Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Compare Pre and Post Write Elementary Experience

The realities of the library media position and my prewriting experience were not too far off track. I feel I assimilated well into the position having such a strong background in technology, stronger actually than the job requires. That was a bit disappointing as I would like to move forward more with technology, however if the hardware is not available, my hands are tied.

One of the most surprising aspects was the lack of knowledge the rest of the faculty had about the standards and benchmark of information literacy. Many of the teachers acted as if library was an option and would not bring their students to class. It was a struggle to get some to see that we can collaborate and use the core subject material for library lessons. Hopefully next year I will not face those obsticles and it is my goal to have 80% if not 100% of all lessons be core subject.

The Super 3 and Big 6 were new to me so I will feel much more comfortable and use the terminology and models far more this new year. I was a bit hesitant to use them and I am rather surprised that throughout my masters and the 902 certification more was not done with them. I think they are great models that should be used more in these programs. By the end of the year I was more comfortable and referred to them often.

The library media position is a lot of work, however I was prepared for it and think I handled it well. I plan to record my story telling and some of my lessons for next year as teaching 6 50 minute session each day can wear me down and I tend to lose my voice by Wednesday. I would also like to set up tutorials and post them on my library wiki to use in lessons.

Thursday, June 24th, Mahone Middle school.

7:30-8:00 I met Carol the regular librarian and her assistant and the school secretary who fills in in the library during the first 2 weeks of summer school to help repair books. This library is very large and new. It has a small, 12 computer lab in one corner. There is a large second story atrium which allows a great deal of natural sunlight through its large glass panes. The office space is very large and houses the school’s laminator. Went over rules and policies.

8:00-8:30 Toured the library. Learned that much of the storage space has been taken over by the school and one of the 2 bathrooms in the library will be used next year for a special needs student.

8:30-9:00 6th grade reading class came in for a tour. Discussed policies and procedures. Introduced myself and used the computers to access the online catalog, and databases for information on earthquakes. Helped students find books and checkout.
9:00-9:30 7th grade reading class came in for a tour. Discussed policies and procedures. Introduced myself and used the computers to access the online catalog, and databases for information on volcanoes. Helped students find books and checkout.
9:30-10:00
10:00-10:30 8th grade reading class came in for a tour. Discussed policies and procedures. Introduced myself and used the computers to access the online catalog, and databases for information on tornadoes. Helped students find books and checkout.

10:30-11:00 6th grader reading class came in for a tour. Discussed policies and procedures. Introduced myself and used the computers to access the online catalog, and databases for information on earthquakes. Helped students find books and checkout.

11:00-11:30 7th grader reading class came in for a tour. Discussed policies and procedures. Introduced myself and used the computers to access the online catalog, and databases for information on volcanoes. Helped students find books and checkout.

11:30-12:00 8th grader reading class came in for a tour. Discussed policies and procedures. Introduced myself and used the computers to access the online catalog, and databases for information on tornadoes. Helped students find books and checkout.

12:00-12:30 Read and straightened shelves.

Wednesday June 23, Bullen Middle School

7:30-8 Diane Hilbrink the regular librarian for this middle school, and the assistant greeted me and gave me a tour of the library. the computer lab is in the middle of the library surrounded by books. there are 30 desktop iMac computers and a Promethean board. It is an older library much smaller than many of the newer school libraries. The office space is very small and piles high with school store items.

8-8:30 A 6th grader reading class were introduced to the library. It was nice to see some familiar faces from my school. I helped the students select books and check out.

8:30-9 Read shelves in the non fiction section and straightened shelves.

9:00-9:30 A 7th grade reading class were brought in and the rules were gone over. I introduced myself, helped them find books and check out.

9:30-10:00 Diane and I went over the library media teacher job description. She went over the normal school year schedule and use of the library, policies and procedures.

10:00-10:30 A 6th grader reading class were introduced to the library. It was nice to see some familiar faces from my school. I helped the students select books and check out.

10:30-11:00 I toured the school and met some of the summer school office staff.

