Tag Archives: Teacher Librarians
What do Teacher Librarians teach?
Lucia Rede Madrid: Pioneer Texas educator and librarian
Educator Lucia Rede Madrid in the Blue Room of the White House where she received presidential recognition.
There are many fine educators who have contributed to the development of America’s border-town communities. One of these was Lucia Rede Madrid, a dedicated teacher from the border town of Redford, Texas.
Lucia Rede was born in Polvo, Texas, on January 8, 1913. She was the sixth of eight children born to Eusébio Rede and Antonia Luján, who had settled in the area in 1870. When Lucia was only 12 years old, her family relocated to the tiny community of Marfa, West Texas.
Lucia was born to be a teacher. As a young girl, she helped to educate her brothers and sisters. In fact, seven of the eight Rede children became teachers. Lucia earned both her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Education, both from Sul Ross State University. Sul Ross is a public institution of higher learning located in Alpine, in the Big Bend region of the far western part of Texas. After earning her degrees, Lucia taught at public schools in Marfa and Redford for 23 years.
After her retirement from the classroom in 1976, the dedicated educator established a private lending library in the isolated border town of Redford in 1979. She started the library with just 25 books. By 1992, the collection included over 15,000 volumes. The institution gained national attention and still functions today as a library and museum. Current library holdings include Lucia’s personal Library Hall of Fame, a collection of portraits of individuals who were children in Redford that have gone on to successful careers as engineers, doctors, teachers, and accountants.
For her work as a pioneer educator and librarian, this chalkboard champion has garnered many accolades. She was once featured on the NBC Today Show, and a story about her was published in National Geographic in February, 1984. The story was entitled “West of Pecos.” In addition, Lucia was honored with the President’s Volunteer Service Award by President George W. Bush in 1990, and the Ronald Reagan Award for Volunteer Excellence. In 1989, Lucia was inducted into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame.
Lucia passed away at the age of 90, but her work has not been forgotten!
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Teacher Librarians are Chalkboard Champions, too!
Teacher Librarians are chalkboard champions, too! These invaluable resource teachers are so important as support personnel for the classroom teacher’s instructional program.
Teacher Librarians support all curricular content areas, and work side-by-side with classroom teachers to collaboratively plan, teach, and assess subject area content. Teacher Librarians are instrumental in teaching information literacy skills, addressing state standards and frameworks, and developing lessons in resource-based learning. They help ensure that students become effective users of ideas and information.
The Teacher Librarian is also expected to teach students how to access information from a variety of sources, information literacy strategies, reading strategies, and best practices using information technologies to enhance learning. In addition, they teach both students and their colleagues the laws and guidelines related to the ethical, legal, and fair use of information. Teacher Librarians teach and advocate the principles of intellectual freedom, foster independent thinking, and collaborate with the learning community to foster a positive school climate.
As if all this wasn’t enough, Teacher Librarians also advocate for a strong library program and work with students, parents, and the community to develop an understanding of library goals, policies, and procedures.
Because of all these responsibilities, many states require a teacher to earn an additional credential authorizing service as a library media teacher. Kudos to our nation’s Teacher Librarians, for they are chalkboard champions, too!
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The valuable contributions of school libraries
Most educators would agree that school library programs are extremely valuable to students. But did you know that, according to recent studies, strong school libraries help to increase standardized test scores? Statistics show that public schools with strong school library programs outperform those without such programs on high-stakes standardized tests. This is true regardless of parent education, poverty levels, ethnicity, or the percentage of English language learners found in the population of the school. Increases in library program elements correspond to standardized test scores at all grade levels, including elementary, middle school, and high school.
Library elements that contribute to increased test scores include the total number of hours the library is open, the total amount of technology available in the library, the total services provided by trained library staff, the presence of a program of curriculum-integrated information with literacy instruction, the informal instruction of students in the use of resources, providing teachers with information about new resources, and providing reference assistance to both teachers and students.
A strong school library program is described as one that provides a full-time teacher/librarian, a full-time paraprofessional, a robust and up-to-date collection of digital, print, and media resources with a budget to support it, and abundant access to the library’s facilities, technology, and resources. How well does your school’s library program meet the criteria?
To learn more, read the report, Remodeling Literacy Learning: Making Room for What Works, which details key findings from a nationwide survey of more than 2,400 educators representing all grade levels and subject areas. The report investigates the connection between professional learning, educator collaboration, and student learning.
