Almost every state in the Union has adopted the Common Core State Standards, which emphasize that students read literary nonfiction. A great way to stimulate students’ curiosity and encourage youngsters to pick up informational books is to include nonfiction in your library programs. With a wealth of new narrative nonfiction being published each year, a … Continue reading Nonfiction Programming
Sometimes relationships with those up the organizational chart are fantastic. Sometimes they are awful. Whether you work for an angel or a demon, you need to manage the relationship. Since what is required to accomplish that feat is not always obvious, I’ve put together 10 tips for success. Build relationships. Whenever I talk with library … Continue reading Managing the Managers
Not everything you need to know about school librarianship is taught in graduate school. No matter how comprehensive the training for school library certification is, there are a few aspects of teaching that may still surprise you. What follows is a top 10 list of what to expect as a newbie school librarian—areas in … Continue reading Teacher Librarian Tips
It was a sunny June afternoon, perfect for playing baseball, taking a dip in the local pool—or having a virtual chat with a favorite author over Skype about what you’ve been reading. That was the message the New Albany–Floyd County (Ind.) Public Library set out to impart this summer through our first “Guys Read” program … Continue reading Connect Guys with Authors
About 10 years ago I had an experience with a small group of teen girls that taught me a lot about the impact of a facility’s use of space on young people. We were at the Mount Holyoke College library and I wanted to show the teens the college’s information commons. To get there, we … Continue reading Space: The New Frontier
Meet Michael. In June, he graduated from a high school where he was encouraged to use his own technology for teaching and learning, and to connect to the district’s Wi-Fi network, where he shared almost complete open internet access on school- and personal-learning devices while on campus. The district’s guidelines for appropriate conduct are delineated … Continue reading A Tale of Two Students
Did you know there are an estimated 2 million home-educated children in the United States? According to a report from the National Home Education Research Institute, there were approximately 2.04 million American homeschoolers in 2010, and that number is increasing by 2%–8% each year. That’s almost 4% of all school-age children in this country. Do … Continue reading Make Room for Homeschoolers
Have you heard of Khan Academy? Sal Khan started the organization in the belief that people could learn by watching short, targeted videos online. Subjects run the gamut: from algebra to art history to the principles of banking to taking the SAT. He began by remotely tutoring his cousin in 2004 and created videos to … Continue reading It’s Always Time for CE-TV
At the Australian School Library Association conference in October 2011, Executive Director Karen Bonanno offered several excellent insights in her keynote (Vimeo, 31:46) that are useful to all librarians in this era of tightened budgets and job opportunities. School librarians in particular may want to implement Bonanno’s five-finger mnemonic to craft that one-minute elevator speech … Continue reading Making Progress by Fives
Some of the most important library work I do is outside the library’s walls. Outreach—traveling offsite to bring service to potential users—is essential to serving my community and especially its children. Outreach allows librarians to put a friendly face on library services and to meet our patrons where they are (which is all the more … Continue reading Reach Out through Outreach
Each week I have at least one conversation about how schools and libraries are working to support teaching and learning in STEM: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I’ve discovered that some librarians are struggling to figure out what their role should be in the STEM universe. I’m here to give you a few pointers. First, … Continue reading The Lowdown on STEM
Summer is an island. The trees around my house come into leaf, a bright and wafting curtain of green between me and the neighborhood. Spring semester has ended, and fall term lies far in the distance, little more than a dot on the horizon. Wavelets ripple and inch near, passing, but not pressing, reminders of … Continue reading My Midsummer Metamorphosis
