The happy life of teacher librarians: HI MISS!

So last Friday I spent all day at the library in the downstairs seminar room (glass walls, next to the computer area) with a group of teacher librarians for a mini-conference.

We had all brought food for recess and lunch; after recess, there was still quite a spread on the table, cake and biscuits and sandwiches and cheese and... we grazed, and talked of cabbages and kings.  Hosting this meeting, I had made sure we had peppermints on the table, because what is a seminar/conference without peppermints???

In the period before lunch, 10E8 English came to the library with their teacher for their regular fortnightly period.  Being Otherwise Engaged, I didn't spend the time with them as I usually would have done.

The boys (they're all boys in that class) are a bunch of larrikins and characters.  They were naturally curious about these unexpected goings-on right next to the computers they were working on.  And food.... (hmm, maybe a lot of their interest centred on the food...).  Being the opportunistic thinkers that they are, a couple bent their minds to exploiting this situation.

So I'm sitting facing the library, and a couple wave hello.  I smile back, and refocus on the discussion.

A couple of the boys are typing something on the computer.  They turn the screen so I can read it, big smiles on their faces:

HI MISS

I grin acknowledgement, and refocus.

More typing.  The screen is turned back towards me:

WATCHA DOIN?

Couldn't help myself, I laughed aloud.  They grinned back.  I excused myself from the meeting, picking up the bowl of Seminar Peppermints as I went, and went out for a minute or two to let those larrikins know just how obnoxious they are...and to remind them, as I offered them a peppermint (they took two, naturally) that it isn't OK to eat in the library.  They agreed, as they chewed, and I returned to the meeting. (They can do Contradiction just fine).  Thanks, miss!

I haven't had the heart to tell them that the last of the food was hoovered by the public stomachs of the same teacher's Year 7 class at the end of the day.

The happy life of teacher librarians: HI MISS

Cheers

Ruth

Bloom's Digital Taxonomy

Find the original here.  I discovered it via Twitter.  Another image to share with my senior students when discussing study skills.  Maybe a task that gets them to work out the hierarchy?......  And of course one to share with my teaching colleagues.

Cheers

Ruth

21st Century Learners

and this

are both by Peter H. Reynolds and can be found at Thinkfinity.org here.

Wonder what the kids would say about themselves?   Hmmm, that could be an interesting task for the Year 11 study skills program...

Cheers

Ruth

Young people hate books and dead tree publishing is finished. Yes?

Found this YouTube video via Lucacept.



And Lucacept's discussion about the issues facing libraries lending files (e-books, audiobooks) is most relevant and not, at present, finding answers from publishers.

Watch the video on YouTube here if you the one above doesn't work for you.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weq_sHxghcg&feature=player_embedded
It's a brilliant video.  Brilliant.  Bravo DK/Penguin USA.

Cheers

Ruth

PS. And the format of this strikes me as having possibilities for writing, too.

Advice on life

Richard Glover's column in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald was entitled, "It's what I know now...and wish I'd known then", and is advice on life to his 18 year old son - tips that are by turns practical, wry, thrifty, funny, sincere and apt.

Here's an extract:

People who spend excessive time on their own appearance are almost never as interesting, or as attractive, as they think.



You are what you eat but also what you read and watch and hear. Don't feed your brain with rubbish, at least not all the time.

Don't be negative. Whingeing is for people who want to blame others for their troubles, because it's easier than finding their own way forward. If a friend makes a habit of bad-mouthing other people, take a moment to wonder what they say about you. Spend your mental energy on people who think you are terrific, not people who dislike you.


I'm not sure yet how I'll use it at school, but I've stored a copy (since the SMH often takes online material down after a fortnight) and kept the paper copy so I will have it to hand.  Maybe with study skills, maybe Crossroads (sex, drugs, personal safety etc for Year 11 students).  It's got all sorts of potential.  Definitely worth reading.

Cheers

Ruth

The library is for all the kids

Among the classes coming to the library for wide reading in the last while have been 10E8 and 9E8 - classes composed mostly of boys.  The classes are streamed, so these are classes where I want to put out books that will catch their attention.  Graphic works can be a great way to go.  Some of these kids struggle to learn, others are focused on other things - I've had some great conversations with them about all sorts of topics.  They don't like being patronised, and they don't like books that patronise them either, 'stupid-simple', childish covers, or such.

