Week 1:
The first days before school starts in an elementary school are hectic and filled with energy, so I came in to help the teacher/librarian, Kathleen Lawrence, the week before school started. the first few days were about getting me acquainted with the library at Chautauqua elementary school. Though I had taught Classes with Kathleen in the past, through the Vashon Artist in the Schools program ( VAIS), I mainly brought no my own curriculum, teaching writing and art projects. I had never been an official intern with a district email and access to computer systems before.
The administrative part of getting me set up has taken many emails, meetings, and approvals.
Once I was officially on the books, I met with Kathleen and we discussed priorities for my field work. First, I will be teaching the 4th Graders who come to the library Media Literacy with district approved curriculum of Social Media TestDrive created by the Social Media Lab at Cornell University. (See Figure 1 for a description of the app and the teacher guide.) I will be giving 10 hours a week (x 15 weeks) to the library, and there are only three 4th grade classes, so I asked Kathleen what other projects the would like me to work on.
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I joined the staff for the teachers' first day back, participating in trainings and icebreakers throughout the day. I spoke briefly to the 4th grade team--I had already drafted and sent a letter explaining the program (See Fig. 2), though none had responded yet. I was able to discuss my plans with them for a few moments. You can also find the original lesson plan that I sent to Kathleen in Figure 2.
During the first week I helped her with mundane, albiet necessary, tasks such as printing students’ library cards, Chromebook sign in QR codes, copying and changing out signage. She has been wonderful in letting me dig into all aspects of how she runs the library, including how to log into the Clever app and give permission to students, how to log into and use the Follett/ Destiny app for check-out and check-ins. The tech department was fabulous, and quickly set up the TestDrive app.
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I can see that there is so much prep work that needs to take place in a school library, as most of her hours are busy with students.
Week 2:
In this first week of students present, I observed while Kathleen went over library expectations with each grade. She introduced me to the students and with the 4th graders let me explain a little bit about what I will be teaching them. I drafted a letter to the 4th grade parents (See Fig. 3) and Kathleen showed me how to send it out to the families on an app called Parent Square (which I use with my own high school age daughter.)
I was also put on check-out duty, scanning books, getting to know some of the students, discovering what the popular books are (yes, mostly Dog Man and Raina Telgemeier graphic novels.) The library rules are that each grade gets to check out as many books as their grade level (1st grade= 1 book/ 5th grade= 5 books). Teachers all have individual rules as well, such as one of the books has to be a chapter book.
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I had the pleasure of trying to help students find books they might be interested in, a passion of mine. I did find, however, that I don’t know the inventory well enough to simply walk a student over and grab the book I’m thinking of. I don’t even know if the library owns the book. It was more effective (even though there are only 12000 books) to use the search function in Follett to help students.
One of the most useful things for me this week, of course, was simply shelving books as it is helping me learn the library. Kathleen does have very nice labeling to help the students (and me!) (See Fig 4).
Week 3:
This is the week that I will be working directly with the 4th Graders. Rather than jumping straight into the curriculum, I created a PowerPoint to discuss social media and media in general. (See Fig 5). I also created a questionnaire to accompany this Power Point, in order to measure and evaluate learnings.
After trying out the presentation with the 1st class on Monday, I realized the material was a little
advanced for 9 year olds, so I redesigned for Tuesday's (See Fig 6) to slow down the discussion some.
I did the same for a questionnaire that I gave to Monday's class (See Fig. 7), adapting from 6 questions down to 3. Evaluating the questionnaire, it is obvious that these children know very little about media literacy, an media in general. Most knew of the existence of platforms such as YouTube and Instagram, but not much beyond that.
The other thing I did this week is draft a letter to parents of the 4th graders that explains the application and what we hope to accomplish in teaching the curriculum. Immediately, I heard back from two sets of parents, one which I responded to (See Fig. 8) after seeking Kathleen's approval. The second family inquired about opting their child out of the training, so Kathleen and I worked on a response together and we are awaiting the guidance of principle before sending. (See Fig. 9) I can see that this is a delicate
It's a hectic pace in the school library, as there is a class brought in every period. I'm sure I will continue to learn as we go.
