Connect Canyons
Learning is about making connections, and we invite you to learn and connect with us. Connect Canyons is a show about what we teach in Canyons District, how we teach, and why. We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great: students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts, too. And we spotlight the “connection makers” — personalities, programs and prospects — we find compelling and inspiring.
Connect Canyons
Ep 129: 6,601 Books and Counting: Union Middle Leads District in Book Checkouts, Slays Literacy Goals
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At Union Middle School, the books are moving. A lot.
So far this school year, Union students have checked out 6,601 books — more than any other secondary school in Canyons District. To put that in perspective, that works out to about 1,200 titles a month, or 7.2 per student.
In an age of constant scrolling, short attention spans, and endless digital distractions, those numbers say something important. At Union Middle, reading is cool. Or, dare we say (using modern vernacular): No cap, at Union Middle, students are leveling up and slaying their literacy goals, because reading is lit.
More than a chore or school assignment, reading has become a daily habit sealed in the heart of what it means to be a Bobcat, due in large part, to the work of teacher librarian Elaine Zheng.
Show Welcome And Why Reading Matters
SPEAKER_01Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyon School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach, and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great. Students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts too. Learning is about making connections. So connect with us.
SPEAKER_00The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. Welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, Francis Cook. Leave it to Dr. Seuss to perfectly sum up the benefits of reading. Read more, learn more, go farther. There are a myriad of studies documenting the benefits of reading and literacy overall. Reading enjoyment has been reported as more important for children's educational success than even their family's socioeconomic status. Not to mention other benefits such as text comprehension, grammar, and as Dr. Seuss put it, increased general knowledge. So how do we get our young people excited about reading? Today we'll hear from someone who has some of those answers as the books in her library at Union Middle School are flying off the shelves. Joining me today is the Bobcats librarian, Elaine Sang. Elaine, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Let's start
Elaine Sang Learns English Through Books
SPEAKER_00with you. How did you find your love of reading and how did you come to be the librarian wizard that you are?
SPEAKER_02A lot of people don't know this about me, but I actually did not come to the US until I was six years old. So English is actually not my first language. When I started elementary school, I had a teacher who needed a way to help me bridge that gap with language literacy. And so she sort of started with me on simple picture books, and I just fell in love with it. And from there I just devoured books. I remember my favorite books were the three investigators. I devoured those like crazy, and I think that led me ultimately to function and be successful at school, but also gave me an outlet for just enjoying school and loving school.
SPEAKER_00The three investigators, you gotta share the authors so that parents can go, okay, I'm gonna go get that.
SPEAKER_02I don't even think they're in publication anymore, and I honestly don't remember. They're such old books. I mean, I think they were before the Hardy Boys time.
SPEAKER_00Wow, okay. Yes.
SPEAKER_02But Hardy Boys is a good option to go back to the Hardy Boys, uh, Nancy Drew, those would all be great for mystery lovers.
SPEAKER_00Boxcar kids. Yes, definitely. And how did you come to be a librarian and particularly the librarian at Union Middle?
SPEAKER_02So I actually started out in elementary school as a teacher there. I taught fifth grade, then fourth, and third. And after I had kids of my own, I knew that I needed to be out of the classroom to give that time to my own children. And so I remembered back in college, I actually always wanted to be a librarian, but everyone told me that they were hard positions to get. And I didn't know that they had things called teacher librarians, which meant that there was a melding of your love for the library with the classroom. So I was like, what? This is amazing. So I went back and actually got my library endorsement, and I happened to luck out because when I was teaching at Bellevue Elementary and Canyons District, Union Middle School had a library position open, and the principal, Christy Webb, who was my principal, advocated for me and I interviewed and got the job. So I've been very blessed. I've been with Union now as their librarian for nine years.
SPEAKER_00Wow, very cool. I would love for you to go a bit more into that because I think a lot of people don't know that there is still such a thing as a teacher librarian versus a librarian.
