Routine. Familiar. Customary. Methodical.

 

https://organisemyhouse.com/inspirational-daily-routine-quotes/

Routines. I am sure this will not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me that I thrive on routines. I like the planning of them. I like the predictability of them. I like to familiarity of them. And I have noticed that many students also really seem to crave routines. 

I was asked recently about how I plan for math in my classroom as a colleague is going to for an interview with a new board. This educator has been working as an occasional teacher and hasn't had to plan a math program for their own classroom. It was great timing as I had been thinking about my math routine as I am working to layer in new pieces and to solidify our literacy routine (which is proving to be a harder task). 

I like to have a weekly routine for math which includes the daily Minds On. Years ago I worked with a group of educators at my school and then in a wider community within out family of schools looking at spiralling the math curriculum and it really helped to cement my belief in how I think math should be taught to ensure "sticky learning".

This TedTalk was the spark for our work and it's a must see!

As I plan for my math program, I am always working on spiralling through the curriculum and constantly re-touching a variety of topics. I am currently using the SCDSB's Scope and Sequence to plan the major components while looking at ways to spiral back.

• For our Minds On on Mondays we do a “Which One Doesn’t Belong” that helps support their ability to communicate their thinking using math vocabulary.

• Tuesday and Thursday we do an activity called “Roll and Write” which involves a differentiated menu that works on their math fluency with adding and multiplication. They work through at their own pace.

• Wednesdays are Number Talks

• Fridays are Esti-Mysteries from Steve Wybourney’s blog.

Each morning the students do a Poll of the Day (which will eventually lead into our data management learning) and a few times a week we do a morning math meeting which a gives me time to do small mini lessons on different topics.

Right now we are focusing on adding and subtracting tens patterns and doubles. I will change out the topics as we spiral through the curriculum. Starting this week we will be adding in multiplication, identifying repeating and growing patterns, and skip counting.

After two or so months of following these routines I think we are ready to start layering in Math Journals so students can start to communicate their math knowledge in various ways. We started with this modeled example and discussed how it showed our thinking by using math vocabulary, numbers, operations, pictures and how we organized our response.

I then discussed our Math Journal success criteria and we read through our first problem, which was about place value, 2-digit and 3-digit numbers. I haven't yet assessed their journals to see how they did (it's on Monday's To-Do list!) and then we will decide our next steps.

If you've made it this far in my blog, I bet you are thinking that I must have a really good handle on my Literacy Routine... and you would be wrong. This year, like many others, I feel like I am constantly assessing, reacting and working to plan to meet students where they are on their reading and writing journey. Unlike other years, I am also on my own learning journey connected to the Science of Reading, phonics, orthographic mapping, fluency, and more. I am also finding that my students needs range from working on developing their knowledge of letter sounds, decoding CVC words and those with digraphs and blends, to reading full chapter books in the course of an evening. Many of my students are working on proper letter formation and need support with sentence stems and/or scribing to write simple sentences. I also have students who are ready to explore paragraphs. It's the largest range of developmental steps I have seen in  a Grade 3 classroom. 

I had a conversation about this with my admin as we approached writing progress reports. I wondered how to deal with the "progressing well" vs "progressing with difficulty" options. (And why there isn't a "progressing" option available?) In year's past I would have assessed many of my students as "progressing with difficulty" based on what I was seeing in my my class in terms of decoding and writing. However, this year it's a full third to half my class. So in the ongoing discussion of "learning gaps" due to the pandemic, maybe they aren't "behind" maybe this is just what Grade 3 is right now (and for the next little bit)? 

And they are "progressing". We are at the point now where most of  my students have mastered all their letters sounds, can decode CVC words and are working to understand CVCe words. Our spelling is aligned with our reading work and I can see students working to segment letter sounds as they write. We are progressing, dare I say we are progressing well?

So back to my literacy routine. It's been haphazard at best. The components are there. We are reading. We are writing. We are spelling. We look at grammar. We've talked about the elements of a story. We read out loud. We are working on answering comprehension questions together. 

But is it a routine?

Nope. 

I am hoping to start a routine that follows a two-week cycle so that we can work through all the different types of literacy tasks and components. I want to start working with smaller groups of students and think that by adopting a two week cycle for our routine I'll be able to organize the materials and activities for this. It must also be said that the students have not quite demonstrated that they are fully ready for this (it's been an ongoing goal) so it will be a joint effort as we adopt this new routine and work on our ability to complete task independently.

I do think that a routine for our literacy work is necessary and needed. I have noticed that students are excited and ready for learning in math when they know which Minds On we are going to explore each day. They express which activities they enjoy the most and look forward to participating. The next 10 or so days will provide more information as to what activities work on which days and in which order. We will also be layering in our Writer's Workshop as students are demonstrating that they are ready to explore some free choice in writing and writing forms. Maybe this iteration of our routine will hit the mark. Maybe it won't. 

Thankfully, we have time to keep working on it. 

After all, the curriculum expectations are end of year goals, are they not?

Stay tuned. 

September in the Classroom

 I'll be totally honest, I planned to blog way more in September about my return to the classroom. But you know how September goes, fast and furious and then all of a sudden it's October and you can't find your hat or mitts for the morning. 

Wow, September. What a month. 

