how to improve library in school essay

Our Mission

Boosting Students’ Literacy Skills With Help From the School Librarian

Teachers in every content area can build partnerships with the school librarian to support students’ academic literacy across the curriculum.

Librarian talking to visitor at front desk

Raising literacy levels has always been a priority for schools, and even more so since the pandemic. Literacy is a fundamental skill that can be applied across all academic subjects. As we know, students who are literate are more able to engage with and understand the information they are being given or find for themselves and, in turn, are able to gain a deeper understanding of each subject. It’s widely recognized that a student who is literate is more likely to become a confident, self-motivated independent learner.

School librarians have always had a role to play in promoting literacy—especially through reading for pleasure—and because of this, it’s often linked to the English department. This is not something that should be dismissed. As we know, students who read widely do better academically, as it introduces them to lots more vocabulary and also supports and engages their imagination.

The Librarian’s Role Can Support Policy Development

However, the conversation around literacy seems to have changed over the last few months. There’s far more talk about literacy across the curriculum and the need to create cross-school literacy policies. I feel that this is a massive opportunity for the school librarian to demonstrate their role in the wider context.

School librarians have always been a cross-curricula resource. They provide physical and online resources to meet the needs of the teachers and students, but they are also able to teach information literacy skills (including academic reading) through inquiry across all subjects. School libraries and librarians should be included in these policies in order to help teachers understand their wealth of expertise and remind them that the school librarian is there for everyone.

Harness Librarians’ Expertise in Academic Reading

There are three aspects to raising literacy levels: first, teaching children how to read; second, supporting those students who need extra help through interventions; and finally, helping students to read academically—the skill that school librarians have the expertise to support.

Academic reading comprises three tiers of vocabulary:

Tier 1: This level includes everyday words that children come across regularly through reading; conversations with their peers; listening to the world around them; watching TV, YouTube, TikTok, etc., such as happy , baby , table , and cloth .

Tier 2: This level relates to academic vocabulary that appears frequently across content areas, such as analyze and evaluate .

Tier 3: This is subject-specific vocabulary , such as quadratic , hemoglobin , and suburbanization .

To gain access to vocabulary in Tiers 2 and 3, it’s important for students to read nonfiction from either physical books or online resources, as fiction doesn’t often include these types of words. Because Tier 3 vocabulary is subject specific, our specialist teachers will make sure that students know and understand the keywords for their subject. Tier 2 vocabulary can be found across the curriculum, so it’s often the vocabulary that everyone presumes someone else will be teaching.

Inquiry-Based Resources Support Vocabulary Through Reading

School librarians not only can provide the resources that each subject needs but also can ensure, by working alongside teachers, that the topic keywords and Tier 2 vocabulary are accessible (at the right age level or appropriate for students with special needs) within those resources. Because they have an overview of the whole school, they are likely to be aware of what is being taught in various grade levels.

School librarians have a wealth of resources through the IFLA School Library Guidelines and FOSIL (Framework of Skills for Inquiry Learning) that allow them to support teachers across the curriculum. FOSIL is a free framework that can be used worldwide and supports students from prekindergarten to 12th grade. It uses inquiry as the building block of skills that can be taught across all subjects.

School librarians can use inquiry skills to not only teach teachers and students how to find quality resources but also support reading with purpose and understanding and so much more. Inquiry is about helping our students become high-level critical thinkers. Through supporting reading skills, we’re helping our students go beyond the list of facts to gain understanding and meaning.

This is best done by a strong library program linked to the whole school curriculum policy, which will help teachers understand the expertise and role of the librarian within their own subject. Alongside research skills, academic reading needs to be embedded at all levels of inquiry, which means that the resources that the school librarian provides are hugely important.

Collaboration Between Teachers and Librarians is Key

Teachers and the school librarian need to work together to ensure that the resources needed are not only available but also age appropriate. This is only possible through collaboration. It’s important that the school librarian not be an afterthought in this process. If teachers need time to plan a lesson, school librarians also need planning time, and ideally this should be done together.

Some school libraries might stock only a small number of resources. However, if given time, it’s possible to provide online and physical resources for specific lessons. Planning together will also provide the opportunity to create lessons that include the skills and appropriate keywords to engage students in academic reading with purpose.

If teachers are unsure how to get started, they can use an initial inquiry planning form that is available via the FOSIL website and which helps teachers understand the information that school librarians need in order to be able to help them and their students. This type of planning tool can lead to some great collaboration.

If you want to raise literacy levels at your school, include your school library and librarian. Why struggle to do this on your own if you have an expert in your school who can help? Maybe it’s time to have a conversation with your school librarian and find out how they can support academic reading across the curriculum. Finally, check to see if your school library and librarian are mentioned in your literacy policy; if not, that is also a good place to start.

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An Introduction

The library is the place where you can get immense knowledge no matter where you are from and what you are doing. If you are willing to gain knowledge, go to the library and you will get every kind of knowledge. A library has vast knowledge, more than you can imagine. The type of knowledge that you will have depends on what kind of knowledge you are looking for.

A library contains all the books from simple storybooks, fantasy books to arithmetic, encyclopedias and highly knowledgeable philosophical books. You can have any book in which you are interested and can enhance your knowledge. A library is a place where you can get knowledge on the basis of your preferences.

It is definitely not like only intelligent students visit the library but any other person can also visit it only to read the books of their choice. You can have all kinds of books in a library. The School library is actually the most peaceful area. The school-age is considered to be the one where there is maximum development of our brain and as a fact it is proved that those who read more books tend to have a sharper memory. To sharpen up their memory, it is not necessary for the students to read the book of philosophy or something like that but even if they look for a simple storybook, it will be providing them with morals and basically, by reading the storybooks, their vocabulary will be enhanced. For those who have fewer friends, books are going to be their best friends. They are going to give value to you and lots more. Library especially the school library, is the place where you can never get bored. You will remain fresh between thousands of books that provide you with immense knowledge. Now let's have a look at the topic of the school library. Here in this article, you are going to get information about the school library in the form of an essay.

Essay on School Library

Vedantu provides essays on various topics to help students understand how to write essays in the exam. Essay writing allows students to have a strong grip on the English language, improves sentence formation and grammar. Students can score good marks in the writing section by referring to essays on Vedantu. Get the essay written by experts on the topic ‘School Library’ on Vedantu’s site.

