One of the amazing things about being a school librarian is the infinite variety, but sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who is aware of exactly how varied the job can be. So I thought I’d share what a typical day is like for me. Part one—a day at Heyworth Elementary School. HES teaches Pre-K through 6 and we have approximately 550 students. On Tuesdays I am all day at the Elementary (on Mondays I’m all day at the High School, the other days of the week are split).
My day began at 7:45 when I ran into the high school while dropping my own daughters off for school. I delivered 4 inter-library loan books to my HS assistant and gave her some instructions for changing the window display. Because Heyworth is small, we share our inter-library loan delivery with the public library, so I usually stop by there twice a week on my way home from school to check on incoming/outgoing materials. By 8:00 a.m. I was checking email in my grade school office, which is beginning to resemble a book warehouse. I placed a large book order last week and that has begun to arrive in various shipments right alongside a second order from four different vendors which is a collection of books that is to be displayed during a memorial service this Sunday for a 6th grader, Cassidy, who died in an auto accident at the beginning of the school year. Her family chose to give some funds to the library and specified several topics that were near and dear to Cassidy. I have designed commemorative bookplates and these need to be printed and placed in the books as we catalog them and prepare them for the shelf. Because I have such a limited budget in this school, I do all my own shelf prep, which adds to my time, but helps the bottom line. So, despite the boxes of books surrounding me, I focused on answering emails from several teachers needing books (note to self…need to design a handout explaining the online catalog to the staff and encourage them to use it) and other library-related questions answered. By 8:15 I was turning on computers and making sure my lesson materials were ready to go.
At 8:30 my class of 6th graders filed in and they set about finishing a booktalking project using Audacity. By this point in the project, the students always seem to be at various stages of completion: some are completely finished and need something else to do while others are desperately trying to finish before the 30 minutes is up. I move around and around the room answering individual questions and keeping students on track or otherwise occupied. At 9:00 a.m. the 4th graders are filing in and the 6th graders are leaving…although there are a few 6th grade hold-outs still clinging to their keyboards. One of the biggest challenges I deal with daily is my tight schedule. My classes are scheduled at 30 minute intervals with no passing period time in between. To help transition students in and out of the room, I’ve trained them to line up on either side of a long bookcase. There is “the side for coming in” and “the side for going out” ---just like the automatic doors at the grocery store! Library time is prep time for the classroom teachers, so I’m always hoping that they won’t be early dropping off and that they won’t be late picking up their classes! The 4th graders are finishing a simple research project in which each student located a book about their country (use of online catalog), filled in a worksheet about their country (research, reading, and notetaking skills), Used Microsoft Word to type the document according to a set of written formatting parameters (technology skills), and cited their source in MLA format. This was the culminating project after spending several weeks working on these skills individually. Again, I worked my way around the room, answering individual questions and troubleshooting. This class is frustrating me because they seem to have forgotten everything they ever knew about citations. They certainly aren’t connecting those citation lessons from a few weeks ago with the project they are trying to complete today. I make a note to have the 4th grade review citations for a few more lessons. At 9:30 the 4th graders are leaving and the 2nd graders just arriving are asked to report to the Star Carpet so that they can see the SmartBoard. This class has been learning about the difference between fiction and non-fiction and today we’ll review that before I challenge them to a game using the SmartBoard. The class does not seem to tire of watching the SmartBoard game judge their answers. I’ve really found that the interactivity and visual nature of the SmartBoard is riveting to students. I try to use mine daily. This lesson finishes a little early, so I fill the extra 7 minutes by having the students take all their books and put them in ABC or Dewey order. At 10:00 the 2nd graders leave while the 5th graders arrive. This class is doing a scavenger hunt by following clues I’ve planted throughout the various computer drives. This activity really sorts out who understands this skill and who doesn’t. As I walk around the room, I can quickly pick out a student who is at a loss and re-teach the concept to him/her individually. If the students are successful, the final clue instructs them to print out a small picture. The students seem to like these and set about trading them with each other (I purposely made the final few clues individual so that no two would be alike). Sometimes it doesn’t take a lot to please them…and I like finding these little enticements because I don’t give grades, so sometimes a little incentive is useful. It’s 10:30—and hip, hip, hooray—I’m making a grande mocha in my microwave because I have a 15 minute break before the next class arrives. I check email, get the circulation desk computer going, and nip into the faculty lounge to pick up my mail. I tidy the overflowing book drop and quickly drink the coffee before the 1st graders arrive at 10:45. The class sits in the storypit to hear parts of three different ABC books before moving to the Star Carpet so that they can watch the SmartBoard while I explain that we will be using our new Microsoft Word skills (opening program, changing font size and color, Saving, and closing program) to create our own ABC book. They look at an ABC book made by last year’s class and then we brainstorm ideas for their own book. We run out of time, so we’ll save their list of ideas and make a choice next week before we get started.
