A Recipe for Success

I am resolving that my lesson plans will be completed on Friday afternoon by 4:00. Last year, I slipped into the habit of finishing up my plans on Sunday afternoon. It led to sometimes frazzled Mondays. Having a bad Monday can often sour the entire week.

My hope is that planning will be a piece of cake. Add a dash of collaboration,  a splash of time management, my secret ingredient and I should be able to walk out of school knowing that my weekend is free and if I do any planning it's to get a jump on the following week.

The Secret Ingredient

My secret ingredient is careful summer planning. I've tested the water by reviewing my kindergarten plans and mapping out the first semester. I've glanced at my first and second grade maps. Those maps are in great shape. I just need to flesh out the unit plans.  I jumped in with both feet and started the planning process for 3-5 grades a couple of weeks ago.  I went to my favorite coffee shop and set out to write a detailed unit plan using a UBD format. Last year I created a template but I didn't use it very often which led to inefficient planning near the end of the year.  My goal this summer was to have all 6 units for third through fifth grades sketched out this summer. Notice I said sketched, every map, unit plan and lesson plan is subject to revision.  Think of the summer mapping as the compass that sets the direction for the year.

A Dash of Collaboration-

The trick is to hook the teachers. They have to believe that as the librarian I am cost effective and time saving.  Those two principles will get them in the door to look for resources but that's not true collaboration. The next step is to start planning toward a common learning objective where we share the teaching responsibilities and work together to help our students gain new understandings.  I created two resources for my teachers: a collaborative planning document and a what's happening in your classroom google doc. The collaborative planning document will be shared the first week of school. I'll offer candy to the first grade level that responds. :) The collaborative planning document will be available in both hard copy and as a Google form. These resources will result in efficient and productive planning sessions.

A Splash of Time Management

My schedule says planning but I'm often shelving books or developing the collection and as a result planning for instruction was often left to the weekend which led to a cycle of being miserable on Sunday afternoon. It's the pits to know that you have to get your plans written when you would rather be spending time with your family. I am going to dutifully use and protect my planning time. I read 18 minutes: Find Your Focus..

One of his principles is to move items from  your to do list to your calendar. Another principle is to set an alarm that serves as a reminder to review the last hour and get back on track.  So everyday I will keep that planning appointment and with any luck I should be foot loose and fancy free on Friday. Shelving and other admin tasks will also be scheduled. If its not on my calendar it's not a priority. I highly recommend 18 Minutes as it will change the way you think about time management.

A Piece of Cake

The time invested in summer planning, working with teachers, and guarding my planning time will lead to a much more productive year overall.

How do you make time for collaboration?  How do you protect your planning time?

Dream Big

I had the opportunity to hear Ron Clark speak when he visited Chattanooga in July.  Every teacher should have the opportunity to hear him speak.  At the end of the program, I left energized and ready to get to work.

I bought one of Ron Clark's books and he signed it for me.

Those words: "Dream Big!" resonated with me.  

In just a few weeks, I will set about my job of teaching my students information literacy skills that they will need to be successful throughout their lives. But there is this other side of my job that I have a deep desire to nurture this year. I am charged as a librarian with encouraging my students to read for personal pleasure and growth...to develop a deep, deep love for reading.  I have the luxury of providing access to a wide range of book and materials from graphic novels to biographies and everything in between. Technology opens even more doors for finding, creating, and sharing information,

I saw a poster once that said: The top 10 Ways to become a better reader.  There was only one word on the poster: READ! My challenge is to get my students to buy into that idea. 

This year, I am going to set about truly applying Rangnathan's Five Laws of Librarianship:

1. Books are for use

2. Every person his or her book

3. Every book its reader

4. Save the time of the Reader

5..The Library is a growing organism

Number 4 and 5 are pressing in on me.  Is it time to step out of my comfort zone some more?  I need to look at what hinders my students from being able to find the books that they want to read.  I also need to embrace the idea of the library being a growing organism that can change over time.

I'm dreaming big dreams for our library this year. Dreams that will hopefully open doors for my students and provide them with life changing opportunities.

Weeding to Grow

000s before weeding

A couple of weeks ago, I submitted my MARC records for collection analysis to a couple of vendors.  I love that you get your reports back within minutes of submitting the records.  After a brief review of the analysis, I decided that I really did need to do some weeding this summer.  I called on several of my librarian friends to come and help me.  I think that there should be a rule that you should never, ever weed alone.  Sometimes you just need to discuss the book in question, or you need your colleague to look you in the eye and tell you to let it go. OR perhaps that colleague has more experience and knows that the book needs to stay on the shelf.  So we gathered in mid-June.  Between the 6 of us, we were able to weed the nonfiction section and more than half of the easy books in just two days. In all 654 books were deleted from the collection.

Weeding the collection allowed me to rearrange the nonfiction section so that the books are more accessible to the students.  I was also able to create a small teacher resource nook for some RTI materials. While weeding, we pulled all of the Rookie Readers and Welcome books.  These were organized by subject or sometimes series and put into tubs.  Again, the purpose was to make them more accessible to the students who would be using them.

A small portion of the weeded books waiting to be boxed.