I put books out for them as I do for all the other visiting wider reading classes, all around the table to give them plenty of choices.  A couple of successes recently:

The Osprey Graphic History series is one (that's the publisher website).  They're thin (never mind the quality, feel the width) and high interest - battles include Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal and several US Civil War ones.  9E8, to whom I showed them first, had some kids who were pleased (and surprised) that when I realised how much they liked  them, I offered to add the remaining titles to the library's collection (we had five of the twelve, as I wanted to see if they would find friends).  10E8 liked them just as much, and were very pleased to know more were coming (collection development and library PR, there).  Several boys who had never borrowed from the library EVER borrowed from this series.  (My excellent local independent bookshop is able to supply these in Australia with no hassles, so check with your local independent bookshop if you're after some).  We had conversations about the planes illustrated (luckily the male teacher of 10E8 knew more than me about planes) and looked to see exactly where Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal were in the atlas (I could do that better than plane identification), but most of all we wanted the classes to engage with books, and most of them did (you can't win them all, but you can keep trying).

One of the charming smart-alecks in 9E8 thought he'd catch me out (or end up with Where's Wally) when he asked for a book 'with no words'.  Ha, buster, I've got YOU sorted...

In this book, about five pages of detailed drawings in, it goes surreal - the man, having packed, arrives in a place where there is a dragon-like tail shadowed on a building... the kid got interested in spite of himself, and spent  a goodly slab of the lesson reading this book.  His mate got kinda interested too, so I gave him this Shaun Tan book:

which he liked; and you can still access, online a pdf of my favourite story from this book, Eric.

The teachers of these (sometimes challenging) classes have been positive about these visits, and the classes will be returning.  Which is great.  The library isn't just for good kids or top classes, it's for all the kids.

Cheers

Ruth

The happy life of teacher librarians: the best book, miss

What do these two have in common?

Today, I had two kids come to see me, entirely separately, just to tell me that the book they'd borrowed from here was 'the best book I've ever read, miss'.  Just lovely to know that, to know I'm choosing books that are finding friends; and good to get a heads-up on ones with which I'm less familiar.  One excellent part of the happy life of teacher librarians.

Cheers

Ruth

GIFSL*: 47. The library is not a milk bar, but...

Last year, we started a hot chocolate draw with classes coming in to read in fiction on a regular basis (you can read about it here).

Well, right now it's summer, and hot/sticky/humid as February so often is.  We have a bunch of classes coming in regularly to read (more than last year! yay!), and nobody in their right mind would particularly savour hot chocolate.

An iceblock, though...

I know, I know, no eating or drinking in the library.  And the general rule still stands.  But I can break 'em if I want to.  I've not yet had any kid spill a hot chocolate or drip an iceblock.

Plenty of supermarkets sell those long iceblocks in plastic tubes.  Freeze 'em up, and it's an inexpensive treat (I pay for these out of my own pocket, in case you wonder - not from any school-provided library budget.  Some of the teachers also contribute for their classes).  Summer is definitely cheaper than winter.

I've improved the method for selecting the lucky recipients, too.  Was getting the teachers to note the names of students Doing The Right Thing (reading silently).  But that takes time and a bit of effort, and at the start of the year teachers don't necessarily know the name of every student.  Plan B: a class list and a random number generator site (eg. this one http://www.mathgoodies.com/calculators/random_no_custom.html ).  Randomly generate a number between 1 and 30, see which kid is at this number on the class list, teacher decides if said kid has been doing the right thing, (all kids start off in the draw, but if they misbehave, they have rendered themselves ineligible) and it's done.  Happy kid collects iceblock, classmates see random reward for virtue...

OK, they don't Need a reward.  But it's all part of our library marketing.  The library's a place where you can be comfortable.  Where treats happen.  Where good things are found.  A nice place to go, a good place to be, somewhere to look forward to, somewhere to enjoy.  Doesn't that sound like somewhere you'd like to visit?

It's not necessarily going to happen every lesson, but then again it might, the students don't know... everything that gets them in and settled and reading is useful to their progress.

Cheers

Ruth

*GIFSL= good ideas for school libraries

Safer Internet Day 2010: 9 February

Logo source, which has more information

This is an international cybersafety event, with the theme of 'think before you post'.  It's organised by InSafe, and international organisation for internet safety, and supported in Australia by ACMA.

