Dear School Board - School Librarians are Teachers, Part 2

By Dorcas Hand

I’m still talking to you, the HISD School Board, about the details of the AASL chart School Librarian Role in Pandemic Learning that sorts out various aspects of the job in different modes of learning. Today we’re building from Instructional partner to TEACHER. As school opens, what role is more essential to student success than that of TEACHERS?

I reminded you last week, but it bears repeating today: certified librarians in Texas are also certified Teachers with at least two years of full time classroom experience. They know about lesson plans and curricula, literacy skills and state standards. And they apply this knowledge every day as they work with students, teachers, parents and campus administrators. 

In addition to teaching research skills in support of classroom topics planned collaboratively with academic teachers, librarians TEACH every day in overt and subtle ways that advance student achievement. 

• ​Those book displays that librarians offer when face to face teaching is in session? Those are now moved online in various ways to entice students to keep reading books that appeal to them and that will support strengthening their core literacy skills. 
• Librarians talk about the books they are reading, and can recommend titles to individual students with personal anecdotes of why the student will like that specific book. In pandemic times, librarians are finding lots of ways to advertise new titles of interest and make them available to students. This teaches a love of reading, and we all know that  “the more you read, the more you know.” (Dr. Seuss) 
• The library catalog that organizes all the resources available? Students learn how to use that catalog to find the books they want or need. How do they learn this? The librarians teach them. Why does this matter? As they move through K-12 grades year by year, that skill of searching for something you want until you find the answer is a life skill students must hone. And those who move to community college or university will really appreciate awareness of the benefits of the library catalog. Librarians actually teach search skills way beyond the catalog - think of HISD-paid subscription databases and even just finding the best and most reliable Google searches!
• In times when distance learning is mainstream, librarians are essential to teach students and teachers about new digital tools and resources that will make learning easier and research content easier to find. Librarians also teach how to credit ideas and information sources, whether the idea be from another student, an encyclopedia, or a nonfiction title from the library’s shelves.

Whenever a student or teacher asks a question in the library, the teaching begins as the librarian leads the "asker" to the answer rather than just handing it over. That way, skills transfer forward to the next time an information resource is needed when the asker can begin to search independently.

Proactive librarians in the pandemic are finding ways to join teachers in their virtual classrooms so that they know what topics are in focus currently, what are the ability levels of the students, and what are the interests of the students. This helps the librarian know how to focus their teaching as the year goes along, for new topics but the same students. School Librarians are teachers at heart; they just wanted a bigger classroom.

And so, I leave you again with a question:
What are some examples of your librarian’s teaching? Please show me their student-facing digital presence? 
And, “What don’t I know about the librarians as teachers in my schools? How can knowing more about them help ME, the School Board member, do MY job better?”