11:00-11:30 An 8th grade reading class were brought in and the rules were gone over. I introduced myself, helped them find books and check out.

11:30-12:30 Read shelves in the non fiction section and straightened shelves.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

7:30 Arrived at Tremper High School in Kenosha. Met Ruth Stamm the Library Media Teacher and Deb the assistant plus another practicum student, Eursola. We went on a tour of the library which for a school of 2500 students is rather small. There are 2 computer labs housing 35 computers each on both ends of the library. Surrounding the labs are the books shelves, so the potential for large numbers of students to be right in the computer lab during a class is very great. The center of the library is the circulation desk, copy center, COWS and circ. computers.

7:50 Ruth gave us a copy of the center's brochure which highlights the hours, contact information procedures, lending policies, resource information, staff, student behavior, and a host of other information. It is 2 sided single spaced printed on both sides. It contains a lot of useful information.

8:10 Ruth asked us about our practicum expectations and we went over the checklists. She explained that student aides do the circulation and shelving of the books. I already know the circulation system so I showed it to Eursola.

8:30 A class came in and I assisted some students with their computer logins. Introduced myself to the class. Assisted students with the copy machine, stapler, and fax machine.

8:50 Began going through the newly processed books to determine which booklist they belong on. Tremper keeps very thorough booklists of just about every book in the collection to help students find what they are looking for. Since much of the collection is tied to the major curriculum units the books are divided into one of the 60 categories from the subject list. If it doesn't fit into one of the categories, it can be categorized for its lexile alone.

9:10 The lexiles are checked on the online catalog. This was a great fun for me. I got to sit and read the book jackets and browse through the books. I wanted to take at least half of them home to read!

9:30 Assist students with letter writing and accessing software. Met Check the Instructional Technology Teacher and toured the office he shares with 3 other technology educational assistants.

10:00-12:00 Continued working on the book lists and showing Eursola how to use Destiny the online catalog.

12:00-12:30 Took a tour of the huge high school building. Met the office staff and some of the teachers.

Post-write Elementary Experience

This first year in the library has been a whirl wind of activity. I definitely feel more like a teacher than a librarian. I do not spend much of my day doing library maintenance. The library assistant does most of the maintenance but she ran far behind as there just was not the time to keep up with Accelerated Reader and book processing among other things. I teach 6 classes a day one for each grade level most days of the week, with 30 minute prep periods sprinkled throughout the week, never enough!

I learned a great deal about running a library and have made appropriate changes for next year so things can run smoother. I worked hard with the scheduling committee on aligning my schedule of classes to the other specials teachers. It took many hours and I am sure there will be some tweaking, but I think it is something we can live with. The students will have a 35-40 minute lesson followed by a 10-15 minute book check along with another class that will come in at the same book check time. That way the students will have at least 2 opportunities to do book check in a week. I am thinking about adding time on collaboration Wednesday for book check as well.

The KUSD curriculum hits all the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards for Information & Literacy however for next year I will be collaborating even more with the teachers so more of the core curriculum can be tied in as well. Having the students for more time next year has some of the teachers very concerned about fitting in all the core subjects. I informed them that is exactly what I am looking for in my lessons, how we can hit those standards and the Information Literacy standards all at once. It should prove to be a very rewarding experience and I am sure we will all learn a great deal from the collaboration effort.

Filling out the book orders three times this year was a ton of work but fun too. I enjoyed learning what the students are interested in and I felt great when I was able to show reluctant readers our new graphic novels, or introduce biographies as a way to fill a child’s interest in athletes. Boys seem to be the hardest readers to encourage but the Legos books rarely touched the shelves after they got their hands on them.

The skills my students learned this year are just the beginning to their understanding of rights and ownership of the written word and other creative expression, how to properly give credit to reliable sources, and just what reliable sources are. The Super 3 and Big Six will be tools they will use their entire lives and as I work with them over the years I plan to make those skills stick to help make their educational experience worth every bit of energy put into it.

