My first week at Xenia HS is almost finished and I already feel right at home. Kay Gerspacher, the resident librarian extraordinaire, has done a fantastic job of making me feel welcome and getting me involved with students right away. Last week at Centerville was definitely a valuable experience, but it was also a little difficult to get really involved because I was there for such a short time. I'm at Xenia for the haul, all the way to the end of the school year, so I can stick my nose into everything. I've already met so many teachers that I have little hope of remembering their names, let alone students. As one would assume, Xenia is a very different environment from Centerville, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it thus far.
One thing that surprised me, right off the bat, is that Xenia as a district has a commitment to sustained silent reading (SSR). 5th period is typically reserved to provide the students with time to read for pleasure. With the pressure of testing requirements, I was pleasantly surprised to see such a visible and obvious commitment to encouraging reading (4.1.1, 4.1.2). The previous principal was very dedicated to SSR and the new principal has left it in place while he evaluates it. I can understand that many teachers might seek to get that time back for their subjects, but I hope the administration continues this commitment to SSR. Not only is it very beneficial for student literacy, but it certainly increases library use as students explore their reading preferences. Hard to argue with that.
In most districts that I've observed the school librarian often has to juggle a lot different responsibilities, and Xenia is no exception. Student interaction is, of course, the priority, and library administration has a lot of emphasis, but there are a lot of other, almost intangible responsibilities that butt into the day. You end up performing a lot of tech support for teachers (why are the IT staff always busy with something else?), A/V troubleshooting, problem solving, schedule resolving, etc. In it's own way, this is strangely reassuring because it not only reveals a need for the school librarian, but it emphasizes the large roles technological aptitude and social skills play in the job. These are the kinds of skills that we try to pass on to students, and who better to instill the three key literacies (information, media and technology) in students than someone who uses them constantly in their profession?
I have found the students at Xenia to be very receptive to my presence, and they have little hesitation in approaching me and asking for my help. Somehow I've stumbled into the role of PowerPoint guru, particularly with a round of biology classes. Helping them create effective Powerpoint presentations incorporates a surprising number of different standards (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2) and it's giving me a lot of opportunities to try and reinforce those standards. I'm getting some class time next week with the same classes to give them some research and citation tips, an opportunity I'm pretty excited about. Even if it means I have to spend my weekend brushing up on my MLA...
The district is in the process of evaluating a program called My Big Campus which is, essentially, a localized social network: Facebook for the school. I sat in on a webinar/open forum with Kay and another librarian, Rebecca Stroble, as well as the district IT director and the developers of the program. I'm goig to spend some time in the ensuing weeks testing the program to help them formulate questions, but what little I've seen of My Big Campus is pretty exciting because it's an instant tool for helping students learn to utilize social networks responsibly (4.1.7). I'll have a lot more to say in a few weeks when I get more time with it, but it's encouraging to see a step toward utilizing social networks. Most districts just block them entirely.
I have a lot to prepare for the next week, hopefully my first pseudo-lessons will go smoothly.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Week #1 - An Odyssey To Centerville HS
Due to scheduling conflicts, I spent the first week of my practicum experience with the fine folks at Centerville HS. I expect this will be interesting on multiple fronts, comparing the situation and students of Centerville (an affluent community with considerable tax base whose schools consistently receive "Excellent" ratings from the ODE) to Xenia HS (a district with much more economic diversity that is facing $2 million in cuts for next year yet still shows continuous improvement, effectiveness, etc.).
The media center, or IMC as they call it, is not centrally located but it is a beautiful and large space. That beauty comes at the price of accepting some architectural quirks, which unfortunately limits the space they can use for practical purposes, but it is very visually appealing and comfortable. It is so large, in fact, that they employ two certified librarians and two full-time aides, a luxury few districts can afford. Having two circulation desks keeps the traffic very manageable, though, and allows for considerable one-on-one interaction without rushing.
Rather than having a large, arranged "computer lab" type space, they have two classrooms, one at each end, designated for classroom use that teachers can reserve as needed. One has a full suite of desktop computers, the other has a laptop cart. I found the laptop cart to be particularly intriguing in the way I observed one teacher employing it. While researching diseases, the instructor had students split into groups and limited them to one laptop per group. Sharing this technology resource was an interesting way to encourage student collaboration, making them cognizant of the need to cooperate (3.1.2). While it might not be efficient for some projects, it was worth noting, and they had to select, as a group, a method for designing and presenting their results (3.1.4).
