Day 20

My last day at HSES is bittersweet.  I have enjoyed learning with my mentor this semester and also working with the students and teachers.  I feel that I have grown in so many ways and added new tools to my librarian toolbox.  Thanks to Mrs. E I have mastered book talks.  This was an area that I felt really uncomfortable with, but I learned not to make it harder than it is.  Read the books, and talk about them.  It's that simple.  If I enjoy something about the book, it is easy to "sell" it to the students.  I have also learned a great deal about collection development and budgeting.  Weeding is hard, but necessary and adding to a collection requires much careful consideration.  Not only do you consider students' interests, but also the needs of teachers and curriculum support.  Once you have that information, you must find and review materials to make sure that the items you purchase are appropriate and beneficial.  Through my work with my mentor, I also have a plan for managing next year's budget.  Keeping a file for each account with copies of invoices and purchase orders will help with future orders and ensure that I spend all of the money by the deadline.  This has been an absolutely wonderful experience, and I am so thankful to my principal, my mentor, and her principal for supporting me in this process.

Day 19

Today was a busy day.  We had several technology issues to help with as well as the filming of a Mystery Skype.  I am very excited to try this with students from my own school.  What a great way to have them connect with others while learning at the same time.  While the activity did not go as planned, the classroom teacher was able to give an overview for other classes and teachers.  What I learned from this is that it is always good to do a trial run before you have a whole room full of students and teachers.

Also today, I learned that the issues in this school are quite similar to those in my own school.  People don't always follow rules/directions.  People also have high expectations for their school media specialist.  My hope is to be the most supportive person that I can be while also holding to rules and procedures.

Day 18

Today we looked to the end of my internship as we discussed evaluation of the library program as well as collecting data regarding collaboration and student programming.  This is not something that is widely used in this school district.  WHile we complete a yearly survey for the state department of education, rarely do we conduct evaluations of our particular programs.  For the purposes of my internship requirements, we discussed ways to do this.  One easy way seems to be through a survey...specifically through Survey Monkey.  These can be easily shared, and information is collected and tallied for you.  Then analyzing results is easy.  As for evaluating collaborations and/or student projects, we decided that use of a rubric would be beneficial.  Both teachers and students can quickly evaluate the lesson upon completion.  The only drawback here is that data will have to be manually collected and calculated.  In the future, I plan to develop an online survey geared specifically toward my library program to be administered yearly.  Feedback from users is critical in developing a program that best benefits a community.

Day 17

Budgets...I think I have mentioned this before, but now that I am right in the middle of a spending deadline, let's revisit.  Each year I am given funds for books, supplies, technology, and periodicals.  This money has to be spent each year by the end of March...yes, I procrastinate.  I guess I don't want to spend all of my money early, just in case something comes up that I need.  However, having significant funds to spend in an ethical and practical manner at the last minute is tough.  My plan for next year is to do a better job of ordering early the things I know we need.  I also plan to have a folder for each account and a running record of what is spent on the outside with copies of receipts, POs, etc. inside.  This way I can easily see how funds were spent in previous years.  I hope to save precious time and alleviate stress with this process.  Thanks so much to my mentor for this tip!

Day 16

Collaboration with Classroom Teachers...

This can be tricky business as teachers are so busy and overwhelmed by day-to-day requirements.  From lesson plans, to team meetings and parent communication, teachers have very little time to meet and talk with the media specialist about possible collaborations.  What I have learned is to make it as painless as I can while still encouraging communication.  One thing I do is email a group or an individual with an idea of how I can support learning.  This allows teachers to repond in their own time, and I have found it useful.  Another strategy that works is to pop in on meetings that are already scheduled.  Since teachers have to be there anyway, taking 5-10 minutes maybe once a month is not too much.  For example, teachers at my school already meet with the reading coach every Wednesday, so I can easily ask for a few minutes once a month.  This can open up dialogue with a whole team about ways I can support what they are already doing.  One final thing I have tried this year is to develop lessons for those required things that come up during the year such as Constitution Day, Black History Month, etc.  I can plan lessons that the teachers can write into their plans without doing anything extra.  They love this!  My goal is to be a support for teachers and students.  Collaboration is one of my main responsibilities, so I want to use it as a help rather thatn "one more thing to do."

