Canadian School Libraries is pleased to announce
Pembina Trails School Division
Winnipeg, Manitoba
as recipient of the Leading Learning Implementation Award 2020.
The Leading Learning Implementation Award has been established to recognize, honour and applaud school districts, provinces and territories who have successfully developed and/or enhanced their school library learning commons on a systemic basis founded on the tenets, principles and continuous growth and renewal focus of the five standards of Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada.
Pembina Trails School Division in Winnipeg, Manitoba, has been involved in the creation and implementation of Leading Learning since the idea for a renewed set of Canadian standards for school libraries began in Ottawa at Treasure Mountain Canada 2 in 2012. When the call came to form a Manitoba committee as part of the collaborative cross-country working group tasked with developing the new standards, Pembina Trails School Division’s employees, students and community members willingly volunteered their time to ensure that Manitoba school libraries were well represented on the national school library level.
In 2014 every school library team in Pembina Trails was asked by the Library Media Consultant to evaluate where their school library fell in each of the Leading Learning five standards and themes. These evaluations helped library staffs understand where they were at, where they wanted to go and how they were going to get there. Due to the work all schools have done with Leading Learning, every school library in Pembina Trails is now called, and functions as, a learning commons. Since 2014, each of the five standards in Leading Learning have served as the foundations from which they operate.
“Within the first month of my new role [as Pembina Trails School Division’s Library Consultant] I presented the concept of the Learning Commons to our administrative community of superintendents, principals, vice-principals and consultants at their monthly meeting. For this presentation I extracted the key concepts, standards of practice and exemplars from the Leading Learning document to help our Pembina Trails administration to re-envision not only their school libraries into a Learning Commons but the role of their teacher-librarians. The CSL Leading Learning document played an imperative role in my ability to implement the necessary changes to the mindsets of our school leaders and teacher-librarians to create the participatory and creative spaces we now see in our school division Learning Commons. I found our school teams referring frequently to the live links within the document and using the planning sheets at the back, to guide our thinking and actions in transforming our school libraries to the Learning Commons model. As a division, we planned a series of workshops over the course of that year with our teacher-librarians to elevate their role and embed the ideals and standards of the document into their practice. Now, over 5 years later, I am thrilled with the changes that I have witnessed in our division’s learning commons. Pembina Trails School Division has embraced the Leading Learning document and continues to work towards the ideal “Leading” example within the growth stages of the document. As a division moving forward, we recognize and welcome opportunities to work with our school communities, principals and teacher librarians for the success of all learners. I am proud to nominate our school division for this award.”
Heather Eby, Vice Principal, Dalhousie School, Pembina Trails School Division, Winnipeg, MB
As a direct result of the Leading Learning document, school libraries in Pembina Trails have embraced the learning commons model. Collaborations between classroom teachers and teacher-librarians occur on a regular basis, multi-modal literacies are embraced, and learners are driven by their own questions and curiosities led by the library learning commons team. Pembina Trails library learning commons impacts and empowers learners by designing learning opportunities that allow students to become constructors of knowledge, to find their own voices, to become global collaborators seeking justice and environmental stewardship, and to creatively communicate their learning and passions with others.
Pembina Trails School Division library staff members continue to use Leading Learning as a guide for continual improvement. To help guide their practice, every year new teacher-librarians in the division receive a copy of Leading Learning. During the year, every teacher-librarian in Pembina Trails uses Leading Learning to guide their practice based on the theme that the Library Learning Commons Consultant has chosen for that year and the needs of their learning.
“In the four years that I worked at Pacific Junction School, I saw a remarkable shift from a Library to a Learning Commons.The Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada document was an anchor for the change. Today, Pacific Junction LLC is an established vibrant, collaborative environment that emphasizes student and staff learning through the model of inquiry and exploration. The library collection has a wide and varied selection of quality reading materials, available in a variety of formats. The abundance and variety of physical and technological supplies allow for deep and rich student learning and exploration. Located at the centre of the school, the Library Learning Commons is a beautiful meeting place and the heartbeat of Pacific Junction school.”
Kathy Bru, Principal, Pembina Trails School Division, Winnipeg, MB
Canadian School Libraries is proud to honour Pembina Trails School Division as the first recipient of the CSL Leading Learning Implementation award.
Read the story on the Pembina Trails School Division website.