In the English language, essays are often the most scoring topic. If the students want to have a good scorecard in the English language then they should have a brief knowledge about how to write an essay and by looking at one or two essays, they will easily know the pattern of the essay. Here is one of the school libraries, an essay is written on this topic. Just go through this essay once you will come to know the importance of the school library and not only this, you will also come to know about the pattern of an essay and what kind of pattern you should follow while writing an essay in order to get a maximum score.

School Library

School libraries are the place for learners and thinkers. A school library is a library within the school premises where a variety of resources are available to be accessed by the students, staff or even parents. They are connected with other sources like the internet, multimedia, digital libraries and can access them for information gathering on behalf of the students. The libraries are led by the librarian. School Libraries help encourage curiosity, innovation and problem-solving in students. It has been observed that well-resourced libraries help to improve the outcome learning of the student.

Libraries are the repository of knowledge! The library in my school is developed with a special motto to provide study resources to the needy or to those who can't afford to buy stuff. Sometimes, prescribed textbooks are not enough to acquire deep knowledge. Students who want to learn aren’t satisfied until they achieve knowledge on a particular topic. My school library consists of thousands of books and millions of articles by scholars.

I remember one day my best friend and I had a conflict on a Science topic. So we went to the Science teacher directly but he was unable to explain it properly. He suggested that we should take a look at the reference book in the library. The librarian helped us to find the reference book. We finally resolved the conflict with a satisfactory answer.

Our school library has been modernized recently. Earlier, some manual work was needed which took time. Now with everything being automated, it is easier to find any resource in the library. Online lectures have been introduced, which is a new and fun way of teaching.

During exams, students sit in the library for learning purposes. Studying in the library is proven advantageous as the doubts will be solved there only with a bunch of references. Moreover, our daily schooling started with reading the newspaper. According to the teachers, reading the newspapers gives us information about the surroundings. We can even study in depth what is going on in the world. Earlier it used to be in paper format but now it is in electronic format.

The School library is the place where the children get immense knowledge. The books that they read daily are definitely necessary but if they go through other books then their vocabulary will be increased. Not only this, they are going to have good knowledge about various topics that they will read. A school library has all kinds of books, from storybooks for the children to psychological books that the teachers can use for the children and as well as increase their knowledge. Remember if you have read any book then you have just made an investment; there is nothing like wastage of time when one is reading. Spending time on books is not a waste of time at all. You are going to find the usage of the book that you have read once in your life anyhow.

We can’t imagine a school without a library as they complete the school. Yet, there are many schools that do not have libraries. In fact, libraries are the mentors of the mentors.

A library in a school is a must. You are going to get all kinds of knowledge in the library of a school. As much as it is important to read the books related to your subject in the same way it is important to read the books that increase your knowledge. The main reason that you are provided with a library period is so that you can just go beyond the finite syllabus and look for your interest and invest time in that.

FAQs on Library

1. Why must every school have a library?

A library has an important role in the life of students. It serves as the warehouse of knowledge. Every school must have a library to provide students with a platform to gain knowledge about various fields. It helps students to have an in-depth understanding of a topic by reading various books. Libraries help in expanding knowledge horizons. School libraries have a crucial role in academic excellence. Every school should definitely have a library as these libraries are very necessary to increase the knowledge of students and enable them to go and find their interests beyond the syllabus to which they are bound.

2. What are the benefits of school libraries?

The various benefits of school libraries are: Improves Concentration: Libraries, being a silent place, improves the concentration of an individual and helps absorb and acquire knowledge faster. Personality Development: Knowledge elevates the personality of an individual. The libraries are a source of knowledge and hence play an important role in personality development. Opportunity for Socializing: Libraries provide an opportunity for like-minded people to interact and brainstorm about different topics. Contribution to Intellectual Development: School Libraries provide a plethora of knowledge on different subjects which helps students become smarter individuals. Increases Awareness: Apart from academic books, libraries also contain research magazines and journals on various scientific and other topics. Reading such materials increases the awareness of a student about the various developments across the world.

3. Where can i find free essays written by experts on the topic ‘school library’?

You can find free essays written by experts on the topic ‘School Library’ on various online teaching platforms like Vedantu. Vedantu is known for its top-quality materials. At Vedantu, students can find essays written on various topics which will improve their essay writing skills. At Vedantu, we have designed the essays mainly by taking into consideration what the students need in order to improve their performance and increase their capability. All the information that you get from Vedantu is designed as well as verified by the experts so that you can have the correct knowledge.

4. How to make use of the school library?

School Library is indeed a place where the students can spend their time to receive maximum knowledge. If we want the students to think out of the box and get more realistic, then sometimes it's necessary for us to let them have knowledge beyond the syllabus in which we have bound them. So, the school library will help them in this process, that is to have a vocabulary as well as proper mental growth.

The school library can be effectively used in many ways: Planning a weekly visit of class to the school library Conducting biweekly reading sessions Creating reading groups Adding a digital section Conducting writing and debate competitions

5. Why is it necessary for kids to visit the library?

A library is a place that will help the students to increase their knowledge. The students are bound in a particular syllabus and they remain confined in that particular syllabus, continuously revising those specific bits of information. But if you want your student to grow throughout and for the overall growth of a child, it is necessary for them to have a visit to the library. This will enable them to think out of the box and by reading books of different genres, they will be able to find their own interest.

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Transform the High School Library

Innovative ways to get more students—and staff—engaged with your space.

By Chiquita Toure | March 1, 2019

When I took the role of head librarian at a public high school five years ago, I was excited about the possibilities. My previous experiences at middle and elementary schools were meaningful, but high school was the next level. I saw potential to reach students before they enrolled in postsecondary schools or started vocations. I was pumped to introduce great reads and instill in students a love of research.

Surely, I thought, students will want to pour into the library, begging for the latest bestsellers. Imagine my surprise when one of the first students to enter the library asked, “Does anyone ever check books out?” After examining the stats, I found that students did not check out very many books. During my first nine weeks, only 81 books were circulated at a school with a population of more than 800 students.

Certainly, students’ academic performance and achievement showed that they were readers and there was a culture of reading. It became clear that students were reading novels for English classes, essays from professional journals, stories from local newspapers, and New York Times and Wall Street Journal articles assigned by social studies and science teachers, with assignments connected to thought-provoking questions and critiques.

Now I had a dilemma: Do I take on the task of promoting titles within the school library, or do I conduct a needs assessment to determine how best to use the space for the entire school community?

