Library

The American School in Taichung library believes reading is crucial in the development of children; expanding their imagination, their knowledge, and their vocabulary. The library is a place where children begin to learn to learn, where information skills are first taught, creating individuals competent in finding information. We aim to inspire our students at a young age and make them passionate about reading by promoting the love of books. Reading and books are central to learning. Here our role is to inspire students to love books and reading at all ages. Students from Grade 1 to Grade 5 have weekly sessions in the library. They have the opportunity to check books in and out as well as being introduced to a range of genre and literacy skills in a fun and diverse way.

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Library Links

Recognizing Bias in Media from Wakelet
Book Reviews from Common Sense Media - Get ideas for that next great read and watch out for violence or profanity.
Lexile Finder from MetaMetrics - Find the level of the book you are reading, or find books at a certain level.
Storyline Online - Books read aloud by celebrated actors. For ages 3 - 12.
Best Apps and Websites for Teaching and Learning from the American Association of School Libraries
The Library Bill of Rights from the American Library Association.

Online Library Games and Quizzes

Sharpen your library skills and knowledge with these online games:

Shelve It - What order do the books go in? For ages 3+.
Library Orientation - Library facts and information every library user should know
Parts of a Book - Play hangman to find the names of the various parts of a book.
Books and More - Answer true or false about books in the library, parts of a book, kinds of books, and how they are shelved in a library.
Mixed-Up Citation Exercise - MLA online periodical citations with the parts all out of order.

Research @ AST

For help citing sources, creating bibliographies or works-cited pages, try using MyBib. It helps you Generate formatted bibliographies, citations, and works cited automatically, is integrated into our Google Suite of applications, and it is not only free to use, but ad-free as well!

An example of a paper formatted in MLA style

I am excited to be starting my third year at AST. This year I will continue teaching AP Economics, but will be transitioning out of middle-school English Language Arts into a position in the library. A native Seattleite, I left my job in the University of Washington Libraries in 2002 and moved to Taiwan where I initially worked in the public elementary schools in Hsinchu and eventually earned my teaching credentials in secondary ELA. I began my international school teaching career at Pacific American School in Hsinchu where I taught ELA, AP Econ, and Spanish. I also met my wife, Lucy, in Hsinchu. We were married in 2013. We have one daughter and another one on the way. Before coming to AST, I taught AP Economics and high school ELA at Yangon International School in Myanmar for four years where I was also the WASC accreditation coordinator and a student council advisor. I hold bachelor’s degrees from the University of Washington in Spanish and Comparative Literature, an MBA from National Chiao Tung University in Hsinchu, and a M.Ed. from the College of New Jersey. I'm currently working on an Education Specialist (EdS) degree in Professional Leadership with a specialization in Librarianship at the University of Central Missouri. When I'm not studying, I like reading, writing, playing the guitar and ukulele, and watching old movies.

--Mike McCool

Please email me with any questions or concerns using the form below.