LM_NET: Library Media Networking
Several people have brought to my attention that there were no attachments
with my HIT on flexible schedules. Since I am on LM_NET Digest, I did not
see the message. I apologize for cluttering your mailboxes.
If someone can give me directions for sharing the information, other than by
the cut-and-paste method, I would appreciate learning how! Meanwhile, below
my signature are the replies that I received last month. I
do not know how to send the sample schedules since they were in MS Excel.
Again, if someone can guide me, I will try to send them.
NOTE: The message limit is 600 lines, I just now learned when the server
rejected the text message! I am posting the replies in several messages.
Thank you for your patience! Obviously, I have much to learn about posting a
HIT.
Jeanne Wingate, Library Media Specialist
North Euless Elementary School
Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD (Texas)
E-Mail Contacts:
Home: wingatej@flash.net
Work: wingatej@hebisd.edu
===COPIED FROM A TEXT VERSION OF MS WORD DOCUMENT===
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 09:19:20 -0500
From: Betty Richie <betrich@swbell.net>
To: JEANNE A WINGATE <wingatej@FLASH.NET>
Jeanne,
At our elementary school each class has a weekly assigned checkout time.
Younger students are read to until they are ready to check out books. The
rest of the day is scheduled as open-checkout so any students may come and
get books at any time. Since students go to PE, lunch, etc. at different
times, all grades are usually not in the library at the same time. Classes
may also sign up to do computer and reference section research during
open-checkout.
Betty Richie
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: flexible sch
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 15:35:24 -0500
From: "Dunlap, Kim (Library)" <KDunlap@Slidellisd.net>
To: "'wingatej@flash.net'" <wingatej@flash.net>
Jeanne,
I am currently reading a book called In The Middle by Nancy Atwell and I
read last night that test scores go up when kids are allowed free choice and
unrestricted access. I have had it for three years now and Love It! It is
hard work, but to see the kids get to come when ever is a real joy! I feel
like I'm doing what I'm supposed to. Our K and 1st still come once a week
because of the age and curriculum demands but those teachers also send kids
when they know they need to come.
Kim Dunlap, Slidell ISD Librarian
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Flexible scheduling
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 15:08:04 -0500
From: Charlyn Trussell <charlynt@earthlink.net>
To: wingatej@flash.net
Hi, Jeanne! I'm a Texas librarian from down in the Rio Grande Valley. A
friend forwarded your request to me, so I guess she believes I can be
helpful. Your situation would have been helped had our state library
standards had any teeth to them, but I hope you have showed them to your
administrator so that s/he can see your request is based upon state
standards.
I began the move towards flexible scheduling about 5 years ago. I must tell
you that my campus has about 650 students, that I have a full-time aide, and
that we use Accelerated Reader in the classrooms. The first year I had
fixed scheduling, but, because AR was important to classroom teachers,
students also came to the library whenever they wanted. By the end of the
year, teachers had realized that students didn't need a fixed period to come
to the library to check out books, so I was able to move into flexible
scheduling the next year.
The following year, grades 2-6 moved to flexible scheduling; I still carried
PreK-1 on fixed scheduling. The next year I moved first grade off fixed
schedule and I'm still at that point. However, all kinder and preK teachers
know that they are bounced off the schedule anytime I will be serving
classes during their time and we've had no problems with it. In addition, my
preK teachers don't allow the students to check out books, so their story
time with me and the books that their teachers check out are their only
access to the library.
The population I serve is over 95% Hispanic and our entire school qualified
for free lunch status. When I began to move towards flexible scheduling and
more reading time for the children, my principal constantly questioned the
wisdom of doing so. I was sure that if children read more, we would be able
to see it on Texas' measuring stick for education, TAAS. And, happily,
that's what happened. We have been an Exemplary school for the past two
years, preceded by two years of Recognized status. In addition, because we
have to keep careful circulation records district-wide, I was able to show
that my circulation has increased every year. (Now, this is due to AR, I'm
sure, but without flexible scheduling and access, the students never would
have been able to checkout and read so many books.)
Coordination with teachers is done in several ways. Because of the laws
requiring coordination between special education teachers and classroom
teachers, we have a "Coordination" meeting once every six weeks, so I meet
with teachers at the same time the special education and "gifted" teachers
do. This gives me a look at units so I can share ideas with teachers for
upcoming projects. