LANGUAGE ARTS-NEW MEXICO

Voices from New Mexico's Classrooms--Introducing Laura Oldham

Laura Oldham is in her fourth year of teaching and has taught an assortment of classes: AP Lit, Etymology English 9 and British Literature. She found her niche teaching 8th grade Title I Language Arts, which fits well with her fascination with young adult literacy and young adult literature. She is an avid reader. Her favorite poem is "You Damn Right" by Tim Seibles, and her favorite short story is "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin. It's hard for her to nail down a favorite novel, but if she had to pick just one and only include recent reads, it would be House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.

'Brary Dwellers

The official definition for ‘brary dweller is someone who is a frequent patron of the library. Simple. These are the people who, at Red Mountain Middle School where I teach, are in the library before school, at lunch, after school, and as much time as they can find to spend down there while in class. And there are a few die-hards. I can sympathize. Senior year of high school, I started hanging out downtown at Central, working on my Senior Paper. First period, I was a library aid. And often that’s where you’d find me during lunch. The Internet was faster there than it was on my dial-up AOL at home.

There’s something about the atmosphere in the library, not that libraries are quiet anymore. There’s always some sort of activity going on at RMMS, from Dictionary Day, to Banned Books Week, to the March Madness of Poetry Tournament we hope to conduct better this year.

I talked to a few of the ‘brary dwellers to find out what made them this way. One precocious seventh grader told me that his love of reading started back in second grade when his older sister brought home books from the library and she allowed him to borrow one. From that point on, much to the chagrin of his parents (which I thought odd) he became a voracious reader. Every week when we meet for book club, he’s asking for recommendations even if he’s not quite finished with the book he’s currently reading. I love it.

A la Bill Cosby, I said all of that just to ask this question: How do we instill this love of libraries, or at least subdue aversion to libraries a little, in our students? I have a few thoughts on the subject and I’m open any ideas friendly readers have…

• Let your students go to the library—I teach reluctant readers and there are a few who will ask permission to go to the library and check out books when they’ve finished with an activity, and as long as I’m not still teaching, I’ll let them go at five minutes to the bell. 
• Utilize library resources—Team-teach with your librarian. Sometimes students need a fresh face to get them jumpstarted or back into whatever it is you’re learning. Let the library people help you. And… I have so many more students ask me if they can check out a book at the conclusion of an activity if we’re already there. Get their feet in the door.
• Use book covers to your advantage—I read quite a bit of YA literature, and book buying is a habit of mine. One thing I’ve learned about students is that they like to touch things that aren’t theirs. I’m sure you all have had a kid come and pick something up off your desk and play with it. Use that. I took some books from my library at home and put them face out in my marker tray. These are books that I particularly like or heard about in ReadWriteThink’s podcast Text Messages. At this point, about half of my students are reading books out of my collection. If the book is in the library, send them to get it.

Other ways to get those feet between those security gates? What are your thoughts?

Engage with me--

Laura Oldham