If your administrator asked you to demonstrate how your library program supports literacy, what would your reaction be? This article from Knowledge Quest – Journal of the American Association of School Librarians,“What Do You Mean, How Do We Support Literacy” by Joanna Gerakios, shows how a group of librarians in one American school district responded with a variety of activities to assess their programs and provide a solid answer. Here’s an example of one activity:
“After the self inventory, small groups worked together to compare areas of strengths, weaknesses and mixed assessments, recording their ideas on chart paper. Next, the posters were placed around the room and the groups walked around to review each one. As they rotated, they also placed check marks beside comments they had in common. Our last activity was a survey I administered to gather input on some additional topics that did not come up in our discussions.”
Gerakios provides a summary of a variety of activities that were used to show how librarians apply carefully devised strategies in their library programs to support literacy in their schools.