I've been documenting my journey back into the classroom on my Instagram. I did this when I started in the library as a #100DayChallenge and I thought it would be good to do the same now. Most of the pictures are also making it to my Twitter. I do, however, use my IG for a different purpose than Twitter so it's locked on private mode. Sorry, not sorry. 

As I tried to explain to my daughter yesterday, once the school year gets started it feels like a giant ball rolling down a hill and it's only going to get faster! I meant to write this blog (and others) throughout September... but here we are in October and I still feel like I'm trying to get my feet under me. 

I started out with a Grade 3/4 class and while my class was in French I was responsible for covering Grade 1/2 Science. That's 16 strands of Science for anyone who is counting! The first few weeks were a whirlwind of planning. However, after re-org I am with a straight Grade 3 and no more coverage for other grades. Thank goodness. 

We are slowly building our routines and slowly getting to know each other in our class. I won't say we have built a relationship yet because that takes time and work but we are adding small steps each day. 

We have spent a lot of time talking about our classroom agreements from brainstorming, to goal setting, to listing actions that show accountability and making promises to ourselves. We refer back to our agreements everyday and very soon we will be starting a new routine where students will be able to recognize their classmates for how they have helped them, supported them and encouraged them in their learning activities. 

We had many discussions leading up to Truth and Reconciliation Week and Orange Shirt Day. I'm sure some of it was over their heads and confusing, I know they still have many questions but this is not a one and done conversation and we will be returning to our learning throughout the year. 

We started to unpack the land acknowledgement we hear each day and discovered many words we do not understand. Then I connected with Nicole Reynolds, the PDSB Indigenous Lead, and we learned of a new updated land acknowledgment written in community with Elders. We will unpack that one as well and add on to our learning as we start to talk more about Ontario in our Social Studies unit. 

Finally, we got OUTSIDE! We have a huge yard and small "forest" area that the students love to explore. We spent some time gathering natural materials and combined them with loose parts to create transient art connected to Orange Shirt Day and our reading of Be A Good Ancestor by Gabrielle Prince and Leona Prince. 

We also attempted our first painting project for art... stay tuned! I think they are going to look amazing when they are done. 

Math. Oh how I missed teaching math. We have started building our daily/weekly routines with our morning math meeting, Which One Doesn't Belong, Number Talks and Estimation mysteries. 

New to me this year is starting our day with a soft start. Students have free choice to explore an activity of their choosing for the first 20 minutes of the day. Many students choose to have a snack, play/trade Pokemon cards, build with Lego or create with playdoh. I am able to circulate through the room saying hello, checking in with students and observing their relationship and community building with each other.

You may have noticed there aren't any pictures of our literacy work yet... with the new learning connected to structure literacy, the science of reading, phonics, etc it really feels like the weakest area of my planning so far. I know I am making it up as I go everyday. We are working on routines to help us start centres so that I can meet students where they are and we have done quite a lot of work on practicing our read to self routines and writing simple sentences. I am working my way through assessing each student individually and building our vocabulary/spelling routines. 

All in time. 

I hope.

And so, welcome to October... lets get progress reports written, have Open House, Picture Day, Thanksgiving, a PD Day and hopefully, more blogs. 

But no promises. Remember that ball rolling down the hill?

It's only going to go faster.  

Long Range Planning as a Teacher Librarian

 So You Are Going To Be a Teacher Librarian- Part 3

Today I want to talk about long range planning. As a self-confessed pedagogical nerd and uber planner, I love to long range plan. I like making a chart or a table. I like to add colour. I like to see where themes and topics intersect. I love a big idea and a learning goal.

But planning in the library was always a different kind of challenge. On one hand, you want to plan ahead and push the library programming forward. On the other hand, you want and need to be responsive and collaborative to educator and student learning needs. It's also not just about the curriculum. There's the physical space, the collection, makerspace, virtual LLC AND the curriculum to consider. 

One of the first things I did when I started in the library was to consult and talk with fellow teacher librarians. Jenn Brown was a huge help. She shared her 3 year long range plan with me and it really helped me to created mine (which to be honest, at that moment was a very slightly tweaked version of hers!!). My admin and I also printed off all of the continuums from Leading Learning and discussed where we thought the library currently was and which steps we could take to move forward. We kept in printed in a binder and referred back to it often during meetings to track our progress and next steps. 

I also worked with the technology teacher in my school to create an inquiry map for a few years to see how we might align and integrate our programs. Our hope was that she could teach the various tech skills, how to use apps, etc and then classes could come to me in the library to integrate their use into existing curriculum inquiries. 

When I completed my Librarianship Specialist AQ we were tasked with outlining how the 6 C's fit into the library and how it impacted our planning. I used this chart to create a Year 3 and Beyond plan for how I saw the library moving forward once we completed Year 3 of the original plan.

One small hiccup. 

Year 3 was 2019- 2020. The year we shutdown in March due to COVID. 

And then nothing in the library was according to anyone's plan. 

Library planning was a whole new beast. For the full 2020-2021 school year 80% of my school was virtual and the students that were in the building weren't allowed in the library. In 2021-2022, we started with COVID restrictions and protocols that slowly eased off but students and educators were re-learning how to be together in learning spaces, using the materials, sharing, and more. The last 2 years were much more reactive than proactive when planning anything in the library, or so it felt. 

I've pulled together all the documents I've mentioned above on this graphic. Feel free to use it to support your own planning in the school library, to share with others in your network or just take a peek. 

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments or send me a DM on Twitter.

