The Reality of Working from Home - COVID19

Dear Education Friends,

As I start my FOURTH week of virtual learning/teaching, I have questioned why I am struggling to maintain a work/home balance. After all, I worked at home for six and a half years. During that time, I had definitely mastered the working from home lifestyle. It's only been one year and nine months since I left that all behind, so why can't I get it together? And if I am having a hard time, I can only imagine how many of you feel like you are drowning. Being at home has given me plenty of time to be reflective, so I wanted to share with you my thoughts and maybe, hopefully, some tips for getting back your sanity -- at least as much as possible in today's world.

First, it's about kids, all day, every day. That makes it so much more difficult. When I was at NCDPI, I played a role in education, but I didn't have the daily interaction like I have now. That changes the ability to let go, and trust me, I get it. You are worried, but remember, that's what makes you an amazing educator. I don't have the answer for this one. These are uncertain times, and we want to give our students a sense of normalcy. That's just it. There is nothing normal about this. We have to accept it, and find a way to move forward for our sake and theirs. Know that you are doing everything you can to teach them what you can in whatever way that is made available to you. Let go of the guilt, because unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to change what is happening in education right now.

So what can you do? Think about your work patterns. Where are you working? Is it the same spot every day? If so, you need to switch it up. If not, you will dread working from that place. If it hasn't happened yet, it will. I love my office/craft room. It is one of my favorite places in our house with a large desk that lets me create all kinds of projects. This is where I am working. I don't want to do any craft projects. Um, I have plenty of things I could be doing, but creating in my office, feels like work. This was something I often struggled with working from home. I would stay in the same place to work for weeks, and then I figured out I was much happier if I moved rooms daily (sometimes even hourly). At the time, I could also leave home, so I found a great coffee shop locally. That isn't possible right now, so take a good look around you. Can you work on a porch or in the dining room? Trust me, you will be glad you made the change.

Also, put away those work items -- agendas, to-do lists, computer, whatever. Put it away. I used to think putting it all away was a waste of time, because I would just have to pull it out again tomorrow. Yet, this works. It took me three weeks into virtual learning to remind myself of this. As I walked to my desk Saturday to make cards, I looked at my stack of work and thought that is what I really should be doing. Initially, I tried to leave it in its place, but it haunted me. I picked up every bit of it and put it out of sight until Monday morning. Guess what? It worked. It didn't feel like it was staring at me, questioning my decision to do something for myself.

While educators put in lots of hours, we walk out the door at some point to go home and spend time with our families. You no longer have the opportunity to walk away, so set time limits for yourself. Establish what time you are going to stop working and stick to it. But Jennifer, you are saying, I have all these things to do. You have to prioritize. Start your day with the things that have to be finished for the next day, then move on to other tasks or getting a jump start on the day after that. As a task oriented person, I have the overwhelming desire to keep going and do this and that, but I learned quickly from working at home before that there will always be something else. You will never be caught up, so choose those things that have pressing deadlines and then those things that can be done quickly (this helps your to-do list shrink quickly making it less overwhelming), and then those that can make the biggest impact. This isn't easy to train yourself to do, and even if you do, it doesn't always work, but give it a try.

Through all of this, the most important piece of advice I can give you is to take care of yourself. Take a walk, participate in an online yoga class, cuddle your dog -- anything that makes you feel normal and helps you just appreciate life in general. I highly recommend a Netflix Party with friends. Of course, we added a Google Meet to the mix so we could also talk during our viewing of The Craft. It was just what I needed even if my husband told me it was cool, but maybe the geekiest thing he had ever heard. What does he know anyway?

Thinking of all you and being amazed by your strength and resilience. You got this!

The Power of Play

First, let me say I make no excuses for not posting, but as I opened up the blog tonight, I could not believe my eyes! How could it be that I have not posted on this blog since late September? Well, time to correct that for sure!

Much of the professional development I have done of late has focused on Makerspaces, STEM, etc. Those are such an important part of what should be taking place in school libraries today. In these sessions I am always sure to provide hands-on time. I know some may not be comfortable embracing the great "stuff" associated with these trends in libraries, so my goal is to provide a safe time to play.

Enjoy Legos with or without kids. You never know what YOU will create!

In theory this sounds like a great idea. However, in actuality it never turns out as I expect. I should add that these sessions offer a variety of activities from duct tape flowers to Spheros, as well as Snap Circuits and more. So what's the problem? The problem is that the vast majority of participants choose to do safe activities or sit back and let others take the driver's seat.

I have spent a great deal of time reflecting on this, and I think we, as adults, think of this too much as play. Is play a bad thing? I don't think so. For me, I know getting started was hard. I would sit in my living room floor and play with Magformers or Snap Circuits (gotta know how they work myself before I share with others), and I felt a little strange at first. Add one of my nieces to the equation though, and I don't think twice about it. Why is that? Why do adults feel guilty about play? Is it all the other things that we should be doing? Is it that those things are for kids? If I wasn't playing with Sphero, I would probably be sewing or making cards. Why are those activities more acceptable? To be honest, I don't know the answer to that. What I do know is that teacher librarians need to embrace these activities that can aid the learning of our students. Sit down with students and connect with them over Legos. Get to know them, build relationships, and help facilitate their learning.

