The Westwood Public Schools library program encourages active, authentic learning vital to helping students become resourceful, innovative, information-literate participants of the world community. The libraries are the information access hub of the schools, striving to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and resources which will empower them to become independent critical readers and thinkers able to effectively and responsibly acquire, use, and share information. The library program also seeks to support teachers and administrators as they implement the curriculum and its goals.
Elementary school library teachers meet with each grade level class on a weekly basis.
Middle and high school library teachers have a flexible schedule.
Westwood Public Schools Library Teachers:
- enable and encourage students and staff to develop an appreciation for reading and lifelong learning.
- support and foster student mastery of information in visual, digital, textual and technological literacies across the curriculum.
- provide a rigorous instructional program to teach students how to find and evaluate information; understand and use multiple resources, technologies and formats; create new learning; share what they know, and use resources and materials in an ethical manner.
- provide a collaborative environment that stimulates and fosters intellectual exploration and active learning.
- provide equitable access to resources that support a variety of learning styles and represent a diverse range of experiences and perspectives.
- serve as the school’s information resource person for students and staff.
- collaborate with colleagues to create lessons, resources, and activities that support curriculum and embed information fluency skills, ensuring that students meet CCSS, AASL (American Association of School Libraries), MSLA (Massachusetts School Library Association), and Westwood Public School standards.
- assess and adjust programs to support school and district initiatives and best practices.
- design Learning Lab/Makerspace experiences to promote innovation, creative thinking, perseverance, collaboration, and self-driven exploration. Design projects can be integrated into the curriculum, reflect new understandings, or encourage students to engage in complex problem solving tasks while making real world connections.
- create unique programming to meet individual schools’ needs, e.g. author visits, poetry slams, book groups.
Elementary School Library Sites:
