Author Visits: A tutorial

My fieldwork school is preparing for an author visit in a few weeks.  Today as my site supervisor spoke with our students about the visit, I learned a few things I want to keep in mind regarding author visits.

1. Form relationships with local bookstores.  They are the key to getting well-known authors to visit your school (at no cost).  It sounds as if authors typically have time to visit 1 or maybe 2 schools, and you want to be on the short list.
2. Prepare your students for author visits.  Take the time to introduce them to the author and his or her works.  
3. Request that students who wish to purchase a copy of the author's book (which of course is not required) NOT purchase the book from Amazon or even from a local store.  Purchasing the book through the author visit/bookstore is preferable because then the book gets signed, the local bookstore gets the sale, and (sometimes) the school PTA gets a percentage of the sale.  This is how we say "thank you" to the bookstore for bringing us the author.
4. Have the students start thinking of questions for the author.
5. COME TO SCHOOL on the day of the author visit and let the rest of the school staff know it is happening.  This seems obvious, but apparently in a different school this was an issue.
6. Stock the library with copies of the author's works, because they will skyrocket in popularity before/after the visit.  This is an instance when paperback copies might be a smart choice.

I am super excited about this visit.  Although it is not on one of my regular fieldwork days I am really going to try to come to it.

Next week, I will deliver a lesson to first grade students, again focusing on the differences between fiction and nonfiction works.  I think it will be good.  Because my site supervisor is so focused on getting the older students prepped for the author visit, I don't think I'm going to have a chance to teach them a lesson.  While it's kind of disappointing, I certainly understand her desire to "own" the process since it is her relationship with the bookstore and she does need to protect it.

I've had a chance to learn a few more "tricks" in the library circulation program, which is good.  Collection development projects continue (and keep expanding to include more Dewey areas).  I only have a few weeks left and still have a lot of projects I want to get done.  I am finished with my e-Portfolio, though, so should have more time at home to focus on them.

I also had a good discussion with my supervisor about the importance of relationship-building with volunteers even though sometimes it costs time in terms of getting other things done.  She said she prefers to put her classroom visits back to back so that there is a "forced" cut-off to chats with volunteers (not that she doesn't enjoy them but she does have other things to do).  But I do recognize the necessity of making a connection with library volunteers so they are invested in YOU and the library.  And the time volunteers save her is WAY greater than 15 lost minutes because of a conversation at recess.

A good day.

Today as one of the first grade classes left the library I got a hug from a little girl.  It made my day. :)  The lack of TLs at elementary schools makes it less likely I'll ever work in one, but if I did, I'm pretty sure the hugs alone would make it worthwhile.  A close second was the smile on another young patrons face when I showed her a book she knew she'd enjoy.

Things to remember:  hold system for students.  Slips they fill out (name, room number, date stamp), books in basket by day they come to the library.  Seating chart on floor spots for younger kids.  Specifically teaching them to use shelf markers so books go back in the right spot.  Having library volunteers "read" shelves so when things do get put back incorrectly it gets corrected. 

If by some chance I do end up in an elementary school, I will need to slow my "high school" brain down.  Often, the lessons my supervising TL gives probably seem repetitive, but I need to remember these are young students who need that repetition.  Today, after I observed her talking to them about the difference between fiction and nonfiction (a lesson I know they also learned from their Kindergarten teachers), I was doing readers' advisory and asked the student if she wanted fiction or nonfiction.

"What's nonfiction?"

I had to laugh, because it's easy for adults to forget that sometimes, it just takes a while for new information to sink in.

Another lesson:  sometimes, a student just doesn't know what he or she wants.  I tried for quite some time to help two other students find books, and even when they'd say a book looked good or when they obviously had a positive reaction when I showed them some pictures, they didn't want to take them home.  My supervising TL just told them to try one of the new books she had on display, and if they didn't like them, they could bring them back.  That idea--that you're just borrowing the book and are under no obligation to like it, and you can always get a different one--is kind of tricky for students to get.

