A great source of information on a daily basis is Ian Jukes’ the committed sardine blog, part of the 21st Century Fluency Project.

Issues and Trends in Intellectual Freedom for Teacher Librarians: Where We’ve Come From and Where We’re Heading

Angela Maycock of ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom provides a summary of major issues pertinent to libraries, including school libraries, and provides ALA’s position on those issues. From access to new technologies to digital censorship to the phenomenon that Economic Downturn = Intellectual Freedom Downturn, Maycock concludes the more things change, the more they stay same.

GLBTQ Collections Are for Every Library Serving Teens!

Elisabeth W. Rauch argues for the importance GLBTQ books for teens in all libraries, especially school libraries. She presents convincing evidence supporting the need for, and positive effects of, such collections. Rauch discusses challenges and other opposition and how to deal with them.

Books That Won’t Make You (Or Your Teens) Blush!

VOYA magazine editor-in-chief RoseMary Honnold has compiled a list of books for teens she calls “gentle readers” and points out that intellectual freedom for teens and students includes the right to read books that are not the edgiest and provocative. Her discussion is very interesting; her list of books is very useful.

Mobile Digital Devices: Dipping Your Toes in Technological Waters

Rebecca A. Hill provides a useful introduction to the use of mobile devices in school, including the classroom, pointing out their educational benefits, as well as the problems and difficulties (technological, social, and financial) their use faces. Several interesting examples are provided. This will be the first in an irregular series of articles on the topic.

The Twitter Toolbox for Educators

Steven Anderson provides a short primer on Twitter, how it works, how to use it, why to use it, and how. Anderson presents several models for using Twitter as an educational tool both inside and outside of the classroom.

Making a Difference with Smart Tablets: Are iPads Really Beneficial for Students with Autism?

Amy Price reports on a fascinating study she conducted involving the use of iPads at her school, Oakstone Academy, where students with autism are immersed in all academic and social activities with their typically-developing peers. This preliminary study, which could be a call to action research, suggests some interesting uses of iPads and similar technology for challenged students.

Plus Best Buys, BookMarkIt, and our many Departments, including…

Author Portrait: Much More Than Annie on Her Mind: An Interview with Nancy Garden

Manifesto for 21st Century Teacher Librarians

By Joyce Kasman Valenza

October 2010

A couple of summers back a young school librarian, fresh out of library school, asked a very honest question at one of our state retreats:

We’re all doing different stuff. The other school librarians I know are not doing what I am doing. Some maintain Web sites and blogs; others do not. Some have seriously retooled; others have not. In the 21st century, what does a school librarian do?

Well into the 21st century, it is clear that the concept of modern teacher librarian practice is not clear. There is no textbook for what effective practice looks like in continually morphing information and communication landscapes.

What I know for sure is that if the Joyce who graduated from library school in 1976 (and again with a school specialty in 1988), heck, if the Joyce from the 2007/2008 school year, were to visit my library today, she would be stunned by the differences in my/our practice.

In the past few years many of us have re-imagined school library for learners using the array of new tools and abilities in front of us today.

And in my humble opinion some aspects of emerging practice are nonnegotiable.

You know you are a 21st century school librarian if . . .

Reading

● You consider new ways to promote reading. You are piloting/supplying learners with downloadable audio books,Playaways, Kindles, iPads, Nooks.

● You share ebook apps with students for their iPhones, droids, and iPads and other mobile devices (Check out Gale’s AccessMyLibrary, School Edition)

● You market, and your students share, books using social networking tools like Shelfari, Good Reads, orLibraryThing.

● Your students blog or tweet or network in some way about what they are reading

● Your desktop screensavers promote great reads, not Dell or Apple or HP.

● You link to available free ebook collections using such tools as Google Books, International Children’s Digital Library (See ebook pathfinder.)

● You review and promote books in your own blogs and wikis and other websites. (Also Reading2.0 and BookLeads Wiki for book promotion ideas)

● You embed ebooks on your websites to encourage reading and support learning

● You work together with learners to create and share digital booktalks or book trailers.

Information Landscape

● You know that searching various areas of the Web requires a variety of search tools. You are the information expert in your building. You are the search expert in your building. You share an every growing and shifting array of search tools that reach into blogs and wikis and Twitter and images and media and scholarly content.

● You open your students to evolving strategies for collecting and evaluating information. You teach about tags, and hashtags, and feeds, and real-time searches and sources, as well as the traditional database approaches you learned way back in library school.

● You organize the Web for learners. You have the skills to create a blog or website or wiki or portal of some other type to pull together resources to meet the specific information needs of your learning community.

● You make sure your learners and teachers can (physically & intellectually) access developmentally and curricularlydatabases, portals, websites, blogs, videos, and other media.

● Your presence reflects your personal voice. It includes your advice and your instruction, as well as your links. You make learning an engaging and colorful hybrid experience.

● You think of your web presence as a knowledge management tool for your entire school. It includes student-produced instruction and archived (celebrated) student work, handouts, policies, and collaboratively built pathfindersto support learning and research in all learning arenas. (Checkout Pathfinder Swap for examples.)

● You help learners put together their own personal information portals and Knowledge Building Centers to support their research and learning, using widgets, embedded media, and personal information portals like iGoogle,PageFlakes ,and NetVibes and wikis and Google Sites.

● You intervene in the research process online while respecting young people’s need for privacy.

● You work with learners to exploit push information technologies like RSS feeds and tags and saved databases and search engine searches relevant to their information needs.

● Your own feeds are rich with learning content, evidence of your networking. You embed dynamic widgets(including your own database widgets) wherever students live, work, and play.

