I spent the day Monday at Huntley Hills planning my semester with the librarian and helping out with different tasks for the library. It was a busy day with several classes coming in to check out books, a book reading, individual students arriving on a pass to check out books, and a “surprise” visit from a class brought in from their “trailer classroom” for the day. In the afternoon, I helped the librarian unpack new books from the annual book. As we worked, the librarian discussed the process she used for selecting books each year such as award-winning books, teacher requests, student requests, replacements books, and areas in curriculum needing updating. She demonstrated locating books concerning a specific topic on Title Wave. We ended the day reviewing my practicum expectations and how we could plan the activities for the library. 7.5 hours
Another great day on Wednesday at Huntley Hills! In the morning we discussed the school’s Accelerated Reader activities and the librarian demonstrated how she sets the reading goal for each student. She plans daily recognition as well as 9 week AR recognition. She reviews the AR accomplishments each day and announces during the morning announcements five students to receive medallions on ribbons to wear that day at school. Students turn in medallions at the end of each day so different students are being recognized on a daily basis. The librarian showed me the information for each student and each class so I could observe her process for selecting students and how she determines which classes are not actively engaged in AR. AR is one of the major activities of the school improvement plan for the year so the librarian spends many hours reinforcing the reading program. Each nine weeks she recognizes students who have met their reading goals by offering an AR celebration with board games and other fun activities and a “goody” bag for each student. PTA supports the costs with funds from the school’s Box Top funds. Celebration shown on twitter: pic.twitter.com/2xpF29BNP7 I learned good ideas for rewards which could be applied to any reading program utilized in a school.
After lunch, we checked out books for several visiting classrooms and awarded book marks as prizes for students who scored 100 percent correct on an AR test. Teachers were also sending students down to the library with passes who had taken AR tests in classrooms who had achieved 100% on tests. She has an excellent process and I observed the students' excitement! We discussed a display I could prepare for new books next week. I finished checking off receipt of new books against shipment packing list so new books could be displayed next week. Then it was time to meet with two teachers from the Montessori area about a book enrichment activity with a Mexico theme. 7 hours
Friday I spent the day shadowing the librarian at Stone Mountain Middle School. In the morning we had students arriving on passes to check out books and a class visitation for research on the computers. I went with the librarian to track down a cart of laptops that did not get returned Thursday afternoon by 4:30 p.m. I am noticing common issues in libraries with equipment and book checkouts. The librarian grabbed a stack of new books for me to add in DESTINY and showed me the process for adding books in the online catalog system. I was able to add these books and he showed me how to print barcode and spine labels. Next week I will add pockets and the labels to the books. Each day passes so quickly in the library! 7 hours
I left the middle school library and helped set up the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Competition for our school district. I was thrilled last year when the steering committee asked me if I wanted to serve on the committee after I had helped arrange bus transportation for the competition. On Saturday I helped with registration and then served as a hall monitor to assist with any problems and to collect scores after each round. It was a busy, rewarding day observing over more than eighty teams compete in the competition. They had so much excitement and enthusiasm for reading! I’m looking forward to being a librarian and helping coach my school’s team at the annual reading bowl.
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