Now that the initial weeding phase is completed, I am able to think about growing the collection.  I have a clearer picture of what my collection needs.  I also have a starting point for discussions with teachers.  I have numerous books that had 6 copies on the shelf which begs the question: Is this a unit topic for a grade level?  If it's not a unit of study, then I can evaluate whether or not it's necessary to have 6 copies of that book.

Reference section after weeding

The benefit of weeding the collection is that you can instantly tell a difference.  The shelves in the library look so much better.  In a couple of days, I will be adding labeled shelf dividers to help the students find books that interest them.  I can't wait to see my students faces when the walk in the door for the first time.  All the effort that I put into the library this summer will be worth it as I watch them grow into independent learners.

Nonfiction Monday

"This story is true. All the characters are real and were alive during the great manhunt of April 1965..."-from the jacket of Chasing Lincoln's Killer

A few weeks ago, my children and I went on the search for their summer reading books. My oldest son selected Chasing Lincoln's Killer  from his summer reading list.  They didn't have a copy in the store so we ordered it.  When the box of books arrived, I immediately began reading Chasing Lincoln's Killer.   Let's just say that I was hooked and I didn't want to put it down. It reads more like a fast paced novel than a nonfiction book. I found it fascinating that Booth's plan was so calculated and that it involved more than just assassinating Lincoln.

James Swanson does an excellent job of developing the main characters involved in Booths plan while leading us on the fast paced chase to track Booth down.  Swanson tells the reader that his interest in Lincoln's assassination began with a gift from his grandmother on his tenth birthday. The gift was and engraving of the Deringer pistol used to assassinate Lincoln and framed by newspaper article about the assassination that was incomplete. That incomplete newspaper article led him on a journey to find the rest of the story. Fortunately, he shared the rest of the story with us in Chasing Lincoln's Killer.

This would be a great book to pair with a study of the Civil War. I believe that 5th graders would even enjoy it. However, sensitive students should be cautioned of its graphic details.

Summer Happenings

Ahhh, the lazy days of summer vacation are upon us.  My summer began with a trip to Disney World.  I can't say that it was exactly lazy (early mornings and late nights) but for 8 beautiful days I did not think once about my library or the mammoth task of getting ready for the new school year.

We had so much fun exploring the parks together.  Now that we're home from Disney perhaps the lazy days can begin...

So maybe not so lazy, I like many of my colleagues know that you can't wait until the new school year begins to start planning.  Planning for me began with a time of reflection.  What am I doing really well? What needs to improve?  At the same time, as I prepare to go to a different school next year it is also a time to reflect on my mission and vision for the school library.  What are my dreams for the school library?

I can sum up my mission and vision in one word Joyful.  My mission is to transform the library into a joyful place where students will explore, learn, create and share.  My vision is to see students actively engaged in independently exploring questions of personal interest using the resources available to them in the school library.  So you are probably thinking what does joy have to do with the mission of an elementary school library. I believe that students really need to enjoy coming to the library if I want them to engaged in research activities.  A joyful library creates positive atmosphere where students can explore whatever interests they have whether its the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid or an interest in space exploration.

In order to create a joyful library, I need to step out of my comfort zone a bit and take a few risks.
                                   
                                     

Collaboration

Collaborating with teachers in a meaningful way will be important. It's easy to allow yourself to become somewhat isolated when you are on a fixed schedule. Classes come in and out on the heels of each other. Often the schedule does not allow for the librarian to attend grade level planning.  The key to success will be finding...no, making time to collaborate with teachers.  Collaboration allows an opportunity to connect library lessons to classroom learning.  One way that I am pushing past the risk is by creating an online form using Google Forms for my teachers to request a collaboration session.   I am also providing teachers with a hard copy of the collaboration form which I found on NoodleTools.  These documents allow us to get the conversation started and allow me to go into a collaboration session prepared so that our time is used effectively.

Centers

This year, I plan to implement centers. I am so thankful for Cari Young's blog, The Centered School Library. She has so many great ideas for implementing centers in the school library.   Centers actively engage students whether they simply want to read or if they want to investigate a topic of interest. In the past, I've been hesitant to implement centers because I thought it would create more classroom management problems than it was worth. From my professional reading, I have learned that the key to success is clearly stated and implemented procedures.   Cari suggests posting "I can" statements at each center.  Centers allow students to practice being independent learners. They will have the opportunity to choose which centers they complete.  My hope is that having the opportunity to choose which centers they complete will be a joyful experience for my students and for me.

Student Volunteers

I  plan to allow students to be more involved by establishing a student volunteer group which will help with everything from shelving to providing a student voice for book selection. In the past I have made excuses for why I just couldn't have student volunteers. I now see this as an opportunity to develop leadership skills as well as relationships with my students.  

It's not going to be easy to step out of my comfort zone, but I know that many opportunities are ahead of me.  I am looking forward to a great year of making my dreams come true.  

What have you been reflecting on this summer? How do you plan to step out of your comfort zone?

Edutopia recently published Adam Bellow's keynote from ISTE: Professional Development: 4 Ways to Start Changing the World: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/4-ways-start-changing-world-adam-bellow?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=blog-bellowquote2. It is a great read as you begin to prepare for the new year.