● You integrate dynamic interactive features in your library’s website–Google calendars, RSS feeds, deliciousbookmarks, Flickr photo galleries, online presentations, blogs, surveys, polls, as ways to interact with and teach students.

Communication and publishing and storytelling

● You know that communication is the end-product of research and you teach learners how to communicate and participate creatively and engagingly. You consider new interactive and engaging communication tools for student projects.

● Include and collaborate with your learners. You let them in. You fill your physical and virtual space with student work, student contributions—their video productions, their original music, their art.

● Know and celebrate that students can now publish their written work digitally. (See these pathfinders: Digital Publishing, Digital Storytelling)

Collection Development

● You expand your notion of collection.

● You no longer strive for the standard catalog, long-tail, just-in-case approach. In tight times, with shared catalogs and easy online purchasing, a just-in-time approach is far more effective. You build your own collection collaboratively, with an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the available collections around you.

● Collection should include: ebooks, audiobooks, open source software, streaming media, flash drives, digital video cameras, laptops, tripods, RSS feeds, and much more! And we should seek effective, federated approaches to ensure these diverse formats and platforms are equally and seamlessly accessible.

● You involve your community in collection building using interactive polls and web-based suggestion forms.

● You understand that library is not just a place to get stuff, it is a place to make stuff, collaborate on and share stuff. Not a grocery store, but a kitchen!

● Your collection–on- and offline–includes student work. You use digital publishing tools to help students share and celebrate their written and artistic work.

Facilities, your physical space

● You know your physical space is about books and way more than books. Your space is a libratory. You welcome, and create space for, media production—podcasting, video production, storytelling–producing and presenting.

● You welcome and host telecommunications events and group gathering for planning and research and social networking.

● You cope with ubiquity. No, you learn to love it. Ubiquity changes everything. In one-to-one schools, students may visit the library less frequently. In such environments, in all modern, truly relevant environments, library must also be ubiquitous. Library MUST be everywhere. Librarians must teach everywhere, in and outside of the library.

● You realize you will often have to partner and teach in classroom teachers’ classrooms. One-to-one classrooms change your teaching logistics. You teach virtually. You are available across the school via email and chat.

● You know that laptops can actually walk back to the library for its space and additional resources in all formats.

Access , Equity, Advocacy

● You are concerned about a new digital divide: those who can effectively find quality information in all media formats, and those who cannot.

● You are concerned about a new digital divide: those who have access to the new tools for creation and publishing and those who do not.

● You consider just-in-time, just-for-me learning as your responsibility and are proud that you own real estate your students’ desktops and mobile devices 24/7.

● You grapple with issues of equity. You provide open source alternatives to students and teachers who need them. You lend flash sticks and laptops and cameras and . . . You ensure your students can easily get to the stuff they most need by using kid-friendly terms and by creating pathfinders.

● You ensure that all students have access to readings appropriate for their differentiated needs and offer books in a variety of formats.

● You know that one-to-one classrooms will change your teaching logistics. You realize you will often have to partner and teach in classroom teachers’ classrooms. You will teach virtually. You will be available across and outside the school via email and chat.

● You don’t stop at “no.” You fight for the rights of students to have and use the tools they need. This is an equity issue. Access to the new tools is an intellectual freedom issue.

Audience and collaboration

● You recognize that the work your students create has audience and that they may share newly constructed knowledge globally on powerful networks,. You help them see that they have the potential to make social, cultural, and political impact.

● You recognize that learners may share their ideas and participate in dialogs beyond the walls of the library or classroom.

● You exploit the cloud as a strategy for student collaboration, sharing and publishing.

● You share with students their responsibilities for participating in social networks.

● You see teleconferencing tools like Skype as ways to open your library to authors, experts, book discussion, debates, and more. Consider starting by examining Skype an Author Network.

● You use new tools for collaboration. Your students create together, They synthesize information, enhance their writing through peer review and negotiate content in blogs and wikis and using tools like GoogleDocs, Flickr,Voicethread, Animoto and a variety of other writing or mind mapping and storytelling tools.

● You help students create their own networks for learning and extracurricular activities.

Copyright, Copyleft and Information Ethics

● You teach students to care about their own digital footprints–and monitor them using people search tools.

● You encourage students to develop academic–NOT invisible–digital footprints.

● You teach students about norms for appropriate behavior in wikis and blogs.

● You model respect for intellectual property in a world of shift and change. You encourage and guide documentation for media in all formats.

● You lead students to Web-based citation generators and note-taking tools to guide them in these efforts.

● You recognize and lead students and teachers to the growing number of copyright-friendly or copyleft portals.

● You understand Creative Commons licensing and you are spreading its gospel.

● You encourage learners to apply Creative Commons licenses to their own creations.

● You are revising and expanding your notion of Fair Use in line with the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media LiteracyEducation .

● You say “yes” a lot more. You know that in their creative remixes and mash-ups, students may use the copyrighted works of others in their own work without asking permission under certain conditions. You are discussing transformativeness with students and faculty. (See The Cost of Copyright Confusion for Media Literacy and Fair useand transformativeness: It may shake your world)

● You use a tool for reasoning whether a proposed use is Fair Use. (Tool for reasoning Fair Use.pdf)

You ask students to ask these two questions when they are using the copyrighted work of others in their own media:

1. Did the unlicensed use transform the material taken from the copyrighted work by using it for a different purpose than that of the original, or did it just repeat the work for the same intent and value as the original?

2. Was the material taken appropriate in kind and amount, considering the nature of the copyrighted work and of the use?

(From the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education)

New Technology Tools

● You consider iPods and iPhones and iPads learning tools and storage devices and reference sources. You know that when you interrupt a student she might be in the middle of a chapter, recording a podcast, transferring data, taking audio notes. You establish classroom or library academic guidelines and norms for their use during the school day.