Happy Planning!!

For Caroline... Thank you.

 So You Are Going to Be a Teacher Librarian- Part 2

I was originally going to write about long range planning as a TL (and I still will) for this second blog post about transitioning to the teacher librarian role but instead I want to talk about connections, advocating and friendship.

As many of you may know the school library world lost a powerful ally, advocate, spokesperson, collaborator and friend this past week. In the short time I knew her Caroline Freibauer left an impression on my heart. Her passion for school libraries, for all libraries really, is unmatched in anyone I have met along this journey. She was also an excellent "yes, and...." collaborator. During my time with the OSLA council I have been in many meetings with Caroline and she is always quick to jump to support a new idea and to add on to make the idea even better. She had a special way of making you feel like your idea was gold (even if it wasn't, yet) and she would work to help you process and unpack the idea to make it even better. 

Becoming the President of the OSLA Council this past year was a daunting prospect. School libraries have had it rough the past couple of years (decades really) and knowing that you are about to be the face and the voice of something so many people hold dear felt a little scary. Caroline was always there to tell me I was on the right track, to give advice without criticism and to make sure I knew I could count on her for anything. 

This week as I learned of Caroline's passing and began to call friends and school library colleagues the world felt very heavy. It's always strange to recognize that you are an adult in these situations. I mean, I've obviously been an adult for many years but does anyone ever really feel like they are adult? I've never had to be the one to share bad news in this way, to connect others in their grief, to schedule meetings to plan for upcoming deadlines and more. It was heavy, and foggy, and very adult. 

What made this week and this news more bearable were the friendships and connections I have made on my teacher-librarian journey. Reading the tributes to Caroline posted on Twitter and Facebook from mutual friends. Phone calls and texts with OSLA and CSL connections and friends. Sharing memories. Planning a tribute for the September issue of Teaching Librarian. Reading about Caroline's many accomplishments and work undertaken on behalf of libraries and school library professionals. 

So, if you are just starting out on your school library journey or into the thick of it after a few years or hoping one day to be in the school library, my advice to you is to be like Caroline. Join OLA/OSLA. Connect with other school library professionals across the province and Canada. I don't mean you all have to nominate yourself for a council position (but seriously, think about....) but you can join the #OnLibChats, use the #ONSchoolLibraries or #SchoolLibraryJoy hashtags on Twitter to share your accomplishments, your wonderings, your blunders, your process. You could write or co-write an article for Teaching Librarian magazine or the Canadian School Libraries journal. You could write a paper for Treasure Mountain Canada. 

You can connect. 

You can advocate.

You can share. 

And along the way you will meet amazing people and have the privilege to call them friends. You will learn more than you ever thought possible. You will share your love of libraries and books and stories. 

And you will help us keep Caroline's memory alive. 

Education as Identity

This is a post that has been brewing for quite awhile. I listened to this episode of OnEd Mentors back on June 10th- Retired, Rewired and Full of Purpose. I'm not sure what drew me to listen to it other than maybe that Doug Peterson was one of the guests? Maybe because retirement has been a part of so many more discussions over the past few years in education? Whatever the reason I listened to it back in June while working to pack up the library and again in piece over the last few days. 

I was initially really quite taken aback by how much I connected to with in this episode. After all, I am not retired. I am 13 years away from my earliest retirement possibility. My parents, who are 73, only retired in the last few years. Retirement has not been a part of my daily discussion or connections. 

So what drew me to this episode?

After I "announced" (or started to share) that I was leaving the teacher-librarian position and going back to the classroom in May I found myself in a really strange position of consoling other people about my decision. I am excited to be back in my own classroom with my own students. I am excited about integrating various curriculum areas. I am excited about building relationships with students and their families. I am excited about putting together a classroom library again. So consoling people was not really high on my list of things I wanted to be doing as I started to embark on this return to a classroom role. 

Consoling people and/or justifying my decision to other people became something I started to feel a little angry about. I am not one to make snap decisions. I really thought about this before I made my resume and started to apply. I almost never regret decisions once I make them. I am a very reflective person and I know myself well. Once a decision is made it's usually the best one for me. My oldest daughter even remarked on the weekend that I was making my resume that this was the happiest she had seen me in a while. My 11 year old recognized the weight that was lifted due to my decision. 

So, again, what does this have to do with retirement and the OnEd Mentors episode?

Chris Cluff once posed the question "If teaching wasn't part of your identity, what would be?" or something to that affect ( I am paraphrasing here) and it's a really interesting question. Being an educator is a huge part of my identity. Almost everyone who knows me would agree with this statement. Over the past 5 years in the school library being a librarian became a big part of my identity and I think due to Twitter and my advocacy work, it's the only identity many people  attach to me. 

If you were reading carefully you will notice in the paragraph above that I wrote "librarian" not "teacher librarian". In many ways I feel like the last 2+ years in education as we dealt with the COVID 19 pandemic that I lost my teacher identity in some ways. I was a resource for my colleagues. I was a curator and a website designer. I was a live audio book. I was a reading strategy modeller and integrator. I was a creator of provocations. And more. 

But was I a teacher?

Due to pandemic restrictions, ongoing burnout and the feeling of just keeping their heads above water and a multitude of other reasons educators were either not able or not ready to jump back into collaborating. They loved that I did so many read alouds because it gave them a moment of pause and respite. They loved bringing the class to the library for full class exploration periods and book exchange. They appreciated the resources and lesson ideas I shared. 

