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!!

Three Year Plan for Creating a 21st Century Learning Commons

In the spring of 2017, my admin approached me about being part of the transition from a traditional library space to a Library Learning Commons by taking on the role of teacher-librarian for our K-5 school. I was a Grade 3 teacher at that time. I will be completely honest and say that while I had always hoped to one day be a TL, at that exact moment in my teaching career I had been doing some exciting work with guided math and math spiralling and wasn't sure that I was ready to leave the classroom. After some serious though and discussion with my husband I decided to agree to the transition and haven't looked back since.

In preparation for this transition I created an action plan to share with my administration at my school. One of my wonderful friends and inspiring teacher-librarians, Jenn Brown, helped me to create the action plan and pointed me towards a number or resources that would help with the creation. I also enrolled in a Librarianship Part 1 AQ and began to read any number of PD books I could get my hands on!

The big goals for the transition to a Library Learning Commons were:

-increased student access to the library collection and an updated collection that was more culturally relevant for our community
-a shift in the physical design of the LLC space to accommodate a variety of learning opportunities
- introducing a maker mindset to the stakeholders within our community and using maker learning to promote an inquiry mindset
-working with educators to develop our understanding of collaboration (e.g. co-planning, co-teaching, co-assessing, teaching from an inquiry stance)

With all this in mind I sat down with Jenn's example of a Three Year Plan for Creating a 21st Centure Learning Commons and began to adapt it to the needs of my school community. Jenn and I had many conversations about the direction in which to head first and we both felt that shift to a "free flow book exchange" model was the biggest priority in order for many other pieces to fall into place. This also meant the physical layout and signage of library needed to be addresses so that students could be self-sufficient when in the LLC for book exchange.

Once the free flow book exchange model was introduced to our school community, orientation periods for the classes were scheduled, time for students to practice using the self-serve checkout system was given and slowly but surely, everyone began to  feel more comfortable with the new vision for our LLC.

Now that we are a few months into our second year of the transition plan I have gone back over Year 1 to see what we have accomplished and where we still need to grow. I updated the Year 2 section of our plan using Leading Learning and the Peel document- Empowering Modern Learners to guide our vision. As a school community we are currently developing goals for further exploration and understanding of maker ed learning and using documentation strategies to promote student learning. Both of these goals will be reflected in our future vision for the LLC.

If you are interested in seeing the Three Year Plan for Creating a 21st Century Learning Commons that I have been working from, please click the link below and don't hestate to contact me with any questions.

Three Year Plan for Creating a 21st Century Learning Commons

On Being a "Teacher-Librarian"

It's the night before the Ontario Library Association Super Conference for 2019 and I have been thinking about how this year's experience differs from last year. At this time last year I was only 5 months into working in the library learning commons at my school and while we had under gone a huge transitional period (e.g., introducing free flow book exchange, implementing new collaborative inquiry methods and starting to use more hands-on materials- such as loose parts) everything was still the first time. Including my trip to OLASC.

The experience at OLASC last year was amazing. I felt that I learned and absorbed so much new information that I was able to take back to my school community and to the library. I felt renewed and invigorated after being able to meet so many fellow librarians from across the various library panels and locations.

Now that we are on the eve of this year's OLASC I am excited to return and to be re-energized again for the months to come working with the educators and students in the school library learning commons. I also feel that I have a much better understanding of the role that a teacher-librarian can play within the school community.

Being a teacher-librarian is a special subset within the world of education. We are small in number (when compared to the rest of our fellow educators) but our role is mighty. We bring our past experiences as educators with us into the library learning commons which provides us with a deep understanding of pedagogy, curriculum, and assessment. In my case I taught for 13 years (every Grade from 3-8) before taking on the role of Teacher-Librarian last fall. This means we view the space, the collection, the maker-ed opportunities, the inquiry process, the technological integration through the lens of an educator. Because first and foremost, we are educators. We are teachers of children and in may cases, we are teachers of teachers. This is a privilege that I do not take lightly.

