School librarians have always been teachers, even before the term "teacher-librarian" was coined. They teach every time they help students select books, locate and evaluate resources for research projects, or troubleshoot a computer problem. When they assist students, they explain and model the steps they are taking. Teaching for school librarians…

Which potato chip is healthiest: (1) regular; (2) baked; or (3) sour cream and onion? This problem requires critical and numerical skills in order to read and compare nutrition labels. The question has applications in mathematics and science classrooms but also in teachers' lounges and school cafeterias. It is a problem that addresses the five…

Two hundred years ago, literacy meant being able to read and write. Today people find themselves with many literacies in a nation that is considered ninety-nine percent literate. The plethora of literacies has just given birth to another term--transliteracy. Transliteracy is the ability to read, listen to, view, understand, synthesize, and apply…

A school librarian's curricular role has expanded from resource provider to educational partner with the goal of creating 21st century learners. The American Association of School Librarians encourages school librarians to generate opportunities for students' becoming "independent lifelong users and producers of ideas and information." In addition…

This article discusses how a school librarian can help students improve their critical thinking and strengthen their higher order thinking skills through the inquiry process. First, it will use a Guided Inquiry approach to examine how higher order thinking skills are taught within an inquiry paradigm. Next, it will consider how formative…

"AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner." New standards for library media programs! What does it mean to practicing library media specialists? Does this mean they must abandon all the strategies, activities, and lessons they have developed based upon "Information Power's Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning" and create all new…

Some of the author's most valuable experiences as a library media specialist (LMS) were not in a school library. Rather, they were on the streets of Chicago, in community gardens, and on the rooftops of buildings in Humboldt Park, where she was hired by the University of Illinois Community Informatics Initiative as a graduate assistant and LMS in…

Any student will tell people that one question they've been asked repeatedly is "What do you want to be when you grow up?" From a young age, adults expect children to think about their future and to work toward a career goal. If teachers expect their students to be goal driven, career-oriented individuals, they need to provide them with ample…

It's hot in Accra. There aren't many roads in Ghana. No matter where one lives, he/she needs to get along with others. These are a few of the observations third grade students made during a collaborative unit that was aimed at increasing reading comprehension. Some of what these third graders learned was on the list of AASL standards the author…

In this article, the author shares how she uses origami for her elementary students. Using origami in her classroom helps with classroom management. Students are enthralled to watch the paper as it is folded. Every student can feel a part of the experience. Origami can serve many functions in library classrooms: attention grabbers, geometry…

In this article, the author describes five lessons which focus on skills that students will need in any library. The following lessons should be taught during first semester to first-year middle school students: (1) Locating books at the library; (2) Locating databases at the library; (3) Locating encyclopedias at the library; (4) Locating…

The author, as a library media specialist, admitted that she needed more study on library organization despite three years of teaching Dewey to her elementary students. To be more accurate, she realized she needed a clearer understanding of what Mr. Melvil Dewey had in mind when he devised his plan for organizing books and information in the…

A short newspaper or magazine article can be used by teachers and librarians to boost students' reading comprehension, increase background knowledge, and enhance vocabulary skills. This method can be a powerful bridge to reading longer articles and eventually lead to reading entire books. This article presents a few types of articles for…

In inquiry environments, assessment is integral to the learning process. This means that students not only assess their own work, but they also help identify the criteria for assessment and design the tools for measuring the quality of the performance. One critical assessment tool, which is being used in countless classrooms, is the rubric.…

Many state standards require teaching students about award-winning books, which can be a daunting task considering the number of Caldecott Medal winners. This author, a library media specialist at Mill Creek Elementary in Statesboro, Georgia, describes an efficient, creative, and energizing strategy she devised that enabled her to teach the…