Stay Still or Move On?

I've been swallowed up in the library transformation project and I've abandoned my blog-but not for long!  It's also May, which as any school educator knows is the most hectic month of the year.   In the middle of the chaos I have had some interesting conversations with people that have caused me to consider the impact I have on my profession and students. I truly have the best job in the education business.  I have the opportunity to share great books with students and encourage teachers to use these books in their curriculum. I am able to attend some pretty amazing conferences (the Texas Library Association one is my hands down favorite) and meet some of the best writers in the publishing world.  Then I get to  share those experiences with my students sometimes in the form of author visits. I have the opportunity to design and implement library programs that encourage students to read new authors or genres and to perform a musical or written talent in a safe environment.  I have the opportunity to explore new technologies and instruct students, but mainly teachers, on how these technologies can enhance and expand student learning.  I have the opportunity to create some fabulous learning environments as I collaborate and teach with some of the best teachers I've known. I have the opportunity to instruct my students and colleagues on updated research techniques that are so crucial in today's world of excessive information.  Once I really sit down and think of the opportunities and the responsibilities that are a part of my job, I am simultaneously energized and exhausted.

In the district in which I work a new position has been created that involves many of the same opportunities, but based off a campus setting. The focus is on technology and librarians and assisting/instructing librarians on how they could utilize new tools or techniques on their own campuses.  What an amazing opportunity! The impact in this large district, which currently has 115 schools but is still growing, could potentially be huge.  I have loads of ideas already on how I could see this new position impacting the lives of our students and teachers.

I have several friends that have either retired recently or moved on to new positions.  I'm always curious as to how they came to the decision and the most common answer I receive is, "I just knew it was time". I've done a fair amount of reflecting on this new position and if I should take a chance and apply for it.  Each time I think I'm ready to do it I come back to several things.  Most importantly, a promise I made to my youngest daughter that I would not leave the school where I work until she has the chance to attend.  I've always wanted to work in whatever middle school my children attended and that worked out very well with the first one.  Another big factor is the students.  The 11, 12, 13 and 14 year-olds I have the opportunity to work with everyday provide an energy for me that I find sustaining.  When I think about the frustrations I experience in my job, it's almost 100% of the time with adults!  I seek solace with my students.  They bring me back to focus and underscore why I chose the profession I did.  I chose it to help them, to feed off their excitement, and provide them with opportunities they might not expect in a library.  Some people say middle school educators are a special breed and I agree, but I also know that this is one of the few places I can let my inner child out every day.  They keep this forty-something gal young and that is one thing I definitely consider a perk! Finally, the staff I work with is truly outstanding.  They have generously allowed me into their classrooms to co-teach and fearlessly tried out my crazy ideas. I have learned so much from them and they, like their students, energize me to think of new ways to impact our students.

I am glad this opportunity presented itself to me.  It has allowed me to pause and reflect during one of the most hectic times of the year.  It has caused me to determine that I am just not ready to move away from my students, my teachers, and my campus.  I worry about missing an opportunity and I hope it won't be the last one.  I'm definitely torn between having the chance to have a bigger impact and forge new directions or staying put and building on what I have established at my current campus.  When it comes down to it, I can't imagine not being so close to eager, energetic, enthusiastic students every day.  I can't imagine being away from a crucial energy supply in my life.  Like my friends have told me, I just think I'll know when the time is right for me to move on.  Right now it looks like that time might be a long way from now.

Helpful Hints For Rounding Up Library Felons!

It's that time of the year in the library. Time to really start hassling my students to return long overdue library books. In previous years I've run overdue reports, passed them out to my reading teachers, and held a contest to see which teacher could be the first to get all her classes to return library books. I would wait until I had about 50 students left on the list and then I would start making phone calls home. That entire process was long and tedious. I've started doing things a little bit differently.

Last year I started utilizing the library Instagram account to get the attention of my students that the time has come to start looking to for long overdue books. I generally create some image to post online. Here are some I have used:
My daughter created this one.

I created the one below:

My most recent message created with mematic app

This year I posted a similar "overdue library book" message on the school Twitter account as well as the PTA Facebook page.  Our PTA also has an extensive email list and the message will be sent that way as well.

Of all the techniques I've tried, the one that seems most effective is a phone alarm reminder. I ask students to set an alarm on their phone to remind them to look for their library book. I generally ask students to set the alarm to go off around 8:30pm and I also request they use the "old car horn" (the majority of my students have an apple device) alarm sound since it's one they rarely use and it seems to catch their attention.  For any students that don't have a phone or iPod, I use something called a wrist reminder. 

paper bracelets come in packs of 30.

I saw these at Office Depot and they work great. I write or attach a mailing label on it that reads, "return library book" and attach it to the students' wrists.


Hope some of these can be useful for you during this busy time of year!

The Change has begun!

Last week I wrote about implementing a big change in my library - arranging my fiction area according to genres.  This week, I jumped right in and started the first steps.  I have to say up front I would NEVER have even considered this if I did not have the amazing parent volunteers that I do.  There is no way I would stay sane trying to do this alone, while also keeping the library open to students.  One volunteer in particular is my motivator. She can sense when I need a pep talk and will encourage me when things seem overwhelming. She's, in a word, AMAZING!!!

Before deciding on making the change, I read several blogs and articles about how to approach this process, but the most helpful by far was Leigh Collazo's blog. She laid out the entire process so neatly that this intimidating task seems much more doable.  I started out with her framework and made minor adjustments that fit my collection and my students. A million thanks, Leigh, for documenting  your process so nicely!  I think it's key to have record of how any library is arranged so whoever inherits the library next can easily pick up the arrangement.

My first step was deciding on the genres I would use in my library, and then picking the one genre I thought would have the least amount of books.  For my collection that was the sports genre (or so I thought!  I recently worked on mythology - my collection is severely lacking in this area!).  I ran a report in our library software using the keywords of "sports" and listing other individual sports.  That generated a few hundred titles.  My library volunteer and I then began pulling these books off the shelf and loading them on book trucks.  We then played around with our software to determine the correct call number for each book. We decided on F AAA - Sports.  I thought it was important to keep that "F" in front and just tack my special genre label on the end.  After that decision was made, each book had to be scanned and the call number changed.  Again, I had a fabulous friend come in to help me with this process.  I've decided this whole change will take a village!

Pulled books ready for stickers

After the call number was changed it was time for stickers.  I decided I would just color code each book instead of removing the original spine label to save time, as well as keep the uniformity of the labels.  I also didn't want to change any of my specifications with the companies I use to purchase my books for the library.  And I love the colorful stickers :-)  While one class came in the library this week, my volunteer suggested I ask the teacher if her students could help put stickers on the books. She thankfully agreed, and in 25 minutes those students put stickers on the entire sports collection and half the Historical Fiction section. Library Ninjas are awesome!!  I'll definitely be going back to this method with each section.

Library ninja helpers, the sticker monsters!

After the stickers were placed on the books, they were moved to a bookcase in my library classroom as a temporary location.  They look nice, don't they?

newly "stickered" books in their temp location.

My next step is to make room in the main library to start shelving the books that have been "stickered".  This will be a little tricky.  I would like to avoid the "bookshelf shuffle" as much as possible, but I'm afraid there aren't too many ways around it.  Time to get creative!