As I have grown with this role I have made a few observations about how we are educators first:

1) It all starts with the books. This is the basis of our role- to curate the library collection for the school community. This means purchasing texts with an eye towards the curriculum across all the the grade levels in our school buildings, with the reading levels of our English Language Learners in mind, to provoke an interest and passion in important social justice topics, to provide texts that will spark a love of reading and educate our learners in equal measure, to push readers beyond what they may already enjoy, to seek out books that educators can use as a provocation for a maker-ed opportunity, to provide rich texts that enable readers to formulate questions and to keep in mind the most important ideas of- "what is needed for this learner at this time".

2) We have time to delve deeper and wider into the new and unfamiliar areas of pedagogical research and bring it to our fellow educators. One of the most rewarding experiences of the past year is to connect with an educator who is willing and open to trying something new with their class but due to the every day demands of their job may not have had an opportunity to fully plan or formulate their ideas. By providing opportunities to co-plan and co-teach with the educators in our schools we are able to say "Yes, and..." on almost a daily basis. I find that so many educators are very interested in trying new modes of teaching and learning with their students. They want to provide maker opportunities. They want to explore coding. They want to teach from an inquiry stance and they want to promote an inquiry mindset. They want to empower their students. Collaborating with the teacher-librarian provides an opportunity to have a fellow educator as a sounding board, to have a second set of eyes to observe students, a second set of guiding questions that can be asked and a second set of reflections to move everyone's learning, the educators' included, forward.

3) We use our space and resources to help drive the understanding of using our time with students- our observations, our conversations, photos of products-as assessment for learning. The bulk of an educators time with students is spent working to move each student forward along their personal continuum of learning. Teacher-Librarians help to promote an understanding of "uncovering the curriculum". By intentionally curating the collection, creating makerspaces, promoting a maker culture, and sparking inquiry we are consistently providing opportunities for our fellow educators and students to learn from and with each other. To use their learning time together to grow as a community of learners. So that everyone benefits.

Being a teacher-librarian is one of the most rewarding and exciting roles of my career. It is a gift. And one I do not take lightly.

I hope you don't either.

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. 

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...

Impact/Moments

  I had my onewordx12 chosen for October.

I had it picked. I was ready.

Then I listened to Season 4 Episode 3 of Rolland Chidiac's and Chris Cluff's DeCodEd podcast. 

So many good gems. So much #thoughtfuel.

My original plan was to have my one word for October be impact as a follow up to 

September's one word which was connection. The return to school has been so different than any other year and I knew that having the library space closed to the students and

 educators would require an extra effort to build and maintain relationships. 

I have tried over the course of the first few weeks of the school year to reach out to all the educators, both in face-to-face and online school, at my school to find ways to support them and their learners.  

I wanted to keep moving forward with this idea and focus on how the programming from the library might be able to impact the learning of others and their journey. It's such a different experience being alone in the library all day compared the last three years where we have worked to create space that is open and available to all learners during the day. 

At the start of October I had a few days of feeling a little sorry for myself. 

I miss seeing kids and working with them on their learning on a regular basis. 

I love being able to do read alouds with classes and chatting about the books but it's not the same.

I know there are other educators feeling the same way that are in much tougher positions than me.

I am very privileged to be in my library role and to have to opportunity to be a support for the educators and learners in my school. I know I don't have to deal with the ups and downs of tech issues, reaching students who aren't engaged in this "new normal" of school. I know I don't need to worry about being in a cramped classroom without adequate distancing and trying to reimagine learning when so much of what educators are being asked to do goes against their knowledge of best practices and good pedagogy. I know I am fortunate that I was not reallocated from my library role. I know I am fortunate that I didn't have to wait to find out my assignment for the year and then still only have a few days in which to plan.

But I sometimes wonder if I should have volunteered to teach an online class and 

spend my day exploring and learning with a group of children.

All of this was swirling through my brain as September ended and October began. 

I could see how impact would be a good focus for the month.

How might I use my role in the library to 

impact the learning of others?

How might I be able to support educators and learners 

as they reimagined their own learning spaces 

and began to explore inquiries in this school year?

