Strong school library programs can increase student test scores by 10-20% according to research. Today's school libraries provide both print and digital resources like books, databases, media and curated internet sites. These resources provide information not available on general search engines like expert articles, historical newspapers and up-to-date health information. School librarians teach students skills to become digitally literate and help design curriculum activities that support state standards and student achievement.
Katie: Welcome. Introductions, etc. Tonight we would like to introduce you to the world of school libraries .As teacher librarians it is our goal to ensure ALL San Ramon Valley Unified students succeed ! We would like to share with you just how much libraries have changed in the 21 st century and how we work each day to impact student achievement.
Katie
Katie: In your packets we have given each of you an updated copy of School Libraries Work, which is a collection of executive summaries of 19? Studies conducted in the last 10 years which show the relationship between strong school libraries and student achievement.
Katie: And our district’s libraries exemplify the truths in this research. But to continue to lead we have to keep moving forward.
Katie: First let’s look at the resources you typically find in our libraries. We still do have books. But we also give our students access to various digital resources such as: Databases, Electronic Periodical Collections and pre-selected high quality Internet Sites. Students can access many of these resources 24 hours a day, seven days a week from home over the Internet.
Students are able to continue research at home that began with the help of the teacher librarian during school hours. Students are not the only ones who can benefit. Their entire families can obtain valuable information from the electronic sources. The specialized information found in the databases is professionally reviewed and not available through Google or Yahoo. These databases are evaluated, selected and taught by our teacher librarians.
Thus with the proliferation of information, our mission has evolved also. Our goals San Ramon schools are based on cultivating information literacy skills to attain higher levels of student achievement, in addition to preparing them for college and the workplace. AB 308
Contrary to what most people think, research is actually more difficult to conduct today. During the past year researchers from the University of Washington conducted a study of undergraduate college students to determine their ability to conduct quality research. We have included the front page of this study, along with the URL so that you can take a look at it if you are interested. Be assured that our high school teacher librarians are conscious of the preparation our students need to succeed in college, and design their lessons to give their students practice using college level resources.
We use an information literacy assessment developed by Kent State University. We have included a sample of what that assessment looks like in your packets.
Once we know what our students need to learn, we design our instruction. We make a great team with our teachers….they have the content expertise and we are the information gurus. When involved with classroom projects, teacher librarians are able to move students to more sophisticated resources as they progress through our district’s schools.
We take every opportunity to learn and use new web 2.0 tools. We attend workshops, participate in webinars, and share with each other at our monthly meetings. We collaborate with our teacher partners, in order to help them learn and implement these new tools.
Katie: We use blogs for a number of different reasons. At Gale Ranch, I have a blog on my library web page that has taken the place of the library newsletter. Also, during the second semester, 7 th grade students moved their writing journals online….from writing in a notebook to keeping a blog. We use a closed program, so that only the classes that are blogging have access. Students have all selected a broad area of interest for their blog. This requires a great deal of research in a number of different resources. They are required to complete 2 posts per week, and to comment on 2 of their classmates blog postings each week. We have taken the time to “indocrinate” them about cyber safety, and every student has written a pledge to be ethical and smart online. We have taught them proper netiquette for commenting on blogs, as well.
Donnine:
Judy: Talk about student book reviews…wish list…recommendations. The interactivity. Demonstrate
Karen live!
Karen: We have such support from our local school communities, and because of that we feel valued and that our administrators, teachers and parents really understand what it means to learn…as evidenced by _________comments about.Gerri Peterson who was recognized at an outstanding staff member.
