Work Smarter Not Harder

I need more time!  Don't we all feel like this sometimes?

 

 

It feels as if the minute hand on the clock is spinning wildly out of control and the to-do list keeps growing.  What's a girl to do?  Reevaluate, prioritize and control the TYPE A monster living within.  For me, this means looking at ways I can empower my students AND check off some things on my to-do list. 

 

One of the things I most like to do is read all the new fiction titles that come into the library.  This lets me book talk, make recommendations and be honest when a student asks, "Have you read this book?"  But this has been a crazy year and I still have a stack I need to get through and I really want to get them out in the hands of my kiddos.

 

Here's my (maybe) bright idea for this year.  I wrapped some of the titles up in construction paper.  I put a number on each one and a code for the genre type in the corner.  Here's what they looked like. (I know--very high tech!)

 

 

 

 

Here's my pitch to kiddos.  They get to be the FIRST person to read a new book (which is a BIG deal).  They get to take it home over Spring Break (in addition to their regular book check out).  The only thing they have to do is read the book over Spring Break and get ready to videotape a book talk about the book they read. 

 

To make it seem even MORE exclusive (wink wink), I limited it to 3 participants per class. 

 

Worked like a charm!  Now I can't wait to hear about these books when we return in April.

Guest Blogger - Stacy Barry

As promised in a previous post, here are the thoughts from one of the Lighthouse School librarians that came to visit.

Greetings all from Libraryland! My name is Stacy Barry and I am the LMS at Rodger’s Forge E.S. I have been in the library at RFES for 3 years and loving every minute of it. This year has been a year of a lot of change, as we are 1 of the 10 BCPS Lighthouse Schools. The changes have been so exciting and the way that my library looks and feels is completely different from the last 2 years – from furniture, management, technology integration, and the circulation of materials (just to name a few!). Well with all this change, great things have come and I am looking for more ways to improve the library experience for all the RFES students. With that in mind, the opportunity came around for me to visit Sandy Bixby’s library. I felt so lucky to have the opportunity to talk with her about the organization of her collection! From the very beginning, I felt the urge to run over and start browsing books. The student friendly signs, interactive props, and “undeweyed” shelves made it so easy for me to find books in different genres. I immediately started searching for fairy tales and pets, topics I had just finished talking about with the kindergartners that day! I loved the idea of students being able to find books based on interest – with biographies, science, social studies, and literature all being merged in to “genred” areas. I thought about the excitement the kids would feel looking through ocean books, unexpectedly stumbling upon distinguished ocean explorer biographies to share with families. I couldn’t help but see how circulation statistics could only go up and students could find so many books that they never knew existed! Additionally, with each moment there, I felt increasingly excited about the possibility of shelving books so much faster too –whew! I left the visit feeling a sense of awe for the amount of work that was put in to create such a student-centered collection. I also left asking myself – where and when can I start!?!? I may have to get a cup of coffee before I answer those questions just yet, but once the caffeine hits – let the fun begin! Thanks Sandy for an AMAZING experience!

Out of My Mind

Every so often a book comes around that makes you question what you know, think about how you think and reevaluate yourself and adjust how you will think in the future.  A few years ago, our Language Arts department added the book Wonder by R. J. Palacio to the 4th grade curriculum.  It created such a buzz with the students that the library copies are constantly checked out and the book is being read and reread all the time.  I enjoyed the book as much as my students did.

As I read through the new books on my book order, I couldn't help but stop and share the following book with you all because I know it is going to make a big impact in my library.  That book is Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. WOW!

Here's the Amazon summary:
Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom—the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged, because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.

In this breakthrough story—reminiscent of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly—from multiple Coretta Scott King Award-winner Sharon Draper, readers will come to know a brilliant mind and a brave spirit who will change forever how they look at anyone with a disability.

This book is so well written and so relatable to all.  As a parent, I want to hug Melody's parents who are not portrayed as perfect. I want to give Melody's neighbor the "Neighbor of the Year" award. (And isn't it the wish of everyone to make that kind of difference in the life of a child?) As an educator, I want to cringe at the many professionals who share Melody's world but don't try to make it a better place and I want to high five the ones that do make a difference - even the imperfect ones. 

I cannot imagine being trapped within myself like Melody has been.  But I have had the wonderful pleasure of meeting my very own Melody.  Her name is Kenzi.  Look how beautiful that smile is:

During the summer of 2013, I met Kenzi as I did a photography internship at Studio Gagliano.  Her mother April and I became friends.  Occasionally, April would bring Kenzie to the studio while we were there working together.  Kenzi, much like Melody, loves music and TV and her face lights up to show her joy and you certainly can tell if she does NOT like something--much like any other young teen in America.  Kenzi's face is the one I think of when I read about Melody.

I want make everyone read this book and think a bit differently about the misconceptions that surround special needs students.  I want my students to read this and think about how they treat each other.  I want us to all look inside and see that we all have something that challenges us.  But those challenges don't DEFINE us.  That's what we all can learn from Melody and Kenzi.

