Fostering a Love of Reading

Teaching

By: Kim Ferrari, South Carolina High School English Teacher

“I hate reading.”

“I don’t read.”

“Books are boring.”

“I’d rather watch the movie.”

These are all statements that I have heard from my high school students throughout my time as an English teacher. At first, I would get disappointed when I heard a statement like that from one of my students, but now I smile and nod at them when they say that because I know that by the end of their semester with me, they won’t have such strong feelings against reading.

What once felt like pulling teeth now feels more like cheering. What is the secret to getting students to not hate reading and maybe actually even fall in love with it? Well, it’s not so much a secret and more just a matter of taking the time to help students find the right book for them. For some students this is done in a matter of minutes, while other students might take a little longer.

Host a Book Tasting

One of my favorite ways of helping students find books that interest them is by holding a book tasting (also known as a book pass or book speed dating). Early in the semester, I work with my media specialist to pull a wide variety of mostly YA novels in different genres: action/adventure, romance, realistic fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, dystopian, historical fiction, graphic novels/comics, sports, and mystery/thriller. We sort the books onto different tables by genre and students rotate through the stations. At each station, students choose one book to sample for 3 minutes, and they are instructed to read the front and back covers, the inside cover, and begin the first chapter. After the 3 minutes has ended, students decide whether the book is a yes, a no, or a maybe, and record it on their graphic organizer. They then rotate to the next table with the next genre and the process repeats.

After students have rotated through all the genres, I pull aside anyone who still needs help finding a book and work with them to look for options that might interest them. Before we leave the media center, students check out one book, though I always have several students asking if they can check out more than one. Depending on how long your class periods are and how many students you have in each class, you can modify how this is set up, but I have found that exposing students to different genres helps them to realize that just because they don’t like a specific type of book doesn’t mean that they don’t like all books.

The Importance of Modeling

Modeling reading for students is important, so while they are reading, I spend the first few rounds circulating the room and “tasting” books. After a few rounds though, I start to look for students who have yet to find a “yes” book and use what I already know about them and what they have rated the books they have already previewed to help me suggest titles at their next station.

Prioritizing Reading

Once students all have books to read, we begin every class with independent reading. The first few days are usually a bit of a struggle as students learn the procedures and expectations for this part of class, but after a week or so, independent reading becomes a regular part of our daily schedule and students know what is expected of them. Our daily schedule is built around independent reading to ensure that no matter what, we have time to read. While students are reading, I walk around the room reading my book. This allows me to model independent reading for them because they can see all the different books I read and it allows me to quietly redirect students who may be off-task or distracted. Modeling reading for students helps to encourage them to read and motivates them to continue reading. Because I am reading when my students are reading, I am able to read a lot of books every year, which helps me recommend titles that I think students will enjoy based on their interests. Independent reading is a skill that needs to be developed over time, so we begin with reading for 7 or 8 minutes and build up to around 15 minutes as students’ stamina increases. The more students are engaged in their books, the longer they will read for, which is another reason helping students find books that interest them is so important. If I notice a student appears to be disengaged with their book, I keep an eye on them and if a day or two later, they’re still not engaged, I have a conversation with them and recommend a different book.

Making independent reading a priority in my classroom has led to increased reading stamina, higher engagement with books, and significantly fewer groans when I announce it’s time to read. At the end of each semester, I ask students to reflect on their experience and every year, there are positive comments that remind me why I put so much effort into helping students find the right books and making independent reading such a focus. Students share that this is the first time in years that they’ve finished an entire book, that they found themselves looking forward to independent reading each day, that they didn’t know reading could be fun, and that our independent reading time gave them a chance to relax. Some students even come back after they leave my class asking for book recommendations or if they can borrow one of my books, so I get to continue to foster their love for reading. When students come back to me years after graduating high school and tell me about the books they’ve read lately, I know I have done my job of creating lifelong readers, which to me is the ultimate goal.

About the Author

Kim Ferrari is an English Teacher at Manning High School in Manning, SC. She received her Bachelor of Science in Secondary English Education from the University of Maine at Farmington and is working on her Master’s in Literacy from Clemson University.

Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and the Classroom Library

Teaching

By: Lexington Hendricks, South Carolina High School Teacher

As a classroom teacher, it is my job to make sure that my classroom is a safe space for students, a place where they can be who they are and not have to hide any aspect of their identity. This includes students’ individual backgrounds and cultures. Students come from many different backgrounds even if they grew up in the same town, and it is important to recognize that all students may think and view materials differently because of this.

