Day 25

2/27/12

This is my last journal entry! While I’ve enjoyed the writing and REALLY enjoyed the reflecting on how all of the posts fit together, I’m glad I’m done. It was another big task and, as the content of the journal reflects, librarians have enough big tasks for two people!

This week we’ll have our spring break and only have school on Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday. The district technology director is upgrading our server and we’ll be getting a newer version of our Destiny software. I’m really excited! The work will begin tomorrow and so I had to ask the students and staff to not check out or return books on Tuesday or Wednesday. This meant that today was BUSY!!! Usually I only allow children to check out 2 books at a time but today I allowed them 4 if needed so they’d have enough to read over the break. I’m sure that tomorrow I’ll have some kids come and ask to check out and I’ll have to break their little hearts. Many of our students come to the library everyday or two to get new books. I’m really glad to have a system that is so open. I’ve worked at schools where kids can only checkout books on their assigned library day and I really dislike that.

 

Day 24

Today I want to share the post I wrote for http://www.weteachwelearn.org

It deals with the new role of the specialist. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. The text book we got for our class is the BEST I’ve used since starting the LIS program. I think it “gets” what it is to be a school librarian better than any other I’ve seen. Reading the book, doing this journal, and reflecting on some of the work I do consulting with school districts (this year I’m doing a new teacher cohort for new ESL teachers) has lead me to share the thoughts below.

Beyond the Kidney-Shaped Table: The New Role of the Specialist

• Contributor
• The Shift
• 2 comments

By Rita Platt

“Most people think of leadership as a position and therefore don’t see themselves as leaders.”
~Stephen R. Covey

When I first began as a reading specialist my job was simple and clear. I followed a “pull-out” model. I pulled small groups of students at like reading levels out of their classrooms and worked with them on reading skills. My small groups were well-run, the students enjoyed them, and parents felt that their children were getting the extra support they needed. But, in reality the students did not do much better on standardized tests than they likely would have without my intervention and they did not “graduate” from the pull-out sessions. That is to say that if a child was in a pull-out group one year, she was likely in a pull-out group the next year as well.

Several years later my school changed its model of collaboration to a “push-in” philosophy. Now, my job required me to go into the classroom and work with students in their regular classroom setting. I sometimes pulled small groups to the back of the room for reteaching but often wandered from desk to desk helping when needed. For several months I felt at sea. I couldn’t clearly articulate my new role and began to feel like a glorified classroom aid. As time passed I was able to parlay my work into a combination of co-teaching and pulling targeted students aside to help them master content. But, again the data wasn’t showing great results.

By the time I left the school, my role was more multi-faceted than I could have imagined. I continued to do a limited amount of pull-out and push-in teaching but the larger focus of my work was to make my specialized knowledge and experiences available to my mainstream colleagues in service of their efforts to meet all students’ learning needs in the context of regular classroom teaching. I had become a “collaborative consultant”.

This same shift in roles is occurring in schools all over the nation. Reading Specialists. Literacy Coaches. Special Education Teachers, Content Leads, ESL Teachers. Library Media Specialists. Behavior Interventionists. Each of these titles holds an expectation of highly specialized knowledge about teaching and learning. Frequently specialists are asked to do more than just provide direct instruction. They are tasked, as I was, with being be co-teachers, consultants, and advocates. And, they are asked to do so with limited training, mentoring, or other help.

In an effort to usher success in this new role below you will find resources and information to help facilitate your plunge into your new role as a co-teacher, consultant, and advocate. As always your feedback is encouraged! Please share your thoughts! Add to the We Teach We Learn conversation by sharing your experiences, advice and questions! I look forward to hearing from you!

Co-teaching:
Co-teaching was pioneered in special education programs. The goal was to get students with IEP’s more time in the regular classroom while same time providing continuing IEP support for students. There are generally 6 models of co-teaching. The results of the effectiveness of are mixed with some models being stronger than others. Check out the sites below to learn about each model.

Greenbrier School District Co-Teaching Handbook (pdf)
This booklet offers great basic information about co-teaching and the different models of co-teaching.

Co Teaching Strategies
A great YouTube video of actual co-teachers in an actual classroom implementing each of the models.

