Re: Oops!

["Monica R. Byrne 407-767-5447" <BYRNEM@MAIL.FIRN.EDU>]

Dear Donna,

I'm happy to oblige.  It does my soul good to know that I'm not the ONLY
one who hits the wrong keys!

Monica Byrne





                      E L E C T R O N I C   M E S S A G E

                                        Date:     10-Aug-1994 11:34pm EST
                                        From:     School Library Media &
Network

LM_NET@SUVM.SYR.EDU@SMTP@FIRNV
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                                        County:
                                        Tel No:

TO:  Multiple recipients of list LM_NET   ( LM_NET@SUVM.SYR.EDU@SMTP@FIRNVX
)

Subject: HIT --> Hints for First Year Media Specialists

Following is a compilation of all the responses I have received so far on
my
TARGET posting.  Happy reading!

------------------------------------------------
Keep your feet firmly on the ground, don't give up an inch and keep
smiling.
Middle school kids love games, just keep them moving but separated. Good
luck
Ira Tobak, K-12 library media specialist
DeRuyter Central School
DeRuyter, New York  13214
------------------------------------------------
Work with the living!
Start small, work with teachers who are interested and build on successes.
Middle Level kids are wonderful; they are eager to learn and can do well.
Try to plan with teachers as much as time allows and do whatever you can
to break paradigms; show them a media program can do fantastic things for
their students.  Good luck!
Mary Alice Anderson
Winona MN Middle School
------------------------------------------------
Kristy,
For a promotional kick-off, use the theme "Color My World Green."  Green
napkins, green punch, green fliers of planned activities, dollar bills
folded, wear green yourself, have green plants to give away as door prizes.
 The idea you would hope to convey, "Let Me Grow with You in the Media
Center."
Good luck!

Mary Jameson
Troy R-III High School
Troy, MO 63379
mjameson@services.dese.state.mo.us
------------------------------------------------
First and foremost---beware the paraprofessional.  There is a fine line to
be
traversed between not changing anything (a good *pro forma* guideline for
first year LMSs) and the need to establish yourself as the boss (not being
a
bully or pulling rank, but establishing professional credentials one-on-one
with the para).  The para may have the day-to-day "nuts and bolts" going
smoothly but will be wary of any of your new fangled bells and whistles.
 Take what she/he can offer but YOU make decisions.  I was in a similar
position after being a teacher with many paras.  I had great success with
not
changing anything really overall but making little adjustments, sometimes
just for the sake of doing so, and relying upon the para do fall in line.
 This one aspect will make or break your year; moreso than relations with
teachers and administration.

Learn how to make piles. This is something I wasn't taught in school.  It
has
taken me 2 years to know what I want to keep and what I can pitch before it
ever hits my desk.

Don't react.  The job has so much to do it is tempting to sit back and not
make plans, just allow yourself to think that at any given moment there is
more than you can actually do so you just react and do what ever needs to
be
done *at that moment*.  BIG MISTAKE (though you will always be busy).
 Sometimes what you will be doing is not what you need to be doing.

DO EVERYTHING AT ONCE!  Nothing is ever finished.  Process a 15 books a
day.
 Solve 1 problem a day.  Plan 1 unit a day.  Bitch at your administrator
once
a day when you can (not at a meeting with a list).

Make the school pay for being online.

Get a decent card catalog printing program if not totally automated (I
can't
remember the ordering info for mine but I do love it and will get it to you
if you want it).

It's supper time and I gotta go.  Best of luck to you.  I've played hell
these last 2 years (taught for 16) but have never even begun to regret it.

Tim

Tim Lance / Librarian
Cook Elementary / Austin I.S.D. / Texas
timlance@tenet.edu
------------------------------------------------
Congrats on the job!  Here are some ideas for you to look at for your
critical first year:

1.  If there is a new teacher orientation, be SURE you are on that agenda.
 Have some goodies (cookies, sodas, etc.) for the newbies.  Be ready to
explain your plans and the services the library offers to staff.  Hand out
library cards, bookmarks, etc. to the newbies.

