Though I'm glad this day has come, I'm also disappointed the time has gone so quickly. You know it is a good place to be when you have given up your employed school's spring break and are still enjoying being at a different sort of work! I'm taking this as a sign that I am headed towards the right career!
We expected today to be a little crazy with students checking in/out books before the long holiday; however, the library was mostly quiet. Students had been checking in books they knew they wouldn't need or choosing books to check out that were a little bit longer or more complex in preparation for the ten days away from school. I have really loved to see how excited the students are about taking books home and reading them. This is so foreign from my experience of reading at the high school level and one of the most attractive things about the elementary level LMS position. I think this largely has to do with student choice. When I give my students choice novels, there do talk about the books more and actually read the books more. Less read than at the elementary level, but I am gladdened to give the high schoolers the opportunity to be engaged in reading again even just for one unit.
Even as we were completing the final evaluation and paperwork, I was still asking Cindy questions about how or why she has implemented certain behaviors and practices in the library. Especially details about finances and ordering priority are still something I am learning. As she was filling out the evaluation, Cindy said that some of the details I really won't be able to have a full handle on or a full opportunity to do until I am in the LMS position itself. Having gone through a practicum/student teaching in undergrad, I know that this is the truth. From my English teacher perspective, I learned that classroom expectations, grading on assignments, order of curriculum, and other classroom-specific details were all left to me unlike in my practicum experience. I was the end of the line in the classroom. I imagine I will feel the same way as I enter into a LMS position: I will be the end of the line! While in both situations, teacher and LMS, there are guidelines, expectations, and other decision-makers involved, the sort of daily routine and habits are really established by the teacher/LMS herself. I am looking forward to being "in control" of the library I serve but am certainly grateful for the patterns of paperwork and procedure that Cindy has shown me and that she told me to call and keep her updated!
I think I've grown the most with my understandings of procedure and protocols of the LMC. Going in, my biggest goals were to understand the catalog-circulation-ordering-weeding relationship, text selections, and financial practices. I have certainly learned about many books appropriate for elementary, both for specific titles and for how the books are supposed to "feel" in length and content. I have practiced using the Follett software to generate varied reports, update the collection, order resources, and run varied aspects of circulation. I have generated a wish list for a section of nonfiction after completing inventory and weeding the section based on age, relevance, and circulation. I have been introduced to texts the students love to listen to and are appropriate for varied seasons and ages. I have read children's books I'd never heard of and loved them. I have met with the school's bookkeeper to discuss account use and balancing. I have created an order on a limited budget, learned how a Book Fair works and affects the library, and used filing systems to maintain transparency and order in the library. I think I've certainly met my main learning goals for my library practicum and done more activities than I ever expected to accomplish in twenty days.
At the heart of the library, of course, is sharing the resources with the students. I was less worried about this aspect because of my teaching background, but I was so glad when I got to step in today to read to the kindergartners one last time. Cindy had to step out to address a teacher need and wasn't back when the first class arrived. I stepped in and pulled out the book she had chosen: Betty Bunny Loves Easter by Michael B. Kaplan. This is a story where Betty Bunny "is a handful!" She loves Easter so much that she wants to grow up to be the Easter Bunny. In her frolicking finding eggs, she realizes that her older brothers and sister help her find eggs! She had always found the most eggs at the hunt, but now realizes it was only because of her family's help! So Betty Bunny is determined to find eggs by herself, but only finds three. They "mean more to her" because she had found them on her own, and she still has the dream to be the Easter Bunny one day.
What a lesson for me to keep, too. I'm about to (hopefully) run a LMC as its leader and director. I've had help from Cindy, from Toni, from my professors, from my family...and will continue to have their support in my career. But now, I'm going to be taking a determined step and making the decisions myself. I hope that even if I have three "eggs" of success, I'll see the growth and continue to build a LMC program that best serves its school community.
Friday, April 7, 2017
Thursday, April 6, 2017
Day 19: Username Troubleshooting
On my last day in February, the school was starting to distribute Chromebooks to all of the second grade classes. This week, the students were beginning to log in with their own usernames and passwords provided them by the district. Each of their usernames was generated by writing their whole first and last names together. Their passwords were generated:
1. first and last initial
2. lunch number (tied to SSN)
3. "SDOC" (School District of Oconee County)
This is extremely secure! This will protect the students' information! This will be nigh impossible for second graders to remember and type!
One of the teachers, Mrs. Guill, was logging in her computers to do the Destiny catalog lesson with Mrs. Edgerton. She sent a student down as a cry for help getting these kids to log on. When I went down there and tried the username and password on the computer, it had zero problem. When I had students type in the information, I had lots of problems.
The biggest problem was that the usernames and passwords were being typed incorrectly. The students have not yet developed their typing skills (still one-finger typists) so struggled with the lengthy passwords that were taking longer than the teacher expected. Even then, the usernames/passwords they typed often had mistakes of mis-keys and of wrong spelling. Especially the students with long last names spelled their own names incorrectly (as the teachers don't require last names written on classwork). One girl even had a hyphen in her name! How do you expect 7-year-olds to know all those nuances! Then came the problem of students that do not go by their legal first name. One student just could not understand why he couldn't change the username to the name he wanted to be called.
I normally spend my time with high schoolers who better understand the principles of their pre-generated school emails, but who still mis-key or fail to follow directions at sign in. These usernames and passwords must be secure and complex, but are also not best suited to the populations of school aged kids. This is the conundrum of the personalized accounts.