Co-Teaching in the Classroom (Prince George’s County Public Schools Region IV) (pdf)
PowerPoint presentation with terrific graphic representations of each of the models.

Consultant:
Consulting is often the specialist’s most challenging role. Consulting can broadly be defined as being the go-to person for help, ideas, and strategies that teachers can use with students in their classrooms. Consultants also offer professional development, assessment strategies, and data analysis support. Often consultants are referred to as “coaches”.

Top Ten Behavioral Consulting Tips; (pdf) Diana Browning Wright
Brief overview of strategies that effective consultants apply to their work with classroom teachers.

Do’s and Don’ts for Literacy Coaches: Advice from the Field; Bean & DeFord
Wonderful article with practical advice for coaches and consultants. Though it speaks directly to literacy coaches the information can easily be applied across specialist roles.

Coaches Help Mine the Data (pdf)
Looking at data with classroom teachers is an essential component of effective coaching. This paper provides a primer for helping teachers look at assessment data.

Advocate:
Advocating for students is another role of the specialist. This means that specialists should work closely with school and district leadership to ensure that the needs of the students and teachers they work with are being met.

ACSD Advocacy Guide (pdf)
ACSD offers this PDF booklet of ideas, suggestions, and strategies for successfully advocating. Most of the suggestions and scenarios are focused on the national level but can easily be used at the school/district level as well.

Fighting the Good Fight: How to Advocate for Your Students without Losing Your Job; Rick Lavoie
Outstanding article that combines a how-to for being an advocate and great advice for consulting as well.

 

Rita Platt is a Nationally Board Certified teacher. Her experience includes teaching learners of all levels from kindergarten to graduate student. She currently is a Library Media Specialist for the St. Croix Falls SD in Wisconsin, teaches graduate courses for the Professional Development Institute, and consults with local school districts.

Related posts:

1. The Future: Where “winging it” becomes best practice

Tags: collaboration Leadership Professional Development

2 Comments

Rebecca S

February 22, 2012 at 10:17 pm

Wow, what a resource! I’m going to share this with all the teachers I know. The comment/question I have is, when and how does a classroom or district know that they need to move to a co-teacher model? I can see where it would be extremely valuable for any teacher to have any number of specialists they could turn to (as consultant, helper, etc.), but I know not all teachers would be comfortable utilizing a resource like this. Change and collaboration can be hard sometimes. I can also imagine there are funding issues in hiring specialists. Lots of questions…love reading about this stuff!

Reply

Rita Platt

February 23, 2012 at 6:44 pm

Rebecca, this was mostly written as a resources for specialists who are working in schools today. One thing I’ve heard from them is that they want to help other teachers but that they don’t know how to approach them. My hope was that this would provide some guidance about how to do that. One of the things that I always try to do as a specialist is to offer myself to teachers as a servant…a nonjudgmental partner in their classroom. Mostly it works… Does that begin to answer your question?

Day 23

2/23/12

Today I got ready for a substitute. I am taking a personal day tomorrow. Writing lesson plans for a guest librarian is challenging. There are so many passwords, procedures, unforeseeable needs, and directions to be issued and dealt with.

One time I left a sub with my beloved library for half a day. In that time she checked out EVERY single book that passed under her scanning wand to the SAME child! Oh my! What a mess. I don’t blame her, my job is complicated!

To help with this, I keep standard instructions handy. A sheet with passwords, a booklet that explains how to reshelve books, and information on how to print AR tests. I then write plans for each 30 minute period of the day. Tomorrow that means sharing plans for 3 classes (grades 1, 3, & 4), 4 checkout sessions, and 3 intervention groups.

These days I feel blessed to have the same sub every time I’m gone. She is WONDERFUL! She spent a day with me in the library to learn and in return I promised that I would call her each time I needed to be out. This has worked beautifully. Today, as I left, I did so without the usual pang of fear that I experience when I know I’ll be gone.

Day 22

2/21/12

One of the things I like about how I run my library is the way students are asked to help keep it neat, clean, and organized.

