Dispelling The Myths

Literacy is the new imperative in education. Adapting to a bombardment of information, literacy in the 21st century encompasses sophisticated thinking skills, reading for understanding, and persuasive writing. These skills are essential for economic, personal, and social success. However, low literacy scores on national and state tests have led to sweeping legislation, such as President Bush's education plan, No Child Left Behind. Parents, children, teachers, administrators, government officials, and whole communities are trying to identify why many children do not perform well on these important tests. As a nation, we are determined to leave no child behind.

A national focus on literacy is good news as long as it is based on an accurate picture of the situation and not on popular mythology about reading and writing, such as the false belief that learning to read is a natural process, identical for every child. School libraries can be critical partners in addressing the "literacy crisis," but they also must dispel some of the myths surrounding their role in the literacy development of young people.

Children and youth will be better prepared for "the tests" if the curriculum is pared to its basics and time-consuming experiences like library investigations are eliminated.

An analysis of the thinking skills required on many state tests shows that students need to be able to read a variety of texts for understanding. They also need to draw inferences and conclusions, to write clearly to support an idea, and to solve mathematical problems in text. These are the very skills that are taught and reinforced through collaboratively designed library investigative units.

Once children have learned the basic skills of reading and writing (hopefully by third grade), they are literate and need no further instruction or reading guidance.

Today's youths must learn to comprehend text in a variety of formats, from novels to scientific essays, from news Web sites to television documentaries, from editorials to consumer reports. The skills needed are much more sophisticated than simple text decoding. Traditionally, teachers have recognized their role in teaching children to "learn to read," but only language arts teachers have been responsible for teaching "reading to learn" skills. The demands for literacy are so high now that students must receive instruction and guidance through 12th grade to develop the ability to use literacy skills to learn about the world.

With children in grades K–2, the teacher librarian's role is to read stories; the classroom teacher is responsible for teaching the children to read and write.

Classroom teachers and elementary teacher librarians have a combined responsibility to teach literacy skills. Elementary teacher librarians read stories, but as part of collaboratively designed lessons. The story's presentation and related activities contribute to the total literacy instruction. Teacher librarians discuss the ideas in the story and ask children to predict what comes next. The sound of the language is celebrated in their delivery, and then the story is followed by library research. All of these activities build comprehension and experience. Research units empower children to use language to answer interesting questions and build word recognition and comprehension skills. Some elementary teacher librarians contribute to the teaching of writing by scribing for the children as they tell stories or by helping to write up library research.

Upper elementary, middle, and high school teacher librarians have no role in the literacy development of their students.

Beginning in upper elementary, pressure builds for students to shift from "learning to read and write" to "reading and writing to learn." As they develop, students assert their personal independence and at the same time require academic support to develop the literacy skills they need to learn science, math, literature, and social studies. Middle and high school teacher librarians can collaborate with classroom teachers to provide this literacy support through inquiry-based instructional units. During their investigations, students are taught strategies to read and understand any type of text, to find information that will deepen their understanding, and to express themselves orally and in writing.

Children and youths must be "literate" before they can pursue library research.

This myth is the most critical to dispel because it reveals a complete misunderstanding of the symbiotic relationship between library research and literacy. From the earliest age when children discover that language unlocks the world until the last year of high school when adolescents prepare to use their skills to make their way in the world, libraries provide resources and opportunities for students to learn literacy and inquiry skills together.

In this issue, Sharon Coatney highlights two programs developed by teacher librarians in the Blue Valley (KS) School District to enhance the development of reading for understanding in elementary students. Barbara Stripling investigates the connection between literacy and inquiry in the content areas and describes the teacher librarian's role in fostering this dynamic interaction.

Barbara K. Stripling is director of library programs at New Visions for Public Schools in New York City. She is currently a member of the American Library Association's executive board.