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.