyond "Whatever"Barbara Stripling. School Library Media Activities Monthly. Baltimore:Oct 2008. Vol. 25, Iss. 2, p. 47-50 (4 pp.)! All documents are reproduced with the permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.________________________________Citation style: ProQuest StandardDocument 1 of 1Dispositions: Getting Beyond "Whatever"Barbara Stripling. School Library Media Activities Monthly. Baltimore:Oct 2008. Vol. 25, Iss. 2, p. 47-50 (4 pp.) Abstract (Summary)The habits of mind identified in the study coincide with many of the thinking skills and dispositions in the AASL Standards, including critical thinking, analytic thinking, problem solving, inquisitive nature, ability to deal with frustrating and ill-formed problems, drawing inferences and conclusions, and using technology to assist in learning (2005, 173). Over time, through a series of experiences that reinforce the targeted attitudes and behaviors, students can adopt the dispositions as their own personal habits of mind.\n By making a book display of biographies and photographs of famous people with a challenging question like "What makes a hero?," library media specialists can provoke curiosity and motivation to seek information.Full Text (2271 words)Copyright Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Oct 2008"Whatever." This one word characterizes the public attitude of far too many students today. Many young people have developed an armor of nonchalance or "whatever" to counter the increasing pressures of testing-based accountability and classroom cultures of teacherin-charge and students-instep. This public attitude, however, does not accurately portray the private hopes and dreams of our young people. Most want to be successful, make choices, and be empowered to learn on their own. Our young people do not really think that "whatever" is an acceptable response, but they feel powerless to change the situation so that they can successfully pursue their own way.One approach to countering this "whatever" attitude among youth today has been taken by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). This association has taken a bold stance on the importance of attitudes and learning behaviors (also called dispositions) in its new national standards, Standards for the 21st-century Learner (AASL, 2007). These standards go beyond a delineation of skills to include dispositions, responsibilities, and self-assessment strategies. All of these strands work together to enable learners to gain knowledge, solve problems, make decisions, create new knowledge, connect to others, pursue personal growth, and behave ethically and productively as members of our society.What are dispositions?The word, "disposition" is easily denned: "prevailing tendency, mood, or inclination; the tendency of something to act in a certain manner under given circumstances" ( Webster's Ninth Edition s.v. "disposition"). Dispositions, then, are the emotions and attitudes that make us behave in a certain way. AASL recognized that even students with a high level of 21st-century skills are not successful in their learning unless they also have the dispositions to use those skills appropriately. As a concept beyond the denotation, "disposition" represents a complex interweaving of students' background and educational history, the environment of the classroom and school, the students' content knowledge and skill levels, and the teacher's ability to make the learning meaningful and engaging. Educators must, therefore, ensure that the context of school is conducive to the formation of positive learning dispositions.The dispositions included in Standards for the 21st-century Learner are assigned to the four learning standards according to the attitudes and behaviors most important for different phases of learning (AASL 2007). While learners are investigating and gaining knowledge (Standard 1), they must have the attitudes that propel them toward exploration (confidence, initiative), attitudes that enable them to be successful along the way despite the challenges of any inquiry process (adaptability, emotional resilience, persistence), and the behaviors that will enable them to respond both creatively and critically (creativity, critical stance). As learners move from gaining knowledge to drawing conclusions and applying knowledge (Standard 2), different learning behaviors become important-learners must be willing to figure out how to approach their knowledge from different directions (flexibility, divergent and convergent thinking, critical stance) in order to use it in new situations (personal productivity).The expectation that learners will share their knowledge and participate ethically in groups is established in Standard 3. The dispositions required are related to the learners' willingness to demonstrate leadership, social responsibility, and teamwork. Learners who are pursuing personal and aesthetic growth (Standard 4) are more successful if they demonstrate the dispositions of active and engaged learners: curiosity, motivation, openness to new ideas, and the choice to read for pleasure and interest.Why are dispositions important?The dispositions outlined in the AASL Standards provide the catalyst needed for successful learning because just the acquisition of skills is not enough. Students may learn the skill of evaluating Web sites, for example, but they must also develop a critical stance and be disposed to use the evaluation skill each time they look at a Web site in order to consistently find good information. Students who are pursuing research and suffer predictable times of uncertainty and emotional lows will be able to push through to reach the next phase of their research successfully if they have developed emotional resilience (Kuhlthau 2005).A number of educational researchers and writers have written about the importance of