Learning through Books, Media and Technology

ARTICLES THIS ISSUE:

1996 Administrative Leadership Award for Library Media Services

1996 President's Award Winner

1996 Technology Award

Editorial: Learning Comes in Many Languages

From Cave Writing to Computers

A Theme's the Thing

Primary Languages, Primary sources on the Internet

Update on a Model Library Media Program

Limited? There Are No Limits

A Bilingual Student Population

Cooking Their Way to Literacy

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From Cave Writing to Computers

Rivera Middle School

How do you teach Hmong- and Spanish-speaking adolescents about prehistoric humankind? Rivera Middle School primary language teacher Olivia King teamed with library media teacher Mary Hofmann to develop a unit on prehistoric man that would enable her all-Spanish-speaking class and her all-Hmong-speaking class to use technology, books, and realia to find out what life must have been like then. With the help of Mrs. King, who is fluent in Spanish, and teaching aide Neng Moua, who is fluent in Hmong, kids brainstormed wide-ranging lists of questions about life, love, and language before it was all written down. This process was particularly poignant for Hmong speakers, who never had a written language themselves until the 1950s.

Rivera seventh grader Sat Bounmee shows the "outside" world some of his cave art.

Using the school's portable computer lab (40 word processors housed in the library that can be rolled from classroom to classroom), students carefully typed out their questions. Using CD-ROM computer programs (10 different programs used simultaneously on the library's research computers) and an extensive print library that includes primary language collections, students worked in teams to try to find the answers to their questions.

The culminating proof of what they learned? The kids built a cave community in the library, a sort of life-size, live-in diorama that drew the attention of all the school's students. The cave and the portable computer lab later became the centerpiece of a community relations exhibit at the regional mall. The exhibit was titled "Literacy-from Cave Writing to Computers."

• Rivera Middle School (Grades 6-8; enrollment 1,100)
  945 West Buena Vista, Merced 95348; (209) 385-6680
  Janis Cowles, Principal
  Mary Hofmann, Library Media Teacher
  Merced City School District