What A Teacher Librarian Does
SPEAKER_00Can you talk about the differences there?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So a teacher librarian, we do have background in teaching. We are fully teacher certified, and most of us actually have a master's degree in education or a degree in library science. And our position really is we are the librarians in the school where we actually collaborate with teachers. We don't just check out books. That is misunderstanding a lot of people have. We actually teach a lot of research. We collaborate with teachers on how we can support them in the classroom. And it's related to both books and, like I said, research, anything with databases we can support. We're sort of at the beck and call of teachers, like what their needs are, we will support them in some way as long as it falls into our library department. So we also do digital citizenship and digital literacy as well. So if there's need or support for that, we are there for them.
SPEAKER_00You bring up a great point. I think a lot of us who are used to libraries being just books, all you do at the library is you go and check out books or maybe microfilm, which is probably a word most of our students don't even know what that means. What do you have available for students in your library beyond books?
Makerspaces Audiobooks And Tech Support
SPEAKER_02So beyond books, we also run, most of us run a huge makerspace area at lunchtime and in the mornings or whenever students can come in. We provide that time for creativity and hands-on. We have robotics stuff as well. I don't think that people fully understand just how much we embrace the hands-on activities of building from Legos to Connects to Kiva Planks. So we have a lot of that. We also are the keepers of audio and e-books, and so those students who can't quite connect with the physical book, we also push for that. But then we also have students come in the library who need support with databases, and we support them in helping them find the right websites or databases to support their learning. And a lot of people don't know this, but Chromebooks now have become a huge part of the library. And so we support the field techs in handling Chromebooks and helping support that as well.
SPEAKER_00I guess a simpler question would be what don't you do? You do a lot.
SPEAKER_02That is a great question. We a lot of us have a lot of different sort of hats that we wear in the library.
SPEAKER_00That's really great. Books have become uh, you know, the foundation that we've then grown from. I know when audiobooks first started, people were like, oh, that doesn't count. You're not reading. But I I mean, on a personal level, if I didn't have audiobooks, I've read hundreds of books by listening to them because I generally don't have the time to sit down and read a book as often as I would like to. I still go to the physical book now and then, but I'm driving, I'm working around the house, you know, I'm listening to an audiobook. So it's very cool to see the schools kind of embracing that step into the future. And you have embraced it beyond many. I think a lot of parents would agree it would agree that it's hard to get middle schoolers in particular to enjoy reading if they didn't get that love of reading like you did when you were six years old and learning English. If they're not already excited about it, it's not cool, right? So how what is your secret? Tell us how you have managed to make these middle schoolers love reading.
Building A Middle School Reading Culture
SPEAKER_02I think one of the things that's great about union right now is that we have all committed to building what's called a reading culture in school. And so one of the biggest things is providing access to the library for all the kids because they're not going to go home and go to the library and check out books. And so one of the things that is unique to union is that all of my students, all of the ELA classes, all of the ELA resource classes, my EEC class, my ACC class, which are our special education classes, all have a rotation where they come in every four weeks to the library. And I do a book talk or I do an activity, something that is related to books. And that brings up the next point, which is our kids have a struggle for how to select books because sometimes we offer too many choices or they don't know what they're interested in. So by bringing them into the library, I do regular book talks. So that can be I talk books that I've read, or we do book tasting where they do a circulation of books and they look at books and they share books with each other. But it is an opportunity for me to in find a way to introduce books to them.
SPEAKER_00That is so can I come to a book tasting? Absolutely. So much, like so much fun. I love that you're finding ways that are beyond just letting them roam the library, right? Uh I love libraries, I love bookstores, I they're my happy place, I could roam them for hours on end. But you're right, there are so many options. What are some of your techniques to figure out what kids might be interested in?
