A Discussion About Crossing Borders:

“Dewey” Level School Library Collections?

Heather Daly & Moira Ekdahl, BCTLA and Craig Seasholes, WLMA

Learning IntentionsEngage in the power of storyEngage in the power of communityEngage in the power of research...

…to find strength and support! …to encourage/build an environment that enables the AASL Standards…

Allies in a resistance movement: 

Most Important Point

Engage in the power of story

Wiki Discussion #1:  http://librariesbeyondlevels.wikispaces.com/

There is a thin line…

Leveling books

Leveling children

... between leveling books and leveling children

L.M. Calkins, cited in Dzaldov and PetersonReading Teacher. Nov 2005

Click to advance slide

The Harry Potter Reading Phenomenon

“Children usually select a book because they are interested in the topic. Therefore, whether the book reflects their reading ability may be secondary, since interest can motivate a child to read a book that may be difficult.”

David Booth. Guiding the Reading Process.

ON: Pembroke. p.60. 1998.

What if?“What if there were a country experiencing a drought and famine, and the experts deemed that the children there needed painful and expensive surgery?

Everyone would say, No, feed them!

Similarly, children don’t need painful and expensive, intensive phonics programs [and, by extension, other literacy interventions], they need books.”

The Reading Guru: Stephen Krashen

Milestones in understanding the power of reading:

• 1960s: Daniel Fader’s Hooked On Books

• The Book Flood Projects: Elley and Manghubai

• 1983, Fiji: second language learners in Grade 4 and 5

• 1991, Singapore: larger number, younger age

Krashen’s Milestones, cont’d• 2006: Trelease, “home run books” – the books

that make a difference in a child’s reading life

• Lance and McQuillan: NAEP scores; analysis shows positive correlation between better results and access to libraries, between access to print materials and reading success

• Krashen, Lee, and McQuillan replicate results: access to books predicts improvement in intermediate grades

• PIRLS: effect of reading instruction is negative; effect of poverty is overwhelming but access to books significantly predicts higher reading achievement

• Heyns and others: high and low income children made same gains in reading during school year; the difference is summer reading. Students of higher socio-economic status have greater access to the books and libraries

Krashen’s Milestones, cont’d

• School libraries are the hottest area in language and literacy education

• Reading improves with reading

Krashen has more to say:

“Like everything else to do with reading, the way we learn best how to select [what we want to read] confidently is to do it for ourselves, while an already confident, trusted reader is nearby to show how it is done and give help when needed.”

Aidan Chambers: Reading and the Enabling Adult

The Reading Environment, p. 4

“…seeks to establish its products as the de facto standard for facilitating growth in reading ability, and ultimately in other essential academic skill areas in grades K-12.”

“The key elements of this strategy consist of adding new customer schools, intensifying and expanding the use of the Company's products in existing customer schools...”

Literacy as Industry

http://www.libraryjournal.com/slj/home/889643-312/the_privacy_problem_although_school.html.csp

"Don’t label and arrange library books by reading levels (a common practice in some schools that use Accelerated Reader) so that students can observe their classmates’ reading levels."

“We do not suggest that you level the books for your children to choose from in your classroom library. The levels are a teacher's tool, not a child's label. The children can be taught how to choose a book they can read and understand, but you do not want them thinking about themselves as being at a particular level...”

Fountas & Pinnell

Quoted from Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Books Website FAQ

“...It is advantageous…if the school librarian knows the approximate levels of books.”

Fountas & Pinnell, cont’d

Heinemann Web Editor Mark Merz on 3/18/2010

“That knowledge can help the librarian develop a collection that will meet the needs of the diverse group of students in the school and make appropriate suggestions to particular students.” “The librarian can also help teachers make choices for classroom libraries.” 

“...We recommend that you do not level or label the books in the school library or the classroom library.”

Matching Texts to Readers

(You can find this recommendation in the text mentioned above and in Leveled Books, K-8: Matching Texts to Readers for

Effective Teaching)

http://weblink.scsd.us/~liblinks/Reading_Grade-Level_Comparison_Chart.pdf

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/intfreedom/librarybill/interpretations/labelingrating.cfm

What’s Your Story?

Engage in the power of story

Wiki Discussion #2:  http://librariesbeyondlevels.wikispaces.com/

Presentation and Wiki: http://librariesbeyondlevels.wikispaces.com/

Survey: http://goo.gl/9286l

BCTLA: http://bctf.ca/bctlaPhotos from BCTLA’s Drop Everything and Read campaign

WLMA: http://www.wlma.org 

Resources, Tools & Support

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