View in EDS HTML Full Text PDF Full Text

How She Connects: A Talk with Pat Scales, Winner of the 1997 Grolier Award.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: How She Connects: A Talk with Pat Scales, Winner of the 1997 Grolier Award.
Language: English
Authors: Atkinson, Joan L.
Source: School Library Journal. Sep 1997 43(9):110-114.
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 5
Publication Date: 1997
Document Type: Journal Articles
Opinion Papers
Descriptors: Adolescents, Awards, Children, Guidance, Intellectual Freedom, Interviews, Librarians, Libraries, Library Services, Parent Participation, Reading, Sex Differences
ISSN: 0362-8930
Abstract: The Grolier Award honors librarians who make unusual contributions "to the stimulation and guidance of reading by children and young people." An interview with the 1997 winner covers client trust, special literature programs, sharing versus testing, parental involvement, gender differences in reading, library environment, librarian as teacher, American Library Association committees, intellectual freedom, and reader guidance. (PEN)
Entry Date: 1998
Accession Number: EJ550880
Database: ERIC
Full text is not displayed to guests.
FullText Links:
  – Type: pdflink
    Url: https://content.ebscohost.com/cds/retrieve?content=AQICAHj0k_4E0hTGH8RJwT4gCJyBsGNe_WN95AvKlDbXJGqwxwHMc83zLVYI4XaqGQMsBr83AAAA5DCB4QYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoIHTMIHQAgEAMIHKBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDHtHpSyJsxuIx0GZQgIBEICBnALdw03drQTGX9k7SkvQa_jjljeJ_R2pfOAqTvet8rAnLJUlhiJv2Nta6N2tNZC1_jrt1mHYK5fdMbA_fcZBDzr77H76Ik3notDNhgHpJ12rJFhNH1diiC4xqMzj2qv-P4f5V1h7RkCdSXhN_tp8CUj1yKnP93Q0tfxpuWiKTVp7zzZmtMH_45TseTiprT4BADuYtitOGxVnlwY2xg==
Text:
  Availability: 1
  Value: <anid>AN9710182711;SLJ01SEP.97;1997Dec06.16:54;v2.3</anid> <title id="AN9710182711-1">HOW SHE CONNECTS </title> <p>Combining skill and passion, a middle-school librarian gets kids--and their parents--reading. </p> <p>Pat Scales, Library Media Specialist for 25 years at Greenville (SC) Middle School, is this year's winner of the &roller Award, which honors a librarian who's made an "unusual contribution to the stimulation and guidance of reading by children and young people." Examples of Pat Scales' outstanding achievements include: </p> <p>programs such as "Dial-an-Author," "Communicate through Literature," and "Morning Reading," which connect children, writers, parents, and teachers with books </p> <p>powerful advocacy against censorship; </p> <p>university teaching that motivates classroom teachers to use literature to stimulate children's thinking; </p> <p>professional writing and consultation with publishers to produce materials that meet the needs of young adults and their teachers and librarians; and </p> <p>service activities at the local, state, and national level for organizations serving youth. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-2"> Atkinson: For 25 years, you have built and refined your library program. What makes you most proud? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> The success of an ongoing reader guidance program. When I came to this middle school, about 25 books per day were circulating--a ridiculously low number. The enrollment was about a thousand. Middle school is a time when kids can get excited about reading, and it's about our last chance to help them develop lifelong reading habits. So I started doing a lot of booktalking and visiting classrooms to work with students and teachers. I needed to gain their trust, because you can't guide them unless they trust you. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-3"> How do you do that--gain trust? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> Number one is listening to them, to their opinions, and really wanting to know them, engaging them in conversation. Then and now, the kids react to the fact that I've read their books and that we can talk about them, sometimes very informally. Second is being involved in their total school life, going to their classrooms, being visible, planning programs they enjoy, like "Dial-an-Author," my first formal program. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-4"> Describe how "Dial-an-Author" works. </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> Students who read several of a writer's books get to participate in a telephone interview with the author, which we tape and place in the library collection. The teachers and I might select an author whose works fit into the science or social studies curriculum. For example, in life sciences we taught an entire animal habitat unit using Jean [Craighead] George's books. The author interview program becomes a culmination of their study. The interview is really an effort to get kids more involved with the books and with reading. When I started in the early '70s, we didn't have novel studies as we know them now. Preparing questions for the interview made kids think about what they had gotten out of the books and what their connection was to the writer. It's exciting to them to get to converse with the author. </p> <p>The author interview program also makes connections. There's a teacher in our school today who was a sixth grader when we interviewed William Armstrong. She plays that tape for her classes, and it gives them a special connection to her to hear her as a sixth grader speaking into the microphone just as they're going to do. Another example: I went to a wedding recently where the groom and groomsmen had come through the school. One groomsman introduced me to his pregnant wife and said, "Let me tell you about the telephone interviews we did." To