KathyTeaches

What's the Back-to-School Buzz in Your Building?

2009-09-20T16:48:00.002-05:00

On the School Library Monthly blog, I found a posting by Kristin Fontichiaro on September 15, 2009. In this blog, she's basically telling us about what she's doing this year (as a librarian) and what's hot with the teachers in her building (The Daily Five approach to reading and writing, Lucy Calkins' writing program, The Morning Meeting Book, and so on). However, I was especially interested in her comment about her title and her role in her school district.

First, she says she's "technically a school librarian in the mornings" and a "staff development facilitator" in the afternoons. She describes the second role and asks "aren't I still a librarian in the afternoons, too?" Well, in every since of the word, she IS still a librarian. With the second role, she's collaborating with teachers on learning strategies and involved in professional development.

Second, she says this is a "one-year-only job." Why? She says she's in a district that still supports having full-time elementary librarians, and that she's job sharing AND has two roles/titles. I wonder, if her school is so supportive of elementary librarians, why is she having to do all three and why is the position only for a year? She has a positive attitude, though, as she says with this being a short-term job, it "offers lots of opportunities to really put my thinking to the test in a larger arena." I'm not sure what that means. Is she looking at where she'll be next, or is her "arena" the many roles she's having to take on?

Thirdly, she says she has a student teacher. Hmmm.....I wonder why they would have a student teacher for with someone that's only going to be there for a year. Are they hoping the new student teacher will take over the job next year? If the position is going to be eliminated, wouldn't that be discouraging for a new person going into the field?

Finally, I noticed she says she's "multitasking in new ways, with more time spent planning with adults than working with kids." Is this the new trend? Librarians are expected to spend most of their time collaborating with other teachers? While this isn't necessarily a BAD thing, I AM concerned that she says she spends MORE time working with the adults than with KIDS!

At the end of the blog, she mentions she's been with her district for five years and that she likes they're having so many initiatives that correlate to books. She sounds like a librarian through-and-through, so why all the roles and the short-term job? I'll reply to her and see if we can get an answer next week!

Breaking News - Legislation to Keep Libraries Open Passes!

2009-09-20T16:37:00.002-05:00

Remember my blog from last week? Well, according to a blog on Library Stuff, the legislators passed a bill to keep the libraries open! The blog posted from Kathleen at the Free Library website of Thursday, September 17, 2009 says the vote passed 32 to 17. With this passage, the city of Philadelphia avoided laying off some 3,000 employees and forcing the closing of all the libraries in the "Free Library Community" (their public library system). According to the blog, more than 2,000 letters were collected, as well as "countless" telephone calls and emails "underscoring how important puplic libraries are to the economic, educational and social life of our city." Finally, the site thanks their library employees for remaining at their jobs and doing a professional job with their patrons and colleagues during a time of stress and concern.

While many people in our country go on strikes to get their points across, this campaign was effective because of the WAY it was handled. So many people, from all walks of life, let their voices be heard. Besides......I can't help but think the legislators didn't WANT to rid their city of such an instrumental part of their community.

Way to go, Philadelphia!!!!

Reader's Workshop

2009-09-13T22:17:00.003-05:00

School Library Monthly blog, "New York Times Article on Reader's Workshop...and what Joan poked me to say," by Kristin Fontichiaro on August 31, 2009.

Cool ideas in this blog. The New York Times recently had a front page article about Reader's Workshop in the classrooms and how they could be improved. The author, Matoko Rich, talks about how classroom teachers try to have large selections of books in their classrooms, but that they cannot compete with the large volume of books in the library. He also talks about how the teacher has a bias and his/her books may not provide what the student really needs. However, what I really took away from the article was a section where Rich mentions that so many school librarians are also certified teachers. He makes the point that the Reader's Workshop could actually be implemented with the school librarian! He says,

"More importantly, a school librarian is an instructional partner. Most school librarians possess dual certification as teachers and as librarians. As certified teachers, quality school librarians can co-facilitate a reader’s workshop experience, conference with students, co-plan and co-teach mini-lessons, jointly assess student progress, and serve as a second teacher. Imagine the powerful impact that can begin when we cut the student-to-teacher ratio in half."

What an awesome concept! I never thought of having our school librarian help with co-facilitating my Reader's Workshop, or conferencing with the students, let alone co-planning and co-teaching mini lessons for them! And to have her help even with the assessment!?!? My head swims with the possibilities!!!!!!!!!!

