The Teaching Materials Center (TMC), located on Floor 6 of Milner Library, is a unique collection of pre-K through Grade 12 materials that supports the teacher education programs at Illinois State University.
The TMC provides education students with resources to enhance their collegiate experience and to help them prepare for their careers as teachers. The TMC collection includes picture books (Easy), fiction and non-fiction books, elementary, middle-level and high school textbooks and supporting materials in all subject areas. The TMC acts as a model school library collection for future educators to frequent and use. It is classed and arranged by the Dewey Decimal System, much like a school library.
Use this map to discover and learn about the content in the TMC. Click on the labeled areas below to learn about sections of the TMC and see examples of items on the shelf.
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Section |
Description |
| The TMC EASY section is comprised of fiction picture books. This section is arranged by author. The three letters of the call number after ‘TMC EASY’ are the first three letters of the author’s last name. These picture books are not organized by subject, instead books written by the same author will be near each other on the shelf. | |
| Fiction | The Fiction section of the TMC houses both novels and chapter books. Chapter books are skinnier books in a series that are intended for beginner readers, whereas novels are thicker. This is where you would find young adult fiction books. Call numbers here begin with ‘TMC Fiction.’ Like TMC EASY, this section is arranged by author. |
| Dewey | The Dewey section includes informational books arranged by topic, as well as graphic novels, poetry, fairy tales and folklore, nursery rhymes and more. We use the Dewey decimal call number system which shows the topic of the book. This means that books on the same topic will be next to each other on the shelf. The last three letters of a call number relate to the author’s last name, or in the cases of biographies, the subject’s name. |
| Graphic Novels | Within Dewey, there is a large graphic novel area. This includes long-form volumes of sequential art for K-12 which are both fictional and non-fictional. Graphic novels all begin with the call number, TMC 741.5. They are organized by creator last name. |
| Professional | The TMC PRO section contains professional materials for teachers. It’s the “how we teach it” section. Materials in this section include activities and teaching strategies. Because materials are arranged using Dewey decimal call numbers, these professional materials are browsable by teaching subject area. |
| The TMC TEXT section includes student and teacher edition textbooks and curriculum materials. This can also be considered “what we teach”. These are organized into sections for: early childhood education, elementary education, middle level education, and high school education. They are then arranged by topic/subject within each of these sections using Dewey. Their call numbers begin with ‘TMCText.’ These materials are created by publishers that have written curriculum for specific grade levels. If we know what that grade level is, it’s included on the printed call number tag. | |
| Nonbook | The TMC nonbook section consists of materials that are not books or audiovisual materials, including: manipulatives, games, puppets, activity sets, and more. They are meant to act as aids to enhance your teaching. These are in the catalog just like a book. These call numbers begin with ‘TMC Nonbook’ and are also organized on the shelf by teaching subject area using Dewey. |
| Leveled Readers | A leveled reader is merely a book that has been assigned a gradient for readability. This could be a letter, number, or grade equivalent. At this station there are both leveled books and tools to translate what that level means. Leveled books may be written specifically for a publisher and part of their larger leveled book program, or a well-known title that has been ranked for readability. |
| Magazines | The TMC also has recent education magazines intended for education students to use in clinical settings. Examples include Faces, National Geographic Kids, Time for Kids, and more. |
| Graphics | TMC Graphics includes large scale images such as posters or prints that may include images or illustrations, text, diagrams, charts, maps, etc. They are organized by subject according to the Dewey Decimal System. |