Books are put away in one of 4 places:

1. The hardback browser (by AR color)

2. The paperback browser (by AR color)

3. The “spinny rack” (by series)

4. The shelves (by Dewey)

ALL students know how to put books away in the browsers and spinny rack. In 2nd grade students learn how to find and put away fiction books (novel section & picture book section) on the shelves. In 3rd grade students learn how to find and put away nonfiction books on the shelves.

Almost all reshelving is done by students. When a child comes in to return a book I check it back in and ask her/him to put it away for me. Each morning, recess, and afternoon I have 4th graders reshelving.

They students love to help, they learn library skills, they take ownership in their library, and they help me a ton!

 

 

Day 21

2/17/12

Back to the kindergarten today! YAHOO! I love working with my little readers. We’ll start the “book club” today. Last week I assessed the students. It’s great to be a librarian with a reading specialist certification. I actually think that ALL elementary school librarians should have advanced training in teaching children to read.

The assessment results showed that out of 87 kids, 29 are already reading. Of those 29, 9 are reading at a mid-first grade level, 11 at an early first grade level, and 9 at the word-level. Today I will work with the 20 readers (the first 2 groups). I will give each a reading journal and show them how to pick books at their “just-right” level. They will do a page in the journal each week. Work will happen in the classrooms and we will meet once a week to share it.

Instead of regular lessons, I will go to students’ classrooms and we’ll look at the books in teacher’s libraries so I have teach them the “Goldilox Method” and the “Five Finger Rule” for picking “just-right” books.

_____________________________

The day is done! The work with the kinders was WONDERFUL! They are all very excited and it was sooooo fun to teach them in their own rooms. The teachers all watched the lesson and I think they now have a better idea of how to help children pick “just-right” books.

 

Day 20

2/16/12

Today I just felt grumpy! Doesn’t happen that often, but occasionally I get frustrated by the sheer amount of work that I cram into each day. The endless barrage of little problems and questions and needs for attention. I am not complaining, just telling how I felt today. I think that being an elementary school librarian is the best job in the world, but today I felt grumpy. It’s a normal part of anyone’s life, right?

My wonderful husband wrote this poem for me after we had a few laughs about my day. It pretty much sums up how I felt today.

Ode on an Irritated Librarian

By John Wolfe

It’s 2:15; you’ve been running like a sprinter

mean streets of dusty shelves – more a marathon —

and you still haven’t replaced the toner in the printer

 

unshelved returns heap round, a permabound winter,

to be shelved at lunchtime – but that time has come and gone –

so when? you don’t feel compelled to even wonder.

 

In the repairs pile Harry Potter lies in splinters

or whatever wizards collapse into when their bindings gone

an angry insistent beeping rises from the printer

 

It was you who made this place the school’s center,

with reading buddies, buddies reading, voices on and on,

you love the buzz, but even the most seasoned sprinter

 

dreams of lolling lazy on a convenient manicured lawn

but in three minutes you’ll be helping 30 3^rd-graders enter

passwords so complex they’d boggle the Pentagon.

 

And you’ll listen as first-graders read in halting sing song

some Dr. Seuss book you’d rather see a cinder

but your chance to hide the book has long since gone

And you still haven’t replaced the toner in the printer.

 

 

Day 19

2/15/12

When I first read the assignment for this portion of the class, I laughed out loud. “Write down everything you do.” I still think it’s funny. Any working library-media-specialist knows that this would not only be next to impossible, it would be an awesome task to write about or read.

Today, like all days, I was busy almost every minute. My focus for this reflection will be on my collaboration with my wonderful principal.

To start the day we visited about a few issues on the burner:

1. Continuing to support the kindergarten teachers as they begin to differentiate up for their advanced learners. We will ask the 4k teachers to visit the k classrooms. I will meet with the k classes again on Friday I will teach the children to choose “just-right” books. Then, I will work with the teachers on getting differentiated groups going in their own classes.

2. In conjunction with the goals I wrote for this class, we will have a Library Night at the end of the year to kick-off our summer-reading goals. Students will wear PJs and we’ll get high school volunteers to read with the children. Jeff & I will meet with the adults to talk with them about the summer reading program and share various resources they can use at home over the summer.

