Initiatives & Collaborations

Communication with students and staff was a big focus of the library this school year. While it is difficult for one Teacher-Librarian to provide direct supports to over 2,300 students spread across four school sites, the power of technology helps. The document below summarizes the outreach efforts of our school library program while the links provide additional information that may be of interest. These communications range from sharing interesting new tools and other resources that students and teachers may find useful to information, training, and support materials specific to utilizing our library services.

Library Outreach Efforts

Collaborating with teachers and students at each school is an important part of a Teacher-Librarian's role. Below, you can see a few of the major highlights that took place this school year.

Carlisle Elementary Collaborations

Mentor several students by checking in with them for 10-15 minutes each school day.
Assisted classroom teachers by curating selections of books based on specific content topics.
Collaborated with a high school ELA teacher to have her students read aloud their creative writing stories to two 2nd grade classes.
Worked with two CMS teachers to facilitate middle school leadership students reading aloud to multiple elementary classrooms during One Book, One School.
Surveyed 100 students about their reading attitudes during 3rd grade.

Hartford Collaborations

Serve on the school Culture & Climate team
Developed a video tutorial for students that teaches them how to access our online catalog, as well as rate and review books.
Worked with several students to interview HUE staff as part of their "Get to Know..." video series.
Collaborated with special education students to preview, order, and enjoy new "Hi-Lo" books (high interest, low readability).
Worked with several students and their teachers to identify reading interests and recommend books for pleasure reading.

Middle School Collaborations

Assisted with the organization and distribution of ChromeBooks to all students.
Encouraged pleasure reading by facilitating a book "blind date" activity for students.
Worked with two CMS teachers to facilitate middle school leadership students reading aloud to multiple elementary classrooms during One Book, One School.
Developed a video tutorial for students that teaches them how to access our online catalog, as well as rate and review books.
Broadened our Spring book fair to include middle school grade selections to draw student interest in pleasure reading.

High School Collaborations

Assisted with the organization and distribution of ChromeBooks to all students.
Presented to several ELA classes about resources available in their school library as well as online resources for research.
Established work-study plan for several students to serve as buddy readers and/or library helpers.
Started a student advisory team for the library to gain feedback and implement suggestions from students.
Established a common set of expectations and reinforcement for student use of the library.
Secured a Foundation grant to purchase Hi-Lo books for addition to the library and sparked student interest during a week-long "mystery book" event.
Worked with a high school ELA teacher to have her students read aloud their creative writing stories to 2nd grade classes.
Developed a video tutorial for students that teaches them how to access our online catalog, as well as rate and review books.
Presented “What Makes a Good Children’s Book” to a science class for a writing project on marine vertebrates.