Violet H. Harada

The first half of this book is a must read, a must purchase, and a mst think through. Brilliant chapters about inquiry whether you are a Common Core state or not tantalize the brain. Essays are written by Jean Donham, Olga Nesi, Deborah Levitob, Judi Moreillon, Leslie Maniotes, Violet Harada, Barbara Stripling, and Kristin Fontichiaro. Quite a line up of experts and worth every paragpha of thinking alongside them. The second half of the book presents a challenge to the reader as various units of instruction are highlighted by a variety of teacher librarians. Few give a good overview of the entire learning experience but instead concentrate on a sample lesson, usually given by the teacher librarian with the classroom teacher absent. The value of these examples would be to give them to a group of teachers and teacher librarians to read and transform into truly great examples of high level learning when teachers and teacher librarians combine their expertise and coteach together. Some essentials are there; some need major reworking; others coud be tweaked. We kept asking, Where is the exemplary technology that might help? How could engagement be improved? Where was both formative and summative assessment by both adults used to advantage? Where was real learning happening rather than directive instructions and assignments? Where were inventive culminating events that put both topic and skills together? How could coteaching rather than turn teaching help the learning experience? How could student creativity be emphasized? Some of the units have a glimpse of some of these concerns. Perhaps that is the challenge of this book: What constitutes real super learning experiences that have inquiry at their heart? It’s a challenge for each of us as professionals to ponder and to figure out, and then create such super learning experiences in the learning commons that we become indispensible partners in the learning of the school. If we don’t figure out this piece, there are others who are already proclaiming they they know how and are doing it. And, the ain’t librarians.… (mehr)

Whether or not your school is working with the CCSS, this publication offers a myriad of information to create successful inquiry programming in your school. As is so well said in the introduction the CCSS is a moving target, but the issue of expectations and standards isn’t. This publication brings together the thoughts and information of many experts in our field, and allows them to wrestle with ideas that are pertinent to our student learning challenges. Well done, and well worth investing in. Highly recommended.… (mehr)

The first edition of this book was a ground-breaking volume urging teacher librarians to go beyond the role of support and supply of information into the arena of building knowledge and learning how to learn. Now in the second edition, the authors have expanded their ideas into the world of dispositions where dwell the habits of mind necessary to become independent learners. The volume continues to introduce many assessment tools such as mind mapping and eportfolios and it also contains many examples across the grade levels. Most importantly, the authors know teacher librarianship very intimately and understand how we move into the center of meaningful learning. In this column, we have reviewed a companion volume from a teacher’s perspective (Assess Higher Order Thinking Skills by Susan M. Brookhart) and a third volume from Solution
Tree Press (Ahead of the Curve edited by Douglas Reeves) Together this trio of volumes can provide the depth of understanding by teacher librarians to take their place at the table in any major discussion of assessment. In today’s world, that role is critical.… (mehr)

Project-based learning is popular in many schools because evidence that students become engaged and excited about learning abounds assuming that the projects themselves are of interest to the students. For teacher librarians, they present an opportunity to integrate inquiry and information literacy into real projects and make collaboration and co-teaching a natural activity with classroom teachers. The great Violet Harada has teamed with two “cybfrarians” in a SLMPY award-winning high school to detail just how the teacher librarian moves directly into the heart of project-based learning. Thus, the trio are as good as it gets. In this book, the first few chapters give a foundational view of project-based learning and how teacher librarians fit in as partners with classroom teachers. Then, the rest of the book details sample units of instruction ranging from science to art and most curricular topics in between. Using this book, there is ample opportunity to recognize how project-based learning flourishes in the information-rich and technology-rich environment of the library. We particularly liked the reflection piece at the end of each experience between teacher librarian and classroom teacher as a part of the professional learning community thrust toward excellence. Superb. It is all about how did we do and how could we do better next time. These excellent examples make this book a must purchase and read by every secondary teacher librarian who has a ghost of a chance of working with project-based learning. This is one of the best educational ideas out there that fits perfectly with the goals of the learning commons idea. So, buy this book, study it with colleagues, and then use these expert’s ideas and improve upon them with your students in your school. Having said that, let me as a reviewer reflect on project-based learning in general. There are two major ideas out there: problem-based learning and project-based learning. Both are very similar in structure and central idea. Both promote inquiry and collaboration with the library/learning commons although we find many books on these topics in the general education literature that never mention the need to have the library involved! That puzzle aside, our authors bring the learners successfully through a long journey and then reflect as professionals about that journey and its outcomes. We would recommend that the learners do the same at the conclusion of their own journey or project or solution to a problem. During the project or problem investigation, if learners are asked to briefly journal the journey, then after the journey is over and the grades are in, there is an opportunity to engage learners in a major reflection activity about the process used, the journey itself, the things we as learners did well, and the things we could do the next time to do even better. Perhaps that is the best contribution of the new AASL Learning standards. It is not just getting an assignment done. It is all about me as a learner. It is my disposition toward the learning process. It is the skill of working though inquiry to get better and better in areas such as organization, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. Add this activity to the journey our excellent trio recommends and this reviewer would pronounce the collaboration as close to perfect as it ever gets.… (mehr)