The link above has more info, including a poster to print, tips for kids and teens, and this YouTube video:

Why not compile a quick email to send out to students/parents/staff?

Cheers

Ruth

The happy life of teacher librarians: Tenpin

Yup, I do sport one afternoon a week.  Not all teacher librarians do, and it depends on your school.  It's not always fun, but there are ways to make the best of it.  Another teacher and I have teamed up, and with the sports we've had over the last year, we've set up draws and tournaments and score-keeping on the computer, not only to record the kids' progress, but also to work on the socialisation, so they don't just play against their friends.  We award them certificates at the end of the term too, something to add to their portfolios.  The kids appreciate the extra effort we put in, and we can see its impact on each term's group.

This term, we've had tenpin bowling.  A couple of times, one of us has played too, and the kids like seeing if they can beat us.  A couple of weeks ago, when I bowled, I told the kids I'd buy a cool drink for any of them who beat my score.  That week, it was 92, and I bought about five drinks.

This week, we needed one more body on a lane, so although I hadn't planned to bowl (it makes it harder to pay attention to the other lanes and see how others are going, encouraging the kids and so forth), I did.  Hmmm.  The bowling gods were with me (this little black duck not actually having done any tenpin bowling since my teenage years) and I got a couple of strikes and some decent tallies. 

I glanced over at the lane of the boy I knew to be the best bowler.  Hmmm again.  I was almost level pegging.  So I had my turns, and scooted up and down the lanes celebrating strikes and spares and nicely aimed bowls with the kids.  That boy's lane group finished faster than my lane group, and I saw his final score was 138.  I turned around to collect my third last ball, and saw him standing behind our lane, watching my score...

And I laughed aloud, and said, "Eddie, I feel like a winner already!"

He looked at me, puzzled.  "Why?"

"Buddy, if you have to watch the score of this old bat, then I've got you a little worried, and that's a great compliment!"

He grinned wryly.  And was back watching as I had my last two balls to go.  

I got a spare, and thus an extra ball too, and my final score was 144 - the highest of our school group, that day.  Eddie nodded in acknowledgement, and went off to join his friends. 

And I chuckled at the happy life of teacher librarians, sporting style!

Cheers

Ruth

(PS.  His name isn't Eddie, of course, but that doesn't change the story...)

Hand-selling fiction

I'm sure every teacher librarian hand-sells books, fiction in particular.  Try this? Or this?  I loved this one....the people who loved that one also liked this...

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It's fun, and keeps you on your toes and aware of your stock, but it's also sometimes an interesting challenge.  I just keep up with the vampire-romance crowd (voracious they are, too!) but one boy's keeping me on my toes for sure.  Earlier this year, he asked me for fiction war stories.  I suggested, among other things, the Moran series by Wendy Catran.

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He worked his way through them, liking them, and came back for another recommendation.  Took a few goes, and then he went away happy with Temeraire.

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And worked his way through that series too.  Like me, he's keenly waiting for the next one (sometime next year).  Meanwhile, what else can I suggest?  I suggest a few, and he goes away happy with some steampunk (I'm widening his horizons a tad, I know...): Worldshaker.

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OK.  That took him hardly any time at all, and he's back for another one (since this is a stand-alone, not part of a series).  What about the brand spankin' new Scott Westerfeld steampunk, Leviathan?

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Took him less than a week - he really liked it.  Also a stand-alone (I don't know if a series is planned).  He came back on Monday this week, and muttered in the bashful way of a quiet lovely boy something about how he may as well ask me for another book, because I seem to be able to find things he likes.  The pressure... I was going to try Muchamore's Cherub series, but The Recruit (first book in the series) is on loan.  I show him several other possibilities, but he isn't keen on any of them.  I ask my work experience student for his ideas (he's a reader) - he thinks the Muchamore series would be good, but what about Ranger's Apprentice?  It's nearly bell time, and I have three students wanting to ask me things.  I hand the WExp student the first RA book, tell him to hand-sell it to our customer, and leave them to it while I attend to the others.  Our borrower is persuaded (yay for the WExp student!) and so has started (I hope) on another enjoyable series.