Experience has shown me that not all students, no matter their backgrounds, enjoy reading. Most would even claim to hate it. Many times this stems from being forced to read novels that are dated and have no relation to students whatsoever. If students struggle to connect or relate to something, there is a good chance they will not gain knowledge from whatever they are attempting to read. Think about their social media; students choose to follow people or pages that they have some form of connection or relation to. This also varies from student to student because of their backgrounds and cultures. The same can be applied to what students read. This is why it is crucial not only to have a classroom library but also to create an intentional classroom library.

Creating my Classroom Library

Creating a classroom library is already a daunting task. I remember my first year teaching and buying the cheapest books I could find just so students would have the option to borrow books from me and to see them in my classroom. Throughout conversations with my students over the years, I have learned that many of them find the school library overwhelming because of the amount of books to choose from. Also, many libraries are organized by the author’s last name which can make finding books on topics students are interested in more difficult. When students are able to see books in their classrooms on a smaller scale, the overwhelming feeling of choosing one book out of hundreds disappears. When creating a classroom library, the first step is to thoughtfully organize books so that they are easily accessible to students. The second, and in my opinion, most important step is choosing the books that go into the library.

At first, I just bought whatever I had access to and what was easiest on the budget. There was no intentionality in what books I chose. I also did not have any organization at all. I just put them on bookshelves and hoped for the best and found myself frustrated when none of my students wanted to go to the shelves and pick out books to read−not my proudest classroom library moment. I think I realized that in order for my classroom library to be useful, I needed to do two things: organize the books in a more accessible way and add books that were culturally relevant to my students.

How to make your Classroom Library more Accessible

1) Sort by Genre

To make books more accessible to students, I sorted them by genre instead of the author’s last name. I had to remind myself that students probably care more about what the book is about than who wrote it. I chose the genres that our school librarian used so students would have consistency when choosing books. I color coded the genres and added that same color to the corresponding books so that students could easily put books back in their place when they were finished. That was actually the easy part.

2) Find Culturally Relevant Books

Finding culturally relevant books was a little more challenging. What did culturally relevant even mean? Thankfully, we live in an age where the internet and Google are both handy. I did my research and learned that I needed to find books that fit not only where my students come from physically but also mentally, meaning books students could relate to in regards of hobbies, identity, and what they believe.

3) Keep your Student Population in mind

Our school has a high population of English Language Learners (ELLs), so I added in books that brought in their cultures and made sure that some of these were Spanish versions for those who are still learning the basics of English. I also used conversations with my students to determine what other types of books I wanted to include. The images you see throughout this post include some of the books I bought when I first started intentionally buying culturally relevant books. It is important to note that each classroom is different; the best way to determine what books to buy for your classroom library is to have intentional conversations with students that allow you to get to know them beyond an academic level.

Students need to see themselves or parts of themselves in the books they read to make real connections. When this happens, they can see that you not only value them as students but also as who they are as human beings. This often means more to them than academics. On that same note, it means even more to students if you read the books that relate to their cultures. Students see that we care about them and want to know them, not just their academic abilities. I love to see students’ faces light up when I can introduce them to books that I know they will love and relate to because I have also read them myself.

4) Be Intentional in book Selection for your Library

I had one student who had some struggles about fitting in and being her true self, and she seemed down a lot in class on top of slacking when it came to school work, which was not at all like her. I asked her about it, and she told me about how she was struggling to figure out who she was and did not know what to do. I was able to recommend a book to her that I had just read. This book is light-hearted but also touches on a breakup and how to keep going, which I knew this student had recently gone through. I recommended the book What if it’s Us? by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera in hopes she would see that even when life is hard, good things can still come. As she was reading, she would note certain aspects of the novel that she could relate to and wanted to read more books like that one after. This led to me wanting to be able to recommend more books to not only her but my other students as well. I then decided that I not only need to build my classroom library intentionally, but also read the books I picked out as well. This student felt cared about and represented because I was able to give her a book that she could relate to and see parts of herself in. This mattered more to her than anything else.

