Recently, a first-grade teacher wanted to have her students use coding to create a summary. Her goal was to have students share a story and include how the main character developed as well as how the setting changed. She sought… Read More ›
co-teaching
Writing Historical Fiction: Collaborating to Meet the Standards
Over the past few semesters I have had the pleasure of collaborating with creative writing teachers in my building for weekly “Library Wednesday” lessons. In our school, creative writing is an elective course comprised of students in grades 9-12. We… Read More ›
Inquiry Framework: What Makes Sense?
I’m on a quest to refine my teaching to be both student-centered and relevant. This has evolved over time to mean that I talk a lot less now, and put more effort into the design of the learning experience. How… Read More ›
On a Mission: Students with Exceptional Abilities Coding Music
Libraries Ready to Code (RtC) is an initiative of ALA that is sponsored by Google. This initiative focuses on the role of school and public libraries in providing opportunities for youth to develop computational thinking skills through coding activities and… Read More ›
Teaching Information Literacy in a World of Misinformation
By now, all of us have heard the term fake news. It’s become another overused phrase, insidious in how it sticks like a bad smell. Yet its very stickiness is what makes it such a useful rhetoric device…. Read More ›
Surviving the Wild of Middle School by Making It FUN
Supporting Curriculum and Adding FUN Each year seventh-grade students in my school read two class novels that focus on survival skills and wild terrain. Students read Call of the Wild by Jack London and Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen… Read More ›
Using Research to Find a New Chair for Baby Bear
If you have ever read Goldilocks and the Three Bears you know that Baby Bear’s chair ends up in pieces. The sad thing is his chair never gets fixed. Below you will find how students in preschool use the research… Read More ›
Order Up: A Monthly Menu for Collaboration
Two years ago, the library switched from a completely fixed schedule to a hybrid model. Students in preschool and kindergarten currently come at a scheduled time each week. First and second grade come for a fifteen-minute weekly check out. All… Read More ›
Seniors and Deep Dive Research
Go Big or Go … Have you ever started an ambitious project that would either be a smashing success or an embarrassing failure? This week I am embarking on a project that will be a true challenge in logistics, energy,… Read More ›
Help the Teachers Teach
How to help the willing co-teachers There are many ways to help classroom teachers, but the ultimate has to be a co-teaching situation. In my experience, teaching research and library skills in a vacuum is not effective. Students may learn… Read More ›