Supporting Common Core in the School Library

In this article in Knowledge Quest, Ruth Uecker, Shelly Kelly, and Marni Napierala (Great Falls Schools in Montana) suggest how school librarians can support each of the major shifts involved in the Common Core State Standards:

• Balancing informational and literary texts:

• Increase the percent of nonfiction text in the library collection.
• Motivate students through nonfiction book talks.
• Learn about students’ interests.
• Teach strategies for accessing print and electronic nonfiction materials.
• Teach reading skills specific to nonfiction material.

• Knowledge in the disciplines:

• Plan and co-teach lessons on content-specific topics with classroom teachers.
• Teach strategies for research skills and help students apply them directly to a project.

• Staircase of complexity:

• Review the current collection and work with classroom teachers to determine the genres and complex texts that students will need to use.
• Teach how to choose appropriate texts.
• Support the teaching of reading strategies.
• Ascertain students’ reading levels and use them with book selection and projects.
• Expose students to more-rigorous text aligned to what is being taught in the classroom. 

• Text-based answers:

• Teach students how to select a source and evaluate possible bias. 
• Help students develop their critical-thinking skills.
• Teach students how to support a claim or assertion by drawing on a selected text.

• Writing from sources:

• Align the library collection with current, updated source material.
• Get students accessing information, researching topics, and citing sources.
• Guide students through the process of reading and writing.
• Teach students how to use text references and evidence to support conclusions and opinions.

• Academic vocabulary:

• Provide access to resources with rich, engaging vocabulary.
• Focus instruction on the comprehension of essential and commonly-used words so students are constantly building richer vocabularies.

“Implementing the Common Core State Standards: What Is the School Librarian’s Role?” by Ruth Uecker, Shelly Kelly, and Marni Napierala in Knowledge Quest, January/February 2014 (Vol. 42, #3, p. ), www.alaorg/aasl; Uecker can be reached at ruth_uecker@gfps.k12.mt.us. 

From the Marshall Memo #521