have a 30-year-old man remember that is rewarding. Middle school is a time when many people don't remember the good things because it's a tough time in life. If we can give kids memories of books and sharing, that's good. The attitude is not, "Let us test you on this book." It's "let's have a conversation." </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-5"> What a difference--sharing versus testing. </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> That's exactly why we started "Communicate Through Literature." Parents seem to bail out of their children's reading program once the children become independent readers, possibly because they don't know children's books. I started "Communicate Through Literature" for two reasons: first, to help parents give guidance and increase communication in the home, and second, to dispel some of the myths about what happens at middle school and make it a happier time, rather than a frightening time, for kids and their parents. We meet once a month still do, and the program is over 20 years old. I meet once a month with parents in the school library, and we read the same books the children are reading and talk about them. The idea is to get parents to discuss the books with their children. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-6"> I would think those parents then become advocates for the books and the children's need to read them. </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> Yes, in several censorship challenges at other schools, our parents have defended the books because they've read them. In our meetings, I toss out a discussion question and let them take over. One of the things I hope they've learned is that you look at a book as a whole instead of taking it apart piece by piece. I want them to see that children's reading is developmental: what one sixth grader is ready for, another may not be. That's why reader guidance has to be an individualized thing. I try to help parents practice some of the strategies I use at school, for example, to allow a child to reject a book. Children will reject books they're not ready for. Where we lose our readers is if we try to force them into books they're not ready for or interested in. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-7"> Or if we look down on their choices? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> Exactly. And when I tell this to parents, they relax. Not every book is for every child, but there is a book for every child. For some children it takes us longer to find that book but with patience we win find it. My classic example is what an eighth grade girl said to me: "I tried reading The Language of Goldfish [by Zibby Oneal, Puffin, 1990] in seventh grade and I hated it; in eighth grade I loved it." My point to parents is that she was telling me she grew up. If I had told her in seventh grade, "Oh, just keep trying," she probably would never have come back to that book. We've got to free children to read and we do that by our attitudes toward reading. I've got 20,000 books in my library. Why would I want any one child to read any one book? Too many adults of my generation thought you had to finish what you start. I don't believe that--if you don't like a book, put it down. </p> <p>The newest program, "Morning Reading," is in its fifth year. This program is done strictly for fun. I go to school early every morning and read aloud a novel to whomever wants to come. Students put "Morning Reading" buttons on their book bags to gain entrance to the school and library early. We read 10 novels this year; the number depends, of course, on length. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-8"> Which novels have been particularly successful? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> The very first novel was The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi [Orchard, 1990]. I got on the intercom and read the opening, which goes approximately, "Who would have thought that at age 13 I would be tried and convicted of murder?" That got them. Kids poured in to hear the book. I read The Giver by Lois Lowry [Houghton, 1993] which was so popular that 75 kids came, and a language arts teacher and I had to split the group into two. I've read a couple of Lois Duncans. I try for variety: Missing May by Cynthia Rylant (Orchard, 1992), Stepping on the Cracks by Mary D. Hahn (Clarion, 1991), and Somewhere in the Darkness by Walter Dean Myers (Scholastic, 1992). I can't repeat a book for three years because I mix sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. I have more boys than girls, usually. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-9"> That's interesting; the myth is that girls are more interested in reading. </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> I don't necessarily find that to be true. I have a lot of avid boy readers, but kids who come to "Morning Reading" may not be avid readers. I like the mix because there are so few school activities where all grades are together. I have gifted and talented kids and also learning-disabled kids. They become a close-knit group, protective of the experience. The "Morning Reading" kids become hosts for book sales at a local bookstore; people are surprised that kids, especially boys, want to do that. A poster in the library advertises what we're reading so that kids who can't come can ask for the books. Students may join in the middle of the year or in the middle of a novel; they just get a copy and catch up on their own. I don't reject anybody who walks into the room, even if they're late. Most come on time, or early. Some get on the computers and use the CD-ROMs until it's time for reading to begin. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-10"> You work at creating a pleasant environment, as free of hassles as possible, don't you? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> The library has to be a no-hassle place if we want readers and users of libraries. We don't charge fines, and kids may take out as many books as they like. Sometimes I just hand them books without checking them out, especially if a preview copy has come in that I know a particular child will like. I tell them to bring it back when they're finished. Do you know, I've never lost one! We just don't make a big deal about things. Kids can go back to my office to find what they want. There's something special to them about having free run of my office. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-11"> To what extent do you teach kids directly, and to what extent do you help teachers teach? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> I do a lot of both. I want them to see me in the capacity of teacher, not only of library skills, but of content. I do a fairy tale unit relating to cultures studied in social studies. And every year I teach the First Amendment when they study the constitution in social studies. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-12"> How do you reach the First Amendment? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> I go to their literature classes, so that they make a connection between their personal reading and the Constitution. When I ask what the First Amendment says, they always give a poetic rendering. But when I ask what it means to their life, they don't usually know. I talk about books that have been challenged and explain what censorship is and what their responsibility is to themselves. I start with familiar books like Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig [S&S, 1980] or fairy tales like Snow White or Peter Rabbit. I choose books that represent the range of reasons for challenges, from anthropomorphic behavior to imagination to realism. Then I move to books for readers their age, like Shiloh [S&S, 1991]. I ask whether the objectionable language [the character of] Judd Travers uses is the way they think he would talk; they say yes. So I point out that the problem is not the author's, who has created a character we believe in, but in the person reading the book. I ask if they admire Judd Travers and they say no, they admire Marty. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-13"> To have every character in a book be a positive role model is unrealistic, isn't it? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> Yes, and besides, you wouldn't have that novel if you didn't have a villain. The students get the point quickly. We talk about words taken out of context, like "gay" and "queer" from British books. They never laugh or giggle; they are mature about the use of language. Another example: a student one day asked why we have a Bible in the library. I asked, "Why not?" He said in his former school in another state he had brought a Bible to silent reading and been told never to bring it to school again. I used his example to explain to the children that this had violated his First Amendment rights: he could read what he chose as long as he didn't make it mandatory reading for everyone. One year I invited the principal to sit in and he was astonished at the answers of the students. I tell them that they always have the right to reject what offends them personally but not the right to decide what should offend everyone. I think their understanding of the First Amendment means they won't grow up to be censors. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-14"> Are there other ways you work with teachers besides formal teaching and planning? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> Yes, we have many daily encounters. One of the P.E. teachers took my children's literature course at Furman [University]. He sends the boys from his classes to me for books and tells them that I'll know exactly what he wants to read. I'm glad he sends the boys up to get his books. Another example: a female P.E. teacher was supervising scoliosis screening one day when a girl with curvature of the spine was tested. The P.E. teacher said to the girl, "Do you know the book Deenie [by Judy Blume, S&S 1982]? You need to check it out from the library." Teachers who read are a great help in motivating children to read. In fact, the kids who get most excited about reading have teachers who read. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-15"> You mentioned your college teaching at Furman; is that ongoing? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> Yes, I've taught at Furman for 21 years. Besides the three-hour general courses in children's and young adult literature, Furman offers a series of five-week courses almost year round. These allow in-depth study of a genre like fairy tales or poetry; or of a topic like the First Amendment; or of strategies like reaching the unreachable. Teachers get to explore specific areas that a general course simply cannot cover as thoroughly. This kind of teaching has been exciting--and exhausting. I go from one to the other and there are lots of opening nights, one just about every four weeks. I love to work with teachers to help them better connect to the libraries in their own schools. My assignments ask them to use their own school libraries for books so that they realize what is available to them. If the teachers become better users of their libraries, the students will, too. I enjoy the college teaching and the fresh audiences: it keeps me on my toes, looking for new topics and courses to offer that the teachers will come back for. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-16"> You're also involved in national activities through the American Library Association. You chaired the 1992 Newbery Committee, and I remember the press conference at which you announced that Shiloh was the winner. There were several seconds of silence in that packed auditorium. Did that give you pause? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> [Laughing.] It was a stunned audience; I felt the silence as I stood at the microphone. What happens with the Newbery is that everyone wants to project what will win. I always do--that's part of the fun. But unless you're in a discussion to the depth reached by the committee, it's hard to guess what is happening within the closed room. And unless people have read almost everything that's been published, as the committees have, it's impossible. I think that since Shiloh came out late in the year, possibly November, that most people at the press conference had not read it. It emerged at the end as the winner. What we know now about Shiloh is that it is one of the most popular Newberys with children. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-17"> You are involved in ALA intellectual freedom activities as a member of the Intellectual Freedom Committee and a trustee of the Freedom to Read Foundation. How does this complement what you do at school? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> Right now, the important activity of these groups has been opposition to the Communication Decency Act. [The CDA was struck down by the Supreme Court on June 26. See SLJ, August 1997, pp. 15, 33]. At stake was whether we would have free, protected speech on the Internet. It takes a national organization to influence national policy. But challenges to materials are local and have to be handled at the local level. What the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom can do is keep a database to identify where challenges have occurred so that a person under fire can get help from people who have been there before. Also, ALA can identify expert witnesses-to participate when challenges occur, people in the field who have credibility because they know the books, work with children, and can respond very quickly. I once had three hours to review a challenged book, The Last Mission by Harry Mazer (Dell, 1981) and prepare to testify as an expert witness if needed (it wasn't). These national groups emphasize that challenges are everyone's issue, regardless of setting, and that librarians as a group are working together to preserve the public's First Amendment freedoms. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-18"> Pat, how do you do it all? You work directly with kids year after year. You work with their parents and teachers. You write, you teach, you serve on national committees. And somehow, you manage to have a life. </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> If you believe in a program and it continues to work, you never want to give it up. You just want to add. And programs all mesh into an important whole, which is reader guidance. In education we are trendy and want to move from one idea to the next. But we need to add the new without giving up the old programs that work. I'm afraid we want formulas to get kids to read--and bells and whistles. It doesn't take that; it takes building a relationship with students, and it takes turning reading into an experience. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-19"> At the moment the trend seems to be, "If you want to turn your kids into readers, get Accelerated Reader or Electronic Bookshelf." </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> Absolutely. And the thing that bothers me about that--we don't have them in my school and I hope I never see them come there--is that I hear horror stories, where teachers give students reading grades based on scores from those programs. That turns reading into instruction instead of an experience. I know that just as my father molded me as a reader by sharing his books with me and discussing them with me--that is the way to go in molding readers. I just know that. If we want kids to be readers, we've got to put more of ourselves into the experience, not less. I fear that in the name of motivating kids to read, we're turning them off. What are they going to do when the prizes quit coming? Will they still read when the principal no longer dresses up like a gorilla and sits on the roof? The best way to reward reading is with another good book. And I've watched that work with kids--year after year. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-20"> What is it that makes reader guidance difficult? </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> You can't do it unless you read But the focus has to be on the child. There's a lot of psychology involved and that doesn't mean something heavy or weighty; it means knowing human growth and development and building teamwork between teacher, librarian, parent, and child. A parent whose father had died asked me to help identify books for her son, who had been very close to the deceased grandfather. But she did not want me to approach her son directly because at middle school age there is embarrassment sometimes about personal attention. I annotated a list of several books and sent them in the mail to her; a few days later I saw the boy in the library with that list, and he selected the book he wanted. His mother and I had worked as a team and then he came in and made his choice. </p> <hd id="AN9710182711-21"> Do you ever