dispositions for learning. Art Costa and Bena Kallick have looked at successful learning behaviors and identified what they call "habits of mind" that lead to successful learning. Costa has defined habits of mind as "having a disposition towards solving a problem to which the solution is not readily apparent" (Project Q.E. 2001,2). John Barell has listed the characteristics of thoughtful persons in his book Teaching for Thoughtfulness. These characteristics include many of the dispositions outlined in the AASL Standards, including confidence, persistence, and openness to others' ideas, curiosity, and cooperation with others in solving a problem (1995, 47).A research study designed by David Conley to identify the knowledge and skills essential for success in the first year of college found that habits of mind are extremely important for students to bring to their university work; in fact, many of the university faculty participating in the study deemed habits of mind even more important than content knowledge. The habits of mind identified in the study coincide with many of the thinking skills and dispositions in the AASL Standards, including critical thinking, analytic thinking, problem solving, inquisitive nature, ability to deal with frustrating and ill-formed problems, drawing inferences and conclusions, and using technology to assist in learning (2005, 173). Deborah Meier summarized the power of dispositions by stating, "Educating kids for the 21st century means teaching them the habits of mind that will help them benefit from-and be benefits to-the world" (2003, 16).Can dispositions be taught?Dispositions are not taught explicitly. Instead, teachers structure learning experiences so that students practice the behavior that is an expression of the disposition. Over time, through a series of experiences that reinforce the targeted attitudes and behaviors, students can adopt the dispositions as their own personal habits of mind. For example, confidence and self-direction cannot be taught directly, but if students have a number of opportunities to determine their next steps and the teacher scaffolds these situations so that the next steps lead to success, then the students can develop attitudes of self-confidence and self-direction.Dispositions are not grade-level specific, although some will be more appropriate at younger ages than others because of the natural development of emotional maturity. Teachers of primary-age children can focus on curiosity, while developing a critical stance may be introduced in late elementary/ middle school. Unlike thinking skills (note Bloom's Taxonomy), dispositions are not taxonomically organized. Students do not have to become confident before they can be curious. There is, however, coherence to the development of dispositions because dispositions cannot be addressed in a one-time-only fashion. They must be introduced when appropriate and reinforced throughout the years of schooling so that they truly become embedded habits of mind for all students.Dispositions are not observable until learners display behavior that expresses the underlying attitude. The dispositions in the AASL Standards are described as "Dispositions in Action" because for each disposition, a student behavior is defined that illustrates what that disposition might look like. For example, one way students can demonstrate initiative is by "posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts" (2007). Although students can display initiative in many other ways, the example given in the standards provides a clear model for teachers and library media specialists to understand how the disposition can be applied to a learning situation.By expecting dispositions to be translated into action, teachers and library media specialists can assess students' development of these attitudes and learning behaviors. For example, students' self-direction, as well as their developing skills of investigation, can be assessed through a research log where students indicate the choices they have made with their reasons for making those choices and their plans for next steps.What is the library media specialist's role in dispositions?Library media specialists have a strong role in the development of dispositions through collaborative planning and teaching, building a supportive environment in the library media center, and facilitating a schoolwide culture of empowering learners.Integrating Dispositions into Collaborative Planning and TeachingThe essential first step in integrating dispositions into instructional planning and teaching begins with the library media specialist and classroom teacher discussing dispositions, why they are necessary for successful learning, and which dispositions are most important for a particular group of students. Just as the number of skills taught within each unit of study is limited, so too must dispositions be focused within each unit.In fact, based on the needs of a particular group of students, the library media specialist and teacher may decide to address one disposition for the whole year. For example, if they see that the students have a hard time adjusting when something goes wrong in their investigations, they may decide to focus the year on developing the disposition of adaptability. Early in the year, the library media specialist can model and students can practice adaptability through a process of revising research questions to take advantage of available resources. Later in the year, the library media specialist or classroom teacher can teach a decisionmaking model for drawing conclusions where students can adapt their tentative conclusions as new information is acquired. Throughout the year, every time students are faced with challenges to their success in learning, they are reminded of adaptation strategies that can help them overcome or go around the barriers. By