Instructional Conondrums

There has been a lot of talk in school librarian circles about what types of "orientation" instruction to deliver and how it should be done. I am not a fan of teaching isolated skills, but I do believe we level the playing field for our students when we teach skills on an as-needs basis. After listening to Annie Murphy Paul talk about interest at the SLJ Summit in 2013, I began to focus even more intensely on making sure kids got the right book at the right moment. This seems obvious, but in practice 37 kids all clamoring for books simultaneously makes it difficult to meet each student's individual needs. By teaching use of our online catalog explicitly, I can help students meet their own needs.

In order to orient my new sixth graders to the library, I teach several lessons. On the first day they visit, we complete a basic set of two-column notes (Cornell Notes). These notes help the kids with the basics of our library. Most of the students that come to Maple have never attended a school that has a librarian, so helping them understand basic policies, procedures, and locations (fiction vs nonfiction) helps them get an idea of how the resources are organized. While this only takes about ten minutes, it helps answer many questions and define expectations. On this visit, the kids spend time browsing and getting a feel for the space and they have ample time for checking out books.

On the second visit, the primary focus is learning to use the online catalog to look up books. We are a Thinking Maps school, so I use a Flow Map to help the students understand the basic steps to accessing Follett Destiny from our district website. The teacher works with me to demonstrate finding a book on the shelf in both the fiction and nonfiction sections from a computer record. This may seem basic, but it is a new skill for most of my students and teaching how to find resources empowers the students to make choices that follow their interests rather than just taking a shot in the dark on each visit.

Flow Map

Explicit instruction not only helps my students better understand how to use our library, it also allows me to teach using the same strategies that are being used in our classrooms. When I implement the methods that our staff has agreed to use through our School Improvement Plan, I am seen as a teacher and an equal partner in the education of our students. All teacher librarians need to have the time and space necessary to teach skills that will make students more successful. With a focus on literacy, my students' ability to find reading materials that suit their personal interest and curricular needs is extremely important.