OASLMS awards

The Barbara Spriestersbach Award for Excellence in Teaching

The Oklahoma Association of School Library Media Specialists' Barbara Spriestersbach Award
for Excellence in Teaching is, if merited, given annually to honor an Oklahoma teacher who
actively practices resource-based teaching. Effective instructional programs can only be achieved
through the combined and persistent efforts of school administrators, professional media personnel,
and teachers. School library media specialists and teachers must work cooperatively to plan and
provide units of study which integrate information skills with classroom content.

PURPOSE:

1. To recognize an Oklahoma teacher who integrates the library media services and resources
into the instructional program.

2. To identify and reward an Oklahoma teacher who practices cooperative instructional
planning and teaching in an exemplary manner.

3. To acknowledge those teachers who recognize the need to fully integrate the teaching of
information skills as a vital part of classroom content.

4. To further the practice of cooperative curriculum planning and teaching between the
classroom teacher and the library media specialist.

GUIDELINES:

1. The award shall be presented to an Oklahoma school teacher actively employed during the year
covered by the nomination.

2.          On or before June15, the application (link below) and supporting documents must be submitted electronically
                in Microsoft Word 97 or later, or in .txt files, as email attachments to the Library Media Division of the
                Oklahoma State Department of Education.

3. Nominations are to be made by the library media specialist in whose school the nominee
currently teaches.

4. Only one nomination may be made for each school site.

5. The application should be completed by the library media specialist making the nomination
and the nominee.

6. Jurors shall be comprised of a five-member committee appointed by the OASLMS award chair.

            No one member may serve on the committee for more than two consecutive years. At least one
            member of each year's committee should carry over. The committee members are as follows:
           an officer of OASLMS, a past Polly Clarke Award winner, a district library coordinator, a
           teacher who is a past Barbara Spriestersbach Award winner, and a representative of the Library
           Media/TTV Section of the Oklahoma State Department of Education. If a district level coordinator is not available,
            another district level library media specialist who is an OASLMS member may judge.

7. Entries should be limited to the requested materials only. Additional materials will not be
considered by the committee or returned to the applicant.

1. The nominating library media specialist's statement of nomination. The text should not
exceed 500 words.

2. The teacher's statement concerning the importance of resource-based learning and cooperative
planning and teaching. The statement should not exceed 250 words.

3. An instructional unit taught jointly by the library media specialist and the classroom teacher
and organized according to the attached unit planning outline.

4. A statement by an administrator in whose school the nominee currently teaches.

Since this award is to recognize excellence resource-based instruction and in cooperative planning and teaching with a library media specialist, the following factors will be considered:

1. . Evidence of the importance of resource-based teaching to the teacher's instructional units.

2. Evidence of the teacher's understanding of the involvement of the library media specialist and
of the library media program in the curriculum.

3. Evidence of cooperative program planning in the form of an instructional unit submitted with
the application.