According to the authors of the Access Gap article, teens can counteract the effects of poverty by having more access to books, especially in the school library. In their study, they have found that students who need the library resources the most have the least access to them due to funding and the number of days the library is actually opened (3 days versus the normal 5 days a week). Regardless of whether a school is in poverty or not, all schools do three things well in order to serve the students: making the information accessible, providing a place for both social and instructional programs, and provide materials for information and leisure reading.
The problem is getting students to get into the library to access these materials. In the School Library as Sanctuary, Lynn Evarts suggests that a school library's focus is provide support for isolated students (and all students), which cost little to no money in this economic climate. There are two types of isolated students: self-isolated or actively isolated. In order to reach these teens, we need to provide a safe environment for them to come together to read, write, do homework, and other activities. Librarians can provide this for students as libraries are not structured classrooms and students can feel safe to come in and hang out. Evarts says that librarians need to build the fiction section of the library with books such as Cut by Patricia McCormick and The Luckiest Girl in the World by Steven Levenkron. This idea of bibliotherapy can help students open up, face their feelings of isolation, and heal. Librarians can also have library lunches where students can come in and eat lunch in the library rather than having to face the cafeteria where the feelings of isolation can run rampant.
But librarians need to have support from the administrative staff and other colleagues. Discuss the options with the administration and start with baby steps. Show them that the library supports the curriculum and reaches out to at-risk students. That seems what it all boils down to, because if the librarian can't show that she's working on reaching students and supporting the curriculum, then what's the point of having a librarian? When I was in middle and high school, I never went into the library unless my class needed to go in to use the computers. The one time that I asked the librarian about finding a certain topic, she pointed vaguely to a corner of the library without leaving the circulation desk and when I still couldn't find it, seemed frustrated that I was bothering her to ask about where it was. That stopped any further attempts at going into the library. If she'd been more open and made the library more appealing and safe, I might've gone there more often instead of just going to public library for all my reading needs.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
November 29 Reading Log
This week, we talked about librarians and job descriptions in the library. Studies have shown that student achievement is higher when a full time media specialist is in the school. However, there are different staffing mandates and the media specialist may or may not be the only librarian for the district, if full time (Staffing the School Library). But if I'm lucky, I will have volunteers, circulation clerks, and paraprofessionals working with me in order to make the library run more smoothly. If I do, then I will need to be sure that the job descriptions are clear and that my job isn't confused with the others. In order to make a clear distinction, I will need to first build good relationships with everybody involved lest I create political in-fighting with everybody involved and make a decisive action about establishing myself as the librarian (Tough Choices). In order to make this happen, however, we first need to think about what standards we are holding ourselves as librarians. What duties do we see the librarian and the clerk doing? If the district office doesn't have a job description, then the library needs to create one based on the standards and duties that the librarian has lined out on paper (Managing the Clerical Staff). Even after these steps have been completed, there still needs to be a continuous evaluation system. As a librarian, I need to continuously make sure that the library environment, planning and preparation of instruction, and the instruction itself is running to the best of its ability as well as evaluating the performances of support staff (Performance and Evaluation). The job might run into other people's jobs as well, such as the tech support. Who creates and run the library website? Do we both have equal say in its creation? (Staffing the School Library). Some other questions that need to be considered include: What personal dispositions to need to be successful? How do you self assess to move foreword? What professional skills do you need to improve upon? (Developing the Vision)
There may be a time when we need a substitute in the school library. Leaving a letter giving direction as to what the sub can do. This includes shelving books, cataloging new books, and sorting books for shelving. It's also important to tell them about the catalog, library website, and anything else that would be helpful for the sub to know when helping students and teachers (Dear Teacher Librarian Substitute).
But we also need to reward the people who help us in the library. Allow volunteers and paraprofessionals to have the chance to check out new books first. Give acknowledgement to work done well, such as talking to the principal and giving a shout out to the radio or news station (Persk, Rewards, Glories...). This will boost the confidence in the library and further build relationships with everybody involved.
There may be a time when we need a substitute in the school library. Leaving a letter giving direction as to what the sub can do. This includes shelving books, cataloging new books, and sorting books for shelving. It's also important to tell them about the catalog, library website, and anything else that would be helpful for the sub to know when helping students and teachers (Dear Teacher Librarian Substitute).