But I never got to see anything past the planning or sparking stage with students. I don't blame or begrudge my colleagues any of this. The last few years in education have been hard. I wanted to help and support as much as I could, in anyway that I could. 

I was an educational planner but I was not a teacher. Over time, during the pandemic and our response in education my role in the school library became less about teaching and more about support, resource and as many people in Ontario can attest, supply teaching. 

And if I am being very honest, I really enjoyed the supply teaching days. I liked being able to spend a full day with kids, mostly online, wading through curriculum, talking about stories, asking and answering questions, laughing, sharing.... I liked being a teacher. 

This episode of OnEd Mentors helped my to realize that the catalyst for wanting to go back to the classroom is that I want to reconnect with my teaching identity. I want to be work through the planning, the teaching, the reflecting, the co-planning and building of a classroom community, the assessment, integrating makerspace and loose parts. 

I want to be a teacher. 

I am sad to be leaving the school library role and the learning opportunities it afforded me. I feel like I have grown more as an educator in the last 5 years than the 13 previous years. I am excited to be a school library advocate from the classroom role. I can't wait to co-plan and co-teach with the teacher librarian in my new school. I am excited to continue to advocate and share the fabulousness happening in school libraries every day across Ontario and Canada. Lastly, I am excited to continue to mentor and share my experience in the school library with others. 

I am still here. 

I still have my school library knowledge. I am planning more blog posts. I have already submitted articles for upcoming publications. I am outlining a possible TMC 7 paper. I am finishing my final year end report which will cover the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years. Once a TL, always a TL.

So You Are Going to Be A Teacher Librarian... now what? Part 1

 This is the time of year when my inbox starts to fill up with requests for new TLs and admin asking if I can chat with them about their library, can they come and tour the Larkspur LLC, what suggestions do I have for them moving forward. It's always very flattering and there's nothing I love more than talking about school libraries and how the space can best serve the students and educators in a building. 

But I started to think what were my first steps 5 years ago when I moved into the space? How did I approach this new role? What advice would I give someone starting their librarian journey for the first time? 

I've been working on a document outlining the details connected to budgeting, purchasing, collection organization and more. I had originally planned to just pass this on to the educator moving into the Larkspur LLC as I move on to a new classroom adventure but I've been asked to share it in numerous ways and so that will come. I think also that parts and pieces of this blog will end up in that document as well. I am hoping it will be a resource or a guide for new (and existing) TLs and not merely a series of boxes to check. 

Why? 

Every school library is different. Every school librarian brings different strengths and vision into the space. School libraries should be living spaces that grow and adapt with the people that are using it. Creating a vibrant Library Learning Commons is not a set of boxes to be checked and while touring and talking to others is perhaps bot important and necessary, time to sit and reflect on your own space is of the utmost importance. 

So where do you start?

Environment As Third Teacher

The use and organization of the physical space of the library should be the teacher librarian's first concern. Until students and educators can comfortably and independently use the space there is no reason to begin to think about integration of maker culture, inquiry based learning, book clubs and other literacy programs. The space must serve the users. 

To consider:

How will the sections of the library collection be organized so that students of all ages can find the materials they want? What signage and visuals will help them? Are the shelves arranged so that all students can reach and access the books they want? 

In our library we have 6 main sections for the books- non-fiction, chapter books, graphic novels, picture books, dual language, and beginning readers. Each of these sections is in a "nook" or area of it's own so that students can easily identify the books based on where they are located. 

Most of the sections have mainly visual (picture) signage to help student browse the shelves independently. We do not use the computer catalogue system in our library to find books. As the school is a K-5 school I wanted students to be able to self-regulate and independently access all materials in the space. 

A few decisions I made to support learners in finding their own library materials:

• Beginning readers- theses are the books that the youngest readers most often want to read and that get lost on the big picture book shelves. Using bins and forward facing books students can browse through the super hero, Pete the Cat, Franklin, Barbie, Disney, Trucks and Cars, Elephant and Piggie, Animals, Alphabet books, board books, Early Non-Fiction, Peppa Pig, etc books to find what they are looking for. Each bin is labelled with an image of the types of books that can be found inside as many of the readers of these books are actually pre-readers.

• Picture Books- these are organized by author last name as in all libraries. I did pull out popular authors and create a separate section beside the letter section for ease of finding. For example, Elise Gravel has a smaller section beside the main G section. The same for Ruth Ohi, Robert Munsch, Oliver Jeffers, Mo Willems, Ashley Spires, etc.

• Chapter books and Graphic Novels- the bulk of these two collections are organized by series and not by author. The series are either housed in front facing bins or in sections on the shelf for larger collections (i.e. Dogman). I do not make room for the entire collection on the shelf because once the school year starts and books are circulating you will never need that much shelf space until the library closes at the end of the year. (See picture of the Dogman books and allotted shelf space).  Students often want to read through a series and may know the name of the series but not always the author. By organizing these books in series students can quickly find what they want and re-shelving books together is quick. Both the chapter books and graphic novel sections also have a separate section for books organized by author last name. I most often use these books for displays as students rarely need to be encouraged to read books from popular series but may not have considered or been introduced to a stand alone title. 

New labels in in process for these bins...