3. Jeff will come to the after school PLC meeting to discuss our groups work to this point and to talk about moving forward with Positive Behavior Intervention Supports in the coming weeks. He approved and our PLC is happy that we can help lead the school!

One thing I know for sure is that in ANY school-related job it is critical to have the principal’s support. The best way to get that support is to respect the boss’ authority, to do a good job, and to keep him/her informed of what’s happening.

I’m lucky, I have a GREAT principal. I work everyday to nurture that relationship.

Day 18

2/14/12

A look at my emails over the course of any given day will tell you the same thing. My job has VERY diverse aspects. This was the topic of the course last night and it rang so true to me. On any given day I am a teacher, a librarian, an administrator, a counselor, a staff-development/curriculum coordinator, a secretary, and a tech person.

Today a look at the emails sent today (BTW, my nickname is “Rita”):

_________________________

Friends,Dr. Seuss’ birthday is on the horizon. His BD in on March 2nd (during spring break.) We also have an early-release that week but we could still party it up Seuss style in a super-short week. Frankly, this is the kind of thing I’m terrible at! But, if others want to celebrate the week below are some ideas and some weblinks for even more ideas.Last year (and I suppose in lots of years before that), folks decorated their doors with Seuss pictures. Let’s do that again!
I’ve got lots of Seuss books in the LMC for you to borrow.

Anyone want to suggest something more ambitious?!?!?!?

: ) Rita

http://www.kinderthemes.com/DrSeuss.html

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/dr-seuss-birthday/

http://www.nea.org/grants/13019.htm

____________________________________

Thanks for taking care of this. I’ve been reading a lot as well. Got a Kindle for Christmas!
Hugs to you and Al!
Rita

On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 11:23 AM, M wrote:

Rita, may I ask you to communicate with Melissa and Kelli, please.   Am very sorry that especially needy youngsters are having to meet with so many adults.  Loreen, however, is an excellent sub and if she can stay with the kids, that will be great.

Hope all is well with you…and with John and your family.

We are taking advantage of all the new learning opportunities and time to READ!    Am catching up with books that others read years ago.   Ahab’s Wife is a keeper….one I will read again in a year or so.   Am reading Kitchen House….the type of story that is good…..and very hard to read, at the same time.  My imagination goes into overdrive.

See you in a couple months!

Marilyn

_________________________

R,I’ll start the book club next week. I’m also going to work with the teachers on differentiation. Anytime you want to hang out and talk, let me know. But, it does sound like you’re already doing TONS at home! One thing I always spend time talking about with my upper-level groups is the idea that they are ultimately responsible for making life challenging in a good way. I’ll do this (in a loving way) with the kinders as well. We’ll talk about ways to challenge themselves during the day.Hugs to all!

: ) Rita

On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 7:18 PM, R wrote:

Thanks for your quick response, Rita! What wonderful timing that you were just working with them this week! And I can’t believe I called Mrs. R, “Mrs. H.” E corrects me all the time.

It’s wonderful to know what you said about how Mrs. R works with the kids to excel. It should be obvious when your child has a “good” teacher vs. one who has lost their spark, but it’s not always obvious to me. It’s nice to hear your opinion, which I value. I can’t imagine just keeping 17 kindergartners fed and without injury, let alone organizing, teaching, and playing with them!

I know that having a kindergartner who reads is nothing new, and by no means do we imagine that E is superior to any of her classmates. It’s the change we see in her that has me concerned. I think a bit of challenge will be all it takes to bring her back to the excited student we saw a couple of months ago. And we are very excited to help.

I love the idea of a book club and also working with E to take responsibility for challenging herself. I’ll admit, I can’t immediately picture what that looks like at this level. I know I need to figure out a way to spend time in her classroom. Maybe if I understood better how things work, I would have a better idea how to encourage E. And we would love homework ideas. We do quite a bit already just because she loves it (Mom, will you give me some math problems? Mom, can we write a story?), but I would love advice on how to guide the activities we do.