As the year went on, I realized that prioritizing relationships with students, teachers, staff members, administrators, and parents was the best way to resolve the issue of an underutilized space. I was reminded that the quiet school library no longer exists. The school library needs to take on a different role as it caters to present-day academic and social needs. The reality of low circulation cannot overrule the necessity of being a learning hub where student meets student, staff member meets staff member, staff member meets students, and community meets school.

Prioritizing relationships was the best way to resolve the issue of an underutilized space.

We can be seen as “the place to be” through transformational thinking. Here are some ideas for getting the community to see the school library differently:

Start a virtual book club. Social media is second nature to students. Take book club selections and prompts online, and encourage all members of the school community to participate in a digital discussion.

Host brown-bag lunch workshops. For example, in my first year I hosted a Women’s History Month–themed event at which I invited professional women in the community to speak about their careers while students ate lunch in the library.

Start a writing center. I was honored whenever students solicited my advice on writing personal essays, college applications, résumés, and informational reports. Consider forming a student-led writing center. At our school, Warrior Words, a literary publication featuring poetry, prose, opinion, and artwork, was born from this group. Hold information literacy sessions. Teach students serious search strategies and how to dig into noteworthy databases. Show them how to handle the overload of information by focusing on research questions, not topics.

Bring in storytellers. Who says high schoolers are too old to enjoy a professional storyteller? Students learn the significance of spoken language and how to honor oral history from our cultural bearers. Put on music. After purchasing a Bluetooth speaker for the library, I found that playing music—reggae, gospel, jazz, pop, and rap—while students gathered to chat, play cards, put puzzles together, and study was an effective strategy to get students to visit more often.

Promote the library to instructors. Market the school library as an open space where educators from different disciplines can meet to showcase interactive learning and share their course reading.

Are we meeting the needs of a new generation of school library users? As models of professional learning, we must be prepared to take the community to a higher level of engagement.

CHIQUITA TOURE is school librarian at Eastmoor Academy in Columbus, Ohio. This is an excerpt from “Not Your Mother’s School Library: Transformational Thinking and Innovation to Impact Learning for the School Community,” Knowledge Quest blog, July 2, 2018.

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School Library Month

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Strategies for Boosting Reading Engagement Through Your School Library

Author: Darshell Silva | Posted: November 17, 2020 Categories: Library Media | Tags: Books , Library Media , Reading

Providing reading materials for classrooms and students is a mainstay for school libraries. There are many strategies available to school librarians to boost reading throughout their schools, which in turn increases circulation – always a good thing for the school library program. The impact of school libraries and school librarians on reading and literacy in schools is well documented and has been shown to be a predictor of success .

The role of school librarians in reading varies by school level. One role that permeates all levels is that of creating readers . Not every student is automatically comfortable in their role as a reader . School libraries are an important place where many students first discover their love for reading .

What are some strategies to promote the love of reading in your school? There are many ways to build a culture of reading using the school library. Reading programs based in the school library are one way to promote reading throughout your school. In addition to reading programs, school libraries promote reading through advocacy , special events , and visual displays. Visual displays include inventive book displays , bulletin boards , and engaging websites . Special events can include celebrations, author visits (in-person or virtual), contests , engaging with national/ state book award programs, and more . Reading promotion for middle and high school libraries will usually look a little different but can still be highly engaging.

When students are in the library there are many strategies you can use to engage them in reading. Collaborating with teachers in your school is one way to not only bring students into the library, but also to promote use of the library to teachers. Booktalk s are a wonderful way to encourage students to read and share the books they love with others. If booktalks are not something that you are able to do, there are other ways to achieve the same objective. Book speed dating and blind date with a book are fun ways to engage students with books that they might not otherwise seek out. Book trailers and book reviews are great ways for students to share books they love. Engage your students in online book communities like Bookopolis , Biblionasium , Dogobooks , SpaghettiBookClub , BookClubforKid s, and GoodReads to track their reading, post book reviews, and get reading recommendations. Another great tool in a school librarian’s toolbox for boosting reading engagement in the school library is engaging with students from specific communities in school, including diverse communities , struggling readers , and distance learners . During this time when many students are remote or taking part in distance learning for all or part of their time in school, strategies for supporting them are very important. Promoting Ebooks and audiobooks , use of technology, and use of inventive and basic strategies are all effective.

Reading engagement is at the heart of every school library. Choose those strategies that will work best for your school community! For more ideas, don’t forget to check out the TeachersFirst resources and blog posts .

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Feedback and Evaluation is also a vital strategy for School librarians to boost reading throughout their schools. School Librarians can continuously gather feedback from students and teachers to understand their reading preferences and needs, use this feedback to improve library services and offerings.

Engaging in strategies to boost reading engagement helps students to explore and learn more, it also helps to boost creativity and imagination for both teachers and the students.

ChatGPT for Teachers

Trauma-informed practices in schools, teacher well-being, cultivating diversity, equity, & inclusion, integrating technology in the classroom, social-emotional development, covid-19 resources, invest in resilience: summer toolkit, civics & resilience, all toolkits, degree programs, trauma-informed professional development, teacher licensure & certification, how to become - career information, classroom management, instructional design, lifestyle & self-care, online higher ed teaching, current events, examples of library research assignments.

Examples of Library Research Assignments

Every student must develop library research skills in order to complete academic work in most subjects throughout their academic careers. More specifically, they will apply these skills along with library support services when researching information for essays, reports and projects.

However, library research skills are applicable well beyond the classroom, as adults benefit from library research for work as well as for leisure. Students who complete assignments that develop their ability to conduct library research are establishing a lifelong knowledge on how to find, decipher, and interpret information.

There are many ways to develop good library research skills. Here are tips that will help students get started.

Lead with librarians

Librarians are key to the success of assignments for students related to library research abilities. Utilize the opportunity to involve librarians by asking them for ideas for creating assignments. Librarians can also evaluate an assignment to determine its effectiveness and offer advice for making assignments more relevant. Also, contacting a librarian ahead of time regarding an assignment will alert them that students will be in the library doing a particular activity. Creating a partnership with the librarian will be beneficial for students who are dealing with multiple instructors while learning about skills with library research.

