The Joy of Reading

 

Donalyn Miller is an expert on reading. She recently shared her knowledge with educators in the Rochester Area. She spoke about the importance of creating readers by redefining how we talk about reading. A copy of her book is available in the SLS Bookroom.

Here are a few actionable take-a-ways from her talk.

Normalize reader behavior by partnering with your building social media guru to create fun TicToc-LIKE trend videos highlighting reader behavior.

• I am a reader, of course I abandon books I am not feeling the vibe
• I am a reader, of course I read everything (including cereal boxes!)
• I am a reader, of course I stay up past my bedtime to read
  
• I am a reader, of course I sneak reading during class
• I am a reader, of course I tell everyone about what I am reading
  
• I am a reader, of course I am always in the library

Support the comforting effect of reading by...

• Providing lots of series. Series give students comfort in the known style and characters.
• Providing a “comfort display” of classic elementary level books for middle and high school students. You would be surprised how excited students will be to grab a childhood favorite.
• Providing books your students want to read. Remember your interests may not be your students interests.

open_in_new

Recommendation Rodeo

Objective: Let students know their personal book recommendations are just as important as adult recommendations.

• How did you find the book you are reading?

• What is your ‘rule’ to abandon a book?

• What made you keep reading the book?

• What made you pick up that book and start to read it?

• What is most important to you in selection?

Abandon with Aplomb

Objective: Normalize book abandonment. Sometimes students don't read because they feel guilty for not finishing a book. Let them know its OK!

Work with students to define their own criteria for ditching a book.

• Not hooked by a certain page

• Not hooked by a certain percentage

• Not hooked by a certain number of days in

open_in_new

Page-turning Poll

Objective: Understand your readers, to curate a library for them!

Do a survey at the end of the school year.

• Do you read for fun?

• What prevents you from reading? (Multiple Choice)

• How did you find out about the books you would like to read? (Multiple Choice)

• What Genre do you read the most? (Multiple Choice)

• What Genre do you like the least? Why?

Primary Sources in the Classroom

Working to create a unit to study primary sources in the classroom. Here is one of my favorite photos from the collection of photographs from early days. 

 

2021 March

 Wordstock!

Next month is the culmination of months of planning. Through collaborating with principals and teachers, we are bringing 8 authors, 8 guest readers to our classrooms. The most exciting part of the celebration is the collection of student writings and illustrations being published into a book called Letter, Word, Sentence, Book. Through a partnership with a wonderful art teacher, we are designing an inspired cover for the book. 

2021 February

I attended a presentation hosted by the Landmark Society in Rochester titled History of Segregation and Racist Policy in Greater Rochester by Shane Wiegand. The presentation was powerful in two regards. First and foremost, the personal stories told about the devastating impact of the redlining policies in Rochester were truly moving. Secondly, seeing the powerful usage of primary sources was inspiring. I walked away from the presentation with a determination to replicate the powerful storytelling using primary sources in my own work. 

I contacted the presenter, Shane Wiegand to ask if he would share the sources of his primary sources. I was thrilled to see that he is already working with a strong group of individuals to bring these lessons to the classroom. There is so much work to be done. I am excited to continue the exploration of social justice and primary sources. 

This month also marked my second vaccine shot! A step closer to a more relaxed social fabric. 

This month I also worked hard to finalize the paperwork for the eight authors coming to campus to speak to students for our Wordstock event. 

2021 January

This month I participated in several LOC workshops. I am hoping to be accepted to the Library of Congress PD camp this summer. This is my third year applying (four if you count the cancelled application from 2020...boo COVID). This year they are hosting the camp online. I will miss being back in DC, but connecting with other librarians who are passionate about utilizing primary sources in the library will be amazing, in person or online. 

I also got my first vaccine shot this month. 

2020 December

A few science teachers recognized that teaching labs virtually, were not as effective. They asked for my help in locating resources to enhance these remote lab sessions. We were able to evaluate and utilize Concord Consortium Virtual Science to solve the issue. 

Teachers also recognized a problem with synchronous classes not being well attended. They wanted to record some of their lessons to provide access to students on their own schedule. I worked with the director of technology to reactivate a webex account for education. I was trained on how to use it. I then trained teachers on how to utilize the tool. I also created documentation to provide teachers with instruction on their own schedule. 

One of our campuses hosted a virtual winter celebration. I created a fun video to promote reading with SORA over break for our students. 

In addition to regular library classes, I started working on planning our district wide literacy event, Wordstock. 

2020 November

One wonderful side effect of COVID is the infusion of technology onto our campuses. With increase access to devices and platforms, I am assisting our educational technology coaches in providing guidance and training to teachers in utilizing these educational tools.

I have begun to collect data from our Overdrive/SORA platform. I love seeing the numbers of users increasing and the overall time read soaring (ha). I will continue to advocate for use of this tool in our classrooms. 

2020 October

A wonderful staff member approached me this month to start a library club at one of our campuses. I am ecstatic to have a partner willing to help with a campus library. Managing five building collections alone has proven a true challenge. I am excited to work with the club in reinvigorating the library space. 

This month I worked with our curriculum coordinator to develop a unit learning contract for middle school library lessons. The process was a wonderful test of my newly developed library curriculum. I was able to strengthen weaknesses and highlight strengths in the document. During the development process, I took careful notes and transformed my experience into a professional development workshop and co-presented with the curriculum coordinator at our in service day. 