You see, the bottom line is that when students feel they are represented, they are more likely to invest in whatever the activity is, and in this case, it is reading. Incorporating students’ backgrounds and cultures into the curriculum can be challenging. If you do not feel like you are ready for that challenge, start small. Be intentional with the books you put in your classroom library. Choose books that represent the students in your classroom. Let them know that you care about who they are and where they come from.

The more you show that you care about students, the more likely they are to read something if you ask them to, and the more students read, the more likely they are to improve overall academically, even if they are just reading books that they can relate to. They may even begin to enjoy reading. I always say, “Students don’t actually hate reading. They just haven’t found the right book yet.”

About the Author

Lexie Hendricks has been teaching for five years at Palmetto High School.

For the love of literacy

Collaboration

By: Charlene Aldrich, retired literacy instructor

I KNEW from an early age that books had an important place in life. I was adventurous and brave with Encyclopedia Brown. I dreamed about being a nurse with Cherry Ames. I pondered survival instincts through The Lord of the Flies. I cried about Rascal and fell in love on The Island of the Blue Dolphins.

I was always the one who brought every textbook home on the first day of school. I HAD to know what we were going to learn that year. And besides, ‘Library’ didn’t begin until the second week of school!

But I soon realized that magazines were pretty great also: Reader’s Digest, Good Housekeeping, even Popular Mechanics! Whatever my parents had on the table became fodder for my mind. So, maybe it wasn’t ‘books’ that were important; maybe it was just, plain reading!That made choosing a career pretty difficult – Write books? Work in a bookstore? Be a librarian? OR do research? How does someone decide what they want to do for 40 years of his/her life?

Content Area Literacy and the Librarian

Read or write? How about read AND write? Isn’t that what teaching is all about? That and having summers off? So what began in a second grade classroom morphed, over many years, into teaching Content Area Reading and Writing (CARW), first to students preparing for college courses and then to content area teachers who were required to become ‘reading and writing teachers’. But that’s not exactly what the R2S law said; concerning teacher education, the law’s intention was for all teachers to be confident in USING reading and writing in their content area. And who is the best resource for that? The person in the school in charge of the books! The librarian, aka media specialist.

I LOVE providing reading and writing research, literacy resources, and instructional ideas for content area teachers to embrace reading and writing as valuable instructional practices. Even better is when librarians sign up for my CARW courses. You see, I believe that literacy is everyone’s responsibility and that collaborating across grade levels and across content areas improves the probability that literacy is possible.

Librarians are in the perfect position to orchestrate this collaboration. BUT you have to ask. They aren’t mind readers. By becoming partners in literacy, you both can ‘do good things for students’. HOW?

Parallel Reading suggestions connecting content areas
LMS Embedded Librarians for immediate and ongoing student access
Direct Instruction for efficient research

What does the number one provider of research information say about librarians?

“The primary purpose is to support the students, teachers, and curriculum of the school or school district. Often, teacher-librarians are qualified teachers who take academic courses for school library certification or earn a master’s degree in Library Science” (Wikipedia).

South Carolina only employs ‘teacher-librarians’ in the schools. Yes, their duties overflow into media, but first and foremost, they are your partners. They can connect content to reading resources; they can connect reading resources to students.

Overall literacy proficiency is grown within the classroom; through the collaborative efforts of teachers and teacher-librarians, it overflows into students’ out-of-classroom learning experiences. But the best indicators of overall literacy proficiency are the graduates/adults/employees/employers/parents who model lifetime learning through reading and writing. They value the ability to apply their literacy to listen, read, analyze, evaluate, and respond to the plethora of messages that the 24-hour media services produce.

PS: Summers off – the joke was on me. I found out that improving reading, writing, and math literacy is a year-round gig. And it was my pleasure to serve.

References

Wikipedia contributors. (2020, May 18). Librarian. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:32, May 26, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Librarian&oldid=957428603

About the Author

After 20 years of growing literacy in under-prepared college students, Charlene retired to focus on state-wide literacy initiatives such as LiD, 6-12 and her R2S approved literacy courses at College of Charleston. She lets her life speak by empowering teachers to have the confidence and competence to implement a literacy model of instruction in any content area and at every grade level. Her best Covid-19 memory is teaching her grandson Algebra 1 via phone calls, Zoom, ztext messaging, and FaceTime. It was online instruction at its best – synchronously and interactively.

We Need S’More Literacy from the Library!