● You know this is only the beginning of social networking. Students will get to their Facebook accounts through proxy servers and their mobile devices despite any efforts to block them. You plan educationally meaningful ways to incorporate student excitement (and your own) for social networking. You establish classroom or library academic guidelines and norms for their use during the school day.

● You consider your role as info-technology scout. You look to make “learning sense” of the authentic new information and communication tools used in business and academics. You figure out how to use them thoughtfully and you help classroom teachers use them with their classes.

Professional Development and Professionalism

● You seek professional development that will help you grow even if it is not offered by your school district. Even if you don’t get PD credit. You can’t “clock” these hours.

● You build your own personal/professional learning network using social networking tools

● You guide your teacher colleagues in setting up their own professional learning networks.

● You read both edtech journals and edtech blogs, not just the print literature of our own profession.

● You follow selected educators,experts, authors, etc. with microblogging apps like Twitter

● You use Twitter to mine realtime chat about your professional interests. You use hashtags like #tlchat and #edchat

● You learn by visiting the webcast archives of conferences you cannot attend. (For instance, ISTE)

● You share your new knowledge with others using social bookmarking tools like Delicious and Diigo.

● You set up feed readers to push the blog of experts and educators you respect to you on a regular basis.

● You join a Ning or other social network for instance:

○ Classroom20NingTeacherLibrarianNing

○ English Companion

○ NCTE Conference Ning

○ ISTE Ning

○ Future of Education

● You are contributing to the development of a new brand for our profession. When your students move on to the next library, they are going to expect visionary service and instruction and caring, helpful relationships.

Teaching and Learning and Reference

● You are figuring out how to be present for your learners and teachers 24/7, at the point of the information, research, or communication need. Ubiquity changes everything. With computers in every classroom and every home, heck with computers in every pocket, how are you going to share your wisdom and collaborate?

● You understand that learning can (and should) be playful.

● You understand that learning should be authentic.

● You understand that learning can be multi-modal, media-rich, customized to the needs of individual learners.

● You know the potential new technologies offer for interaction–learners as both information consumers and producers. You understand that in this world learners have the power to create and share knowledge.

● You are concerned that, when it matters, your students move beyond information satisficing. They make solid information decisions.

● You are concerned that students learn to evaluate, to triangulate information in all media formats. We must guide them in an increasingly complex world, to make information decisions, to evaluate all their information choices, including books, blogs, wikis, streamed media, whatever comes next.

● You are concerned and excited about what you can do that Google or Wikipedia cannot. What customized services and instruction will you offer that will not be outsourced to Bangalore?

● You continually share new understandings of searching, and evaluation, and analysis and synthesis, and digital citizenship, and communication, integrating and modeling our new standards, dispositions and common beliefs.

● You understand that exploration and freedom are key to engaging students in a virtual environment to promote independent learning.

● You know the potential new technologies offer for interaction–learners as both information consumers and creative information producers.

● You ensure that the library provides an independent learning environment that connects students and teachers in a social, digital, community.

Into the Future (acknowledging the best of the past)

● You unpack the good stuff you carried from your 20th century trunk. Rigor, and inquiry, and high expectations, and information and media fluency matter no matter what the medium. So do excitement, engagement, and enthusiasm.

● You lead. And you look ahead for what is coming down the road. You continually scan the landscape. As the information and communication landscapes continue to shift, do you know where you are going? You plan for change. Not for yourself, not just for the library, but for the building, for your learners.

● You see the big picture and let others see you seeing it. It’s about learning and teaching. It’s about engagement. If you are seen only as the one who closes up for inventory, as the book chaser, and NOT as the CIO, the inventor, the creative force, you won’t be seen as a big picture person.

● You continue to retool and learn.

● You represent our brand (who the teacher-librarian is) as a 21st century information professional. What does the information professional look like today? Ten years from today? If you do not develop strong vision, your vision will be usurped by the visions of others. You will not be able to lead from the center.

● You enjoy what you do and let others know it. It’s always better when you do what you love. (If you don’t love this new library world, find something else to do.)

● You continue to consider and revise your vision and feed it with imagination. Think outside the box. Heck, there is no box!

This modest “manifesto” describes my idea what today’s practice ought to look like. In a blog post, a little while back I pondered the flip side of that young librarian’s question.

What modern practice looks like also has a lot to do with what it doesn’t look like.

Here’s a list of things I believe teacher librarians should unlearn:

1. That the little things really matter to those we serve and teach. (For instance, whether or not we decide to shelve Mc and Mac together.)

2. That you should annually close a library for inventory.

3. That Boolean logic is the best search strategy since sliced bread.

4. That Wikipedia is bad, or less-than-good, in almost every context.

5. That databases are the only online sources with value and credibility.

6. That having a web presence, no–that having a really good and really useful web presence–is optional.

7. That someone else is exclusively or ultimately responsible for learning relating to information and communication and search technologies.

8. That the price initially quoted is the price you have to pay.

9. That vendors’ have the final say.

10. That issues relating to Fair Use are generally going to be answered with the word no.

11. That no really means no or will continue to mean no when it comes to issues relating to access to the information and communication tools of today and intellectual freedom.

12. That intellectual freedom is a phrase connected to books alone.

13. That libraries should be quiet.

14. That libraries should be tidy.

15. That a library’s effectiveness and impact should be measured by the number of books it circulates.

16. That your stakeholders automatically will know what you contribute to your school or your community’s culture.

17. That a library is merely a place to get stuff.

18. That your collection should be just-in-case rather than just-in-time.

19. That someone else is responsible for your professional development.

20. That ubiquity won’t change your practice profoundly.

21. That your library is bounded by its walls.

22. That your library is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

23. That there is a box. (to think outside)

Joyce Kasman Valenza loves her work as the librarian at Springfield Township High School (PA)!