2.  Try to attend every department meeting at least once during the year
(if
you have such meetings).  If your school doesn't have such meetings, then
get
on at least one staff meeting agenda to explain to the "old hands" what you
are trying to do.

3.  Do something nice for your principal.  Help with scheduling, or moving
books, or some project near and dear to the principal's heart.  Don't make
this obvious, just be helpful.  This can really pay off down the road.

4.  Have a visitor's folder made up with a map of the library, map of
campus,
bookmarks, and any other examples of handouts that describe your library
program.  Let the principal and district administrators know it is ok to
bring visitors to the library, and when they do, hand out those folders.
 Students can do the actual assembly of the folders.

5.  Consider a newsletter for the staff that will highlight aspects of the
library program.  Keep it short, and do it as often as you have time (mine
is
monthly, but I have a huge number of staff to cover and a big library, so
there's always news to get out).  Quarterly is ok too.

Talk to other librarians to see what they did that worked in their first
years--no need to re-invent the wheel!

Good luck!

Regards,
Mark
marwill@eis.calstate.edu
------------------------------------------------
As a previous Minnesotan and hopefully a will-be-there-again, welcome to an
exciting experience.

Number one hint:  make time for yourself.  Everyone I know who does an
above
average job works too hard.  It only took me 20 years to figure out that I
do
my best work if I am giving myself some slack.

Give yourself permission to make mistakes. Admit them, learn from them,
then
let them go.

DON'T SHOULD ON YOURSELF   (this goes with number one)

Out reach to teachers.

Give yourself time to enjoy the students.  Sit down with a few at a time
and
visit with them.  Do it every day.

Remember the Kids are why you are there.  The clerical work will always be
around.

Look carefully at everything you do and see if there is some better way to
do
it or if it can be left not done, a lot of what us "old timers" thought was
necessity was only nice not essential.  Work smarter rather than work
harder/longer.

Good luck.

Barbara Fiehn,
bfiehn@lps.esu18.k12.ne.us    AOL: BFiehn
------------------------------------------------
A valuable lesson I learned in college before I started really held true in
the "real world" and that was that I would always have to "sell" my
program,
that PR was always going to be important.  Begin the year with a positive
attitude.  Expect problems from teachers. Understand that others may look
at
your job and think it rather easy, especially when looking at your schedule
and not seeing what it takes to RUN the media center, aside from teaching
classes.  Find those teachers that appreciate what you do and work with
them
to show others what can be done when working cooperatively.  Talk with the
teachers often.  Meet them more than halfway to develop lessons you can
both
teach in the media center.  And most of all -- enjoy those kids, it can be
so
fun!

Marla Williams -- Prescott Schools, WI -- marla.j.williams@uwrf.edu
------------------------------------------------
This is an old media specialist speaking. If you haven't joined MEMO yet,
do
so, and come to the conference in October in Rochester. I'll buy you a Coke
if you do!  Good to see you on-line.
Doug Johnson, District Media Supervisor
Mankato Public Schools, ISD77
Box 8713, Mankato MN 56001-8713
507-387-7698
palsdaj@vax1.mankato.msus.edu
*****Special Note to Doug from Kristy:  Make it a Diet Coke and you've got
a
deal! ;^)
*****Special Note to Everyone Else from Kristy:  Doug's point holds true in
other states besides Minnesota.  Find the professional organization in your
state, join, and go to the meetings!  Who knows?  Maybe a stranger will
come
up to you and offer you a Diet Coke  ;^)  If you don't get a Diet Coke out
of
it, at least you get a chance to network with your fellow professionals,
learn from their experiences, and get more information on new technologies.
 Myself, I'm looking forward to the Diet Coke.
------------------------------------------------
Scheduling is very important. Read all you can about flexible type
scheduling. I suggest you try a flexible type schedule. Let the teachers
come to you and sign up telling you what their purpose in coming is. You
library usage will be more meaningful that way.

lsyork@tenet.edu
------------------------------------------------
Congratulations on the new job!  With memories of my first year very fresh
in
my mind, I can probably suggest a few tips:

