Reading promotion

Many people believe the school library's main function is to promote and support reading. I agree that this is one of our goals but I do try to remind people that it is certainly not the only thing we do. There is much more a school library can do to support learning and the curriculum.



This week our two local public librarians were able to come and present booktalks for our sixth grade classes. Two of our classes did not get to hear them yet because we continually deal with bad weather on Tuesdays. It was kind of the librarians to come and share their time with the students. The booktalks they gave were much longer than any I have given. They like to read one or two pages out of a book to the students. This is one of the ways that we promote reading to our students (AASL 1.2) All of the copies we had of their four titles were checked out and we have a very long waiting list for one of the titles. We also like keeping a good relationship with the public libraries and we tell the students that their local public library is a good place to get materials that we don't own. We also allow the public librarians to come in at the end of the year and promote their summer reading program.

Last week I was able to do some quick book talks with the juniors and seniors in three English classes. (AASL 1.2) While I was doing this, I also showed two book trailers on the big screen. I knew that the visual book trailors would catch their interest. I did not have a lot of time to prepare for this but found a couple of trailers that were at the high school level on school tube. I also brought out all of the books that we own that are appropriate for high school students, not middle school students. I wanted to get these books out to be seen and touched because they are not highly visible where we keep them now. The students were attentive for the most part and a number of our high school appropriate books were checked out.

Another thing that we have done this year is to move a book shelf near the front of our library for new arrivals (AASL 1.2). We put it right where the students walk in the door. I love to see a student stop, take a second look, and say "this looks good", then pick it up and check out the book.

Since I have been staying in the AASL 1.2 vein, it makes me think of a conversation I had with one of my new library volunteers. We were able to sit and talk about what she has read lately and what I have read lately. I like to hear about what the students enjoy reading. I like sharing that I enjoy reading too. It is rewarding to hear students share about books they like and you can see they share your passion for reading. We actually had a student helper this year who was known for getting into trouble in class. He needed to work in the library to fill a block of time and we said we would try him out but he had to prove to us he was willing to work. What a pleasant surprise to see his willingness and his respect for us. One of the neatest things occured when he had to read a book for English class. He disliked reading but we got him hooked on Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and somehow we felt we were responsible for turning him into a reader. He loved the books and devoured the whole trilogy.

I also thought I might share about Teen Read Week that I promoted in October. My librarian does not like to spend too much time on things like these that appear to her as extra curricular activites. I feel that it promotes the library and it is good marketing to show students that we are there and that we actually give things away. It is a time for me/us to be giving, which is the way we should be all the time. A couple of years ago I was able to write an entire paper on how we could change the climate of the library in which I worked so that students would view us differently. I don't really mean we need to more permissive, even though we might, be we need to show the students that we care about them personally and we are there to help them. Anyhow, Teen Read Week did not involve reading as much as it involved getting students to practice their library skills by filling out a drawing slip that contained the name of a good book they have read, its author, and why they liked it. If they turned one of these slips in, they got a free pencil. There was also another drawing slip they could fill out that required pairing the a fiction book with a nonfiction with a matching topic. They had to use our catalog to find the books and the authors. We then drew thirty or so names for prizes. The teachers had helped us out by contributing some homework passes and bonus points for prizes as well. It did take some time to complete this week and the passing out of prizes but I felt that it was worth it to promote the library.

Third week: Collaboration and Cataloging

This was another week of delays and one snow day. I replied to Dr. Berg's comment from week two about how I used a discarded lesson because our Public Librarians cancelled. The lesson was an introduction to World Book on Infohio. (AASL 1.3 & 2.3) I was encouraged to have participation from the teachers during these lessons. Three teachers wanted to interject and I believe they felt that I was making the lesson relevant to their classroom content.

I have been thinking alot about teacher collaboration. I studied David Loertscher's taxonomy for the Praxis and took some time to decide where our library fit into his idea for school libraries. Libraries at the bottome level have no involvement and the ones a step above that are a "self-help warehouse". I feel that the library I work in falls somewhere between spontaneous, cursory, and planned gathering depending on the occasion. Near the top of Loertscher's taxonomy is instruction and instructional design which means formal planning occurs and the LMS is involoved in every step and the entire teaching unit may depend on the LMC program. Sometimes I feel that my library is very close to these two, but it only happens with one or two teachers. I wonder to myself, "How do I get teachers to understand our role and allow us to be included in their units?". When I have suggested to an English teacher that I could teach a lesson based on the Trails results we created earlier this year, she acted like it was her responsibility to teach these things, not mine. Most teachers seem to convey the idea that they are in complete charge or control of what is taught with their students. This is frustrating to me even though I understand why teachers feel this responsibility. I guess they just don't realize that there can be opportunities to co-teach with the librarian.
I find myself wondering when a social studies teacher uses the library, "how could I have collaborated with him on this unit? What do we have to offer here that he didn't think of using?" I usually don't have an answer. They have a set amount of time to get the paper or the research done and they don't want to spend too much time doing it. So how do we add lessons to there schedule?
Time seems to be another issue that I don't need to discuss right now.