Hoarders: Library Edition

In my current position, I get to visit school libraries on a regular basis. This is one of the best and worst parts of my job. There really are a lot of great things happening in school libraries now. I wish everyone had the opportunity to see the research, makerspaces, collaboration space, and so much more that is happening in school libraries. If they could see this, there would be no doubt to the value of school media programs and the knowledgeable teacher librarians that run them. Then there are those programs, the libraries that I worry endanger the future of school libraries and all they stand for. While there are many issues in some of these school libraries, this post is going to focus just on hoarding.

Basically, there are two types of hoarders out there. The first is the "you never know when" librarian. You know what I mean, "you never know when you are going to need that laserdisc player" mentality and excuse for not throwing something away. My first library position I walked into a school library where there was a lot of stuff. Things I would never use, but I held onto for quite awhile anyway. As a new librarian, I could not help but think that someone held onto it because it was used for something. I hesitated because I thought someone must need it for it to be there. In hindsight, I should have gotten rid of that stuff right off the bat. It took up valuable real estate. Space that could be used for student centered space, and that's what it is really all about. Once I started getting rid of things, I can only think of one instance where I wished I had kept something that I had thrown out (and now I don't even remember what that was).

The second type of hoarder is "the protector of the knowledge". The protector wants to ensure that books stay pristine, that parts don't go missing, or they worry that students will break this or that. What this amounts to is a space with lots of great items, but sadly it does not get any use by students. While these librarians may have good intentions, I think it is important to be reflective and ask yourself where your priorities reside. Yes, things are going to vanish, get broken, etc., and ultimately it is the price of doing business and doing it well. Keeping items behind lock and key only serves to inhibit student learning and send a negative impression about the library program.

School libraries are at a crossroads, and it is critical that school librarians show the world that they are a key factor in student learning. It's time to make our spaces student-centered and share all that we have to offer.

The Power to Create

Have you ever had a plan for kids that just did not go the way you expected? The real question is how did you handle it? Sometimes we have a natural inclination to direct kids to complete a task in the way that we expect, but instead we need to give them the freedom to create on their own.

Back in March, my 7 year old niece was with me when I purchased my new sewing machine. At the time, I was so surprised at her interest in using the sewing machine. In fact, I thought it was a fascination that would wane. That night we went out to dinner, and I asked what she wanted to do when we got back. She said to me, "I thought we were going to go home and use the sewing machine." So that is just what we did. Her first project was creating a small pillow that would match the quilt that I was making my mom. She even did the hand-stitching to close the pillow. After this, we made a plan to make a quilt for her American Girl doll the next time she came to visit.

Well, last week she came to visit. We selected some fabric, and we looked at making half-square triangles. After talking about all of our different pattern options, she decided she wanted to make pinwheels. We started sewing the basic pieces together, but her attention was fleeting during the cutting and measuring. For those of you who don't know, quilting requires a lot of measuring, as well as squaring up of quilting blocks. Since I was using a rotary cutter, I did not let my niece help with this step. This, of course, meant that she quickly lost focus during these in-between stages. So what happened?

Basically, she started working with fabric while she waited on me. She did some practice sewing, then on her own she created a pocket for me. As I watched her create this pocket, it was interesting how my thoughts emerged. To be honest, my first instinct was to redirect her back to our original project. In fact the words were right on the tip of my tongue, and I had to catch myself from uttering those words. What was really important here? Was it important that she make this quilt? No, that definitely shouldn't be the objective for our day. What mattered was that she wanted to explore and create! Instead, I just let her design and develop her own project.

Next time you are faced with a similar dilemma with your students, really think about what your objective is for your students? Do you want a cookie cutter product or something that students had to problem solve to create? Just sit back and let students explore the endless possibilities.

#2jennsbookclub Come Chat with Us!

The great thing about Voxer is it allows me to talk with my good friend, Jennifer LaGarde, on a fairly regular basis. Now that we no longer work together it allows me to hear her voice with the touch of a button. What makes this even better is when the mention of an idea can lead to something that I can only describe as awesome.

One day, as I walked the dog, I was listening to a Vox from Jennifer. I remember that I was walking the dog simply because I was climbing a particularly challenging hill in my neighborhood. That was the exact moment that Jennifer mentioned that she would really like to read for pleasure more, and she really wanted to start a virtual book club. I replied back (a message that probably had a lot of huffing and puffing as I tried to breathe and walk up the hill), and emphatically declared that I was all in on this idea.

