I have no problem with recognizing that habits of mind such as persistence, initiative, and self-direction need to begin early.  I can agree with many aspects of Common Core such as deeper reading, critical thinking, and doing research on focused questions (hopefully Essential Questions promoting inquiry-based learning).  I don’t believe the tests promote those objectives, and I think good teachers have been doing this all along.  Teachers –and librarians—have been blamed for poor student performance when poverty, unsafe schools, and limited access to a print rich environment play a far more significant role.

 Having first graders think about college is not a bad thing in itself.  Just as they know middle and high school will follow elementary school, they should be aware that college is an important next step—although not necessarily a path they all must follow.  What concerns me is the College Readiness mantra permeating all of education.  Our children are becoming automatons programmed in a single direction.  Anything non-academic is being stripped away.

 A kindergarten teacher with twenty-five years’ experience once told me her students know much more than those she had ten years ago—except how to play. We have reverted back to the days when children took on adult work as soon as they were able.  We are eliminating childhood and the cost may be great.

From the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario

 Children learn through play.  You need only to observe the animal world to see the truth of that statement. In play they test themselves, without getting a grade. In play they discover what they enjoy, without pressure.  They follow their interests.  They learn because they want to find out more, not because it is needed for the high stakes test.  Play helps develop a sense of wonder, a vital “skill” every creative person needs.  And creativity is what keeps a society moving forward.  Replicating the past leads to stagnation, not innovation.

 John Dewey, probably the most progressive educator, said early in the last century “There is no such thing as educational value in the abstract. The notion that some subjects and methods and that acquaintance with certain facts and truths possess educational value in and of themselves is the reason why traditional education reduced the material of education so largely to a diet of predigested materials.” (Experience and Education).  We are still giving students predigested materials and blaming them and the teachers when they are bored and disinterested.

It’s time to give our students back their childhood so we benefit from their adulthood.

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You don’t need a 3-D printer. They are great, but the odds are most of you don’t have the budget—although you could write a grant with your local education foundation.  You don’t need a table saw.  (Which would probably be a scary proposition with young elementary kids).  What you do need is a bunch of supplies: scissors, Legos, fabric, yarn, duct tape, origami paper, popsicle sticks, perhaps Arduino, LittleBits, and Minecraft—and whatever else you have on hand or get people to contribute. You also need bins to store everything when not in use.

Makerspace at Detroit Public Library

From a presentation at NYLA, one of many I have seen recently on Makerspaces, given by Rebecca Buerkett, Ana Canino-Fluit, and Gail Brisson, I discovered you can start your program on a shoestring. One had a grant, the others funded the project from their own pockets and the aforesaid donations.  To be specific, they have Maker Clubs rather than Makerspaces.  Kids get to make stuff only at set times rather than having continuous access.  What you need most is a bit of daring, and a willingness to learn as you go. Kids who have a level of expertise in one area will teach others and you.

Why should you commit time and effort to a Maker Club or Makerspace? Unlike a craft activity, kids aren’t following a specific set of directions to create a set product.  They are experimenting, imagining, making mistakes and adjustments to plans, and discovering where their imagination can take them.  They develop resiliency, do out-of the-box thinking, engage in authentic learning, do problem solving, work in collaboration, exhibit leadership, and in the process become lifelong learners.  These are goals for you library program. They are what Common Core is seeking to achieve. Makerspaces are a natural connection to STEM programs and help produce innovators, and producers of new knowledge.  And all the while the kids are having fun.

You do need to publicize your Maker club and which activity is scheduled for an upcoming meeting. Look for teacher volunteers or older students to help out. You want at least one other person with you if possible. Set up rules and guidelines, but have the kids come up with them. How will they deal with conflict? Most likely you will need to show them how to be economical in the use of supplies (don’t cut a square from the middle of a piece of fabric), and to recognize the leftover from their project can be recycled into someone else’s work.

Among the Maker activities to consider are: Garage Band, Robolox, photography, robotics, origami, Minecraft, knitting and/or sewing, and whatever else the kids are interested in.  Ask them for suggestions, and then plunge in.  Have fun.

Click the image to the left to find out more about how the Detroit Public Library created their Makerspace. Do you have a Makerspace or Maker Club in your library?  Let us know know what you have learned and what you do.