Anyhow, there are glimmers of hope and I am just beginning to try and change how teachers may feel about the library and what we can offer. The Freshman English teacher that I spoke of came to me this week and said she would be willing to have her classes take the Trails assessment again. This is a new semester with a new set of students. I excitedly agreed but interjected that I would like to teach one lesson based on the assessment results. She said, "Sure, you can do it right when we start our research project". (AASL 2.2) This is positive and encouraging. Now lets hope I can tie it in with their research or at least make it relavant to them in some way.

One teacher, one class at a time.

It has been a new experience for me to be in charge of scheduling teachers (AASL 1.3) and knowing at the same time that I am responsible for anything that needs to be introduced or taught by the LMS. Before now as I have taken on more duties at the encouragement of our librarian, I would teach a lesson here or there and be responsible for pulling some books on occasions. Trying to keep on top of what is happening next week and what I need to do to prepare is a much larger responsibility. I really don't know how I will handle it if I am a LMS without an aide. But this is very good practice for me. (Let me interject that we typically introduce Infohio or other sources to classes beginning research projects if the teachers will agree. This is really all of the instruction that occurs concerning high school students. We will see if I can get this to change.)

On a final note, I got to do some copy cataloging this week. I thought I would be able to get the pile of books that needed cataloged completed in one day. Not true! I know I will get faster at this, but I don't see how people spend a lot of time on getting the perfect record. I also find it hard to fathom that librarians do this on their own when they don't have an aide to help them out during the day. Yes, we did just order books with their records to save time but these books were purchased by the Parent's Club for one of our elementary schools. It was fun to do something different and I have a new appreciation for how easy it is to make mistakes because of interruptions. (AASL 4.1)

2nd week flexibility

This week I prepared an Infohio World Book lesson for the 6th grade classes. I was tying it in with their upcoming social studies research they would begin next week. (AASL 2.1)It was not intensive because the students would need time to check out books also during their 30 minute class time. On the first day of the lesson our school had decided to dismiss early because of an oncoming snow storm. That meant I would miss one of the classes. The next day was a snow day and I missed two more classes. The following day, there was a movie for the 6th grade in the afternoon and I missed two more classes. My librarian was counting on me to work this out on the first inclement day but it didn't happen. I feel badly that they didn't get their lesson and I can't present it to them next week because the public librarians are scheduled to visit and give book talks. (AASL 3.1) Many times a librarian has to go with the flow and that is what I did. This was finals week for the high school and we had teachers call at the last minute to come and use the computers. It was just one of those weeks that wasn't quite normal.

I may have another opportunity with World Book and I know we are planning to collaborate with the sixth grade science teachers in February for science fair research. (AASL 2.2)I did also approach a 6th grade social studies teacher and ask her if I could come talk about World Book if and when they go to the computer lab for their research next week. She said she had to get back to me.

I also got to attend a teacher's inservice day and hear a presentation on Ohio's revised standards. I felt it was important to keep up with this topic. I want to know what the teachers are required to cover and I want to support it and collaborate with them as a future librarian. (AASL 3.2)

First week of Practicum

I have been working as a Library assistant for 7.5 years. This week I dove right into instruction with twelve sixth and seventh grade classes. We reviewed a quiz over some simple library skills. I used the multimedia projector and screen to show the quiz and type in the correct answers. (AASL 2.1)A sixth grade teacher had suggested the students would be more engaged if they were to write in the correct answers for the questions that they missed. When I teach a lesson like this several times, I am always looking to improve upon the lesson before. Sometimes I belabor a point and realize that next time I must move more quickly. There is a reward when you see learning taking place. I had the students practice with 2 new questions after we discussed the correct answer to the original question. I walked around the room looking at their answers and discovered that most of the students understood and were now answering correctly.

I also placed two orders this week: one for Accelerated Reader tests and the other was a book order from Follett. (AASL 4.1) It is a time consuming thing to spend your budget wisely on materials to be circulated. There is a balance between spending too much time on deciding which books to order and not caring what you end up with. I utilized the "first choice" check box because there were certain titles that I felt were more important than others. I don't think the librarian I work for bothers with this. I think she just takes her chances. Since we were ordering $400 more than our do not exceed amount I felt like it was important to choose some first picks. It is sad to see how quickly the money flows out.

I also requested to be placed on a new committee being formed by our new superintendant. He wants one non-certified member from each building. I don't know if I will get selected but I showed interest anyway. (AASL 3.2)