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I'm really appreciative that he trusts my suggestions (well, some of them!) but the pressure... if he's reading a book a week or so, that's over thirty books a year, and if like some, his focus/interests happen to be narrow, it's surely a challenge!  Each time he's come, it's usually taken half a dozen books before he's found one he wants to borrow (the others he quietly returns to wherever I got them - he usually only goes by what I say, the cover and the blurb, and if they don't catch him, he isn't caught.  What I say helps, but isn't enough - the book has to appeal).

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So if you have any ideas I can suggest to him when he comes by again, do leave a comment!

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I don't remember all of the hand-selling I do so clearly (the brain can only hold so much) but thought this was a progression I'd like to document here, to show the pattern of reading of just one of our many readers, and the impact hand-selling can have.  It's lovely to be trusted - a reputation for good book suggestions is another tool in the teacher librarian's arsenal to keep our students happy with their library's service, and to keep them happily reading.  It also helps our library remain effective in encouraging them to learn.  All good!

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Cheers

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Ruth

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ADDED LATER: lots of great comments, thank you.  Including a couple from My Humble Work Experience Student...!

Oh brave new world: laptops, day one

It was announced on assembly on Thursday last week that the Year 9 laptops would be distributed on Friday.  These are the netbooks being issued as part of the Digital Education Revolution, a federally funded program.  I thought I"d document here what day one was like; this is such a change we're ushering in,

Friday morning you would have thought Santa Claus was coming multiplied to the power of ten.  The buzz around the school was palpable - not just year nine students.  Before school in the library, the noise level/fizz was significantly higher than usual, fuelled anticipation boiling over.

Up to the period after lunch, the library was a zoo (ie. madly busy).  Booked classes were coming in as per bookings, plus every period brought a new wave of Year 9 students to receive their laptops.  Each handout procedure involved a bit of logging in/checking.  Our computer co-ordinator had raided many Coles supermarkets for 99c recyclable bags (some Simpsons, some Harry Potter, some High School Musical) and so each student got a bag containing the laptop, charger, handbook etc. (good idea).  The laptops and so forth had been stored in our library security lockup, and so there was mad buzzing in and out of there all day, bags and boxes and students coming to ask questions.  One of my assistants stayed at the borrowing desk by the security room door all day to control traffic there.

By lunchtime they all had their laptops, and the library (where there are 60 wireless access points) was full of kids.  I was grateful that the computer co-ordinator stayed around all lunchtime, so was available for questions/assistance.

It's a learning curve for us all.  Lunchtime was crazy-busy, loud, fizzing with excitement.  I figure you go with it, day one, and just delineate the lines as is necessary without stomping on the joy (a rude little twerp is a rude little twerp regardless, as I had cause to point out to one impertinent boy).  One thing I did decide pretty quickly was that our reading retreat area - which only seats about 18 - is going to remain for (book) reading - laptoppers have plenty of desks/tables to use and I am keen to keep this area for comfy silent individual reading, to serve those students who love it for this.

Some students couldn't log on to the internet.  Judging by the number of students in the library, it was almost certainly because we had well over 60 laptoppers in.  So memo for self and students: log in early if you want to be in the 60.  The range of the wireless units is such that they are likely to find that outside the library they'll find 'hot spots', so it won't need 60 inside the library to mean those 60 access options are used up.  Not all the school is wireless yet, but it won't take them long to work out where in the playground they can find other hot spots.

As I have had a major role in drafting the school's laptop policy, I was detailed, in the period after lunch, to talk about this to all of Year 9 together.   I went through the guidelines we had established (these had been discussed at executive and staff meetings) and aimed to do this in a positive way.

To start, I asked them all, "Who here knows how to drive a car?" (Bear in mind none of these students are old enough for a learner's permit, but many would have access, on their own property/acreage or others', in our semi-rural location, to try driving on private land).  As I expected, lots of hands. 

"Leave your hand up if you have driven a car."  Still plenty.

"Leave your hand up if you have driven a car on a public road."  All hands vanish.  "OK, so that's what we're looking at here.  There's what is possible, and what is acceptable and appropriate."

And on I went; but this analogy did seem to be a useful one to make.  The guidelines/responsibilities are based on the NSW Department of Education and Training documents and school policies.  We will be revisiting our draft document about a month into next term, to see if it's serving our purposes or if there is anything else we need to clarifyadd/revise. 

