After a much needed fall break, I hit the ground running this week. I ran a current Follett Titlewise Analysis to assess the effectiveness of "The Great Weed of 2019" as I've taken to calling it around here. We started out with a collection of 22,000 books for a patron base of about 700. Students and teachers were overwhelmed and the size of our collection limited how patrons could use the library effectively. We are nearly 10 months in, and our collection has decreased to a much more manageable size of 15,000 books. In addition, we have brought our percentage of aged titled from 79% down to 63%. I'm proud of the work I've done on this collection, because it was out of control before. We still have work to do, but with the process started, the work is easier. Once I completed the Titlewave Analysis, I used the information it contained to aid in selecting books for my big order this year. In addition to filling in gaps in our collection, I selected books that exclusively had Reading Counts quizzes. Our students struggle with finding books that have RC quizzes since we switched over from Accelerated Reader, so this is an essential requirement for books I select. I also take reader requests into consideration. Historically, I have just written titles down as students tell them to me. This year, we have a Google Form for student requests linked from our LMC page; students may request books we do not have in the LMC or ones they would like new or additional copies of. Lastly, this week is one of my favorites because I got the chance to meet up with the Region 9 chapter of GLMA! We had our fall collaborative meeting where we discussed reading, collections, book fairs, competitions, promoting ourselves, and instructional technology and MakerSpaces. Getting together with my peers is important, especially when I work in such a small district and rarely get the chance to collaborate outside of my PLN. Location: Wilkinson County Middle/High School Library Media Center
Time: 7:30-3:30 daily, October 21-25, 2019 Total Hours: 40
0 Comments
After so much excitement this semester, I was glad to have a few days off. In addition to a mini vacation to the North Georgia Mountains, I spent the time working on preparing for my Face-to-Face Professional Development to be conducted on the Monday we return. This was my view while I worked.
October brings one of my favorite holidays--Halloween! Not only do we pull books for our spooky book display, but we try to be festive with our decorations as well. Since this year, we are celebrating TeenTober rather than Teen Read Week and Teen Tech week, we have a reading contest that lasts all month and tech lessons each week. Students who earn a 100 on a Reading Counts quiz for a spooky book get a trick-or-treat goodie bag.
October always brings with it preparations for our local science fair. Our 8th grade science teacher, Mrs. Poole does a great job of supporting out students in their scientific quests, but each year, I provide lessons on GALILEO, citing sources, and creating tables, charts, and graphs. Since my media clerk was out sick this week, we had to change plans for our lessons, and bring her classes to the media center instead of me visiting her classroom like we usually do, but we made it work! Below, I'm attaching the resources we used for the lessons.
Location: Wilkinson County Middle/High School Library Media Center
Time: 7:30-3:30 daily, October 7-11, 2019 Total Hours: 40
We had a tremendously busy schedule in the LMC this week. In addition to high school research lessons leadership team meetings, and the day to day, all sixth, seventh, and eight grade classes came for book check outs. Since we were so swamped, one of my high school interns really stepped up when it came to helping some younger students select books. The middle school requires that all student book checkouts meet the following criteria: within a student's Lexile range, has a Reading Counts quiz, and of interest to the particular student. Oftentimes, finding a book that meets this criteria is difficult for students as many of our books do not have Reading Counts quizzes since we recently switched from Accelerated Reader. This is quite frustrating for our younger students who haven't yet developed their library skills. I almost teared up when I saw this sweet, sweet young man going above and beyond the call of duty. It makes me so proud and hopeful that there will be a future generation of librarians who care about their patrons as much as I do.
This week, I also began a GALILEO unit with Mrs. Newsome, the AP Literature teacher. I created a Google Slides presentation with specifics of why and how to use GALILEO and other research tools, allowed them time to research for their upcoming essay, and ended with a Google Challenge. Mrs. Newsome and I collaborate for this unit each year, and the presentation, timing, and requirements of the assignment change for each class of students she has. Below, I've attached the GALILEO lesson.
Location: Wilkinson County Middle/High School Library Media Center
Time: 7:30-3:30 daily, September 30-October 4, 2019 Total Hours: 40 |
Hope GoodnerA catalog of my Practicum experiences. Archives
November 2019
Categories |