Building Better Learners

Sheree Haughian, a former teacher-librarian with the Dufferin County
Board of Education, is an editor with Gage Educational Publishing and
the author of The Private Journal of Day Applepenny, Prisoner.

Parents have power. They have the political clout to keep schools open,
to determine curriculum direction, and even to save endangered programs.
Aware that the axe is never far away, teacher–librarian groups all
over the country are seeking a higher profile. They speak to parents’
associations, set up projects that engage the community, and frequently
publish brochures promoting their important role in the school system.

The result of a university project, Building Better Learners bills
itself as a parent’s guide to preparing students for the information
age, specifically in the use of the school library program. It outlines
the kind of resources a school library should have, the ongoing
partnerships between classroom teachers and teacher–librarians, and
the role of the “big six” information skills in resource-based
learning. Above all, it encourages parents to get involved with their
child’s learning and literacy.

Although the guide represents a commendable attempt at advocacy, it
seems designed for a narrow audience. The project presented as a case
study details a resource-rich exploration of wool, complete with visits
from a sheep farmer. Since this activity may not be possible in an urban
context, another kind of project might have been more practical. As
well, the author seems to be addressing parents from a rather remote
time and place when she notes “we had lots of hard work and few
windows to the wider world—a few books, maybe a telephone, and maybe a
television.” Most parents of today’s elementary-school students grew
up in an era when telephones, television, and other newfangled gadgets
were quite commonplace. In brief, this guide is admirable in its intent
and charming in its sincerity, but altogether too homespun to be
convincing in a wider Canadian context.