Integrating Children's Literature

Wadham, Rachel L., and Terrell A. Young. Integrating Children's Literature through the Common Core State Standards. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2015. ISBN: 978-1-61069-608-1

Note: The Oregon State Library also has the related book, Integrating Young Adult Literature through the Common Core State Standards.

Publisher's Description
Implementation of the Common Core State Standards with the integration of children's literature can transform teaching and learning into a holistic and engaging experience.

Tackling nearly every aspect of the English Language Arts Standards and the measures they employ, it offers a thorough plan for engaging elementary school students with literature. It explores the benefits and teaching principles behind CCSS, and explains how to apply them to literature. Along with the strengths it has in connection to CCSS, you will learn about the history of children's literature and what both fiction and nonfiction bring to the classroom.

You will find plenty of practical applications of the CCSS, including book lists and lesson ideas, along with thorough examples. There is also a wealth of information on the kinds of readers you will encounter and explanations of how to meet their needs. A final section focuses on creating a curriculum, connecting the theory throughout the book with concrete lessons plans and units that cover the main CCSS skill sets.

Features

• Offers an easy-to-understand explanation of the CCSS
• Defines and explains the CCSS three-prong approach to text complexity
• Provides usable lesson and unit plans
• Explains how to use children's literature as a primary tool for implementing the CCSS

Collaborating for Real Literacy

Pitcher, Sharon M., and Bonnie W. Mackey. Collaborating for Real Literacy: Librarian, Teacher, Literary Coach, and Principal. 2nd ed. Santa Barbara, CA: Linworth, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-61069-241-0

Publisher's Description
Advances in literacy require collaboration between all of a school's stakeholders. This book harnesses the latest research and takes into consideration CCSS to show how to make that collaboration a reality.

Authentic literacy practice is crucial to preparing all students to be successful both in the workplace and college in the 21st century. Insisting that this literacy achievement will only happen when librarians, teachers, literacy coaches, and administrators work together in their schools, Collaborating for Real Literacy addresses the role of each instructional leader individually and examines the importance of the group collectively in bolstering the literacy of all students. Practical ways to support the teaching of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are infused throughout every chapter.

In this second edition of the book, core chapters on scaffolding, literacy centers, family literacy, English-language learners, comprehension, assessment, writing, and discussion have been updated based on current research and CCSS. Each of these chapters now offers suggestions for literacy coaches. Also new are recommendations for grades K–5 and 6–12, demonstrating specific ways to apply instructional ideas to different age levels and providing materials that can be used for the instruction. Additionally, three new chapters have been added with real literacy instructional ideas for content area reading and Response to Intervention (support for struggling readers).

Features

• Emphasizes adolescent literacy and literacy coaching, currently the two most significant topics in literacy instruction
• Summarizes current literacy research, including research and practices for adolescent literacy
• Provides detailed examples and applications of theoretical principles of reading instruction
• Presents practical information on infusing technology throughout literacy instruction
• Encourages utilizing conversations in the classroom and describes methods for implementation

The Library Collaboration and Flexible Scheduling Toolkit

Donnelly, Andria C. The Library Collaboration and Flexible Scheduling Toolkit: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2015.
ISBN: 978-1-4408-3684-8

Publisher's Description

Appropriate for experienced elementary librarians as well as students in school library preparation programs, this powerful book explains the advantages of utilizing a flexible schedule with collaboration as compared to a fixed schedule without collaboration.

[This book] takes readers step by step through the process of considering collaboration as a method to deliver library services. Authored by an experienced elementary librarian and author for School Library Monthly, the text begins by explaining the relevant research and underscoring the importance of being able to articulate the meaning of the research to library stakeholders. Next, readers learn how to gain support from administration and to train the staff in effective collaboration to impact student achievement.

The book provides a complete answer to the complex question that many librarians and librarians in training have: "How do I go about putting collaboration and a flexible library schedule into place in my library?" Specific methods and solutions for handling problems that may come up—such as ways to win over a reluctant staff, or what to do in situations where a library assistant is not available—are provided to lend the author's real-world experience to the challenges that the librarian might encounter in undertaking collaboration.
   