Say it isn't so

2009-09-13T22:06:00.002-05:00

Well, here I am with my weekly blog! And, once again, I have a blog from Dr. Joyce Valenza posted on the School Library Journal on September 12, 2009. This blog is titled, "Say it isn't so." I don't know this blogger, but she's got interesting blogs each week. This week, she shares a posting from the website of the Free Library of Philadelphia (http://libwww.freelibrary.org/closing/). Apparently their State Legislature has cut funding from the public libraries in Philadelphia, resulting in the closing of all the FLP libraries in the Philadelphia region. The site informs the public that no library materials will be able to be checked out after September 30, and that ALL items are due back by October 1. They are cancelling all business, including programs for children and adults, after-school programs, small business and job seekers programs, computer classes, visits from schools and others, and the privilege of GED, ABE and ESL programs being held at the libraries. Finally, at the bottom of their site, they say, "Even as we remain hopeful that the State Legislature will act and pass the enabling funding legislation, we wanted to notify all of our customers of this very possible outcome." They go on to give phone numbers and locations for questions about cancelled services.

What a sad state of affairs. Our economy has suffered so much, and even our libraries are affected. The really sad thing is that libraries are more than a place to get books. As the notice above says, it's a place for community programs to meet as well. I hope their State Legislature can do something to keep the libraries open. I'd hate to be in their shoes and have to fund what and where cuts should be made.......

2009-09-06T23:22:00.002-05:00

School Library Journal, August 27, 2009, by Joyce Valenza Ph.D
"There are holes in the buckets--and what the heck am I holding?"

What an interesting blog! Dr. Valenza speaks of how students are often sent on a mission to write a research paper, and they are told how many sources have to be from library shelves and how many can be from Internet sources. She makes a very valid point that when students are looking for information, what difference does it make if they find their source in print or on the Internet? She says, "Regardless of whether it came from a database, or the free Web, or our shelves, we look for clues together." She makes an important point that their state-sponsored NetLibrary Collection has more resources than their "shelves." She also says her online journal collection is far greater in size than what she could find in her library.

Interesting points. When we can go to the Internet, we have sooooo many more resources readily available to us. However, I just want to make sure students now HOW to locate resources in the library. And I don't want them to take their library for granted and decide the written forms of books are not important. So, while I agree with her that we should not be excluded from getting our resources from the Internet, I do think we need to keep including at least SOME resources from our actual library shelves.

Bookless Libraries???

2009-09-06T23:05:00.002-05:00

On an AASL Blog on 9/5/09, bhamilton wrote about "Bookless Libraries." This fit so well with a blog I sent out last week, that I was amazed at how commonplace this could become! Hamilton wrote about Cushing Academy in Massachusetts. Apparently the headmaster, James Tracy, has decided to remove ALL printed copies of books OUT of their school library! He is quoted as saying, "When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books." I was totally amazed by this statement. Hamilton disagrees vehemently, as do I, that printed books should be eliminated. I agree with Hamilton that it's great to move ahead into the modern world, and to incorporate e-books and other forms of modern technology, but to totally do away with the printed word is a scary idea that I hope is squashed very quickly! I keep thinking about how future generations will look at ours. What if they have no way of VIEWING what we create!?! I mean, think back to eight-tracks and cassettes. No longer can an eight-track be played. And cassettes are slowing disappearing completely. VHS tapes are being replaced by DVD's and BlueRay. Can you imagine finding an attic stuffed with VHS tapes 100 years from now and not having the ability to watch them and see what they are? The same thing goes for books. I can't imagine finding a buried civilization with electonic gadgets for books, and no way for the finder to work them and see what they are or how we lived! Besides, there's nothing like the feel of a book in your hand or the smell of the ink on the page. It's like a bit of heaven to me!

LM_Net Blog - No more research or term papers?

2009-08-29T18:07:00.002-05:00

My final blog for today deals with an LM_Net blog of August 15 by Bob Hicks. Apparently he recently heard an administrator state, "Colleges and universities no longer
assign library research or term papers to undergraduates." While he vehemently disagreed, he had no statistics to back him up. Wondering if any of the bloggers have this information, he has hit LM_Net with his request. It sounds as though he's fearful that the data doesn't even exist, and he wonders why?

Hicks says, "Could the administrator's statement be more right than wrong? Are universities, colleges, and ALA afraid that any such published study or survey might actually validate a dramatic demise of undergraduate research? College students no longer doing papers or research--good PR? Well-endowed libraries merely computer cafes and book museums?
Certain stakeholders and the status quo would be embarrassed and their influence diminished? Their funding and budgets might be negatively impacted?"