How might I begin to curate a rich collection of texts, 

both physically and virtually, to have an impact 

on the learning of our school community?  

And then I listened to Rolland and Chris' podcast over the course of two days as I drove to work. 

Perhaps a focus on moments would better serve me this month?

How can we seek out those moments of impact in our day to celebrate the 

connections we are making with learners?

How might we dive deep into those moments of doubt and create lasting impact from our learning?

What can I learn from my moments of sadness and loss? Because there is a lot of loss still to be processed about this school year and the end of the school year in the spring. How might that help be to become a better educator for my students and community?

And so I am choosing two words-

Impact.

Moments.

At this time, I see myself keeping these words through November and checking in with myself. 

What impact do I see my role in the library having on the education of those 

working and learning in my school community?

What moments will I embrace and use to drive learning forward?

How might I use these reflections to create more moments of impact?

Routine is the word.

 Where has March gone? Eeeek.

I have been thinking about this word since I finished off my February post about the word list. Routine is another word that has become a big part of both my personal and professional life. I’ve noticed that has I’ve gotten older that small routines- like eating the same thing for breakfast most days, taking my vitamins each morning before my coffee, hand cream and eye cream before bed, etc- have become not necessarily more important to me but make the day feel easier. 

Interestingly, I was called a perfectionist earlier this year and I strongly reacted to that. I do not feel that I am a perfectionist. The dictionary defines a perfectionist as-

 noun- a person who refuses to accept any standard short of perfection.

 https://g.co/kgs/wAAM9NN

This does not describe me. I like to have a plan for things, for a lesson or activity, for my day but if something changes and we need to be flexible I have no problem changing the plan or rolling with a new idea. 

A few of my colleagues and I were talking about this and one asked if I would describe myself as easy going and my initial reaction was no. Easy going is defined as-

adjective- relaxed and tolerant in approach or manner.

https://g.co/kgs/CEK1jtJ

I think because I do like to have a plan in place, I like to be prepared ahead of time and I rarely approach anything without having thought it through that easy going can’t really be used to describe me either. 

So what’s in the middle of perfectionist and easy going? Is it a love for routine? 

I posted awhile back on IG about my use of digital weekly plans that allows me to hyperlink resources and use images to plan for read alouds that are shared with my class. You can see the picture here- https://www.instagram.com/p/C3ybsiYxzxb/?igsh=OTBldjgzcWpyMWZm

Having this template for my weekly plans (and daily plans last year in Grade 3 when the day was filed with different subjects and content areas, and therefore more “lessons” needed planning) helps keep me organized and small things are not forgotten. I can list weekly or daily to-do lists. I can use shapes and colours to insert routine reminders like library visits, assemblies, etc. 

Working with kids of all ages for as long as I have you start to notice that kids also thrive on routine. Many kids like to know what’s coming next and when. It’s why the pandemic was so hard for so many us. We didn’t know what was coming next and days bled into each other. In our kindergarten class we keep most days to a pretty similar routine and share early with the students if something is going to change. Fewer transitions during the day are key at this age to keeping the peace so we plan for longs blocks of outdoor play in the morning and free play in the afternoon. We have one small friend who had a lot of difficulty with coming to school in the fall and he would regularly check our visual schedule each day and often checked in with us about when it was home time. 

I think routines provide comfort and much like a list they download information from my brain so I’m not focused on a thousand little things. I can focus on the big things. I can pay attention to what’s happening in the moment, whether at school or at home. 

What routines do you have in your life? At school or at home? How do they help you? 

Inquiry Mindset- Chapter 8

We have reached my favourite chapter in Inquiry Mindset- Explore and Research: The Teacher-Librarian as an Inquiry Ally

It has long been my dream to be a teacher-librarian in in September 2017 that dream came true. I have just finished my first year in the Library Learning Commons and have loved every minute. But even before I was a teacher-librarian I had the chance to work with some phenomenal teacher-librarians and that set me up to understand the pivotal role a TL can play in helping classroom teachers introduce and teach from an inquiry stance.