Week 4:
Kathleen was out this week on a planned vacation and things went a bit awry. I certainly learned a lot about bureaucracy within the school district. I was unable to log into my email over the weekend, so I was unsure if our response had been sent to the concerned parent. On Monday, the school principle and vice principal called me into the office (I felt a bit like I was in trouble.) They told me that they hadn't understood that Social Media TestDrive was a new curriculum and that we should have gotten approval beforehand. I told them I thought Kathleen had--I had been included in several emails. They said Social Media is a hot-button issue and they were afraid we were going to have to pull the curriculum.
I did agree that the 4th Graders were a bit young, but that I had doublechecked with the developers at Cornell, who agreed that they are targeting 9-13 year-olds. I also pointed out that I had communicated with the teachers and administrators, which the principal admitted had not read.
Well, I basically had no way to fight them as an intern, so we are relegated to going back to teaching the past curricular, which is Common Sense Media. The ridiculous part about that is the lessons teach basically the same subjects (online safety, cyber-bullying, etc.), but in a less thorough and engaging manner.
Kathleen had arranged for a substitute while she was gone, as they needed to have a certificated person in the library, so the subject read books and did coloring sheets while I checked books in and out and looked and the Common Sense Media files.
It has became obvious in just these first few weeks how much politics are at play in the district. Kathleen's position has been "RIFFed" this year, cutting her position down to .8 FTE and so she always feels she has to prove her worth.
Though I do enjoy the school library setting and have had joyous moments of helping students find books they were excited about, I do wonder if the bureaucracy of a school district is where I want to end up? I don't mind teaching--and sometimes enjoy it, but my heart is in public libraries.
Week 5:
Kathleen was back and quite upset that they cut the program while the was gone. She reminded me that we had used the word "piloting" in every communication with the principal. Nevertheless, we must press on. Kathleen taught the 4th graders this week while I organized files for her. thaws, She had customized some of the Common Sense Media slideshows, but not all of them, and they were spread all over her Google Drive. I spent some time making folders , downloading worksheets in English and Spanish. There are 6 weeks of lessons, so there will be plenty of weeks available for me to lead the class ( vs the 15 weeks of Social Media TestDrive.)
The good news is that even though I'm not allowed to teach the curriculum (which I had discovered through Katie Davis's LIS516 course), our local middle school librarian loved the app so much, she is now teaching it to the 6th graders in computer literacy training.
I also spent a good deal of time simply organizing the shelves. The books are in disarray, disorganized and hastily shoved onto the shelves. Kathleen has little time for straightening as the has classes in the library nearly every period. I also did some book repair this week with the applies available: Scotch tape, packing tape and Elmer's glue. The library has a very small budget and we want to make sure that beautiful books like Totoro (See Fig. 10) can stay in circulation. Speaking of circulation, we talked again about a longer-term project of an inventory. The library isn't necessarily ready for an audit, as there are so many donations that are not even cataloged yet.
As we contemplate what it will be possible for me to accomplish this year (this DFW will stretch into my Capstone project), I continue to enjoy what Kathleen calls the "mind numbing" work of checking books in and shelving. It is all still very exciting for me, helping kids find books, discussing their choices (one girl chose books about reptiles to read to her parakeet), shelving and organizing.
Next week, Kathleen and I will delve into her cataloging system and excel sheet of lost books and new donations.
Week 6:
We did not quite get to the cataloging system this week, but Kathleen did show me her excel sheet. Basically, if a book shows up that was marked as "lost"(this happens all the time), then Kathleen removes that from her tracking sheet of lost books. She leaves that space, however, and adds another book that has been donated to the library in its place. This is her attempt to keep the inventory at the same level (if one book is lost, it's replaced, if the "lost" book is found, the replacement book is moved to another slot). I'm sure this isn't the best system, but it is hers and she has asked me not to change any of her systems at the moment.
Monday, I helped pull books for teachers. First, any stories that were based on the classic folk tale, Stone Soup. I came up with 8 titles, all variations on the basic story, for one of the kindergarten teachers. Next, I was asked to choose 50 nonfiction titles (any subject) for one of the 5th grade teachers. This is where I truly find my joy, hands on the books, discovering titles that I think 10-11 year olds might connect to. I chose books about natural disasters, the Oregon Trail, robotics, the history of rockets, Greek myths, the Civel Rights movement, horse riding, how gears work, and many many other subjects.