Like Jennifer mentioned in her blog post on the #2jennsbookclub, leaving the library often means you don't read like you used to. I have been out of the library for 2.5 years now, and while I still read for pleasure, it is rare. There is no one asking for book suggestions, there is no need to keep abreast of the latest trends, so basically I just stopped. This is truly a travesty, because I love to read YA literature, not only because of students, but simply because I truly enjoy it.

Jennifer started us off on a list of newly published YA books. As I looked at this list, I was devastated to realize that I had heard of none of these. How did this happen? Reading the newest titles used to be something I truly embraced. I would go to the book store and scan for new titles that I wanted to read, and titles I wanted to recommend to my students. To be honest, it was disheartening to learn that I had lost a part of myself. Now I am excited about reading, but more than anything I get to talk about books with others that care about reading as much as I do. I hope you will check out the schedule and join in. We can't wait to chat with you!

The Power of a Librarian

Today's post is a guest post from my colleague Kathy Parker. Kathy is the School Library Media Consultant for the NC Department of Public Instruction, as well as a former English teacher and school librarian. Kathy shared this amazing story with our team last month at a meeting, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. I asked Kathy to write a guest blog post for Memorial Day. I cannot think of a better time to share this story. Wishing you all a wonderful Memorial Day. Please don't forget to remember those that have given their lives and to thank those that have served.


When I meet people for the first time, invariably the conversation turns to our work. After learning that I’m a school library consultant, they ask some variation of the same question, “What do librarians do now that there’s Google?” I typically embark on an impassioned, verbal treatise about librarians closing achievement gaps, bridging the digital divide, leading others to information, and I watch as their eyes glaze over. I imagine they hear my voice as Charlie Brown’s teacher, “Wah-Wah Wah-Wah.” So the next time someone asks me that question, I’m going to share this personal story instead…

Usually after work, I’m welcomed home by the sight of my neighbor, Harry, sitting on his stoop. I make my way over and plop myself on his steps, scaring away Meow-Meow, the stray cat that’s taken up residence by his side. When it’s chilly, I caution him that he’s going to catch a cold from the nippy air. He scoffs, dismissively waves his hand, and insists, “I got enough shots in the war to kill anything. That’s why I’m so old.” Then he reminds me that he survived Wisconsin winters and did it without electric heat! Point taken. Harry’s such a fixture of my neighborhood that I sometimes forget he hasn’t spent all of his 93 years across the street.

My Two Favorite Veterans: Harry with my husband, David, on Memorial Day 2012. 

This past April, as we were sitting on his stoop enjoying the sunshine, Harry mentioned the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Okinawa. He rarely talks about World War II, but the anniversary had him reflecting on his service. He mentioned to me that he had buried a buddy of his on the island in 1945. They had become fast friends in the war, and Harry wondered aloud if his body was ever recovered and returned to his family. He said that at the time, when a soldier was killed, “you put his dog tags between his teeth, buried him quick, and moved on.” But of course, Harry couldn’t really move on. For 70 years, the whereabouts of his friend’s body weighed on Harry’s mind. Harry half jokingly insisted that the Okinawan jungle grew up so fast that you’d carve a path, turn around, and find that the trail was already overgrown. He feared that his friend’s grave had never been found.

So being the “information warrior” that I am, my mind immediately began brainstorming resources to investigate. And guess what, I couldn’t find the answer Harry needed just by searching Google! Although my Google search located casualty lists and memorial records that referred to his friend and directed me to some fee for service sites with possible leads, I did not initially find anything confirming a burial location. When I reached out to my network of fellow librarians, one from Wisconsin struck gold! The information that Harry needed was “buried” in a Minnesota university’s digitized newspaper database. After 70 years, I had an answer for Harry.

The next time I plopped on Harry’s stoop, I said, “Look what I came across on the computer. Do you see any interesting articles in this old paper?” It took him a minute as he was initially drawn to the ads for familiar products from back in his day. I eagerly waited as his eyes wandered across the page, then my heart flip-flopped as his face lit up when he recognized his friend’s name in the headline: Alden Synstad Reburial Rites Set For Friday. Reading the article from April 13, 1949, Harry finally learned that his buddy’s remains had indeed made their way home.


After 70 years, librarians gave peace of mind to a World War II veteran. That’s what librarians do!

Entry into the Edcamp World

After returning my niece to her family following the Thanksgiving holiday, I got home to see tweets from tonight's #nctlchat. The topic for tonight was edcamps. This made me think about my own edcamp experiences.

For quite awhile now, I have watched edcamp tweets from afar. Timing and distance have always presented a barrier when it came to actually attending an edcamp. Finally a couple of weeks ago #edcampwnc was held in Cullowhee. I was so lucky that I got to socialize and learn with some of the awesome members of my PLN. It was also great to meet some new educators. 

