Zimny 1 Jennifer Zimny Professor Maria Pacino LIB 540 Assessment and Academic Achievement Paper The Role

of Libraries and Assessment and Academic Achievement When looking for the heart and center of the campus, the library is the first place to start. It is not only the center for all knowledge and reference, but it is also a gathering place as well. Gone are the days when a library was all quiet and peaceful with spinster librarians wandering around shushing all of the rambunctious teenagers. It is a place of life, curiosity, and vibrancy. It is the heartbeat of the campus. When interviewing for my current teacher librarian position, I was asked a question about what role I saw the library playing in the campus. My answer, as cheesy as it may sound, was a simile. The library is the heart of the campus pumping out knowledge, information, and technology to the classroom, which are the vital organs of the campus. If those organs are beginning to shut down or are in need of some help, they turn to the heart, the library. If the library is not doing its job, the classrooms suffer. The role of libraries and assessment and academic achievement can be seen clearly throughout classrooms across the campus and beyond to the student population. To begin with, libraries will play a vital role in the coming years as school districts make the transition to common core, and this will tie directly into assessment and academic achievement. Through common core, writing is to be emphasized throughout every subject, not just English, non-fiction will be playing a more prominent role in literary studies, and subjects

Zimny 2 will begin to cross over into each other through coordinated unit studies. The library should be a place teachers can turn to for guidance and support when they are planning out new units that align with common core standards. Through effective collaboration, a teacher librarian can take their expertise in reference and research and help to apply that into the classroom teachers planning. For example, an English and history teacher may turn to the librarian to help with coordination in a project that combines a novel English is reading with the historical context being taught in the history classroom. The librarian could aid the English teacher through providing texts the students can use to support the history behind the novel or a short video to be shown in class as an introduction. The librarian may aid the history teacher by leading them to similar novels written during this time or about this time period to supplement their teaching. Perhaps even a short video clip or two of one of the novels could serve as a good illustration for students to better understand the time period and the art it inspired. The librarian may even go so far as to collaborate with both of the teachers on an end of the unit project or assessment that will cross over between both classes. After all, a classroom teachers job is overwhelming, and help is often needed to find the right measure of student success. In addition to this, the library can provide teachers with technological resources to engage students through a variety of different mediums, thus increasing student achievement and perhaps creating non-traditional assessments. Todays average teenager is wired in. These are students who have never known what it is like to live without a personal home computer or a cell phone in their pocket. Many districts, including mine, are setting down standards that technology is not just a resource for teachers today but a daily integrated component of our teaching, hopefully preparing students for the future that awaits them outside of our campus walls. Libraries help to bridge that gap for teachers who are unsure of how they can begin this

Zimny 3 integration. There are many exciting programs out on the web for educators to use free in their classroom with their students. Some of these programs are excellent tools for students and some are not worth the hassle and learning curve. Our job as librarians is to sift through the websites to find tools that will bring the students to a new engagement level in their work. In addition to this, libraries should help provide the training necessary to aid teachers in integrating this technology through workshops or You Tube videos. For example, Glogster is an excellent tool for students to create online poster boards. It is simple, inexpensive, and an exciting tool for students to use. In my last project as a classroom teacher, I tried out Glogster with one of my classes in a testrun. I found the students much more engaged in their final projects and excited to interact with the clip art provided and visual interface. In my practice as a librarian, I plan on helping other teachers learn about this valuable tool for their classrooms, helping to engage students and result in higher academic achievement and a different type of assessment. Finally, libraries can support assessment and academic achievement by continually promoting the idea of being a life-long learner. While students are used to coming into the library to research or complete an assignment, they need to also see the library as a place where curiosity is encouraged and questions can be answered. If a student can see themselves as a lifelong learner, perhaps this can improve their attitude towards a math test they dont want to study for or an essay they dont want to complete. Its a culture that the library must create on campus. The library can create this culture through a variety of ideas. For example, the library could start a book club to promote a love of reading and frequent the amount of books students read. Having students review books, much like you would find in Barnes and Noble on the bookshelves, can publicize the love of reading as well. I came up with an idea Id like to start at the beginning of the school year to promote engagement with me as the librarian as well as a curiosity and love of

Zimny 4 learning. Id like to start a weekly trivia contest in the morning bulletin. The first ten students to approach me with the correct answer to the question, gets a prize. I would craft questions students might be curious about such as What is the only language in the world that has two very different meanings when the first letter in not capitalized? or What is the shortest complete sentence in the English language? Through this, I am engaging students subtly in curiosity about the world. Hopefully, through these types of programs and activities, the library can promote the idea of being a life-long learner and this can spill over into the attitudes students can have towards their classes. Overall, there are many roles libraries can play in assessment and academic achievement. As we begin the shift into common core standards, we will be playing a more vital role than ever as we try to bridge the gap between subjects. Therefore, it is more important than ever that we learn how to be as effective as we can possibly be for the classroom teachers.