Library News - LibGuides at Castro Valley High School

CVHS Teachers, schedule your class visits on the library instruction calendar. The library instruction calendar is now open for booking. Please reserve the class period when you would like to bring your students to the library for SSR books, research and recording activities.

Visit the library website and either:

Click on the Library Events and Instruction button in Quicklinks
Click on Teacher Services in the Hamburger Menu and Schedule an Instruction Session.

All class visits need to be scheduled on this calendar, whether its for an SSR visit or fuller instruction session with the librarian. If you want the librarian to provide instruction, please make an appointment with her two weeks in advance during your planning period to plan a session(s) for your students.

Recent Posts

Library Hours week of 9/8

Library hours remain M-Th 8:00 AM to 4:30 pm and Fri 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM for the week of 9/8 with possible openings 7:30-8 and 4:30-6 pm as they are confirmed on a day-to-day basis. The hours on the library website will be updated as soon as a complete staff schedule for the semester is confirmed. Please continue to express your support for stable before and after school hours to the appropriate site administrator....

CVUSD Facility Master Planning Focus on Libraries of the Future

On Thursday, September 4, District Librarian Emily Stambaugh, participated with other district administrators on a focus group explore high level design concepts desired for our future school libraries. A vision of the Libraries of the Future for CVUSD schools boosts student outcomes through reimagined facilities that are:The happening place that centers the academic purpose of our schools and engages students, teachers and the community as they learning to consume, use and create information togetherSupportive of hybrid print and digital information resourcesFoundational to teaching and learning services, with resources, capacity and equipment to support multi-literacies and diverse abilitiesBeyond ADA compliant, they are ADA-friendly, embracing abilities and technologies of the future, in a space and a world where everyone countsFlexibly designed with reservable spaces that support individual study, multiple small group study rooms, media/recording rooms, comfy reading nooks, a large technology rich instruction room (60-80 students) and an event space with kitchenetteInfused with natural light, acoustical controls and beautiful, durable indoor and outdoor spaces that that invite, welcome and engage all studentsBring pride to campuses by celebrating our diverse students, heritages and their achievements with cultural and art displays, student accomplishment displays, and gallery walk space for inquiry-based and design-thinking projectsStaffed by curriculum-savvy, information-savvy, tech-savvy credentialed librarians and highly qualified library staffWe look forward to continuing the planning conversation and are hopeful the Castro Valley community will support a measure to create Libraries of the Future in our schools....

(Physical and Digital) Library Orientations Completed 8/28 and 8/29: Navigator 1-3 and Passport to the Next Level

231 of CVHS' 766 First Year Students participated in the inaugural Physical and Digital Library orientations last week. Thank you to English teachers! First year students completed Navigator Levels 1, 2 and 3 in their English classes with a slide deck prepared by the Teacher Librarian. In Navigator 1-3 lessons, students learned to identify their reading “avatar” and get a book recommendation from a recommender serviceidentify several ways to start creating an independent reading habit and choose 1 to start this weekidentify student services available to them through the libraryaccess the digital libraryfind access instructions to all of the school's databases for their researchlook up a book in the catalog Teachers then brought their students to the library for Passport to the Next Level orientations where theymet the librarian and library staff (resources for their next 4 years at CVHS)learned about “My Space” - the library as a shared, collective space that is partially student-run, volunteer opportunities and civic engagementlearned about “My Time” - things they can do independently at the library, such as check their account online, self-checkout, place holds, enjoy a cup of tea at Athena's Cafe, contribute to Athena's Cafe as a cooperative.signed up for the Back to School Reading Challenge in Beanstack and learned to log their readingcompleted an Information and Media Literacy skills assessment to inform future program planningStudents received stamps in their passports as they completed activities throughout the library and were excited to leave with a book challenge, a sense of their library as place, a passport and laptop sticker to remind them of their time at the library!...

CVHS First Year Students' Information and Media Literacy Skills Assessment - Early Findings

This year, as part of the First Year Student Orientations to the CVHS Library, students took an Information and Media Literacy Skills Assessment. Over the next few weeks, the data will be analyzed, an assessment report will be prepared, and key findings will be reported at an all staff meeting. Students were asked questions about Recognizing a Need for Information, Access, Use, Evaluation and Affective Perspectives on Reading and Independent Learning.Here is a sneak peak at some of the preliminary findings and how the library uses evidence to support future academic program decisions. More analysis of all of the questions will help librarians, teachers and administrators to develop curriculum that includes information skills. Question 2 (Information Literacy Assessment)Ability to take logical next steps with Artificial Intelligence responsesUnderstanding what the logical next step is after receiving a response from a generative artificial intelligence service is a critical thinking skill that all students need to learn in order to use AI effectively in their research. First year students were given a scenario: write a paper about the top three impacts of climate change on local wildlife in your town. With the response from an AI service, students were asked to identify logical next steps to using the information for academic purposes. Summary Outcome:While first year students generally recognize that they need to gather more information after receiving a response from a generative artificial intelligence service, they tend to use only those topics mentioned by the AI for further investigation. Students will likely need additional support in recognizing gaps in the AI output (topics that are missing) to be further researched. Students need help understanding how AI outputs represent a source of information (or aggregation of sources) that should be acknowledged and cited. Note: This assessment did not address the students' ability to take the next step (find other sources of information or ask more refined questions.) The emphasis was on the first critical thinking step: recognition of a need for more information in multiple directions.Findings: ==> 73% of first year students tested (N=169/231) successfully recognized a need to gather more information about the four types of local wildlife impacted by climate change in Castro Valley identified in the initial AI response.==> 50% of first year students tested (N=116/231) recognized a need to seek information about the four types of wildlife identified plus other types of wildlife not identified by the AI response (e.g. insects).==> Only 27-37% of first year students tested recognized the need to either paraphrase or acknowledge the use of generative AI in their papers (N=62 and 70/231, respectively) Question 3: Exit Ticket. Digital Library Orientation, Navigator Level 3Access to the Alameda County Public Library, digital resourcesObtaining a public library card is a very basic first step for high school students to begin to develop life skills, including reading skills. Having all students on the Digital Public Library also makes it possible for teachers to rely upon and use quality subscription databases for classroom teaching in all subjects.Our goal this year was to try to get access to the public library for 100% of Castro Valley High School First Year Students (N=766.) A subset of the First Year Students participated in the Digital Library orientations through their English Classes (N=131).Summary outcome: 1. Approximately 10% of First Year Students (N=80) new have access to the Digital Public Library after orientations through their English classes prepared by the Teacher Librarian, setting them on a path to lifelong skill development and enriched classroom experiences for the next 4 years. Greater participation by English classes or other formats such as mandatory orientations before the school year for all entering First Year Students or a formal partnership with the Alameda County Public Library would likely improve student access.2. A majority of students successfully access quality digital information resources (N=80 or 61%) when introduced to them by an English teacher with curriculum developed by the Teacher Librarian.Findings:==> 80 of 131 First Year Students now have an Alameda County Public Library card or eCard after the Digital Library Orientation through their English classes. ==> 19 of 131 First Year Students still need help and want to get an Alameda County Public Library eCard....

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Library Instruction Calendar now available for teacher reservations