Post Secondary Experience

The secondary experience has entailed behind the scence activities such as periodical preparation, creating book lists, collecting books and shelving. There is less hands on with the students and less teaching as they are more independent at this level. The students behavior is a big issue in the middle school and takes away from the learning experience. Finding ways to motivate the students to read and not openly defy the teacher takes thought and preparation. Understanding where this age group is in development and social skills must come into play to keep them on task and learning.

Secondary libraries are much larger than elementary and require a great deal of time to become familiar with the collection. Although I am familiar with some of the authors, as they do house adult literature, I found myself having to use the OPAC a lot in order to help students. Getting to know the physical layout of each library was a challenge as well as they were all different reflecting the individual tastes of the librarians who set them up. The age of the buildings also had an effect on the layout, technology and collection. Although Kenosha has a format to how the books are cataloged, individual librarians can personalize their collections to their student body and personal preferences.

Towards the end of this practicum I felt I could be a great asset to a secondary library as I felt I was able to grab and hold the students' attention better than the regular librarian. This maybe due to the novelty of new person, or that I was attempting to relate the information to their age group. I found they love to listen to stories and I tried to give the lessons in a story telling way by relating the subject to an experience of mine.

I so wish I had just opened up a book and started reading it to a group of 7th grade girls who I was trying to help find a book to read for pleasure. They were loud and trying to be disruptive. I thought by sitting with them and talking about books I could stir their interest. They did quiet down and talk with me, but I feel I missed a golden opportunity to turn them on to reading if I just would have opened that book and read from it instead of trying to talk them into it.