Establish concrete objectives

The first step for conducting solid library research is to set concrete objectives. Also, the student must understand what the skill is that they are implementing in an assignment. For example, the student might be learning how to write citations in a bibliography or how to research databases. However, if the assignment makes assumptions that the student already understands the reason for learning these research skills, it will not be as conducive. The assignment must include clear goals, along with supplemental information, such as how the particular skill relates to the library or other academic subjects.

Application of the skill

Learning about any particular research skill can be a tedious chore if the assignment is not made interesting for the student. Integrate a library research activity in with other assignments to create a meaningful connection. For instance, if introducing how to search for scholarly sources, an assignment could be a part of a research project on a topic of interest to the student. Assignments that encourage students to put their new research skill into action have more staying power compared to a straightforward assignment that simply focuses on the skill.

Relevance is key

Making the research skill assignment relevant and exciting to the student is essential. When a new skill for library research is introduced, by incorporating it with other related activities, the student is more likely to recall the skill later on. For example, for an assignment that is focused on how to research primary resources, a trip to a museum or historical site would be highly relevant and interactive. The student would have the chance to see a skill put to use in the real world while learning how to conduct the appropriate steps for success.

Involve library support services

Given that library research skills involve the library, it is only natural to incorporate support services at the library. Involve the library research department and applicable services when creating assignments that teach research skills. For example, a librarian could visit a classroom to teach the students how to look for scholarly reference sources on the Internet. Additionally, librarians may be willing to work with students in groups or individually to conduct research in the classrooms.

Instructors who are tasked to teach skills related to library research, such as the difference in primary and secondary sources or how to conduct scholarly research, have an important job. With preparation and planning, these assignments can be beneficial for students. The most important things to remember when creating these assignments are relevance and application. By creating a partnership with a library and its librarian, instructors are more capable of assisting students with library research.

The importance of having a school library

Chapter Leader Lisa Kent (left) and 6th-grade teacher Charmaine Green-Lewin admire their school's brand-new library at PS/IS 155 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

Lisa Kent, the chapter leader at PS/IS 155 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, has taught there for 22 years. In all that time, the school has never had a working library.

That finally changed this spring, thanks to the school’s current and former principals, community grants and donors, PTA volunteers and the tenacity of art teacher Lisa Ryan. On March 6, the school community gathered for a ribbon-cutting to unveil a library stocked with $10,000 worth of brand-new books.

What will it mean for students and teachers to have access to their school’s own library?

“It’s going to mean everything,” says Kent.

In our politically fraught times, as the rise of social media has made gathering reliable information more challenging, libraries are experiencing a renaissance. In a New York Times opinion piece in September, sociologist Eric Klinenberg declared, “To restore civil society, start with the library.”

Decades of research known cumulatively as the “school libraries impact studies” tell us that schools with strong library programs produce students with better standardized test scores in reading, stronger information literacy skills and higher graduation rates.

This holds true even in schools that have experienced an overall decline in staff or where a high percentage of students live in poverty.

Library impact studies also tell us that school library programs are most effective when certified library media specialists work hand in hand with teachers.

“Library impact studies suggest test scores tend to be higher where administrators, teachers and librarians themselves think of the librarian as a school leader; as a teacher, co-teacher and in-service professional development provider; as a curriculum designer, instructional resources manager and reading motivator,” wrote researchers Keith Curry Lance and Debra E. Kachel in 2018.

But finding space, staff and resources for a well-maintained library can be a challenge. In New York State, regulations require secondary schools — but not elementary schools — to be staffed by certified library media specialists, also called library teachers.

“A certified librarian is someone who’s been certified both as a librarian and as a teacher,” says Nira Psaltos, a librarian at Bayside HS in Queens. “Just like you would see a specific doctor for a specific ailment, a librarian is a teacher who’s been trained and who is coming from a place of expertise.”

Much of what library teachers are trained to do is help students build the information and digital literacy skills they need to conduct research and gather information — especially on the internet. Librarians help students understand how to evaluate information they find online and point them in the direction of resources they can trust.

“We provide knowledge that students need to know about navigating a complex information landscape,” says Michael Dodes, a school librarian who now works as a library operations and instructional coordinator in the city Department of Education’s Office of Library Services. “We focus on three pillars: inquiry, or the process of problem-solving; reading for pleasure and purpose; and social responsibility, or how to use information responsibly.”

Librarians can also be invaluable sources of support to classroom teachers. Librarians can help teachers gather a range of texts to meet diverse student needs. They also work with teachers to spark students’ interest in reading and support students as they evaluate content they encounter in their research.

“Librarians know where the best resources are, they know how to teach and they know how to teach teachers,” says Dodes. “They’re a central point to bringing together pedagogy and resources aligned to students’ needs.”

Most high school libraries are designed to be “open access,” meaning students can visit the library whenever they are free. In addition to the academic resources the library can provide, Psaltos says there’s value in the library as a welcoming space where students can hang out and read for pleasure.

“Every student should have access to the library and the opportunity to go there,” says Dodes. “It’s all about creating a space where students can read, explore information and work with each other.”

The skills students develop in their school libraries — as they learn to compare the merits of Wikipedia with ERIC, for instance — will continue to serve them far beyond the classroom.

“We get information, but we then have to process that information and use it ethically and responsibly — not just in an academic sense, but in a life sense,” says Psaltos. “Social responsibility and who we become as citizens is part of what libraries shape.”

Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

Response: ‘School Library Programs Should Be the Heart of School’

(This is the final post in a two-part series. You can see Part One here .)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What are some “best practices” for school librarians and/or for how teachers work with school librarians?

In Part One , Teresa Diaz, Bud Hunt, Marci K. Harvey, Jennifer Orr, and Jen Schwanke offered their suggestions.

Today, Rita Platt, Penny Sweeney, and Ann Neary provide their responses.

Response From Rita Platt

Rita Platt (@ritaplatt) is a national-board-certified teacher and a proud #EduDork! Her experience includes teaching learners of all levels from kindergarten to graduate student. She is currently the principal of St. Croix Falls and Dresser Elementary Schools in Wisconsin, teaches graduate courses for the Professional Development Institute, and writes for MiddleWeb:

The research is in. Full-time school librarians have a positive impact on student achievement. In fact, according to the Phi Delta Kappan summary of the research , “impact studies suggest test scores tend to be higher where administrators, teachers, and librarians themselves think of the school librarian as a school leader; as a teacher, co-teacher, and in-service professional development provider; as a curriculum designer, instructional resources manager, and reading motivator; and as a technology teacher, troubleshooter, and source of instructional support.”