While examining their budget and expenditures, I noticed that Centerville spends a considerable sum of money (nearly a third of their annual budget) on database subscriptions in addition to the offerings from InfOhio. The amount spent on this surprised me, but on two different occasions I saw the benefit of having these databases as we helped students identify and pursue research goals (1.1). The students attend an orientation their freshman year to familiarize them with specific databases. Jessica Moore (the librarian who hosted me) has adopted an approach to searching that I found interesting in that she starts with Google and shows them some of its more advanced functions. Students are going to use Google, there's no point in competing, so she makes sure to show them how to be more effective at using Google, as well as how to decide when to utilize databases instead (2.1, 2.2). I saw several students utilize Wikipedia as a source of information, but very few of them attempted to use it as a legitimate resource so the approach must be having some success (3.1.6).
It was a very pleasant week at Centerville HS, and most things at the IMC function like a well-oiled machine. My only real complaint is that it almost felt a little too impersonal. The IMC almost always has students in it, but the space is so large that they often feel far away and separate, making it difficult to "float." That combined with the fact that some 2800 students are enrolled there make forming deeper connections with students that much harder, especially in a single week. You can go most of the week without seeing the same student twice. I find that it is much easier for me to approach teachable-moments with students I have some knowledge of, even if it's just a name or face recognition, so it was valuable for me to try to create those connections in an environment where that kind of recognition may not be possible. Ideally, I should be able to seize any opportunity to support 21st century skills with any student, and libraries certainly exist where there are so many patrons that it's difficult to form deeper connections. This is certainly something I'll have to keep in mind.
The media center, or IMC as they call it, is not centrally located but it is a beautiful and large space. That beauty comes at the price of accepting some architectural quirks, which unfortunately limits the space they can use for practical purposes, but it is very visually appealing and comfortable. It is so large, in fact, that they employ two certified librarians and two full-time aides, a luxury few districts can afford. Having two circulation desks keeps the traffic very manageable, though, and allows for considerable one-on-one interaction without rushing.
Rather than having a large, arranged "computer lab" type space, they have two classrooms, one at each end, designated for classroom use that teachers can reserve as needed. One has a full suite of desktop computers, the other has a laptop cart. I found the laptop cart to be particularly intriguing in the way I observed one teacher employing it. While researching diseases, the instructor had students split into groups and limited them to one laptop per group. Sharing this technology resource was an interesting way to encourage student collaboration, making them cognizant of the need to cooperate (3.1.2). While it might not be efficient for some projects, it was worth noting, and they had to select, as a group, a method for designing and presenting their results (3.1.4).
While examining their budget and expenditures, I noticed that Centerville spends a considerable sum of money (nearly a third of their annual budget) on database subscriptions in addition to the offerings from InfOhio. The amount spent on this surprised me, but on two different occasions I saw the benefit of having these databases as we helped students identify and pursue research goals (1.1). The students attend an orientation their freshman year to familiarize them with specific databases. Jessica Moore (the librarian who hosted me) has adopted an approach to searching that I found interesting in that she starts with Google and shows them some of its more advanced functions. Students are going to use Google, there's no point in competing, so she makes sure to show them how to be more effective at using Google, as well as how to decide when to utilize databases instead (2.1, 2.2). I saw several students utilize Wikipedia as a source of information, but very few of them attempted to use it as a legitimate resource so the approach must be having some success (3.1.6).
It was a very pleasant week at Centerville HS, and most things at the IMC function like a well-oiled machine. My only real complaint is that it almost felt a little too impersonal. The IMC almost always has students in it, but the space is so large that they often feel far away and separate, making it difficult to "float." That combined with the fact that some 2800 students are enrolled there make forming deeper connections with students that much harder, especially in a single week. You can go most of the week without seeing the same student twice. I find that it is much easier for me to approach teachable-moments with students I have some knowledge of, even if it's just a name or face recognition, so it was valuable for me to try to create those connections in an environment where that kind of recognition may not be possible. Ideally, I should be able to seize any opportunity to support 21st century skills with any student, and libraries certainly exist where there are so many patrons that it's difficult to form deeper connections. This is certainly something I'll have to keep in mind.
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