This month the BACC co-bloggers will share thoughts and examples of the school librarian’s role in differentiating instruction so that all learners have opportunities to succeed.
This word cloud image encapsulates many keywords associated with learning through the school library program. The work that school librarians do in their schools is always interdisciplinary and supports students in making connections to crystallize their learning.
English language arts learning objectives related to reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking are part of every lesson we coteach. We collaborate with educators teaching various grade levels and all content areas. The learners we work with have a wide range of background knowledge and are at various measures of proficiency for any skill or strategy we set out to coteach.
How does the library environment support the differentiation that students need to succeed?
Due to ubiquitous access to the library’s electronic resources and the Internet, some classroom teachers and students may think that involvement with the library’s print collection is unnecessary. For those who take that view, I highly recommend reading “Why digital natives prefer reading in print: yes, you read that right,” an article that appeared in the Washington Post on February 22, 2015. The article notes: “Readers tend to skim on screens, distraction is inevitable and comprehension suffers.”
I have had this experience more times than I can count. After introducing an online pathfinder of electronic resources, high school students quietly call me over to whisper in my ear, “Isn’t there a book about this?” Classroom teachers are often surprised by such student requests; I am not.
With the print and electronic resources of the library and the Internet, school librarians develop expertise at integrating resources in multiple genres and formats into students’ learning opportunities. Of course, classroom book collections offer some range of resources, but the library collection’s range is far wider. School librarians develop print collections at the widest possible range of reading proficiencies on topics that cover all areas of the curriculum.
School librarians’ ability to connect the “just right” resources to meet each learner’s needs is one of the strengths, in terms of differentiation, that we bring to the classroom-library instructional partnerships.
Works Cited
Rosenwald, Michael S. “Why digital natives prefer reading in print: yes, you read that right.” Washington Post.com. 22 Feb. 2015. Web. 02 Mar. 2015 >http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/why-digital-natives-prefer-reading-in-print-yes-you-read-that-right/2015/02/22/8596ca86-b871-11e4-9423-f3d0a1ec335c_story.html>.
Word cloud created at Tagxedo.com