SPEAKER_02So one of the other things is even though I have an assistant in the library who helps me check out books, I am always front and center at the circulation decks when kids come in. And I pay attention to who they are and look at what they're checking out, and I talk to them about the books they're reading and then suggest other books because I'm getting to know them one-on-one. But that's where it's so powerful that I'm also seeing them on a regular basis as classes because I'm getting to know these kids as they're coming in and working with me. I'm talking to them, I'm finding out their interests, and then I can say, hey, I have a great book for you. But we're also fortunate in that we have the huge buy-in by our teachers. I cannot tell you the commitment that our teachers have made to literacy. Our social studies teachers, our English teachers, our science teachers have all dedicated time where kids are expected to drop everything and read for 10 minutes. I think that itself is powerful in trying to get kids to read because they're not finding time outside of school. And so they're not discovering that they may love books if given the chance to. And so now these teachers are providing that time for them. And that is the second key that I think we're missing out is that we're not providing that time and we need to provide that time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You know, before we uh sat down today, I was doing some research on, you know, how uh reading impacts kids, and a lot of the studies are showing that 20 minutes a day is uh the perfect starting point to get kids excited to
Time To Read And Smarter Choice
SPEAKER_00read.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, I agree. And the challenge that our teachers have, especially in the middle and the high school, is that a period is short. And so our teachers have found ways to make that work. We have teachers who do what are called five-minute sprints, which gets them going and into the book. We have teachers who have decided they'll do two times a week of 15 minutes because it helps some kids settle down to finally get into a book. The other key that I don't think is often talked about that we at Union have started this year and we're experimenting with that has been hugely successful is this idea of choice. So what we have moved towards is we always think that we want the classroom library to have a lot of choices. And actually, what we're discovering is that's not as successful because those kids who are reluctant readers, when they're given time to read, when there's a huge library of books, they are just picking up different books and putting them back. Whereas your readers already have their books and are just reading it through. So one of the biggest changes we've moved to this year is that we are putting multiple copies of three or four popular books. So that means we have 15 copies of the same book, but we have three or four. So there's still choice out there. But now what we're finding is these kids, when they're being given time to read and they don't have the book they need, they're going back to the same book and reading that, and they're getting to the point where they're halfway through the book and now they're caught up in the book. And that's what we need for these reluctant readers. We need them to get to a point where they're caught up in the book. And one of my English teachers told me recently, she was so excited, she said, I, with this new way that we're kind of addressing the classroom library, she's actually seeing some kids finish books that she has never seen before. These are the kids who wouldn't normally finish books. And that is not to say we're taking away choice, because here's the thing that we have to remember is that those kids who really want a book, they have the library. And they the teacher can send them to the library. So if those three books are not making them happy, those multiple copies of the three books, we are now encouraging them to say, hey, you've got that choice now. Go to the library and then find something you actually want to read. And so we're doing this to help support finding books that they're gonna love.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I think that's a beautiful way to do it. Like we've been talking about, you get overwhelmed by the choices. So if there's if you see maybe three of your fellow classmates reading this book, well, it must be good, right? And there's that inclusion element to it. I even the other day was in a classroom and saw that they had changed their classroom bookshelf to St. Patrick's Day.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Books.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, Women's History Month. They're that's the theme for the month. And then it just, like you said, it kind of gets that spark going. I love how anytime I walk through the schools, I see themes in the libraries, in the hallways, you know, Harry Potter's always a big one, right? You can go get sorted into your house, right? And that's I think it's been become such a big um gateway book, if you will, to get kids reading and talking about things. I used to be a big proponent for I still am
Using Movies TikTok And Trends
SPEAKER_00to an extent. I prefer to read the book before I see the movie.
SPEAKER_02But I do too, but the kids are definitely in the opposite direction. They will like right now, our girls are loving the Summer I Turned Pretty book.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's because it's been a huge popular success, I believe, on Netflix. And so one of the things that we try to do as librarians is we make sure that we have multiple copies. I mean, I have like 12 copies on my shelf, and none of them stay on the shelf. And so if that's gonna drive them to read the book because they see it, then absolutely I would 100% support that.
