Teaching Library Skills to Middle Schoolers: Understanding Genres, Cataloguing, and Key Words

Locating a specific book on shelves that are filled with thousands of amazing reads can be challenging and overwhelming. Here is a fantastic game to ease your middle students into understanding the complexity of the library.

teaching library skills to middle schoolers

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Once students reach middle school, research projects become the norm. Students visit the library to use sources for book reports, projects or leisure reading. If someone is not familiar with the way books are organized, finding sources will not be easy. Librarians should concentrate on developing the literacy of her students. Guide students to use the library as a tool, and not as a crutch, during their weekly visits.

Reading and middle school students don't always mix. Once students hit their pre-teen years, peers tend to dominate. Unfortunately, sitting down with a book isn't always the coolest thing to do. That's where the middle school library comes in to play. In addition to creating engaging library lesson plans for middle school, school librarians should be sure to recommend books students can get excited about reading.

At the middle school level particularly, librarians should help identify high-interest books for students. They can also encourage students to pursue their interests through short research projects and special book selections. While fiction can still be popular, students may also be drawn to different forms of fiction, such as graphic novels or comic books. In the realm of nonfiction, they may be more interested in random fact books or the most recent edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. If done correctly, a carefully planned middle school library program can motivate middle school students to read more.

We're constantly adding new resources to the site and improving our collection of middle school library resources. Don't see something you need? Request it. Who knows? It might make it to the top of our list of items to add to the site.

Some middle schools have English as a second language (ESL) or English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) teachers who work with students learning the English language. ESL and ESOL teachers work with students individually or in groups to help them improve their English language skills and to help the students with assignments for their classes.

Middle school teachers may find it rewarding to watch students develop new skills and gain an appreciation for knowledge and learning. However, teaching may be stressful. Schools may have large classes and lack important teaching tools, such as current technology and textbooks. Some states are developing teacher mentoring programs and teacher development courses to help with the challenges of being a teacher.

Employment growth for middle school teachers also will depend on state and local government budgets. If state and local governments experience budget deficits, they may increase class size while maintaining or reducing teaching staff levels. Conversely, budget surpluses at the state and local level could lead to additional employment growth for middle school teachers.

One of the goals of the school library media program is to provide intellectual and physical access to a broad range of literature and informational reading materials for personal pleasure and curriculum support. Library media programs aggressively support reading through a variety of promotional and instructional strategies that are carefully crafted to meet the unique needs of learners at each developmental stage. Additionally, the library instructional and promotional activities are collaboratively planned with classroom teachers so that the concepts and skills taught in the classroom are reinforced, enriching the learning experience.

Reading comprehension is a complex task. Research-based strategies can help, but there are other key ways to help your students become strong readers, including building background knowledge, providing a range of texts and text difficulty, and teaching self-monitoring skills.

This purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an intervention package that combined Skillstreaming procedures for the development of social skills with the use of video modeling for middle school students identified with ASD. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to determine if the video modeling intervention package has an impact on social skill performance of three middle school-aged students with ASD. A multiple probe design across participants was employed to assess the effects of the video modeling intervention package on two beginning social skills (i.e., initiate greetings and initiate a conversation). The participants were three middle school-aged students with ASD enrolled in a self-contained classroom. The dependent variable was the percentage of correct social skills components performed when greeting the teacher and initiating a conversation within in the first 10 minutes of class each morning. The independent variable was an intervention package that included video modeling and direct instruction for each social skill component with Skillstreaming procedures (i.e., modeling, role playing, feedback). The results of this research indicated that all three students improved their social skills performance following the implementation of the video modeling intervention package. Furthermore, during the maintenance phase, the social skills performance of each student was maintained. Recommendations for further study and for teachers of students with ASD are presented.

Teaching writing for middle schoolers can be rewarding, frustrating, or both at the same time, but working through the process and giving clear feedback every step of the way can empower your students and help them learn the value of their words. Showing your students how to use their voices can be one of the greatest gifts you can give them, especially if you do it thoughtfully.

Makerspaces.com was built to help schools and libraries start and run their own makerspaces. We truly believe that adding a makerspace to a school or library can help students acquire the skills needed for the 21st century.

School librarians should have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, advanced computer skills, reading skills, and the ability to solve problems. Common tasks for school librarians include assisting patrons in learning how to use information retrieval systems, providing suggestions on books and information sources relevant to patron inquiries, and maintaining collections. School librarians may also be responsible for the acquisition of new materials for library collections. With experience, school librarians may also become responsible for supervising junior librarians, clerks, and others within the library. School librarians should be prepared to continue training and developing their skills in the information sciences throughout their careers, as information requirements in the Internet age are always evolving.

I teach middle school but enjoyed hearing how you organized your library. I am actually making a video explaining to my students how my library is organized and how they can find what they need. I use Classroom Organizer to catalog my books. It's great because the students can check in and check out their own books and I can get reports on what is out and the type of books each student is reading. I acquired some Kindles for my classroom this year and students will be able to check out those as well. Again, thanks for the great ideas.Lisa Stringfellow@EngageReaders

I have been immersed in finding a balance between resource expenditures on school libraries versus classroom libraries. For middle- and high school (grades 7 through 12), it is especially important to devote funds to maintaining and staffing a school library. The latter includes librarians not only media specialists. This article will help me make that case, I hope!

One could argue that the phenomenon of makerspaces has led to a revitalization and reimagining of libraries in a digital world. As the means of circulating and accessing digital information outside of libraries continue to grow, this renaissance for the library as a place to gather, create, and collaborate has led to benefits for the host facilities just as much, if not more, than participants. Like book clubs, workshops, and other group meetings, hosting a makerspace alongside traditional offerings in a library is fast becoming the hands-on approach to learning and developing new skills. Many libraries at colleges and universities have incorporated program-specific makerspaces into their campus curriculum, bringing students together around a topic such as robotics or a particular fine art technique.

One of the most important lessons every year in the library is teaching book care rules. When I first started as a librarian I only taught kindergarten and first grade students about this. I assumed that all kids knew how to take care of their books, but I was sadly mistaken. Many of my students did not have books at home and rarely visited the library outside of school. And they were never taught to respect books like I was. So I quickly learned just how vital it was that I teach these skills to my students. 2ff7e9595c