For the last eight years, I was the teacher-librarian at a wonderful elementary school. I will never forget what my principal, Mr. Benoy, told me when I interviewed for the job: “I am not looking for someone to simply check out books. I am looking for a strong teacher and school leader.” I was thrilled! The collaborative work I did with Mr. Benoy and teachers helped lead our Title I school to consistently be ranked as “exceeding expectations” on the Wisconsin State Report Card .

I am now the principal of my school and had to hire a librarian to replace me. Like Mr. Benoy, I was not looking for someone to run the checkout, reshelve books, and do inventory, I wanted a leader. Below are the top five skills I believe a “leader-librarian” needs to impact achievement.

A heart of service. Leader-librarians need teachers and students to trust them. Trust is built when librarians work for and with all stakeholders, rolling up their sleeves and pitching in wherever and however needed.

Strong knowledge of best practices in literacy teaching, a firm commitment to support the school’s philosophy, and a passionate desire to connect students, teachers, and families to literacy learning and love.

A desire to co-teach reading and writing with classroom teachers and the skills and knowledge to do so. Today’s school librarian must be ready to support teachers as they work with students on writing projects, lead response to intervention (RTI) groups, whole-class, or small group reading skills and strategies, and help students conduct research.

A sense of fun! Challenges, parties, incentives, and a culture of joy are critical components to successful schools. The library can and should be the heart of a school, and as such, it must pump enthusiasm in and out of its doors daily. A strong leader-librarian acts as a literacy ambassador, helping students, teachers, and the wider community learn to and love to engage in learning.

Technology know-how. It’s been a long time since a school library was called a “library.” It’s now a “media center.” That means that leader-librarians are responsible for a variety of technologies and must act as tech-leaders, coaches, and advocates. Knowing how to use Chromebooks, iPads, apps, and the best websites is a must.

In 2017, I was one of 10 recipients of the American Librarian Association I Love My Librarian Award . My remarks are below, which nicely sum up what today’s leader-librarian can be.

“My sincere hope is that this award will shine a light on why school libraries are important, offer encouragement to fellow library media specialists, and allow me a platform to share best-practices in elementary school librarianship. Our work is to help students learn to and love to read, to offer them windows to the wider world and mirrors to hold to themselves, and to provide safe, supportive, spaces that nurture curiosity and passion. School library programs can and should be the heart of school.”

Librarians, if we want to save our jobs in schools (and we should! Just look at the research!), then we have to make ourselves indispensable. Be a leader-librarian.

Response From Penny Sweeney

Penny Sweeney is currently a K-6 school librarian in the Liverpool Central school district in upstate New York. She is the current president of the New York Library Association-Section of School Librarians (NYLA-SSL). Penny is an ASCD Emerging Leader of 2018:

(These best practices are curated from the AASL National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries. ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association, 2018.)

Within the new American Association of School Librarian standards, there is a breakdown of six shared foundations—inquire, include, collaborate, curate, explore, and engage. When exploring the idea of best practices for librarians collaborating with classroom teachers, it is important to focus through the lens of these newly adopted standards.

* Inquire - Build new knowledge by inquiring, thinking critically, identifying problems, and developing strategies for solving problems. This foundation focuses on the inquiry process and creating a schoolwide culture of growth mindset for teachers and students. Best practices include:

1. Research and gain professional development on ideal inquiry processes through conferences, webinars, journals, social media, and books. The inquiry model chosen will be a true research process that includes student-driven questions, is research-based, and includes student self-reflection to promote continued learning. The model should also ensure that students across grade levels are getting age-appropriate opportunities to question, explore, share, and reflect on both academic and personally interesting topics.

2. Offer professional development to teachers on the ideal inquiry process and encourage staff and administrators to share the successes.

3. Collaboratively teach across curriculums, using the inquiry model determined to be the best for that learning community.

* Include - Demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to inclusiveness and respect for diversity in the learning community. Librarians must be sure that they are creating an environment of acceptance and trust in diverse opinions. Best practices include:

1. Encourage diverse perspectives to be shared and received, in conversation, in student learning, in the physical design of the library, in displays, and in the print and digital collection available to all students and staff members.

2. Encourage diverse perspectives through global connections that make the learning environment larger than the school walls.

* Collaborate - Work effectively with others to broaden perspectives and work toward common goals. Best practices include:

1. Develop a scaffolded approach to student-to-student collaboration, with opportunities for students to safely explore various roles within a successful collaborative group.

2. Instruct alongside teachers in such a way that students can see a true model of successful collaboration.

3. Share the collaborative process with other teachers, administrators, and educators through newsletters, social media, articles, or presentations.

* Curate - Make meaning for oneself and others by collecting, organizing, and sharing resources of personal relevance. Best practices include:

1. Ensure that teacher and student needs are being met through a 24-7 digital and print collection. Librarians, teachers, and students should have an open dialogue that enhances collection development of print and digital resources.

2. Offer professional development needed for teachers and students to be able to access the resources, as well as update stakeholders on newest additions, including citation tools.

* Explore - Discover and innovate in a growth mindset developed through experience and reflection. Best practices include:

1. Maintain a collection that is diverse, age-appropriate, and easily accessible.

2. Create a physical and online space that encourages discovery and sharing of ideas.

* Engage - Demonstrate safe, legal, and ethical sharing of knowledge products independently while engaging in a community of practice and in an interconnected world. Best practices include:

1. Know (through surveying students and staff members) and address the ethical use of information, to include age-appropriate citations and plagiarism. Collaborative instruction with teachers should be used to address this with students.

2. Ensure that stakeholders are a part of policy creation and updating of (de)selection of library resources (to include a challenge policy), privacy of library-user information, and ethical use of information.

3. Provide training and availability of a variety of technology tools to allow learners to personalize the expression of their learning.

Response From Ann Neary

Ann Neary, MATL Mount Holyoke College ‘18, teaches AP Literature, Caribbean Literature, Contemporary Literature, and Introduction to Journalism at Staples High School in Westport, Conn. She collaborates regularly with her librarians, Tamara Weinberg and Colin Neenan, to enhance student learning:

Teachers: Rethink your library

If you think of your school library as a piazza, a central location or square in a village where multiple activities take place, you will undoubtedly make better use of the space and the librarians. At the Staples High School Library Piazza, there are bean bag chairs, diner booths for hanging out, couches for reading, a quiet section, and many tables for the “study zone.” The peripheral rooms off the piazza are designated for maker-space activities, green-screen video production, and a double classroom swing space for single class events or larger buildingwide discussions.

