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Ten ways to work with your highly trained colleagues in the library to enhance literacy instruction.

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Literacy instruction, especially on the secondary level, is currently undergoing a major overhaul. Teachers and authors Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher, Donalyn Miller, and others are leading the way in this resurgence-advocating for book clubs and student choice of reading material, promoting diversity in reading selections, and even providing grants for teachers to build classroom libraries.

While it's easy to get excited about educators promoting these research-based literacy strategies, there is one group of educators who know that none of this is new: school librarians.

The South Carolina Association of School Librarians is a strong network of school librarians working across the state to advocate for school librarianship and our vital role in student achievement. In 2016, for example, the network presented research showing that standardized test scores increase in schools with a full-time, certified school librarian.

Importantly, the research showed that students were more likely to score Exemplary (the highest rating) on South Carolina state testing "where librarians spent 20 or more hours per week teaching." Teaching? The librarian? Yep, the librarian.

It's no accident that librarians hold positions in schools. We are highly trained literacy professionals, in print, visual, digital, and technological formats. The school librarian position requires teaching certification, and gaining that certification requires completion of a master's in library and information science. School librarians can also achieve National Board certification in library media. All of this makes the current trend of eliminating positions or replacing them with assistants, community members, or computer technicians even more troubling.

10 Suggestions for Collaborating With Your School Librarian

1. Certified school librarians take courses in children's and young adult materials, learning American Association of School Librarians standards and building standards-based instructional units using those materials. Revisit your content standards and ask your school librarian how books and readings can be incorporated to reach those standards.

2. Many school librarians serve on book award committees, reading hundreds of new books each year to vote on winners. Secondary classroom teachers may not be aware of the Printz Award, the Odyssey Award, or the Alex Awards, to name just a few. Let us help you bring award-winning books from across the curriculum to your students. Historical fiction and young adult nonfiction science books are vastly underused in classrooms.

3. Classroom teachers know they shouldn't rely on textbooks and PowerPoint presentations as teaching strategies, but they may not know that school librarians can provide reliable online, real-world texts from databases and websites for a student-centered classroom.

4. As you build a classroom library, collaborate with your school librarian to determine which books will ensure diversity and equity-we're professionally trained in building collections with equity, access, and diversity as key components. Your school librarian can supplement your classroom library with the school collection. Ask about ebooks and digital audiobooks, books for displays, and mentor/anchor texts.

5. In our required coursework, we learn how to teach research skills to students, how to retrieve information from all types of databases and web browsers, and how to choose appropriate tools for student use. These are skills that require explicit teaching and are needed across academic disciplines.

6. School librarians read professional journals related to book publishing and literacy as well as lesson plans published by other school librarians to learn how others promote reading in their schools. You can enhance your personal learning network by tapping into your school librarian's network.

7. We also take courses in how to build successful reading programming. We set up reading contests, writing contests, book clubs, book giveaways, reading goals, Skype sessions with authors, and more.

8. School librarians can help classroom teachers implement various reading strategies, such as chunking a difficult text, journaling during reading, listing difficult words encountered while reading, and making reading goals.

9. We can plan events using resources from local public libraries, museums, businesses, community leaders, and more for students to engage in authentic learning experiences. A school librarian can help you connect students with local historical resources, for example.

10. Using information ethically is arguably one of the most important parts of teaching digital literacy, and we teach students how to cite information appropriately, guard their privacy, and share information ethically.

School librarians are passionate about new literacy trends that classroom teachers are eager to implement, and there are several ways they can collaborate:

English language arts teachers and school librarians share similar passions, and we can maximize all of our talents by combining forces to achieve our goal: guiding students to become literacy leaders themselves.

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Collaborating With Your School Librarian

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Ten ways to work with your highly trained colleagues in the library to enhance literacy instruction.

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'The study concluded that school library media specialists and special education personnel need to share their knowledge and expertise about the effective use of appropriate resources and services for students with special needs. 

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'The study concluded that school library media specialists and special education personnel need to share their knowledge and expertise about the effective use of appropriate resources and services for students with special needs. 

