Re-Imagined ESIFC Workshop Reflections

On Thursday of last week, we had the pleasure and privilege of spending the day with Dr. Barbara Stripling, Professor Emerita, Syracuse University, Former ALA President, and mastermind behind the Empire State Information Fluency Continuum (ESIFC).

Over the course of the last year, Barbara worked with a small team of librarians to go about re-imagining the ESIFC to adapt to our changing information infrastructure, and better align with our national school library standards, the ISTE standards, and the newest ELA content standards. While the Re-imagined ESIFC is very similar to the original version, we found some new aspects that covered topics such as design thinking, social responsibility, multiple literacies, and student agency.

The workshop began with the group brainstorming the changes that have occurred in education over the last ten years. Some of the responses included: 1:1 devices, makerspaces, and the downward slide in print book reading.

We then compared the ESIFC with the AASL standards, the ISTE standards and the Next Gen ELA standards. We examined the commonalities between them, and the unique features of each. This helped us gain an understanding of what is different in this re-imagined version and what aligns well with these new sets of standards. We dug into the framework, and the priority skills, and analyzed some of the new language that is embedded within it and what this new language means. The afternoon was spent personalizing our usage of the ESIFC for our schools. Librarians were grouped by grade levels, so even if they were from different districts, they still found that they had many of the same things in common.

The re-imagined ESIFC includes a large amount of graphic organizers (many are exactly the same), and keeps student learning at the heart of it all. The graphic organizers are licensed through Creative Commons, and can be used freely, and changed to suit your needs. All that she asks is that you credit the ESIFC.

Barbara is a joy to spend time with. Having been a librarian herself, she understands the daily life of a school librarian. Not only is she incredibly thoughtful and intelligent, she displays a soft-spoken humility and sense of humor. If you ever get a chance to see her in person we highly recommend you take the chance.

For more information, and links to the presentation and handouts, you can access the Monroe One ESIFC LibGuide.

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