Screenshot of learning contract development process

2020 September

It's time to focus on collection development! With a very small budget for the past few years, I have learned creative ways to grow our collection. With our expanded access to SORA and more devices per campus, I spent the month surveying teachers and students for book titles to purchase in SORA. I have taken full advantage of the title assignments in SORA to distribute books to students for teachers. In order to increase physical books, I have coordinated donations from both Brighton Memorial Library and two private donors. 

2020 August

 A long term goal of mine has been to develop a robust library curriculum. After wrapping up the curriculum project for ELA, Science, Math, and SS, I am inspired to make it a reality for library. I started gathering materials and inspiration to make it happen. 

In order to prep for the start of our 'regular' year, I have been working with campuses on a weekly basis. We are working together to identify best practices for our new digital tools. Up until this year, educational technology had been limited to a few laptops, ipads and Smartboards. Now, thanks to the educational technology team we have access to more devices and a suite of educational software:

• Google Classroom expanded to students
• IXL 
• Brainpop
• SORA/Overdrive
• NovelNY

2020 July

This summer the leadership team decided to replace Scantron with another assessment tool. I volunteered to be on the assessment assessment team. (Haha - slapstick comedy is keeping us going!) We each evaluated four solutions and made our recommendations to the leadership team this month. During the evaluation process, we learned about Edmentum, a suite of products that would nicely complement our organizations goals. I hope to explore these products in the future, when we have more bandwidth to explore the possibilities of moving more of our education offerings online. 

2020 June

With the new curriculum maps completed by the team, it became my job to review and edit for quality and consistency. The maps were updated this year to include the New Generation standards and CARE concepts. CARE is the framework that our organization utilizes in all their client interactions. The integration of CARE into the curriculum reinforces our commitment to the overall treatment of our clients. During the final read-through of the maps, I reviewed the educational resources, making sure they were of the highest quality and universally accessible to all our schools. 

I had applied for the Library of Congress Primary source camp for the third time this year. I had a good feeling I would be accepted, but because of COVID, the program was cancelled. I will keep applying until I get accepted. Utilizing primary sources in the classroom is such an underutilized tool. I made up for the program being cancelled by attending several LOC webinars of primary sources. They were very interesting, but not quite the same as being walking distance from the actual LOC!

Back in the UMD days at LOC!

May 2020

 Getting into the swing of things! 

Recognizing that we need more access to digital resources, I submitted a proposal to implement IXL for all our schools. A few teachers had been utilizing the tool individually over the past few years, but I felt it was time to 'districtize' its usage. I evaluated the various modules and made the proposal this month. It looks as if we are moving forward with my suggestions. I couldn't be happier! This simple tool will increase engagement and learning for our students. 

I was also able to distributed over $900 worth of books from Scholastic this month. I decided to pivot from my original goal of purchasing books for the library to purchasing books for individual students to read at home. I partnered with campus teachers to select books the students would most enjoy. Using the money for this purpose is more fulfilling than simply stocking library shelves...especially, not knowing when we will be back in the building. 

In keeping with the tone of all thing Zoom, I was able to present my information literacy workshop at Henrietta Public Library. After learning so much from the News Literacy Project and their Checkology tool, I revamped my information literacy lesson and added it to my repertoire of workshop offerings. 

April 2020

Another crazy month. We were lucky to have recently implemented a technology advisory board. This made the rapid implementation of Zoom and WebEx successful. After administrative approval of utilizing Zoom with our clients, we quickly pivoted to a more robust online learning environment. My responsibilities included creating documentation on how to best utilize Zoom with students, training teachers on Zoom basics and general technology support for our educators and creating guidance documents for our unit staff to utilize curriculum laptops in residential settings. To be honest, this was a really exciting time where I felt in my element. I love rapid response situations where I can assist in a wide range of areas. 

During this month, I also continued my support of the curriculum team. We had started a full re-write of the curriculum before school closures. We continued our work online using Google Classroom & Drive as our basic communication tools. I was able to offer support by presenting valuable educational resources to be embed within the curriculum. I focused on sharing the valuable Gale databases supplied by NovelNY with members of the team. 

2020 March

• Interviews for Reading Coach
• Scholastic Book Fair! 
• Teach Yoga PD
• Pivot to online education support
• COVID-19 teacher support mode

A campus shelf to be refreshed with Scholastic books.

Whew. What a month. The start of the month was librarian-nerd heaven. I was able to fund raise a few hundred dollars for students to spend at the Scholastic book sale. I recruited my middle school students to work the week-long sale. They had a blast. I had them work on everything from marketing to managing the cash register. These students have a passion for entrepreneurship. 

March 13th was last day of the Scholastic sale and the last day of 'normal' school for a while. I was able to quickly pivot to support mode for our teachers. Our district uses very little technology in the classroom. So it was difficult to move our instruction online. We only recently were able to semi implement 1:1 devices for one campus just a few months ago. In addition, we had just wrapped up our one classroom pilot of Google Classroom with students this winter. Needless to say, it was an exercise in flexibility and teamwork! I feel quite proud of the educational team and all we did in just a few short weeks. We will see what the spring brings! 

2020 February

• Leadership Meeting on White Fragility
• Fundraising Campaign
• New Office!! 

Yay! I've finally got an office! I enjoyed the nomad library life for six years, but it is nice to now have a permanent district librarian base. 

This month the leadership team attended an organizational discussion on white fragility. I thoroughly appreciated the open and honest conversation about White fragility. It is a vast and complicated topic, that deserves continued discussions. 

