Professional Reading Reviews
Volume 32, Number 4, April 2005
David Loertscher
Thoughtful, in-depth reviews of the newest in professional resources for the school library.
ENHANCING TEACHING AND LEARNING: A LEADERSHIP GUIDE FOR SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALISTS, 2ND ED.
Jean Donham
Reviewed by Elizabeth Haynes
Ehaynes@netdoor.com
Jean Donham's stated purpose is "to help school library media professionals effect change in their program by integrating it into the school's overall instructional plan." She recognizes that librarianship requires both leadership and collaboration and that a good teacher-librarian should be able to practice both at the appropriate times in order to be an effective force for student learning in the school. This work effectively carries out its stated purpose through showing how professional best practices can be applied to create successful library media programs.
This new edition revises and adds to the information contained in the first edition. The book is still organized in the same way with the first section devoted to environment and the second section covering the library media program. The environment section contains chapters on students, curriculum and instruction, the principal, the school district, and the community. The section on the library media program covers such topics as collaborative planning, scheduling, collection, literacy, technology, information literacy, assessment of student work, program evaluation, and leadership. Each chapter contains action strategies and references. This edition also adds a section on scenarios for discussion, with roughly one scenario per chapter. The action strategies and scenarios enhance the value of the work as a text or guide for staff or self-development. (Neal-Schuman, 2005. $59.95. 300 pp. 1-55570-516-2).
Bottom Line: Practical strategies tied to recommended practice and background information.
REVIEWS BY DAVID LOERTSCHER:
UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKBOOK
Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins
McTighe and Wiggins have become giants in the area of instructional design and their original book, Understanding by Design, has become a classic and is often used by professors in the library and education fields. Now the workbook is published and is almost better than the original volume in the sense of its practicality. Understanding by Design uses a strategy known as "backwards" design to help teacher-librarians plan learning experiences. There are three simple stages: desired results, assessment evidence, and the learning plan. The reason for "backwards," is that many professionals start with their goals and then plan strategies, leaving the assessment plan until the end. Some professionals just start with the learning activities and never think clearly about the goals or the assessment. With the tremendous emphasis on state standards and testing, backwards design makes a great deal of sense: Start with the state standard, plan how you are going to know whether the learning has been achieved, and then plan your strategies or activities to help every student meet the standard.
The Workbook has wonderful planning guides, forms, diagrams, and examples from various curricular areas and grade levels. In short, for a workshop, a full-scale professional development session, or just a one-on-one planning session, you can immediately use many of the forms to plan and carry out high-level learning experiences. Seeing is believing for this book, and I have had to personally buy it three times because it seems to disappear if I mention it to anyone. You wouldn't think that a workbook would make you think and think and think, but this one does as it lays out a logical plan translated into understandable steps and procedures. Best of all, it is very easy for the teacher-librarian to use the backwards design framework to insert information literacy, lots of student reading, or technology into the instructional mix. And, if you really want a deeper introduction to backwards planning, ASCD publishes a number of videos and other training helps. They also sponsor a wonderful national conference each year during the summer led by the two authors. (ASCD, 2004. $26.95. 295 pp. 0-87120-855-5).
Bottom Line: One of the best professional development titles of the year.
THE POWER OF READING: INSIGHTS FROM THE RESEARCH. 2ND ED
Stephen D. Krashen
The first edition of this book was used by whole faculties as the selection for a professional reading book club, and it has had a major impact on the practices of teacher-librarians everywhere. Krashen, a linguist and emeritus education professor at USC, speaks widely; is known across the reading community, education, and the library community; and best of all, is an outspoken friend to school and public libraries.
From the outset, one realizes that Krashen and the National Reading Panel do not agree on the best way to teach reading. The National Reading Panel prescribes through the federal No Child Left Behind program that children will receive direct instruction in a skills-based instructional plan steeped in phonics and lexile levels. In this method, poor readers are skilled and skilled until the desired results are achieved. This notion is anathema to Krashen who sees free voluntary reading and wide exposure to interesting books from libraries as the major solution. To Krashen, the more a child or teen reads, the higher he scores on achievement tests, and students who have plentiful resources read more, which in turn affects their scores.
