Week 6: Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

The work week may have been a short one, going to school only two days due to snow, but it was quite the busy one! Even though I was stuck at home instead of at school celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with my students and colleagues during the first few days, I still managed to get alot accomplished. 

Bum bum-bum bummmmm: I finished the Portfolio Planning Document! WHEW! Now that everything has been figured out, all I have to do is put everything together for my portfolio! Oh wait, I still have to write the Reflection Essays... 

As much as I tried to write them as I filled out the PPD, I just could not get it all done. Looking back, it seems that somehow I managed to take the most demanding classes during the summers throughout this program, leaving the ones with less actual written work for me to take during the school year. It worked very well. Granted, the past two summers did not feel like a break whatsoever, but I always managed. The work load of the Practicum, however, is wearing on me! I LOVE getting to learn everything, and I am truly excited to get to be so hands on, but keeping up with teaching full time, being truly involved in the library now and the extra activities that goes with it, and using every bit of my weekend to get caught up on grad school work- *Sigh*. Thank goodness for loving family and coffee! 

Now back to the library. When we returned to school Thursday morning, Seuss-fever had hit JTA. Proof:

Yep, that's me! I was Cat in the Hat all day! The rest of the students and faculty participated as well, dressing up like their favorite characters from various Seuss books. Even our administration got in on the fun, each one of them dressing as either "One Fish", "Two Fish", "Red Fish" or "Blue Fish". We even made the Hardin County Schools' website! Check it out!

To go along with various activities taking place throughout the building during the day, I was asked the previous week to draw up a worksheet for students to use. I was given an example and here was my drawing. My worksheet was emailed to all faculty within the building. 

During the day, our administrators had a little fun, interacting (causing a scene, really) with the faculty and staff when they brought around each of the teachers a mug:

Below is a picture of Ms. Allen, a star-bellied Sneetch, with her always helpful Cat in the Hat.

Friday went back to normal, whatever that may mean at JTA. Ms. Allen and I, along with several students in her morning class, created these fun shamrock decorations to prepare for St. Patrick's Day in the library. 

Yesterday I also was able to FINALLY get my hands on Destiny. It was not my first time using the program, but it had been awhile. Throughout the week, Ms. Allen has student library aides that help out with the checking in of books and shelving them, so I do not get to help with those tasks very much. When asking one of my students that happened to be in the library how I looked behind the desk, she replied with "Well, you still look like an art teacher, but I think you look okay doing that, too." Oh, middle school. What was really awesome is that she took my picture so I could see what I looked like as well:

Apparently it was something I had to see for myself. What followed our photo shoot was something I hadn't noticed before- or at least to the degree that it currently is. When insisting on shelving the books myself, I was appalled to find that the fiction section was not fully alphabetically organized. For instance, the "L"s would all be "L" authors, but "Lau" may be right next to "Lup". The ENTIRE fiction section was like this. AHHHHH!!! When I asked a student aide next to me if it was always "like this", he informed me that it was. When expressing my extreme discomfort (I tend to be overly organized by nature) with the lack of organization of her shelves, Ms. Allen laughed at me, and with a shrug of her shoulders simply said "Priorities!". She explained that without any hired assistance, keeping the shelves neat is incredibly difficult- especially when she has up to three classes in the library at once. She said that she does shelve them correctly multiple times a year, but quickly realized that the time used to shelve books is best sacrificed in order to meet other, more immediate needs of our school. 

Looking back on this experience has me thinking about sacrifices I, too, will make when I become a LMS. Being a LMS means that my choices will directly impact my school. Will I choose to let my natural tendency to keep everything "just right" overpower my work I do with my students and faculty? I must be sure that it doesn't. This makes me look to the following CEBS Disposition:

Values professionalism:

Commitment to self-reflection and growth. Recognizes personal limitations and strengths and uses them to best professional advantage. Actively seeks suggestions and constructive criticism. Regularly practices critical thinking. Regularly engages in learning through self-reflection. 

Being a reflective person, I find that I often reflect on my performance, my mindset, etc. As a librarian, I must continue to practice this, as well the flexibility I have been learning throughout my Practicum experience. What a revealing, encouraging week I have had! I'm already excited for the next! 

