"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…

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…

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…

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.…

Web portfolios should be integrated in the learning process as they encourage the students to take an active interest in their own learning and highlights the individual students, their interests and their goals, increases student motivation and provides an excellent method for teaching students. Implementation of Web portfolios could be made more…

The importance and work of Library Media Specialists is discussed where they help teach students to be information literate. The Library Media Specialist also helps to find answers to questions and help find resources to support instruction in the classroom, working with students to use technology in the library media center, the computer lab, and…