• Non-Fiction- our non-fiction section is mainly organized by the whole number Dewey as in a K-5 school very few of our learners have begun to work with decimals and even fewer have experience with 3 digit numbers!! We have approximately 300 Kindergarten students and 150 Grade 1-2 students that will want to access the non-fiction section so their shelving and signage must work for their needs and allow them to access the books independently. First, I re-organized the non-fiction books to go straight across a shelf rather than zig zag up and down as it often does in public libraries. This allows the shelves to act as a number line and provides a clear sight line when students are looking for books. Each section has a large sign that displays- the whole number Dewey, an arrow pointing in the direction of the books, the label in words and the label in numerous pictures. This allows for all students, including pre-readers and multi-language learners to access the non-fiction section. A student may not yet be ready to read "dinosaur" but they definitely know what a Tyrannosaurus Rex looks like! Bigger sections, like the 599 Animals were split up into small sections like- Bears, Wild Cats, Ocean Mammals etc each with their own label and colour coding for ease of re-shelving. 

• Dual Language- our dual language books are organized alphabetically by language and when possible have the dual language on the label. They were moved to be the first section you encounter when you enter the library so that multi-language learners are welcomed as soon as they enter the space. 

Resources that Supported Decision Making

• Leading Learning- page 34
• I printed out the various continuum from Leading Learning and tracked our progress with my admin during the first 3 years in the school library space. 
• Capacity Building Series: The Third Teacher
• Empowered Inquiry Spaces by Trevor Mackenzie
• I would HIGHLY recommended all TLs (and edus) read Inquiry Mindset by Trevor Mackenzie to guide your pedagogy and decision making connected to the school library.

The library learning commons and all connected programming must start with books and texts and this includes how they are organized for stakeholders. Once your physical plan is set and in transition then you can begin to think about next steps:

• flexible seating and provocation areas
• encouraging a maker culture that permeates beyond the library walls
• co-planning, co-teaching and co-learning from an inquiry stance
• library programming that instills a love of reading and promotes literacy habits
• virtual library spaces and programming

How might your space serve the learners who will use it most often? How will the organization and signage support learners to independently find their own materials? How might you create spaces or nooks for inquiry, tinkering and innovation? Does your space allow for displays- front facing books move more often!! Promote new titles, diverse collections and thematic curations of books for your learners. 

This is how the school library I have had the privilege to curate and work in on behalf of the school community is currently organized. 

Is it the best way or the only way? A definite nope. 

As a new teacher-librarian moves into the space with a new vision and serves a different cohort of learners (because the school community is a living, breathing entity that is always changing) it is my hope that they will adapt, structure and re-organize as needed. And I will be cheering them on all the way. 

Excerpts from a Cover Letter

 Change.

A lot of people are hesitant about change. Some people embrace change. As the saying goes, the only constant is change. 

Awhile back I wrote a blog post about placements sheets- the method in which educators rank their choices of assignments for the upcoming school year so that admin can build the school's organization. Then I blogged about being grumpy. And being a naturally reflective person (is that a fancy way of saying I'm an over thinker..) it all stuck with me. 

It's been 5 years since I transitioned from the role of a classroom teacher to teacher-librarian. I have learned a lot about inquiry mindset, maker culture, pedagogical documentation, dismantling anti-Black racism, cultivating genius, teaching from an anti-oppression, anti-colonialism and anti-bias lens, Indigenous knowledge and land based learning... and so much more. One of the privileges that comes from being in a non-classroom role is that you often have more time (and thought capacity) to embrace professional learning, to seek out PD books and workshops, to engage with multiple educators and co-plan and co-teach.

What you often don't have in a non-classroom role is a consistent source of time to work with students through the many stages of inquiry and learning. And over the last few years, due to numerous reasons, I have had even less time with students. I miss them. 

And so to avoid burying the lead too much... 

I am headed back into the classroom in September in a Grade 3/4 class. 

So many people have asked why. So here are a few excerpts from my cover letter:

My most recent experience as a teacher-librarian has afforded me the opportunity to learn and grow as an educator in the areas of equity and social justice education. I believe that it is of vital importance to embed pedagogical practices rooted in literacy and multi modal texts to consistently be teaching and co-learning with students from an anti-oppression, anti-racism and anti-colonialism lens in all areas of the curriculum. After spending the past five years in the role of teacher-librarian I am eager to return to a classroom role so that my own pedagogical practice is rooted in the experience of daily co-planning, co-learning and co-assessing alongside students.

I have never seen myself staying in the library until I retire. I have at least another 15 years (and, no I don't know my retirement date. That's a conversation for another day, eh Aviva!) and that's a long time to be in a non-classroom role, in my opinion. Since I moved into the library there have been revisions to the Social Studies, Science, Math and soon the Language Arts curriculum. To really know the curriculum you need to be working with it daily. I believe that teacher-librarians have a wide view of the curriculum because they are constantly curating, collecting, co-planning and co-teaching with educators from all grade levels but I miss the deep embedded experience of curriculum that comes from exploring a topic from start to finish through an inquiry lens with students.

I believe in the intentional practice of working with students to build their capacity for critical cultural consciousness. I have attended a number of workshops with Dr. Andrew Campbell from OISE and have heard him say that “the opposite of tokenism is consistency”.

Embedding a variety of differentiated instructional practices and processes is central to helping students learn about themselves as learners. I am hoping to explore digital compositions (i.e. podcasting, video/vlogs, visual literacy) with students in a classroom space so they grow as creators and consumers of media and informational texts. I believe that it is important that students’ learning within the school is  grounded in not only their experiences beyond the walls of the classroom, but the current events that are shaping our world.

