Week 1 January 7-12
The first week introduced a lot of the different programs and features of the Warren County Career Center library. The library is very technology oriented. There are laptops and kindles that can be checked out with the proper permission from parents, and laptops that can be used in the library and the school. There are also playaways and books on CD which help to accomodate readers' that have a lack of focus in the books. There is a wide fiction selection that is well-kept and frequently weeded so that most of the books look and are attractive to students. The same goes for the non-fiction section. The non-fiction section doesn't have a lot of intimidating large books, they have books that look enticing with great photographs and great information that would be attractive to readers and helpful for reports. There is an aisle of shelves dedicated to the preschool students that are taken care of at the Day Care Center and also worked with by the students in the Early Childhood Education program. The preschoolers come in once a month for library day. There is a wide magazine selection that range from popular magazines to magazines that can be appropriate to classes and to the specialized courses offered at the career center such as welding. The library itself is spacious with lots of natural light. The shelves are mostly kept to one side except for a few ailes created in the middle. There is an area of tables set up for students to work at and for classes to sit at when they come in. The tables are situated in front of a SmartBoard which in the one week I've been here has seen a lot of use. There are also a few comfortable seating areas that students can relax and read or do homework in.
Mrs. Milner got me started right away with learning the ins and outs of the library operation. Every morning when I come in I turn on the computers and log-in. I also turn on the televisions and set them to PC. On the televisions there runs a PowerPoint with different information about the library or book recommendations or anything else, and music through Pandora. The music varies by choice and plays through speakers softly. From there I proceed to check-in any books that have been returned and shelve them. Mrs. Milner informs me of any classes that are coming in today or any other special happenings. Some of the clerical duties that I've learned this week include, wrapping books, running reports for new books, inputting new books or call numbers into the system, and assisting students with finding books.
This week I observed how Mrs. Milner worked with some of the high school students. A junior class of carpenters came in and she was teaching them how to use VoiceThread to document their products and got them all set up on the site with web names. Also one teacher's English classes spent a day in the library looking for books to read. This was done in an organized fashion. Mrs. Milner had put together a PowerPoint slide of Book Recommendations that she then presented to the groups of students. These slides included book trailers. After the second time she presented and I observed how she did it, she allowed me to give the rest of the presentations for the day. I enjoyed presented the books to the students. After my first time doing it I took a few of the books that were discussed during the presentation and set them out on the tables for the students. They really seemed to like the easy access to the books that were being discussed and it made it easier to see what was still available and what had been checked out already. After most of the classes I found that I had to find more books to set out on the tables and I would switch my presentation slightly to accomodate the books that had been set out. It was gratifying to present a book and then put the trailer on and to look around and watch the students for signs of interest. Some of the students would grab the book immidiately. Others as soon as they walked in would look at the books on the table, and one upon entering even began to read one of the books that I had set out and ended up checking it out. This was the first occasion that I had presented to a group of students. One of the things that I learned during this process is the need to adapt the presentation in accordance with the interests of the students. For example, I went through some book topics more quickly than others because the students did not find them interested. One group consisted of all guys, mostly those in the police and fire programs, so I skipped through the genres that they didn't appreciate such as romance.
It was discussed between Mrs. Milner, my advisor, and myself that I should work on getting as much teaching practice as possible since my undergraduate background is not based in education and it is where I lack the most experience. Accordingly I'm working on a few different lesson plans and Mrs. Milner is discussing opportunities of having me teach some of the English classes a few lessons.
Mrs. Milner got me started right away with learning the ins and outs of the library operation. Every morning when I come in I turn on the computers and log-in. I also turn on the televisions and set them to PC. On the televisions there runs a PowerPoint with different information about the library or book recommendations or anything else, and music through Pandora. The music varies by choice and plays through speakers softly. From there I proceed to check-in any books that have been returned and shelve them. Mrs. Milner informs me of any classes that are coming in today or any other special happenings. Some of the clerical duties that I've learned this week include, wrapping books, running reports for new books, inputting new books or call numbers into the system, and assisting students with finding books.
This week I observed how Mrs. Milner worked with some of the high school students. A junior class of carpenters came in and she was teaching them how to use VoiceThread to document their products and got them all set up on the site with web names. Also one teacher's English classes spent a day in the library looking for books to read. This was done in an organized fashion. Mrs. Milner had put together a PowerPoint slide of Book Recommendations that she then presented to the groups of students. These slides included book trailers. After the second time she presented and I observed how she did it, she allowed me to give the rest of the presentations for the day. I enjoyed presented the books to the students. After my first time doing it I took a few of the books that were discussed during the presentation and set them out on the tables for the students. They really seemed to like the easy access to the books that were being discussed and it made it easier to see what was still available and what had been checked out already. After most of the classes I found that I had to find more books to set out on the tables and I would switch my presentation slightly to accomodate the books that had been set out. It was gratifying to present a book and then put the trailer on and to look around and watch the students for signs of interest. Some of the students would grab the book immidiately. Others as soon as they walked in would look at the books on the table, and one upon entering even began to read one of the books that I had set out and ended up checking it out. This was the first occasion that I had presented to a group of students. One of the things that I learned during this process is the need to adapt the presentation in accordance with the interests of the students. For example, I went through some book topics more quickly than others because the students did not find them interested. One group consisted of all guys, mostly those in the police and fire programs, so I skipped through the genres that they didn't appreciate such as romance.
It was discussed between Mrs. Milner, my advisor, and myself that I should work on getting as much teaching practice as possible since my undergraduate background is not based in education and it is where I lack the most experience. Accordingly I'm working on a few different lesson plans and Mrs. Milner is discussing opportunities of having me teach some of the English classes a few lessons.
Prezi on Book Recommendations
This Prezi I created on books that students may like if they really enjoyed The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. There was a powerpoint with the information on it but Mrs. Milner thought it could use some more interaction. This is the fist Prezi that I've created and it was very simple and very intuitive to use. While I did take several of the book suggestions from the PowerPoint, I found several of the book trailers myself and I also wrote a few quick summaries to entice students. I would definitely use Prezi again and put the information online at the library websites and facebook page etc. so that students can access it easily. I think Prezi is a good way to get information to the students. It is more interactive and fun to look at then a regular PowerPoint slide which is very important when trying to engage students.
ALA/AASLStandards for Initial Preparation of School Librarians Met:
Standard 2.1 Literature:
Creating the Prezi shows that I am familiar with the popular young adult literature and themes.
Standard 2.2 Reading Promotion:
Giving the presentation on book suggestions to students as well as creating a book suggestion Prezi helps to promote reading in said students
Standard 3.3 Information Technology:
The Voicethread presentation and teaching the carpenters how to use it helped to show the different ways that information can be adapted to learning
The Prezi looks good. I didn't view all of the trailers - were they all professionally done like the first one? It is important to be selective in choosing trailers. If you use one that was created by a student, be sure to note that.
ReplyDeleteSomeday you might like to have a book club where students read books and create trailers...
I always like to have copies of books out that I am promoting in book talks sitting out, readily available.
ReplyDeleteYou are quite right that teachers must learn to think on there feet. What works with one group, may not work with another. You need to be ready to shift to something that does engage their interest.