SPEAKER_00So you're kind of watching those trends of you know, what new show is out or what show is coming out so that they can get ready and and read the book beforehand if they want to, or read along with the series.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. I think one of the things that people forget as librarians, one of the other things that we do besides trolling and what popular books that have become movies, is we are always seeing what's hot on TikTok and seeing what's trending with TikTok and then what we can bring into our libraries that would support that trend that's happening right now.
SPEAKER_00I feel like reading is trending right now. I feel like we are coming back to, you know, reading is cool again.
Parent Strategies For Reluctant Readers
SPEAKER_00So, what advice would you have for parents who want to instill that into their children?
SPEAKER_02I think reading is trending. I also think that people forget how powerful reading is for mental health.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_02And, you know, we are so consumed by devices and our students being on screen and just breaking away from that, even for half an hour a day, can really support that mental health. I have two teenagers at home. I'm very fortunate that one of them is an avid reader, but my younger one was not. She was for the longest time what I would call a reluctant reader. But what I found was as a parent, giving her the expectation that there is dedicated time at home to read before devices or anything else, half hour a day or two chapters a day, whatever helped her get through. But we set that expectation aside. So if parents could do that, but the other thing is we have to be involved in the choices. Like for her, my younger daughter, the key was that I would find out what I thought she loved and pick books out for her and then have her try those. And normally that always worked. But then helping her get through that book, helping her, I think the biggest thing is our kids today with the scrolling, they just lack that attention span. And so what we need to do is help them get to a certain point in the book. That's when they're hooked, and that's when they're gonna keep going. So my expectation for my daughter doing, let's say, two chapters a day, it was sometimes difficult. But after we got to like chapter six, she would disappear into the room and finish that book because I got her to that point. And that is what we have to remember. That's so important.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, even as adults, we read books that you may be hooked from page one, but then it may take a couple of chapters to get that world building or that character building going to where you go, oh, okay, I see what you're doing here. I I like this, let's go. Right, right. I absolutely agree with you on that. And I feel like reading, even if you're reading with your children, you know, especially those younger children, studies have shown that 85 to 90 percent of brain growth occurs in the first five years of life. If I and that's not just a cognitive skill that it's impacting, but also emotional development. Absolutely. So sitting down with your kids and reading with them, you know. Um I keep going back to Harry Potter, and it's largely because my best friend and I grew up with Harry Potter, right? We were in the era that when the book came out, you waited in line at Barnes and Noble and you went and got your copy. Are you done? Are you done? Did you finish it yet? And then we did the same thing for the movies. That was before you could, there were apps to go pick your seats, you had to go wait in line hours before the movie started. And now she's sharing that love with her son, and they read together. And they set the rule that we had to finish the book before we watched the movie.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. I think that's a great rule, and I think I don't think that there is an age where you should ever feel like you can stop reading with your kids, whether it's read aloud or not. I mean, I remember when my girls were 11 and 13, I was still reading aloud to them in bed. We would just pick more mature books like we did Anna Corinna, you know, or Anna Greengables or The Little House of Prayer books, books that they wouldn't normally pick up for themselves, but that we can enjoy reading and that I would read
Model Reading And Talk Books
SPEAKER_02aloud to them. But I other thing the other thing I think you bring up that is so powerful and important that we forget sometimes is that we have to model that reading. So when we're sitting with them to read or they see us reading, I think that's so important. And one of the biggest things that we see now with teachers when they dedicate that time to having their students read is the teachers are sitting there and reading. And the idea is that everyone's reading in the room. And so it's not just like, oh, I'm gonna have you students read, but I'm not gonna read. And that's not what we're trying to set precedence. We really are showing that we are modeling reading and our therefore our students are reading.