To be honest, I did not know what to expect from my edcamp experience. I am such a planner and organizer that the lack of an agenda made me uncomfortable. Oh, how I hate to admit that, but it is the truth. However, the development of the agenda went incredibly smoothly. The organizers used Google Moderator. This was my first time seeing Google Moderator in use. Participants were able to provide possible topic ideas and then vote on those of interest. The top 16 were used to form the agenda. Each time slot featured a topic of interest for me. The ability to just have a conversation with a group of educators was wonderful. It is so rare that educators have the opportunity to do that. 

The implication of edcamps for professional development have yet to be realized in my opinion. I hope we will eventually see administrators embrace similar styles to meet professional development needs. Imagine the day when teachers have the opportunity to share ideas about topics that interest them and have true implications for their work. No more would we be sitting in professional development that either isn't applicable or something we have already mastered.

After experiencing my first edcamp, I encourage you to find an edcamp near you. You will not only learn a lot, but you will also make connections that will extend learning beyond just that day. 

Creative Chaos

It is interesting to me that as I work with other teacher librarians, I find myself encouraging them to embrace chaos. I recognize that fear and uncertainty I see in their eyes when I say that. For all librarians order has always been the name of the game, but the game is changing.

Libraries are undergoing an evolution. Makerspaces, flexible learning spaces, authentic learning and so much more has changed the nature of that once quiet, organized space. In order to be the hub of our schools, we have to be on the cutting edge of student learning. In order to do this, many of us have to step out of our comfort zones.

In the first years of my career, I kept that orderly space. However, in later years, I began to let go of the control in some areas. This was the natural by-product of a collaborative project with a teacher. Throughout the project I expended a great deal of energy trying to control the creative chaos that emerged from students that were truly engaged with their learning. In reflecting on the process, I quickly established that there were better ways to expend my energy. Students were engaged, and they were on-task. What was I stressing about? I was the one with the issue, and I needed to let go.

For the next large scale project, I structured things a little differently in order to make the space more functional, but I stopped stressing about the chaos. The chaos was learning and wasn't that the most important thing? That is not to say that those nagging issues didn't pop into my head sometimes, but I got better about pushing them to the deep recesses of my brain.

Begin retraining yourself to embrace the creative chaos around you. You will be amazed at what emerges from the disorder. It has the ability to not only change you but the culture of your school as well.

Get in the Action!

Two words tend to create a feeling of discomfort in many professionals. Those two words are "action research." I am not sure what causes this stigma around action research. My guess is that for many of us we have flashbacks of graduate school, and we are likely intimidated by the concept of action research.

As part of the School Library Media Coordinator Professional Standards in NC, action research is included. As I work with school librarians, it is obvious that this is one area that causes them significant heartburn. The rubric descriptor reads as follows: Conducts action research to determine the impact of the school library media program on student achievement. What I think most don't realize is that they are probably doing action research annually anyway. I wanted to create something that made action research seem less daunting, so here is what I came up with.

Downloadable Image

Downloadable Image

This is more of a brainstorming guide that is meant to provide guidance in getting started. While action research can be a very intense process when done for graduate work or for grant purposes, you can also keep it simple. When doing action research for your own purposes, don't tend to think of it as the next paper you will be submitting. Instead, focus on the outcome and how it will impact student achievement.

So get into the action today! 

From Rough Waters to Smooth Sailing

I keep putting off writing about the content of my keynote at the Alabama School Library Association Conference this summer. The timing just has not felt right. Now that the beginning of the school year is near for so many, I know that it is the right time to talk about the different vessels of librarianship, and where the focus needs to be for many of us as we move into the new school year.

My inspiration for the keynote started with an episode of Gilmore Girls. The grandmother in the episode calls her daughter, Lorelai, a kayak. She is a kayak because of her independence and ability to be successful on her own. Whereas the grandmother sees herself as a canoe. She and Lorelai's father have been split up for awhile, and this has made her feel like she has been rowing in circles because she ultimately belongs to a two man canoe team. This really made me think about myself personally and whether or not I was a kayak. Then it led me to question whether or not I was a kayak professionally. I definitely started my career as a kayak.

As the kayak, I was ok on my own. I often worked in solitude. Lessons were taught in isolation. Collaboration with teachers was nonexistent. I was sailing along, but it just wasn't what I envisioned. So what vessel of librarianship did I want to be? What vessel should I strive to be?

Many of us may feel like the speedboat. You know how it is as a librarian. You hardly have time to eat lunch some days. Between troubleshooting technology, teaching, meetings and so on, every day seems like a blur. We wear a lot of different hats, and sometimes we don't know if we are coming or going.

The tugboat can be a tiring role. The tugboat is pushing and pulling at every turn. As the tugboat you are ready to move forward and make changes, but you are always fighting the resistance. The tugboat has to be cautious about not being too pushy.

The list of possible vessels of librarianship is endless. In fact, there are several others I mentioned in my keynote. I shared tactics for making sure the drawbridge stays open and allows the vessels to pass through (more on that in another post), but it all boils down to one thing. As you start this school year, you need to be the lifeboat for your students, your teachers, and your school community. The lifeboat combines all of the best elements of librarianship. As the lifeboat we are able to come to the rescue and provide just in time service for our stakeholders.