One could term this book as a major cannon in the reading research wars. Krashen builds his case for wide reading by analyzing and presenting in a very readable text hundreds of research studies spanning a century. Salvos from the opposition cites other studies in favor of the skill-based approach. For teacher-librarians, however, Krashen's ideas have great merit because his philosophy works well with our century-long agenda of helping children and teens learn to LOVE TO READ. We see too much skill-based instruction as leading to "alliterates" - kids who can read but won't, particularly boys.
Krashen expands the research literature coverage in the second edition, discusses issues that have emerged in the reading community since the first edition was published, and provides guidance for using books with second language learners.
Whether you read the first edition or missed it, this book is an essential read. And it can be read in one sitting if you just read the marginal notes that guide you through the principle ideas. It is a book to share, discuss, argue about, and use as evidence for strong library programs and large budgets to purchase books that kids are interested in reading. (Libraries Unlimited, 2004. $25.00. 180 pp. 1-59158-169-9).
Bottom Line: If you believe as I do that school libraries are the foundation of the reading program in any school, here is the book you must have, read, and talk about.
DESIGNING DIGITAL LITERACY PROGRAMS WITH IM-PACT: INFORMATION MOTIVATION, PURPOSE, AUDIENCE, CONTENT, AND TECHNIQUE
Ruth V. Small
Everyone in the school library media field is acquainted with the basic information literacy models of the field, beginning with those in Information Power and then those packaged in various basic steps from the Handy Five in Kansas to Small's eight-step design. There is nothing new in the basic structure that Small covers. However, she has been working for years on how to motivate students to stick with the information literacy model long enough to achieve success, particularly at the point where she asks each student to STOP, THINK, DO! The message is a powerful one to students: During the research process, get involved and reflect regularly on what you are doing and how you are doing it.
Small introduces another dimension for the teacher-librarian as the teaching of information literacy progresses. She asks for excellence in teaching; learning how to teach in such a way that students are motivated to work hard and to reflect. Small's IM-PACT model for the teaching of information literacy advises us to to think: Information Motivation, Purpose, Audience, Content, and Technique (IM-PACT) as an acronym to help us remember the principles of good presentation and teaching. Her dimensions are worth considering when we face students every day who seem to be interested in everything but information literacy.
So to know whether you need this book, ask the question: Am I a dynamic teacher? Can I successfully get students through the research process not only to produce a product, but to also reflect about their process? If you can answer yes to both questions, you don't need this book. If, however, there is some doubt in your mind, then Small's models and sample units of instruction across grade levels are worth examining. The writing and examples are clear enough to quickly get the idea.
One criticism of the book is its title. We do not find out why the term "digital literacy" is used when, throughout the book, information literacy is the central concept. In other words, this book accepts research in all formats - print, multimedia, and in the digital online world. (Neal-Schuman, 2005. $49.95. 200 pp. 1-55570-505-7).
Bottom line: Worth examining to learn how to motivate students to work hard and to reflect.
COPYRIGHT IN CYBERSPACE2: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR LIBRARIANS
Gretchen McCord Hoffman
It is all Benjamin Franklin's fault. Whew! At least we know whom to blame. Blame for what? He created the idea of the free public library where everyone lodged their valuable books in a room and everyone could borrow each other's books. Thus came the notion in our society that somehow information is free and we can cut, copy, and paste most anything we happen to need. Students seem to have no qualms about copying from digital space all and everything they need and then printing it out on the library printers or pasting it into their reports. Hoffman, a well-known teacher-librarian and lawyer, comes to the rescue.
Throw away your older edition of this book because copyright keeps evolving. If the music industry ever figures out how to satisfy its need to protect intellectual content amidst all the copying technology, then such policies will probably govern what we do in libraries. Librarians must fight for the concept of fair use, and at the same time, protect the intellectual property of the authors and creators. And, in today's world, the idea that we could learn the rules of copyright once and enforce them for a decade is unrealistic. Hoffman concentrates on the exponential growth of digital libraries that are available to patrons 24/7/365. Her section titles give a glimpse of her coverage:
- Copyright fundamentals in cyberspace;
- Applying copyright in cyberspace;
- Specific library applications (liability for the library, implications for interlibrary loan, electronic reserves for classes, distance education, licensing, and writing a copyright policy).