So as I read through this chapter, and re-read, and re-read, and made notes, and more notes.... !!! I started to think about why is that that a TL is an "inquiry ally"? What makes the TL role so central to supporting classroom teachers?

Here's what I came up with and what I aspire to be as a teacher-librarian:

1. Teacher- Librarians read a lot. Teacher- Librarians know their collection. 

Teacher- Librarians read widely and diversely. Teacher- Librarians read deeply and with intention. One of my first goals when moving into the LLC was to get to know the collection well and to be able to support any educator that came in looking for resources. I like being about to suggest further books for their inquiries, to provide a synopsis of a picture book that might spark an inquiry, to highlight a database that will help students uncover the information they need or help an educator stretch on their own learning journey.

2. Teacher-Librarians cultivate a culture of "Yes, and...". Teacher-Librarians are risk-takers.

I recently had the opportunity to hear Lee Martin (@mrmartinEDU) speak about being a Daredevil educator and everything he said made me think of the great teacher-librarians I have worked with in the past. Taking chances, letting students and educators run with their ideas, trusting students and educators to follow their instincts. Reflecting back over my first year in the LLC I realized that I am pretty much willing to try anything that an educator is interested in introducing to their students. I love to try new technologies, to introduce students to different models of thinking and to see the creativity and ingenuity that students apply to their work.

Taking risks and cultivating a culture of "Yes, and..." is integral in helping students learn from an inquiry mindset. As the move through the inquiry pool towards free inquiry it is important to help students understand the risks involved, the possibility of mistakes and setbacks but that as we move forwards with our inquiry skills we will all grows as learners.

3. Teacher-Librarians understand the concept of environment as the "third teacher".

On page 110 of Inquiry Mindset it states "The design of a learning commons impacts how learners use the space. If we want learners to research, collaborate, create, or be mindful, we need to provide them with specific spaces supporting each of these unique activities." For months before moving into the TL role I started moving the furniture around in my head, and moving it, and moving it, and moving it.... LOL. I really wanted to create a space that promoted self-regulation in my students in regards to the using the collection. First, I wanted my students to be able to find the books they were interested in reading and learning from when they visited independently as part of our free flow system. Secondly, I wanted to create pockets of wonder as this was our first year transitioning from a traditional library space to a learning commons model.

This year I focused on better signage for each of the library sections with a wide array of learners in mind. Signs include pictures, book spines are colour-coded or have specialized stickers to help learners find what they need. Each section also has a rotation of inquiry, maker, STEAM, or loose part invitations to spark an inquiry mindset in my students.

I love the descriptions of the metaphors on pages 112-114 for the LLC spaces: 1) The Cave, 2) The Watering Hole, 3) The Campfire, and 4) Life . I will be keeping these in mind as we move forward with new shelving and flexible seating.

4. Teacher-Librarians model an inquiry stance and how to communicate their learning needs.

One of my favourite parts of helping students find solutions to their questions is when I truly don't know the answer and we go on an information finding mission together. Moving through the books, searching for information, using an online database, seeking out the advice of another teacher are all steps I will take with a student to help them on their inquiry journey. The same is true if an educator comes looking for assistance. I think one of the hidden gems of being a teacher-librarian is the opportunity to help educators stretch on their own learning journey.

5. Teacher-Librarians are life-long learners. 

I have so many goals for my second year in the LLC!!! Especially as I re-read Inquiry Mindset and learn from the other educators in the FlipGrid Book Club.

A few of my goals are:

- develop an Inquiry Map for the LLC to intentionally plan for and incorporate a number of initiatives (Global Read Aloud, Hour of Code, Peel Treaties Week, etc)
- introduce FlipGrid to the staff and students to capture evidence of their inquiries and wonderings within the LLC
- integrate more "story time" periods to introduce diverse texts to classes and incorporate a maker opportunity with the reading ---> STORY SPARKS!
-create a Curiosity Jar (page 92) and/or Wonder Wall (page 95) in the LLC
- develop a program for Open Inquiry in the LLC so students can come to explore their own learning passions

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.