I have used all of this space to enhance learning opportunities for my students. In the maker space, Introduction to Journalism students learned the power of live interviews, splicing, and editing techniques to tell a story, thus becoming savvy, critical thinkers when they watch the news. Contemporary Literature students created videos in the Green Room expressing knowledge of their teachers love of teaching during #LoveTeaching week. Caribbean Literature students live-streamed with a Cuban native to “see” and hear the sights and sounds of Havana, in the small learning center.

All of these activities were facilitated in collaboration with my school librarians. They are my go-to resource because their finger is on the pulse of the entire piazza. Everyone moves through that space.

Productive collaboration between teachers and librarians begins with an appreciation of the different skill sets each possess and a faith in the cliché that two (or three) heads are better than one. Teachers are experts in content and their students’ abilities; librarians are experts in locating resources and producing multimedia.

True collaboration involves sitting down and finding consensus regarding the best approach to content delivery, student assignments, and formative assessments. What is the essential content? What will inspire students to engage? What products will students be proud to share? While students (and teachers) understand there is a “writing process” that involves a recursive process of drafting papers, they are less familiar with drafting other products such as videos or slideshows. Librarians are well positioned to work with groups of students to improve their multimedia projects.

Since librarians are not scheduled to teach four or five classes a day, they have greater flexibility to explore making a big idea a reality. Working with teachers in all subject areas also enables librarians to bring new ideas that cross over departmental barriers. Whereas I, as an English teacher, may have no idea what learning activities are taking place in a science classroom, the librarians do know. And they share.The benefit for students comes from the enhanced seamlessness of the learning.

Rethink your library and the resources your librarians provide. The library is not a dusty space filled with untouched textbooks. It is a vibrant piazza, buzzing with activity.

Thanks to Rita, Penny, and Ann for their contributions.

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

Education Week has published a collection of posts from this blog, along with new material, in an e-book form. It’s titled Classroom Management Q&As: Expert Strategies for Teaching .

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email or RSS Reader. And if you missed any of the highlights from the first seven years of this blog, you can see a categorized list below. The list doesn’t include ones from this current year, but you can find those by clicking on the “answers” category found in the sidebar.

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Look for the next question-of-the-week in a few days.

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School Library Essay

The school library is the best-designed, most pleasant, and most comfortable location for reading books and learning materials. It provides an extensive selection of books covering a wide range of subjects. Its primary goal is to help kids form the habit of reading. It benefits the school's faculty, staff, and students. Here are a few sample essays on ‘school library’.

100 Words Essay On School Library

A library is a location where numerous collections of books are kept. The extensive library at my school is next to the auditorium. Once a week, our class goes to the library. Our library has a variety of picture books, novels, comics, and other materials.

Due to my passion for reading books and magazines, I look forward to my time in the library. The reading area in my school's library is a big table surrounded by bookcases.We refer to the books in our library when we have any assignments to complete. I also use my free time to visit the school library.We can also issue the library books and take them home.

200 Words Essay On School Library

My school has a large library with a wide selection of books on many topics. Twice a week, we have designated time for the library. Each class has a library period during the weekly schedule. My greatest reason to go to the library is that I can read my favourite books there. My school's library is tastefully decorated. It is a sizable hall that is well illuminated and ventilated. There is a huge section in the middle intended for seating children. We sit in rows most of the time. The books are arranged all around the seating area.

Our library is staffed by a librarian and a caretaker. Our Librarian is a sympathetic person. When we request one of the books, she always beams and gives us the book. The library also provides a selection of newspapers, journals, and current events in both English and Hindi. With the exception of those marked "could not be issued," the majority of the books in our library can be signed out. If the book is lost, harmed, or delivered too late, we are charged with a fine. There are many different types of books in the library and I love spending time there.

500 Words Essay On School Library

A school library is a room on the school grounds that stores a collection of books, audiovisual materials, and other content for general use to satisfy users' requirements for education, information, and entertainment. Libraries aim to spark a love of reading among the students who benefit from the most significant resources and environment available here, in addition to helping students with their studies and professors with their research.

Types Of Books

In the school library, there are many books, including fiction, nonfiction, reference, literature, biographies, general knowledge, folktales, cookbooks, craft books, poetry, books in a series, and wordless books.

Importance of School Library

It offers high-calibre novels and nonfiction works that motivate us to read more for enjoyment and advance our intellectual, creative, cultural, social, and emotional development. The atmosphere in the school library is excellent for studying quietly.

As a result, we can learn and understand concepts more quickly. It gives teachers access to important information and reference materials to create and carry out efficient lesson plans.

Thus, every school community member, including students, teachers, and other staff, can benefit from using the library. It aids in acquiring knowledge and skills for personal development.

Role Of A School Librarian

For the school library to operate effectively, the librarian has a crucial duty to perform. A librarian is equipped with the necessary knowledge and abilities to support, encourage, and guide library customers' learning as they grow as readers and learners. The principal responsibilities of a school librarian include those of a teacher, information expert, instructional partner, and programme manager.

Librarians now serve as advisors, information providers, instructional readers, curriculum designers, and teachers and as guardians of literature. They could aid students in accomplishing their objectives.

The arrangement of the libraries has also changed to resemble that of a classroom. The school librarian's job is to create a relaxed atmosphere for learning and teaching while equipping others with resources, knowledge, skills, and abilities.

Library and Education Are Interrelated

Education and libraries inherently coexist and are tied to one another. Gaining information, values, skills, habits, and beliefs is the process of education. To develop their social skills, students must undergo a social revolution influenced by their educational environment.

The result of knowledge and experience gained is education. The library, on the other hand, is the primary repository for the knowledge, data, and materials necessary for the growth of knowledge. Libraries advance the causes of research and education.

My Experience

The school library is the place where I love to spend my time. I love reading novels and literature. In my school, the library is always open, so when there is no class, I go to the library and study some novels by different authors. I love to be in the library because there is always pin-drop silence, and one can read in silence without being interrupted.

Each student has easy access to the necessary tools and reading material in the library, facilitating a successful educational experience. It is essential to a student's life. The school library's layout, modern equipment, and operating principles have evolved along with the times. The addition of the library represents a step up in the level of literacy taught in schools.