the end of the year, students will be mindful of the disposition of adaptability and some will have adopted it as a habit of mind.The key to successful teaching for dispositions is that the library media specialist and teacher assess the needs of the students, focus on the appropriate disposition, decide the learning behaviors that would result from the disposition, and structure the unit and lessons so that students are taught strategies and given supports to succeed.Strengthening Dispositions through the Library EnvironmentThe library media specialist can carefully arrange the intellectual and physical environment of the library media center to reinforce the acquisition of dispositions. By offering opportunities for students to share book reviews with their peers, library media specialists help students demonstrate leadership and an appreciation for literature. By making a book display of biographies and photographs of famous people with a challenging question like "What makes a hero?," library media specialists can provoke curiosity and motivation to seek information. Library media specialists may also sponsor a public debate or open discussion in the library media center for students after they have completed their science projects on contemporary scientific issues. All students are, thus, encouraged to maintain openness to new ideas and diverse perspectives.The library collection can also be developed with dispositions in mind. Books, media, and databases can be purchased to provoke curiosity, a critical stance, divergent thinking, creativity, social responsibility, reading motivation, and choice. One principal, for example, who wanted all her students to develop intellectual curiosity, said she would prefer that the library media center had one book entirely about hair styles than five books with generic overviews of fashion or grooming. The principal knew that students would be much more likely to catch the excitement of learning from an in-depth treatment of one topic than from short, non-specific paragraphs on various topics.The arrangement of the physical facility can also foster the development of dispositions through spaces for conversation with classmates and other spaces designated for thinking and quiet study. Even signage and display spaces can lead students to be open to new ideas, confident that they can locate resources on their own, motivated to read further about the display topics, and empowered to choose books that interest them.Facilitating a Schoolwide CultureStudents will be more successful in developing dispositions for learning if the culture throughout the school emphasizes these dispositions. Library media specialists are in a position to impact the schoolwide culture because they can reach every teacher and every student. The first step for the library media specialist is to have a conversation with the principal, with examples ready to illustrate that teaching for dispositions can be integrated seamlessly into current instructional units-it's not "one more thing" for teachers to handle. Showing research about the impact of habits of mind and dispositions on learning and the necessity for students to acquire these learning behaviors before college will help the administrator buy in to a schoolwide effort.The next step is to provide professional development and facilitate conversations with teachers. Teachers may be convinced of the importance of teaching for disposition development if they recall their own stories-what triggered their own development and how that impacted their choices in school, college, career, and personal life. As a group, the teachers can then determine a coherent, schoolwide plan for the development of dispositions.Moving from "Whatever" to "Yes, I can"Students who have acquired the dispositions for learning outlined in Standards for the 21st-century Learner can move from "Whatever" to "Yes, I can" and can be motivated to continue learning for academic and personal success. Through dispositions, all of our students can become self-aware, motivated, and self-confident learners in the 21st century.[Reference]References::American Association of School Librarians. Standards for the 21st-century Learner. ALA, 2007.Barell, John. Teaching for lhoughtfulness. Longman, 1995.Conley, David T. College Knowledge. Jossey-Bass, 2005.Kuhlthau, Carol Collier. Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services. Libraries Unlimited, 2004.Meier, Deborah W. "Becoming Educated: The Power of Ideas." Principal Leadership 3, no. 7 (March 2003): 16-19."Project Q. E.: Encouraging Habits of Mind - Phase I." June 2001. http://www.mcdowellfoundation.ca/main_mcdowell/projects/ research_rep/64_project_qe.pdf (accessed July 17,2008).[Author Affiliation]Barbara Stripling is the Director of Library Services for the New York City Department of Education. Email: bstripling@schools. nyc.govIndexing (document details)Subjects: Learning, School libraries, Social responsibility, Research, Library collections, Colleges & universities, College students, Books, Behavior, Attitudes, Academic libraries, Critical thinkingAuthor(s): Barbara StriplingAuthor Affiliation: Barbara Stripling is the Director of Library Services for the New York City Department of Education. Email: bstripling@schools. nyc.govDocument types: FeatureDocument features: Photographs, ReferencesSection: Key Words in IntructionPublication title: School Library Media Activities Monthly. Baltimore: Oct 2008. Vol. 25, Iss. 2; pg. 47, 4 pgsSource type: PeriodicalISSN: 08899371ProQuest document ID: 1559984121Text Word Count 2271Document URL: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1559984121&Fmt=3&clientId=27057&RQT=309&VName=PQD________________________________Copyright (c) 2009 ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. 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