But we also need to reward the people who help us in the library. Allow volunteers and paraprofessionals to have the chance to check out new books first. Give acknowledgement to work done well, such as talking to the principal and giving a shout out to the radio or news station (Persk, Rewards, Glories...). This will boost the confidence in the library and further build relationships with everybody involved.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
November 15 Reading Log
Weeding is a necessary evil. We have to weed books in order to get new books that are current and appealing for students and teachers alike, but it's sometimes hard to get rid of them, especially if we think it still has some value in it. Even parents and teachers might take offense if they see you throwing away "good books" (Spilled Milk). That's why we need to have guidelines to help us make those tough decisions. When weeding, we need to consider how much it's being used, if it looks old, or if we have multiple copies of the same book (Weeding policies). When weeding, we should do it in small sections throughout the year without making a big fuss about it. If we do, then we're giving into the possibility of protests from parents and teachers and therefore, never getting anything cleared out (Spilled Milk). Having support from the administration such as the principal is a great help in this area, especially if he (or she) is interesting in developing the library for student learning (Spilled Milk).
Checking for racism and bias is something else we need to consider when weeding. We want to give students a well rounded view of information, not beliefs of one group or another. I would never have guessed to scrutinize illustrations for stereotypes such as what animals are representing certain groups of people, as Questioning Your Collection suggests. It's easy not to think about certain things because I'm in the position of power as being white, but it's something to think about, especially if you're in an inner city school. If we don't question what we consider sacred, including classics, how are we ever going to develop our collections for a diverse group of students?
Checking for racism and bias is something else we need to consider when weeding. We want to give students a well rounded view of information, not beliefs of one group or another. I would never have guessed to scrutinize illustrations for stereotypes such as what animals are representing certain groups of people, as Questioning Your Collection suggests. It's easy not to think about certain things because I'm in the position of power as being white, but it's something to think about, especially if you're in an inner city school. If we don't question what we consider sacred, including classics, how are we ever going to develop our collections for a diverse group of students?
Sunday, November 4, 2012
November 8 Reading Log
With growing popularity with non-print materials such as ebooks and online databases, I always wanted to know what would happen with print materials. Is it worth buying new print materials when we're moving towards ebooks and online databases? According to Ellen McNair in Print to Digital, print materials may still be useful depending on the school district. Some schools may not have the budget to have both a digital and a print source available for students or they have both but don't have the money to continually invest in nonprint materials since they're expected to have both print and nonprint. This is true in the schools that I've observed in; because of a tight budget, they're unable to have ebooks or even online databases.
But if you do decide to have ebooks, how do you decide what print materials to keep and which ones to let go so you can get online. This can be done through inventory. You will not only know what you have in your collection, but you can also know it well enough to determine which books are out of date and which ones are good enough to keep (Inventory for the School Library). This would definitely be helpful to know in the science section since new information is constantly coming out, causing the print materials to be out of date before they even hit the shelves. Certain books should still be kept in print such as ancient civilizations, narrative nonfiction, Civil War, and popular new fiction (Print to Digital) since students (and teachers) still use these topics in class and want students to use print materials.
Choosing books is a very important job for the school library media specialist. We want students to love reading and entice them back in again and again in order to discover the love of reading. But how do we do that if books are old, ugly and well, unreadable? Darcy Lohmiller says that as librarians we really do need to judge the book by its cover. If we don't like the cover of a book, then why would we expect students to read? Because we're in an age filled with digital materials, our print materials need to be catchy, else we're wasting our money for them. The book covers need to reflect the words in the book and be appropriate to its genre.
Ebooks should also be considered because they reach students who wouldn't have read normally. Chris Gustafson mentions that some students prefer ebooks because of a variety of reasons: They can make the font bigger, they read longer books because an ereader doesn't really tell you how long the book is, and they want to read more in general. This is a big plus to include ebooks in the library, but we also need to think about how we're going to incorporate them into the library and whether or not students know ebooks are available.
It's a lot to think about, especially if you're a smaller library who runs on a tight budget. Is it worth it to get ebooks for the students, or should we just continue getting the print materials?
But if you do decide to have ebooks, how do you decide what print materials to keep and which ones to let go so you can get online. This can be done through inventory. You will not only know what you have in your collection, but you can also know it well enough to determine which books are out of date and which ones are good enough to keep (Inventory for the School Library). This would definitely be helpful to know in the science section since new information is constantly coming out, causing the print materials to be out of date before they even hit the shelves. Certain books should still be kept in print such as ancient civilizations, narrative nonfiction, Civil War, and popular new fiction (Print to Digital) since students (and teachers) still use these topics in class and want students to use print materials.
