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Rachel Lee IST 612: Assignment #3 Creative Programming School Librarian Due Date: July 22, 2012 Executive Summary This report addresses the student body from grades 6 through 8 at Richard T. Stank Middle School, which is a part of the rural Susquehanna Valley School District, located in the high-need area of Conklin, New York. A majority of the students are of Caucasian descent and approximately one third of the student body is eligible for free or reduced lunch. About seventy percent of sixth graders received a 3 or higher on their English Language Arts (ELA) exams, while about fifty percent of seventh and eighth graders received a 3 or higher. It is my desire that through the following programs, students will develop a life-long love and habit of reading, improve their reading comprehension and writing skills, and broaden their creativity and imagination. These programs are focused primarily on reading and therefore, students ELA scores will most likely improve. Skaneateles Middle School librarian Sharon OConnell has suggested two great ideas that she has implemented an inventor club and a read-a-loud luncheon. The inventor club could enable students to research about other inventors and use these ideas to conceptualize their own ideas and then create them. The read-a-loud luncheon would enable me, as the school librarian, and/or students to read passages from my/their favorite books while eating their lunch. Other beneficial programs that I suggest implementing are students acting out theatrical plays and holding booktalks. They can act out and discuss the themes of a theatrical play they are reading for class or write their own for other students to act out and discuss. I support these programs and trust that utilized with what is already taking place in the library, they will motivate students to read for pleasure.

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a. Program Title: Inventions Galore! b. Rationale: The goal of this program is for students to learn about different inventors and their inventions and use these ideas to create their own products that they believe are useful for themselves and/or the rest of their community. Students will have an opportunity to think critically about their own work by setting their own standards and determining whether or not their invention is noteworthy. They will be encouraged to keep trying regardless of the results and reminded that there is no right or wrong when it comes to imagination and creativity. If something does not work out they thought it would, they will need to investigate why and determine how to improve it for next time. c. Program Description: This program will occur biweekly in the library after school. The after school program electives are about one to two hours, with a rotation to a different elective at the halfway point. Additionally, students will be able to come during their free time and lunch hour if they want to work on specific parts of their inventions or learn more about different innovators. During the first meeting, they will brainstorm what they know about different inventor s and their inventions. They will be given an opportunity to choose their favorite contraption or inventor and learn more about them. Basically, students will try to improve on an existing product and/or create their own. Volunteers will be helpful in distributing materials, such as paper and pen if students want to draw out their designs, or maintaining an area of objects that students may need to build their ideas, such as cardboard, paper rolls, etc. Presentations will occur during night events at the school for the families and community. The Common Core (CC) and American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards met for this program are 3.1.5 (Connect learning to community issues), 3.3.4 (Create products that apply to authentic, real-world contexts), CC.6.SL.5, CC.7.SL.5, and CC.8.SL.5 (Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas), which is basically using multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify information (AASL, 2011). d. Assessment: One way to determine whether or not this program is successful is through the students responses/excitement to creating and/or presenting their inventions and whether they can recall which inventor(s) inspired them and why and what he/she/they did. Another is an increase in students receiving a level 3 or higher on the ELA test. An ongoing display throughout the school and library will also be available for the public and school community to recognize the accomplishments, inventions, and research of participating students.

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a. Program Title: Read-A-Loud b. Rationale: The purpose of this program is for students to develop their listening comprehension skills as a story is read by me or by the students. According to Sharon OConnell, middle school students desire to be read to as much as elementary school students (Arnone, n.d.). A safe environment where reading and discussion occurs will foster a positive, creative response to questions such as, What do you think happens next?, What would you do in this situation?, etc. OConnell mentioned that through this venue, students are more apt to check out books being read, books by the same author, and/or books of similar genre and thus increasing literacy and the yearning to read (Arnone, n.d.). c. Program Description: This program will occur once a week in the library during the lunch hour, where students can bring their lunch from home or from the cafeteria, but will be expected to clean up after themselves. The book being read and discussed will be mutually agreed and voted upon. Discussion questions may be asked at the beginning of the story, as the story progresses, and at the end of the story. Students and I will also examine why the author may have written the particular book/series. The CC and AASL standards addressed 4.1.1 (Read, view, and listen for pleasure and personal growth), 4.2.4 (Show an appreciation for literature by electing to read for pleasure and expressing an interest in various literary genres), CC.6.R.L.2, CC.7.R.L.2, and CC.8.R.L.2 (Key Ideas and Details), which is basically determining the main idea of a text, possibly including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot, and how it is conveyed by providing a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. d. Assessment: I will be able to determine whether this program is successful by the amount of students who attend and whether this number increases over time. Furthermore, students should be excited to discuss books that we are reading together and want to borrow them, or books written by the same author, or books of similar genre, so they can read them at home. Another measure of success is a potential rise in the percentage of students who improve to a level 3 and above on the ELA exam because of the emphasis on reading out loud and listening comprehension.