Thanks for all your help. You’re such a star!!
R

On Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 6:15 PM, Rita Platt <plattr> wrote:

R,

Funny that you wrote this today! I spent all afternoon yesterday and today at Dresser. Yesterday I worked with the teachers to begin to think about how we will meet our upper-level learners needs. Today I assessed all of the kids who are already readers. Ella was among those I read with today and she is quite a little reader! So sweet!

I WHOLEHEARTEDLY agree that ALL learners should be met where they are. My philosophy has always been that each child is owed at least a year’s growth in a year’s time no matter where they start.

My plan is to spend the weekend looking over the data and thinking, thinking, thinking about how we’ll serve all of our sweet kinders. I’m thinking that we’ll need to get a plan in place for independent reading work for each child who is reading well above expectations. I do a “book club” with our high achievers and will start that next week. The kids love it and it’s a challenge. Ella will do most of the work for the club in her classroom and I’ll meet with the kiddos once a week to check in.

One thing to keep in mind is that Mrs. R (spelling???) really works with kids to excel in many subject areas. Especially writing. We might want to talk with Ella about how she can begin to take responsibility for challenging herself. Also, if you’d like, I can meet with you and share some “homework” ideas.

In the meantime, know I’m on the case!

Hugs to you all!

Rita

u, Feb 9, 2012 at 12:47 PM, R wrote:

Hi Rita,

I am so happy to be able to contact you about Ella! We just love that she’s reading and doing amazing things in math. Even more, we’re so thrilled to see her excitement in these areas — she just loves to “do school.”

But maybe I should back up. My mom, C, has many friends who are (and were) teachers. S and I, and my mom, have all been talking about what we can do for E to keep her moving forward and excited about learning. In the past couple of months we’ve seen a definite decrease in her desire to go to school and an increase in discussions about how school is boring and she’s not learning anything new. (Believe me, we know some of this is drama.) It seemed to us that E teacher, Mrs. H, has been doing some things to push E, but after our last conference, we left feeling a bit deflated. (We’ve been thinking of scheduling another conference, without children this time.) I am very sympathetic to teachers — I think teaching is one of the most difficult jobs there is. And I’ve seen the huge range in abilities and skills of the children, especially in lower grade levels. I often wonder, “How is one teacher supposed to meet the needs of all those students?”

Well, my mom started talking with some of her friends (primarily A). A seemed to share with her that teachers really are supposed to stretch and work to do all they can for all of their students. And this got me thinking more. If E was struggling, and I felt her needs weren’t being met, I certainly would work and fight to do all I could to make sure those needs were being met. So why wouldn’t I do the same if she’s excelling?

I watched my now 20-year-old son’s excitement for learning and school diminish greatly when S cut their gifted program. I don’t want to see this happen to another child (mine or someone else’s).

I feel at a loss, not knowing who to talk to first, and was happy when A suggested talking to you! I don’t know what the options are, but I’d love to help explore them. S and I definitely feel that parents play a HUGE role in their children’s education, and that learning doesn’t stop at 3:15. We expect to be partners!

I’ll stop here for now, but if you need more information or examples of what she’s doing in class or at home, please let me know. Or if I should contact someone else, we’re happy to do that.

Thanks for all you do for the kids at S! We are all so blessed to have you serving our families!

R

H,I thought this over all weekend. I’ll tell you what, I think the best response to this is no response at all. I would be happy to email / class and tell them that we’ve put _______  back in my group to reduce her “stress to infinity”, then if the conversation tilts toward it I would love to tell them that _________ is not wildly above the level of MANY of her peers. And that the stress needs to be dealt with b/c it’s not going to abate in life. Thoughts?: ) Rita

Thanks so much! I’ll continue to work with S on time management. Keep in touch!

H,

Thank you for the reply and the encouragement you gave her upon completion today.   She told me you were happy and said “all done”.     She said she got them done and all is good.   I asked her about sentences in the future and she is under the impression that having them done by Thursday is great!       I told her finishing them on Monday would be better, but she said that would be too hard.

She says she has stress in her head to infinity.    I might try doing some practice sentences at home to help her pick up the pace a little bit.    We also talked a little bit about the small group work.   She then got stressed out about that work too.

