June 2012

The June 2012 issue of Teacher Librarian has several featured articles of great interest and use:

Find Where You Fit in the Common Core, or The Time I Forgot about
Librarians and Reading
Rebecca Morris addresses the importance of reading in the Common Core Standards and in
the role of teacher librarians, even as we become instructional technology leaders. In turn,
she addresses the role to be played in CCSS by teacher librarians. This is a useful guide for all
teacher librarians.

The Common Core State Standards and Text CompLexity: What Librarians
Need to Know . . . and Do
Elfrieda H. Hiebert provides fascinating and important insight into the recognition of text
complexity by the Common Core State Standards. She identifies some of the ambiguities
and shortcomings in current readability formulas and provides ample evidence that human
interpretation and intervention are needed to use them correctly. Hiebert makes a strong case
for the teacher librarian to fill that role and also provides ways for teacher librarians to engage
students in reading to meet various CCSS.

Sequentially Smart—Using Graphic Novels across the K–12 Curriculum
Karen Gavigan shows how the use of graphic novels in the curriculum conforms to several
Common Core Standards. Her persuasive arguments are followed by an extensive list of
resources for GN collection development and curriculum use. Gavigan also provides lesson
plans for elementary, middle, and high school utilizing graphic novels.

Rethinking Reading Promotion: Old School Meets Technology
Rosemary Chance and Teri Lesesne provide an overview of traditional booktalks and their
benefits for students, a guide for how to create them, and finally how to expand them to include
other media as both topics and tools for the talks. The authors reinforce the importance of
reading for pleasure and the strong impact it can have on student learning.

Experience the “Shift”: Build an iCentre
Lyn Hay describes a welcome trend in Australia toward the design and building of iCentres
in schools. Similar in concept to the learning commons, the iCentre is a hub of teaching and
learning where teacher librarians, administrators, classroom teachers, IT staff and others
collaborate to create and a total learning environment for students. The growing acceptance of
iCentres and their recognition by various government and education authorities, is an exciting
development. Hay provides information and guidance which should be useful to anyone
adopting the learning commons approach.

Play in The Library: PrimordiaL Learning
Sherry R. Crow and Jennifer Robins explain the importance of play in the learning process and
provide an arsenal of evidence to support their argument. Their use of self-determination theory
(SDT) and its components—competence, autonomy, and relatedness – strengthens an already
strong case. Keep this article handy for the naysayers who eschew play in the learning process.

Report from the Field
Gail C. Bailey and Myra A. Paul report the fascinating and positive findings of an important study
conducted by their school district. Surprising few of us, the study found that school libraries and
teacher librarians make a significant contribution to student achievement. They provide very
useful information on the design and methodology of the study.