SPEAKER_00I noticed that myself with my niece who lives on the other side of the country, and we have plenty to talk about. We talk about sports and things, but she wasn't really, like you said, an avid reader, whereas I am, and so I would ask her, you know, oh, have you read this or have you read that? And then all of a sudden, she's actually coming to me saying, Hey, I'm reading this book for my class. Have you read it? And we were able to have discussions about it, or I'd say, No, I haven't, you know, I'll I'll get it right now and we'll talk about it. And it's become a way to communicate with her and a way to connect when we have thousands of miles between us. Right.
SPEAKER_02And I think discussions are so key. So, like I said, a union, we're trying to build this reading culture. And so I had the opportunity to do a presentation with my staff on what it looks like to build a reading culture, and even changing that conversation is key. Yeah. Because what I'm telling the staff is it's not necessarily big things that we have to change up. So a small thing could be instead of asking how was your weekend when your students come in, ask them, hey, have you read anything great lately? Because we're having that discussion be our norm, talking books be our norm, playing audiobooks be our norm. How often do we see teachers, for example, play music in the background? Why not play an audio book in the background? So we're changing the conversations around books and making that our focal point and how we see that in the classroom, and that it's not just an English classroom, but it's also in the math classroom, in the science classrooms.
Picture Books Across Every Subject
SPEAKER_02Absolutely one of the other things that we're also doing at Union is we are bringing back the importance of picture books, that it doesn't stop with elementary school. And so one of the big drives we have right now is I am developing a collection of picture books that support the different curriculums. So I have now a eighth grade history teacher who at the beginning of next year will be teaching on the first encounters with Native Americans. And so we're gonna gather a collection of picture books to have in his classroom when he teaches that. We have right now the science seventh grade teachers doing cells and the different parts of the cells. So I've brought in some picture books to help teach that, to support that. So when the kids are done, they can be reading the put picture books to re-emphasize what they're reinforce what they're learning. And so again, ways that we're bringing reading in that the kids aren't even realizing we're bringing in, but we're doing it.
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, uh you know, you can tell a child what a cell is, what a brain cell is, what a blood cell is, but they don't know what it looks like until you show them.
SPEAKER_02And pictures books are so powerful. That way, because they get the visual attached to the difficult vocabulary that they're dealing with. I mean, we forget, you know, when you walk into an elementary classroom, an elementary building, because like I said, I was an elementary teacher for a long time. These kids are passionate about reading. They love their books, they love their put picture books. And somewhere along the way, as they get older, I feel like, you know, what happened to that passion? And so that's why I'm a huge proponent of picture books coming back into middle school and even high school, because that might be a starting point for some kids to remind them of their love for reading and be that jumping point for chapter books again and more exciting books that are more middle school driven or high school driven.
Graphic Novels And Manga Still Count
SPEAKER_00You look at comic books.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's a huge thing right now.
SPEAKER_00Comic books, graphic novels, they're huge. And like you said, it's this stepping off point to get them interested. And you know, maybe you have those kids who still, you know, reading literacy is still an issue across the country. Absolutely. So if a kid is able to pick up a graphic novel and make it through that, then I think we need to celebrate that. I agree.
SPEAKER_02I think one of the things that has happened is that comic books and graphic novels for a long time was perceived as not really being reading.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_02And I think we need to uh let our public know, especially parents, if your students have picked up a graphic novel and they love it, that's reading. And that's powerful, and that is great. I think Japanese mangas, you know, they're called mangas, have really taken off. Um I think especially our male population of students absolutely love them. We have had so many anime shows. Right.
SPEAKER_00It's anime for the page, right?