We discussed our long-term goals again for Capstone. We dug around in Follett to find different types of reports. I learned how to navigate Titlewave, which feels like a worthy skill to learn. Kathleen thinks it will be too big of a project to inventory the whole library, so we may choose just a section to work with, such as Fiction. I will set up a meeting with Chance Hunt to discuss the possibilities. And audit feels out of reach when there hasn't ever been a basic inventory.
And, because I know it's important for librarians to be flexible and adaptable to the jobs that need to be done, I helped secure a shelf that had fallen (not a great repair, but I used gaff tape to steady the pins that hold the shelf.) (See Fig. 11).
The last thing we did this week was to make small tags for a specific 3rd grade class that was to come into the library to research a nonfiction subject. The teacher had assigned subjects such as frogs or bears, MLK or baseball and we hung temporary tags labeling which section a student might find their subject in. (See Fig. 12).
Week 7:
This week was as busy as always. Kathleen had me tend to some of the tasks she never has time for: mending more books, labeling books with genre tags, remounting fallen sensory squares.(See Fig. 13). I’m also really pleased that she agreed to let me start cataloging and adding barcodes to a lot of the books that haven’t been in the system. I agreed that I would only add the ones that are in decent shape (many of the donations are not worth adding as they may just get weekend soon and are mostly duplicate copies of trade graphic novels. It did not take me long to figure out how to add books to Follett. One of the things I appreciate about Kathleen is that she allows me to poke around and figure things out on my own. I find I learn so much better by DOING rather than being told or watching someone else go through a process. I think that adding these non-cataloged books now will help greatly when I inventory the books this winter (if inventory is what ends up being my Capstone—we are still discussing).
I also have been reflecting on what I am learning in my LIS 539 Class, Indigenous Systems of Knowledge class, and wondering if what I am learning can be applied to the organizational work that I’m doing in the CES library. In particular, I am thinking of R. Barnhardt’s discussion of the AKRSI initiative in Alaska, working to integrate Indigenous and Western systems of knowledge. What would that look like for the CES library?
Week 8:
Kathleen makes an effort to find something new each week for me to learn. This week it was how to weed books from the library's inventory. She keeps a box of books that, when she has time, she removes from the inventory. I went through the steps with her on the Follett app, found each book and removed the title. Katheen keeps a document of CES library procedures, which I occasionally have been asked to update with what I'm learning.
I also spent a good deal of time organizing the serial shelving. At first, I kept sending the kids to the shelf that would house the author's name, until I realized the serials were housed all around the room in different places: Goosebumps along the back wall, Magic Treehouse in the middle, Dragonmasters in a bin towards the front. There's no substitute for spending time in the library, hands on the books, shelving, organizing, for knowing how to help patrons. It's one thing to look up a book in the catalog, quite another to find the book on the shelf.
I'm finding, too, that children tend to put the books back in the strangest places. I will have just checked a book in, put it on the shelf, checked a whole class out, and not be able to find that book for the next class. The books pop up randomly, even though I looked thoroughly for them and came up empty-handed. Mysterious. Kathleen thinks sometimes kids hide books from each other, which I guess shouldn't be surprising.
I also changed out our monthly portrait wall to Native American Portraits and scoured for Halloween books and scary stories to display. See Fig. 14 for photos of some of my projects this week.
This week was all about teaching the students how to put a book on hold. Kathleen and I went over her document that she shares with the students. See Fig. 15 for a screenshot of that procedure. During her class time, students took out their Chromebooks, logged in with their QR codes or memorized log-ins and then went step by step through the document, learning how to find books they would like to put on hold. Of course, there were complications or students didn't understand, so I helped, going around the room and assisting when there were issues. Once a class had put the books on hold, I went to the shelves to pull them, check them out, and then bring them up to the classrooms. Of course, many of the books were not on the shelves. This is where my Capstone project of doing an inventory will be so important. I spent a lot of time looking for books that are either lost or mis-shelved.
The rest of my time this week was filled with the regular library duties of checking in and out, reshelving, straightening displays and pulling books for teachers. Kathleen and I also took a bit of time to fill out the mid-term evaluation for this course.