For ten years, she was the techlife@school columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Joyce is the author of Power Tools, Power Research Tools and Power Tools Recharged for ALA Editions. (PowerTools Remixed is currently in progress.) She currently blogs for School Library Journal. Her NeverendingSearch Blog (now on the SLJ Web site) won an Edublogs Award for 2005, was nominated in 2008, and won again in 2009. She was awarded the AASL/Highsmith research grant in 2005. Her Virtual Library won the IASL School Library Web Page of the Year Award for 2001. She has won her state’s PSLA Outstanding Program (2005) and Outstanding Contributor (2009) Awards. Joyce is active in ALA, AASL, YALSA, and ISTE and contributes to Classroom Connect, VOYA,Technology and Learning, and School Library Journal. Joyce speaks nationally and internationally about issues relating to libraries and thoughtful use of educational technology. She earned her doctoral degree in Information Science from the University of North Texas in August, 2007.

Contact Joyce at joyce_valenza@sdst.org

Manifesto for 21st Century school Librarians by VOYA Magazine, E L Kurdyla Publishing; Joyce Kasman Valenza, author is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at publisher@voya.com.

Research suggests that reading motivation and achievement are increased when children are exposed to literature that offers them “personal stories, a view of their cultural surroundings, and insight on themselves” (Heflin & Barksdale-Ladd, 2001, p. 810). For African American children who are attempting to make the transition to independent, self-regulating texts, finding this type of literature can be challenging. Gangi (2008) found that “there is an ‘unbearable whiteness’ in literacy instruction in the United States” (p. 12). That is, in general, teachers tend to use resources in their literacy instruction that feature white children, rather than children of color. Hughes-Hassell, Barkley, & Koehler (2009) noted that only 16.9% of the transitional books (levels J-M) included in the Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Book List database (www.FountasandPinnellLeveledBooks.com), which is used by many schools across the country as the basis for literacy instruction, included African American children. Thus, while white children can easily find books that feature characters that look like them, assuring that as they transition from easy readers to chapter books they see themselves over and over in the books they read, the same is not true for African American children.

In this article we take a closer look at this issue. We begin by discussing the characteristics of books that support transitional readers. We follow this with a summary of the research on reading motivation and achievement, including the potential role of African American authors in supporting the literacy development of Black students.  We end with a discussion of strategies teacher-librarians can employ to support African American transitional readers, including an annotated bibliography of contemporary transitional novels that feature African American children.

CHARACTERISTICS OF BOOKS THAT SUPPORT TRANSITIONAL READERS

Transitional readers need books that support their development as readers in the same way as the repetitive language and structure of emergent and early readers supported them when they were first learning to read (Taberski, 2000).  The level of text support varies from book to book, but often includes:

• Short chapters that can be read in one sitting;
• Short paragraphs with sentences that are usually short and lines that break at the end of a sentence;
• More challenging and unusual vocabulary;
• Illustrations that enhance the text and provide a sense of familiarity to the reader;
• A table of contents that lists the individual chapter titles (Szymusiak et al., 2008; Taberski, 2000)

Many transitional books are series books whose characters, style, and likely story progression is familiar.  Well known examples include the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park, the Bailey School Kids by Debbie Dadey, and the Cam Jansen series by David A. Adler.

FACTORS THAT AFFECT READING MOTIVATION AND ACHIEVEMENT

Motivation is a key determinant of reading success.  Research suggests that children tend to prefer and are more likely to engage with literature if it reflects their personal experiences (Cianciolo 1989; DeLeón 2002; Heflin & Barksdale-Ladd, 2001; McCollin & O’Shea 2005).  According to Heflin & Barksdale, if children of color rarely see books that reflect their own real-life experiences they may become frustrated and elect to disengage from reading altogether. They may even “begin to wonder whether they, their families, and their communities fit into the world of reading” (Heflin & Barksdale, 2001, p. 811). Conversely, if they are continuously exposed to engaging literature with characters that they can recognize and relate to, they are more likely to find reading appealing (Bell & Clark, 1998; Ferdman, 1990; Gangi, 2008; Heflin & Barksdale, 2001).

Increased engagement with texts and amplified motivation to read are not the only benefits of exposing children of color to multicultural literature. Research shows that interactions with culturally relevant texts are linked to increased reading comprehension, recall and even phonological awareness (Bell & Clark, 1998; Conrad et al, 2004; McCollin & Shea, 2005).

Bell & Clarke (1998) examined the effects of racial imagery and cultural themes in reading content on comprehension and recall with more than 100 African American children in grades one through four. After listening to a story and viewing the accompanying illustrated story manuscript, the students were asked a series of questions designed to assess their recall and comprehension.  The researchers found that the African American students’ reading comprehension and recall were more efficient and accurate when the text and illustrations of the reading materials reflected themes consistent with their own sociocultural experiences than when they depicted White imagery and culturally distant themes.  The researchers concluded that a key factor in bridging the reading gap between children of color and White children is to consider cultural factors in the production and selection of reading materials.

Conrad et al. (2004) tested the efficacy of combining culturally responsive teaching, including the use of culturally relevant text, with Text Talk, a technique used with young children during read-alouds to foster oral language and comprehension.  The researchers found that combining the two strategies improved the comprehension and oral language skills of all of the second grade students who participated in their study, thus providing “a gateway to successful reading for students who were finding learning to read challenging” (Conrad et al. 2004, p. 189). They concluded that when adults take into consideration children’s knowledge, interests, conceptions, and culture during storybook read-alouds, they are able to more effectively promote learning.