One downside to the fact that the TL is teaching all day both days I am there is that I don't get a chance to really ask her a lot of questions about her practice.  I do at lunch, of course, but that's not a ton of time and I'm not the only person she has to speak with.  I should start carrying a notebook where I can record questions to ask her, because of course another issue is I forget the questions!

I'm also learning quite a bit about how to manage classes of young students.  My supervisor is extremely patient, but firm.  She does a lot of positive discipline.  Today when one class couldn't remember where to sit, she took the time to remind them, then let them have another chance finding their seats.  Yes, it ate up a good 5 minutes, but the students will remember next week (I hope!!).   She also finds ways to have students use their bodies during the lesson (raise one hair on your head if you think X, or if you got a nonfiction book, put it on top of your head).  It's little stuff, but stuff I didn't do with high school kids.

Digital Citizenship

Today in addition to other usual "library" stuff, I observed my supervising TL give a lesson on digital citizenship focused on netiquette.  It was interesting to me how quickly the students sat up and paid attention to this--they are much more interested in anything that has to do with technology than they are on "old fashioned" library stuff, although many of them are interested when the TL does book talks.

What is obvious to me is that these students, as 4th graders, are already using technology or are on the cusp of really beginning to have undirected time online.  This is the perfect time to begin to address issues such as online behavior with them.  The TL let hem watch a brief brainpop video focused on netiquette as well, which they all seemed to enjoy.

This afternoon she was meeting with 4th/5th grade teachers to determine who is teaching which portion of the BIA required topics.  I would have liked to have stayed for that meeting, but I was not aware of it in advance and I had to get home for my children.

The collection development project is moving on, slowly.  It's relatively tedious work.  There are significantly more items in the 300s than were in the 400s, so it is taking a while to get through everything and weed out the items that I don't want to include.

I do not know when the TL would do this type of thing without an intern.  She literally teaches all but about 15 minutes of the day on Tuesdays and all day on Wednesdays.

Sponsor a Book, District Meeting

I just wanted to write a quick post to document a program my supervisor has in place at her school that significantly adds to the library's budget:  sponsor a book.  A form goes home to all parents inviting them to sponsor a book in the library.  For $20 (per book), they or their child can choose a book to sponsor.  Parents can specify an existing title or let the child choose, and parents can also specify an inscription or let the child choose.  The forms come to the librarian (money goes through PTA) and she organizes them by class.  Then, when that class comes to the library, she has the students select books, fill out the book plates (stickers she prints), and puts the label in an EXISTING library book.  Books can have more than one sponsor.  Students can check their book out then, even if they have overdue books or have hit their "limit."  This takes quite a bit of work but has greatly increased her library budget.

I continued working on collection development (I've moved from the 400s to the 300s) and am making decent progress there.  Also got to do some readers' advisory with the 1st graders today.  It's clear that they don't trust your suggestions until they know you, though.  Relationship-building is essential.

I also attended a meeting of elementary librarians from throughout the district today.  Most of the meeting focused on how they will show compliance with the Broadband Information Act and what they will put in place to ensure digital citizenship skills are being taught.  Because these TLs teach students weekly and have a specific curriculum they follow based on the model library standards, their time is already pretty full.  They are going to take responsibility for many, but not all of, the digital citizenship lessons.  It was interesting to see how they were approaching the staff regarding this.  Most felt presenting a basic overview at a staff meeting and then meeting with grade levels for a deeper discussion was the best method.  They want to get teacher input on when/where each requirement is taught, etc. 

My real take-away, though, is that this district is on top of it and these librarians are extraordinarily fortunate to work in a place that actually employs elementary librarians.  I don't know who, if anyone, is doing this at my child's school.  It feels completely unfair that this is supposedly the same free and equal education other students in the area are getting when none of the other districts in this area have elementary TLs.

Reality Check: Elementary School

I have started working on a collection development project for my elementary site.  I really enjoy collection development, but in the past any projects I completed were completely theoretical.  Now that a real school with real budgetary constraints and a real collection with real students are involved, things are a bit different.