Choosing books is a very important job for the school library media specialist. We want students to love reading and entice them back in again and again in order to discover the love of reading. But how do we do that if books are old, ugly and well, unreadable? Darcy Lohmiller says that as librarians we really do need to judge the book by its cover. If we don't like the cover of a book, then why would we expect students to read? Because we're in an age filled with digital materials, our print materials need to be catchy, else we're wasting our money for them. The book covers need to reflect the words in the book and be appropriate to its genre.
Ebooks should also be considered because they reach students who wouldn't have read normally. Chris Gustafson mentions that some students prefer ebooks because of a variety of reasons: They can make the font bigger, they read longer books because an ereader doesn't really tell you how long the book is, and they want to read more in general. This is a big plus to include ebooks in the library, but we also need to think about how we're going to incorporate them into the library and whether or not students know ebooks are available.
It's a lot to think about, especially if you're a smaller library who runs on a tight budget. Is it worth it to get ebooks for the students, or should we just continue getting the print materials?
Friday, October 26, 2012
Reading Log November First
As library media specialists, we want our media centers to be a quality place where students and teachers come to meet their learning needs.We can't make this happen if we don't promote the library and collaborate with teachers and administrators to make it the best that it can be. There are many wonderful suggestions in what librarians should be doing to promote the library which includes collaborating with the local library to receive any additional materials when teachers are having students doing various research projects, monitoring teacher projects for later collaboration, and promoting local library's age appropriate event. The con of working with the public library is that the public library may have different goals from what the school library needs, so looking carefully through the materials may be a necessity when working with the public library. At my placement, the librarian receives books from the public library that have been weeded out of the system. She goes through them and decides which ones she wants in the library and then lets the other teachers look at the rest of them. That sort of thing can be helpful, especially if you're on a tight budget.
Collaboration and monitoring teacher and student projects are especially important when considering implementing new technologies and creating workshops for teachers. We need to become comfortable with the technology and know how it works. Many teachers have little to no training in technology yet are expected to integrate it into the their lessons (Conducting Effective Staff Development Workshops). The other day, my cooperating librarian had to help a teacher put materials into Google Docs and retrieve it as well as connecting the laptop to the speakers and overhead. There's so much we can do for teachers and students that utilize 21st Century Skills and the Common Core, but we can't unless we're willing to promote ourselves and our media center.
This is what the authors explained in the article School Library Media Specialist-teacher Collaboration. In order to be seen as a valuable piece in the learning process, teacher librarians need to be a part of the curriculum, literacy, and technology development . This includes being on the committees, talking to the principal on a regular basis, and collaborating with teachers who are willing to work with the media specialist to implement technology, research, and other important learning based skills.
Collaboration and monitoring teacher and student projects are especially important when considering implementing new technologies and creating workshops for teachers. We need to become comfortable with the technology and know how it works. Many teachers have little to no training in technology yet are expected to integrate it into the their lessons (Conducting Effective Staff Development Workshops). The other day, my cooperating librarian had to help a teacher put materials into Google Docs and retrieve it as well as connecting the laptop to the speakers and overhead. There's so much we can do for teachers and students that utilize 21st Century Skills and the Common Core, but we can't unless we're willing to promote ourselves and our media center.
This is what the authors explained in the article School Library Media Specialist-teacher Collaboration. In order to be seen as a valuable piece in the learning process, teacher librarians need to be a part of the curriculum, literacy, and technology development . This includes being on the committees, talking to the principal on a regular basis, and collaborating with teachers who are willing to work with the media specialist to implement technology, research, and other important learning based skills.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
October 25 Reading Log
In today's education world, promoting technology, nonfiction, and research is one of the most important aspects in the classroom and library media center. As mentioned in "All aboard!: Implementing Common Core offers school librarians an opportunity to lead," the Common Core Standards are requiring that teachers implement more nonfiction into students reading. Students should be reading 70% of nonfiction by their senior year of high school and have databases to back up their reading in order to make it more solid and interactive.
This requires the library media specialist to step up into a leadership role. This includes using web 2.0 tools such as blogs and wikis to inform parents, students, and administrative staff for them to see what is going on in the library. Librarians also need to make the school library a place where both teachers and and students can feel safe and feel like learning can become productive and tangible. In the article "Today's School Library Media Specialist Leader," I found the list of 10 easy leadership ideas to help school librarians become leaders on their campuses to be especially helpful. Things like meeting with the principal regularly, be on curriculum development committees, and collaborating with teachers and staff are especially helpful because without becoming active in the school environment, media specialists have no hope in advocating the importance of the library in the Common Core. Time and budget may be an issue, of course, but shouldn't we at least make an effort to promote our library for the students? Even parents like the ones mentioned in Tough Mothers would be an asset to the school library. If you can get the parents in on working with the library and getting people to recognize the hard work in the library, more media specialists would have a better time integrating what students need in the library and even possibly gaining funds for the library.