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School Improvement Essay

Most societies in the modern world comprise of a variety of individuals. This is because they are made up of people who are from different cultures and background. As a result, these societies contain a rich heritage due to the interaction of the culture, traditions and beliefs of the people who are part and parcel of it. Normally, the main factor that constitute to the difference of the individuals who make up these societies is race.

Many societies in the modern civilization comprise of individuals who are from different races of the world. In America, for example, a community can be made up of Latinos, African Americans and individuals from the white community (Manasseh, 2010). This ratio complexity has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The culture, background and traditions of these individuals play an important role in the determination of the various factors of their lives. This includes their behaviour, beliefs, psychological status, cognitive development and intellectuality.

With regards to these factors, it will therefore be true to state that racial differences, among other factors play a critical role in determining the academic performance of an individual (Murphy, 2009). Due to this fact, this essay shall on the effects of racial differences and achievement gap.

Education has become an essential requirement in the modern world. This is due to the role it plays in determining and shaping the career of an individual. Education gives individuals the knowledge and skills that is required to perform given roles in a specific profession. As a result, individuals who are learned stand a better chance of having desirable careers as compared to individuals who are not learned or perform poorly in school.

From studies that have been conducted, a strong correlation has been identified between the performance of a student and his ethnic background. Students from white families tend to perform better as compared to those from Latino and African American communities (Murphy, 2009). This difference can be attributed to a number of factors. This may include cultural differences, financial stability, cognitive development and so on.

Due to the increased levels of poor performance, many governments have employed a number of strategies to improve the educational status of their countries. To achieve this, most schools have mainly concentrated on modifying their educational system.

This, for example, entails having favourable leadership that ensures that teachers conduct their roles as per the expected standards and that there is proper allocation of resources to all the departments. Other governments have modified their curriculum and education system in order to meet the current needs and requirements of the modern world.

In other circumstances, schools have maintained teachers who exhibit high performance but have replaced those who were performing poorly. These are just but some of the strategies that schools have been employing over time to improve the performance of their students.

However, in all these strategies, a critical aspect has always been left out in order to minimize the gap in the performance of students on racial lines. This is the role played by the community in the determination of the success or failure of any project. I feel that it is essential for the government and schools to consult and work together with the community in order to improve the performance of their students.

With this strategy in place, it will be easier to understand the needs of a community. It also encourages parental participation. This makes them to feel as part and parcel of the project.

As a result, the performance of students will be monitored both at home and in school. Teachers and parents will work together as a team to achieve a common goal. Once this strategy is integrated with other methods, the performance gap as a result of racial lines shall be reduced.

Manasseh, A.L. (2010) Vision and Leadership: Paying attention to intention. Peabody Journal of Education, 63 (1), 150-173.

Murphy, J.T. (2009) The unheroic side of leadership: Notes from the swamp. Phi Delta Kappan , 69, 654-659.

Chicago (A-D)
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IvyPanda. (2019, May 12). School Improvement. https://ivypanda.com/essays/school-improvement-essay/

"School Improvement." IvyPanda , 12 May 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/school-improvement-essay/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'School Improvement'. 12 May.

IvyPanda . 2019. "School Improvement." May 12, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/school-improvement-essay/.

1. IvyPanda . "School Improvement." May 12, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/school-improvement-essay/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "School Improvement." May 12, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/school-improvement-essay/.

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5 strategies for improving school library services

Library automation solution has revolutionized schools, colleges and universities all over the world and has transformed the student’s learning experience.

Digital Libraries

Library Management System fulfills all the requirements of academic libraries with amazing features such as books, eBooks, eJournals, Audio Books, Videos, Photo Gallery and more. Librarians can benefit from the cloud, mobile and digital technologies to manage large amounts of digital records and other resources accessed by students and staff.

College library management system help to maintain the catalog, acquisition register, assets register, and reports, and integrates barcode, RFID, smart cards, and biometric system. Here are the five strategies to improve library services:

1. Member Management

Students, faculty and staff can create profiles including demographic information and provide convenient access to library resources and information through multiple channels including website, email, chat, messaging, and push notifications from mobile devices such as iPhone and Android. Members can view issues, returns, fines, notices, and reminders, as well as search and reserve books and other materials.

2. Next-Generation Cataloguing

Librarians can configure and create a customized catalog for books and other resources based on physical, electronic and inter-library items. Advanced search and sort options enable patrons to find library items using different criteria and provide an easy way to check the status in real-time. Barcoding enable users to find the book’s exact location and number of books available in real-time, as well as print library cards.

3. Automated Circulation & Control

Discard large collection of books with low circulation Automated library management system enable academic libraries to configure and customize rules for circulation. Librarians can simplify circulation and assign tasks to issue books, magazines journals and make a check out. They can send automatic email notifications and SMS alerts to remind patrons on overdue return of library materials including automatic calculation of fine. Different kinds of reports can be automatically generated on total number of library materials on circulation.

4. Student Driven Acquisition

Automated school libraries identifies an inevitable trend to shift to streamline libraries with value-based library collections. It paves way for improvement in the quantity and quality of materials and make outdated books and materials in the library collection redundant. Normally the procurement of library material is time-consuming, complicated and costly. The fully automated library procurement process is highly reliable and enable librarian to manage vendors and supplies with improved performance and fast response time to save time and money.

5. Mobile Library Landscape

Take your library everywhere you go and get real-time updates of circulation on iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Students can conveniently access the library collections from classroom, campus and from anywhere. Librarian can schedule programs using events calendar and share with members.

Creatrix Campus offers an integrated cloud-based library management system which will transform school libraries and improve student lives. The library automation solution can reduce librarian’s workload and improve efficiencies in the areas of cataloging, acquisition, circulation, and help students and staff to access resources or search for the right information in a safe and secure way.

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How to Deal With Medical School Rejection

Students who don't get accepted to med school can develop a growth mindset to improve and overcome the setback.

Dealing With Medical School Rejection

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If you did not get into your top pick for medical school, wait to see what opportunities come your way.

Spring is when medical schools wind down their interview season and send letters of rejection to students who were not placed on an alternate list. This is distressing to good students who are used to achieving their goals and don’t understand why they were not accepted.

There are many ways unaccepted students can deal with this disappointing news. Some give up when they should not, but simply feel too discouraged. What they should do is look for the keys to improvement.