Week 5: New books

This week provided me with the opportunity to learn a major part of my future job description- cataloging! While the task has never seemed difficult, it has always appeared to be overwhelming. This week I found out that there are many shortcuts and resources that are available to librarians to help in this department. However, they will often cost the program. Upon walking in Tuesday morning, I saw a box with another two piles of books next to it on the circulation desk.

"New books?" I asked.
"New books!" Ms. Allen replied while smiling and clasping her hands together in excitement. I always can tell she is excited if the hands clasp together or both arms fly up at the elbow with fisted hands. The latter kind of resembles a cheerleading motion. It's no surprise then, that she also speaks with the same level of enthusiasm when this happens. Like any real librarian, nothing makes Ms. Allen happier than new books and/or new technology. Seeing that she had already begun to label, I proceeded to ask a series of questions that produced many simple, but valuable answers.

First question: Why Follett? Ms. Allen chooses to stick with Follett not only for their pricing, but also for convenience. When she first became librarian, she said that she had many different sellers coming to visit regularly. To her, a new school librarian, this felt overwhelming. So, like any good LMS would do, she started researching. She looked into each seller and looked at their services and prices. Ultimately, Follett won out. I also asked her about ebooks, or digital books. Apparently, that is already on her "to-do" list for next year. She will begin purchasing more of them for the 2014-2015 year. This question led me to budgeting. I was familiar with the "per pupil allocation" from previous courses in the program and various assignments, so I asked her where JTA stood in terms of funding. Luckily for us, we still get the full amount per student to use in the LMC. Ms. Allen explained to me that many schools do not get to use theirs in the LMC as they should. I'm curious as to where my future school will stand on that issue. Thinking ahead, I can already see why AASL's advocacy toolkits are such a great resource!

Questioning our budget, then made me think back to the books in front of me. For instance, I asked why she put her spine labels in that particular position. She said that different libraries will choose different locations. She chose that one simply because the previous librarian(s) had set the precedence with previous books and she wanted to keep a unified look.

Apparently the same could be said for the cover labels...

as well as for the interior labels, or labels inside the front cover. 

We also discussed types of binding and looked at the difference between Follett binding and a regular bound book. Ms. Allen explained that to have the nicer binding, it costs more (75 cents per book), but she felt that it was well worth it based on personal experience. Another thing she pays an additional fee for, is for Follett to create the barcodes for her and the sticker (as shown above) that also includes the Reading Counts value. 

This discussion led us to assessing programs such as Reading Counts and Accelerated Reader- their differences, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their appeal at different age levels. Although she continues to include the Reading Counts point values in each book, Ms. Allen says that very few teachers actually still use the program in the school. We talked about the pros and cons I had learned about through my studies and compared them to her experiences in the library. Ms. Allen said that we originally chose Reading Counts because MAP scores could be used to determine level and this aligned nicely with Reading Counts. However, she feels that the middle school age is too old to be using such programs. For instance, at the lower elementary level, kids are being encouraged to read- anything and everything- they can get their hands on. Given an incentive (although not grade-based), students are typically more than willing to read to reach a goal or be given a reward. However, once past this stage, many of the upper level readers are expected to read material that reflects their reading level, but often not their interests at that particular age. For instance, a seventh-grader may be required to read books at the twelfth grade reading level that they tested at, but not be able to relate to the mature subjects addressed in the story. 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Giver-Readers-Circle-Laurel-Leaf/dp/0440237688

When first starting this program, I remembering learning that Lois Lowry's The Giver was actually on the banned book list. I read The Giver in my fourth grade Gifted program, along with others such as Flowers for Algernon and various works by Shakespeare. I never remember feeling at all uncomfortable or perplexed by the subject matter. After learning of this list, I read The Giver again. Sure enough, I picked up on much more than I ever had as a nine year old. I can only imagine how many times this same situation occurs when young students are trying to reach their required number of points. 

All in all, I had a very productive week in the library!

Week 4: Welcome to the J.T. Alton LMC!

This week, I realized, that in all of my haste to get going in terms of reporting my experiences and work on my Portfolio Planning Document, I never fully introduced my library. These pictures are some that I took last school year. 

Front Doors-Notice sitting area

Circulation Desk

Typically holds the picture book collection

Fiction Section...and random podium

Main seating area

Another view of circulation desk. Reference section is in that back corner.

Side room: More computers and further back is the news room. Ms. Allen's office is located right next to this room.