Working in a library is a balancing act that can be extremely rewarding however I did have moments of self doubt that made me question if this was right for me. Thankfully those were short lived and overall I feel I am a true asset to this team of teachers. I do miss getting to know the students the way a regular classroom teacher does but getting to know all the students over years can be enjoyable too. Being able to tie in the core subject areas to technology through the information Literacy skills is a juggling act but one I am up for.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 8.5 hours

7:30-8:00 Turn on computers, log in, go through mail, read and reply to emails, unlock doors.

8:00-8:30 Prepare for day, 5th grade name cards on tables, handouts ready, help with shelving of books.

8:30-9:00 This class of 5th graders came in quietly and we got started immediately. I thanked them for coming in so nicely. I gave them the survey of books they would like to see in the library explaining it is time to purchase more books and I want their ideas. We looked at fiction books with wolves as characters and discussed some of the myths based on point of view or biases about wolves and how they are portrayed in these stories. We talked about the sayings “wolf in sheep’s clothing, crying wolf” and the general point of view of wolves in our society as opposed to the native American culture. The activotes were handed out and the we read through the 10 questions regarding wolves and POV in the questions whether they were fact or opinion.

9:00-9:30 Continued with shelving, prepared for the kindergarten class by putting out name cards, punching holes in the monkey masks, tying string on the sides and cutting out the eyes on the masks.

9:30-10:00 I read a monkey fiction book to the children and we talked about the story and what some of the key concepts were with the monkey’s mother saving him from the wild animals in the savanna. How thirsty he was and how he had to wait all day to get his drink of water. I demonstrated how to color the mask and wear it. There were not overdue books, so they received an award and the students were given their library cards and sent to get shelf markers. I helped them find books.

10:00-10:30 The third graders were given laptops when they walked in the door and instructed to open, turn them on, log on and get on the Internet. I went over the worksheet from last week and what we had to remember when looking for the perfect pet for Mrs. Nelson. I demonstrated how to search, gave them a list of websites they could use, instructed them on the information that would impact this decision and then allowed them to work indecently. I circulated in the room answering questions.

10:30-11:00 Cleaned up the library from the morning classes. Went through the student’s surveys and added books to the list for purchase. Tallied the information the 3rd grade class found on the perfect pet for Mrs. Nelson. Entered the information in a spreadsheet for voting for next class.

11:00-11:30 Open book check, help students find books, demonstrated how to use the student login to check for account information. Made up screen shot instructions to post on large table tent at the computers.

11:30-12:00 Continued shopping for books, read emails and replied.

12:00-1:00 Fourth grade is continuing their imaginary animal project by researching using 3 sources, encyclopedia, book and computer to gain 3 facts about one part of the animal’s body, head, or legs. After modeling how to complete the Internet part, those that are done were put on the computers to use PowerPoint while I circulated the room and assisted those that had questions.

1:00-1:30 Assisted students with open book check. Checked out books for students by checking their AR levels matched the library card. Made sure 5th graders have completed their monthly requirements if they selected books not at their AR level. Looked for more book suggestions to purchase.

1:30-2:00 The first graders were read a fiction book about animal homes and a discussion of the book took place. We went over the super 3 of research and made a plan of what our task would be by determining what it is we want to learn. We went on the online encyclopedia Britannica and read about animal homes. The children used the animal homes web worksheet to write down their notes. We labeled the 4 boxes habitat, food, characteristics, other facts. We proceeded to read and take down notes.

2:00-2:30 Planning time was spent working on the purchase of books. More of the surveys were gone through and suggestions were ordered.

2:30-2:55 Second grade students were read the book “From Milk to Cheese” and the process of cheese making was discussed. They then watched a cheese making video on Learn 360 and we wrote down the process of making cheese. We discussed the Super 3 of plan, do and review.

2:55-4:00- Searched on Promethenaplanet.com for lessons on point of view for 5th grade for next week and on genre. While doing the surveys I realized they need a refresher as they did not remember what that word meant. Found a good lesson on fiction/nonfiction for the kindergarten and first grade for next week. The student will be able to come up and use the boar to answer the many questions. It will be good for them to get out of their seats and interact with the board. I need to find more lessons with assessments in them to start collection data for proof of achievement.

