Like many of you - or many of your children - I am sad about summer vacation coming to an end. Despite this, I am very excited about the upcoming school year and the opportunities I will have to work with your children. It will be different, to say the least!
For the first time in my now 20(!) years at Brookhaven, library information literacy will be imbedded in the related arts rotation. This means that a student will come to the library once a week as part of his specials classes, whereas before he may have only had art-music-PE and maybe basic skills. Library information literacy is replacing basic skills in this rotation at all grade levels except kindergarten.
This represents a major philosophical shift for me and is counter to the wisdom and guidance of the American Association of School Librarians. There are many reasons why I think this is important.
First of all, I think children need more exposure and practice at verifying the accuracy and bias of information they find. It seems all information, whether online or in print, has a slant. For example, World Book Encyclopedia,, a revered resource for students, prints different accounts of world events depending on the country it is marketed. Tiananmen Square has a different account in the United States than it does in China. If a respected publisher will change its bias to suit an audience, imagine what less reputable sources will publish?
Students need more practice in gathering information from multiple sources and making sense of conflicting information. They need help learning the rules of ethical use of information, what behavior is appropriate, and what behaviors are hurtful. They need help forming search strategies that will find them the best information possible. And they need more free reading time, which has consistently been proven to improve reading skills.
I will see all students in grades one through four each week during their specials rotation. I will see some of the 5th graders during this time. I will not have kindergarten in the rotation. I have lots of plans for each grade level and a general yearly outline that I have been refining in my mind for the past 10 years. Next week I will explain a little of what is in store for each grade level.
In the meantime, I ask you to consider what this will mean to our existing library program. I will not be able to teach and conduct regular checkout and readers advisory help as I have done in the past. More than ever, I will need volunteers to take care of checkout and other circulation tasks while I teach. If you have some free time during the week, I hope you will consider helping out.
See you next time!
Mrs. Martin
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