Collaboration

By: Amanda Harris, South Carolina High Media Specialist

I love reading books, cataloging and shelving books, shopping for books, and placing books in readers’ hands, but as a high school media specialist, all that fun with books is only a small portion of my actual job. As a highly qualified educator who shares my literacy instruction skills with students and colleagues every day, my role goes far beyond the library stacks.

Since it’s summertime and I’m a girl who loves chocolate, indulge me for a few minutes and let me explain the library’s role in school-wide literacy instruction as an ooey, gooey, warm, melty, delicious s’more.

The Graham Cracker

The foundation of a s’more is the graham cracker, providing support and structure on both sides to hold the entire concoction together. My goal as a media specialist is to provide resources and support for all content areas so that all teachers can be more effective in guiding students to content-specific literacy. Even though my district has 1:1 Chromebooks and students may think they can just Google everything for research, someone still has to teach them how to wade through their search results! One of the most important items on my to-do list in this graham cracker part of my job is to actively recruit teachers to share their classes with me. Once I have led them to realize how desperately they needed to schedule time for co-teaching (sometimes with free coffee involved in the persuasion), I make a point of threading my info literacy standards and skills over and over through every unit I teach across the curriculum.

Photo by Autumn Mott Rodeheaver on Unsplash

When I’m handing out the metaphorical graham crackers for the s’mores, I have to be intentional with teacher relationships, creative with my curriculum ideas, and even a little bit repetitive with teaching the skills to students, but without these graham crackers, the whole s’more falls apart and students lose opportunities for big-picture literacy application across the curriculum.

Mmmm…Chocolate

My favorite part of the s’more, of course, is the chocolate, and my favorite part of being a school media specialist is definitely the fun library offerings: student book clubs over Chick-fil-a lunch boxes, faculty book clubs with grown-up conversation over breakfast snacks, author visits, makerspace crafting days, games and Legos out on the tables, and independent choice reading checkouts. These are the pieces of the school-wide curriculum puzzle that make the whole idea of literacy more enjoyable.

The obvious sticking point here is that by the time students reach high school, very few of them are going to seek pleasure reading opportunities or spend their free time hanging out with a book club. How do I offer chocolate for the s’mores of students who are reluctant readers? I’m grateful to have some fantastic colleagues (not just in the English department!) who value choice reading enough to bring their students to me for independent reading checkouts. Sometimes they have target genres, sometimes they have target themes, and sometimes they want students to just pick anything that looks interesting.

During this past year, we blocked off a weekly time with some of the English 1 and 2 classes to just come into the library for a routine sustained reading period. Their classroom teacher, my fellow media specialist, and I all sat down with them on the couches and modeled reading for fun, too! (Well, that was the plan. I actually spent more of my time up out of my seat, in the stacks, helping students find their next books to read, but that was fine with me!) When we suddenly switched to distance learning, I missed all of my students, but these two classes were the ones I most desperately wished to see.

Pleasure reading and finding a book to enjoy is the chocolate in the middle of the school-wide literacy s’more, and while I do love chocolate with all my heart, seeing reluctant readers find books they like and seeing students come to the library for fun in their free time brings me more joy than an entire one-year supply of my favorite Harry & David dark chocolate truffles.

Sticky Marshmallows

Finally, I must address the sticky, fire-roasted marshmallow that holds everything together between the graham crackers. At my school, this is the part of my media specialist role that doesn’t exactly fit the typical mold, but it just makes sense. If the library is the heart of the school and the media specialists should be dabbling in teaching with every department in the building, why not have your media specialist(s) serve as writing instructional lead teachers?

I’m on a flex schedule and my teaching calendar does fill up with research projects and other library lessons. However, because there are two of us serving as full-time media specialists, we are able to schedule time to actively help teachers with writing instruction. We conference with teachers during their planning periods, or we go to their classrooms and help with a writing lesson or student writing conferences. The best part about this role is that sitting down to brainstorm a writing assignment with a teacher gives me an easy opportunity to market the library’s resources.

I’ll be honest: Writing can sometimes be the stickiest part of school-wide literacy. Sure, everybody can fit more reading into their classrooms, but writing? Writing takes time to assess! Writing takes time to actually do in the classroom, precious time that is also needed to teach content-specific skills! Some students just don’t want to write, and it’s just more painful for everyone involved! Yes, yes, and yes. I totally get it, especially after 10 years in the English classroom and many hours of sleep lost to essay grading, but that doesn’t mean that writing instruction can just be swept aside. Writing = thinking, and it’s a critical part of the learning process.

