How many students learn for the sake of learning? It’s a question I think about a lot in this age of overtesting. In New York, children start with the ELA, Math, and Science tests in the early grades and then… Read More ›
collaborative culture
A Passion Project to Help Juniors Enjoy Research
It’s that time of year again when juniors are on their way to being academically exhausted. Our Advanced Placement English Language & Composition teachers tackled this fatigue by introducing passion projects to their 11th-grade classes. Allowing students to choose topics… Read More ›
Collaborations Outside the Box
Often when people think of collaborations with the school library, English and Social Studies are the first subjects to come to mind. So much of the English and Social Studies curriculum is based around literacy and research making the school… Read More ›
Teaching Personal Narrative Writing
Every person has a story to tell. That’s as true for children as it is for established writers. Most high school teachers are familiar with the college essay crunch that starts at the end of junior year, heats up in… Read More ›
4 Levels of Collaboration for Teachers and Librarians
As school librarians, we know that collaboration is a large part of our role. In the AASL National School Library Standards to collaborate is to “work effectively with others to broaden perspectives and work toward common goals.” We also understand… Read More ›
Collaboration Definition 1 or 2
When a word means something very different Some words in the English language have two very different meanings—for instance, the word compromise. One person may use the word by its first definition to reach an agreement or meeting in the… Read More ›
Speed Dating with Books: The Power of Creative Nonfiction
This year I was thrilled to be back in person for our yearly 11th-grade Speed Dating with Books event. Though last year’s digital version was successful, it could not compare to the energy of a live activity. Amid the chaos… Read More ›
Librarians, Let’s Confer about Who We Are
This short volume of a post stands between bookends: #AASL21, which just occurred last week, and the upcoming #VAASL conference, which takes place next week. The word “confer” has been around for over five hundred years; its first known use… Read More ›
How to Diversify Literary Analysis Research
As I was teaching a research lesson to an AP literature class the other day, a student raised her hand and asked, “Why is this list mostly dead white males?” She had been looking over the chart of author choices… Read More ›
“Survey Says…”
Four years ago, I gave my first user survey to students. Still new to my position as librarian/technology integrator, I inherited a traditional library that had fallen out of use, and was desperate to understand what students wanted from their… Read More ›