knitting librarian

Today at the end of the day, I decided to check what my monthly circulation was. Last year, it was 605 books. This year it was 929 books! Obviously our Reading Olympics has helped impact circulation for the month. I’m thrilled! I was hopeful that it would be successful, but really didn’t expect such a dramatic increase in book usage.

According to WestEd, more than ever, high school students need an
understanding of how to read critically and fluently, translating the
meaning and purpose of text. When students reach middle and high school,
the demands on their reading abilities undergo a significant shift—from
primarily narrative texts to complex expository material. So how can we
explain why so many students cannot crack the nonfiction code? Why do
their interest and skills in reading decline precisely when the demands of
literacy begin to soar? One solution is to integrate literacy throughout
the curriculum and culture of schools by dramatically changing the way
educators think about reading instruction. (link)

This article is from LMC Jan. 2006: 18-20.

Toni Buzzeo cites Information Power [1988] as the origins of the mandate for collaborative relationships between teacher and librarian and the philosophy of the library as the “heart of the school.” The article discusses collaboration as a mission, and indeed it should be the mission of the library and librarian to attempt collaboration with all teachers (or at least all willing teachers) to help increase student achievement.

The article encourages the school librarian to “stop whining” and do everything necessary to put the library at the center of the school. That’s great in philosophy, but what do you do with resistant and/or apathetic teachers? Buzzeo says we have to be responsive to and have respect for different styles and levels of involvement, but when nearly everyone is hands off—you also have to dig in and start somewhere!

No Child Left Behind is a cause for conflicts within, shifting funding from libraries to literacy programs and training for teachers. The reading specialist in a school is seen as more valuable than the librarian. There is clearly a lack of understanding of the role of library media specialist. Section 1251 (part of the Improving Literacy through School Libraries) does emphasize the need for excellent library media centers, including professional development and activities which foster collaboration. We need to increase and document student achievement through collaborative practice. The various school library studies clearly document this fact.

I find myself in the most difficult situation for effecting change that I’ve ever worked in. I think that my administrators support the library to an extent, but there is still not full support (i.e. encouraging/requiring teachers to engage in collaborative lessons and activities with the library program). With our current administrative changes, I need to spend some time discussing my concerns, hopes and vision with our new leader so that I can find out if he shares my vision.

This is the fourth school I’ve been employed at where the library program was not thriving. I’ve tried reaching out to teachers, especially younger teachers, but it seems that testing and accountability are (understandably) a high priority and that there is such pressure to make sure that students are successful that spending time in the library is secondary to the work done in the classroom.

I’ve even been disappointed with the number of teachers who don’t seem to encourage reading. Out of eight language arts teachers, only half send their students on a regular (weekly) basis to borrow books. I am trying a reading promotion that we tied in with the Olympics (also from LMC) and it will be interesting to see how many students participated. I’ve decided that students who read more than 8 books (two per week) will be entered into a drawing to win the iPod shuffle I won from some online drawing in October. This was not annouced, so it will be a true “who is interested in reading” activity. I’ll be sure to report on how many participated after the promotion ends on Friday.

The Open Classroom: How to be a good commenter

What a great idea to give students leads for their comments/responses to other students blog posts. I really like this idea and will be sharing it with my student bloggers and my teacher bloggers!

Jo’s suggested leads:

This made me think about…....
I wonder why…....
Your writing made me form an opinion about…....
This post is relevant because…....
Your writing made me think that we should…....
I wish I understood why…....
This is important because…....
Another thing to consider is…....
I can relate to this…....
This makes me think of…....
I discovered…....
I don’t understand…....
I was reminded that…....
I found myself wondering…....

These definitely promote deeper thinking and avoid nit-picking comments and responses. Thanks Jo!

Meme of Four
Time for this to make the rounds of the edubiblioblogosphere!
I’ve adapted the rules a bit
Choose any (multiple of) four categories:

Four non-library jobs I’ve had:
life guard
shoe sales clerk
salad bar prep in a grocery store
graphic design for a photography studio

Four Authors I always love to read:
John Grisham
Perri O’Shaughnessy
Ann Brashares (I saw in Library Journal that she’s got an adult novel coming out!)
Lawrence Sanders

Four movies I can watch over and over:
Fools Rush In (but I always have to ask hubby the title!)
Grease
Shrek
Top Gun

Four TV shows I love:
Grey’s Anatomy
Will & Grace
Mad About You
Numbers

Four places I’ve lived:
Denville, NJ
Williamsport, PA
Columbia, SC
Lewisburg, PA

Four places to vacation in:
Alaska
Costa Rica
Delaware State Seashore
The Grand Canyon

Four sites I visit/use daily:
NYTimes
google
bloglines
school’s web-based email

Four (non-library) people I’d like to meet in person, based on their blogs:
“The Pig’s Tales”
Laurie Halse Anderson
Frank Warren
“This Fish”

Four foods I yearn for:
good Mexican (why is this so elusive in Central Pennsylvania????)
good buffalo wings
grasshopper pie
Gobstopper Hearts (did you know these are only around at Valentine’s day unless you want to pay $10/pound at those mall bulk candy stores??? It’s a crying shame!)

Four inventions I’m grateful for:
indoor plumbing
wireless routers
TiVo
bras that do the job

Four musical choices for my personal soundtrack:
Jimmy Buffett
Enya
barenaked ladies
Travelling Wilburys

Four nouns that describe me:
mom
teacher
wife
thinker