In their work with students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, McCollin & O’Shea (2005) found that using culturally and linguistically relevant reading material not only fostered reading comprehension, but also helped address phonological awareness gaps and contributed to improved fluency.  They argue that using materials that hold meaning to the students is key to supporting their reading acquisition skills and strengthening their reading motivation.

Thus, it appears that cultural knowledge is a significant tool that mediates the comprehension process for African American students.  By combining the use of culturally relevant texts with instructional strategies that focus on building on prior knowledge, educators are more likely to attain their goal of promoting high achievement for all students.

IMPORTANCE OF AUTHORS/ILLUSTRATORS TO LITERACY DEVELOPMENT

Another key function of literacy instruction is providing mentors for children through author and illustrator studies (McNair, 2008c).  As McNair (2008c) argues, if we want African American children, especially males, to aspire to careers beyond professional sports or music, then we need to provide them with role models, a function that writers from their own backgrounds can play.  But many of the authors who have historically written transitional novels are white.

Data from the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC) of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that 7.2% of all children’s books published in 2008 were created by authors or illustrators of color, but our examination of the Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Book List database (www.FountasPinnellLeveledBooks.com)  revealed that only 2.2% of the books listed for transitional readers were created by authors or illustrators of color (Hughes-Hassell, Barkley, & Koehler, 2009). Thus, it seems that at a time in their lives when it is most critical for them to engage with texts, African American children are not being presented with enough books that are written by people who can provide culturally authentic literature.

RECOMMENDED STRATEGIES

One of the ways teacher-librarians can support African American transitional readers in their quest to become motivated, engaged, successful, independent readers is to provide professional development for teachers and administrators about the role multicultural literature plays in reading motivation and achievement for African American children. Many teachers may be unaware of the negative consequences using literature that features mainly animals and white children potentially has on the literacy development of African American children. Include in this conversation, a discussion of the importance of dispelling the belief among some Black children that doing well in school is an exclusively white domain (Tatum, 1997).  It is not too early to provide a counterstory to this misconception, and one way to do that is to provide books created by African American authors and illustrators.

A related, and empowering, strategy is for teacher-librarians to work with students to write letters to the major publishing houses to request that they produce more transitional books that feature children of color.  They could also write to their favorite African American authors, asking them to consider publishing in this format.  As Tatum (1997) points out, it is important for children to not only recognize inequities, but to know that something can be done about them.  She reminds us that with adult guidance children are capable of group activism.

Another strategy to support these readers is to partner with parents. As Szymusiak et al (2008) argue, “the bridge between home and school is crucial for transitional readers” (p. 198), yet many parents do not know how to support their children at this stage of their reading development.  Teacher-librarians can help fill this gap in their knowledge in the following ways:

• Provide parents with information on how to help their children choose appropriate books (see Figure 1).  This information could be available on the library’s website, as a bookmark, as a flyer, and/or as a regular feature in the library newsletter.
• Develop recommendation lists that include not only book titles but also reasons for each recommendation (Szymusiak et al, 2008).  Create these lists for the monthly book order forms that teachers distribute and for the bookfair. elopin Consider devg a “Need a Gift?—Here are Some Great Books!” list for parents.  Make these lists available in as many formats as possible.
• Host “Grand Discussions” with transitional readers and their families (Szymusiak et al, 2008). Choose a book, invite families to read the book together and then to gather in the library to discuss the book with other families. Provide copies of the books so that all families can participate, not only those that have the finances to purchase books.  As Szymusiak et al (2008) note parents of transitional readers often stop reading with their children.  Grand Discussions give families an opportunity to read together, to talk about their responses to the book with each other, and to connect with other readers.

Figure1: Information for Parents on Helping Their Children Choose Appropriate Books

Another key way teacher-librarians can use to support African American transitional readers is to employ appropriate teaching techniques. For example, develop mini-lessons that focus on comprehension, understanding new vocabulary words, making predictions, and so forth—the kinds of support that transitional readers need.  In their book Moving Beyond Leveled Books Szymusiak et al (2008) offer specific strategies.  Although designed for the classroom teacher, many of them are appropriate for use by the teacher-librarian. For example, one mini-lesson might focus on making predictions using series books.  The teacher-librarian might begin the lesson by reading aloud a series book such as How to Lose Your Class Pet by Valerie Wilson Wesley.  After the reading, the teacher-librarian would show the other books in the series and explain to the students that after reading one or two books in a series we are better able to predict what might happen in the next book because we know the characters and the author’s style of writing.

Developing reading ladders is another strategy teacher-librarians can use.  Lesesne (2010) describes reading ladders as a “series or set of books that are related in some way (e.g. thematically) and that demonstrate a slow, gradual development from simple to more complex” (p. 48).  The goal of using reading ladders is to provide the scaffolding that students need to not only satisfy their reading experiences, but to also develop as independent readers.  See Figure 2 for an example of a reading ladder focused on baseball that is designed to move transitional readers to more difficult texts and to introduce new genres, in this case historical fiction and nonfiction.

Figure 2. Baseball Reading Ladder

Teacher-librarians can also engage students in self-reflection. Ask them to write about their reading—the process not just the content.  For example, ask them to respond to a prompt such as “What do you do when you come to a word you don’t know?”  Also have them keep reading logs in which they record the types of books they are reading (i.e. realistic fiction, fantasy, mystery, information, etc.).  Use the reading logs to get them to reflect on questions such as:

• What type of books are you reading?
• Why are you interested in those books?
• How do you decide which books to read?
• Have you chosen anything that was too hard or too easy?  (Szymusiak et. al 2008, p. 190)

As Szymusiak and her colleagues (2008) point out, “these questions encourage children to think about different aspects of their growth as readers, rather than just doing daily, piecemeal log entries of what I’ve read” (p. 191).

