Expanding the school library media specialist’s role

Hernandez, Ramon

CA-Curriculum Assessment

CO-Collaboration

 

Harris, J. (2014). Expanding the school library media specialist’s role: Integrating close reading activities into the library Curriculum. Library Media Connection, 32(4), 14-16.

                This article calls for the collaboration of teachers and school library media specialists to create and implement close reading activities into the curriculum in order to improve their student’s ability to analyze and understand what they are reading.  The author outlines the steps necessary to integrate close reading assignments into a classroom and how close school librarians need to work with teachers in order for these assignments to be successful.  The author argues “Schools can no longer relegate teaching reading skills to just a handful of teachers. The role of the media specialist as a reading teacher is central to the school reading/literacy program” (p. 14).  For this to be successful the article explains that school librarians must be more involved in teacher’s meetings, curriculum planning, and other roles where school librarians are not typically found in the teaching and learning process.

                The article also demonstrates how collaboration and close reading activities help schools meet Common Core ELA standards.  Overall, the article illustrates how student learning is the focus of this approach, which helps the article present an effective argument for adopting this approach.  The author shows how this process will function by stating “The second stage of close reading involves rereading the text again. The media specialist works with students on a higher level of thinking. Questions should allow students to bring their own ideas to the table and focus on the author’s purpose, the flow of the text, and the meaning of words” (p. 15).  The strongest points of this article is how this approach will lead to the improvement of student learning and reading skills, but with the addition of helping to meet current learning standards makes this approach a logical choice for teachers and school librarians.