Since last year, Ms. Allen has made many changes to the library media space. Spurred by an analysis I wrote for a LME class and the urge to update it, Ms. Allen has slowly begun to transform the library. 

Ms. Allen's idea and my work combined to create this.

All the reasons we read. "We read to..."

These dots filled with reasons to read now go all around the library. 

Improved entrance thanks to my art students: paintings and drawings on old dictionary pages

Since our discussion on library environment, Ms. Allen and I have worked together to bring more student art to the library. The book page art is just one small project displayed to brighten up the library in hopes of luring in more patrons! 

"Bringing Words to Life"

I will not spend a lot of time discussing the LMC because I feel the pictures show it better than I can explain. I just felt that if I’m going to be talking about this place for 15 weeks, then my readers should know what it looks like. Or maybe that’s just my visual/art side coming out. As I continue to go through the Practicum experience, I will be sure to add new pictures of how our space evolves. I’m already anticipating several changes to happen throughout the next couple of months!

For the second part of this post, I want to review over some of the CEBS Dispositions and connect some thoughts I’ve had thus far regarding each one. 

        Values diversity:

Willingly works with others from different ability, race, gender, or ethnic groups. Welcomes feedback and interaction with others. Listens carefully to others and respects the views of those perceived as different from self.

Although I believe the amount of diversity that can be found in any given school body is great, I do believe that working at JTA has certainly prepared me better for working with others that are different from me- possibly more than the average Kentucky school. JTA pulls kids from the small, rural towns of Vine Grove and Rineyville, but also from Radcliff. Located just down the road from Fort Knox, a large part of our population comes from military families. The kids I work with on a daily basis are often more traveled by age thirteen than myself today. With extended family located all over the world, our students are incredibly diverse in their religion, race, ethnicity, ability, and home life. Working with them has truly been a welcomed learning experience that continues to teach me new lessons each day. Instead of being intimidated by their differences as I was when first hired, I now view them with enthusiasm, as they always bring so much to the classroom and learning experience. 

Values Professionalism:

Respect for school rules, policies, and norms. Knows school rules and policies. Follows them consistently. Understands the purpose of regulations and respects their intent. Accepts responsibility for personally following them in patterns of dress, behavior, etc. EPSB Code of Ethics

This disposition almost seems silly to me to include. Perhaps my thoroughness keeps me more in check than I realize, but not respecting school rules and policies has never been an option for me. I would not even think twice about being a rule-breaker because it simply is not my tendency. Others may have had issues in the past, but I cannot even think of an example where I have had an issue with this. As an educator, we are professionals- it is that simple. Our dress, behavior, and actions should always reflect this truth. 

Values Professionalism:

Professional responsibility. Accepts responsibility for own actions and for helping all students learning and actively seeks self-improvement. Consistently holds high expectations for the success of all students. Consistently looks to explain and remedy student lack of success by factors within the control of self.

Reviewing over this disposition immediately makes me think of my work on the Portfolio Planning Document that I have immersed myself in recently. Student learning, self-improvement, high expectations... all these terms and phrases are repeatedly addressed and supporting in the PPD through various artifacts. As I continue to engage in activities in the library, I find myself asking the same questions that I ask when writing an art lesson for my class: What do I want them to be able to do? How are they going to do it? Why is this important? What should they learn? Post lesson, I ask more questions: What did I do well? What could I improve on? What did they do well? How could I better teach ____? When teaching and guiding students in the library, I go through the same process. 

Week 3: I almost forgot what my library looked like...

What's this you ask? Why, it is the Valentine's Cart of Cheer! But seriously- that's what I named it. Ms. Allen introduced me to the idea of flexibility in the library this week. And boy did she ever! When I saw this sitting in her corner upon arriving Monday morning, pointing to it, I asked "What's that thing?"

She smiled and proceeded to explain to me the many extra tasks of a librarian. She began to tell me stories of loyalty, as often times she is the one who gets to help throw school-wide celebrations and activities together (mostly at the last moment). This year- she got to deliver candy to every single classroom on Valentine's Day- hence the heart covered cart. After the explanation, I have to admit, I wasn't quite sure what to think. Is a task such as this (delivering candy) a good thing or bad for a LMS to do? Here's was my thought process:

Pros:

It's fun.

You get to see every single kid that day.

It serves as another opportunity to interact with students and teachers outside of the LMC.

