The role of a school librarian has changed greatly in the last 10 years, and many people are not aware of the role that we play in schools.
Most of us are teacher-librarians, and we’re not just teaching kids about the Dewey Decimal system anymore. Last week, I taught the fourth and fifth grade about Three Cups of Tea, a timely true story about one man’s quest to educate kids, especially girls, in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We covered the topics of culture, compassion, geography and vocabulary with a Power Point presentation, pictures from Google images and a brief video from a related Web site.
When the students came to skills class later in the week, we reviewed the differences between a database and a search engine, then launched into a discussion of Web site domains. Each student logged on to their own computer to explore different Web sites, which helps them to learn how to navigate around the computer.
The skills that school librarians teach today are life skills. We have become multi-media practitioners who collaborate with the teachers to match all forms of knowledge with today’s students. The world that they will inherit is vastly more complicated (and perhaps more interesting!) than they can imagine. We take very seriously the responsibility of helping students wade through the huge amount of information that exists in the 21st century. Kids need school libraries and librarians more today, not less.
Donna Watson,
Danville
Donna Watson is the interim librarian at Linntown Intermediate School in the Lewisburg Area School District.
Letters
Teaching professionals
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Public investment
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Ill-conceived measure
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Heroic workers
I was astounded when I saw Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011's headline "Workers tackle robber over $603".
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Cell phone ban
Last week I was reading "Cell ban tough to enforce" in The Daily Item and it was very controversial.
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Worth $603?
The article on Dec. 20 in the edition of The Daily Item about the Dollar Tree robber caught my interest.
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Alarming ailment
In the Dec. 20, 2011 issue of The Daily Item, I read the article "Childhood disorder bolsters research."
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Public obligation
As part of her argument for home schooling, "Studying in Pajamas", Jan. 20, Joanna Wert dismisses public schools and "the majority of American workers" with a few condescending generalizations. She goes on to extol her own children's virtues and accomplishments, and then lists famous people whom she claims were home-schooled.
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More perfect union?
As I have listened to the many speeches by those who aspire to become the next president of the United State of America, I am appalled at the number of times I have heard referenced to our "rights". And how seldom I've heard talk about responsibilities.
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School closings
I would like to discuss the Midd-West School District and their plan to close two area schools. What I wish they would do is listen to our voice as the parents and taxpayers, but it seems their minds are already made up. I plan to attend the meeting scheduled for Feb. 13 to "discuss' options, however, I feel that this is all for naught as I think they already have their minds made up.
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I like Romney
Having said that, I must assure you that even if he is the Republican candidate I am on the fence about who to vote for. President Obama gave a very positive state of the union and the future in his address the other night.I did not agree with some of his points on unions and immigration; however he was very positive on America.
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