Tough audience, I must admit, over 200 students crammed into the library so they could see our screen (I had prepared a PowerPoint, so there was something for their eyes to see, rather than just having them listen to me) - they were BUSTING to be on their laptops.  On the other hand, it's useful to have clarified the guidelines/boundaries right at the start, so we all know where we are.  And I appreciated the round of applause the students gave me at the end (however much of it was fuelled by relief that I had finished!!).

Based on info from other schools where the laptops have already been rolled out, there are challenges ahead for the library, during break times for example.  The way things are this week is likely to still reflect the initial excitement.  I'm sure some students will test the boundaries.  We could see, amid Friday's zoo, that the seminar-style layout of tables in nonfiction was working well.  Likewise some students just settled into a corner with their laptop.  My current thinking is that general library rules still apply, so a bunch of noisy gamesters can hie themselves out the door, but if a kid is being quiet and not disturbing others, then they can carry on.  As I spoke with them all on Friday, I made the distinction between the playground (out there) and the library as a learning space (in here, where I was going through the rules/responsibilities).  The Principal has reiterated that the library is my domain where I am delegated to set the rules/standards of behaviour. 

We have clarified with our students that they are to respect copyright, so pirated games/video are unacceptable anywhere.  I am sure in this first week (it's our last week of term) there will be further clarification/reminding happening.  I'll wait to see how big the crowd gets at lunchtime- I don't want to restrict numbers, but at the same time I do want to preserve an acceptable.manageable environment (for reasons of safety/doable supervision, for starters).  This week, I might have both my school assistants (I have 1.5 each day) on duty at lunchtime, so we are all three on deck (normally it's one plus me).  I'm not sure what extra teacher support I may get at lunchtime, if any.

It's a learning curve.  We'll see how we go, and look for a path forward that serves us all.  Right now, that student excitement is a great opportunity in our classrooms, the challenge being to build on it and harness it to enhance their learning and thus their opportunities in life.

It's an adventure! 

Cheers

Ruth

i LOVE reading

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i LOVE reading!! I love where the book takes u...so beautiful :)
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She's in Year 9, and she's not alone.  Who says teenagers don't read books?

Cheers

Ruth

PS.  Maybe this has bookmark potential...I've been mulling on a series based on student comments...

GIFSL* 44: : Duchamp seating for the masses...

Did you know that the artist Marcel Duchamp spent some of his working life as a librarian?  And that his 'readymade' work of art, Fountain, has (as more than one art teacher commented) a counterpart (homage? echo?) in my office?

No, not an exact replica.  Sheesh.  But this:

...is part of my office furniture that gets regular use.  I own these - bought them over time from op shops, junk shops, garage sales, wherever.  While I have a chair in my office for visitors, I quickly learned that you only need three or five kids telling you things and wanting to talk about cabbages and kings, or schoolwork, or the outrage of Disney buying Marvel, or whatever, to know that standard size chairs aren't the answer.  With these, my small office can seat five extra kids - and when they're not in use, the stools are Duchamped from the overhead beam.  Practical Art! (I'm happy to acknowledge that it was one of my school assistants who had the inspiration of hanging these up).

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I know not every teacher librarian has an office - but I do know that my glass box at the library entrance has become part of how I teach and work.  Can't count the number of times every day, every week, throughout the year, that I have conversations here, hunt things on the computer here, think through projects, advise, listen, offer tissues, dispense advice, dispense discipline, solve problems, encourage, mentor.... door open, door closed (sometimes it's so valuable to be able to close the door).  

I have a few oddities hung on the wall, too, personalising the space and providing conversation starters with kids and staff.  Sadly, I'm given to lying about them (yup, that old photo is Great Aunt Grace...).  Maybe one day I'll tell you about the photo that's part of the biggest lie - I've had a LOT of fun with that (and so have the kids who've worked it out and then participated in its perpetuation...!!)

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It's part of our work, though, isn't it?  The daily meeting and greeting and listening and engaging in lots of small ways, sometimes educational, sometimes welfare, often both.  Those mismatched stools earn their keep.