Location, Location, Location

 

What to do when the books are neatly tucked into their genrefied shelves and all is well in libraryland?  Begin Phase 2.  In this case, Phase 2 involves assigning a location to each and every fiction and nonfiction book.  The reason we have to do this is because Destiny searches completed by students will still default to the Dewey classifications.  Therefore, we need to have some way to direct students to the correct genrefied classification.  Enter the location field.  Kelly, with research, discovered the location field in the Destiny records.  We were able to create locations specific to our genrefication categories.  While time consuming, it is going to be immensely helpful to students, teachers and anyone accessing our library catalog. 

So far I have completed the Science Fiction, Graphic Novels and Sports Fiction categories all with the help of my cell phone!  I took photos of the shelves and then from the luxury of my own home, in the comfort of my own pajamas, I was able to enter the titles and set the location field.  I know--how clever am I?

Here's a peek at what the location fields look like in classic Destiny.

Unfortunately, in Destiny Quest, the student will need to fully open the Title Detail page to see the location.  Maybe as more libraries across the country embrace the genrefication of their collections we will see changes in Destiny Quest that allow for locations to be seen from the search page. (HINT HINT)

 Because book check out is still ongoing, I have post-its (yes my beloved post-its) reminding me to grab these books as the are returned for the next few weeks to make sure the titles have had their location fields entered BEFORE they are reshelved.  Extra work? Yes but very worth it to make sure that the titles don't get missed.  I may just employ to old cell phone trick once again so I can get those titles back on the shelves in a timely manner.

I also learned that some special helpers from the Office of Digital Learning are swooping in to help speed up setting the location fields.  Woo Hoo!

Barkley is excited.  Can't you just see his enthusiasm on this warm sunny Sunday? 

The Visitors Came

This is the first moment I have had to catch up. It seems as if the calendar items are all conspiring to occur at the same time.

 Kelly and I met about our Common Ground presentation and we both ended up with a long list of to-do's.  It's scary and daunting, and to be honest, a little bit exciting!  We have a plan and intend to work it. Priority on my to-do list is getting location fields set up for the fiction section. I am starting with the fiction section because there are a fewer amount of records to manipulate. Good news!  The Sports Fiction is finished.  It took about 1-1/2 hrs. to complete.  Bad news!  It is one of the smallest genres and there are 8 more genres to go in fiction.  I am simply refusing to think about Nonfiction section.  To quote that plucky little lady from the south,





When we finished, 3 librarians from our school system's Lighthouse schools came to visit.  (Can I just stop right here and geek out for a minute?  I just love company!  I am so proud of this project and the results we have seen.  So I get super excited when I know someone is coming.) These three ladies came to see my library set up and just to visit and ask a few questions.  They looked excited when they left.  (Hopefully you can read all about it when they send me some guest posts to share.)

And it turns out that Kelly and I will get a chance to present our Common Ground presentation to a group of BCPS librarians prior to the actual presentation in Ocean City.  I really am quite thankful for the opportunities that I have been able to experience and the ones that keep presenting themselves.

Out of the Mouths of Students

I have a few minutes before I head back into PARCC testing so I thought I would dash off a quick post of a few funny moments that happened last week.

My 5th graders have been exploring MOOD during their author study of Chris Van Allsburg.  Last week's lesson was to create a tweet as if they were the author.  They also had to create a Twitter username for Chris Van Allsburg.  They were super creative but I think my favorite had to be @chrisvanmoody. 

I am teaching first grade students about being good readers and that good readers make connections.  I asked them to give me some examples of connections at the beginning of the lesson so that I could make sure they knew what a connection was so they could apply that to reading.  A lot of answers were things I would expect: a plug and a socket, Legos and pencil in a sharpener. 

But one lovely young lady raised her hand and said, "My aunt makes connections because she is on Match.com and she goes on lots of dates because she wants a husband."

 

 

So off to test with that chuckle in my mind!  Tomorrow Kelly and I meet to work on the Common Ground presentation and I also have some Lighthouse School Librarians coming to visit.  Look for some upcoming special guest blogger posts.



Flotsam

As you enter the library, I have a door full of quotes and comics and other funny business.  This is the second year I have done this.  Originally, it was just a place for me to "lighten up" the library and appeal to some students' funny bones as they waited in line for their teacher.  But, like all good intentions, this was usually thwarted by the time crunch that comes from being locked into a 50 minute special area schedule. I call it my FLOTSAM door. (Yes, I technically know it should be jetsam because flotsam is unintentional and jetsam is on purpose but how can I start a conversation about the word and steer them to David Wiesner's book with jetsam.)

I add things as I find them and like them.  This morning I added a few more and a 5th grade student , let's call him Joe,  actually stopped on his way to the office to see what I was hanging up today.  I asked which one was his favorite (the Garfield one) and he looked at the new ones and decided he likes the "curling up a new book" the best.  I told him to have a good day and smiled at the little things that make an impact. 

Lest you think I work in a land of wonderful children who love the library and everything about it, let me share the reality check that occur just mere minutes (dare I say - seconds, afterwards) as Joe proceeded up the steps.  He passed another 5th grader, let's call him Tim, on the way to take attendance to the office. Here is the conversation that ensued:

Joe: Mrs. Bixby is putting new jokes up on the door.
Tim: So?
Joe: I just read them.
Tim: They're stupid.
Joe: See you in Math.

Ahhh, the joys and sorrows of being an elementary school librarian.   Moral of this story:

One librarian's flotsam is another person's junk!