Snow... Snow... Snow... and more snow

No practicum this week due to the onslaught of SNOW!

Day Three: Other uses for the library

January 21, 2009
7.5 hours

This was my first day back since last week & it was also the students. Friday had been a snow day, Monday was the holiday & Tuesday was a professional work day. As the semester was to end on Friday but could not due to the cancellation, Wednesday quickly became Friday. It was a bit chaotic for both students & teachers.

Lisa was behind due to the days off. She is preparing for a second book sale for this school year & for the poets' visit with a poetry slam. She set me to work on finding not only collections of poetry but professional guides for teachers. The list needed to include both the school library's collection & the local public library. While it did not need to be comprehensive it needed to be as diverse as possible.

That's how I spent nearly my entire day: Looking through the school's shelves & catalog as well as the local public library's catalog to create a bibliography. After coming up with the list, I did some online searching to see what resources might exist to support or enhance the texts. At the end of the day Lisa shipped both her list of lesson plan ideas & my bibliography off to the teachers.

While the morning was nearly silent, the afternoon was a boisterous one. As I mentioned the school was still finishing up the last semester so finals, presentations, etc. were taking place all day. Classes did not come to the library for their typical time as they had to finish up. The afternoon, however, brought in 1/4 of the 7th grade to set up for presentation that would take place *in the library.* Students moved tables, set up two screens, two laptop / projector carts, microphones, a podium & chair seating. They practiced their presentations. The last 1.5 hours of the day were the presentations that brought in various city representatives, the superintendent & other school officials as well as fellow 7th graders. It was a spectacular presentation; the students did an incredible job.

For Lisa & I it was difficult to be able to do our work. The stacks were filled with unneeded tables rendering it impossible to reach them. The lights were off so the only light was from the glow of our computer screens. With so many people in the library typing away seemed rude to the presenters & guests but we were also not invited guests. We watched the first 1/2 and then went back to our work.

Of humorous note, the computer I was using froze up or shut down at least twice during my poetry investigation. A few times the web moved so slowly it shut down on me. It made the process even longer & a bit more frustrating. I did manage to finish (thankfully). Lisa asked me to look at some of the books for ordering for the upcoming book fair; she is grouping the books by theme. Three times I tried to log onto the computer to access the web to no avail. Both Lisa & I laughed about it agreeing it was just time for me to go home. =)

21.5 of 100 hours completed

Day Two: Time to show 'em what I got

January 15, 2009
6 hours

I awoke that morning early thinking about all the things that could go wrong with my book talks & the ways to overcome them. Nervously twitching back & forth in bed I went over & over my book talks again.

Then I found out that there was a two hour delay! Agony I tell you, pure agony.

Upon arriving at school, Lisa grabbed me & we headed to the teacher's classroom. Not only did the two hour delay pose a problem but the library was in use ALL DAY. Thinking quickly, Lisa asked the 6th grade English teacher if I could do the book talks in her classroom bringing a cart of nonfiction for students to pull from. The teacher agreed; Lisa got the times I needed to present & I raced back to the library to start pulling nonfiction.

Already nervous, these new additional bumps were just making me crazy. As I pulled books I took a deep breath reminding myself that I needed to roll with it.

"This is part of the job. Things can change in a moment's notice & you have to be ready to change with them."

Slightly calmer I made a cart of books for Lisa's review. Only one was pulled as she rightfully thought it was a bit above a 6th grade introduction.

Lisa asked if she should come with me or not. I asked that she skip the first one allowing me to try this out on my own but attend the second. Feedback would be needed but I wanted one under my belt first. Off I went, rolling my cart & reminding myself that this was going to be just fine.

And it was. Within moments of beginning the first book talk I was calm. This was fantastic! Telling children about books, just enough to pull them in, was absolutely incredible. Apparently I did a good job as 3 of the 4 books I talked were checked out! I was flying HIGH.

At lunch the teacher came down to the library; Lisa, unfortunately, was out of the room at that moment. The English teacher thanked me for what I had done, telling me what a great job it was. Then she burst my bubble. She had misspoke to Lisa; what she really wanted was biographies & autobiographies ONLY. Could I, possible, bring only those this afternoon?

Of course I said yes.

Lisa came into the library to see me removing all the nonfiction from my cart & zipping off to collect the requested books. She apologized profusely. I told her it was an outstanding learning experience. This is what it is really like. Lisa pulled a couple of books giving me enough to share them, not real book talks but enough to help pull students in.

The afternoon presentation went well. Again students checked out 3 of the 4 books I shared. Some students didn't want the well known individual so together we talked about what might be the right choice for them.

What was left of my day I spent shelving books. Having always loved shelving books, I was quickly again enraptured. Shelving provide me with some great thinking time about my day as well as better familiarity with the collection.

Some pertinent thoughts:
1. When pulling materials for teachers, I must be fully sure I understand not only what they are asking for but what they plan to do with the materials. This will help prevent some errors like I had experienced. It will also allow me to pull (or highlight) the best items for the lesson.
2. A familiarity with the collection is a must. Trying to recommend books when you are not sure what you even have is nearly impossible. Students do not like the "Well we might have something..." answer.
3. I really need to start reading more & more YA books.

14 of 100 hours completed

Day One: Jumping in with both feet

January 7th, 2009
8 hours

Arriving at my practicum I was a bit nervous. Lisa, my SLMS mentor, & I had met on numerous occasions previously. However, this was when the rubber met the road & I had to really do something. I had subbed in a middle school library within this district so I knew some of the ins & outs but nonetheless I was nervous.

Lisa welcomed me & showed me where to put my belongings as well as other needed details. We then went over a list of three possible projects (but not limited to only these) for me to work on that semester.

1. Catalog new books & then process for shelving
2. Put together poetry lessons & material ideas for teacher in preparation for the poet visit.
3. Put together a non-fiction bibliography & booktalks that represents the diversity of nonfiction.

This portion only took us about 1 hour or so. Then I was cut free to start project three... since I was presenting it the following week!!!!! Having never done a booktalk nor being quite sure what was within the collection I spent the remaining hours of my day reviewing books, pulling some for possible booktalking and creating a bibliography.

Well that and worrying endlessly.

8 of 100 hours completed