Officially in the ninth week of the semester, I find an update is needed.
Both of my internships are going incredibly well. In my school media internship, I have completed a variety of projects. I set up a reading incentive program/contest. I created the reading logs and collaborated with my librarian on coming up with a name, benchmarks, and prizes (posters, bookmarks, books, a combo mp3/ DVD player, team pizza party, and "pie throwing privileges). I thought this was a nice combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. While I know and agree that intrinsic motivation rules and works best, these are teenagers so they need some extrinsic motivation as well. I am excited to see the results of data collection for the first month's minute tallies. Some students are very excited. We are also introducing conferences with students to discuss their reading progress and address the accountability issue. Students have to conference with library staff six times (at least once a month) to qualify for prizes.
I have also taught library skills lessons. Last week, I collaborated with the social studies teachers to discuss valuable research strategies for students to use while exploring immigration trends of the 20th century from a specific immigrant group. We also showcased a Microsoft Word citation tool for inputting students' works cited. Next week, I will be working with an art teacher in supporting artist research. We'll be discussing the elements of a citation and again creating citations using the Microsoft Word tool.
In my college library internship, I have been learning many valuable skills as well. I have vastly improved my reference interview skills with more room for improvement. The students find me easily approachable and I enjoy hoping students over hat reference as well.
I recently finished weeding the Teacher Resource Center, a collection made of textbooks, guides, and more for educators. I weeded all materials pre-dating 2000 and there were quite a few! Now, I will be evaluating new materials for the collection. The library recently hired a new education librarian who I am excited to work with.
Needless to say, I am enjoying both of my internships immensely!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, October 22, 2012
#engchat discussion
I attended an intriguing and thought provoking English (educators) chat on Twitter tonight which discussed the future of school librarians. I enjoyed the lively conversations and made some great new colleagues. Here's an introduction from the moderators from engchat.org:
Join with ELA teachers and others in #engchat to consider provocative questions about the future of school libraries. Library services and librarians are being cut from school budgets all over the United States. Some school libraries are closed for some parts of the day or week. What key questions should we consider about the future of libraries - beyond financial ones?
Is the book dead? Is the school library a place of the past? Is the role of librarian obsolete? These questions challenge us to consider how contemporary tools and connectivity are impacting the school library as we have known it. What do users - students and teachers- value as library services? What needs to change?
These questions help us begin to answer a grand challenge for the future: How do we create and design school library services that serve contemporary learners and educators well?
There was such a great mix of educators and librarians. We discussed the role of the school librarian and how the school library has to change from its original paradigm. The stereotypical "shusher" librarian was mentioned where I argued for a multifunctional library with quiet spaces and collaborative spaces. How do librarians foster literacy? By whatever means necessary to get kids reading! Tweets also discussed what the three most important roles of a school librarian are, library design, and the ebook vs. paperback debate. I think we should focus on what kids are reading; not how they are reading it. We need to focus on what works best for them.
Overall, the chat was very engaging. I was happy to see some familiar faces from my classes (Marie and Shannon) were on chat too. Thanks to Barb Stripling for posting this announcement to her classes!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Join with ELA teachers and others in #engchat to consider provocative questions about the future of school libraries. Library services and librarians are being cut from school budgets all over the United States. Some school libraries are closed for some parts of the day or week. What key questions should we consider about the future of libraries - beyond financial ones?
Is the book dead? Is the school library a place of the past? Is the role of librarian obsolete? These questions challenge us to consider how contemporary tools and connectivity are impacting the school library as we have known it. What do users - students and teachers- value as library services? What needs to change?
These questions help us begin to answer a grand challenge for the future: How do we create and design school library services that serve contemporary learners and educators well?
There was such a great mix of educators and librarians. We discussed the role of the school librarian and how the school library has to change from its original paradigm. The stereotypical "shusher" librarian was mentioned where I argued for a multifunctional library with quiet spaces and collaborative spaces. How do librarians foster literacy? By whatever means necessary to get kids reading! Tweets also discussed what the three most important roles of a school librarian are, library design, and the ebook vs. paperback debate. I think we should focus on what kids are reading; not how they are reading it. We need to focus on what works best for them.
Overall, the chat was very engaging. I was happy to see some familiar faces from my classes (Marie and Shannon) were on chat too. Thanks to Barb Stripling for posting this announcement to her classes!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)