Badgr A Day in the Life of a Librarian We have several openings for school librarians in our district: two in elementary schools, and one at the high school - my counterpart, Christina Russo is retiring. In a recent interview, one candidate asked "What does an average day look like for a school librarian at New Canaan High School?" It was a great question - one I have been thinking about quite a bit. We have new leadership in our district. So back to that question, "What does an average day look like for a school librarian at New Canaan High School?" I created a ComicLife! Eight periods per day over 44 days makes for a lot of data points. The end result follows. Documenting all this without compromising the outcome was probably the biggest challenge. Bibliotech: How to Grade 75 Bibliographies in a Jiffy This is super quick and a little sloppy, but super helpful. Sydnye Cohen and I started this system back in 2013-2014, and I thought someone else might find it useful. It is not tech-y or sexy. It's pretty old school, but it is efficient. Problem: You've promised a teacher who is struggling with mediocre researchers (75 students, 10th grade, social studies) to help her evaluate bibliographies and provide students with feedback BUT you've had a crazy week and you've been pulled in 17 different directions and here it is, Thursday evening at 8PM, and you need to be done by morning. All nighter? Let's just start with how we collected the assignment. So we created a very simple Google Form for her. We sent students an email with a link to the form. So... using the student responses to the form, I now have a spreadsheet full of links to bibliographies. I split my screen into two browser windows. Then I use the "bullet" function to number them. OK. Later... So I created a slide show
- Document - READING CHAMPIONS: A Leadership Opportunity for School Librarians "Reading is the core of personal and academic competency" (AASL 2018, II). This common belief is a call to action for school librarians to serve as reading champions in their communities. Effective school librarians help grow students as avid readers and lifelong inquirers. They collaborate with classroom teachers to infuse the curriculum with opportunities for students to improve the literacies they need to be successful in school and in life. Whether the text is printed on paper or presented digitally, today's students are required to make sense from what they read. School librarians who serve as literacy leaders in their schools build library-classroom connections by collecting and curating diverse resources. Collection Development and Reading Promotion Competent reading promotion is generated in the context of a diverse and inclusive school library collection.
Bibliotech: Flipping & Badging On the surface, one would think that creating a list of consulted resources is a mechanical, lower-order thinking task, but creating citations involves resource evaluation. The chart below cross-walks Essential Questions (EQs) with the nine Modern Language Association (MLA 8) elements of a citation, and the widely used C.R.A.P. Test (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Purpose). Learning, practicing, and perfecting research documentation habituates students to reviewing author bios, reading "About" pages, checking dates, and deconstructing URLs. Back in October, we introduced a new strategy to teach all students in grades 9-11 how to create a bibliography following the new Modern Language Association's guidelines (MLA 8). Digital badges work! Students watch our 14 instructional videos (as a homework assignment in grades 10 and 11; in class for 9th graders). When students click the "check" button, feedback appears. The table above features data for three ninth grade history classes.
Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell us When schools have high-quality library programs and librarians who share their expertise with the entire school community, student achievement gets a boost. Since 1992, a growing body of research known as the school library impact studies has consistently shown positive correlations between high-quality library programs and student achievement (Gretes, 2013; Scholastic, 2016). Data from more than 34 statewide studies suggest that students tend to earn better standardized test scores in schools that have strong library programs. Further, when administrators, teachers, and librarians themselves rated the importance and frequency of various library practices associated with student learning, their ratings correlated with student test scores, further substantiating claims of libraries’ benefits. Skeptics might assume that these benefits are associated mainly with wealthier schools, where well-resourced libraries serve affluent students. Librarians and student achievement References DEBRA E.
Bibliotech: Finding the story This is a follow-up to How to Grade 75 Bibliographies in Jiffy. We graded 10th graders' bibliographies last week. This week, it we graded the juniors'. The common mistakes are quite different. There is a story here. I am just not sure what it is yet. Still thinking.... If you like this post, please add a testimonial (scroll all the way down) to my "Curriculum Champion" nomination for the AASL Social Media Superstar award.
How is Our Collection Being Used? Cross-posted from the New Canaan High School Library blog. As we move into budget season, we reflect on how students use our collection. This year, we noticed a few trends we wanted to share. Students are borrowing more books! In response to a slight dip in circulation in 2017-2018, we amped up our independent reading program this year. While the graph below shows that student use of ABC-CLIO, EBSCO, and Statista dipped last year, use of Gale (social studies research database), the newspaper collection (Christian Science Monitor, Hartford Courant, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post), and JSTOR (peer-reviewed academic journal articles) doubled. This may sound like a mixed report, but it is a great one. While we would ideally love to have all students shift their research to the rigorous databases, we still need to subscribe to materials that will meet the learning needs of our incoming 9th graders. Is Geography Destiny (9th grade Global I)
Bibliotech: The REAL Power of the Exit Ticket In my last post, The Power of the Exit Ticket, I described what we learned from a ninth grade research assignment exit ticket. But learning alone does not transform instruction. Incorporating what we learn into our program is the real power of the exit ticket. We've been thinking about that. When helping students craft thesis statements, I have a go-to exercise that really works. I have long held that online citation generators free up librarians to focus on teaching the higher-order thinking skills required for inquiry, close reading, and publication. Is citation mastery critical? So yeah. Last spring, I created an MLA 8 slide show to introduce teachers to the new guidelines. The basic slide show: The narrated abridged slide show in video format: Using student inquiries - those "How do I cite...?" We are still sorting through our interpretation of MLA 8.
Bibliotech: How will Your Librarian Help You? Two years ago, we did a 44 day experiment. We set our alarms to ring every period of the school day and one more time at 3PM. Each time our alarm went off, we took a snapshot of what we were doing. At the end of the experiment, we analyzed how we spent our time. Here was the resulting post. We wanted to see what changed over the last few years. On February 16, while students were on vacation, teachers spent the afternoon brainstorming strategies to personalize learning at New Canaan High School. Here are some photos of library learning this week Two years ago, we did a 44 day experiment. We wanted to see what changed over the last few years. On February 16, while students were on vacation, teachers spent the afternoon brainstorming strategies to personalize learning at New Canaan High School. Here are some photos of library learning this week
Bibliotech: The Power of the Exit Ticket Leading into final exams, many freshmen prepared for a speech on a controversial issue. It was a fairly simple assignment: read an entire non-fiction book, research using three sources (newspaper, video, and a website) to better understand the issue addressed in the book, document research, outline and give a speech. Texts included: Librarians worked with each class for 4 days: Day 1 - Support students with research Day 2 - Teaching students how to cite sources We paused this three part lesson (below) after each section to help individual students cite each resource type (newspaper, video, and a website). Days 3 and 4 - Revisions, revisions, and more revisions Once the drafts with comments were returned to students, the revision process began. Unless they are annotated, works cited lists and bibliographies are assessed in three areas: resource selection,page layoutcitation format. In an exit ticket, students rated the value of NCHS library services.
Catch Up - Junior Research Paper English 2018-2019 - LibGuides at New Canaan High School Skip to main content The Principles Lessons Next: Editorial Slant >>