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Nearly a year ago (January 6, 2014) I blogged on

 Too often we present a lesson because it’s one we have always taught.  We might tweak the way we do it with new apps or web resources to capture students’ interest in either exploring the topic or in sharing their results.  However, we have not asked ourselves the fundamental question of why we are teaching it.  What benefit does it give students to learn it?

 Those two questions are at the core of what Essential Questions are (also called Guiding Questions in some locations).  Every lesson plan should have one or more Essential Questions. These shape how the plan is presented and what students are expected to learn, remembering, of  course, that you cannot guarantee what answers they will have for some Essential Questions, for often these vary from person to person.

 In School Librarian’s Workshop, the “Research to Go,” “Teaching Together,” and “Information Literacy Units” all include Essential Questions. You can add to them or delete one or two depending on the grade level involved or the teacher with whom you are working. If you look over these learning experiences you can see the connection between the Essential Question and what students are to do.

 I have had some colleagues ask for help in writing Essential Questions, and I admit it takes thinking.  There are two types of Essential Questions.  One type deals with concepts which are core to the discipline but not necessarily obvious to those not in it.  The other looks at a broader ideas designed to open minds to the real-world implications of what they are studying.  For the first type, you do know what answers to expect.  The second can be wide open.

 Suppose your elementary students were having difficulty locating books on the shelf.  In the past you would be teaching the Dewey Decimal System and have as an objective that students would be able to differentiate between major categories and be able to find a given book.  An Essential Question is “How do libraries arrange material to help users find what they need?”  The answer is by subject. In your library and the public library it is most likely by Dewey.  In genre-fied library it is alphabetically by subject.  In colleges and universities it is by the Library of Congress Classification.  The concept is the same no matter which system is in use.  You use the Essential Question to address the key idea.  Once there, you can ask for the larger implication—if the book you are seeking is not on the shelf, how can you find the information you want in print? And that leads to realizing all books with same classification are on the same topic.

 It takes time at first to write Essential Questions.  Even now, I spend a great deal of thought analyzing why a topic is worth the time and effort for students to learn.  Read School Librarian’s Workshop to build your own understanding.  Eventually you need to teach students to craft them as the core of the research papers in place of the old thesis statements. How do you craft your Essential Questions?  What concerns do you have around this process?

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Librarians talk of informational literacy and digital literacy.  Educators and parents are concerned about financial literacy.  With the emphasis on STEM, there is increased reference to numeric or quantitative literacy.

Another important concerns is Transliteracy. It’s defined as “the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.”  (www.transliteracy.com). In an age of multiple devices and means of connecting with people and sharing information it is certainly a critical skill.

Those dealing with adults also discuss legal literacy and health literacy.  If you have ever tried reading a legal document or dealt with health care policies, the importance of these literacies cannot be denied.  Even college graduates find themselves unable to comprehend all the subtleties of how language is used in those areas.

I recognize the importance of all these literacies and support all that is being done to improve the ability of student and adults to master them.  However, as a member of ALA Committee on Literacy, I am ever mindful of what was once said at a committee meeting, “The house of literacy has many rooms, but the entrance is through text literacy.”

So we return to where we were in the mid-20^th century.  First and foremost, we need to be able to read text.   And the rate of adult illiteracy is shocking.

In the U.S., 14% of adults over 16 read at or below the 5^th grade level, and 29% read at the 8^th grade level. The implications are huge.  Among those with the lowest literacy rate, 49% live below the poverty level. A substantial portion of our prison population is composed of illiterates or low literates. (ProLiteracy)

Although school librarians are highly trained to teach the other literacies mentioned, they also are committed to creating lifelong learners and readers by instilling a love of reading.  The first Common Belief of the AASL Standards for the 21^st-Century Learner is Reading is a window to the world.  It then explains, “Reading is a foundational skill for learning, personal growth, and enjoyment.”

Students are taught to read in class.  For some, the skill is difficult and they are turned off.  This is the route to illiteracy and low literacy.  In the school library, surrounded by books at all levels, guided by a school librarian, adept at connecting a student with just the right book, students discover that reading can be fun.  We need more, not fewer school librarians.  The wealth of our nation depends on it.

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