Here’s one more post drawing from the experience of the Ready for Success Summit held at Stony Brook University on March 15, 2024. The afternoon session of the day was devoted to a workshop where tables of librarians, teachers, and administrators talked over a number of different prompts. We discussed the challenges of creating engaging research activities, of finding ways to communicate within school buildings, and brainstormed other methods of getting information literacy into the classroom.
Library plan with a food station.
As a bonus prompt, we gave each table a large sheet of paper and markers and asked them to draw their dream library. A number of tables took up the challenge and we present their results here. Some groups took a more conceptual approach, drawing the library as the hub of a variety of activities that included research, project-based learning, and teacher support.
You can never have too many outlets.
Others included practical elements, from adding electrical outlets, moveable bookshelves and comfortable seating, or ensuring dedicated staff. Three drawings set aside designated space for teaching/instructional activities. This echoed stories we heard throughout the day of the need for teaching spaces separate from the hustle and bustle of other library uses.
A library isn’t a library if it isn’t properly staffed.
And one team took an affirmational approach, drawing on shared experiences of school libraries being closed or restricted at times for outside uses such as testing, interviews, or meetings. Their dream signage: “We are open today for students!”
The Ready for Success Project started in 2021 and the plan was always to culminate in some form of regional conference day to share our experiences and to provide a forum for discussing research skills at the high school level. In the early days, all of the grant team’s efforts were so focused on designing our approach, recruiting a cohort, coordinating through many on-site visits and Zoom meetings that the idea of the Summit seemed part of a very distant future.
Well, the day finally came and went, with the Ready for Success Summit taking place on Friday, March 15th at Stony Brook University. By the numbers, over 100 people attended from over 40 school districts on Long Island. We convened not only high school librarians, teachers, and administrators but colleagues from higher education, public libraries, and one professional genealogist. It was a full day and a fruitful day, with many ideas (and bags of library swag) shared among educators.
Attendees were asked to define research/research skills.
Dr. Brenda Boyer’s keynote set a strong foundation, highlighting her research with colleagues from Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information no first-year college students and their preparedness for academic-level research. She also shared her experiences with and strategies for engaging students in the classroom as a high school librarian.
Dr. Brenda Boyer delivering her keynote “Empowering Minds & Bridging Gaps: The Crucial Role of Information Literacy in High School.”
Over two panel sessions, the grant team laid out the steps of the Ready for Success Project and how a cross-disciplinary cohort of teachers and librarians can learn and work together. The goal was never to implement a strict, top-down curriculum but to let each teacher find the areas in their lessons that could be strengthened with information literacy concepts and activities. Themes that emerged included slowing down, avoiding the “dreaded research paper,” and finding smaller-stake, distributed exercises that could be practiced throughout a student’s career. Research, in short, is not just for English class.
Dr. Janet Clarke & Dr. Christine Fena (SBU Libraries) and Maureen Ryan (Brentwood HS Librarian)
Kimberly Williams, Patricia Orechovsky, Laura Pombonyo, Jessica Ullrich, and Sydney Bryan (Brentwood HS teachers)
The afternoon was spent in workshop mode as tables of attendees tackled a number of discussion prompts geared towards generating practical ideas. How do we embed research skills into more classes? How do we make research more engaging? Where can teachers, librarians and administrators talk about these things? We’ll leave for another blog post the “draw your ideal school library” prompt but suffice it to say, the conversations were thoughtful and wide ranging.
Summit attendees in the afternoon workshop session.
We want to thank everyone who attended and added their energy and enthusiasm to the day. It was truly beyond the reception that we would have anticipated back in 2021. There is without a doubt an interest across the Island in figuring out how to strengthen student research skills. Right now the grant team is deep in assessment mode, compiling the last of our data and writing up results for eventual publication but we’re committed to furthering the goals of the grant. You can subscribe to this blog for future updates and we look forward to future collaborations!
L to R: Diane Longo (Brentwood HS librarian), Dr. Dasahana Dulin (Brentwood HS principal), Angel Perez (Brentwood Coordinator of Performing and Fine Arts), Maureen Ryan (Brentwood HS librarian).
As we put the finishing touches on the Ready for Success Summit for March 15th, we’re looking back over the work we did during the full grant period. Working with the teachers and librarians at Brentwood High School has been a great experience. Early on, however, we did engage with our Stony Brook University faculty as we worked to understand the questions we were addressing.
And that meant examining our own work as academic librarians and the faculty with whom we collaborate. They were happy to talk with us about how they integrate research and library instruction into their classes and the challenges they see their students facing when doing research. What we appreciated even more was that they agreed to talk about it on video!
We compiled a series of interviews with various faculty members that we taped to show during our summer 2022 retreat. Our high school partners thus got to hear from their college counterparts about the value of research skills in the success of students beyond high school.
This is a shortened version of that video compilation and it serves as a good segue into our Summit where we will be expanding the conversation – and maybe making some more videos! Make sure you subscribe to this blog for updates.
We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Brenda Boyer, Assistant Professor, School of Communication & Information, Rutgers University, will be the keynote speaker at the Ready for Success Summit! Her roles have included being a high school teacher librarian, consultant, instructional designer, researcher, and professor. Her most current research involves the study of first-year college students, their approach to doing research, and the impact of their exposure to information literacy skills in high school.
Dr. Brenda Boyer
The Ready for Success summit will be held Friday, March 15th at Stony Brook University. If you are a teacher, administrator, or librarian on Long Island looking to better prepare students to navigate the complex modern information landscape in college and in life, join us! Click here to register.
Misinformation. AI. Deep fakes. Paywalls. Copyright. Citation. Search algorithms. How well are your students prepared to navigate and understand the modern information landscape? Join us on Friday, March 15, 2024 at Stony Brook University for a day of presentations and discussions with teachers, librarians, and school administrators about how we prepare students with the research skills needed for high school, college, and beyond.
We are excited to spark conversations and collaborations about ensuring our students are able to thrive and succeed in an increasingly complex world of information. The Ready for Success project is a partnership between Stony Brook University Libraries and Brentwood High School designed to help embed academic research activities into the high school curriculum. This summit is funded by a generous grant from the William E. & Maude S. Pritchard Charitable Trust. Get more details.