Finally, provide students with transition books that feature characters that look like them and whose life stories mirror their own experiences and culture. Lead students in discussing the books, making sure to honor their voices (Tatum 2009). As Sharon Flake (2008) reminds us:

Black boys will read.  But to get them off to a flying start, we’ve got to give them books that remind them of home—who they are. When this happens, they fly through books—even the most challenged readers.  They hunger for the work like a homeless man finally getting a meal that’s weeks overdue. (Flake 2007, p. 14)

To assist in the development of a collection that will engage African American transitional readers, we offer the following list of novels about contemporary African American children, some of whom are mixed race. All are written by African American authors, published in the twenty-first century, and include the text supports that transitional readers need. The books have Lexile ratings between 300 and 700 and are appropriate for readers in grades two through five.  All of the books were recommended in either NoveList Plus (http://www.ebscohost.com/novelist/) and/or reviewed in authoritative journals such as School Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, or Hornbook Guide.

Recommended Transitional Novels By and About African American Children

Barnes, Derrick D. Ruby and the Booker Boys series. New York: Scholastic.

• Brand New School, Brave New Ruby (2008). 0545017602.
• Trivia Queen, Third Grade Supreme (2008). 0545017610.
• Slumber Party Payback (2008). 0545017629.
• Ruby Flips for Attention (2009). 0545017637.

Summary: When Ruby Booker starts third grade at a brand new school, she decides that she won’t be living in the shadow of her popular older brothers. She has big plans, and she aims to make a name for herself in the third grade!

DeGross, Monalisa. Donavan’s Double Trouble. New York, Harper Collins, 2007. 006077293X.

Summary: Donavan is a fourth grader who is sensitive about the difficulty he has understanding math. When his favorite uncle returns home from National Guard duty after losing both of his legs, Donavan becomes even more embarrassed and confused as he struggles to accept his uncle’s disability.

Draper, Sharon M. Sassy series. New York: Scholastic.

• Little Sister is Not My Name (2009). 0545071550.
• The Birthday Storm (2009). 0545071526.
• The Silver Secret (2010). 0545071534.

Summary: Nine-year-old Sassy hates being the youngest and smallest member of her family, a position that has earned her the nickname Little Sister. In this series of books Sassy comes to realize how special she really is, and she recognizes the importance of family.

English, Karen. Nikki and Deja series. New York: Clarion.

• Nikki and Deja (2007). 0547133626.
• Birthday Blues (2009). 0547248938.
• The Newsy News Newsletter (2009). 0547222475.

Summary: This series follows best friends Nikki and Deja through third and fourth grade as they learn important lessons about friendship, fitting in, and responsibility.

Flake, Sharon G. The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33^rd Street. New York: Hyperion, 2008. 1423100352.

Summary: Ten-year-old Queen is spoiled and arrogant, and all of her classmates dislike her. When a new boy in school claims that he is actually an African prince, Queen becomes determined to prove that he is lying. Along the way, she learns that friends can sometimes be found in the most unexpected places.

Flood, Pansie Hart. Tiger Turcotte series. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books.

• It’s Test Day, Tiger Turcotte (2004). 1575056704.
• Tiger Turcotte Takes on the Know-it-All (2005). 1575059002.

Summary: Tiger Turcotte is African American, Hispanic, and Native American. In this series he struggles to overcome issues like deciding how to fill in his race on the big second-grade test and confronting his arch-enemy in detention.

Grimes, Nikki. Dyamonde Daniel series. New York: Putnam.

• Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel (2009). 0399251758.
• Rich (2009). 0399251766.

Summary: Forced to move to a new neighborhood and a new school after her parents’ divorce, Dyamonde is lonely in her third-grade class until she finds a best friend, another new kid named Free. In Rich, Free and Dyamonde learn a lesson from another classmate about what it really means to be rich or poor.

Johnson, Angela. Maniac Monkey’s on Magnolia Street. Knopf, 1999. 9780679890539.

Summary: Ten-year-old Charlie moves to a new neighborhood where she meets Billy.  The two friends have more than their fair share of adventures, including chasing maniac monkeys.

Johnson, Angela. When Mules Flew on Magnolia Street. Knopf, 2000. 9780679890775.

Summary: It’s summer and  Charlie is off on a whole new set of adventures, including going fishing with her friends and investigating the disappearance of her neighbors.

McKissack, Patricia and McKissack, Frederick. Miami Jackson series. New York: Golden Books.

• Miami Gets it Straight (1999). 0307265013.
• Miami Makes the Play (2001). 0307265056.
• Miami Sees it Through (2002). 0307265137.

Summary: This series follows Miami Jackson from the end of third grade until the beginning of fourth grade as he says goodbye to one teacher and learns to accept another, deals with his nemesis, Destinee Tate, and participates in a summer baseball camp.

Richardson, Charisse K. The Real Slam Dunk. Atlanta, GA: EnRich Communications, 2001. 0142402125.

Summary: Ten-year-old Marcus rethinks his dream of becoming a professional basketball player after he has the chance to meet a real NBA basketball star.

Richardson, Charisse K. The Real Lucky Charm. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers 2005. 0142404314.

Summary: Marcus’s twin sister Mia believes that a lucky gold charm, rather than hard work and practice, is the source of her success on the school’s co-ed basketball team.

Wayans, Kim. Amy Hodgepodge Series. New York: Grosset and Dunlap.

• All Mixed Up (2008). 0448448548.
• Happy Birthday to Me (2008). 0448448556.
• Lost and Found (2008). 0448448971
• Playing Games (2008). 044844898X.
• The Secret’s Out (2009). 0448450798.
• Digging Up Trouble (2009). 0448450801.

