Artifact 1

Name: Lisa Carlson

Course Number: LIS 524
Course Title: School Library Media Center Field Experience
Course Instructor: Dr. Anne Marie Perrault
Assignment Title: Module 10: Reading Aloud
LIS Program Objective(s): 3.3, 4.4, 4.5
Artifact 2
Course Number: LIS 585
Course Title: Management of School Libraries
Course Instructor: Dr. Anne Marie Perrault
Assignment Title: Read and Respond Journal and Discussion Activity #2
LIS Program Objective(s): 2.1.3, 2.1.5
The first artifact in this section is a read aloud activity from LIS524. When I read the
assignment, I assumed it was for a read aloud to elementary school aged children. At the time,
though, I was working part-time at Jamestown High School with some 9th grade classes, and I
started thinking outside the box.
Many years ago, I purchased a book about odd facts and trivia called An Underground
Education: The Unauthorized and Outrageous Supplement to Everything You Thought You Knew
out Art, Sex, Business, Crime, Science, Medicine, and Other Fields of Human Knowledge, by
Richard Zacks. There is a section in the book describing the origins of some popular fairy tales
like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. The original stories were far more gruesome than the
stories most of us remember from our childhood. The animated Disney films are sanitized
retellings of very old stories that are not terribly appropriate for today's young audience.
However, this is just the kind of grossness that 9th graders would love! I asked my professor if I
could do this assignment with 9th graders, and she said "sure!"
Ever since reading about the original stories, I've wanted to find a way to build a lesson
around this idea. There are certainly Common Core connections; students are asked to "analyze
multiple interpretations of a story." There are also listening standards that I mentioned in the
assignment narrative. But I'm using this assignment as an example of standard 2: Literacy and
Reading.
Standard 2, in The ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians (2010),
says that I, as a candidate, should choose materials "to support reading for information, reading
for pleasure, and reading for lifelong learning," and also model the enjoyment of reading "in
order to promote habits of creative expression and lifelong reading." I chose this assignment for
this section of the portfolio because I think it is a great example of these criteria.
Once I had the idea to do something with fairy tales, I had to choose what story to read. I had
a book of short Russian folk tales on my shelf, and I chose one from it. In 2002, when on
temporary assignment in Germany for a few months with the Air Force, I bought a Russian
painted box from a bazaar. The man who sold it to me said that the images on the boxes were
scenes from Russian folk tales, and he had a book of them for sale too. I bought the book and

read every story. The book had been on my shelf for years, and I took it down to look for a story
for this assignment. The assignment was rather simple, but I added some things to make it more
challenging for 9th graders. I could have just read an original version of a popular fairy tale, but
I wanted the students to work with a story they didn't know and to come up with a new,
"Disneyfied" ending for it. I was interested in their own creative ending.
The story, which is summarized in the assignment, is simple. A widower and a widow marry,
he is kind, she is cruel, they each have a daughter much the same. The man's daughter's kindness
saves her from being eaten by a bear, and the woman's daughter has no kindness to save her. She
is eaten by the bear.
I told the students the story of buying the box and being curious about the Russian folk tales.
I brought in the box and explained the story represented on it. I also explained that I've long
been fascinated with old folk tales and fairy tales. Some of the stories have questionable moral
lessons, too! The story represented on my box is of a prince and his two brothers; the prince lies,
cheats, and deceives everyone in his path, and is the one rewarded in the end for completing a
task set out by the king. At the end, a modern reader does not feel that the prince is the hero of
the story! I think that my excitement about this project left the students with the impression that
I enjoy reading, and that I'm interested in learning for myself. I wasn't just reading a story to
them, I was sharing stories of my own, and this, I think, was modeling positive habits.
What I learned is that 9th grade students are not too old to be read to aloud. In researching
and putting together a video presentation about the gender gap in reading for LIS535 in the
summer of 2014 (after this read aloud had been done), I learned that there is a drop off in
enthusiasm for reading when kids reach about the age of 9. This is a sharper drop for boys than
for girls, but for both genders, it seems that enthusiasm for reading drops in middle school. In
researching this fairy tale read aloud assignment, I read about a school in Indiana that promotes
reading aloud to students in this age group to help maintain interest in reading and to build a
community of readers. Reading aloud to older students is something that we librarians should
consider! It may seem odd or "outside the box" to some in our schools, but there is research to
support it as a good practice. I will consider ways to share this information with teachers in my
school.
The second artifact was not on the list of suggested artifacts for this section. In The The
ALA/AASL Standards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians (2010), standard 2.3, Respect
for diversity, says: "Candidates demonstrate the ability to develop a collection of reading and
information materials in print and digital formats that support the diverse developmental,
cultural, social, and linguistic needs of P-12 students and their communities," and I thought I
had an assignment that demonstrated this well. The assignment was an examination of policy,
but I created a scenario in which the display of LGBTQ literature was questioned.
I began writing this particular section of the reflection in the morning after checking out some
headlines on some sites that I follow. Just this morning, as I write this, there is a headline about
a high school in Michigan where a student-created bulletin board display, made to celebrate
"Transgender Visibility Day" was dismantled due to protests from parents. The article has
images of the display, and it's hard to understand the objection based on the contents of the
bulletin board display itself. It seems that every day there is a headline about a gay rights issue.

That's why I'm glad I revisited this assignment. In the assignment, a student challenges the
school's "unwritten rule" of downplaying LGBTQ literature, and I take his side, writing a memo
to the principal proposing a formal written policy to give LGBTQ literature equal status as other
types of books. I can imagine that the scenario I created could actually happen, and I need to be
prepared for it. It is our obligation to provide reading material for all students.
Teens may be reluctant to request books with LGBTQ characters or relationships, and that
may lead a librarian to think that there is no demand for it. Teens are often not completely open
about their identity, and they may be feeling isolated or alone. Having and displaying LGBTQ
reading materials helps establish a feeling that different gender identities are normal. I want to
be sure, in my own library, that all students can find literature that they can connect with and
have a personal connection to. Openly displaying a variety of literature will help make my
library a welcoming space for everyone.