Technology has two sides: the benefits of assessment, access, practicality, diversity and the issues of troubleshooting, internet connectivity, user error.
Perhaps students as young as second grade don't require their own profiles for the county system. The students are not turning in major assignments like papers and projects digitally; they are not logging into the district programs for email or testing. There are other programs the students log into that are not affiliated with the county-generated account (i.e. PebbleGo, MAP testing, schoology, etc). As the district moves forward, I see the profiles being entered at an age above seven. Both for realistic purposes and to save the district money on profiles!
1. first and last initial
2. lunch number (tied to SSN)
3. "SDOC" (School District of Oconee County)
This is extremely secure! This will protect the students' information! This will be nigh impossible for second graders to remember and type!
One of the teachers, Mrs. Guill, was logging in her computers to do the Destiny catalog lesson with Mrs. Edgerton. She sent a student down as a cry for help getting these kids to log on. When I went down there and tried the username and password on the computer, it had zero problem. When I had students type in the information, I had lots of problems.
The biggest problem was that the usernames and passwords were being typed incorrectly. The students have not yet developed their typing skills (still one-finger typists) so struggled with the lengthy passwords that were taking longer than the teacher expected. Even then, the usernames/passwords they typed often had mistakes of mis-keys and of wrong spelling. Especially the students with long last names spelled their own names incorrectly (as the teachers don't require last names written on classwork). One girl even had a hyphen in her name! How do you expect 7-year-olds to know all those nuances! Then came the problem of students that do not go by their legal first name. One student just could not understand why he couldn't change the username to the name he wanted to be called.
I normally spend my time with high schoolers who better understand the principles of their pre-generated school emails, but who still mis-key or fail to follow directions at sign in. These usernames and passwords must be secure and complex, but are also not best suited to the populations of school aged kids. This is the conundrum of the personalized accounts.
Technology has two sides: the benefits of assessment, access, practicality, diversity and the issues of troubleshooting, internet connectivity, user error.
Perhaps students as young as second grade don't require their own profiles for the county system. The students are not turning in major assignments like papers and projects digitally; they are not logging into the district programs for email or testing. There are other programs the students log into that are not affiliated with the county-generated account (i.e. PebbleGo, MAP testing, schoology, etc). As the district moves forward, I see the profiles being entered at an age above seven. Both for realistic purposes and to save the district money on profiles!
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Day 18: A Slow, Stormy Day
To be honest, we haven't had any slow days in the library during my practicum experience. My first week was back from a break and almost all the students came through the library, the second finished with Battle of the Books, and the third prepared for the Book Fair. This week, the only big event is Spring Break next week! Today was also a big storm day in Georgia and South Carolina, so many students were checked out of school early. Spring Break plus few students made for my first slow day in the library!
This meant it was a perfect week to do the inventory/weeding/ordering and compare my SLIS 720 Program Analysis project with Mrs. Edgerton. This is what we focused on today. We looked into the End of Year report that Cindy makes for the principal each year to see what highlights Mrs. Henderson looks for. The report predominately focused on finances, Accelerated Reader, and circulation numbers.
I also used TitleWave online and the ABDO paper catalog to finish the development of the biographies section. We focused our order on three things: low level texts, Explorers/Revolutionary War/Civil War curriculum content, and current pop icons.
TitleWave has an "advanced search" option that we set for K-3 levels, published after 2014, and included at least two reviews. I had to manipulate the search terms a bit to garner enough new results that weren't already part of the collection at Ravenel. I also had to include levels 4-6 to browse further texts. Especially as the fourth grade students research for a wax museum of Revolutionary War people, some of the texts in the higher range would still be appropriate. Once I searched all three topics, 12 books could be added to the collection.
The ABDO catalog organized texts by content, then by series. Unfortunately, the page organization was not organized by age range, but still by series. Essentially, each spread was on one topic (i.e. athletes, musicians, presidents, etc), but the pages alternated or sometimes randomly listed grade level appropriateness. It was a little challenging to read through the catalog this way, so we had to be extra attentive when looking at which books to order.
Both methods were fairly easy and seem to offer some excellent biography sections to add to the library.
This meant it was a perfect week to do the inventory/weeding/ordering and compare my SLIS 720 Program Analysis project with Mrs. Edgerton. This is what we focused on today. We looked into the End of Year report that Cindy makes for the principal each year to see what highlights Mrs. Henderson looks for. The report predominately focused on finances, Accelerated Reader, and circulation numbers.
I also used TitleWave online and the ABDO paper catalog to finish the development of the biographies section. We focused our order on three things: low level texts, Explorers/Revolutionary War/Civil War curriculum content, and current pop icons.
TitleWave has an "advanced search" option that we set for K-3 levels, published after 2014, and included at least two reviews. I had to manipulate the search terms a bit to garner enough new results that weren't already part of the collection at Ravenel. I also had to include levels 4-6 to browse further texts. Especially as the fourth grade students research for a wax museum of Revolutionary War people, some of the texts in the higher range would still be appropriate. Once I searched all three topics, 12 books could be added to the collection.
The ABDO catalog organized texts by content, then by series. Unfortunately, the page organization was not organized by age range, but still by series. Essentially, each spread was on one topic (i.e. athletes, musicians, presidents, etc), but the pages alternated or sometimes randomly listed grade level appropriateness. It was a little challenging to read through the catalog this way, so we had to be extra attentive when looking at which books to order.
Both methods were fairly easy and seem to offer some excellent biography sections to add to the library.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)