Summary: Amy Hodges, a girl of mixed Caucasian, African American, and Asian heritage, has a new nickname: Amy Hodgepodge. This series follows Amy as she starts fourth grade at a new school after being homeschooled all of her life.

Wesley, Valerie Wilson. Willimena Rules series. New York: Hyperion Books.

• How to Lose Your Class Pet (2003). 0786813229.
• How to Fish for Trouble (2004). 0756955491.
• How to Lose Your Cookie Money (2005). 0786851465.
• How to (Almost) Ruin Your Class Play (2005). 0786852593.
• 23 Ways to Mess Up Valentine’s Day (2005). 078685524X.
• How to Face Up to the Class Bully (2007). 0786855258.
• How to Have the Best Kwanzaa Ever (2007). 1423100379.

Summary: Third grader Willimena offers step-by-step instructions for creating trouble and finding ways out of it.

REFERENCES

Bell, Y.R., & Clark, T.R. 1998. Culturally relevant reading material as related to comprehension and recall in African American children. Journal of Black Psychology, 24(4), 455-475.

Cianciolo, P. 1989. No small challenge: Literature for the transitional readers. Language Arts, 66(1), 72-81.

Conrad, N.K., Gong, Y., Sipp, L., & Wright, L. 2004. Using text talk as a gateway to culturally responsive teaching. Early Childhood Education Journal, 31(3), 187-192.

DeLeón, L. 2002. Multicultural literature: Reading to develop self-worth. Multicultural Education, 10(2), 49-51.

Ferdman, B. 1990. Literacy and cultural identity. Harvard Education Review, 60, 179-204.

Flake, S.G. 2007. Who says black boys won’t read? Journal of Children’s Literature, 34(1), 13-14.

Gangi, J.M. 2008. The unbearable whiteness of literacy instruction: Realizing the implications of the proficient reader research. Multicultural Review, 17(1), 30-35.

Heflin, B.R., & Barksdale-Ladd, M.A. 2001. African American children’s literature that helps students find themselves: Selection guidelines for grades K-3. Reading Teacher, 54(8), 810-819.

Hughes-Hassell, S., Barkley, H.A., & Koehler, E. (2009). Promoting Equity in Children’s Literacy Instruction: Using a Critical Race Theory Framework to Examine Transitional Books. SLMR, 12. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume12/hughes_hassell.cfm (Accessed February 25, 2010).

Lempke, S. D. 2008. Bridging the reading gap with early chapter books. Reading Today, 34(1), 34.

Lesesne, T. 2010. Reading Ladders: Leading Students from Where They Are to Where We’d Like for Them to Be. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman.

McCollin, M., & O’Shea, D. 2005. Increasing reading achievement of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Preventing School Failure, 50(1), 41-44.

McCullough, R.G. 2008. Untapped cultural support: The influence of culturally bound prior knowledge on comprehension performance. Reading Horizons, 49(1), 1-30.

McKenna, M., Kear, D., & Ellsworth, R. 1995. Children’s attitudes toward reading:  A

national survey. Reading Research Quarterly, 30(4), 934-956.

National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). 2007. Percentages at or above each achievement level for reading, grade 4, by year, jurisdiction, and race or ethnicity (from school records) [SDRACE]: 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2007. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2007496. (accessed June 12, 2009).

Scholastic. 2008. The 2008 Kids and Family Reading Report™. Retrieved Oct. 15, 2009, from http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/news/kfrr08web.pdf.

Szymusiak, K., Sibberson, F., & Koch, L. 2008. Beyond Leveled Books: Supporting Early and Transitional Readers in Grades K-5, 2^nd ed. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Taberski, S. 2000. On Solid Ground: Strategies for Teaching Reading K-3. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Tatum, A.W. 2009. Reading for Their Life: (Re) Building the Textual Lineages of African American Adolescent Males. Portsmouth, NH: Heineman.

Tatum, B. D. 1997. “Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” And Other Conversations About Race. New York: Basic Books.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS CITED

Adler, David A. Cam Jansen series. New York: Puffin.

Dadey, Debbie. Bailey School Kids. New York: Scholastic.

McKissack, Patricia. Home Run King. New York: Viking.

McKissack, Patricia & McKissack, Frederick.  Miami Jackson Makes the Play. New York: Random House.

O’Conner, Jim. Jackie Robinson and the Story of All Black Baseball. New York: Random House.

Park, Barbara. Junie B. Jones series. New York: Random House.

AUTHORS

Sandra Hughes-Hassell is associate professor in the School of Information & Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She may be contacted at smhughes@email.unc.edu.

Elizabeth Koehler is a Masters student in the School of Information & Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She may be contacted at ekoehler@email.unc.edu.

Heather A. Barkley is the school library media coordinator at the Dixon Road Elementary School in Willow Spring, NC. She may be contacted at heather.barkley@gmail.com.

Highlights from the survey:

Reading Books in the Digital Age

• From age 6 – 17, the time kids spend reading books for fun declines while the time kids spend going online for fun and using a cell phone to text or talk increases.
• Parents express concern that the use of electronic and digital devices negatively affects the time kids spend reading books, doing physical activities, and engaging with family.
• Technology can be a positive motivator to get kids reading – over half of kids (age 9-17) say they are interested in reading an eBook, and a third of children age 9-17 say they would read more books for fun if they had access to eBooks on an electronic device.

The Value of Reading

• When asked, children and parents agree the most important reason to read books for fun is to open up the imagination, be inspired, and to a lesser degree, to gain new information.
• Eight in ten kids feel proud and have a sense of accomplishment when they finish reading a book.
• While nearly eight in ten kids read for fun at least weekly, one in five kids reads books for fun less than once a week.