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a. Program Title: Act it Out! b. Rationale: The purpose of this program is for students to develop a passion for reading works written by Shakespeare and other playwrights by acting out their parts. Students will be more inclined to read when they are encouraged to get into character and especially when they see their librarian doing so. Since Shakespearean plays and others, such as Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin in the Sun, range in many different themes and historical backgrounds, it would remain relevant to students by going across the school curriculum. This relevance would lead to more valuable discussions with students about what they are learning from the play and from getting into character. c. Program Description: This program will occur in the library in conjunction with the English (and history) class about once a week. Before reading a play and selecting parts, students will contribute to a brainstorming session about what they already know and want to know about the historical time period and how they think this may affect the characters and events. Another piece of this program is that each class will be given an optional opportunity to write their own play, which can also be performed. It can be a dialogue between a few characters, a monologue, or an entire story. At the end of the year, students can act out their own plays and/or their favorite ones they have read in school during an after-school event for their families, friends, and school community. The AASL standards addressed are 3.1.2 (Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.), and 4.1.8 (Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning). d. Assessment: The success of the program would be measured by how open other subject classes are to collaboration in order to ensure optimum learning for students. Also, students will engage in the different plays by acting them as well as their own out and participating in a discussion of what they are learning about the various characters, dialogues, plots, settings, themes, etc. The circulation of plays may increase through the library, not because they are class sets, but because students want to bring them home to read. Furthermore, a higher percentage of students may receive a level 3 or higher on the ELA exam.

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a. Program Title: Tell Me About It! b. Rationale: The goal of this program is to increase the desire to read by having students conduct booktalks. A booktalk is a succinct report of a book that someone advocates to others to check out with supporting evidence from the story without giving away the ending. Students are more likely to listen to their peers when it comes to book recommendations. When students read a book and find it interesting, they can briefly share about its highlights and explain why anyone else should read the book. Classes will be encouraged to think of creative ways that will attract their audience to the specific book. The booktalk will also include various authors and stories the student believes may have a similar theme or plot in order for their audience to have more options to choose from. c. Program Description: This program will occur on a monthly basis in the library. A few volunteers will be needed on standby for technical support since a part of booktalk is potentially creating a book trailer using a digital device and video editing program. This will give me an opportunity to instruct students on how to use a digital device, like a flip camera, and how to use various video-editing programs to obtain the desired effect or mood of a particular book. This will enable students to be creative and determine how they want to present the booktalk. Since the booktalks are about two to three minutes long, many students will be able to participate at a time. These will be all displayed at the end of year for families, friends, and the rest of the school community. The CC and AASL standards addressed are 1.2.3 (Demonstrate creativity by using multiple resources and formats), 4.2.4 (Show an appreciation for literature by electing to read for pleasure and expressing an interest in various literary genres), CC.6.SL.5, CC.7.SL.5, and CC.8.SL.5 (Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas), which is basically using multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify information. d. Assessment: The success of this program will be measured by the amount of students who learn how to use various means to conduct a booktalk in addition to the number of books in circulation. A collection of booktalks and book trailers will be on display for the school and for the community at various events, which may encourage students to check out particular books. Since students also will learn about different plots, themes, characters, etc., this program may ultimately assist in increasing the percentage of the student body with a level 3 or above on the ELA exams.

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References 1. American Association of School Librarians (AASL). (2007). Standards for the 21st-century learner. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/guidelinesandstandards/learningsta ndards/AASL_Learning_Standards_2007.pdf 2. American Association of School Librarians (AASL). (2011). Common core standard to AASL learning standard(s) crosswalk. In English language arts. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/commoncorecrosswalk/english 3. Arnone, M. (Producer). (n.d.). Creative programming: The literary luncheon [Video file]. Retrieved from http://youtu.be/qaLr3lj7rzQ 4. Office of Information and Reporting Services. (2012). The New York state school report card: Accountability and overview report 2010-11. Richard T. Stank middle school. Retrieved from Albany, New York, NewYork State Education Department website: https://reportcards.nysed.gov/files/2010-11/AOR-2011-030601060005.pdf