Cheers

Ruth

*GIFSL = Good Ideas for School Libraries

The happy life of teacher librarians: How to have a Top Weekend

I have been advised today by students on exactly how you can have a Top Weekend.  Determined that my TL colleagues don't miss out on this exciting program, it's detailed below:

• Plan a girlie sleepover.
• Watch Twilight on DVD, for the umpteenth time, because you can and why not????? and pore over every poster and article you've been able to find on the film and New Moon (they love the new cabinet of Twilight articles/pictures)
• Menu (to be consumed between the hours of 1am and 3am): pizza, slushies, icecream, chocolate and lollies.
• Dance (in a select location where loud music isn't an issue).

Darn, and I had planned another program entirely.  Oddly enough, I'll be sticking to it, rather than the one above.  Apart from anything else, I'm too old to have a cast iron stomach...!!

This is why teenagers are so entertaining.  They know EVERYTHING. (As one of the cartoons on my office door advises, I'm also too old to know everything.)

I was weak enough to email them some extra Twilight links for more pics/articles.  They were VERY happy!

Cheers

Ruth

Privacy, Facebook and student naivety

Presenting a session on Internet Security Issues at our school's Crossroads program recently, I remarked to the Year 11 students that if my dad had done something extremely foolish when he was a teenager, it might, maybe have made it to radio and newspapers.  If I had done ditto, you can add television to the mix.  Still large corp. media outlets, though, not necessarily aware of or able to capture an individual life easily or quickly. 

Now, if they do something extremely foolish, it can land on YouTube via a mobile/cell phone, or on Twitter, within seconds.  Such is the changed world they need to take account of.  Their foolishness can be far more readily found by potential employers doing a bit of googling than would have been possible ten, twenty, more years ago.

A recent NY Times article discusses the change Facebook has made, so that ALL status messages are now by default, PUBLIC - ie available for anyone to see - unless the Facebook user actively chooses otherwise.  Default is public.  Private requires action.  Previously, the default setting has been 'private'.

How many students will make the change?  Or care?  How many should?  More than will.  I find students interestingly (expectedly?) naive about such things, far more trusting than they should be.  It's part of being young and bulletproof, maybe.  I regularly discuss internet privacy issues with students informally, as well as on the more formal occasions such as offered by the Crossroads program.  The school system in which I work has, at present, blocked social networking sites such as Facebook so they aren't available when logging in at school, but students are certainly using these outside school hours - and I know that there are schools/systems where social networking sites are used in educational contexts.

How aware will students be that something they don't mean to be public may have legal implications?  Unintended and possibly serious consequences?  A whole scale of possibilities, from the agonies of social embarrassment to active/passive cyber-bullying to legal action for libel?

Given that the new social media are new to parents and teachers, the responsibility for understanding the implications of this - and conveying wise advice - is shared by home and school.  But do parents and teachers understand and convey?  And, if they don't, how bitter might be the lessons some of our kids learn from unexpected experience?

Cheers

Ruth

The happy life of teacher librarians: what sort of a teacher librarian do you think I am?

A bright faced year seven boy brandishes the latest Skulduggery Pleasant book (book 3) at me: "Miss, this was SO GOOD I've just finished it and I've started reading it all over again!"

Ah, the happy life of teacher librarians.

Later that day, a year 9 girl comes in during an afternoon class time.  "Miss, do you have the second book in the Private series?"  We establish it's by Kate Brian, and that we only have book 1.  A small amount of googling and amazoning establishes that there are nine more. 

"NINE?" I say in mock horror. 

"That's great," she says enthusiastically.  "You'll need to get the rest then, Miss, won't you?"

"What sort of teacher librarian do you think  I am, a sucker who will buy eight more books for you?"

She is unperturbed by my tone and says cheerfully, grinning at me, "Yes, Miss, of course you're one of those."

"You're an expensive reader, you are," I mutter as I ring up my favourite local independent bookshop, and put them on speakerphone.  Yes, they can get me the rest of the series.  "X thinks we need all of them," I say glumly. 

The bookseller, having also picked up the tone of this conversation, says, "We love X."

"Love you too," says X, and I hang up.  "When will they be in?" she enquires.

"Come and see me next term." I write out a post it note for my Reservations noticeboard, with her name and the series name.

"Thanks, Miss!  That's great!  I love it that you'll buy any book I want."

"I'm not quite sure it works exactly like that..."

"It did today!"

To tide her over, we find Moby Clique, and a couple more, and she heads off well pleased with her visit to the library.

The happy life of teacher librarians: being a sucker may not be a bad thing....