The past few years have brought HUGE change and awareness to educators around issues of diversity, building critical cultural consciousness, embedding anti-racist and anti-colonial pedagogy and I am proud of the work that I have done in the library to help educators. I am proud of our "Live from the Library" read alouds that have been curated and built using Gholdy Muhammad's HRL framework from Cultivating Genius. I am proud of constantly seeking out how we might approach a topic with an inquiry mindset and help students to see the wonder and joy of their own interests. I am proud of layering provocations and sparks connected to multi-modal texts and loose parts to help students share their voice and ideas.

And now I want to take that learning and work with students directly. Often in the library you get to spark an inquiry with students, you get to support the research or exploration stage, or you get to take part in the creation of products related to the learning. I want to be a part of all of it all the time.

As I have slowly shared this information with friends and colleagues close to me many people have said something along the lines of "Oh, wow! That's amazing for the kids but what a loss for school libraries." And while it's lovely to be thought of in this way I really, truly wonder if it is a loss?

I mean, I still have all my knowledge and experience about school-libraries and what I believe them to be. I am still a passionate advocate for school libraries and the role they play in supporting students, educators and the community. I have the 5 years I spent sharing that vision with the school I worked in and now a new passionate school library advocate will take over the role of teacher-librarian. Will it be the same? Of course not but that doesn't mean it's a loss.

I spoke with the educator who will likely be taking over the role and we discussed that the school librarian role and the school library itself is unique to each school community. What they bring to the role is their own set of skills and strengths. They bring their own professional network of collaborators that may have never connected with me. They bring their experience and knowledge of being a classroom teacher through the pivots to online/remote learning, of supporting students as they transitioned back into the building and learning within a classroom space.

If we believe in each student's capacity for genius then shouldn't we also believe in each educator's capacity for genius as well?

One person does not a school library make. A school library is a living, breathing, ever changing entity of the school community. It reflects the beliefs and values of a school. It reflects the diversity and culture of a school. It reflects all the hopes of what we believe our school system can be to support the learning of all stakeholders.

Will I return to the school library someday? I hope so.

Will I continue to be a passionate and vocal supporter of school libraries and role of teacher-librarians? Damn right, I will.

But until then, I will be finding my joy in my own little classroom as I continue to grow and learn as an educator.

Does everything have to be a lesson or is everything always a lesson?

 Educators are always looking for ways to "cover" the curriculum. Even when we know that we are accountable to the Overall Expectations the draw the ensure that all Specific Expectations are touched on is strong. 

But not all expectations are created equal. 

Are they? 

On Friday I made my way down to a classroom to speak to an educator about a specific student. We had crossed paths in the hallway that morning and I had said that if he was available later in the day would he be able to come and sort through the LEGO station? This was an arrangement we had in place before the pandemic when the library was wide open at all times to all students. This student required frequent breaks and was always eager to be helpful and take on a leadership role in  the library so his homeroom educator and I worked out a plan where he had his own set of library tasks on a checklist. When he felt that he needed a break from the classroom setting he would advocate for his needs by asking to come to the library. Often, I would deliberately mess up the LEGO station when I hadn't seen him for a few days knowing a visit was probably imminent. 

But what does this have to do with the curriculum?

Well, nothing really. But when I arrived in his classroom his teacher felt it necessary to tell me that they were letting the students talk because they just seemed to need it. They said "I know I should get them on task and doing work but if I let them talk it out for awhile they will settle down later. I promise we will do work!"

Now, I am no one's supervisor and there was no need to justify anything happening in the class to me. However, I find that many educators do this- they try to provide a rationale for their actions in the classroom to other educators when it doesn't appear as though a direct lesson is happening. 

I quickly assured the educator that I was not judging her and in fact listed off what I saw happening in her class:

• I saw an educator who was being responsive to the needs of the students.
• I saw students who were engaged in social conversations with their peers. They were making eye contact, they were facing the speaker and there was a back and forth exchange of ideas.
• The noise level was on the higher side but that's because every table group was talking. No one group was dominating the space. It was a happy hum of discussion. 
• I saw students being given time to re-connect with their peers after 2 years of separation and uncertainty. 
• I saw humans re-engaging with each other and learning social skills that would serve them throughout their life. 

And as I said to the educator,

 "Isn't Oral Communication in the Language Arts curriculum? Looks to me like a great learning activity."

This has stuck with me for a few days since it happened.

Does every "lesson" have to be pre-planned and written out in full in a day plan? Does every lesson have to be a formal opportunity to assess students? Does every lesson have to have posted learning goals to be successful?

In my opinion, no. And I believe that in the opinion of many educators I admire the answer is also no.

As educators we have been told time and again that we are not in fact experts in our field. The media tells us this. The government tells us this. Parents sometimes tell us this. 

I think this can cause educators to question themselves and their decisions even when they know what they are doing is best for kids. Did I witness a formal lesson? No. Could it have been used for a TPA? No. Was it valuable for those learners? YES!

This is where we need to hold each other up and showcase each other's brilliance. I think we need to notice and name the genius we see in our fellow educators' practice. This educator obviously had spent time really seeing the students in their class. They knew what they needed in this moment to help them focus further into the learning day. They just needed a reminder of their expertise as an educator after two long years of everything being so unsure. 