2020 January

• Finalize student laptop delivery
• Pick up book donations from Spencerport
• Managed Cutler library
• Applied to LOC summer institute 
• Started Work Based Hours with students

This fall, a campus principal contacted me about starting a work based hours program with students. I was excited to do this project, as I have been implementing similar initiatives at other campuses. It is a long term goal of mine to create a self-sustaining lending library at each campus. Being the only librarian, I can’t manage all campuses, but I could support a self-run program at each school. I worked to gather the necessary resources and partners and started with my first group of students this month. The buy-in wasn’t what I had hoped for, but I am optimistic that with time, the program will grow. 

This month, I also ran the home stretch in distributing new student laptops to classrooms. I worked with the principal to create an application system for teaching teams to ‘apply’ for devices in their rooms. The goal of the application process was to ensure teaching teams were prepared for efficient and responsible use of the devices in their classrooms. I asked teachers to review documentation, provide student contracts and write a device management plan for their classroom. Additionally, I requested each teacher to create and submit an example lesson plan outlining how they will infuse the device into their everyday instruction. It is nice to finally be getting technology into our classrooms. 

Striking view from campus this month.

2019 December

• Deep Web Lessons
• Coordinate distribution of 80 laptops with PD and applications 
• Inventory iPads
• Super User job description 
• PD on technology use in the classroom 
• Leadership Meetings
• Planning for collection building 

This month I focused on teaching middle school students about the deep web and powerful resources not accessible via Google. I used bird strike data sets from the FAA to illustrate valuable information found behind the Google curtain. I used firsthand stories from a personal connection I have to an airport manager to illustrate the overall bird strike issue and what we can learn from datasets. 

We are moving forward with implementing instructional technology coaches at teach campus. I worked with the leadership team to develop the job descriptions and plan for their training. Exciting times for technology at our schools! 

Devices pre-organization

2019 November

• Google Training for multiple campuses
• Reallocation of science education materials
• Assist administration with organizational historical documents
• Assist new Title I reading teacher with locating educational resources 
• BrainPop “districtization” communication 

This month the main focus was the Google TA training 45 day plan. I revamped all the Google documentation and prepped to provide school based support to all TA’s in utilizing Google in the classroom. 

This month also marked my last trip to our closed campus! In all over 2,500 books, 97 textbook sets, 5 cabinets of science equipment and 146 pieces of general educational equipment were inventoried and redistributed to other campuses. It was a huge project and I was proud we were able to redistribute materials to where they were needed. 

Old school dicot/monocot display

A building on campus went through a renovation this year to house additional students. I worked with the marketing department to provide some historical context to the building. The building was originally created as a boys cottage in the early 1900’s and was converted to a cottage for Deaf students in the later 1900’s. I cannot wait to bring some of these historical documents to the classroom! Yay for primary sources. 

2019 October

• District author presentation by G. Neri
• Brighton Memorial Library Book Sale set up
• IFC (Information Fluency Continuum) training at BOCES
• Growth Mindset PD
• Graphic Novel PD coordination with City librarians
• Open House at AT
• SICD TA Google Training 
• Overdrive PD for teachers

What a busy month! We finally go to meet G. Neri, the author of Ghetto Cowboy, a historical fiction story of the horses and people of Urban Philadelphia. The day started with G. Neri presenting to two groups of students. Over the summer, students has read his book Tru & Nell. This presentation was the culmination of their school wide book club. We then moved the presentation to a second campus where more students heard his presentation on Yummy, the true story of the murder of Robert Sandifer and Shavon Dean. Students really enjoyed hearing about Neri’s journeys as a writer and learning that famous authors are really just normal people. I hope that students left the presentations understanding that anyone can become a writer. 

Author G. Neri speaking to students

In partnership with the Central Library, I was able to host a talk by a wonderful librarian about the importance of Graphic Novels in the classroom. Teachers attended this talk and had the opportunity to explore an alternative resource for teaching both subject areas and human connection. 

I started my library journey pouring through an almost two inch think document called the Information Fluency Continuum. It is a document that was adopted by New York Library Association in 2012. It is a roadmap for developing information literacy skills for students in grades K-12. This month an update was released. The update expanded on technology usage in the classroom, diverse student populations and most important to be more focus on digital citizenship.  I attended a BOCES presentation with Dr. Barbara Stripling to learn about the most recent updates. It was a wonderful collaborative day spent with librarians from around the area. 

This month was Superintendent’s Conference day. I partnered with the director of Technology to present the Google platform to our group of dedicated Teaching Assistants. It was a difficult task to teach what should be a hands on workshop to a crowd of 110 people without devices to practice on. In an effort to make the best of the situation, I structured the lesson to cover the theory of the platform and provide basic guidance on engaging students and keeping student information secure and safe. 

Finally, I continued my commitment to providing quality PD to staff by researching and developing a small workshop to highlight Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset usage in the classroom.

2019 September

• SICD Planning
• Finalize curriculum booklist update
• Residential Book club with G. Neri books
• Campus library class organization 
• Campus library lessons
• Educational Resources presentation 
• Meeting with Scholastic rep
• Teach Google training virtually
• Tech meeting with educational leaders

This year I am officially expanding my direct teaching services to one of our remote campuses. For the past year I have been teaching library class at one of our campuses. This fall I will start offering weekly classes at a second campus. So this month, I did a meet and greet with the teachers at that campus to better understand their student needs.