Monday, February 1, 2010

Monday, February 1, 8.5 hours

7:30-8:00 Turn on computers, log in, go through mail, read and reply to emails, unlock doors.

8:00-8:30 Prepare for day, 5th grade name cards on tables, handouts ready, help with shelving of books.

8:30-9:00 Today I started my new schedule with the 5th graders and they came in rather rambunctious. I gave them the survey of books they would like to see in the library explaining it is time to purchase more books and I want their ideas. We looked at fiction books with wolves as characters and discussed some of the myths about wolves and how they are portrayed in these stories. We talked about the sayings “wolf in sheep’s clothing, crying wolf” and the general point of view of wolves in our society as opposed to the native American culture. The activotes were handed out and the we read through the 10 questions regarding wolves and POV in the questions whether they were fact or opinion.

9:00-9:30 Continued with shelving, prepared for the kindergarten class by putting out name cards, punching holes in the monkey masks, tying string on the sides and cutting out the eyes on the masks.

9:30-10:00 I read a monkey fiction book to the children and we talked about the story and what some of the key concepts were with the monkey’s mother saving him from the wild animals in the savanna. How thirsty he was and how he had to wait all day to get his drink of water. I demonstrated how to color the mask and wear it. The overdue books list was read, the students were given their library cards and sent to get shelf markers.

10:00-10:30 The third graders were given laptops when they walked in the door and instructed to open, turn them on, log on and get on the internet. I went over the worksheet from last week and what we had to remember when looking for the perfect pet for Mrs. Nelson. I demonstrated how to search, gave them a list of websites they could use, instructed them on the information that would impact this decision and then allowed them to work indecently. I circulated in the room answering questions.

10:30-11:00 4K EC sat on the circle rug and I we discussed creepy crawly bugs. We talked about all kinds of bugs and I asked them questions about centipedes. We counted our legs and discussed that we would need many more children to get 100 legs like a centipede. I read the story 100 shoes and the children laughed at his 100 socks that his aunties knitted for him. I handed out their library cards and they selected a book from the circle table and I checked the books out for them.

11:00-11:30 Cleaned up the library from the morning classes. Went through the student’s surveys and added books to the list for purchase.

11:30-12:00 Continued shopping for books, read emails and replied.

12:00-1:00 Fourth grade is continuing their imaginary animal project by researching using 3 sources, encyclopedia, book and computer to gain 3 facts about one part of the animal’s body, head, or legs. After modeling how to complete the internet part, those that are done were put on the computers to use PowerPoint while I circulated the room and assisted those that had questions.

1:00-1:30 4K EC sat on the circle rug and I we discussed creepy crawly bugs. We talked about all kinds of bugs and I asked them questions about centipedes. We counted our legs and discussed that we would need many more children to get 100 legs like a centipede. I read the story 100 shoes and the children laughed at his 100 socks that his aunties knitted for him. I handed out their library cards and they selected a book from the circle table and I checked the books out for them.

1:30-2:00 The first graders were read a fiction book about animal homes and a discussion of the book took place. We went over the super 3 of research and made a plan of what our task would be by determining what it is we want to learn. We went on the online encyclopedia Britannica and read about animal homes. The children used the animal homes web worksheet to write down their notes. We labeled the 4 boxes habitat, food, characteristics, other facts. We proceeded to read and take down notes.

2:00-2:30 Planning time was spent working on the purchase of books. More of the surveys were gone through and suggestions were ordered.

2:30-2:55 Second grade students were read the book “From Milk to Cheese” and the process of cheese making was discussed. They then watched a cheese making video on Learn 360 and we wrote down the process of making cheese. We discussed the Super 3 of plan, do and review.

2:55-4:00- Completed the post self evaluation form. I rated myself on my lessons, communication with faculty, diversifying student learning, and using assessments to improve lessons. I then wrote up my goal for this school year for my pdp and how I was achieving that goal.