Features

• Provides a succinct and accessible yet complete explanation of research about collaboration
• Supplies practical guidance for moving towards a collaborative methodology, including methods to approach the administration to win support, a training plan for staff, and team planning strategies
• Explains the many side benefits of collaboration, including lowered student-to-teacher ratios, better accommodation of individual student differences, more physical and personnel resources, and higher student achievement
• Addresses how to incorporate the library assistant into collaboration as well as what to do if there is no assistant
• Identifies methods for handling a variety of personalities and common situational issues or difficulties

Multimedia Learning Stations

Spisak, Jen. Multimedia Learning Stations: Facilitating Instruction, Strengthening the Research Process, Building Collaborative Partnerships. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2015.
ISBN: 978-1-4408-3517-9

Publisher's Description
Learn how to use rotating multimedia learning stations, employing databases, websites, education apps, videos, audio podcasts, online games, books, and more to build a strong, collaborative library program that helps you strengthen student understanding of the research process.

Libraries across America are losing funding and suffering from cuts in positions and programs. The process presented here will help you increase library use and prove that school libraries—and librarians—are a necessity. Written for middle and secondary school librarians, the book provides a guide to using standards-based and content-focused learning stations in the library to facilitate instruction and strengthen student's research skills. You'll learn what multimedia stations are, why they should be used, and how to use them to enhance and extend direct instruction. Plus, the book breaks down the steps for building sets of stations and shows you how to organize and implement them for maximum impact.

In addition to describing the "hows," the book provides sound arguments for why multimedia learning stations work. The method ensures that students gain continued practice with resources and build the skills and dispositions you want them to have. It also increases the amount of collaboration you'll have with teachers and enhances your interactions with and influence on your students. Teacher and student testimonials are interspersed throughout the book, and appendices offer you specific examples from which to draw.

Features

• Details what multimedia learning stations are and the reasons they should be used in the middle and secondary school library
• Features unique content designed for use in middle and high school libraries
• Shares detailed, step-by-step instructions on how you can design, develop, and implement multimedia learning stations and keep them organized and current
• States the applicable AASL Standards for the 21st-Century Learner for each set of multimedia learning stations
• Includes detailed appendices of multiple sets of multimedia learning stations that are ready to be used in collaboration with English, history, math, and science classes in the library

Guided Inquiry Approach to Teaching the Humanities

Schmidt, Randell K., Emilia N. Giordano, and Geoffrey M. Schmidt. A Guided Inquiry Approach to Teaching the Humanities Research Project. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2015.
ISBN: 978-1-4408-3438-7

Publisher's Description
Aligned with the Common Core, this book enables teachers and librarians to develop lessons and workshops as well as to teach high school students how to research and write a humanities paper using a guided inquiry approach.

Being able to use the inquiry process to successfully research, write, and prepare papers and others types of presentations is not only necessary for a student's preparation for collegiate work, but is truly a requisite life skill. This book provides a solid guided inquiry curriculum for cultivating the skills needed to properly investigate a subject in the humanities, interrogate both textual and non-textual sources, interpret the information, develop an understanding of the topic, and effectively communicate one's findings. It is a powerful and practical guide for high school humanities teachers, school librarians, community college humanities teachers and librarians, and early college-level humanities instructors as well as for high school and college students who want to learn how to conduct and write up humanities research.

Part one comprises a teacher's practicum that explains the power of guided inquiry. Part two contains student's workshops with instructions and materials to conduct a guided humanities project and paper on the high school level. The third part provides materials for a professional development session for this assignment as well as assessment tools and other supplementary materials such as student handouts. Based on the authors' 15 years' experience in teaching guided inquiry, the 20 workshops in the book use a step-by-step, constructivist strategy for teaching a sophisticated humanities project that enables college readiness.

Features

• Presents 20 workshops that provide deep detail in humanities study, interrogation of sources, note taking, and developing the research question
• Includes teachers' practicums that explain guided inquiry and humanities study
• Explains methods that will enable students to learn how to interrogate drama, photos, art, artifacts, garments, music, political cartoons, speech, fiction, and nonfiction
• Describes the Information Search Process within the structures of a step-by-step workshop environment that serves both research and writing