Check Your Mindset

There is a great TED Talk by Carol Dweck, a psychologist and college professor who speaks about the two ways students react to failure. The first way is disastrous and ruinous, having what Dweck calls a “fixed mindset.” Typically, these are students for whom success has become an expectation.

The other type of students have what Dweck calls a “growth mindset.” They know that they’re on a learning curve and have confidence that they can develop their abilities – they just don’t have the abilities now.

This “not yet” attitude, as Dweck calls it, is part of the growth mindset. If students with this attitude fail a test, for example, they wouldn’t describe themselves as a failure and run from future challenges. Rather they would say they are not yet successful and embrace the opportunity to try again.

We can all understand the difficulty people with a fixed mindset face when they perform poorly on an exam or fail at mastering a second language. But unless they can transform their fixed mindset into a growth mindset, they will be devastated by rejection, and that includes rejection from medical schools.

The good news is that they can change.

If you feel you have a fixed mindset, you can work toward developing a growth mindset. First, know that every time you tackle a difficult challenge, as Dweck pointed out, you’re creating newer, stronger neurons, which will boost your intellect and abilities. Second, be honest with yourself in terms of getting into medical school. Take an honest look at your application and any interviews you had.

Check Your Essays

If you didn’t get any interviews, why did that happen? Was it grades , MCAT , little volunteering, lack of shadowing or essays that were not helpful? Remember, fewer than half of applicants get into medical school. You need to have all the important ducks in a row. Yes, screeners very carefully read your essays.

Recently, a student approached me for advice to consider why he might not have received an interview at his dream school. Although there is no certainty, I suggested we look at his essays since everything else seemed to be excellent.

When we looked at his essays, he picked out the secondary essay that was likely a concern. It sounded overconfident and a little elitist. He looked at it and said, "It doesn’t sound very humble, does it?” Perhaps if he had read it with a scrutinizing eye before the submission, he might have seen a different outcome.

Since most secondary essays are written for a specific school, oversight in one may not affect other applications.

Think about how well your essays and activity descriptions are written . Have advisers and colleagues critique them, and not with kid gloves. If you didn’t do well in a particular class or on the MCAT, is there enough to indicate how you have improved since then? Does the humility and willingness to learn from others come out in your essays?

Seek Feedback and Examine Yourself

If you were fortunate to have interviews but still didn’t get in medical school, scrutinize what might have gone wrong. After looking at the process, ask others for their input. This might include your premed adviser, staff in the medical admissions office and others who might be able to comment on your interpersonal and communication skills.

Last month, I was asked to help some students who had not matched. I asked them separately to write down as many questions as they could recall from their interviews. Each student wrote how they answered the questions and then individually reviewed them with me.

The exercise was very revealing. One student had a way of turning conversations toward his gym workouts, where he was passionate. His answers about people came across as matter of fact or rather flat. It is not that he is a bad candidate, but he really needs a lot of coaching and practice interviews before the next round.

The other student began to see his mistakes as soon as he began writing down what he had answered. He could even see through the progression of interviews that he had not learned from his mistakes in earlier ones and could have prepared much better than he did. This exercise alone seemed to help him, and I would recommend it for anyone whose interviews did not bring them success.

Examine everything about yourself, from how well you interact verbally with others to how well you show interest in everyone you meet.

There are many applicants who request advice and many have used it. Examples include a student who actively began a course in public speaking, others who sought treatment for anxiety, some who studied and retook the MCAT , some who practiced interviews with various faculty and some who took a gap year to allow for more science courses, volunteering or shadowing.

I once spoke with a prospective student who demonstrated a fixed mindset. He wanted to talk with me about why he wasn’t admitted to multiple medical schools . In reviewing his application and interview notes, I identified multiple points where I believed he had opportunity to improve his chances for the next year.

He argued on each point, and that was when I realized he wasn’t really asking for help. He was attempting to prove that the admissions committees were wrong about him. He simply could not accept that he was not yet ready for medical school.

If an applicant isn’t ready to learn from what didn’t work and try a new approach, they might not be ready to become a physician. I will never be as good as I can be, but I will continue to learn from my mistakes. If applicants choose not to do this, it might be a time to reflect on other career options.

In medicine, we are always trying to improve individually and as a group. Lifelong learning is a true joy once you embrace it.

Another student was advised to take a course to improve his interpersonal communication . He knew he had to learn to be a better listener, how to explain his ideas clearly and how to demonstrate passion for what truly mattered to him.

He was accepted to medical school the following year. But more important than that was his determination to get better in this area. He realized his patients didn’t just want a diagnosis and treatment, but also sincere communication. This is a great example of growth mindset. As he continued to improve his skills, he became a chief resident and later a faculty leader.

Keep in mind that opportunity abounds, even for those who get rejected by one, two or even three or more medical schools. If I were applying to medical school, I would approach rewriting an application and interviewing in the next cycle, being grateful for the opportunity to try again.

As an aside, "What will you do if you don’t get into medical school this year?” is a frequently asked question. I was asked that many years ago, and some still use it today. Classic questions about your strengths and weaknesses are ways to show your resilience . Be thoughtful, humble – not fake humility – hopeful and enthusiastic during interviews.

People with a growth mindset are able to see opportunities, while those with a fixed mindset see defeat. Those with a growth mindset are eager to try again and will try even harder. To them, a missed opportunity isn’t a reflection on their ability or intelligence. Rather, it’s an invitation to embrace effort, hard work and perseverance.

Medical School Application Mistakes

A diverse group of female medical students listen attentively while seated for a lecture.

Tags: medical school , graduate schools , education , students

About Medical School Admissions Doctor

Need a guide through the murky medical school admissions process? Medical School Admissions Doctor offers a roundup of expert and student voices in the field to guide prospective students in their pursuit of a medical education. The blog is currently authored by Dr. Ali Loftizadeh, Dr. Azadeh Salek and Zach Grimmett at Admissions Helpers , a provider of medical school application services; Dr. Renee Marinelli at MedSchoolCoach , a premed and med school admissions consultancy; Dr. Rachel Rizal, co-founder and CEO of the Cracking Med School Admissions consultancy; Dr. Cassie Kosarec at Varsity Tutors , an advertiser with U.S. News & World Report; Dr. Kathleen Franco, a med school emeritus professor and psychiatrist; and Liana Meffert, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine and a writer for Admissions Helpers. Got a question? Email [email protected] .

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