Time management is difficult for ______ and gets worse as she gets overwhelmed.     Most people can see work piling up and say to themselves, “wow, I better get going!!”    Instead, she says “I just don’t feel like doing any of this.”      She really seems to struggle with kicking it into high gear when needed- not just in school.    This issue is strange, as she seems to do well in other areas.      Anything you can do to help her learn time management would be greatly appreciated.     She really seems to need special attention with this, we have trouble teaching her this stuff too.     Most things she picks up so easy, this she has a really hard time with.

I really hate to see her start to do worse in school due to this time management issue.   I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but to her it is a REALLY BIG deal.   Being a former teacher, I know that kids that don’t like school are going to start slipping.      She has now said many times that she hates school and that is a bummer.

Sorry for being an extra work load.    I really do appreciate all the help.

J_________

_____________________________________

Si,

M made a deal with me to finish his Geronimo Stilton book and take (and pass!) a test on it my Monday. Can you help me hold him to it? He’s in my reading group now and I want him to grow, grow, grow!

You sure have a great kid in M. I love his smile, his sense of humor, and his very neat handwriting.

Rita

____________________

B,

Just tried our new student’s password and it’s not working.

_______ Dillon  (Be’s class)

dilldo22

veef22

And, B, his username is going to be a problem for him before we know it. Can we change it to something less….well, you know….)

: )

____________________

This weekend I read a GREAT book, The Book Whisperer. Thanks to Barb for the suggestion! If you like to read, pick up a copy of this book. It is incredibly inspirational and grounding at the same time. If you don’t think you can fit it into your own reading life, take a minute to consider the author’s basic beliefs about teaching reading. Might even make a good PLC discussion…

1. ALL children are readers. To be human is to be a reader.
2. High expectations for all readers is critical. Students must have goals and must be helped to follow-through.
3. Students must have choice, choice, choice.
4. But, students must be pushed to read various genres and to read more than they otherwise might have.
   
5. Reading is the way to be a better reader. You learn to read by reading. There is no substitute for nose-in-a-book time.
   
6. Our class structure (including both time and physical space) should be organized to permit as much reading as possible.

____________________

No problem, D! But, now you’ll have to watch it again! (Or at least hear it in the background while you do other work…)

On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 8:20 PM, D> wrote:

Rita:

No idea there was a problem, or that M had sent an email. Randy forwarded me the email from J and I have already watched the video and printed out my certificate.  It was my understanding from J’s email that it could be done independently or in PLC group.

D

On Sun, Feb 12, 2012 at 10:33 AM, Rita Platt < wrote:

M & D,

This is in response to M’s email…

J sent this link to PLC leaders only. You have not missed anything. We have been asked to view the video as a group during PLC time. Is there a reason that won’t work?

: ) Rita

———- Forwarded message ———-
From:

Date: Thu, Feb 9, 2012 at 2:35 PM
Subject: Fwd: Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting and Training

Greetings,

Please read below.  At the next PLC meeting or after school, please watch this video with your group.  It is 16 minutes long.  Submit a document attesting who was present.  This is required of all staff.  If you have questions please let me know.  Thanks.

J

———- Forwarded message ———-

____________________

Dear R,

This week our student of the week is Jack _____ He is a 2nd grader in Mrs. P’s class. He lives at home with his wonderful family. At home Jack likes to bug his older brother! But they love each other! At school Jack loves to learn math. He thinks, “Math is pretty much the key to everything. Physics, construction, and science all need math.” When he grows up he wants to be a scientist.

Thanks!

Rita

_____________________

Folks,

You are seriously the best teachers I’ve ever worked with. You ALL should consider working on National Board Certification next year. Benefits include a $2,500 stipend from the state each year, the BEST professional development experience in the world, and a Master Teacher License that you don’t have to renew for 10 years. Also, at a time when teachers are looked down on, it brings some professionalism and respect back to the profession. 

I earned mine in 2009 and loved the challenge. It’s hard, it’s deep thinking, it’s work. But, it’s worth it. I would LOVE to help anyone who is interested. There is a teacher at the middle school who’d like to do it and at least one here at the ES that is considering it. 