It is now 11:15 and I’ve taught 5 classes. From 11:15 to 12:45 I attack the chaos in my office by unpacking books and checking packing slips against my purchase orders. I make note of what’s missing or backordered. I notify the district bookkeeper how much should be paid and to whom. Check the email again while I wait for my lunch to finish cooking in the microwave. I eat it while talking to the parent volunteer who has just arrived to begin checking in books and shelving. I lost my grade school library aide last year and with the state’s financial crisis, I’ve been told not to expect that position to be reinstated for the foreseeable future. This means that the 200 or so books in my office will need to be carted over to the high school so that my HS aide can help catalog and do shelf prep. It also means that I will need to continue to recruit parent volunteers to work in the library to help with book check-in/check-out and shelving. I’ve discovered that this is a mixed blessing: although I’m grateful for their help, the truth is that supervising them and rectifying their mistakes takes time. I now take time to “walk the shelves” looking for out of place materials, and I’ve had to sort out various circulation issues with students and teachers. Also, volunteers tend to come and go, so I’ve discovered that I’m constantly recruiting new people and training them. I need to come up with some written training materials, too, but just haven’t had time. Before I get ready for afternoon classes, I update the Computer Lab sign-up page on the wiki and scan a few comments on the junior high Love of Literature wiki. Have a quick phone call from the Assistant Principal at the high school who wants me to teach some technology lessons to staff during in-service days.
From 12:45 to 2:45 I teach 4 sections of 3rd grade. These students are having a guided lecture on encyclopedia terms in preparation for the annual “Encyclopedia War.” It’s rather nice to have the same grade level back-to-back for a change.
From 2:45 to 3:00 I tidy the room, shut down computers, and check email one more time, then scoot out the door before the busses start arriving because I’m the junior high Scholastic Bowl team coach and we have to set up for a match which kicks off at 3:45.
5:00 p.m. – the match is over (we lost…bummer) and we cleaned up. My older daughter acted as scorekeeper in one of the competition rooms, but now she’s in a hurry to get home because she wants to eat and run over her lines before returning to the high school at 6:30 for play practice.
6:30 – We are back at the high school. Senior Daughter goes to play practice while Freshman Daughter and I go to the Winter Sports Awards Ceremony. She was on the dance squad and I’m the Yearbook Sponsor, so I take notes, just in case my Sports Editor doesn’t manage to turn up. I don’t see him in the audience anywhere.
7:30 – Freshman Daughter also reports to play practice and I head home…briefly considered stopping by the GS to work on a bulletin board I’m trying to finish (Citation Station which features citation format and several space aliens on their space station), but decide to head home and write this blog entry instead!
That is my day. It never really slows down. I often compare my job to a constantly moving gerbil wheel. I just get on and run, run, run trying to keep up! Over the course of 5 days I teach 26 fixed-schedule sections of elementary school and three of junior high. I’m very fortunate to have very supportive administrations backing me in both buildings. The teachers, too, are very complimentary of the curriculum I’ve instituted. (Before I arrived 4 years ago, there were no library classes). I’d like to be able to do more collaboration, but the truth is that when I’m not directly teaching classes at the elementary, I need to be at the High School running that library. I do my best to accommodate special requests (“I need my kids to be able to use Power Point by October”), but I don’t get much opportunity to go into the classrooms for true collaboration. I try to balance my curriculum between library/literary lessons and technology lessons. (There are no separate tech classes. I’m it.) Many of the administrative tasks of running a library (budgeting, reading reviews, placing orders, updating wikis, defining/refining procedures, ILL, cataloging, etc.) I either do during the high school portions of my week, or I do them on my own time after school and on week-ends. But even though I’m madly busy, I still love being able to design my own curriculum and assignments. I like teaching technology and connecting that to books and literature. I can’t imagine doing anything else!
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