Cons:

It has nothing to do with library media.
It was the principal's idea.
It is valuable time you could be spending in the library.

Writing at the end of the week now, I am still not sure what I think of it all. Regardless, it happened. She also was given the privilege of delivering flowers to the teachers that were sent them. I did not like the sound of that. Even though my short analysis may seem silly as I share it here, the truth is, I think as educators, we often get asked to step up and take on something that is out of our job description. Sometimes this task can be to benefit our students, and sometimes it isn't. Already, I have seen that our LMS is put into this situation much more than the average educator. Between our "untraditional classroom", our broad knowledge base, the leadership position that we (hopefully) are placed in, and the central location of our physical space, being asked to do favors and take on irrelevant tasks is often reality for us. I mentioned flexibility in an earlier post, but I cannot express the need of it enough. While it may be difficult, I do believe that in the future, I should be prepared for such requests and be willing and confident enough to nicely decline, if necessary. Doing extra tasks can be fun, but I think that ultimately, I must always be sure that what I'm investing my time doing is for the benefit of my students' learning.

In the library this week, Ms. Allen told me about a display she had seen on Pinterest. The display and idea was called "Blind Date with a Book". She thought it would be a great idea to do the same in our library. So we did! The only issue we seemed to have was that students kept wanting to "peek" at their "date". Ms. Allen says that she could not even estimate how many times she had to explain the purpose of a blind date. Each book was wrapped in either pink or purple paper- pink for the "ladies" and purple for the "gentlemen". On the outside of the wrapping, the barcode was written. The books chosen were mostly classics. At our school, teachers tend to lean towards newer literature, so some of the classics are never introduced to students. Ms. Allen also typically displays newer titles, so we felt this would be a great opportunity to introduce readers to other titles they have less exposure to. Here is the only picture I have of the display.

Although the display actually looked pretty awesome at the beginning, I did not think to take a picture until about halfway through. Students were also not allowed to open their books until they were back to class, and had to give the story at least three chapters before determining that it "wasn't their type." We are anxious to hear student feedback!

Week 2: What a let down

Sad, but true. This first week was a complete let down- a huge disappointment really.

The reason behind this unproductive week: SNOW. Not a single day was spent in the library because not a single day was spent at school! That makes it a little difficult to report and reflect on my learning for the past five days.

However, being off work did allow me time to truly immerse myself in the portfolio planning process. Talk about overwhelming! Thank goodness for instructors that are “with it” and patient. Not to mention, the discussion boards were quick to fill with the questions, and the whole class stepped up in a sense of community effort to find answers! Already, I saw one of the CEBS Dispositions displayed:

Values collaboration: 
Actively seeks out and incorporates ideas of others. Takes leadership in working with others to improve the overall environment. Regularly shares information and ideas. 

Truly, it seems that we all have already learned to rely greatly on one another and are willing to come together to find the solutions. I have a feeling that I will see much more of this type of collaboration throughout the rest of the semester.

Between the two of them- instructor and classmate guidance- I managed to figure out enough to begin planning. First, I went through all of my critical performance submissions and assigned them an indicator. Next, I began to go through all of my files saved throughout grad school to match up ones that I felt suited each indicator. My last step was to begin brainstorming activities I could use as artifacts to fulfill the rest of the remaining indicators. To keep everything more organized, I created a “Portfolio” folder with subfolders for each substandard and placed all of my existing artifacts into their corresponding subfolder so that when I began to actually create my Portfolio, I would have everything where I needed it.

Also this week, I decided to check out the Library of Congress’ online teacher professional development series. To be honest, I was not sure what to expect. Just in case, I grabbed a cup of coffee and began. Much to my surprise, they were actually pretty entertaining! I also did manage to learn some new information as well as review over old info that I could definitely use a review on- such as copyright laws. After completing the professional development, I found that I also fulfilled one of the CEBS Dispositions:

Values Professionalism:
Professional Development and involvement. References and makes use of professional organizations or publications. Willingly participates in professional activities or events that promote professional development. 

Fingers crossed that next week this magical winter season will take a bit of a break so I can actually have something worth posting about! In the meantime, here's at least one thing to enjoy.

The view from my back door. Dreamy, isn't it? 

Okay, and coffee. Coffee is always another thing to enjoy- especially when it looks like this.