Helping teachers regularly include more quality writing in their daily classroom routine has challenged me. I have had to study and learn more about how content literacy should look different across the departments, and I have had to lead some tense meetings, but I have also been able to see the exciting success my colleagues are having. To return to the marshmallow comparison, sometimes I accidentally drop my actual literal marshmallow in the fire, so I have to toss it and try again. Sometimes I don’t leave it in the fire long enough, so I have to try again. In the big literacy picture, writing instruction is the marshmallow, and sometimes we have to toss what we did and try again. Isn’t that what drafting and revising is all about? In the end, while the marshmallow is challenging to get just right, the finished s’more just isn’t complete without it.

Are you ready to go make some s’mores yet? If you want to get started on some figurative s’mores, go ahead and email your media specialist to get started on ideas for collaboration this year. If you want literal s’mores, keep the campfire far, far away from the library books.

About the Author

Amanda has twelve years of teaching experience and is beginning her third year as a high school media specialist at Walhalla High School.

The School Librarian and You

Collaboration

By: Kelley Rider, South Carolina School Librarian

I believe that the library should be the heart of the school. It is usually the largest academic space in the building. The librarian is trained to meet the curricular and non-curricular literacy needs of students. The library has books, technology, and other materials that students and teachers can use and enjoy. However, sometimes the library doesn’t get used to its full potential because teachers and students don’t realize the wealth of resources that are available there.

The school librarian can be a resource for teachers and students. The librarian is a teacher who is trained to teach, collaborate, find resources, and support literacy. I’d like to encourage any educator to reach out to their school librarian to collaborate and enhance student achievement.

Ways teachers can collaborate with the school librarian to enhance learning in content area classrooms:

Bounce ideas around with your librarian.

Once the AP biology teacher came into my school library. She looked like she needed someone to talk to, so I approached her and asked if she needed help. She had been teaching about cell membranes. She felt like the students had recently hit a wall. She needed to mix up the next lesson so she didn’t lose their attention. We talked for a bit about what she had done in the past and what her learning objectives were for her students. Then, I gave her an idea to try a different approach. Together we came up with a plan to have the students divide the cell into four sections and each student had to draw and label the cell in their quadrant. Then the students had to collaborate, help each other, and rationalize to the group what he/she had drawn. The teacher just needed some inspiration to try a new strategy.

Procure resources from your librarian.

Many of the English teachers in my building require students to read a book of their choice independently for a unit of study. Each teacher’s requirement for this assignment looks a little different than the next. They will often ask if I can pull appropriate materials for this assignment for the students to browse through. As students are browsing, I often tell them about selections to help them make their final decisions. Additionally, the school librarian can share information about non-fiction materials for research, Discus databases, and technology available to students.

Plan lessons or units with your librarian.

A little over a year ago I was introduced to a teacher who had just been hired for the upcoming school year. She came by the school library to introduce herself and see what my library collection looked like so that she could prepare for the fall. I enthusiastically showed her around and sincerely told her that I would love to help to find resources or even teach lessons when appropriate in the next school year.

A couple months went by, summer came, and then I got an email from her asking me to review a list of books she was interested in purchasing for her classroom library. She was worried that some of the novels would be too mature, and she wanted to get my opinion on how our community would react to themes in the books. These exchanges have led to this teacher and I having a great working relationship where she comes to me for help planning lessons and units.

She wanted to embrace the teaching of Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher’s work which encourages teachers to allow students choice in what they read. What began with this teacher creating a more robust classroom library turned into me encouraging her to go with her gut to create a literary choice unit. The students selected a book from a teacher made list and then worked in small reading groups (lit circles) to complete assignments in class. I helped her facilitate this by helping to choose appropriate books and by teaching a couple lessons to her classes.

The unit was such a success that she tried it again in the second semester. The instructional coach and I helped her procure books to facilitate themed lit circles. I added those new books to the library collection so that we could better track lost items.

About the Author

Kelley Rider is a third year high school librarian and former English teacher in Anderson, SC. She is Pendleton High School’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. She serves on the Advocacy and Awards committees for the South Carolina Association of School Librarians.

Who Needs a “Media Specialist” When Google’s Got It All?

