• Assessing Student Learning in the School Library Meia Center edited by Anna L. Vance and Robbie Nickle (AASL, 2007, 62p. $_____, ISBN: 09780838984468)

  AASL conducts annual Fall Forums that concentrate on important topics for teacher librarians. This collection of papers from the 2006 forum on assessment is a very rich and thought provoking collection of papers from major presenters such as Allison Zmuda, Vi Harada,  Barbara Stripling, Marjorie Pappas, and others. This is an important document of theory and practice upon which teacher librarians can base their policies and practices. Highly recommended.

• Collaboration by Patricia Montiel-Overall and Donald C. Adcock (AASL, 2007, 65 p. ISBN: 0-978-8389-8447-5)Collaboration is one of the most talked about elements of the library media program and the least practiced. However, not shying away from this essential element and the most powerful thing teacher librarians can do, our authors have collected the best articles from the last seven years as published in Knowledge Quest, the official journal of the American Association of School Librarians. It is an excellent collection with both theoretical and practical articles. It is worthy of study by individual and groups of teacher librarians and a worthy addition to the literature. The best writers of the field are represented, so the collection is a key piece in our professional literature.  If you have one copy, other readers in yoru group can find the articles you recommend on line through databases. Thus, a study of the topic can begin with these articles and branch out into the rest of the literature.  Essential reading. David Loertscher

• Developing teaching effectiveness by Myles I. Friedman, Eiane H. Harwell, and Katherine C Schmepel. (Institute for Evidence-Based Decision-Making in Education, Inc., 2007. 202p.. $_____. ISBN: 9780966658859) with Instructor’s Manual, ISBN: 9780966658866.With the emphasis on using research-based practices during teacher, these authors have assembled 24 teaching strategies that are supported by numerous research studies. Using these techniques, a teacher and an evaluator could assess the quality of a lesson where each of the strategies are attempted by the teacher. The idea is, the more of these strategies are present, the higher quality the lesson is. It is instructive to run down this list of research-based strategies in light of NCLB requirements that teaching practices be founded in research. Here they are: taking student readiness into account; defining instructional expectations; providing instructional evaluation; providing corrective instruction; keeping students on task; maximizing teaching time; providing ample learning time; providing transfer of learning instruction; providing decision-making instruction; improving prediction and problem-solving instruction; providing contiguity; utilizing repetition effectively; utilizing unifiers; providing one-to-one tutoring; utilizing reminders; utilizing teamwork; utilizing question and answer; reducing teacher-pupil ratio to under 21 to 1; clarifying communication; utilizing computerized instruction; utilizing demonstrations; controlling classroom dispositions, preschool instruction;  and, enlisting student motivation.  The authors provide a multiple choice test in the instructor’s manual to test whether the teacher understands each strategy and also the observational checklist to see if these strategies are being used effectively during an actual lesson. It is a very interesting approach to begin with a body of research and then construct a method of teaching. Such an approach covers the science of teaching, but where is the creativity? Do great teachers employ such a model as they approach their students? Of interest to school librarians is the author’s encouragement that observing the teaching of a “research paper” provides an observer with a great opportunity to see if all the above strategies are being incorporated. If you want a chuckle, read this list of steps a teacher should take to teach the research process. Obviously, the authors have not heard of plagiarism, libraries, information literacy, quality information, web 2.0, or any of a number of problems, possibilities, and challenges of research. Back to school it is for our authors to discover the holes. Perhaps this is the problem with the entire set. While strategies supported by research are very informative, if followed slavishly, they produce what kids term “boring” instruction – direct teaching that lacks spark, creativity, interest, involvement, and, yes, even higher level thinking. So, as a foundational set of elements, this collection is instructive, but this reviewer hopes that no school would set these “standards” as the only set of strategies to be evaluated.  Recommended as a beginning list of researched strategies but Marzano does a better job in his What Works series of researched teaching methods. David Loertscher, Dec. 2007. David Loertscher

• School Reform and the School Library Media Specialist Sandra Hughes-Hassell and Violet Harada, editors (Libraries Unlimited, 2007, 204 p. $_____. ISBN: 978-1-59158-427-8) To date, this collection of essays about essential directions in the school library media program , is the most significant contribution of the year. Taking important topics of school reform into account, renounced authors of the field weigh in on the directions library media professionals must move to stay relevant. The major topics the editors address include: academic excellence, accountability, diversity, digital literacy, professional renewal and leadership, the librarian as change agent, partnering for student achievement, literacy development, serving diverse student populations, and building professionalism.  The essay writers include the editors themselves, Ross Todd, Marjorie Pappas, Barbara Stripling, Bonnie Mackey, Sharon Pilcher, Elizabeth Dobler, Pam Berger, Mary Jo Noolan, Denise Agosto, Carol Gordon, and Joyce Yukawa. The book is an experience in top-notch professional development and its message is a critical one – get very serious about pushing the envelope toward significant contributions to teaching and learning. Do not pause. Order your copy today. But more importantly, read it, talk with colleagues about it, and, take action. David Loertscher

• Pick and Plan 100 Brain-Compatible Strategies for Lesson Design. By Brenda Utter. Corwin Press, 2007. ISBN: 133p. ISBN: 078-1-4129-5113-5 If you like direct teaching – very structured lessons, then, this book covers that technique.  First, you engage the students for 2-5 minutes; then, you frame what is to be learned in one minute; next, do a learning activity for 5-30 minutes; next, you debrief students to see what they have learned; and, finally, you tell a story or build a metaphor to encourage the transfer and connection to real life.. Not our cup of tea or something that a librarian could contribute anything to in an information-rich or technology-rich world, but it is the fare many many teachers apply with the hope of raising test scores. The 100 ideas here provide one key ingredient and that is variety of approach within the prescriptive structure. We would like to see these ideas extended when the classroom teacher opens the door to any of the specialists in the school including the librarian. How can structure and collaboration be encouraged? Is it incompatible? To bad this author does not have such an approach. Skip it. – David Loertscher.