I wish you smooth sailing as you start this school year. I have no doubt that there will be days that other vessels will win out, just remember to reflect on your practice and remind yourself that you have the power to be the lifeboat. Bon Voyage!
 

Not in it Alone

I intended to write this post immediately following the Alabama School Library Association Conference, but life got in the way. In the end, I think that might have been for the best. This really allowed me to reflect on the experiences related to my first keynote address.

Back in January I mentioned during the TL Virtual Cafe that it was always good to find that friend that challenged you. It probably comes as no surprise that the person who challenges me is Jennifer LaGarde. She is great about nudging me in just the right direction at just the right time. Needless to say her encouragement was critical to my first keynote address for the Alabama School Library Association.

It was such an honor to be asked to share my thoughts about Meeting the Challenge @yourlibrary. This is such an appropriate topic for school libraries at this time. I will probably post more about the specifics of my speech in another post, but today I want to focus on something else.

In talking with the teacher librarians of Alabama, it was easy to see that the concerns for school librarians are the same no matter the location. Yet the thing that stood out to me is that involvement in your state's professional organization is critical. It is easy to begin to feel as if you are working in isolation, but active membership in your state's professional organization provides you with the opportunity to connect with others who understand your day to day life. What's even better is that often others have found solutions to problems you face every day. Additionally,  your professional organization can really help promote advocacy activities that are critical to helping others understand the importance of our work.

I know adding one more thing to your plate can sometimes seem overwhelming, but can you really afford not to be a member of your state's professional library/school library association? Better yet, don't just be a member, be an active participant. Help navigate the course of school librarianship in your state. 

Bring Advertising to the Library

We have all heard the adage "Don't judge a book by its cover", but let's be honest, we all do this. In this day and age there really is no excuse for a bad cover, yet they still exist. As a librarian, I want students to read a book based on its merits not the cover, but what if this doesn't happen? Why not advertise those books that we know will get student attention if we can just get them to crack it open?

I worked with an AIG teacher to develop an advertising unit. Students had to develop their advertising agencies, and they basically had to sell a book. We used Caldecott winners that were worthy of attention, but that did not get checked out much. Students had to develop commercials and book trailers for their books. They also had to recreate the covers. We had a couple of covers after the completion of the unit that did increase the circulation of the book.

It also didn't hurt that these advertising agencies had to market these books. It brought attention to some worthy books that were not necessarily on the student radar. In addition to the marketing tools, they had to set up booths in the media center to "sell" their books. Groups had been accumulating funds throughout the project, so they were able to bid on prime real estate. Tops of bookshelves were used as marketing booths. Because my shelves were mobile, the group with the highest bid could move their display space anywhere they desired. They, of course, chose to move it right outside the library door so they could catch students as they entered the library. The group that received the most monetary donations was recognized and earned "income" for their agency. All of the donations were then given to the library for the purchase of additional books.

This project made for a great collaborative project, increased interest in reading, and helped raise money for the media center. Student engagement was at an all-time high, because there was a definite competitive edge for the agencies to be better than one another.

#whylib

I have really enjoyed reading about why members of my PLN became librarians. It has been great to learn their histories. As with many of those, my path to librarianship was not that direct. I started my professional career as a middle school teacher. While I loved middle school, I knew that I needed to find something to challenge myself. I started with working on a Master's degree in Middle Grades Education. One class in, and I knew this just wasn't what I wanted to do. 

I took some time to evaluate and make some decisions about my professional future (oh, and I got married, completed my National Boards, and bought a house in the meantime). After looking at school administration and various other career paths, I decided to pursue my MLIS. To be honest, my initial goal was not to be a school librarian. I actually intended to become an academic librarian. 

I took the classes for academic librarianship and avoided the classes for school libraries like the plague. Then as I was finishing up, I decided I should go ahead and take the classes for school library certification just in case. Boy, that turned out to be a great move. Our school librarian was taking a year off for maternity leave, so I asked to take that position during her absence. That was the best thing that ever happened to me. She actually ended up not returning, and I stayed for ten years in the position. 

Being a school librarian has been one of the most rewarding experiences. My evolution as a professional started when I took that position. I was lucky to have supportive administrators, and I am so thankful for all the students and teachers I had the opportunity to work with over the years. 

Choose Your Own Adventure PD

We've all had that moment where we sat in professional development and wondered what we were doing there. There is nothing I find more frustrating then sitting in PD that teaches me something I already know. I try not to complain, and instead try to help those that are struggling, but we all know that we want more.

One way to address this is to restructure our professional development days. Prior to leaving my last position, we developed a Choose Your Own Adventure type of professional development afternoon. The instructional coach, principal, and I wanted to provide meaningful learning opportunities for the faculty on an early dismissal afternoon. The structure of the day allowed teachers to choose two hour long sessions that would be beneficial to them.