Since becoming involved with the Educational Technology Advisory Board, I have noticed that many staff would benefit from participating in technology focused professional development. Since I am the only librarian for five schools, I have decided that one of my goals is to empower teachers to become their own “junior librarians”.  I hope to continue to develop and present on topics such as technology use in the classroom, intimation literacy and other topics to arm teachers with their own set of library tools. This month, I developed a presentation to outline the use of technology in the classroom and shared literacy resources during teacher orientation. 

In preparation for next month’s author visit, I coordinated with residential staff to host a book club for students. I was not able to participate in the book club, but the reports from residential staff were very positive. I think students are really looking forward to meeting the Ghetto Cowboy author, G. Neri! 

August 2019 Accomplishments

• Curriculum booklist update 
• Professional Leadership Committees development
• Campus Closure inventory expansion to include equipment and textbooks
• Create district Overdrive
• Technology meetings
• Author visit planning: G. Neri

In an effort to continue ‘districtizing’ our schools, our educational leader set up groups of professional leadership committees. Each committee consists of staff with similar roles at each school. For example, all the CSE chairs at each school form one committee. Each committee is tasked with standardizing their operations and sharing both knowledge and resources. I am very optimistic about this new initiative. Over the past five years I have seen many redundancies across our campuses. One example is book sets. Each school lacks full sets of all the books called for in the curriculum. If we could work together as a district, we could share books across campuses, giving our teachers full access to the books they need. I started my lonely Professional Leadership Committee with ‘districtizing’ our Overdrive account. I worked with the principals to identify a dollar amount each campus could contribute to the Overdrive ‘pot’. We now have complete buy in from each school and accounts for students at each campus. 

With fall coming soon, I started working with principals to plan for our author visit in October. Earlier this summer I helped each school set up a summer reading program. Each school read books by G. Neri in preparation for his visit in October. Back in the spring, I was contacted by a librarian at the central library who wanted to partner with us in expanding our G. Neri author talk. They were able to provide us with additional time with G. Neri, books for students and professional development opportunities. I am looking forward to this event! 

This month I also participated in the Educational Technology Advisory Board meeting. We focused redistributing technology from the closing campus, confirming new devices for one campus, following up on the Google Classroom pilot, and planning a technology and education partnership information session for superintendent’s conference day in October. 

July 2019

Accomplishment Summary for the month

• Support Team Workshop
• Literacy Group Meeting
• Campus closure inventory 
• Curriculum update planning meetings

Two large projects occupied my time this July. First was helping our Curriculum Coordinator with the curriculum update project. This is the second time I have assisted with the curriculum update project. Previously, I simply helped with the formatting of the documents. For this project, I helped in the project set up and even presented essential curriculum resources to the team. The Curriculum Coordinator and I make a pretty good team. I believe all librarians should insert themselves into their district’s curriculum committees. Having a close relationship with the curriculum team facilitates meaningful library support to the entire school.  

Secondly, I dove into assisting with the closure of one our campuses. It was announced last month that one of our campuses would be closing. I had visited the campus a few times over the past year to train staff on Google Classroom, so I was familiar with some the school staff. I reached out the Title I teacher and asked about starting an inventory project. I then took the hour drive down to the school with my trusty book scanner, and started inventorying all the books (over 2,000). It was a fun project. I created a report of all the book sets and set to work redistributing the books to our other five schools. 

This month I also attended a literacy group meeting with teachers at one of our day treatment schools. It was a vibrant group of teachers and support staff who are creating a school-wide literacy program. I was very impressed with their organization and drive. I am looking forward to collaborating with them this coming year. 

2019 June

Closing this out year involved closing a campus. I was tasked with inventorying two buildings worth of educational materials and redistributing it to our other five campuses. It is a huge task that I envision lasting into the fall. It was nice to drive down to Finger Lakes. I am going to enjoy this redistribution project for not only the nerdiness of collecting educational materials, but also for the scenic drives! This summer I also will be redoing the a campus library. I will be transitioning it from a 1960’s medical library to a student centered collection. 

A sampling of the materials being donated to UR from the historical medical library.

2019 May

• Label 200 Tru & Nelle books for summer reading program
• Coordinate delivery of Ellen Hopkins books for author visit 
• Coordinate with RCSD on technology PD for teachers
• Student volunteers library assisting with organization
• Kick off Google Classroom pilot with pilot teacher 
• Sora and Overdrive training

This month I kicked off the official partnership with University of Rochester. I will be working over the next few months in digitizing parts of the organizational archive collection and creating an information literacy unit that focuses on analyzing primary resources. I am very excited about this project and look forward to piloting it with a class in the fall. 

Partnering with various school staff is an important responsibility of any school librarian. I worked with a school councilor this month to develop a career unit that focuses on the Japanese term Ikigai. It's a fascinating concept, and I am enjoying the unit development. 

2019 April

This month I finally reinstated the Reading and Storytelling festival. In the past, I had partnered with St. John Fisher in getting volunteers to help run the event. This year we were no able to bring in volunteers, but we were able to find a group of student who were willing to create genre themed displays for the event. I was able to bring in a few local public librarians and members of the organizational community to volunteer for the event. It was a wonderful opportunity for youth to interact with members of the community. Together we created many vivid stories and explored multiple book genres. Youth were able to leave with community connections, a free book and literary inspiration. 

I was lucky enough to present details of the library program to the board this month. It was a valuable opportunity to educate the board and administration about the good work of the education department. 

Finally, this month I was able to wrap up the 'districtization' of OverDrive. I am so excited to get SORA into the hands of all our teachers and students. It will be a powerful tool moving forward as we get more devices into the hands of our students. 

