Lesson Plans for the Busy Librarian: A Standards-Based Approach for the Elementary Library Media Center
This workbook for busy librarians (is there any other kind?) is divided into sections by grade level, from K to 5. The content is based on AASL/AECT standards (Information Power) and language-arts standards of Kendall and Marzano, Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL). Each chapter begins with a list of that grade's standards and includes 15-20 lessons. Each one includes a reproducible worksheet, (for distribution or overhead), the standards, objectives, directions, the teaching team involved, the learning styles used, and suggested resources. Typical lessons involve researching an animal, acting out a story, or filling in a worksheet. Though the standards-based approach is current and educationally sound, this book looks and feels dated. True, the team approach is advocated by listing suggestions for science or art teachers, but one gets the impression that this text would be used by librarians who have scheduled classes and are supposed to teach "library skills," like Dewey decimal classification and card catalog in isolation. Indeed, the old-fashioned printed card catalog is used as a basis for lessons in third, fourth, and fifth grades. Instead of this volume, invest your professional dollars in Donna Duncan and Laura Lockhart's I-Search, You Search, We All Learn to Research: A How-to-Do-It Manual for Teaching Elementary School Students to Solve Information Problems (Neal-Schuman, 2000) or Jenny Ryan and Steph Capra's Information Literacy Toolkit: Grades Kindergarten-6 (ALA, 2001).Debbie Whitbeck, West Ottawa Public Schools, Holland, MICopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.