Students Need School Libraries I have been a teacher librarian for over fifteen years, a teacher for twenty years and have been involved in the children’s and YA book industry in Australia for even longer, thanks in part to my teacher librarian mother. I am so passionate about my role as a teacher librarian but I am a little tired of the wider debate about the importance of school libraries and teacher librarians because quite frankly I don’t think there should be a debate. There is overwhelming evidence in both hard data and anecdotal form that school libraries matter: they improve literacy; they are the hub of many schools; they contribute to student well-being and school library staff work hard to support the entire school community. International research provides compelling evidence that school libraries and teacher-librarians make a significant contribution to student literacy and learning outcomes (Hughes, 2013).
A Map of Banned Books Access to learning materials or the autonomy to learn through reading authors who have expressed themselves candidly are not always widely accepted. An interesting post coming from Isabel Cabrera and Global English Editing this week. This post will shine a light on many books that have been banned to the “dark”. In today’s post there will be a map of banned books in an infographic format. You can read a brief summary of each book, as well as the reason for it being banned, on the Global English Editing blog.
3 Free Visual Marketing Tools for Your Library In whatever work environment you are in, you gain lessons from your experiences every day. From learning about a new resource to finding an innovative solution to a common problem, lessons learned from personal experiences can be shared with colleagues to help them in their own work and in the service they provide to customers. With that being said, what are some solutions to help you communicate lessons learned or new resources to others? Three tools for you to consider are PowToon, Animaker, and Emaze.
Advocacy: Print this poster and spread the word – we NEED school libraries and teacher librarians! – Linking Learning There are a lot of positive moves afoot to protect and promote our school libraries and teacher librarians. Check out the amazing support being provided by Leigh Hobbs, Australian Children’s Laureate, The role that a school library and a qualified teacher librarian may play in the literacy lives of children makes their full time presence in every school, primary and secondary, a no brainer for me. Reading fiction 'boosts pupils’ learning by 10 months' The benefits of reading for pupils' overall attainment are well known, but does it matter what children are reading? According to an analysis published today, some books are more effective than others – and reading fiction yields far more benefits for pupils than other forms of reading material. Research: London students do less well in Pisa rankings than GCSE Opinion: Non-fiction boosts progress in reading… That’s a fact Quick read: Literacy: the real story on non-fiction Using data drawn from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) study, researchers have linked the frequency with which 15-year-olds read different types of reading material to their Pisa reading scores.
10 Reasons Librarians Are More Important Than Ever It's National Library Week, and we couldn't resist paying homage to one of the most important members of the school community: librarians. Also known as library media specialists, librarians play a unique role in our schools. Often asked to take on a wide range of duties, these passionate and savvy educators deserve more than only a week of praise. And in case you need a reminder of all that librarians do for our students and our schools, we've put together a list -- but it's only a start.
Why School Librarians Are Educators Too and Why School Libraries Matter ‘’We are all educators…….accompanying young people in their efforts to build their lives for today and tomorrow.’’ For seventeen years I worked as a librarian in a school at which the words above formed part of the mission statement. When I left in the summer of 2017 the head-teacher said that as the school librarian I was an example of this. Not me personally but in my role within the school community. Unfortunately today it would appear that there are many who do not believe that school librarians are educators and that schools do not need a librarian at all.
Australian school students learn online more than average but their marks have flatlined Opinion By Margaret Merga Posted about 5 hours agoTue 12 Nov 2019, 7:00pm Technology has delivered innovative tools which can offer significant opportunities for learning. However screen time comes with potential risks for young people. Australian students spend more time online than the OECD average, and our students' screen use is growing over time.
April is School Library Month – Schools' Library Service Guernsey Blog As April is School Libraries Month I felt it was important to highlight the many different roles of the school library staff. Interestingly, the understanding of this role differs from person to person. Ask teachers or senior leaders what the role of the school library staff is and you will very likely get answers like these:- a keeper of bookssupporting the students to find booksrunning the reading schemeproviding a safe place for anyone who needs itworks with the English departmentencouraging reading for pleasure
School library infographics: research and advocacy However compelling the research is, it can be hard to make the case with a 30-page study, or even a executive summary. Sometimes you need the visually attractive, embeddable, tweetable version of the elevator speech. Over the past couple of months we’ve seen a research translated and chunked in the form of infographics.
Why School Librarians Are the Literacy Leaders We Need - Teaching for the Whole Story Earlier this year, I wrote a post about how teams of teachers can work together across subject areas to improve student reading. I received comments on the piece from two school librarians, pointing out that they have important contributions to make to the effort, and questioning why I had not included school librarians in my suggestions in the first place. Well, they are absolutely right about this, and their voices prompted my reflection on the topic. I've taught in four public schools in New York City and only ONE had a true functioning library with a certified librarian in it.
A school-wide reading culture Reading promotion displays around the school Displays in foyers, corridors, principal’s office and in the grounds around the school are a useful way to promote a school-wide reading culture. School entrance foyer Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us - kappanonline.org When schools have high-quality library programs and librarians who share their expertise with the entire school community, student achievement gets a boost. Since 1992, a growing body of research known as the school library impact studies has consistently shown positive correlations between high-quality library programs and student achievement (Gretes, 2013; Scholastic, 2016). Data from more than 34 statewide studies suggest that students tend to earn better standardized test scores in schools that have strong library programs. Further, when administrators, teachers, and librarians themselves rated the importance and frequency of various library practices associated with student learning, their ratings correlated with student test scores, further substantiating claims of libraries’ benefits.