2019 March

• Train staff on utilizing music in the classroom
• SafeSide training
• Donation coordination with Pencils and Paper 
• Assistive Technology research

This month I took advantage of a self-contained service project and utilized several student volunteers in the library. Together as a team we worked to re-organize and label library books to increase usability. 

This month I also completed the Google Classroom pilot expectations and outcomes document. This was a collaboration with the educational technology team. 

I presented digital resources to educational staff. This presentation focused on high-quality free educational resources available in New York State. I also worked with educational staff to set up a protocol for utilizing music in the classroom. This project required collaboration with the technology team and educational staff. When the project was complete, I tested the system and trained key staff in its usage. 

2019 February

• Research the usefulness of software on the Educational Software Catalog
• Productive Conflict training
• UR Historical Research 

After weeks of work, the technology team finalized the Educational Technology Plan. I thoroughly enjoyed being part of this team. I was able to learn much about the administration side of education. This will serve as a guide in moving our schools forward into 21st century education. 

Recognizing that technology addiction will become an important issue as our schools adopt more and more devices into everyday instruction, I developed a short workshop for teachers to address some concerns with managing student technology use. I am also working with the educational technology team to implement digital classroom management tools that will allow teachers to closely monitor student device use. 

I continued utilizing Checkology with classes in teaching skills in identifying misinformation. Students are working to test their skills on real-world social media posts. 

2019 January

• BOCES II overview of educational databases
• Tech sign out sheet development on Drive
• Book Festival planning & Meeting with Residential

This month I started utilizing SORA in a primary class. Since we are expanding our OverDrive contract to cover all schools, I thought it would be a good idea to start to pilot it’s use in a classroom. The platform worked really well. I highlighted important vocabulary words in the book prior to reading the book in the classroom. I found this very helpful in reminding me to stop at certain areas and check for understanding and reinforce vocabulary. 

This month I also finalized the educational resource list and distributed it to all staff. This list provides educational staff with an annotated list of high quality, freely available educational resources. This list was necessary as we are dropping our subscription of Discovery Ed. 

2018 December

• First Educational Technology Board meeting
• DiscoveryEd evaluation
• Assist teachers with Information Literacy resources
• Revive kindles
• OverDrive & SORA research and testing

Library class this month was focused on an amazing resource called Checkology. This platform breaks the art of evaluating information into six categories. Each of these categories is presented, practiced and reviewed using clips, articles and images from current events & happenings. Students are doing really well with the content and I see their evaluation skills improving. 

I decided to test a purpose lesson on the elementary students. They did fairly well, but I didn’t have a chance to continue the lesson throughout the month. I hope to revisit the topic at a later time. 

The Educational Technology Board is tasked with writing a comprehensive technology plan for all schools. We are so far behind, and so disconnected from ‘typical’ schools it has been difficult to find a starting place. I decided to contact other 853 schools to see what they are doing with technology. So far, no luck with anything helpful. There is one school, Green Chimneys, that I hope to contact, as their website seems to show technology fully integrated into their programs. 

2018 November

• Assist leadership with identifying books to support curriculum 
• Presented PD for NYLA: Empathy in public service 
• Reworked documentation and training to focus on correctly utilizing lesson plan template
• Collected and presented Google Classroom data for principals in an effort to move forward with student accounts. 
• Focused on identifying and rectifying broken technology

This month I met our new ED of education. I am excited to start a partnership with her and other leaders to bring technology at our schools into the 21st century. 

Continuing the information literacy classes has been a wonderful learning experience. I am finding that many students have the evaluation skills, but lack the ability to apply them. The unit presents specific sets of yes/no questions that students can ask themselves about any resource to determine its trustworthiness.

I’ve been trying to get regular volunteers into the library for years. One of the self-contained teachers has set up a monthly volunteer project. I have set up a long term book labeling project for students. I introduce students to the concept of organizing books and give them the tools to sort and label our fiction section. So far the students are doing wonderful, and the shelves look so professional! 

2018 October

The Google Classroom train keeps moving forward! This month I partnered with the curriculum coordinator to host a workshop to help staff become more confident with the collaborative side of the Google environment. I also adjusted documentation to reflect some procedural changes relating to giving teachers feedback and navigating the file structures within the platform. 

One campus started a teacher book club that may turn into a student book club. We are starting by reading Orphan Train. This sparked a potentially interesting project involving the organizational archives at the University of Rochester. I am working with UR to potentially set up a primary resource workshop for students. 

I continued library lessons and have identified the CRAAP method as the framework for the information literacy lessons. Its crude, but a memorable acronym that represents the tools needed to successfully navigate truth/falsehoods in life. I am truly enjoying developing the set of lessons, and am looking forward to teaching them. 

I also started up another pet project of mine: Resource Management. It is my vision to have all educational resources in a database that can be accessed and shared by all educational staff. I started by inventorying classroom sets. Discussions with Technology are needed to move forward with this project. 

2018 September

September was a month for getting staff trained on Google Classroom and Google Drive. I supported the process by creating documentation, sending out newsletters, traveling to campus for group demonstrations, 1:1 teacher training and presenting at the principals meeting. 

I also began teaching middle school information literacy lessons. I will be teaching four 7th & 8th grade classes. While teaching this class I hope to build a knowledge base to support the creation of a district library curriculum. To support this, I am studying the new AASL standards and exposing myself to a variety of district units and plans. I will continue this work throughout the year. 

I am determined to make the book festival a reality this year. In 2016 I successfully pulled it off, but after a few years with difficulty finding volunteers, I think it’s going to happen. I have enlisted the help of a new batch of volunteers and have scheduled the event for April. 