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'I've had all I wanted [from my principal] in terms of setting future expectations, expectations for teachers . . . [My principal] incorporated into his interviews with teachers questions like 'How would you work with a teacher-librarian? Have you worked previously with a teacher-librarian?' That immediately sets the expectation that if that person comes on staff, that's one of the things that they'll be expected to do. . . . He was visibly behind the program, specifically by asking teachers to include in their long range plans how they were going to teach research and making it clear to them that they had two choices -- they either taught it themselves or they worked with me. And very visible, like there was, you know, no see-sawing about it. He really set the expectations for the staff that this was to happen. (B-Experienced TL)'

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'I've had all I wanted [from my principal] in terms of setting future expectations, expectations for teachers . . . [My principal] incorporated into his interviews with teachers questions like 'How would you work with a teacher-librarian? Have you worked previously with a teacher-librarian?' That immediately sets the expectation that if that person comes on staff, that's one of the things that they'll be expected to do. . . . He was visibly behind the program, specifically by asking teachers to include in their long range plans how they were going to teach research and making it clear to them that they had two choices -- they either taught it themselves or they worked with me. And very visible, like there was, you know, no see-sawing about it. He really set the expectations for the staff that this was to happen. (B-Experienced TL)'

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Principal Support: What Does It Mean to Teacher-Librarians?

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nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp "The principal's support of the library as a vital part of the educational system is extremely important," Winifred B. Linderman wrote in an article entitled "What should the school librarian expect of the school principal?" in the December 1944 issue of The School Review (p.

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By Lois Lorimer Nunn The Mindful Library: A Path to Student Well-Being, Mental Health Literacy, and Mindfulness in the Library Learning Commons Abstract
Given the current educational climate and the needs of our students in a complex school environment, teacher-librarians can contribute to the well-being of our students in a Library and Learning Commons mindful of their stress and proactively addressing their need for accurate information. Mental-health awareness can inform our teaching and our collection building as we foster the development of healthy, resilient minds and the cognitive, emotional and social learning that can happen in caring and compassionate school libraries.

In response to a student census in 2011 which indicated that a large majority of students felt stress to the point they were nervous or anxious some or most of the time, the Toronto District School Board's 2014 initiative, the Children and Youth Mental Health and Well-Being Strategic Plan, outlined the TDSB's ongoing commitment to direct and align resources to support student achievement, mental health literacy and well-being. The plan's main goal is to nurture a school culture where emphasis on mental health and wellness is integrated into the daily lives of all students.

The Library Learning Commons can take a leading role in taking practical steps to implement this goal. One way is by carefully curating, building, and promoting collections and digital resources in the LLC for students, teachers and parents that reflect accurate information about mental health and well-being. As well, physical space in the library can be set aside as a "calming centre", with reduced noise and physical stimuli. Another way is by implementing a mental health literacy curriculum as was done in a pilot project at R.H. King Academy. In addition, the LLC has led the way in implementing a school-wide mindfulness program which has helped students with mindful speaking, compassion, respecting privacy, valuing individuals, ideas and cultures, and with their social emotional learning and self-regulation.
TMC3_2014_LorimerNunn.pdf
Lois Lorimer Nunn is a teacher-librarian and Assistant Curriculum Leader for Library and Special Projects at R. H. King Academy in Toronto with an interest in mental health education and well-being. She is Co-Chair for South East Librarians for the Toronto District School Board. Lois has presented her school library initiatives at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference in 2011 and 2014. Lois is also a published poet. Her first collection, Stripmall Subversive, was published by Variety Crossing Press in 2012.

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The Mindful Library: A Path to Student Well-Being, Mental Health Literacy, and Mindfulness in the Library Learning Commons

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By Lois Lorimer Nunn The Mindful Library: A Path to Student Well-Being, Mental Health Literacy, and Mindfulness in the Library Learning Commons Abstract Given the current educational climate and the needs of our students in a complex school environment, teacher-librarians can contribute to the well-being of our students in a Library and Learning Commons mindful of their stress and proactively addressing their need for accurate information.

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'The Mindful Library: A Path to Student Well-Being, Mental Health Literacy, and Mindfulness in the Library Learning Commons'

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'The Mindful Library: A Path to Student Well-Being, Mental Health Literacy, and Mindfulness in the Library Learning Commons'

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‘‘the set of abilities needed to: recognize a health information need; identify likely information sources and use them to retrieve relevant information; assess the quality of the information and its applicability to a specific situation; and analyze, understand, and use the information to make good health decisions’’

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‘‘the set of abilities needed to: recognize a health information need; identify likely information sources and use them to retrieve relevant information; assess the quality of the information and its applicability to a specific situation; and analyze, understand, and use the information to make good health decisions’’

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*Furniture arrangement for students with physical disabilities 

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*Furniture arrangement for students with physical disabilities 

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*Sharing of resources
*Advanced Technology support