Collaboration

By: Betty (BT) Bouton, South Carolina Teacher-librarian

Right off the rip, I prefer the title teacher-librarian (TL). That’s what we are, and “media specialist” sounds inflatedly special. And as for whether TLs have anything to offer teachers in the world of unlimited access to almost everything, “Dang right, we do!”

Given the ongoing COVID-19 changes in instruction, I’ve divided my comments into two parts, like the vinyl 45 records that were THE medium in my youth.

Side A (also known as the “Big Hit”): Dream Dream Dream

Side A is the big hit — what your teacher-librarian is itching to do to help embed literacy skills in your classes in the “normal” school environment. (Warning: focus on SS, science, ELA, arts, and exceptional children. Math, I need help.) TLs truly “dream” of ways we can help our colleagues plan, gather resources, teach, and evaluate, using our standards along with state curriculum standards.

Resources

Teachers need resources to deliver personalized and differentiated instruction, and Google supplies LOTS of results. Your TL is popping to be your teammate in selecting the BEST sites and sources.

We will curate the open-source material; but even better, we can guide teachers and students to powerful information resources and student-friendly tools (leveled articles, translations, audio, built-in dictionaries, and citation creators) available in databases, which are not the natural go-to sources for students and many teachers. For example, Charleston County School District provides access to SC Discus and additional databases through MackinVia, and our Destiny library system allows for TLs to create resource collections (on any topic/standard) that include books, websites, and database articles — all available to teachers and students. Ask, and we will collaborate!

Collaboration

But even Side A has its challenges: teachers create and assign great projects, but then are disappointed with students’ underwhelming results. Again, TLs are classroom teachers’ backup when it comes to down-and-dirty teaching: collaborating in direct instruction to guide students as they form research questions, evaluate sources, process information, and synthesize their results. TLs can also help with innovative methods for students to “publish” their work.

Some of my most productive teaching experiences recently have been in science classrooms, collaborating on DBQs. As a co-teacher in an eighth-grade science unit about travel to Mars, the classroom teacher was the “science,” and I was the “search, source, cite.” Together, we addressed the needs of a range of students: the high fliers, students with IEPs, students with English as their second language, and struggling learners. The science teacher and I together planned, delivered instruction, created the scoring rubric, and graded students’ work.

Technology

But there’s more! I’ve just begun using MakerSpace projects to support literacy, admittedly late realizing how powerful hands-on activities are in improving literacy and learning. This year I hosted Maker lunches for 6th graders, using simple, fun activities to complement content standards. In a session on electrical circuits, students watched a short BrainPop video twice: before and after I led them through directions for a pre-made activity (with their hands on the supplies and directions). Then we let it roll. The light bulbs went off literally, and also figuratively for several at-risk students: “Hey, this is what we’re doing in science!”

And the possibilities for Ozobots in HS history and MS SS, especially for interactive timelines! Here’s an elementary-level project provided by Ozobot – substitute your content and start dreaming of teaming with your TL.

Side B (also known as the “Flip Side”): Hang on Sloopy

Photo by Victrola Record Players on Unsplash

Well, this side of the vinyl is not yet a hit. The 12 weeks of “online learning” were a cipher and challenge to me as a TL. As I try to plan for the new school year, some days I can’t even get my Side B to spin on the turntable. That chipper “song” writer for Side A has been replaced by this less confident, but still hopeful TL.

On the plus, I did district-wide read-alouds of Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart, my school’s guest author in 2019. Dan participated in one of the first sessions, trading time reading with me and talking about his next novel. But student engagement was low, as it was for most of our district-sponsored read-alouds for MS and HS.

On the minus, I struggled to find my traction for how to help content-area teachers. I created/updated a spreadsheet with online resources that supported the Quarter 4 standards for each subject/grade level; worked with some Related Arts teachers to set up Google classrooms (which they had not previously needed), and trouble-shot teachers’ and students’ technical issues. But I did not establish new and meaningful ways to support literacy. Shame on me.

But even during this summer limbo, TLs are spinning the turntable: sharing ideas about supporting literacy with new instructional models. As we teachers “hang on” to learn what instruction will look like, your school’s TL is ready to jump in to make the new model work for you and your students. With collaboration, Side B has the potential to be a chart-topping hit!

About the Author

BT has been teaching for 36 years, the last 12 as a teacher-librarian at Camp Road Middle School on James Island, SC.