Next, Hicks extends a challenge to all universities, colleges, etc., to research this information. He asks them to not only develop and implement such a study, but the "proudly publish" their findings. As a final plea, he reminds us that, "Because of the recent technology, budgetary pressures, and emphasis on testing and assessments, librarians desperately need effective ammunition to defend their facilities, themselves and the profession!"

I couldn't agree more. If we cannot defend who we are, what we do, and what we believe it, we are likely to lose what we have. If we want libraries to be more than "computer cafes and book museums," we'd better be able to show their importance. If our society doesn't know the value of libraries in today's world, tomorrow's world may look much different.

LM_Net Blog - Digital Classrooms

2009-08-29T17:44:00.002-05:00

A recent blog on LM_Net from William Katzenberger (August 9, 2009) tells how a school in Vail, Arizona is pushing to be a digital school. According to Tamar Lewin, this school now gets their lessons on-line, does their homework, listens to podcasts of science lectures, etc., all via electronics.

Furter, he tells of another school where students with laptops can register for English, history, and science classes on-line. Apparently, this school district encourages teachers to put their lessons on PowerPoint, use videos, and even use the Internet for their research material. As
the blog says, although textbooks are not extinct, many educators feel they will soon be replaced by digital versions.

While I'm all for moving with the times, there's something to be said about holding a printed version of whatever you want to read. For instance, I know that the last year brought the closing of many newspapers in our country. More and more, people would rather read the Internet instead of holding a dirty newspaper in their hands. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people. However, the newspaper is not something I read much anyway. However, to see books go by the wayside makes me very, very sad.

Technology has given us new ways to read books without holding a paper version in our hands. For instance, I am thinking of the Kindle Reader. This is a great little hand-held device that one can carry around in a purse or a pocket. The user can download entire books and read them at their convenience. Once a book is read, the user can immediately go and download another. The Kindle can hold many, many books at one time. The reader has access to books within minutes. And just yesterday, I heard on the news that Sony is going to release their own device around Christmas, hoping to give the Kindle some real competition.

I would love to own one of these readers. However, not every book is available through these mediums. Will they ever have them all? I highly doubt it. Even so, and even though I'd like to own a Kindle myself, there's still nothing like the feel of the book in my hand. What will happen in the future? Only time will tell.

LM_Net Blog - Principal Peter Light -- Continued

2009-08-29T17:37:00.002-05:00

Oh, no! It gets worse! According to another LM_Net Blog of August 7, 2009, Patricia Sarles informs us that the librarian was indeed fired. Principal Light admits that their school is not only behind other schools in Massachusetts, but even in their very own district! With this in mind, he decided the course of action to take would be to restructure their school library BY SUBJECT! He actually used his theater teacher and assistant principal, for several weeks, to prepare the layout of the new "technology center." Even the athletic direction, football coach, and entire football team spent time moving around book racks, books, and furniture! Do they know how a library should look? Do they know how a technology center should look? Are they just hiding all the books and shelves against the wall and focusing the room as a computer lab?????

I agree with Patricia Sarles, they have no clue what they're doing!

LM_Net Blog - Principal Peter Light

2009-08-29T17:20:00.002-05:00

I just read an LM_Net blog from Catherine O Brown, posted on August 5, 2009. She wanted to bring to attention Franklin High School and Principal Peter Light. He posted something disturbing on his principal's blog recently that got the attention of Ms. Brown. I went on to watch the youtube.com references she posted. I also read the principal's blog she referred to.

Principal Light makes on very small comment, with very little explanation. He says Franklin High School has "reconfigured" their school library, and that it now a "technology center." Not only does it sound as though the library itself is no longer the focus, but it sounds as though the library staff is also gone. Instead, the new "technology center" is staffed with a "technology curriculum enhancement teacher" and two "educational assistants."

Ms. Brown is concerned that this is where our libraries may now be heading. I hope she is wrong. While I know there is DEFINITELY a need for current technology in our schools (especially as fast as technology keeps changing), we cannot lose the library or library staff to accommodate this new addition. The library needs to maintain a place of importance in ALL schools.

Hello!

2009-08-23T16:56:00.003-05:00

Hello! Welcome to my blog.

I've spent the entire weekend trying to organize and learn what I'm doing in my new college classes. Now I have to spend the remainder of the afternoon and evening working on lesson plans, etc., for work.

When will I ever have time to visit my kids and grandkids again!?!? :)