Cheers, Ruth

PS. They weren't vastly expensive books, I should add - will cost under $100, I think.  And I was fortunate to receive some funds from the P&C earlier this term.  Sometimes I couldn't do this quite as lavishly, but when you can...  I'd only bought the first in the series to suss out how popular it was, and it's finding friends...
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The happy life of teacher librarians: lunchtime today

WHEN IT'S WINDY AND COLD OUTSIDE AND THE LIBRARY HAS WHAT FEELS LIKE 150 MAYBE 200 STUDENTS IN IT WITH A TL AND A CLERICAL AND YOU ARE HOLIDAY BORROWING AND FINDING BOOKS AND ISSUING DOUBLE BORROWING PASSES AND YOU'RE SAYING, "George, don't do that*" EVERY COUPLE OF MINUTES AND DID I MENTION THE WIND THAT SETS THE KIDS OFF INTO LALA LAND BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WIND DOES TO CHILDREN AND YOU HOPE THEY'RE NOT DOING THE WRONG THING ON THE COMPUTERS BUT WHEN YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO HELP THE KID WHO WANTS A BOOK TO READ OR NEEDS INFORMATION FOR AN ASSIGNMENT OR GO DEAL WITH THE 'NAUGHTIES BUT NOT UTTERLY APPALLING AND MAYBE THEY'RE NOT DOING THE WRONG THING' ONES...AND SO YOU CHOOSE VIRTUE OVER POSSIBLE EVIL BUT THERE ARE KIDS EVERYWHERE AND ONE WHO NEEDS NURTURING NEEDS A CUP OF HOT CHOCOLATE BECAUSE RIGHT NOW THAT'S ALL YOU CAN PRESCRIBE AND THEN THAT ONE + THEIR SYMPATHETIC FRIENDS SIT ON THE FLOOR ON AND JUST OUTSIDE YOUR OFFICE BECAUSE MAYBE IT REPRESENTS SOME KIND OF SAFETY OR COMFORT BUT HEY, MAYBE IT'S CONVENIENCE AND ANYWAY THE HOT CHOCOLATE SEEMS TO BE WORKING WHEN YOU HAVE A MOMENT TO GLANCE OVER THERE AND MISS, I'VE READ TWILIGHT AND LIKE ADVENTURY THINGS, WHAT CAN YOU SUGGEST, I'LL BE ON A LONG LONG PLANE FLIGHT TO ITALY NEXT WEEK AND WANT TO READ AND SO YOU TRY NOT TO BE JEALOUS AND TO FIND GOOD THINGS THAT YOU HAVE IN STOCK AS OPPOSED TO THE MANY GOOD THINGS YOU'VE ALREADY SOLD/LENT TO OTHER STUDENTS AND ONE OF HER PALS COMES ALONG AND ADDS RECOMMENDATIONS TOO SOME OF WHICH ARE OUT BUT THANKS BE YOU FIND SOME PROSPECTS AND SHE HAPPILY GETS A DOUBLE BORROWING CARD AND BORROWS SEVEN BOOKS AND YOU HOPE THEY COME BACK FROM ITALY AND IS THAT TRIUMVIRATE OF (A) INTERMITTENTLY OBNOXIOUS AND (B)INTERMITTENTLY CHARMING YEAR 10 BOYS BEING (A) OR (B) TODAY AND IF THEY'RE BEING (A), WELL THEN ARE YOU GOING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT OR IS IT NOT QUITE APPALLING ENOUGH GIVEN WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON, AND MORE KIDS COME TO BORROW SO BOTH OF YOU ARE RUNNING HOT WITH THAT AND HANDING OUT HOLIDAY BORROWING BOOKMARKS AND MISS CAN YOU FIND THE FIRST BOOK IN THIS VAMPIRE SERIES AND WHERE IS THIS OTHER BOOK AND DO YOU HAVE THAT AND CAN I BORROW SOME SCRAP PAPER AND MAY I BORROW A TISSUE PLEASE (NO NO, YOU MAY HAVE EVERY TISSUE YOU NEED)  AND I NEED TO BORROW SOME SCISSORS AND MISS WHY IS MY COMPUTER BEEPING AND BEEPING AND MISS DID I SHOW YOU THE MANGA PICTURE MY BOY DREW OF ME AND HIM BUT IT'S ON MY MOBILE PHONE AND THEY'RE NOT ALLOWED BUT CAN I SHOW YOU LOOK HE'S GOTH TOO AND THAT'S A GUINEA PIG ON HIS SHOULDER BECAUSE HE HAS THREE AND THAT'S HOW HE DRAWS ME I THINK IT'S  A HEART THERE TOO MISS AND A HEAD TEACHER COMES IN TO BORROW A DVD AND REMARKS THAT IT SEEMS QUITE BUSY IN HERE AND OFF SHE GOES AND YOU CHECK TO SEE THAT THE HOT CHOCOLATE STILL SEEMS TO BE WORKING BUT YOU'D RATHER NOT HAVE TO STEP QUITE SO CAREFULLY OVER THOSE KIDS TO ANSWER YOUR PHONE WHICH IS RINGING AGAIN AND DID I MENTION THE DOZENS OR HUNDREDS OF KIDS IN THE LIBRARY AND THE WIND?

