Do you want to be a contributor to school-wide literacy? Do you want to help your students be proficient readers and achieve academic goals? Do you want to develop lifelong readers? YES! The more focus you place on reading, the stronger your impact. Let’s not debate whether or not our role is to teach reading. Let’s just agree that we promote literacy. In that role of literacy promoter, let’s take a quick look at the five pillars of reading, basic components of any reading program, and see what they are and where we might fit.

THE FIVE PILLARS OF READING

In 2001 the National Reading Panel, in their Report to the Nation Teaching Children to Read, presented the idea of the five pillars of systematic reading instruction, identifying the critical aspects as:

• Phonics
• Phonological Awareness
• Comprehension
• Fluency
• Vocabulary (2001)

For definitions of these terms, see the National Reading Panel webpage at: www.nationalreadingpanel.org /.

THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN’S ROLE IN TEACHING THE FIVE PILLARS

Regardless of the reading model or the information literacy model your school has adopted, it takes a concerted group effort to help students become proficient readers and to help them become truly literate. There is a huge and meaningful role in this effort for the school librarian. Selection and collection development, done in tandem with test score data analysis is a phenomenally impactful part of the librarian’s role, along with teaching information literacy skills. Matching kids with appropriate books and promoting the love of reading are other critical responsibilities of school media specialists.

Let’s assume that the school we are examining accepts the concept that there five pillars of reading. We’ll look at some territory that falls well within the role of the school library media specialist. To make this whole picture vivid, we need to make some additional assumptions.

DATA, THE CURRICULUM, COLLABORATION, AND ASSESSMENT

Assume that our school/district/state has a defined curriculum based on state and national standards, which is tested by both formative and summative evaluations. Assume that our school has analyzed the data from that testing, noted the general proficiencies and the growth areas for particular grade levels in general and for particular “subgroups” or component groups as identified by No Child Left Behind. Assume our school then sets goals that reflect that data analysis.

Once that process is in place, it is easier for us to see where the library media specialist’s instruction can be congruent with school goals and where instruction could be easily modified to be even more targeted at student achievement. Another logical step is to collaborate with classroom teachers to combine our efforts to design lessons/ units and then to assess that learning. What do the kids know well? What do we need to teach them next? How will we assess what they have learned?

Elementary

At the elementary school level, it is easy to see where the library curriculum intersects with the reading curriculum and the five pillars of the reading program. School librarians are naturals at presenting the world’s best literature and using it as a springboard to teaching the curriculum and supporting the components of the reading initiative. Specific examples at the elementary level are abundant.

Secondary

At the secondary level, it can seem more difficult in practice to directly teach vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency. While this school-goal-oriented instruction may appear less obvious at the upper grades, the opportunities are there and are varied.

Here are some examples of lessons and activities we already utilize that support the five pillars of reading instruction:

• Student produced podcasts on the library webpage (fluency)
• School-wide reading promotion programs like Battle of the Books (comprehension)
• Using Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) in the school library and in classrooms (comprehension, vocabulary)
• A collection of picture books designed to help teach reading, writing in targeted groups of students like English language learners, special education students (phonics, phonological awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension)
• One School One Book programs (comprehension, vocabulary)
• Readers Theater presentations in the library (fluency)
• School-wide word-of-the-day programs (vocabulary)
• Using graphic organizers to analyze plot structure and character development (comprehension).

Instruction Tool Chest

The librarian’s instructional tool chest is full of valuable resources such as:

• Knowledge of the curriculum and local, state, and national standards at all grade levels and subjects
• A growing repertoire of research-based strategies guaranteed to promote student learning
• An innate drive to collaborate in meaningful ways with the classroom/subject area teachers
• The power of AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner
• A treasure trove of literature— -fiction and nonfiction, in many formats.

Many of the strategies that teacher librarians typically use are ideal for teaching reading. Matching those teaching strategies to the five pillars of reading makes the start of a meaningful library lesson. The following examples of strategies are not intended to be comprehensive. They are just simple strategies that are utilitarian matches to library lessons. If you are unfamiliar with or intrigued by any of these strategies, ask a colleague, query LM_NET, search for examples online, or try the index or glossary of a professional book.

Comprehension Strategies

• QAR — Question Answer Relationship
• Frayer Model
• QtA – Question the Author
• Anticipation guides
• DRTA (Directed Reading Thinking Activity)
• Graphic organizers
• Literature circles
• KWL—What I Know, what I Want to know, and What I Learned
• Paired reading

Vocabulary Strategies

• Word walls
• Word cards
• Word sorts
• Word pyramids
• List, group, label
• Concept circles
• Fluency Strategies
• Readers Theater
• Read aloud
• Write and record podcasts

Phonics Strategies

• Word study mini lessons
• Use big books
• Teach spelling patterns and word families
• Phonemic Awareness Strategies
• ABC charts
• Use big books
• Interactive read-alouds
• Make crafts to reinforce phonics

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Putting together the components of the data from the data analysis, with the reading pillar, along with a set of strategies, is like designing a complex puzzle. Collaborating with teachers to match the appropriate literature sources and samples with lesson plans designed to teach or reinforce the student skills that the data have indicated need further instruction is work for professionals. Differentiating subgroups and assessing the outcomes to see if you hit the target sounds complex, which it is. However, the results are awe-inspiring, test-score-improving and school-librarian-empowering.

GETTING STARTED: PICK ONE

Pick a class or a grade, pick a teacher, pick a curriculum, pick a pillar, pick a strategy, pick a piece of literature, and collaborate to make a plan.

CONCLUSION

Developing lifelong readers is integral to the role of the librarian. Facilitating, encouraging, and promoting reading is not an add-on to the job. Consider the role you play in developing readers in your school. We know we are contributors; we must make sure our school community is aware of our valuable role in supporting those five pillars of reading. Let it be known: School librarians are at the core of developing student literacy.

WORKS CITED AND OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES

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Allen, Janet. On the Same Page: Shared Reading beyond the Primary Grades. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 2002.

_____. Words, Words, Words: Teaching Vocabulary in Grades 4-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers, 1999.

Armstrong, Linda. Bit, Bat, Bee, Rime with Me! Word Patterns and Activities, Grades K-3. Columbus, OH: Linworth Publishing, 2007.

_____. One, Two Three, Follow Me! Phonics Rhymes and Crafts Grades K-1. Columbus, OH: Linworth Publishing, 2007.

Fisher, Douglas, and Judy Frey. Word Wise & Content Rich: Five Essential Steps to Teaching Academic Vocabulary, Grades 7-12. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008.

Harris, Theodore L., and Richard E. Hodges. The Literacy Dictionary: The Vocabulary of Reading and Writing. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 1995.

Heitman, Jane. Once Upon a Time: Fairy Tales in the Library and Language Arts Classroom for Grades 3-6. Columbus, OH: Linworth Publishing, 2007.

Hoyt, Linda. Make It Real: Strategies for Success with Information Texts. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2002.

_____. Revisit, Reflect, Retell: Strategies for Improving Reading Comprehension. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1999.

Kolencik, Patricia Liotta, and Carianne Bernadowski. Teaching with Books that Heal: Authentic Literature and Literacy Strategies to Help Children Cope with Everyday Problems. Columbus, OH: Linworth Publishing, 2007.

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