In my expanded role as District Librarian, I am developing a new library mission statement. With inspiration from our organizations mission and strategic pillars, the following are goals for the District Librarian. 

• Partnerships. The mission states that we provide services through an integrated system. I envision this position connecting departments (clinical, educational, IT) across the agency. Creating a central cohesion for therapeutic environment will strengthening services offered to clients.  
• Support. As our staff works to serve clients, the District Librarian will identify research, resources, assets, etc. from promising/proven practices to enrich services and improve outcomes. This support will be shared with staff in accessible formats that can be easily utilized in the busy environment.  
• Teaching. Librarianship is a teaching position at the core. Whether it be classroom teaching or professional development, the District Librarian will always have a foot in the classroom. 
• Planning. Education is at a pivotal stage in transformation. The District Librarian will be an important role in planning for the future. Librarians tend to be a ‘Jack of all trades’ and planning for the future often requires eyes of a person who understands multiple perspectives. A major focus of the planning in the early phases will be developing an information literacy curriculum for the schools. 

2018 August

To prep for the start of the new school year, I attended professional development focused on Genrefication and new AASL standards for students and school libraries. Learning about the updated AASL standards inspired me to start developing an information literacy curriculum. 

This month was a huge push to prep principals and staff in utilizing Google Classroom. To move forward and allow for students account activation, we must get 100% staff buy in. To support this, I created simple documentation to guide staff in the new lesson plan submission process. 

2018 June

End of the year! Everything is all set for The Wild Robot summer reading program. I created a packet of resources to distribute to teachers. In addition, I worked to obtain access to MyOn for entire educational community.

In other news: I have been approved to work 30 hours next year! I am looking forward to next year and my expanded role in assisting all educational facilities! 

2018 May

• Presented educational resources at new teacher dinner. 
• Finished curriculum booklist and created metrics to show its improved diversity focus. 
• Processed book donations

This month I focused on prepping for summer reading. We selected The Wild Robot and it provides a wonderful framework for students to study STEM, compare/contrast literature and discuss community and emotions. I began collecting and creating resources for the programming.  Can’t wait to see where the teachers take the lessons. 

2018 April

I continued working on the curriculum booklist. This update focused on increasing titles that focus on diversity and connecting books to specific curriculum standards. 

This month I also dove into research with the elementary students. I want them to have basic research skills when they move up to middle school. We focused on research using physical books and online databases. The end goal is to create a research guide for them to print and have for their own reference. 

Idea TRAILS...

This year the library moved to a new 'satellite' room at school. The move ended up being representative my evolution of duties at the school. For the past three years I have acted as a typical school librarian, managing the physical library space, providing literacy related programming and sharing resources with teachers. This year, I have found myself in a new territory.

Through serendipitous happenings, I was made aware of two organizational infinitives: Google Classroom and e-book implementation. I was surprised I had not been asked for input on the two projects, so I made an effort to contact the representative teams and ask if they would like a librarian's perspective. Happily, the answer in both cases was, 'YES!'.

In working with these two groups, I have forged relationships with both the Technology Director and Curriculum Coordinator. I have also had the opportunity to provide comprehensive technological training to staff and administration. Expanding beyond the traditional librarian roles has been exciting. Technology has always been a passion of mine and having the ability to be on the front lines has been eye opening. Eye opening to the point where I have begun to brainstorm about a whole new type of educational position.

I call it the TRAILS Coordinator.

Earlier this spring I chatted with Brighton's first S/T/M Coach about her new role. I realized there was significant potential for a librarian to morph into a similar position. For the past few weeks, I've been playing around with the idea and came up with an acronym to represent areas I would like to focus on: Technology, Reading Advocate, Information Literacy, Science (TRAILS).

No acronym can ever encompass a complex idea like education, but it gave me a tangible word to grasp when I feel brainstorming getting out of control. I am looking forward to continuing my research and exploration of new ways a librarian can improve the educational environment.

Further Reading:
- DeChenne, S., Nugent, G., Kunz, G., Luo, L., Berry, B., Craven, K., & Riggs, A. (2014). Coaching in a science, technology, engineering, and math professional development experience: A case study (R2Ed Working Paper No. 2014-7). Retrieved from the National Center for Research on Rural Education: r2ed.unl.edu (http://r2ed.unl.edu/resources/downloads/2014-wp/2014_7_DeChenne_Nugent_Kunz_Luo_Berry_Craven_Riggs.pdf)

2018 March

Accomplishments

• Superintendent’s Conference Day presentation
• Coordinate book donations from BML
• Audiobook grant
• Curriculum book list creation 
• Decorating bookends with students
• Bind student portfolios
• If You Give a Hawk a Hamburger and Hotdog with Hot Sauce book
• Prep summer reading options
• Coordinate with foundations and school store

I partnered with the curriculum coordinator to present a full day conference on inquiry based learning. I focused on surveying a variety of resources for teachers and teaching students to effectively evaluate research resources. We went full C.R.A.A.P. mode and it was wonderful!

Our school has recently rewritten the curriculum. I have been working with the curriculum coordinator to create a comprehensive booklist for staff. It’s been an amazing exercise in selection and curriculum connection. A HUGE thanks to Commonsense Media for helping me with book reviews and educational value measurements!

I also finally got to publish another book with the primary students. If You Give A Hawk a Hamburger and Hotdog with Hot Sauce is a crowd-pleaser!

Hands of the authors! 