Read about it. If you’re interested, let’s start a cohort. You need support to do it and again, I would LOVE to help with that support. 

: ) Rita

____________________________

 Note to self:

PARENT NIGHT

Get teenaged volunteers to read with kids.
Wear PJs and read in the library.
Show mom’s & dad’s what the library has to offer and answer questions.
Read/tell a story to all.

____________________________

Cady,You are VERY dear! I’m not sure how teachers are going to put kids in intervention groups. But, no matter which teacher you end up with we know that you’re a great reader!I’m so glad that you enjoyed the “push” you got in Battle of the Books. I am VERY proud of you!: ) Mrs. P

On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 4:28 PM, C wrote:

dear Mrs. Platt,

I hope i can be in your intervention group As you know, I am a awsome reader and i really think I should really be in the intervention group. Thanks for pushing me so hard that I won all them except one at the semi battle when we lost our minds an had a brain freeze Once again thanks so much

___________________

Here ya go!

Hi Rita~
We have a new little friend in Mrs. Scr’s class.  His name is A and his lunch ID is 7240.  Could you send me a UPC for the library check out sheet?

Thanks and Happy Valentines Day!!!

Day 17

2/13/12

Today was so busy! It is a Monday and that means that everyone and her brother needs new books. It was a no-prep, no-lunch day. That means that my schedule was filled every minute of my contract time. Add to that unscheduled check outs, trouble shooting, helping, etc….SHEESH! WHAT A DAY!

This causes me to reflect on the idea that as librarians become partners in teaching they still must do all of the traditional roles of a circulation specialist. That is a problem. Something will have to give…

Another thing I did today was reflect on my growth toward my professional goals. Below is the exchange between my principal and me.

On Mon, Feb 13, 2012 at 8:43 AM, wrote:

Good Morning,

Below are your goals for this year.  Please indicate your progress and return by Feb. 20.  This will become part of your 2011-2012 evaluation.  If you have questions please stop by.  Thanks.

1. Customer Service Goal:
I will constantly remind myself that there is no such thing as an interruption in my role as library
media specialist. My customers, be they adults or children come first.

To this end, I will always stop what I’m doing, smile, and to give TOTAL attention to the
customer who seeks my service!

I am still doing well at this goal. It was a goal last year that I felt I had mastered but needed to continue to focus on this year. 

2. Curriculum Goal:
I will work with teachers to learn and understand all of the following:
• Standards and Benchmarks at each grade-level (focus on ways to infuse technology.)
• Common Core Standards
• Testing Focus
• Major units of study/themes at each grade-level.

Coming along swimmingly!  I have incorporated technology into every grade that I teach with a focus on the research projects I do with the 4th grade. I worked with teachers to unpack the Common Core Standards, did an inservice on using testing data (and worked with teachers on this repeatedly during PLCs). Now that I’ve begun work with BYOC I am focusing on making sure that the LMC curriculum is 100% inline with grade level units of study. 

3. Professional Development Goal:
I will work with teachers to do the following:
• Master AR & STAR as instructional tools.
• Build capacity so that more teachers can print and interpret reports

Did an inservice on this at the beginning of the year. Most teachers can interpret and print their own reports. My next steps are to teach teachers to use the Learning Progressions and the Instructional Planning reports. 

4. Climate Goal:
I will:
• Work with my PLC team on school climate issues
• Make 2 positive phone calls to families each week

My PLC is doing GREAT on the climate issues. We’ve got great stuff to share with staff whenever there is a chance…

As for the two positive phone call per week….I started strong but fell off. I am so glad you sent these goals back to me and I will begin making calls again tomorrow!

5. Collection Goal:
I will work with teachers, students, and school data to:
• identify special area’s in need of development including hi/lo readers, high interest
materials for boys, 3rd & 4th grade novels, book to support classroom themes/units of
study.)
• weed old books.
• increase circulation though use of book talks and “right book, right reader, right time”
method.
• Label more books for AR/Reading level—INCLUDING classroom teachers library.

Weeded the animal collection (broke my heart, but had to be done.) Next I’ll week the general science section. Circulation is at an all-time high…I can barely keep up! All students know how to use “IPICK” and the “5 Finger rule”. I continue to work with individuals to find just-right books when needed.