Role and the Power of Choice

• There are several tactics that parents use to encourage their children to read – including making sure there are interesting books at home, limiting the use of technology, and suggesting books their children might like.
• The most critical motivator to get to get kids reading is the power of choice. Nine out of ten children say that they are more likely to finish book they choose themselves.
• Parents don’t try to overly influence their children toward choosing award winning books or classic literature. Nine out of 10 parents say “As long as my child is reading, I just want my child to read books he/she likes.”

About 25 percent of the children surveyed said they had already read a book on a digital device, including computers and e-readers. Fifty-seven percent between ages 9 and 17 said they were interested in doing so.

Francie Alexander, the chief academic officer at Scholastic, called the report “a call to action.”

“I didn’t realize how quickly kids had embraced this technology,” Ms. Alexander said, referring to computers and e-readers or other portable devices that can download books. “Clearly they see them as tools for reading — not just gaming, not just texting. They see them as an opportunity to read.”

Read the press release:  http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/node/378

Read the survey: http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/themes/bare_bones/2010_KFRR.pdf

Read the New York Times story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/books/29kids.html?_r=1&hp

Visual Tools for Transforming Information into Knowledge, 2nd Ed.

David Hyerle

Corwin Press, 2009. 167 pp. $33.95. 978-1-4129-2426-9.

A number of visualization and mind mapping books have been reviewed in these pages over the past three years with a very positive rating because there are so many potential benefits to thinking through visualization. The older generation, accustomed to the old outlining may be rather puzzled by the squiggles and messy drawings that supposedly represent thinking, yet the appeal to a different part of the brain—the combination of the logical and the creative extends learning in new directions. For teacher-librarians who are not using such tools as Gliffy or Inspiration, this book is a good introduction to both the why and how of concept mapping. For those who have used the computer assists or just plain paper and pencil concept maps, this book is also a must read because it takes the simple visualization idea and pushes its possibilities from simple to high-level synthesis of complex concepts. The idea that those of us who are old outliners cannot do this visual stuff robs us of a significant tool is preposterous. Reading and studying the many examples and techniques in this book will provide a whole new world of possibilities.

Bottom line: A must study.

The Many Faces of School Library Leadership

Sharon Coatney, Ed.

Libraries Unlimited, 2010.  147p. $40.00. 978-1-59158-893-1.

Coatney asked luminaries of school librarianship to write essays describing the qualities of leaders, their strategies, their opportunities, and urging the entire community to push toward the center of teaching and learning. The topics and authors will help you decide on the purchase of this book: “Leading from the Middle: Building Influence for Change” by Ken Haycock; “Librarians and Learning Leaders: Cultivating Culture of Inquiry” by Vi Harada; “The School Librarian as an Advocacy Leader” by Deb Levitov; “Intellectual Freedom: Leadership to Preserve Minor’s Rights in School Library Media Programs” by Helen R. Adams; “Literacy Leadership and the School Library” by Douglas Achterman; “The Teacher Librarian as Curriculum Leader” by Jody K. Howard; “Pride and Prejudice and Technology Leadership” by Kristin Fontichiaro; “Staff Development—Teacher-Librarians as Learning Leaders” by Janice Gilmore-See; “Leadership and Your Professional School Library Association” by Blanche Woolls; and “Shifting our Vision for our Future: Leadership as a Foundational Element for Teacher-Librarians” by David Loertscher. A reading of the topics demonstrates the coverage of the major elements of the learning commons program in a school and district at a time when leadership is needed more than ever. Highly recommended both for the novice and the seasoned professional.

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REVIEW OF THE WEEK – JULY 12

Empowering Students with Technology, Second Edition

Alan November

Corwin Press, 2009. 115 pp. $25.95. 978-1-4129-7425-7.

Bottom line: Alan November has been a popular circuit speaker for many years and from outside the library world has been pushing the role of high quality information for use by students and teachers. In this second edition, he updates his chapters on the structure of information, a chapter about the expanded information environment, a chapter on the use of primary sources, and a final chapter about online education. These topics are often the subject of his talks and consulting to school districts around the world, so if you cannot hear him in person, this is a good source to bring you up to date on his thinking. A solid source of good advice.

http://www.waldenu.edu/Degree-Programs/Masters/36427.htm

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Project RED: This study was released at the recent ISTE conference (June 28, 2010) in Denver and had the following conclusions: technology-assisted classes help students stay in school and reduce drop-out rates; schools with 1:1 learning programs, when used successfully, have better education success than do schools with fewer computing devices and poor implementation, 80% of schools under-utilize technologies they have already purchased. Project RED conducted a national survey to analyze what is working in technology-transformed schools and to show how technology can save money when properly implemented. http://www.projectred.org/news/?p=65

The latest offering of the new publishing company Teacher Librarian Press, Learning Commons Treasury (2010) recognizes the direction of the work of school libraries. A collection of articles that appeared in the journal, the writings in this book range from descriptions of how individual schools achieved the transformation to a Learning Commons to analyses of the effect transformation has had on student learning and success.

In addition to that new work, check out as well, …

• The New School Learning Commons Where Learners Win. David V. Loertscher, Carol Koechlin, and Sandi Zwaan (Hi Willow Research & Publishing, 2008;  978-1-933170-40-4; $25.00)

• Building the Learning Commons: A Guide for School Administrators and Learning Leadership Teams: A Whole School Approach to Learning for the Future. Carol Koechlin, Esther Rosenfeld, and David V. Lher (Hi Willow Research & Publishing, 2010; 978-1-933170-59-6; 2010; $30.00)

• Learning Commons Treasury. David V. Loertscher and Elizabeth “Betty” Marcoux, Eds. (Teacher Librarian Press, 2010;  978-1-61751-000-7; $30.00)