Hoffman provides a great deal of guidance on how to become an advocate in the community and with governmental bodies for the rights of both the library patron and the owner of the intellectual property. This is the strength of the book: It does not cave in to either interest but recognizes that if corporate interests have their way, we will all pay by the minute for any information we wish to access.
All the latest laws are discussed in this treatise, and best of all, Hoffman includes relevant sections of the various laws in the appendix as resources to study, quote, and use in actual policies. Because of the growing digital school libraries in deference to print, every school teacher-librarian needs to have copyright and fair use in mind as digital resources are provided. There are a number of other copyright manuals directed specifically at the school library, but this one concentrates on a single issue regardless of library.
We recommend that because of the high cost of this volume, a single person in a school district might study this volume, and then determine what actions and policies to take in a school district, and what types of groups to convene to formulate such a policy. It is an ongoing issue in education and it is not likely to be completely solved as long as new technologies keep appearing. (Neal-Schuman, forthcoming 2005. $75.00. 275 pp. 1-55570-517-0).
Bottom line: A good volume for understanding copyright law as it pertains to libraries.
LIBRARY PUBLIC RELATIONS, PROMOTIONS, AND COMMUNICATIONS: A HOW-TO-DO-IT MANUAL, 2ND ED.
Lisa A. Wolfe
The first edition of this book published a number of years ago was considered a standard and basic tool in the field to understand the foundation of what every teacher-librarian knows: Sell, sell, sell your image is an essential part of the job. Covering all types of libraries but concentrating on public libraries, Wolfe has updated her public relations concepts and examples for a new decade. Her book is divided into two sections: Planning and evaluation, and strategies and methodologies. The 17 chapters are packed with ideas. For school teacher-librarians, this book would be a good study volume for in-service to review over the year. Each month, a different person can read a chapter and give a ten-minute report to the group with a discussion of how to adapt the ideas to a particular community and school library. (Neal-Schuman, 2005. $65.00. 326 pp. 1-55570-471-9).
Bottom line: Recommended.
SHOW ME HOW TO LEARN: KEY STRATEGIES AND POWERFUL TECHNIQUES THAT PROMOTE COOPERATIVE LEARNING
Robyn English and Sue Dean
During the collaborative process, both the teacher and the teacher-librarian must come to terms on what strategies are likely to maximize student learning and thinking. This process requires both partners to constantly be looking for, testing, and evaluating the actual strategies that work when using the vast information resources in the library. It is difficult to have too-large a repertoire of workable strategies, so in the interest of building more and more key ideas, English and Dean provide a few tested ideas that force students into a more reflective mode. They present quick ideas with examples in the curriculum and with blackline masters to use with elementary school children. First, they define a learning community, and then they review strategies for curriculum planning and assessment. Next, they describe how to set learning goals with the students, complete with student self-evaluation techniques. Finally, they present a chapter on learning centers followed by practical tips for implementing their ideas in the real classroom. (Pembroke Publishers Ltd., 2004. $21.95. 96 pp. 1-55138-178-8).
Bottom line: A recommended brief guide to a few practices and techniques worth adding to the teacher librarian's bag of tricks.
POLITICAL ADVOCACY FOR SCHOOL LIBRARIANS: YOU HAVE THE POWER!
Sandy Schuckett
Are we namby-pamby when it comes to politics? Have we come to the teacher-librarian job expecting everyone to love us and throw money at us? Get a life! It is a cold cruel world out there, just in case you haven't been around for more than three years. With long experience as chair of government relations for the California School Library Association, Schuckett provides her best tips for working to influence legislation and other policies toward libraries at the school district level. Schuckett has experience working with lobbyists, has built coalitions to get library funding, knows how to approach and maintain relationships with various officials, and knows the procedures to use to get positive results. Schuckett was one of the kingpins to obtaining major funding for California school libraries, so, she is worth listening to. She gives wise council, but sometimes, we need to get angry enough and bold enough to fight for the information rights and access for the nation's children. Where are the marches in the streets? The massive attack on governments until a reliable revenue stream is forthcoming? That's her second book. (Linworth Publishing, 2004. $26.95. 108 pp. 1-58683-158-5).
Bottom line: Great advice for becoming a successful political advocate for the school library.
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