In the past, my CD projects have focused on a specific curriculum unit--for example, in LIBR 264 (Materials for Tweens), I focused on The Age of Exploration.  While of course I was looking for current books, I was more concerned with content and availability than with the copyright date.  While many of the books shared similar DD numbers, that was not my primary focus--I was mainly looking at the standards being taught and finding resources to support those standards.

For this project, my supervisor had me take an entire section of Dewey (the 400s) and search for materials there.  When I started, I was at home without her guidance or the ability to ask questions, so I really just put everything on the "list" I created on Follett and figured I'd weed out what I didn't want later.  Her only parameters were format (Follettbound if possible, Hardcover if not) and the 400s.

I emailed her some questions about budget, number of items, etc., but I knew she had a full day of teaching and wouldn't have time to respond right away.  Between her response and our conversation the next day, I added the following limitations:

• copyright date of 2010 or later (with very few exceptions)
• professionally reviewed, and review can be accessed

The copyright date surprised me, because when you are doing collection development to support specific curriculum standards sometimes your only option is one that has been around for a while.  However, in this context--just updating the library's general collection--it makes sense only to invest in current titles (for nonfiction).  If I were specifically looking for a book on the history of the alphabet for a teacher, then maybe that rule could bend if the best resource was older.  My supervisor also shared a brochure by the CSDE outlining the acceptable average age for materials by Dewey range, and the date for 400s was 10 years.   This shifted my approach to this project and forced me to consider other factors, such as reports to administrators and parents, when selecting materials.

Of course it makes sense that you don't want to buy materials if you can't preview them or at least get a sense of what they are.  However, again when the focus is specific content, sometimes that rule gets bent.  For general collection updating, though, I can see why you'd want to stick to those titles with positive professional reviews.

The other thing that struck me about general collection development at the elementary level is the range of materials librarians must supply.  You can't purchase only one title on sign language, for example, because you need titles for emerging readers as well as for fluent ones.

She also gave me a sense of her budget for new materials and how she divides it (complicated by the fact that Escondido is half dual-immersion Spanish language, so she purchases books in Spanish as well).  That helped me get an idea of how many titles to include on my list.

In the end, I think I came up with a solid list of English titles.  I am still working on the Spanish list, which is really a challenge since I do not read Spanish and often, the books are not reviewed.

Another surprisingly valuable part of my fieldwork is lunch.  My supervisor makes a point to eat lunch in the staff room and talk with other teachers while she is there.  She often finds ways to advocate for the library casually during those conversations.  For example, when discussing what they did over the summer she told teachers how she and another librarian had spent time looking at the Broadband Safety Act and coming up with a plan to ensure that their district was in compliance.  This lead to a discussion of what Teacher Librarians are teaching, the fact that there are library content (model) standards, and how the role of the school librarian has changed over time.  At first I thought I might choose to work through lunches, but seeing how valuable these conversations with other staff members are has changed my mind.  If teachers in schools do not understand what school librarians do on campus, how can we expect to avoid being cut?

A challenge I see with this site is that the TLs teach scheduled classes on a weekly basis.  My supervisor's schedule is largely comprised of teaching time, with classes or sometimes 1 1/2 class coming to the library for a lesson and a brief check-out period.  Classroom teachers use that time as prep time.  This does not mesh at all with the view of collaboration and co-teaching promoted by Dr. Loetscher in LIBR 233 or 250.  However, I don't think the classroom teachers are going to give up their precious prep time to co-teach with the librarian.  From what I can tell, the TL tries to focus her lessons on topics currently being studied in the classroom.  For example, if, at the time she is teaching database searching, the 4th graders are studying California Missions, she would have them search for information regarding missions.  While this is not really what Dr. L has in mind, I'm not sure how the TL could accomplish a deeper level of collaboration while juggling a very full schedule of teaching.  I will have to think some more about how to break this isolation.  I think (hope?) it is a bigger issue in elementary schools when TLs are used for prep time than in secondary schools.