Collecting data/evidence of what's being done in the library is probably the most obvious way to show what's being done in the library, but according to "Can you find the evidence-based practice in your school library?" most media specialists use circulation and other related statistics when asked to bring them. Instead, media specialists should be using statistics like how much they helped a student with research or homework, helped the student when not in class, and helping them in general. These kinds of statistics seem to be more tangible, solid, and realistic to me than just basing the library use off of circulation. After all, most books don't get checked out, but are used in the library on a consistent basis. How do you account for those books that don't show up on the circulation records?
Creating evidence, collaborating with teachers, parents, and the principal are many of the ways in which library media specialists need to help promote the library and integrate it into classrooms and teaching. School Libraries are important, and therefore should be given the proper acknowledgement that it needs. But it won't help the students if we don't even make the necessary steps to ensure its survival.
This requires the library media specialist to step up into a leadership role. This includes using web 2.0 tools such as blogs and wikis to inform parents, students, and administrative staff for them to see what is going on in the library. Librarians also need to make the school library a place where both teachers and and students can feel safe and feel like learning can become productive and tangible. In the article "Today's School Library Media Specialist Leader," I found the list of 10 easy leadership ideas to help school librarians become leaders on their campuses to be especially helpful. Things like meeting with the principal regularly, be on curriculum development committees, and collaborating with teachers and staff are especially helpful because without becoming active in the school environment, media specialists have no hope in advocating the importance of the library in the Common Core. Time and budget may be an issue, of course, but shouldn't we at least make an effort to promote our library for the students? Even parents like the ones mentioned in Tough Mothers would be an asset to the school library. If you can get the parents in on working with the library and getting people to recognize the hard work in the library, more media specialists would have a better time integrating what students need in the library and even possibly gaining funds for the library.
Collecting data/evidence of what's being done in the library is probably the most obvious way to show what's being done in the library, but according to "Can you find the evidence-based practice in your school library?" most media specialists use circulation and other related statistics when asked to bring them. Instead, media specialists should be using statistics like how much they helped a student with research or homework, helped the student when not in class, and helping them in general. These kinds of statistics seem to be more tangible, solid, and realistic to me than just basing the library use off of circulation. After all, most books don't get checked out, but are used in the library on a consistent basis. How do you account for those books that don't show up on the circulation records?
Creating evidence, collaborating with teachers, parents, and the principal are many of the ways in which library media specialists need to help promote the library and integrate it into classrooms and teaching. School Libraries are important, and therefore should be given the proper acknowledgement that it needs. But it won't help the students if we don't even make the necessary steps to ensure its survival.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Reading Log October 18
Collection development is the act of deciding what materials will be acquired into the library. What the school library media specialist decides to incorporate into the library determines the quality of education the students will have when asked to do research and reading from their core classes. For the library media specialist, according to Betty Carter in Collection Development, the collection development plan needs to emphasize the school's mission. A magnet school might emphasize the sciences, so any extraneous books about World War II would become obsolete. This emphasizes the need for policies and procedures to emphasize consistency, define the scope and coverage of the material, and quality of the selection, among many others (Policies & Procedures). If the media center doesn't adhere to the building and district policies, then you're not meeting the mission or the needs of the district and its students.
While we need to look at what the district says to develop our collection, we also need to look at who our patrons are. For example, a children's librarian should have a good science section and reference section such as a dictionary while other sections such as religion, probably shouldn't be emphasized as much (Ostergard & Yusko, Children's Reference Sources).
It seems like a daunting task. We have to consider the polices and procedures for the building and the district as well as the students and teachers who will use the books. We also want to acquire new books that may cause interest for those who are going to be looking at them. I know I'll find many things that I'll want to get, but I also have to be aware of the budget and what is important for the school. How do we keep a fair balance between everybody?
While we need to look at what the district says to develop our collection, we also need to look at who our patrons are. For example, a children's librarian should have a good science section and reference section such as a dictionary while other sections such as religion, probably shouldn't be emphasized as much (Ostergard & Yusko, Children's Reference Sources).
It seems like a daunting task. We have to consider the polices and procedures for the building and the district as well as the students and teachers who will use the books. We also want to acquire new books that may cause interest for those who are going to be looking at them. I know I'll find many things that I'll want to get, but I also have to be aware of the budget and what is important for the school. How do we keep a fair balance between everybody?
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