Block Scheduling and Its Impact on the School Library Media Center (Greenwood Professional Guides in School Librarianship) [Hardcover]

Marie Keen Shaw (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313304947 | ISBN-13: 978-0313304941 | Publication Date: February 28, 1999

Across the country educators are facing the challenge of restructuring the secondary school to meet the needs of students in the twenty-first century. Block scheduling provides sustained time and fosters an environment for active and experiential learning, a key to student success in life. The author, who has spearheaded the adoption of block scheduling in her school's library media center, has prepared a complete guide for library media specialists contemplating or moving to block scheduling. In preparing this guide she has incorporated the experiences of twelve secondary school libraries across the country that have also moved to block scheduling. Step by step, this guide walks the library media specialist through planning, networking, curriculum and instruction, professional development, technology, and assessment. Practical suggestions, forms, lesson plans, and case studies of other media centers that have successfully adopted block scheduling will help the library media specialist to make the transition to the block. Block scheduling places a high demand on staff, materials, and information technologies. Shaw stresses that networking of people and resources is essential to successful adoption of block scheduling. She takes the reader through the planning and transitional phases of a high school adopting block scheduling and addresses concerns about instructional change, ongoing curriculum, and the role of the library media specialist as a teacher of information technology. She provides ideas on where to find professional development and how to network with other library media specialists with expertise in the block and offers practical suggestions on resource sharing, study hall, flexible scheduling, budget, collection development, substitute teachers, and assessment techniques.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Block scheduling, in which high school students spend double periods devoted to one curriculum area with an emphasis on resource-based and cooperative learning, has been one of the most controversial yet widely embraced educational innovations. Library media centers are significantly affected because this approach drastically changes what is taught and how. This timely guide addresses the library's role in the planning stages and actual day-to-day operations of block scheduling as well as the technology, staff, budgetary, and collection-development needs of such a transition. Frequent references, survey results, and graphs add to the validity and ease of use. Each chapter ends with a bibliography including Internet sources. Two lengthy chapters detailing case studies and sample lesson plans make this a pragmatic manual as well as an excellent source on theory. This comprehensive book should be a part of every secondary media specialist's professional library.
Susan McCaffrey, Haslett High School, MI
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

School library media specialist Shaw sings the praises of block scheduling and offers workable suggestions for her colleagues facing this educational challenge. She explains several ways the block can be implemented; how to prepare the library for changes in staffing, collection development, and budget; and the effect of block scheduling on curriculum, teaching styles, and library media center usage. She also offers practical tips for maximizing resources through the use of interlibrary loan, technology, and distance education. While experiencing the change to block scheduling in her own school, Shaw kept in touch with other library professionals throughout the country; she incorporates their comments, statistical data, and case studies into this work. Although Shaw's emphasis is on secondary libraries, most of her ideas can be adapted for elementary and middle schools. Librarians in schools contemplating this switch will benefit from a look at this book. Kay Weisman

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (February 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313304947
• ISBN-13: 978-0313304941
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,902,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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