The world's largest reviewer of books, multimedia, and technology for children and teens
The E-Rate program, which is responsible for the funds dedicated to connecting schools and libraries to the Internet, is unable to keep up with high demand., and schools’ needs are only becoming more urgent with the advent of the Common Core Standards.
Series Made Simple Fall 2012Cover and illustration by Daniel Pelavin
When I get interested in a topic, I become obsessed. I don’t really have hobbies; I have infatuations. I don’t have favorite movies or novels; I have look-but-don’t-touch collections. And when it comes to learning about a new subject, I can’t just read one book on it—I have to read everything I can get my hands on.
And that is why so much of the Common Core State Standards [...]
With the implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the need for informational books has increased; math volumes must satisfy both the language arts informational text standards and the mathematics standards.
Photograph by Mark Tuchman
Action figures don’t usually weigh in on SLJ’s design, but Flash, the iconic DC Comics superhero, zipped into the story this month. He snuck his way into my purse and then onto my desk just as editors Kathy Ishizuka and Rick Margolis and I talked about our cover strategy with art director Mark Tuchman. Flash didn’t say much, but his force was unstoppable.
Our conversation about the findings of SLJ’s 2012 school library tech [...]
One of the most common complaints about state or local curriculum standards is that they focus on covering a range of topics while sacrificing depth of understanding. Chances are you’ve heard your colleagues bemoan that these standards are “a mile long and an inch deep.” Are the Common Core State Standards any different?
I grew up on the ’60’s outside New York, where there were racial riots and free love. The Beatles boomed from boxes and people sang about clouds, vanity, and love. Today we are largely beyond racial riots, love is cheap, and music still booms in ear pieces playing tunes of confusion, vanity, and love. Transformation has occurred, but there are timeless elements. Information is one—valuable and priceless, but packaged differently today than it was 25, 50, or 100 [...]
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have become the topic du jour in educational circles, and librarians are key participants in the conversation. School Library Journal’s Leadership Summit, “Advocacy and E-volution: Creating Stronger Schools Through Stronger Libraries,” taking place in Philadelphia October 26-27, will focus on how librarians and school media specialists can propel the dialogue and help teachers and administrators deliver on the full potential of the Common Core.
Under Common Core, students will be writing scripts, reviewing books, making public service announcements, and creating other content, all using video. For schools, this presents a technical challenge: Where to host all this video? SLJ columnist Christopher Harris has found a solution.
Searching for some great ways to get kids hooked on creating digital content? Attendees at the October 17 Digital Shift event got some great tips from Wes Fryer, Melissa Techman, Liz Castro and Erin Daly, all participants in a panel on “Makers in the Library.”
School librarians and the Common Core (CC) have been my focus all year, and especially this fall. Sue Bartle and I have been holding one workshop after another with teachers and librarians, spreading our CC gospel and hearing their issues and concerns. The great thing about being out in the field is that I learn as much as I teach—and one spectacular example of that recently took place in Buffalo, NY.
The Common Core’s emphasis on nonfiction challenges educators to provide insightful and interesting materials to students. In order to best serve my population, I decided to create a series of nonfiction author study units similar to those we already did. Since most teachers at my school tend to assign animal research reports to introduce nonfiction, I chose Steve Jenkins for my first nonfiction author study—someone whose books are found in most classrooms and libraries.
What can we expect if Mitt Romney’s elected the next president? More school choice, absolutely no federal money devoted to helping implement the Common Core Standards, and an A to F grading system for all K-12 schools.
Marc Aronson discusses a set of books that looks at the same moment in history from three different angles. Taken together, the three titles offer a more comprehensive picture of a time of invention and discovery than we’d typically get from an individual book: one title focuses on a remarkable genius; another on a breakthrough invention; and the third title, which explores a transforming theory, is really best seen as a moment in which circumstance, individuals, and technology converge to make change possible.
Librarians are masters of information. Finding it, storing it, organizing it, retrieving it—you name it. We excel at a wide range of skills. And in today’s world, that’s the name of the game. Case in point: my team and I were recently asked to choose passages of text for a regional K–8 English language-arts exam. [...]
The post We Could Be Heroes: Research plus tech skills are a hot commodity appeared first on The Digital Shift.
It may seem obvious to you, dear reader, but not everyone knows that the library is the heart of the school community, the place where student and faculty life converge—where children race to reserve the latest installment in that must-read series, to find that just-right book, to explore online resources, to work and collaborate on research projects, to reread a favorite fiction title before the movie is released, and to talk about the books they love with people who care. It’s the place where teachers discover new resources to incorporate into lesson plans, gather to discuss and map curriculum, and to attend professional development workshops after school hours.
During the last ten years, researchers have learned that elementary students are more likely to read and hear fiction in their classrooms more than informational text. However, if you ever visited an elementary school library, you’d see that far more nonfiction is circulated on average than fiction. Kids love to see the photographs and learn more about their world. Consequently, those books have the commonly known disease of the banana-peel spine. They’ve been read so much their spines are literally peeling off the book. With an increase in emphasis on informational text due to adoption of Common Core State Standards, nonfiction circulation is bound to increase. These new nonfiction releases will satisfy the standards while feeding your starved-for-information students and patrons.
Thursday, October 18, 2012, 3:00 – 4:00 PM ET How do the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) impact you, your library, and your teachers? Marc Aronson and Sue Bartle will discuss how perspective, multi-modality, and transliteracy will help you build a foundation as you implement CCSS. Take home a few concrete examples to successfully adjust to the instructional shifts in CCSS. Archive now available!
The issues and questions raised by Common Core are not only apparent stateside. Marc Aronson discusses how his trip to Barcelona revealed that there might be an opportunity to collaborate with the Spanish city, and other international locales, to inspire students to be innovators.
The Common Core (CCSS) has arrived. We’ve had time to study the standards, peruse the list of recommended materials, and explore the suggested curriculum maps and assessments. Now, how do we begin to put this nationwide initiative into operation? What meaningful steps forward can we take? In this column, we’ll focus on the ideas that shape our approach to the standards. All start with the letter “C”—we call them “The 10 C’s.” We begin with the concept that holds all the others together: collaboration.