2018 February

Accomplishments

• Train entire staff on Google Classroom
• Quatrains with Ms. Rs’ Class
• Print student handbook
• Principals meeting to discuss e-books
• Prep presentation for Superintendent's Conference Day

This month I shared my e-book pilot results and recommendations at the principals meeting. A gutted version of my principals report follows.

Digital School Library Next Steps

• Redraw Contract with Overdrive: Add remaining schools to the Digital School Library. 
• Reactivate Reading Options: Technology has configured browser only reading options. Reading via devices and apps has been disabled. The purpose of utilizing a Digital School Library is to increase student reading, if we don’t allow students to utilize reading apps on ipads or utilize kindles, we critically limit accessibility. The limitation was made due to inconsistent results when testing books being returned early when devices are disconnected from the internet. It’s possible that the book assignment feature can alleviate these issues. If testing results are positive, the reading options will be re-activated. 
• Activitate Simple Login: Simple Login is an easy-to-use, easy-to-remember login option that allows students to borrow titles for 2 hours. It’s ideal for teaching students about using OverDrive, getting students reading before accounts have been set up, classroom reference or research projects, or for younger users. 
• Install OverDrive Application: Install OverDrive application on all devices, including teacher and student laptops and iPads. 
• Explore Free options: Overdrive is a wonderful tool, but it is severely limited to our budget. There are a few free options available via Overdrive, but they only support a small fraction of the English and reading curriculum. 
• EPIC!: (https://www.getepic.com/app/personalize_educator_welcome)
• Open e-books (http://www.fbmarketplace.org/openebooks)
• Approve Kindle Readers: Explore purchasing Kindle readers. Benefits over iPads: cheaper, more durable, easier to read, less eye strain, longer battery life, less distractions for students (other apps).
• Add Advantage Plus feature to Overdrive: The Advantage Plus feature will allow for Title I purchasing and other campus restricted collections.

Conclusion
Using OverDrive as a Digital School Library will help bring our schools into the 21st century. With some adjustments and training, a Digital School Library can help improve education by providing affordable, shareable reading resources.

2018 January

Accomplishments

• Littles with Ms. R’s Class
• Newsletter
• Distribute art donation books
• New Study Island in library
• e-book evaluation
• Yoga advertising
• Magic Tree House & Google Classroom Pilot Unit
• Explore interlibrary loan between campuses
• Train staff on school technology
• Pencils and Paper donation coordination
• Initial meeting with curriculum coordinator on book list creation

FInally got the Google Classroom pilot lesson going. I selected Magic Tree House Earthquake in the Early Morning as the book to frame the next few weeks of lessons. I also choose to infuse primary resources into the lesson by examining life in 1906 San Francisco. I found some wonderful resources on the Library of Congress website. Other topics in the unit included the science behind fire, plate tectonics, and quatrains.

2017 December

Accomplishments

• E-book evaluation
• Google Classroom research and training
• Book on Every Pillow
• Expanded responsibilities proposal meeting
• Overdrive phone calls
• Tortuga Squad with Ms. R’s Class

Dove headfirst into Overdrive evaluation. It’s been a wonderful learning experience. I know nothing about the back end of Overdrive. So I called a few local BOCES directors to get some inside information. I also called Overdrive themselves and had very long conversations with representatives. They have been so helpful and wonderful trying to figure out everything.

I also distributed books to all units for students to open over the holidays. Another adventure in super readers advisory! ~80 kids with atypical reading levels and a variety of triggers.

2017 November

Accomplishments

• Story units with Mr. W and Ms. R’s class
• e-book research & evaluation
• Setting & Habitat unit with Ms. R’s class
• Focus on resource sharing across campuses
• Book delivery to other campus
• Meeting with Technology director on e-books
• Student volunteer - scanning
• Lesson plan writing
• Lesson observations
• Laurie Halse Anderson visit negotiations 
• More Google Classroom Training
• Prep Book on Every Pillow books

Technology seems to be the theme for this year. I found about another pilot through the grapevine...e-books. Again, I was surprised I wasn’t consulted for the implementation. I contact the technology director and asked if I could assist with the pilot in any way. Turns out they didn’t have anyone to evaluate the program. Say hello to the new e-book system evaluator!

I started to focus on writing lesson plans for the next few months. I plan on integrating Google Classroom to help model appropriate use for our teachers. A quick note on the Google Classroom program: Technology has set up the pilot to be utilized withOUT students. Yep, a student focused program is being piloted without students. That’s OK I am going to plow through and get this thing up and running.

2017 October Theme: Community Helpers

 Accomplishments

• Provided Sign Language resources for Ms. H’s class
• Selected personal narrative books for reading teacher
• Community helpers unit with Ms. R’s class
• Coordinated book sale set up with BML
• Open house
• Newsletter
• Reviewed results of teacher survey
• Superintendent Conference day (Assist with presentation)
• Intro to the library for Mr. W’s class
• Google Classroom ‘super user’ Training
• Lots of readers advisory 

This month I was made aware of a new Google Classroom initiative. I attended the ‘super user’ training with other campus representatives. Leading the meeting was the curriculum coordinator and technology director. The meeting was very promising. Technology is very limited at my school due to a variety of factors, so having the opportunity to be part of the Google Classroom pilot was exciting! I walked away with a brain-ful of ideas to ensure the pilot is successful.

This month I also assisted the assistant principal with a curriculum presentation at superintendent's conference day. I shared a variety of resources with teachers.

