ESS School Library
What can your teacher-librarian & school library do for you?
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"The school library program enables faculty and students, and each individual to access and make effective use of the world's knowledge."
Dr. Ken Haycock, UBC School of Library
Signs of a good school library:
A School Library can help:
- increase student achievement
- motivate learning through literacy
- promote inquiry-based learning
- create higher-level thinkers
- develop information literacy skills
- create independent learners
- develop an appreciation for various literary genres
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A Good Library Needs a Teacher-Librarian
What can a Teacher-Librarian offer schools?
A qualified teacher-librarian should be:
- skilled in teaching information literacy
- well versed in educational technology
- a leader in collaboration and in creating an effective learning environment
- a good communicator
- well versed with the curriculum
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A Good Library and Teacher-Librarian Need Support
Factors required to improve and maintain an effective program
- administrative support
- funding to buy new resources and to subscribe to online sources
- flexibility in scheduling
- clerical assistance
- parent involvement
- an inviting and conducive work environment
- current technology
- a collaborative school culture
-Karen Lindsay Canadian Association for School Libraries
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What can teacher-librarians do for classroom teachers?
- Be team teachers and a sounding board
- Collaboratively plan/teach lessons or units with classroom teachers
- Instruct students in information literacy skills, including searching techniques, organizational techniques, note taking, presentation techniques
- Suggest ways to introduce various technologies into the curriculum as well as be a source of knowledge and expertise for the integration of information and communications technologies (ICT) with teaching and learning
- Recommend reading material at appropriate levels
- Locate relevant materials, including audiovisual and internet sites, for the unit or lesson
- Coordinate the purchase of materials to assist the classroom teacher
-taken from BCTLA website
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Collaborative Planning/Teaching With Your Teacher-Librarian
Things to Think About
- What do you want the students to learn? (research skills/curriculum)
- How do you want the students to demonstrate what they have learned? (end product)
- How are you going to evaluate the learning?
- What resources do you anticipate needing?
- Have you structured your lesson/unit to avoid plagiarism?
- How long do you anticipate the lessons/unit will take?
- How would you like the Teacher- Librarian to be involved?
-taken from BCTLA website
Examples of End Products:
- Create displays (models, dioramas, stations, posters, demonstrations)
- Use other media formats to display knowledge (Video, power point , audio presentation, web page…
- Have students teach other students what they have learned (jigsaw, station study, oral presentation, debate…)
- Have students apply what they have learned to their own lives (personal relevance) Create information in a new form (poetry, games, role-play, skits, collages, letter to editor…)
- Consider the process as your end product (notes, bibliography, group skills, annotated bibliography, types of resources or variety of resources used, presentation skills, organizational skills, work habits…)
-taken from BCTLA website
Calgary Board of Education, Canadian School Library Association
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Source: The Lance Studies, 2005