In preparation for this day, we surveyed staff to find out areas of professional development interest. We had a few topic possibilities and asked for their suggestions as well. The survey results were then examined and topics narrowed down. Five different sessions were offered during each hour. We, along with other teacher leaders, led these sessions. We did have teachers sign up in advance, because we were using computer labs that had limited space, and we wanted to be sure we could accommodate everyone.

This is easy to organize and is a great way to show that you are a leader in your building. Plus, it has the added benefit of being a collaborative effort. I encourage you to also market this PD. While it may be required, market it in a way that really creates some excitement among your faculty.

Aspirations

Instead of resolutions, maybe we need to have aspirations. Resolutions are easily broken, whereas aspirations provide hope. So what should school libraries aspire to be? That depends on your situation. Do you want your library to be a student-centered hub? What about a place of instructional change? The list goes on and on, but many of your actions can then help you achieve your aspiration.

To be honest, I don't really have a whole lot to say about aspirations. Basically, this post was inspired by a photo I took at the NCSU Hunt Library. This is a library that is entirely about students. Space is collaborative and thoughtful. You won't see bookshelves spread throughout the library. Instead a robot collects books and drops them off for pick-up. What is significant about all of this is this comment written on a table at the library.

Note that I said "written on a table." All tables can be written on with dry erase markers. While the sentiments of this author might be offensive to some, it emphasizes how much students love this space. Don't we all want to aspire to having a space that students love to utilize?

Set some aspirations for your new year. Every time you do something that leads to the achievement of your aspirations, pat yourself on the back. You deserve it!

Football 101

My house is always filled with the sounds of football on the weekend, and I have to admit I don't understand the excitement that accompanies the sport. If I am in the same room, my husband finds it necessary to give me the play by play. Of course, al I hear is "blah, blah, blah." I did not grow up in a house where football was always on, so maybe that taints my opinion of the sport. Ultimately, however, I think it really boils down to the fact that I don't understand it.

As a librarian, one of my favorite things was library programming. Planning special programs was a great way to get to know students and provide outlets for them to learn about topics of interest. Football 101 might be a great way to help someone like me better understand this sport. This could easily be targeted at girls or open to all students. Snacks could have a football theme. The goal of this programming would be for these students to gain an understanding of the game. Obviously, you probably don't want to provide the instruction if you are not knowledgeable on the sport. Instead invite local coaches and players from local colleges or if you are a middle school, invite those from the high school. 

Be sure to share your fiction and nonfiction titles that address football. Also, consider having a viewing party in the library one weekend or even for the Super Bowl. It could even be a family event. 

Reinventing Space

There are lots of reasons why school libraries need to be reinvented. These range from staying relevant in a 1:1 environment to just remaining relevant in general. You would think that we would not have to talk about changing our space to meet the needs of our users. Ultimately that should just be the nature of the beast, but it is always easy to get complacent or bogged down with the idea there just isn't money. But we have to step around these roadblocks and reinvent space that is instructional and engaging.

While there are a lot of advantages to a 1:1 environment, I have to admit the media center often suffers. Most of the schools I visit with 1:1 programs have media centers that are simply unused. Teachers tend to think that the media center means access and when the access is in the hand of every child, access to the media center is no longer needed. What is a media coordinator to do in this situation? At this point, I believe it is to take a closer look at what the physical space of a media center can have to offer. The first of these in my mind is collaborative space. This is definitely limited in the classroom, so how can you create spaces where students can collaborate. Consider seating and computer display options when creating new collaborative space. Use large screen monitors that students can connect their devices to so that they can all work on a project.  Don't be afraid to be creative with the space. I don't consider myself to be a creative person, so I have to really stop and think about how to make things like this happen. If you know you lack that creative gene, ask someone else for help. A different perspective is always beneficial.

Want it to be a space for students? Then ask them what they want. Have them complete a survey. Better yet have a contest to have students provide ideas for library design. Better set some parameters though because their ideas probably have no limits. While that's not a bad thing, you probably want realistic ideas that you can pull from.

There's no doubt we live in a data driven society. Data can sometimes be intimidating but consider making a committee to look at data. Use that data to determine space. Could you use that data to develop makerspaces in your media center?

Enka High School encourages students to "Make Something."

Funding, of course, can be an issue, but give yourself permission to dream big. You can always scale back as you are planning a reinvention of your space. Start small, show how those changes are impacting students, then ask for more money. Consider applying for grants, keep an eye out for contests, put together a wish list and share with stakeholders. You never know unless you ask, but you need to be prepared to market yourself as well. If stakeholders don't see the value, they are not inclined to invest. Sometimes librarians find it hard to toot their own horn, but keep in mind you are doing it for your students.

Be sure to share your library redesign efforts. We all grow from the creative ideas of others.

Author Anxiety

Are you thinking about having an author visit your school? Not sure where to start? I am going to share some of my experiences, so that you can move away from having anxiety to excitement about planning your first author visit.

