September 2008

New School Library Standards for United States Stress Inquiry

The new school library standards from the American Association of School Librarians are strongly inquiry-based. At a recent conference, school librarians from around the world discussed the standards and remarked on the relative ease with which the standards can be incorporated in the IB curriculum. There are four components to the standards -- skills, dispositions, responsibilities and self-management.

The standards are based on the following common beliefs (which I have abbreviated somewhat for the sake of this post):

1. Reading is a window to the world.
2. Inquiry provides a framework for learning.
3. Ethical behavior in the use of information must be taught.
4. All individuals must acquire thinking skills that will enable them to learn on their own.
5. Learning has a social context.
6. School libraries are essential to the development of learning skills.
7. Technology skills are crucial for future employment needs.
8. The definition of information literacy has become more complex as resources and technologies have changed.
8. Equitable access is a key component for education.

The language of the standards is intended to provide bridges to and commonality with the standards for technology (NETS) and education.

Our AIS information literacy skills continuum is now reorganized to align with these new AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner.

Flexible Afternoon Library Blocks

Please remember to sign up for afternoon time in the library for research and library activities. The monthly sign-up sheet is posted in the Primary School Office above the sign in sheet (on the IT and Library Bulletin Board).

Book Review Journals in French, Spanish and German

This year the library is subscribing to several journals for the review of children's literature in French, German and Spanish respectively. We are also subscribing to publications which feature children's literature from the UK and Australia. We believe that these journals will help us with our collection development in the library. Hopefully they also will be of interest to you and useful for you as you contemplate purchases for your classroom and selection of summer reading list books. Please take a look at these new publications when you have time (the first issues have not yet arrived, but we will keep you posted!)

Interested in a Web 2.0 Online Workshop?

Librarians and teachers are full of great ideas to use new online social networking tools such as blogs, nings, wikis, great graphics and podcasts. When you hear "Web 2.0", think of these forms of communication and information sharing that are now available through programs on the World Wide Web. Would you like to know more? Here is a website for a self-managed online workshop that leads you each week through well known technologies in the Web 2.0 environment. Don't be left behind! Explore Web 2.0 in the safety of your own home and you'll develop the confidence to be part of this growing community of learners. Here is the website for this free online workshop sponsored by the California Library Association:

http://schoollibrarylearning2.blogspot.com

If you prefer to work through a course like this with a group of colleagues, please let me know. Shelley Paul, the leader of the IT workshop that Tom put together last spring, offers a very similar course and she encourages groups of teachers to sign up together to provide support for each other. I am taking Shelley's course right now and can let you know more about it.

Accelerated Reader and Antolin

All students currently in grades 2 - 5 are now enrolled in Accelerated Reader and can begin taking quizzes. I hope that very soon we will have the new reading "challenge" for this year lined up and will be able to share it with you. We have lots of new books with quizzes in English and Spanish. Please encourage students to take quizzes in the computer labs or the library during independent checkout times. You can also visit the library as a class to take quizzes and check out books. Please just let us know you are coming either by the FS Direct system or the sign up sheet in Primary School.

We are currently in the process of subscribing to Antolin, a German online reading quiz program. Hopefully Antolin will be available by the end of the month.