Instructional Strategies

We've all encountered passive students. They do what's assigned, don't ask questions, and submit their work—but something's clearly missing.

In a student-centered learning environment, argument empowers and students experience motivation, flow, agency, and personal efficacy.

Authentic learning that connects with the world outside of the school is a powerful way for students to give purpose to their learning and make it meaningful. And the library can provide critical support for students in an authentic learning environment.

As we consider providing our students with skills to effectively and appropriately manage, create, and share content, we must consider how to do so in ways that address concerns over online safety. Older kids may be directly taught about using social media responsibly through the actual platforms, but younger kids are technically subject to terms of use that exclude their approved use of these sites.

As we begin to look at audio-visual primary sources, we want to have some idea of what makes them unique compared to other formats that are typically accessed by students and educators as primary sources.

I have found that, while students are very comfortable with watching video or listening to audio, analyzing that audio-visual source is an unfamiliar task.

This video lesson focuses on strategies you can use to help students be active in their interactions and analysis of film or video sources.

Like the analysis of film, we want students to be active consumers of audio sources, making meaning of them and connecting a source to prior knowledge, as they ask new questions for future learning.

Problem-solving skills are required by most standards, but often they are elusive in practice. Problem-Based Learning (PBL) offers an exciting, student-centered method of developing this critical skill set. Join Jacquelyn Whiting and Dee Lanier to learn practical approaches to combine design thinking with game-based activities across disciplines and grades.

In this lesson, Barbara Stripling discusses the three characteristics shared by effective assessments and provides examples of authentic assessments in the library.

Critical thinking skills are essential to the 21st century student. Using the Library Media Center at a public high school in Denver, Leslie K. Maniotes gives examples of guided inquiry and provides tools such as a critical thinking checklist.

With the knowledge and use of a wide variety of formative assessment tools, school librarians can deepen collaboration with classroom teachers to ensure more rich and meaningful instruction for all students.

Mad Libs to handout to use with the second synchronous session in the PD Kit "Instructional Strateiges."

Stress allows our bodies to be pushed to a greater limit. This happens in video games and causes gamers and people who play video games to be more creative problem solvers.

Matthew Winner talks about how video games can enhance teaching and learning.

The love letter I've been promising myself I'd write about my current favorite game and how it seamlessly demonstrates sound gaming principles that work like gangbusters in the classroom!

As elementary students begin consuming contemporary media, skills they learn when working with historic newspapers can give them a foundation that will help them interpret and understand information now and in the future.

Primary source analysis strategies work with kindergarten as well as upper-elementary students. There are variations and adaptations to all of them, but what is similar is that they encourage elementary students to engage with historical items and documents to learn and wonder. As I've used these primary source analysis strategies with my elementary students over the years, I've learned lessons that help make their learning and my teaching more meaningful.

Many primary sources were not designed to be published or shared, but years later they provide a peek into the mind of their creator allowing us to consider an event or time period from a unique point of view.

If we embrace what I call an inclusive authentic audience, we are inviting students to collaboratively contribute to building a library—and all that is included under that umbrella—that grows authentic and inclusive audiences organically, with transparency, justice, rigor, and love.

As a school librarian, my focus is on students who are not typically given a platform to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas. There are specific ways that amplifying student voice has progressed in my library that offer students an authentic audience.

How often are our students involved in creating the content they learn from? One of the best ways I have found to engage students in the writing (and inquiry) process is to invite them into the role of content creators. In this month's lessons, secondary students have an opportunity to create picture books and board books for youger students, and share their finished books with their intended audience.

From student-led remote projects to take-home kits to lists of resources that can be found around the house (sticky rice adhesive!), makerspaces have gone virtual. Please join Stacy Brown, Maggie Melo, and Leslie Preddy as they discuss big-picture questions about how makerspaces can work at a distance.

We invented our own twist on the makerspace: young game designers' challenge. Integrating both the Explore and Inquire foundations of the new AASL standards, this article examines our building blocks in order to help you generate your own designers' environment.

In this column, we focus on digital tools for gaming in an in-person, virtual, or hybrid environment. You will find games for either a virtual or hybrid environment aimed toward creating community—arguably our most important role in this coming year.

An after-school (or during school) Makers Club is a great way to jump-start a makerspace program in your library. Learn strategies for getting started, setting norms and procedures, balancing design challenges with free exploration, and creating a reflection and sharing piece for students.

Infusing maker activities into books, offering design challenges, and collaborating with teachers to integrate making into research assignments are a few ways librarians can tap into the maker movement and provide new options for student inquiry.