It's Been a Vibrant September!

The school year is off to a great start! I am happy to report that the library has been more vibrant than ever, thus the relative quiet online. :) I hope to update this blog more often now that the school year is underway as a way to monitor my progress toward my yearly goals:

1. Align lessons, research projects, and the elementary library curriculum to Common Core Standards.
2. Collaborate with at least one teacher in grades 4-6 to lead students in an inquiry-based project
3. Continue to attend professional development opportunities both within and outside of my district
4. Plan and run Literary Lunch and Library Helper programs
5. Continue to experiment with technology with the purpose of using it effectively in an educational setting
6. Participate on two school-wide and two district-wide committees

There has been one major change (among many changes) that has had a huge positive impact: I am now at one school five days a week rather than in two. I've been able to do things this year that I was not able to before, and it has been wonderful. Just being there has increased student access to the library, as well as my flexibility in scheduling research.

I've begun mapping my lessons online using Atlas mapping software, and this has helped tremendously with my first goal. It is very easy to select the appropriate Common Core standards, but unfortunately ALA's standards are not listed. I would like to continue to use them, so I will have to find a spot to include them. I don't yet feel completely comfortable working with the CCS, but I'm definitely getting there. The organization of the standards has been very useful, especially since they are broken down to specifc grade levels.

The available professional development opportunities so far this year have been great! I am taking an on-campus class on teaching American History through Art, which has been very interesting so far. It is definitely helpful to have a history refresher since many of the research projects done in my library are related to American History. The idea of pulling information out of art is something we can teach our students to do, too. I've also joined a Teachers as Readers group, and although I cannot make the actual meetings, this year we have the opportunity to join online. The first book was In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson. Nonfiction is not usually something I pick up, but this was a very compelling read. I joined so that I made sure to continue reading "grown-up" books during the school year. It's not always easy to do! Finally, all the librarians in my district are attending a conference about Inquiry on October 28. The opportunity for us to spend the day as a department learning best practices will be incredible.

Literary Lunch and Library Helpers are both up and running as of this week. There are two sixth grade groups, two fifth grade groups, and one fourth grade group. Students sign up and come to the library during their lunch (or sometimes recess). The purpose is simply to create an enjoyable experience around literature. Students love coming to the library with their lunches, and they seem to be enjoying it so far.

Lastly, I am involved with several committees. At the school-level, I am on Building Council and the Crisis Response Team. At the district-level, I am the TRT, or Technology Resource Teacher, for  the library department. I also joined the district-wide Social Studies Steering Committee. I signed up for this at the urging of both my principal and department supervisor. We've only had one meeting, but I found it to be very enlightening. I think it's going to be good for the library department to have a voice in this area, especially after spending some time with the CCS.

Here's hoping my posts become a little more frequent so that I can be a little more focused! :)