2.1 Literature

Candidates are familiar with a wide range of children’s, young adult, and professional literature in multiple formats and languages to support reading for information, reading for pleasure, and reading for lifelong learning.
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PictureMy Reader's Bill of Rights
​Description
This artifact is a collection of the best that children’s literature has to offer. I used a variety of review sources as well as ALA’s lists of notable and award-winning books. It includes picture books, chapter books, nonfiction books, videos, audio books, magazines, and a collection of books that have strong female characters. 

Analysis
This collection of books appeals to a wide variety of student interests. There are books that support reading for information, for pleasure, and for lifelong learning. All the books are high quality and span multiple formats including video, audio and print materials. I keep a paper copy of it on a table in my library, so that students may refer to it when they need books suggestions. The weakness of this list is that it is now three years old, and it needs to be updated to reflect the most recent award-winners and highly recommended books.
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​Reflection
In building this list, I found so many funny, beautiful, courageous, hopeful, interesting, and serious books that I never would have read otherwise. I have referred to this list often in my first year as a school librarian. It is a great source for finding books to read aloud as well as books to recommend to students. I learned which resources to use in order to find the highest quality books and regularly refer to them when creating book orders for my library. I would like to update this list and post it to my Canvas page, so that parents can view it from home.​

​2.2 Reading Promotion

Candidates use a variety of strategies to promote leisure reading and model personal enjoyment of reading in order to promote habits of creative expression and lifelong reading.
PictureReading log used in Henkes reading promotion
Description
What could be better than a unit that incorporates art, physical education, music, media, and language arts? I created a Kevin Henkes book promotion that encouraged the participation of each of the related arts teachers in the building while motivating students to read.  

Analysis
Young children love Kevin Henkes, and that is why this reading promotion is perfect for an elementary school library program. This artifact demonstrated multiple strategies for students to express themselves creatively including art projects, games, songs, and book talks. One challenge of this promotion was coordinating with the other related arts teachers. In order for this book promotion to work effectively, I needed to find a time of the year that we could all be giving Kevin Henkes lessons at the same time.

 Reflection
This is one of my favorite artifacts because I was able to use my creativity and imagination to motivate students to read. Getting students excited about reading is the best part of my job, and I loved to see the students’ glowing faces when they handed me their completed reading logs. I noticed that the Henkes books were getting checked out more frequently, even after the promotion was over. This shows me that lifelong reading was taking root in some of my students. I would like to find ways to get these kinds of results with a similar book promotion for the older students in my school.

​​2.3 Respect for Diversity

​Candidates use a variety of strategies to promote leisure reading and model personal enjoyment of reading in order to promote habits of creative expression and lifelong reading.
PictureBibliography of books with strong female characters
​Description
I created a comprehensive list of books that features strong female characters who don’t necessarily fit the traditional mold. In this artifact, you will find everything from giant-slaying to mystery-solving heroines.

Analysis
Times are changing, and so are the heroes of our stories. On this list, you will find nonfiction books about female pilots and doctors as well as stories where the females save the day. Claudine defies the conventions of her times by shunning dresses and slaying giants, while Delphine takes charge of her younger sisters in place of their mother to keep them safe. This bibliography also represents a mixture of cultures and addresses a variety of reading abilities, so that a diverse range of girls can enjoy the selections. The weakness of this artifact is that it is limited to only six books. 

​Reflection
As I was reading the many books for my Children’s Literature class, I was amazed at the number of books that showcased strong female characters. I was so inspired by these spunky characters that I felt compelled to collect some of them into this bibliography. The only problem is that six books is just not enough. There are so many great ones out there, and I know that I need to add to it. I would like to find strong female characters who represent other cultures, especially Hispanic and Middle Eastern, as those tend to be very underrepresented in children’s literature.​​

​​2.4 Literacy Strategies

Candidates collaborate with classroom teachers to reinforce a wide variety of reading instructional strategies to ensure P-12 students are able to create meaning from text
PictureExample of K.I.M reading strategy organizer
Description
Three reading strategies are included in this artifact. The “What’s My Main Idea” is a strategy designed to help upper elementary students understand how to find the main idea of a paragraph. The “K.I.M” strategy helps middle school students develop a strong vocabulary to improve nonfiction reading comprehension. In high school, the “Two-Column” note taking strategy provides a clear and well-organized structure for taking notes.

Analysis
These artifacts are highly effective in helping students to gain meaning from informational text. The ability to understand informational text is more important than ever, and students need multiple strategies to tackle complex texts. Vocabulary acquisition, identifying the main idea, and note-taking are all crucial skills for creating meaning from text. These are excellent lessons for the library, however their success depends on the cooperation of the classroom teacher. Students need to be able to practice them several times and in multiple ways.​

​Reflection
Because of my background in teaching reading, I have a solid knowledge of a variety of reading strategies.   I enjoy helping students improve their reading skills, and know that it is important for them to have a wide variety of strategies to help them read successfully. The greatest challenge is my lack of knowledge of the specific skills that students are taught in their classroom. This is difficult when you have six grade levels, each with a wide variety of teachers who teach different skills. It is also hard to keep up with the latest strategies because I don’t often have the opportunity to attend ELA meetings. This is something that I plan to pursue on my own through online courses and webinars.​