Week 9:
Week 10:
This week was filled with many duties that are typical to library service. I came in on Friday (not my normal day) to help Kathleen figure out how to run a Collection Analysis Report in Follett. I then wrote the steps down in her "How To in the Library" document she saves for subs (or as she says, "in case I get hit by a bus.) (See Fig 16).
The youth librarian for KCLS came in and donated all of the books that were nominated for the Sasquatch Awards. I cataloged the books and got them on the shelves just in time for one of the 4th grade classes to come in asking for them. Their teacher had been talking about these excellent books (See Fig. 17), so it was a race to see who could find the copies, a bit like a scavenger hunt for them. One of the girls told me she wants to read all of the books on the list. I also spent a lot of time setting aside many books that had bar codes but were for some reason not in our system, adding them to Follett. (See Fig 18).
I was also able to help Kathleen out by updating her schedule for the new quarter, which starts next week. (See Fig. 19). All the grades are now color-coded and all have links to their seating charts so when she pulls it up on the overhead computer, she can immediately pull up where the students should be sitting. This is a real time-saver when the kids are filing in for library.
Week 11:
I started teaching the 4th grade classes this week. Instead of the planned Social Media TestDrive that was planned, as noted above, I am working with the Common Sense Media curriculum. This week we talked about what makes good media choices. We went through the slides, discussing whet made the students feel good, what they thought was a good use of their time. Here is a link to that curriculum. We did the worksheet, looking at how students had consumed media over the last week, and then circled what they thought was good for them/ what maybe could have been time better used. Though it was not as interactive and dynamic as the TestDrive modules, I think they were good discussions.
The other thing I did this week was help Kathleen work on some grants. First, we worked on a potential $300 grant for Spanish non-fiction books for 3rd and 4th graders. I did some research, finding booklists on Library Journal and Goodreads. We made a list of subjects (See Fig. 20) that students often ask for and looked for books that matched those subjects, getting the list ready in case we are awarded the grant. I'm amazed that Kathleen has to do so much grant writing in order to get the books she needs. Her budget is quite small otherwise. While working on these grants, I learned to utilize the booklist function on Titlewave through Follett. (See Fig. 21). The excellent thing about this is that we can calculate exactly how much we can spend by getting a quote and adding in the tax. Kathleen let me know that sometime the books are available and are shipped out right away if they are ordered, but others take a long time to arrive. Another tip is to make sure she has the grant money in hand, or the administration will sometimes take the order out of her budget, which she likes to protect for particular purchases at year-end. I can see there is a lot of finagling to make sure the library expands.
Week 12:
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Kathleen received a box of donations from the local thrift store this week. We have been considering a Capstone project based on trying to funnel books to the library from this particular store, so I was interested to see how many books we might use. We went through the stash together and separated into books we thought we might use and those that we knew were not relevant, we had duplicates of, or were just not appropriate for our library. (See Fig. 22). Kathleen and I were immediately in agreement on most of them. We had to look up a couple of the books for reviews (we couldn’t remember, is The Little Prince an acceptable children’s book? Some reviews said the themes were rather adult. Others thought there was inherent racism involved, but we could find no concrete arguments that that is true). I also looked up a Daniel Pinkwater book, Crazy in Poughkeepsie, to see if we thought it was age-appropriate, as neither of us had read the book. On a side note, I was excited to see that it was written by the same author as The Big Orange Splot, a favorite at our house when my daughter was young. I offered to take it home and read it first so I could recommend the book.
Kathleen also asked me to look at a book she pulled for possible weeding, called The Native Americans. As I am taking LIS 534, Indigenous Systems of Knowledge, I am interested in how Indigenous people are represented within the collection. After perusing the book, it seemed the language was respectful, but I’m suspicious that the book was written and edited by white men—another case of colonizing voices. I intend to do some research to determine if this is an acceptable tome. (See Fig. 23). I also made a display of books for Native American Heritage Month. (See Fig. 24). I pulled a few books as well I also found questionable, such as some that talked about pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving (the noble savage.)
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I am also learning to use the Epic website and app with students, so that they can use digital books through the school library.