Some days, you know for sure that you've earned your salary.  Don't you?  My clerical assistant earned hers too, for sure and certain.

My first lunchtime at this school, two timid kids came to the library during the entire forty minute lunch break.  The next day, not many more.  Nah.  I don't want the old days back.  Just enough of me to survive lunchtimes like today's!

The happy life of teacher librarians!

Cheers, Ruth

PS. It is now the weekend.

*see this blog entry for the Joyce Grenfell monologue...

The happy life of teacher librarians: shoes off...

We've been working on making the library more comfortable, with the reading lounge and floor cushions (as previously blogged).

Side effect?

In comes a class, they settle in corners and on the floor with cushions.

And for some, off come the shoes (not because we've told them to do this).

It's lovely, as a sign of them being comfortable.  Maybe it's partly a habit from home, take your shoes off before you sit on the sofa.  We do have a feet-off policy on the soft chairs etc, to have room for more kids and so grubby shoes don't cause extra cleaning.... but it is also a measure of success (as is their quiet absorption once they settle to read, the kids you can see who are getting lost in their reading).  It's happening a lot more than it did, before the floor cushions and reading lounge.

...but as the kids tumble in, and settle to read, you kinda sorta hope that it wasn't a particularly energetic PE prac lesson they had last period.... you know? (she grins).

The happy life of teacher librarians: Comment from an ex-student

From 2002 to 2007, I was a year adviser, responsible for a year group cohort that began with about 210 students in year 7 and ended with about 120 in year 12.  As anyone who's been a year adviser knows, it takes energy and imagination and patience and persistence and a decent dollop of faith (not always justified, but often enough to keep you going) and time.  And many other things. 

We did a whole lot of stuff for and with the kids, my fellow year adviser and I.  Some they saw - camps and formals and solving of problems,  events and activities and fundraising and Being There (so you could be told why The World/The Boyfriend/That Teacher was Daft/Stupid/Cool/Driving Me Nuts.  Etc).  Some they didn't - revamped procedures and paperwork, so many plans and phone calls and interviews and discussions and (oh-I-don't-miss-it!) writing summative report comments.  But that's the nature of the job.

Last week, one of my cherubs came back to school to speak at a presentation assembly for students who've earned high awards.  The cherub, a young woman of considerable achievements on her own account and for the community, particularly young people, came by to say hello, and we had a chat and a catchup.

What I didn't hear till later was what she'd said to a colleague.  She'd looked at the library, and all we've done to re-imagine it in the last couple of years (check the dates when I was a year adviser...and it's not coincidence that I started this blog in 2008) and she said to my colleague, "Looking at the library, and how much it's changed, I could see just how much time and effort Miss put into our year group." 

I didn't neglect the library, while I was a year adviser, not at all - but it's true that I have more time and energy to give it now than I did then.  It's true as well that each thing we do as teachers adds to our 'stuff' and enriches the next thing we do, and the one after.  So some of what I learned, being a year adviser, undoubtedly feeds into work I've done in the library since then.  No experience wasted!

Isn't that a lovely compliment?  I thought so.  And appreciated her taking the time and thought to say it, and my colleague for passing it on.  I learned lots, being a year adviser, had some great times with the kids; but am happy, at the moment, to be able to give my energy to the work of the library, helping kids in this way.

It's such fun passing on compliments - I love having the opportunity to do that for colleagues and kids.  Try it, if you can. 

Cheers, Ruth