SPEAKER_02Right, right, that have just taken off. And I get so many students come asking me for graphic novels like One Piece or Demon Slayer because they're seeing the anime and they want to now read it. And so, you know, we are very careful in the choices we make in terms of how much violence are in some of these, and so we make sure we pick books that are the anime that's uh the manga that's middle school appropriate. Um, but we do try to support the graphic novel movement and say we absolutely have these for you readily available.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It goes back to exactly what you've been doing at Union Middle and changing that perception and that conversation. I've even seen teachers who post a page under their name plaque at their door that says, I'm currently reading this, and that alone can spark a conversation. Or if you're reading, say, a historical novel, well, who's that? You know, who's Alexander Hamilton? Well, kids know now because of Hamilton, and now they go back and find out more in the books, right? Or Marvel. I mean, Marvel got universal, if you will pardon the pun. And so now I think that uh has also helped with that graphic novel side of things where okay, well, I want to read more about Spider-Man. Go for it. Spider-Man, you know, it's it's your friendly neighborhood guy, it's talking about community and life lessons and things, and I think it's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_02Well, and I love that you brought up how putting a sign as to what teachers are reading and stuff. It's amazing how much that can spark a conversation, especially when a student sees a book that a teacher reading is reading that they've read. Um it's powerful because the student will say, Oh my gosh, Miss So-and-so, you read this book, I did too. And then other kids hear that conversation and they are like, What book? Wait, I want to read it. Because peer influence is so powerful. And I find some of my biggest book checkouts are the ones that other kids are talking about.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's what they want. And so when we again go back to that talking about books, sharing what we're reading, that's gonna help drive that love for reading.
SPEAKER_00In our office, we have a running joke that we stay hydrated by taking a drink of water every time one of us brings up a book that we've read or that we're excited to read. And you know, our TRL, our to-read list is so long because we share. Oh, I just read this book. Did you read that? Or oh, this book wasn't that great. But I tell you what, when I read such and such book, you know, and I think it's it's very impactful, especially coming from a teacher to a student, it's that mentor relationship, they look up to them, and well, if they like it, then it must be good, right? Right. That's that's super powerful. I feel like you and I could go on talking about books for a long, long time. And I and I know we've only scratched the surface.
Favorite Reads Final Takeaways And CTA
SPEAKER_00I'd love for you. Well, first I want to know do you have a favorite book or is that too much? Do you have a favorite genre? An author?
SPEAKER_02That is a really hard question to answer right now. I can't answer it. I am like I have so many that I love. I know you've mentioned Harry Potter, by far one of my favorite series. Lord of the Rings. Um, shockingly, uh, I've read those three times in my life, and I will go back to it every single time. I actually recently did the Powerless series by Lauren Roberts because I wanted something that I could recommend to my eighth-grade girls. And real cute story, cute trilogy. So I really enjoy that one. But you know, I could go on forever. Like I said, I have a lot of favorites. I'm not sure that I can pinpoint and narrow it down to one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02My all-time favorite though is The Count of Monte Cristo. I don't know why I love that book so much, but I do. I can read that one forever. So many out there, right? So many good choices.
SPEAKER_00I love the Count of Monte Cristo. I think I have to go with a Scarlet Pimpernell myself. Oh, that's right. That's my classic book that I can just go back to. But you're right, it's so hard. We're lucky to have people like you in the library who can help us find something to read because there's so many choices. I'd love to wrap up with you just sharing just kind of your overall message about reading.
SPEAKER_02I think just giving kids time to read, making sure that you find books that can drive their passion in some way, but making books a natural conversation in your life, in your day-to-day. Again, I think with so much social media out there, we need to go back to this love for books and how much that you know can change I think our teenagers today and just their lifestyle and everything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Absolutely. It has such a huge impact on our lives and can foster conversations, foster that creative thinking. You just you can't go wrong with cracking up a book.
SPEAKER_02I don't think you could. I don't think you could.
SPEAKER_00Well, Elaine, thank you so much for joining us. I feel like you are doing great things over at Union and helping the kids to find that love of reading if they haven't found it already, or helping to fuel that flame and the ones who are avid readers. So here's to your next book. And thank you again for joining us. Thank you so much. And thank you for listening. If there's a topic you'd like to hear discussed on the podcast, send us an email to communications at canyonsdistrict.org.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect Canyons. Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram at Canyons District, or on our website, CanyonsDistrict.org.
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