Day 15

Teacher Web Pages...another necessary evil.  We have been working some each visit on helping teachers get their webpages updated and shared correctly.  This is not only a school requirement, but also a district requirement.  What I have learned is that some teachers are really eager and excited to work on a web page while others are completely evasive.  We have been trying for at least two weeks to get together with one teacher to help get her site up.  We have a quick cheat sheet and have promised to have her finished in fifteen minutes, but the teacher always has an excuse when it is time to meet.  I am unsure how to handle this situation as it is the media specialist's job to make sure everyone has an up-to-date site.  On one hand, you want to help get it done, but n the other hand you have offered several opportunities for assistance, and the site is not even started.  At this point, I feel that it is an administrative issue. I am sure that I will face similar situations in my own library, and I want to try to be a support for teachers while ensuring that tasks are complete.  I think the key is to be helpful but firm.  This won't be easy for a passive person like myself.

Day 14

Substitute Plans...not fun but necessary.  Today we discussed the need for detailed substitute plans as my mentor plans for the SCASL conference in a few weeks.  As we reviewed her standard lesson plans together, I thought about my own sub plans.  At my school we are required to have at least three days of emergency plans plus schedule, class lists, procedures, etc.  I have a sub notebook on my desk ready to go.  Feeling pretty good about them, I wasn't expecting to learn anything new.  However, I had not thought about what would happen if neither my assistant nor myself were in the library.  This changes plans, especially if the sub is someone completely new, as was the case with my mentor.  Directions and explanations have to be very clear and detailed for someone who has never been in your school or library.  After our work together today, I revised my own sub plans to be more detailed and clear.

Day 13

SC Book Awards...today I shared my voting booth with the students at HSES.  They were so excited to cast their votes.  We briefly reviewed each title and allowed students to come up one by one to fill in a ballot and drop it in the ballot box.  I left the booth for other classes to vote throughout the week.  The school winner will be announced once all votes are cast.

This activity brought up thoughts about next year's nominees and how to get more students to read them, especially in grades 3-5.  This year I did book talks in the library as students came in with their class.  This was only those whose teacher signed up for the visit.  Next year I plan to visit all 3-5 classrooms to briefly share titles.  I may even share a quick video highlighting the titles.  I also want to plan some type of event/party/celebration for those who read at least five titles to come vote.

Day 12

Book orders are hard work!  You would think spending $5000 on new books would be so easy, but that is not the case.  I learned today that our district has a policy requiring us to consider book reviews before ordering materials for the library.  Having ordered from a variety of book companies myself, I was curious to learn my mentor's perspective on this topic.  The first thing she showed me was School Library Journal.  Here we found recommendations for top books of the year. This was a great starting place.  Another source she suggested was ALA's award lists.  Next, she showed me a great feature that Follett offers through Titlewise...they have reviews collected within the program for titles they sell.  They also show you titles already in your collection.  This was so helpful as I chose new titles!  Another concern I have is ordering books that will last...strong covers and bindings.  My mentor was able to give her opinion and share her experiences with this issue.  Today was a great learning day, and I will definitely be able to use these new strategies right away.

Day 11

Today was a busy but productive day.  The majority of our time was spent working with Titlewise to analyze weaknesses in the collection.  We used the report provided by Follett to determine aged titles as well as circulation statistics for those to be considered for weeding.  My mentor knows her collection and is very careful about weeding.  She wants to keep books that her users still ask for even though they may be many years old.  She showed me how to check Destiny for how many times a book has been checked out in a certain time period, in this case the last ten years.  We actually took the laptop with us to the shelves so that we could look at the books as we went.  By the end of the day, we selected about 100 or so books for weeding.  Her overall collection year came up from 2003 to 2004, which is closer to the goal of 2005.  I learned that weeding is not always the easiest thing to do.  Careful considerations must be made before just pulling a book from the collection.

Day 10

Today is the half-way point!  I have learned so many little things and grown in confidence in just ten short days.  Today we assisted students in finding those just right books.  I was able to do some "shelf talks" with individual students about books they might be interested in.  The little moments are so powerful, I think.  The idea of helping nearly 500 students find the perfect books can be quite daunting, but you have to take opportunities when they arise.  The more individualized reader's advisory helps me get to know a student's needs much more clearly than just through book talking with a whole class.
A good portion of time today was spent on teacher's websites.  My mentor compiled a list of teachers who needed to work on their websites and asked if I could help.  We visited with teachers during their planning times and helped them get their sites up and running.  What we found was that several teachers had created a new Google site, and all we had to do was get the new URL linked up to the school directory.  We were able to check off several teachers in a short amount of time.  Next week, we plan to continue this work and assist teachers who need more work on their sites.  I am also looking forward to having students vote for their favorite SC Book Award nominees.