feel as if you hark back to Margaret Edwards [the late young adult librarian at Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library]? I think of her as the mother of reader guidance, as described in her book, The Fair Garden and the Swarm of Beasts (ALA, 1994). </hd> <p> <bold> Scales: </bold> I'm sure there are people who will think my views on reader guidance are old-fashioned; I don't think they are. What I fear losing is the relationship with the child, and I think Margaret Edwards would have believed in the importance of that relationship. The emotions of being 13 are the same for all times. Situations have changed, society has changed, but the underlying emotions have not changed. It is still hard being 13, and we still need somebody to understand those feelings. Accelerated Reader can't do it. [Scales laughs.] We're living in a society where kids have their own televisions, their own computers; they're moving more and more away from family, from human contact, from sharing, from teamwork. We do need the Margaret Edwards of this work, I think, to help us keep focused. We have wonderful writers producing magical books for children, but it takes an adult to get the child to the book. It's a very complicated process. It's like a puzzle, and we have to fit all the pieces together. But it happens daily, I see it happening. Do we want readers? Then we've got to approach reading in a positive and involved way and as a team. </p> <p>PHOTO (COLOR): A Talk with Pat Scales, Winner of the 1997 Grolier Award </p> <p>PHOTO (COLOR): Pat Scales spends a lot of time talking to kids about books in her library at Greenville (SC) Middle School. </p> <aug> <p>By Joan L. Atkinson </p> <p></p> <p>Joan L. Atkinson is Director of the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. </p> </aug>
Header DbId: eric
DbLabel: ERIC
An: EJ550880
AccessLevel: 3
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: How She Connects: A Talk with Pat Scales, Winner of the 1997 Grolier Award.
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Atkinson%2C+Joan+L%2E%22">Atkinson, Joan L.</searchLink>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22School+Library+Journal%22"><i>School Library Journal</i></searchLink>. Sep 1997 43(9):110-114.
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: N
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 5
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 1997
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Opinion Papers
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Adolescents%22">Adolescents</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Awards%22">Awards</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Children%22">Children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Guidance%22">Guidance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Intellectual+Freedom%22">Intellectual Freedom</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Interviews%22">Interviews</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Librarians%22">Librarians</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Libraries%22">Libraries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Library+Services%22">Library Services</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Parent+Participation%22">Parent Participation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Reading%22">Reading</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Sex+Differences%22">Sex Differences</searchLink>
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 0362-8930
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: The Grolier Award honors librarians who make unusual contributions "to the stimulation and guidance of reading by children and young people." An interview with the 1997 winner covers client trust, special literature programs, sharing versus testing, parental involvement, gender differences in reading, library environment, librarian as teacher, American Library Association committees, intellectual freedom, and reader guidance. (PEN)
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 1998
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ550880
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ550880
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 5
        StartPage: 110
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Adolescents
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Awards
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Children
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Guidance
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Intellectual Freedom
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Interviews
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Librarians
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Libraries
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Library Services
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Parent Participation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Reading
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Sex Differences
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: How She Connects: A Talk with Pat Scales, Winner of the 1997 Grolier Award.
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Atkinson, Joan L.
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 01
              Type: published
              Y: 1997
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 0362-8930
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 43
            – Type: issue
              Value: 9
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: School Library Journal
              Type: main
ResultId 1