 #1 - Learning student names is very important to the students, yet very
difficult for the media specialist who only sees them for 30 minutes once a
week. (I'm assuming you're prep time.)  The names you'll learn most quickly
will be those of the troublemakers.  If you can make name memorization a
top
priority, the students will be impressed, and you can bet they'll be better
behaved.  What I'm going to try this year is cutting student photos out of
last year's memory book and mounting each to a 3x5 index card labeled with
the student's name, grade, teacher, and birthdate.  I'll leave room to add
information such as reading interests as I find those out.  I'll have the
cards handy during class so that I can refer to them when calling on
students
and I'll use them to draw from when awarding special privileges such as who
gets to be first to check out a new book.  I'm hoping this will help.  I
have
900 names to learn and I didn't make a lot of progress last year.

 #2 - If you are prep time, try to plan your first month of lessons well in
advance.  Have special materials pulled or prepared immediately.  You'll
want
to leave yourself lots of time to meet with teachers so you can plan more
meaningful, integrated lessons for the rest of the year.  I found I was
always racing to plan my weekly lessons and I seldom had time to meet with
teachers which just led to my having to invent more of my own lessons.
Kind
of a catch-22.  I'm glad I took good notes on what I did each week even
down
to what went well and what didn't. I'll have a better idea of what I'm
doing
this year and I will put an emphasis on designing integrated lessons.  I
know
I won't be able to integrate everything. I'll probably pick one or two
lessons or concepts per grade for this year and add to it each year after.
 This isn't as much of an issue if you have flexible scheduling.

 #3 - Also in regard to integrated lessons, ask teachers to map a rough
schedule of the school year for you (maybe they already do this for the
principal and you can get a copy).  What units and in what order for each
subject do they expect to cover over the nine months?  What library/media
skills would they like to see emphasized for these units at their specific
grade level?  I can share the calendar we use if you'd like.  I found this
a
very helpful reference for long-range planning.

 #4 - Plan special events for Children's Book Week, I Love to Read Month,
and
National Library Week well in advance.  These special events can require a
lot of advance planning, and they have a way of sneaking up on you once the
school year begins.  Sometimes I found it was too late to adequately
prepare
for an activity I had hoped to do.

 #5 - Subscribe to some good library/media journals.  When you're stuck for
an idea, they can suggest plenty.  Of course I'm finding LM_Net helpful
here,
too.

 #6 - Speaking of journals, photocopy the table of contents for
professional
journals as they come in.  Classroom teachers are very busy and often don't
get a chance to browse through the professional library.  This service will
alert them to some articles they'll want to make a point of reading, and
they'll be grateful to you for helping.

 #7 - Copyright is a confusing issue for many teachers.  Post a "copyright
tip of the week" in the lounge or workroom.  Keep it clear and simple.

 #8 - As you're meeting your assistant for the first time, ask him or
her what procedures used in the past have worked well and what needs
improvement.  Try to delineate what each of your duties will be.    Find
out
if you will be evaluating the job performance of this person.  If so, get a
copy of the job description and go over it together.

 #9 - Survey your faculty early in the school year for their impressions of
how the media program has worked in the past and what improvements they'd
like to see.  They will be impressed that you care about their opinions.
 Keep up good communications with these people.  Impress upon them the
importance of the skills you teach.

 #10 - Find out what kind of discounts you can receive from your library
cooperative (like CMLE here) on book and supply orders.  I didn't find out
about these discounts until February and was paying full price until then.

 #11 - Keep in touch with your pals from State.  We're all going through a
lot of the same experiences.  We have much to learn from each other - tips
that are more practical than anything we learned in our coursework!

Nancy Evans
Albany Area Schools #745
Albany, MN 56307
revans@tigger.stcloud.msus.edu
------------------------------------------------

Whew!  Thanks for all the great tips!  I know they'll come in handy!  If I
get any more responses, I will post a second HIT list.  If you didn't get a
chance to respond to the first TARGET or if you just remembered something,
feel free to drop me a note.

Kristy Olson
(Can't-Wait-To-Be-The) Media Specialist
Rosemount Middle School
Rosemount, MN 55068
ksolson@aol.com