Several years ago I knew I wanted to plan an author visit, but I just did not know where to start. For some reason I was telling my brother about this, and what transpired still amazes me today. He told me that his boss' wife, Frances, did author visits. Now, it is important to note that my brother had mentioned that his boss' wife wrote children's book on previous occasions. Of course, he made no distinction between children's books and books for middle schoolers and young adults. Knowing that the last name of his boss was Dowell, I was finally able to put two and two together after this conversation. Yep, that's right my brother worked for the husband of Frances O'Roark Dowell! Can you imagine my excitement?

Having this contact took quite a bit of stress out of figuring out where to start in this process. After this, I began making author visits an annual event. 

The first consideration has to be funding. I am not going to sugarcoat it, author visits are costly. You have to remember that if they are visiting your school, they can't be writing. Time is money for authors. There are lots other of things that must be considered: travel, speaker fee, food, lodging, books, etc. I often used money earned from book fairs to pay for author visits. Writing grants might be another option for you as well. Keep in mind that the bigger the name, the bigger the cost. Also consider checking with other schools in your district. They might also want to invite the author to their schools. This way you can share some of the expenses related to travel, lodging, and food. One year we were even able to get the hotel room donated for our author. One of the librarians in the district had a connection with the establishment, and they provided the room free of charge. Another cost saving strategy is to find authors that are in close proximity to your location. All the authors that visited my school were North Carolina authors, so that really helped with travel expenses. 

Typically, I planned author visits for April of each year. As soon as the author visit was over, I began thinking about the following year. It may seem early to begin planning almost a year in advance, but author schedules tend to fill up quickly. Be sure to check your calendar for spring break before booking and get the go ahead from your administrator.

In my experience, author visits are much more successful when the students have read a book by the author. It makes the connection to the author more real for students and keeps them more engaged. To make this happen, I bought a class set of books. With a student body of 700-800 it is difficult to make one class set of books work, but cost can be prohibitive. I would schedule the books for a two week rotation with each interested language arts teacher. The teacher could choose the best way to teach the book. Some had students read the entire book, others used excerpts. It is important to get the books in the hands of teachers as soon as possible in the school year to allow enough time for everyone to finish the book.

For most author visits, I requested four sessions, a lunch with students, and a book signing. Some authors will only do two sessions which means that you have to have the session in a gym or auditorium. I think students are more engaged if you can fit them into your library. I was very fortunate that my furniture was mobile and stackable, so we were able to do four different sessions in the library. Another great treat is a lunch for students with the author. I would buy pizza and invite about 25 students to have lunch with the author. There are a variety of ways you could select these 25 students. Choose something that works best for your school environment.

Book signing is something you might not think about when planning a school event, but there are some students that are professional author stalkers in the making incredibly excited about this opportunity to meet an author up close and personal. I have found that it is best to approach a local book store about purchasing books (possibly at a discount). Explain that you have an author visit and that you would like to pre-order some books for students (make sure the author does not plan to bring some to sell - this is rare). Create an order form with the books and their prices, and be sure to check with the book store to determine how long it will take the books to arrive (some stores will pre-order them and just have the extras available that day or they will get the copies autographed for their own shelves). I put sticky notes on the books for students to pick up the books during the signing. This way the owner of the book is identified and the author can use this to see the child's name. Don't forget to buy extra books by the author for your library. Don't buy too many of the one read in classes, but be sure to purchase multiple copies of other books. These will be in high demand immediately after an author visit.

Author Stalking at NCSLMA13. Alex Flinn (left) author of Cloaked, Beastly, and Bewitching.

Here are some other things to consider during an author visit. Be sure to provide water and a few snacks for the author. If your library is surrounded by other classrooms, warn them that the noise might be a little loud on this day. For authors spending the night, check to see if he/she has dinner plans. If not, ask to take him/her to a nice local restaurant. Ask some of your librarian pals from other schools to tag along. Also, consider offering to provide transportation from the hotel to the school and back.

Hope this helps you with your author anxiety. Take the plunge and ask an author to come visit your school. After you have done it once, it gets a lot easier. Plus, it will be something that you want to repeat year after year.

Making Connections

Wow! Summer is over and it is back to school for all my library friends. To be honest, I really miss the excitement that accompanies the start of the school year. This is the first time in a really long time that I haven't prepared for back to school. I miss that energy and excitement that accompanies the start of the school year.

As your school year begins, remember that this is the best time you have to build relationships with the teachers in your school. Here are just a few tips that might help.

