Information Literacy and Instructional Partnership
Domain 3 tests how the media specialist teaches information literacy and partners with classroom teachers. Expect questions on Florida's FINDS research model, inquiry design, co-teaching, assessment, differentiation, and reading promotion.
Florida's FINDS model
FINDS structures inquiry in five stages:
- Focus - define the task, activate prior knowledge, write questions.
- Investigate - choose information-seeking strategies, locate and access sources.
- Note - extract, evaluate, organize, and cite information.
- Develop - synthesize findings into a product.
- Score - evaluate both product and process.
FINDS aligns with AASL's standards and Florida's NGSSS. Teach the process, not just the final product.
Collaboration and co-teaching
Start with curriculum mapping: find units where research or reading genuinely fits. Co-plan backward from standards and assessment, then choose instruction. Co-teaching models include one teach/one support, station teaching, and parallel teaching. Share assessment: rubrics for process and product, conferences, exit tickets, citation checks, and student reflection. Use UDL - multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement - with leveled texts, audio, graphic organizers, and choice boards.
Reading and media literacy
Reading promotion is part of information literacy: book talks, SSYRA voting, displays, author visits, and independent reading conferences. For source evaluation, teach lateral reading and corroboration; a single checklist such as CRAAP is a starting point, not a verdict.
Worked example. A seventh-grade science teacher asks for "a research project on ecosystems." The specialist co-plans four sessions: Focus (driving question and subtopics), Investigate (database demo and pathfinder), Note (note-taking template and citation), Develop (infographic), Score (rubric and reflection). Assessment is designed first, so the FINDS stages map to evidence: question quality, source log, notes, product, and reflection. The specialist books flexible time and co-teaches the Investigate and Note sessions.
Traps that cost marks: calling it collaboration when the librarian teaches alone; teaching a database before defining the task; grading only the final poster; treating a website checklist as proof of credibility; treating reading promotion as separate from inquiry.