2017 September Theme: Welcome Back

Accomplishments

• Unpack new library
• Training
• First day back to school cultural survey with Ms. R’s class
• Create displays for new library
• Stocked book cart for Book It program
• Weather & water cycle with Ms. R’s class
• Teacher survey

September was mostly a month of unpacking and setting up. Endless facilities requests and boxes! In addition to physical labor, I worked on creating the new layout of the library. I focused self-service use, since I am only physically in the library less than 10 hours a week. So I tried to make everything as self explanatory as possible, including making maps and tip sheets to post throughout the library.

New Library Map

Walkway to New Library

2017 August

Accomplishments

• Continued Summer of Wonder
• Moved library to original room!
• Positive self-talk with Ms. R’s class
• Final community service project with Ms. R's class

Got last minute word that the entire library needs to move by the end of the month. I spend much of this month weeding and packing up for the big move. It was lots of work, but the move forced me to re-examine the collection in a way only moving can do. I was able to weed books and identify collection holes.

So, it is back to the space where the library was originally located. The location is bigger and nicer. The only downside is that it is disconnected from the rest of the school. I’ll have to work extra hard to keep library traffic flowing.

As a final project for the Summer of Wonder program, the elementary students sorted and packed toiletries for The Center for Youth.

Here's to an exciting 2017-2018 school year!

2017 July

Accomplishments

•  Created reading logs for students to participate in BML summer reading
•  Kicked off Summer of Wonder
•  Processed new donations
•  Utilized Cosmic Kids Zen Den with Ms. R’s class
•  Lead Wonder & kindness lessons with Ms. R’s Class

 I had a wonderful time identifying chapters from Wonder to use with primary students. I selected 3 sections to read and discuss. One of which we read the description of Auggie’s face. Students then drew what they think he looked like. We had a discussion about making decisions on appearance along.

 I’ve been utilizing Cosmic Kids Zen Den to talk about mindfulness and metacognition. It’s been a wonderful tool to spark conversations about how our brains work and how we can improve our thinking.

Summer of Wonder

2017 June

Accomplishments

• Wonder Planning
• Magic Treehouse unit with Ms. R's Class
• BML book sale setup
• Yoga meeting with residential
• BML Booksale setup and volunteering

I continued working to plan the summer Wonder program. Spoke with campus representatives about potential partnerships. I also started making a list of potential guest speakers. I finalized a collection of teaching and activity resources for staff. This included procuring 20+ water cooler jugs to use as kindness jars.

2017 May

Accomplishments

• Wonder Planning
• Yoga Proposal
• Author visit coordination
• Reading time with Ms. R’s Class
• Process donated books
• Summer Reading planning
• TBF Book display
• Performance Review
• Eric Carle unit with Ms. R’s Class

May was an exciting time, as the SBPT took on the Summer of Wonder project. The selected book is Wonder. I dove in to help with logistics.

TBF MONTH!! We had two TBF authors, AS King and E.E. Charlton-Trujillo, come present a writing workshop to a select group of students. I was very impressed with the students and their willingness to share their writings with the group. Thanks to Jen P. another literacy hero, for helping to bring the authors to campus.

Amy, E and Jen

2017 April

Accomplishments

• Yoga with R’s Class
• Prevention lesson with R’s class
• Poetry class with Ms. R
• Meeting with Foundation for funding
• Lesson Observations

This month I continued a final push for the Book Festival with limited success. I was not able to secure volunteers to man the tables. I will attempt to pick up again in the fall or spring next year. I found out that the volunteer coordinator is retiring. I have already made contact with her replacement.

In an effort to secure funding for further Yoga classes and author speakers, I worked with Foundations to identify new avenues to gain funds.

Re-wiring A Brain

Our brains are amazing. I am so inspired by this video of an engineer learning to ride a backwards bike then re-learning to ride a regular bike.  What a great lesson in the thought that it is never too late!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8JUsJV9a0Q

2017 March

Accomplishments

• Created a new section in the library for writing skills
• Book Festival planning
• Worked with Foundations for special funding
• Title I audit prep
• Wrote book with Ms. R's class
• Initiated yoga classes with two classes
• PD – Curriculum Planning
• Develop new research class unit
• Document formatting for curriculum team
• Author visit planning
• Student volunteering in library
• After writing several books with the elementary students, I have decided to make a new section of the library to highlight tools for writing. This new display is located near the historical fiction area. 

After working with several teachers during a curriculum PD day, I developed a new one day research lesson for high school students. This lesson will be taught to Ms. H's class in preparation for their controversial issues research paper.

Having completed CARE Training, I started doing Yoga story times with the elementary classes. These have been very successful. I am also working with a professional yoga instructor to offer classes for our students this summer.

I have also continued to write books with Ms. R’s class. We wrote a wonderful book called A Whale of a Tale. This has been printed and published and distributed to students.

2017 February

Accomplishments

• Introduced Cosmic Kids to Ms. R's Class (Focus on sorting: both physical and mental)
• Continued Little Bits lessons with Mr. Green’s class
• Brighton Library Book Sale set up
• Begin writing workshop with Ms. R's class
• Begin planning for book festival and author visits in May
• Continued CARE training

In keeping with CARE, I have begun inserting Cosmic Kids meditations, Zen Den and Yoga into primary classes. So for, it has been well received. I am currently waiting on yoga mats to arrive so we can more fully integrate Cosmic Kids into the classroom.

Again, we have a wonderful opportunity to have two nationally known authors speak at our school. I am working with the English teachers and administration to provide a wonderful opportunity for our students. 

Little Bits car built by Ms. R's class!