• Provide goody bags in teacher mailboxes. Fill them with goodies like candy, Sharpies, fun post-its, and any other small items that they might be able to use. In addition to the fun stuff, include reminders about valuable resources. Make flyers for online databases to serve as a reminder. Put in training schedules for any professional development you might have planned in the future. 
• Set-up fun displays that are eye-catching. I have to admit I was terrible at this. First, I hate clutter. Second, I am really not that creative. Wish I had gotten into Pinterest while I was still in the library! There are so many great ideas for displays. Having trouble coming up with display ideas? Check out this Pinterest board just for those of you who struggle with those design elements in your library. 
• Schedule mini-workshops for teachers. Let's be honest the beginning of the year is just plain busy, and there are a lot of things to accomplish. Offer 30-45 min training sessions for teachers. Topics can be on webpage development, how to use the laminator, or an exploration of resources. Also, don't feel like you have to lead the training. Just offer work sessions. Set up a time for teachers to work on webpages or to learn a Web 2.0 tool. The goal of these work sessions is not for you to teach them but for you to be a support. Teachers are often more willing to explore or work on something if they know someone is close by to answer their questions. 
• Give away prizes. Maybe you can talk your principal into purchasing a few gift cards. If your teachers have iPads, give away iTunes gift cards. These could be done in a drawing format, but there are alternatives as well. Use trivia to give away these prizes. Before QR codes became commonplace, I offered a prize to the teacher who could tell me what it was and what it meant. So not only did they have to tell me it was a QR code, they had to decode it as well.

Wishing you the best year yet!

The Fix-It Fine Line

Yesterday I wrote a blog post about bad apples. After reading a comment from Mark Samberg, I felt it was important to address the idea of being the fix-it person. Mark points out, "There's definitely a balancing act here," and I agree.

Yes, a media coordinator should help facilitate instruction and sometimes that moves the media coordinator into the role of technician. We want to be helpful and provide teachers with the best possible service so they can provide quality instruction. The issues come when you find that you act as a technician 25, 50, 75 percent of the time. I ended up letting those tech issues take over, and to be honest, I ended up submitting work orders to our tech department for a large majority of those (and I am fairly competent at troubleshooting).

There were two incidents that really let me know I had to find the balance. The first was so astonishing to me that I thought if I ignored it, it would go away. I was in the midst of teaching a class, and I don't mean in a circulating, helping students way. I mean in front of the class providing instruction. As this was happening, I could see in my peripheral vision a teacher standing off to the side. I kept teaching, and as I did so I could see her getting more antsy by the minute. Finally, I asked what she needed. She had a computer issue and wanted me to fix it right that minute. Ummm, not going to happen. I was teaching a class. There were so many many different ways she could have handled this: tell my assistant, send an email, leave me a note, etc. Instead, she wanted me right that minute while I was with students. Talk about not valuing me as an instructional leader.

Another defining moment was at the end of the school year. I was in the middle of some overwhelming task when a teacher sent a student to get me to help with a VCR. I relayed that I just could not make it right that minute. Once I made it there, what I expected to find was a VCR that was not connected properly. What I found was a VCR that had the eject button pried off and a videotape stuck in it. Long story short, I could not fix it and asked the teacher to borrow a VCR from a neighbor. She really wasn't happy with this and multiple students later told me that she told that class that she always did her job and it would be nice if I did mine. First, I did not learn VCR repair in graduate school, and if you can find that as part of my professional standards, please show it to me.

These were two defining moments that changed my approach to tech repairs. I knew something had to change. Basically, I streamlined the process. First, I stopped taking requests for tech repairs verbally, on a post-it, in the parking lot, or outside the bathroom. This was just not effective and if I forgot, people just got mad. With the help of the district tech department, I created an email stationary already addressed to me requesting specific information: Date of request, Room #, and a SPECIFIC description of the problem. These messages came to my inbox in a different color. As soon as they were dealt with I would move them to another folder. This allowed me to keep track of issues I had handled. It definitely made me more effective and efficient. The hardest part was getting everyone to use the new system. If someone mentioned an issue to me in passing, I made sure to tell them to submit a tech repair, otherwise I would forget. Ultimately, if the did not submit this tech repair, I did not touch it. That is a hard line to hold, but it is so worth it in the end. I no longer had to put my hands on every machine. The blue screen of death was an automatic work order for the district tech department. Sometimes I could send them directions on how to fix the problem or tell them to see someone on their hall who could help them. I began to see patterns which allowed me to create tutorials (how to change your printer). Also, if I could not get to their room due to my teaching demands, I submitted a district level work order right off the bat. I knew my response time would be delayed and very likely one of our technicians could get to it sooner than I could .

All of this allowed me to recognize their issues, help when I could, and most importantly, allowed me to focus on collaboration and instruction. Once you work out the kinks, you find that everyone benefits. By changing my approach I was able to help teachers, but it went beyond making sure their equipment was functioning. If teachers really want a technician, districts should hire someone actually trained to perform those jobs. I was trained to be a collaborator, a teacher, an instructional leader, but no one ever showed me how to change laminating film or how to take apart VCRs to extract videotapes.

Take a critical look at how you handle equipment/technical repairs. How can you make the process work for your school in a way that allows you to grow your media program into something that helps students learn and achieve?