knitting librarian

eSchool News online – School library research makes the case for more targeted support

“The average school library today is a well-connected facility with significant numbers of computers for students and staff to do research, according to a major survey of school library media centers. But the survey also suggests that school district leaders need to pay more attention to their elementary school libraries and that larger schools should be spending more per pupil on their libraries than they do now.”

Our district is one of those that has one certified librarian serving six elementary schools. It’s sad. She can’t possibly be doing all that needs to be done to prepare these students to become information literate. I bet they don’t have “significant numbers of computers for research” either. I’ve only got 8 computers and on any given day chances are that 2 of them won’t be working properly. Three of them are ancient iMacs (blueberry!) that are slower than molasses. The kids only use them because I can’t use my Remote Desktop program to spy on what they’re doing so they can potentially get away with more goofing off.

I believe our district’s per pupil expenditure for books is about $7. With the average cost of a book being in the neighborhood of $20 (plus processing) that’s a dismal 1 book per 3 students a year.

I’ve contacted my representative and senators about the SKILLs Act in hopes of improving the librarian to school statistic in libraries in PA. We should be highly qualified in order to prepare our students for the world of work that they’ll be entering. I wonder what the outcome of the vote will be.

I’ve got a lot of things I need to pull together quickly this week and over the next month.

Tomorrow is our local AccessPA Fall Database Training so I need plans for a substitute for tomorrow and to organize the books on carts to be shelved. There’s a possibility that the library will be closed if they can’t find a substitute, so I really need things ready—but nothing may happen. Even if they do get a sub, there is still a chance that they’ll pull them to cover somewhere else in the building because someone else doesn’t show. The district is doing SOAR to Success training this week and there are a lot of subs already placed so we’re shorthanded all around.

Our professional goals are due on Friday. I am planning to do CSLA’s School Library Learning 2.0 as part of my goal. I am also going to read and figure out how to apply Teri Lesesne’s Naked Reading with our students. I have a colleague in Oregon who is interested in doing the SLL 2.0 with me for sure and we may work on the book study together too.

The district has grants available through the Education Foundation for teachers to do innovative projects. They’ll fund up to $1000. I’m working on a proposal for that to purchase graphic novels to place in the school library. I am going to add in some other books that are popular like the Orca Soundings and Orca Currents titles because of the high interest/lower reading level of their books. I know that all of these will be popular with our students and they’d really benefit from having them available.

In October I’m meeting with our district grant writer, the assistant superintendent, and the library coordinator to get things underway for the 2008 Literacy Through School Libraries grant. I really think that we can put together a meaningful proposal and hopefully do something to improve the situation of our district libraries.

So, that’s what I’ve got on the burner right now. I’m excited about it all.

NYPL Pays Students $50 to Sign Up for a Library Card – 9/18/2007 2:05:00 PM - School Library Journal
Wow! I know my students would love this opportunity. I can just hear them spending their $50 in their heads.

What an idea—and paid for by a private grant given to the city government. Bloomberg is also offering students in grades 4-7 to earn cash rewards for achievement on standardized tests. That’s one way to ensure that some students don’t “make a pattern with the bubble sheet” or figure that since it isn’t for a grade on their report card they don’t have to do well! It will be interesting to see how it works out for them long-term and how much they have to pay out.

Nancy from Center for Teaching and Learning has created a list of books her students recommend. I need to use this for collection development so this is just basically a placemarker for it. The page also talks about their reading program and how students average 40 books a year at the middle school level. She attributes it to the availability of a wide range of reading materials that appeal to all students. Interesting reading! It would be a good thing to share with my school’s Literacy Committee.

Jamie Vollmer – Burden on Public Schools

I found my way to Jamie Vollmer’s website by way of Doug Johnson’s Blue Skunk Blog. Our schools truly are expected to do it all for kids. Some of my students don’t have parents who care enough to send them to school clean and fed each day. It’s depressing to see how kids come to school. Some are dropped off here when their parents go to work—if it’s 7am, they’re dropped off before that and then they get to sit outside the building and wait until the cafeteria opens for breakfast or until the first bell rings at 8:10.
Some of my students have wonderful parents who can (and do!) give their children everything. In fact, the class size for some of our “enriched” students was so large that parents complained: to the principal, the department chair, the assistant superintendent, and finally the superintendent. Guess what? The district hired a retiree to come in and teach an additional section so the class size could be smaller. Isn’t that great? But, what about those kids whose parents DON’T advocate for smaller classes for their child? The ones who could really benefit from more attention are not going to get it. The ones who’ll be successful no matter who teaches or how many kids are in the class are going to get it because their parents pushed for it.

It’s sad. Read through Vollmer’s discussion of the changes in public education since 1900. It’s amazing the number of roles that schools and teachers have assumed in the transformation of a student from young child to (hopefully!) responsible adult. I wish that there was more that I could do personally to help my students whose parents aren’t as involved or concerned with their child’s education. But you know what? Teachers can’t do it all—we need the help of parents and a community who sees the value in public education and is willing to fund smaller class sizes, newly adopted textbooks, well stocked libraries, and to invest in these kids future. They’re priceless. We need to raise them to become responsible, productive members of society, but it takes more than teachers to do it—parents and the community at large need to value education.

Vollmer’s also created a word “nostesia” to describe the condition that is summed up by folks comments like “In my day….” He says nostesia is “a mind altering mixture of 50% nostalgia and 50% amnesia.” Many of the people who complain about education are suffering from this disease—at our open house the other night, I heard many parents “remembering” how things were when they were in school and what they did and didn’t do or learn or act like. I think I’ll be keeping my eye on Jamie’s site and sharing it with my colleagues.