Darshell Silva is the Librarian and Technology Integration Specialist at Rocky Hill School, East Greenwich. She teaches Information/Digital Literacy classes for Pre K through 9th grade and serves as resource person for supporting digital literacy and technology use in the classroom. She has been in this position for 4 years. She is a member of the Advisory Board for Media Smart Libraries, a FUSE Fellow with the Highlander Institute, and Per Course Faculty at URI - GSLIS.
Darshell has faced some challenges in her years at Rocky Hill. To start with, her library facilities are somewhat limited. She has a relatively small collection, but she has it well organized to facilitate the flow of traffic and allow students to easily access age appropriate reading materials. Students have two main seating areas for instruction. She has a makespace area and a few computer terminals for students use. The students are 1:1 iPads in the middle school, 1:1 laptops in the upper school, and have approximately 30 iPads and 1 classroom set of Chromebooks in the lower school.
She works under the technology director and has a Technology Coach Teacher in each division to assist with integrating technology. With the support from the director she has been able to arrange scheduled meetings with grade level teachers twice a year with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of their technology needs and determining what instruction or resources the library can provide to support their needs. This has been very helpful in guiding her planning and coordinating her instruction with the classroom curriculum.
In addition to this, she has developed a variety of lessons using blended learning in which students receive and respond to information with a variety of media. The Big 6 and Super 3 are regularly referenced in her curriculum. She has shared these concepts with teachers so that students and teachers can begin to speak the same language across grades and subject areas. She also acts as a resource to locate useful digital tools for various applications.
Darshell is committed to teaching digital literacy to her students through such topics as website evaluation, online research, digital etiquette, digital footprint and social media as applicable. She feels it is the responsibility of the library to teach this digital literacy piece and to facilitate the use of digital media by the classroom teacher.
My conversation with her has inspired me to seek better connections with the computer teacher and other key players in my own school so that I can develop a similar leadership in the area of digital literacy in my school community. Her experience and willingness to share her expertise make her an excellent resource for anyone tackling the challenge of integrating technology with library.