Day 9

Today was another busy day in the library!  We worked with 5th grade students, and I was able to practice another booktalk.  Today I talked Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson.  This was one of those books that I chose from a required list.  I would never have chosen it for myself because it is written in verse, but I loved this book!  I have discovered that booktalks are easy when you talk about a book you have read and love.  The words just tumble out.  I also feel that often a script is not really necessary...maybe just a few main points to cover on a sticky note.  Every time I have done a book talk, someone has selected that book.  It really shows the opportunity that we have to encourage students to read and to read new things.  Having overcome my anxiety about booktalks with encouragement from my mentor, I now see that they really are one of our most powerful tool for helping kids develop a love for reading.  I plan to schedule more times with teachers in my school to stop by and just talk about a few titles.

We also discussed budget planning and worked on a newsletter published bi-monthly to highlight things we are doing in our media centers.  These behind-the-scenes tasks are often just as important as the work we do with students.  Having a mentor to share my personal questions with and to get feedback on ideas and concerns is proving invaluable.  I wish I would have had someone like this last year as a new media specialist.

Day 8

Today in the library I did my first booktalk.  I was super nervous about booktalks for some reason.  In our library classes, they seemed so complicated with scripts and practice.  I had myself so worked up about this!  It is on my list of personal growth opportunities.  Thankfully, my mentor is a common sense type of person.  She told me that I do booktalks all the time and don't even realize it.  We decided that I should choose a few books that I really like to share with a kindergarten class.  I chose a couple of South Carolina Picture Book Award nominees and Green Eggs and Ham, one of the first books I learned to read all by myself.  It went perfectly!  I "sold" all of the books I talked about during that one class time.  Honestly, I don't know why I was so concerned.  The lesson I learned today was:  Don't over think it...and stick to books that you enjoy.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to have a mentor who helps me work through my weaker areas as I strive to improve.

Day 7

What an exciting day!  After weeks of planning, today we held the LCSD Read-In.  students from every single school in our district come together to share activities and discussion on a common book.  Each year, media specialist select ten students with a passion for reading to participate in a book club of sorts.  Books are always selected from the South Carolina Book Award nominees list for that year.  This year, the elementary school selected El Deafo by Cece Bell.  After reading and discussing the book, students chose a famous person with a disability to research.  Information was displayed on a project board and brought to the Read-In event for a scavenger hunt.  Students also participated in an obstacle course with a blindfold to show what it is like to have a disability.  To end our sessions, a teacher from the South Carolina School for Deaf and Blind shared with us about hearing disabilities and how the school helps.  She also shared great tips for students on how to treat people with any type of disability.  Even though some of our plans fell through, we were able to monitor and adjust to make the day perfect for students.  I think this was the most important lesson I learned today.  Going forward, when planning next year's event, I think we will need to select our book sooner and begin planning sooner.  I also feel that it would help if certain people were assigned to certain jobs rather than everyone wondering who is taking care of this and that.

Day 6

Today in the library,  I was able to work on some behind-the-scenes things that all librarians must do.  One was the budget.  In my district we are allotted funds for supplies, technology, periodicals, and books.  I usually check in with the book keeper for updates on how much I have left.  I have also had trouble knowing what can be purchased from a particular account.  Thank goodness for a mentor!  She showed me her method of keeping organized with folders.  Each account has a folder.  She keeps receipts inside and writes a running total on the outside.  So simple, yet so effective.  She also shared a list of what things can be purchased with each account.

Another thing we worked on today was a book order.  Having put so much emphasis on nonfiction last year, I really want to focus on improving and updating our fiction selection.  One thing we discussed was books in a series.  Our students love them and will often stick with this type of book because it is easy to find and familiar.  This year, however, I want to add stand-alone fiction as well.  In addition, I have noticed that book purchased from certain vendors are beginning to fall apart, so I want to choose carefully to ensure long life for the books.  My mentor shared with me her selection process using School Library Journal's top books of 2016 as well as ALA's various lists for notable books.  We also used Follett's Titlewise to access various recommended book lists and to read reviews.  The great thing about Titlewise is that they show you books you already own.  Overall is was a very productive day.