School Librarians: Your Literacy Partners

Collaboration

By: Tamara Cox and Pamela Williams, SC Media Specialists

“What we teach children to love and desire will always outweigh what we make them learn.”
Jim Trelease

One of our goals as educators is to help students become life-long readers. Too often we focus solely on the mechanics of reading without addressing how we build the love of reading. Life-long readers find joy in reading. We want our students to enjoy reading, which will fuel their desire to read and help them build habits to carry them throughout school and into their future. The school librarian can help spark that love of reading.

The school librarian can be your partner in nurturing readers and building those habits. As educators we all have different roles to play in the process of teaching students. The expertise of the school librarian can strengthen your school’s reading culture and literacy outcomes. School librarians fill an important “interdisciplinary, instructional role, particularly in teaching students to be better consumers and producers of information” (Lance, 2014).

Research

Numerous studies spanning multiple states and decades have shown that a high-quality library program positively impacts student achievement, graduation rates, and mastery of academic standards. These correlations exist regardless of student demographics or school funding levels. In fact, these correlations are most pronounced in our vulnerable student populations, including students of color, students from low income homes, and students with disabilities (Lance, 2018). School library impact studies have been conducted in 24 states, including South Carolina. The South Carolina study confirmed the findings of other studies by showing that having a fully staffed school library (certified school librarian and assistant) that is well-funded results in higher test scores (Lance, 2014).

Let’s Work Together

There are many ways that the librarian can be your partner in literacy. Please reach out to your librarian so that you can find ways to work together. Here are some of the impactful ways that librarians can support the literacy goals of the school:

Collaborate with classroom teachers by planning lessons together.
Curate print and digital resources for lessons and standards.
Plan reading programs and celebrations.
Share booktalks and recommended book lists with teachers, students, and families.
Provide reader advisory services.
Provide book access for recreational reading, no reading level limits.
Curate recommended book lists around a theme, unit, or topic.
Assist with literature circle discussions.
Organize or help with a faculty and/or student book club.
Organize and host online and in-person author chats.
Share reading resources and strategies with families.
Host book fairs to help increase book access and ownership.
Provide professional development on a variety of literacy and technology topics.
Help teachers integrate technology tools into their literacy lessons.
Teach lessons on information and media literacy.
Provide instruction on research skills.
Work with teachers to build an inclusive, engaging library collection that supports the curriculum.
Serve on school-wide literacy and leadership committees.
Create a library space that is safe and welcoming to all students.

Conclusion

The benefits of a robust and effective library program under the leadership of a certified librarian are undeniable. By utilizing the librarian’s expertise and nurturing collaboration with your librarian, your school can see positive changes in student learning and achievement. The school library program can be your partner in literacy success!

References

Lance, K. C., & Kachel, D. E. (2018). Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us. Phi Delta Kappan. Retrieved from https://www.kappanonline.org/lance-kachel-school-librarians-matter-years-research/

Lance, K. C., Schwarz, B., & Rodney, M. J. (2014). How libraries transform schools by contributing to student success: Evidence linking South Carolina school libraries and PASS & HSAP results. In RSL research group. Retrieved from https://scasl.memberclicks.net/assets/phase%20i.pdf

Lance, K. C., Schwarz, B., & Rodney, M. J. (2014). How libraries transform schools by contributing to student success: Evidence linking South Carolina school libraries and PASS & HSAP results, phase II. In RSL research group. Retrieved from https://scasl.memberclicks.net/assets/phase%202.pdf

South Carolina Association of School Librarians. (2015). South Carolina school librarians make schools stronger [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.scasl.net/south-carolina-impact-study

An entire page dedicated to research sharing how librarians impact reading and literacy: http://www.ala.org/tools/research/librariesmatter/taxonomy/term/137.?page=23

About the Authors

Tamara Cox is the National Board certified librarian at Wren High School, Awards Chair for the SC Association of School Librarians, 2020 Library Journal Mover & Shaker, 2019-2020 South Carolina School Librarian of the Year, Honor Roll finalist for the South Carolina Teacher of the Year, and recipient of the 2018 I Love My Librarian Award. Contact her at coxt@apps.anderson1.org or @coxtl on Twitter.

Pamela Williams is the 2019-2020 President of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians (SCASL), a National Board certified school librarian at Richland Northeast High School, and a former South Carolina School Librarian of the Year. She can be contacted by email at pwilliams@richland2.org or on Twitter @readingrocksPam.