Let's do that for each other more often.  

(And the student with the LEGO? He came, helped re-sort the mixed up bins and stayed for a full period helping younger students and interacting with them. It was lovely to see.)

You're Grumpy.

 You're grumpy. A lot grumpier than you used

to be and for a long time now. 

I was told recently that I am now grumpy. And grumpier all the time. And I started to wonder.

Am I?

Am I grumpy now? The last two years have definitely taken a toll on all of us and perhaps as a society we are more grumpy now. Or maybe we are just less willing to put up with bullshit? I know I am. I feel like the last two years has helped me to see that sharing my thoughts, my real thoughts, on certain situations isn't rude it's advocating for myself and perhaps others.

I wonder, "Does speaking your mind or your truth make you grump?" Or does it just show that other people have an unwillingness to hear things that make them uncomfortable?

I find myself drawing inwards a lot more in the last few months. I want to watch TV alone. I want to read in a room alone. I want to crochet or create alone. I rarely crave being with others. Perhaps it stems from all those months of being home during the quarantine and lockdowns and then the overstimulation of being in a school filled with people all day. Perhaps it stems from what often feels like the crushing weight of the constant news cycle of a world on fire? Perhaps it's because my youngest daughter has required me (and sometimes my husband, but less often) to sleep with her for at least 95% percent of the nights since March 2020. Maybe it's because I am not even alone in sleep?

Does wanting to be alone more often make me a grump? Does recognizing that I need this time for me make me a grump?

My friend, Chris Cluff is often a source of #thoughtfuel (and that term!) for me. He recently posted this poem on his blog- And . The phrase "the burden of caretaking and releasing our stories from clenched fists" felt like he had crawled inside my brain and had seen my thoughts. 

In some ways my family has been so lucky these past two years. No one in our immediate family has had COVID, we have all kept our jobs and continue to live in a safe place. We have been able to connect more with our children as they have been home with us and we are building an addition on our home that will allow us to "escape" to the backyard for peace and relaxation. So does all that mean we aren't allowed to feel as though the last two years haven't been hard in other ways? Is there a scale of difficulty that prioritizes one person's hardship over the hardship of others? 

Do I have a "right" to be grumpy?

What is the threshold where we are given permission to be grumpy? That our burdens make it social acceptable to be outwardly grumpy? Perhaps more grace and acknowledgement that everyone's story has value and their experience can't be measured against the experience of others?

I have friends going through hard things. Very hard things. Cancer. The death of family members. Fear for their immunocompromised children and loved ones. Mental health issues. Divorce. 

All things infinitely harder than anything I am dealing with in my daily life. I would never call any of them grumpy. But I would also never call anyone just working through the daily slog of life in a pandemic grumpy either. 

Seriously. Grumpy!? Me? Maybe I am. Maybe I'm grumpier than I used to be. Maybe I'm not. 

Maybe I'm just less willing to hold back saying what I'm thinking. Maybe I'm tired of "meeting people where they are" fully knowing they never intend to put the work in to move forward. Maybe I'm not willing to let others walk all over the work I've put in to push my learning forward. Maybe I'm not willing to listen to excuses and choices that don't serve the students in our school community.

Maybe I'm grumpy. Maybe not. 

And to be honest, I don't care anymore if you think I'm grumpy.

From a mom to the teachers of #Onted

 Something to think about over the break...

As the parent of two school age children we have been talking a lot of the new routines and the removal of masks/returning to sitting in groups. Both of my daughters suffer from anxiety and are currently struggling with the thought of immediately sitting so close to others after 2 years of trying to stay distanced. There will be students in your class that feel the same way. 

Perhaps a slow transition to groups is needed, sitting in pairs first might be best? Ask students how they feel and what they are ready for. While we may be ready to return to the practice of sitting in groups and it makes teaching certain topics and activities easier, it is not about our convenience but about centering the needs of our students. 

My daughters have also asked me about masks and whether I will still be wearing one. I told that them that I will be wearing a mask at school after the break and it's for 2 reasons:

1) I want to. It's my choice to wear one as is all things regarding my body and issues of consent.

2) There will be students who want to wear a mask still and they will need to see adults in the building wearing masks and supporting them in that decision. The students who are comfortable not wearing masks may not need our support as much. And maybe students feel comfortable taking their mask off in the classroom community where they have built trust with you and their classmates but not in the hallway where they encounter more people. Again, as the adults and the educators in the building it's important to decenter ourselves and do what's best for kids first and foremost.

So as a mom of two kids scared and worried to come back to school on the 21st I am asking you to consider these things and work to help your students heal and transition as we slowly move away from COVId restrictions. 

It's that time of year... placement sheets!

 It's that time of year in my board when we have to start filling out our placement sheets for the next school year. Depending on the admin we sometimes have to list our top 3 or 4 choices, stop/start/continue for the school community, goals for the next 5 years and we can discuss it at a fireside chat of we wish.

It's an interesting time. 

People are curious as to what other people requested. Who wants to change grade levels? Who is looking at a support role? Who is thinking of switching schools or boards?

I have asked for full time library (of course) but in looking at the writing on the wall I can see how much our school population has dropped and that there's a pretty big chance my library allocation will be reduced. So then what? What is the optimal combination to effectively re-start our free flow book exchange and maker space programs should we be back to a somewhat "normal" school year next year?