Day 5

Today in the library I was able to spend time with students, helping them find the just right book.  I have noticed some things as I work with students:  they tend to prefer books that have Reading Counts tests, and the older ones almost always ask about a book's Lexile level.  I have tried to suggest titles from the S. C. Book Award nominees list as well as books that I have read myself, but most students avoid those unless they meet one or both of the aforementioned criteria.  This concerns me because they are missing out on some really great books, but more so because I fear that we may be crushing a possible love of reading.  Too many schools today focus solely on a student's reading level before ever considering interests.  While I do see a place for this in a classroom setting, I do not think this should spill over into the library.  We see this issue in the school where I work as well.  Since our collection is not leveled, students are encouraged to do the "five finger test" where they read a page and count mistakes to determine readability.  I just want kids to read and to fall in love with a book, a character, an author.

Day 4

Today's focus was professional development for teachers.  I was able to observe as the media specialist helped teachers "add a little polish" to their websites during two different planning times.  The presentation itself was set up through Google Slides and presented on a Smartboard.  Teachers brought their laptops so that they could work on things in live time.  I picked up several useful tips from this day:

1.  Bring a treat/snack...in this case cookies.
2.  Make the slides eye-catching but easy to follow...red circles, finger pointer, screenshots
3.  Keep it short and sweet...in this case about 15-20 minutes...teachers appreciate that you realize their time is valuable.

In between groups I was able to ask some questions about how often they meet like this as well as how they come up with the topics.  What I learned is that topics are generated as needs arise.  Websites have to be regularly updated, so this was a necessary skill.  Other times, new technologies are presented.  Sometimes teachers' requests are covered.

Overall today has helped me to feel more confident about planning professional development opportunities for teachers.  I think the main goal is to be flexible and to be aware of their time and needs.

Day 3

Today was a very busy day in the library.  With a completely flexible schedule, the HSES library is open throughout the day for students to visit.  They come to check out books, do research, take Reading Counts tests, read, and even to study.  Today, a visitor needed a guest wifi password and a substitute needed assistance accessing laptop links at the same time.  This meant leaving the assistant in the library alone while we tried to resolve these issues.  Neither issue was easily solved, and we had to called our IT department for help.  Although the day was a bit chaotic, things all worked out.  This was a good lesson learned:  no matter how hectic things become, keep calm and be positive.  I actually really enjoy problem-solving!

Day 2 in the Library

Today was another great day of learning!  I was able to practice so many things and even learned a few new tricks.  First off, I was able to assist with technology this morning by checking out and distributing Chromebooks.  I was able to see the organizational strategy used and plan to implement a checkout system at my school.  In addition, I was able to spend some quality time with 5th and 1st graders offering reader's advisory as needed.  It was wonderful!  My mentor knows her collection so well that she can offer suggestions off the top of her head.  This is a new goal for me...to read as many books as I can so that I can better assist readers.  Finally, we began an analysis of a section of the library.  There were several things to consider including a Titlewise report for aged books and the number of checkouts.  We now have a list of titles that may need to be weeded and will start that process later in the week.  My favorite part of the day was working with students and hearing about books and authors they enjoy.

Day 1 in the Library

Today was a great day!  I arrived at school at 7:30, signed in, and found my way through the school to the library.  Along the way I was struck by the peaceful atmosphere.  There was soothing music playing throughout the building, and students were eagerly heading to their classrooms.  In one room I passed I heard a squeaky toy ans was surprised to see a little dog there on a rug.  As I began to backtrack to the doorway, several students noticed my surprise and said, "Yeah, that's our dog.  He is for therapy."  Wow!  In the library I was welcomed and shown to a place to house my things and do any work I needed to complete.  I was able to discuss and work on a timeline of activities.  We also discussed areas that I would like to improve and I assisted as needed with shelving books and putting away Chromebooks.  After one day, I have learned that media specialists are expected to do many things, sometimes they have to work late to get the job done, and issues are mostly the same in all schools.  I can see that Mrs. Edgerton has a great knowledge of children's literature, and I cannot wait to hear her booktalks.  My goal is to be helpful in any way I can as I practice various skills.  I have a feeling that we will learn from each other as the days go by.