ALL AR books are labeled as such in the library. I have developed a system to make non-AR books AR through the use of alternate tests and book reports that I grade. All 2nd grade teachers have had their class libraries labeled for AR (expect Kelli who has another labeling system.) Half of 3rd and 4th grade class libraries have AR stickers. When Shari comes back to work during MAP testing we’ll finish the other libraries. 

Last is a blog I wrote this weekend and posted this morning for a friends blogsite.

Two-Column Notes: The Twin Pillars Supporting Reading and Writing of Non-Fiction Texts

By Rita Platt & John Wolfe

The amazing processes of reading comprehension may never be as invisible as when students first start reading informational texts. For a neophyte reader of non-fiction texts, word-for-word or even sentence-by-sentence, the text has meaning. But, often students seem to walk away from these texts with nothing more than a handful of details that rapidly seep from memory. The Common Core Standards remind us that learning to gather information from books is a critical aspect of a student’s literacy learning. The Standards also emphasize the need for teaching students to conduct research and write informational texts. This means that most of us need to beef-up our teaching of skills and strategies related to non-fiction reading and writing.

As teachers who have always loved non-fiction reading we have worked to share these skills and strategies with our students. We believe that teaching students to take notes offers students the clearest path to success in reading and writing nonfiction.

When most of us where taught to take notes (or more likely figured it out ourselves) we were taught that the primary function of taking notes was to aid memory. After much reflection, we realized that this is not true. In fact, formal note-taking is more about scaffolding the key processes of synthesizing and making meaning from information. Taking notes reminds the reader to stop after every paragraph and think. This is central to learning to comprehend new text forms, especially non-fiction genres. The art and science of taking notes helps students internalize the synthesis and comprehension processes involved in understanding informational texts. And, on a purely practical note, taking the time to teach simple note-taking is, in and of itself, a valuable gift we can all give them.

After years of sharing various note-taking methods with students we have finally settled on a simple, cohesive, and effective method for teaching students to take notes. Below is a video we made for our students. Keep a few things in mind as you watch it:

1. We made this at our kitchen table.

2. The kids LOVED seeing me on video and shared it with their parents.

3. I didn’t wear any makeup.

4. I’m much prettier in person. HA!

We hope that you will find the video helpful and that you can use the method modeled in your own teaching! Either way, we’d love to hear your thoughts! What do you think of taking-notes? What would make our process better?

Rita Platt is a Nationally Board Certified teacher. Her experience includes teaching learners of all levels from kindergarten to graduate student. She currently is a Library Media Specialist for the St. Croix Falls SD in Wisconsin, teaches graduate courses for the Professional Development Institute, and consults with local school districts.

John Wolfe is a teacher on special assignment for the Multilingual Department at the Minneapolis Public School District. He has worked with students at all levels as well as provided professional development to fellow teachers. His areas of expertise include English Language Learners, literacy, and integrated technology.

Day 16

2/10/12

One of the things that I read about librarianship was that often school librarians become coordinator of volunteers. That has turned out to be true for me!

Before I came to the job there had always been a full-time librarian and a full-time aid working in the library. The year I started they dropped the aid. Of course, serving 400 students and their teachers is a BIG job and I literally run myself ragged most days. I NEED help. Pleas to the district for a part-time aid have fallen on deaf ears. What they have given me are school-to-work high school seniors.

This semester I have two lovely young girls working for me. They check books in an out, repair books, keep the library tidy, and do other tasks when I ask them to. One problem with this is that I often don’t have much time to train them. I almost never get to interact with my afternoon helper because I always have a class when she comes. This makes me feel bad because I don’t get to encourage her enough.

Another group of volunteers I manage are the “Reading Friends”. The Friends are a group of retired folks (many teachers) that come in to read with struggling kids. There are 55 of them and my job is to schedule their time, facilitate their needs, and act as a bridge between the teachers and the volunteers. This is rewarding but terribly time consuming! The scheduling is a nightmare!

All-in-all, I like working with the volunteers. It’s a great way to bridge the community and the school library.