In the mid-1990s, educators began exploring ways to make effective use of the vast information resources that were rapidly emerging on the Internet. Rather than using these new Web-based materials for low-level scavenger-hunt types of activities, school library media specialists sought ways to promote higher-order thinking through authentic…

One of the most important policy documents for a school library media center is the selection policy or the collection development policy. A well-developed selection policy provides a rationale for the selection decisions made by the school library media specialist. A selection policy represents the criteria against which a challenged book is…

In the day-to-day operation of a library media center, service is the most important job. A library media specialist is employed to be of service to your students, teachers, administrators, and parents, but according to "Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning," prepared by the American Association of School Librarians, the school…

In this brief article, the author suggests that in this age of accountability, teacher-librarians sometimes become so engulfed by their role in teaching the school curriculum and standards that they forget the power of story. The author stresses, that in her opinion, the power of story is undeniable.

Not convinced that teachers and teacher-librarians were actively suppressing their students' visual literacy, the author decided to conduct informal interviews with four local teacher-librarians (three elementary and one secondary) attending classes at the university where he instructs. All four indicated that though their libraries were rich…

In this article, the author states that as an art teacher, your contribution to your students' knowledge of another culture is to familiarize them with evidence of how a group of people produced visual images in that time and place. You should not claim that they will gain understanding of the culture itself from this experience. One art lesson…

Teenagers' innate interest with the justice system is one of the reasons that so many high school literary classics teem with criminals, controversial issues, and trials. Novels such as "To Kill a Mockingbird," "A Separate Peace," "The Crucible," and "Twelve Angry Men" feature high-impact trials. In the author's desire to tap into this interest,…

This article offers a guide to introduce Shakespeare's plays and his life. All it takes are five days in the library media center; some student handouts; plenty of resources, both print and online; some word processing software; plus a little patience and flexibility. Students complete a timeline, a paper and a cover sheet, all of which can be…

The school library media center has an abundance of resources for teachers and students, but library media specialists are frequently isolated, sometimes invisible, members of the faculty. In addition, many teachers mistakenly think of library media specialists as "the copyright police" or "The Controllers of Content" instead of collaborators. It…

For multitudes of children Harry Potter is a hero. He fights evil and stands up for his friends. However, not all adults agree. Instead, he is perceived as a threat by many. This article discusses how some adults on a school board reacted to this perceived threat. The majority of a school board voted to restrict access to Harry Potter books in the…

What administrators know and understand matters when it comes to organizing a school for teaching and learning. When principals and assistant principals discourage the use of practices unfamiliar to them or do not support best practices, they can actually hamper student achievement and professional growth. This is especially true when it comes to…

Library media staff can hold poetry festivals, which would help in developing the interest of the students in poetry and assist them in displaying their literary talents. Poetry can be studied in classrooms, where students are asked to create tunes and write simple lyrics, participation of the students in reading the poetries loudly in the…

It is reported that using mapping software is truly a life skill. In the classes in which it is taught, students will find learning to use mapping valuable in every phase of life.

The author states that the most effective collaborative relationships honor the library media specialist as a technologist, information intermediary, and instructional leader, and the teacher as a content and classroom management expert. She recounts her relationship with Linda Thompson, her social studies teacher describing a primary source…

Matt Estes, a social studies teacher, mentions the main instructional goals for his students like understanding the importance of proper citation and attribution presenting the Machiavelli project that deals with the skills he wants his students to develop and the course material that must be covered. In addition, Ann Brady, a library media…