I know in many, many schools and in many, many boards that teacher-librarians, library technicians and other school library professionals are split across roles, schools and in many cases, across distances between schools. I know the huge path of school library privilege I have always walked in as a full time teacher-librarian. 

I am also aware that the last 2 years in the school library have in some ways soured me to the role. Don't get me wrong!! I love the school library. I love being a teacher-librarian. BUT, there's been a lot of piece stripped away from the role as I knew it due to COVID protocols and the need for various support roles within the school community. 

For me it comes down to the students. I miss them.

I miss our day to day interactions when they would come to exchange books. I miss the kids who would visit multiple times during the week excited to find the next book they would devour. I miss the kids who would come to the library to just sit and play not knowing that while they were there they were gaining experience and skills towards their own self-regulation that would support them when they returned to class. I miss the thrill of starting a new inquiry with a class and filling a white board with a Notice/Wonder chart. I miss watching students building and share their ideas using loose parts and explore communicating their thoughts using a variety of modalities. I even miss the tangle of glue guns and glue sticks that came with large scale maker projects.

I miss being in the mess with the students.

The mess of learning. 

I've been looking back at my three year plan from when I started in the LLC 5 years ago as I do feel as though September 2022 will be a re-start. None of the students in our school will have participated in free flow book exchange in over 2 years. Our oldest students (Grade 5) will have been in Grade 2 the last time they accessed the library independently. It's going to be a complete refresh which on one hand in exciting and on the other is terrifying. 

I do feel as though I need a jolt of some kind to pull me back into what I love the most about teaching (and school libraries, if I'm being honest).

So on my placement sheets for next year, if I am not full time in the library, I have asked for Kindergarten planning time. Why not start at the beginning? Why not immerse myself in the full-on messiness, inquiry-based, wonder of learning? Why not take the opportunity to co-learn and co-teach with kindergarten educators? Why not?

Of course, full time in the library learning commons is the gold standard of library placements but a small part of me is really hoping that I'll get to experience some kindergarten joy as well. 

I guess we'll see what happens...

Pocket of Joy- Morning Duty (#SOL22)

Last Friday I posted this on my social media:

This week I:

-prepped asynchronous work for students in Kindergarten to Grade 5

-posted asynchronous work for students in Grades 1-5, emailed their grown-ups, and posted reminders of work

-read to an online Grade 1/2 class

-read to an in-school Kindergarten class

-read to an online Grade 2 class

-planned and designed inquiry activities related to our Blue Spruce program

-taught online Kindergarten

-supported online Grade 3

-got pulled from online Grade 3 to cover an in-person Grade 1 class

-taught online Kindergarten (again)

-curated our weekly LLC newsletter

-curated next week’s BHM “Jam or Not A Jam”

-pulled books connected to educator’s requests for in class inquiries

… and probably a lot of stuff I forgot.

Each week in #Onted is a full month. No joke.

It's a list of all the things I could remember doing at school between Monday and Friday. It's a lot. And I am just one educator in one building. We routinely have at least 5 unfilled jobs on any given day and some days it's been as high at 11 (maybe more!) unfilled jobs that need to be covered by library, ISSP, ESL or homeroom educators missing their planning times. It's an all hands on deck situation in Ontario schools right now. People are frazzled, burnout and fractured from trying to remember what they need to do while attempting to cover a different role. The system is continuing to eat us alive.

That being said there are still moments when joy is felt and celebrated in our schools. While I dread going into work each day knowing that if the parking lot is empty I may be thrust into a role that I am unprepared for or even pulled partway through the day, partway through a task. My ability to focus and see a task through to completion is almost non-existent at this point.

But every morning at 8:15 I head out to the parking lot for morning duty. For three years I was on crosswalk duty and then last year I was shifted to Kiss n' Ride and now I am stationed at the back of the parking lot.

I absolutely LOVE being outside in the morning for duty. For the last 5 years I have been the first person many families see each morning when they arrive at school. I don't know how many of you know this... but I am pretty cheerful person in the morning. I look forward to greeting the students and their grown-ups. I like to chat and make small talk. I get to know the students at little better. The students excitedly remind me if it's their library day or share which book they liked the best that we read recently.

One little girl told me this week that she loved the book that had a character with hair just like hers. Seriously. I didn't stop smiling all morning.

One of my favourite things about morning duty is getting to know the students and their grown-ups in a different light. We have a family whose child is in Kindergarten and every day since September Mom and Dad would walk the little one into school. Mom was expecting a new baby and when we returned after the shut down in January only Dad was walking. I got to learn about the new baby, the baby's name and hear all sorts of updates. Last week, I got to meet Grandma and Grandpa as they walked the little one to school.

The families and I joke about the traffic backups and headaches in the parking (seriously, some parents need to slow down and be patient). We discuss the weather. Did we know it was going to be this cold? Does it look like we are going to get more snow? People ask for book recommendations to read with their children. Newcomers share with me their stories about why they moved to Canada and what they hope for their grandchildren attending our school.

It's almost always 15 minutes of joy (minus the cars who want to park in the tow away zone no matter how many times I've asked them not to...).

It's 15 minutes of interacting with students. With people. With families. With parents and caregivers. With grandmas and grandpas. With little ones too small to come to school yet.

It's the only part of my day that remains the same from the "before time".

It's my little pocket of joy.