Staying Relevant
Over the past few years I’ve noticed more and more that things I teach in library are also being taught in the classroom. Not as a result of collaboration, but simply because these skills are now part of the ELA curriculum. This week I was walking down the hall after replacing a VCR and noticed a wonderful chart paper with all of the features of nonfiction that had been created in the classroom. Last week, as I was introducing the term ‘author’ to my kinders, they not only knew it already, but went on to tell me what an illustrator does.
Which leads me to wonder… how long will it be before the powers that be decide that I am redundant? It’s time to re-think our curriculum and focus on 21st century skills. The days of teaching “traditional library skills” are past.
Rather than teaching what an author does… we need to use new tools to encourage our kids to BE authors. Get out the flip cameras and teach digital storytelling. Use digital cameras to illustrate. We have the luxury of not having to teach to the test…we can take chances and be innovative without risking the dreaded test score. We need to take advantage of this luxury. We need to be the innovators or we risk becoming extinct.
