Our Classroom Library: Bridging the Gap in More Ways than One

As a middle schooler, I loved to read, so as an incoming first-year middle school teacher, the thought of creating a classroom library was both exciting and daunting. I wanted to create a library that would reflect the students in my classroom while fostering a love for reading. This would also be a vital step in helping them grow their literacy and writing skills as they explored different texts throughout the library, and it did. Students would use some of their favorite texts as models for their own writing. When I first applied for the Sigma Tau Delta Classroom Library Grant, many of the academic benefits were at the forefront of my mind. I expected literacy scores to increase, student writing to improve, and overall just general improvement in their ELA classes. However, there is one unexpected benefit that I value above all the rest.

At the center of my teaching philosophy, I believe that relationships are key. Without students feeling like you know them as a whole being it is much harder for them to learn from you. As a new teacher, part of me worried that I wouldn’t be able to build strong relationships with my students. However, our classroom library became the perfect tool to do so. When building my classroom library I wanted to make sure that students felt like their input was valued. Across all four classes, I asked students what books, genres, or topics they would be interested in seeing in our library. Students jumped at the chance to share their thoughts with me and this allowed me to get to know them better. I got to see what things interested them and would use those as points of connection to strengthen my relationship with students. This greatly improved my professional practice because I also now have insight into ways to connect what we are learning in class to what things students are curious about or have a lot of background knowledge on. While my relationships with students have gotten stronger, they are not the only relationships that have improved.

Thanks to Sigma Tau Delta’s thoughtful grant, students have also used our classroom library to connect with peers. I have seen books make their way throughout the grade like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Some favorites include A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson, Wonder by R. J. Palacio, and Halfway There by Christine Mari. Friend groups sit together at recess reading and chatting. Peers pass each other the next book in the series that all of their friends won’t stop talking about. Students have gotten much closer to one another in a multitude of different ways. Some of the highlights of my college career were a direct result of Sigma Tau Delta, and now some of my favorite memories of teaching are also thanks to their generosity.

In college, Sigma Tau Delta helped me to push past my comfort zone, improve my literacy skills, and form new relationships. Through this classroom library grant, Sigma Tau Delta is doing the same for my students, as they have the space to safely take risks and connect with others through reading. I can’t wait to see all the other benefits of this library as it continues to bridge gaps in more ways than one.

Aaliyah Blackett
Classroom Library Grant Recipient, 2024
Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School
Boston Public Schools, MA

Sigma Tau Delta Classroom Library Grants

Sigma Tau Delta’s Classroom Library Grants are designed to enhance the Society’s goals of

promoting interest in literature and language in the surrounding communities;
fostering all aspects of the discipline of English, including literature, language, and writing; and
serving society by fostering literacy.

The Classroom Library Grants are also intended to support our members who have entered the field of teaching and need material support to help achieve these goals through their work in the classroom by providing their students with a library in their own classrooms, especially where access to school or public libraries or to books in the home may be limited.

The Society will award up to five grants of $400 each per cycle to help members of Sigma Tau Delta who have been teaching in a Middle School or High School classroom for five years or fewer. That is, applicants may or may not be recent college graduates; the Classroom Library Grant is intended to help new Middle School and High School teachers, whether in their first years out of college or in the first years of a second career, to build a classroom library for their students.

Criteria For Selection

In choosing recipients, the Classroom Library Grant Committee will consider the following criteria:

lack of economic and geographic access to books at your school, or another demonstrated need;
the explanation of how the classroom library envisioned will support your goals in alignment with the Society’s goals; and
supervisory endorsement of your classroom library project.

Please note that this grant is now only available to middle school and high school educators.