In many elementary schools across the nation the library looks like a revolving door of classes. Classroom teachers come and drop off their classes for a lesson at a set time during the week. The school librarian teaches a lesson in isolation while the classroom teacher has a planning period. There is little time for collaboration. There is even…

This article details how the Norman Public School District implemented Guided Inquiry Design and making at all levels of the school system. It highlights how the faculty collaborated with other educators and how learners collaborated with their peers and their classroom teachers on inquiry projects.

As one of the most culturally diverse schools in New York City, the Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School (MELS) serves about 850 students in grades 6 through 12. MELS is "A School for a Sustainable City" and a New York City Outward Bound School. MELS uses the Expeditionary Learning education model, which focuses on student…

In an effort to carry out the work of Bismarck (ND) Public Schools, while implementing the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) "National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries," the district has started training school librarians to be the backbone of the project-based learning (PBL)…

A new teacher enters the classroom for the first time equipped with teaching strategies, technology-integration models, and classroom experiences acquired during his or her teacher preparation program. These new teachers are often unaware that down the hall exists their greatest resource for today's technologies and their strongest potential…

Students are taught how to read at a very young age, but how well do the students understand what they are reading? Students are taught how to read the words on the paper, but do they comprehend what the words mean when used together? What can educators do to help students think critically and really understand what is being taught? Teachers and…

While many robust library programs engage students in problem-finding, inquiry-rich curricula, other programs might benefit from addition of a few key strategies. Discussion strategies might be used during read-alouds or as enhancements to an instructional strategy like jigsaw. Writing strategies might be integrated into research projects or might…

In this Information Age, students produce research projects by piecing together passages quoted verbatim and stitched together with a few introductory or transitional words. They assemble research as patchwork quilts rather than weaving a fabric of new knowledge. This common practice raises ethical issues and poses new challenges for library media…

Presents a dramatization of a high school library in 1968, a place with wooden bookcases, card catalog, wooden furniture and tiptoeing librarian through 30 years of changes to a library media center with banks of computers, librarian-teacher cooperation, emphasis on authentic assessment, and the satisfaction of librarian, teachers, and students…

Outlines a workshop that discusses cooperative efforts between school library media specialists and college librarians to make the transition easier for college students, and considers several aspects of information literacy, including college faculty expectations, collaboration between librarians and faculty, teaching strategies, and assessment…

Describes the modeling of effective teaching and learning strategies (choosing a topic, finding and using information, timelines, journals, interventions, questions for peer editing, and conferencing questions) during an inquiry-based, student-centered "I-Search" unit taught by a high school library media specialist and an English teacher.…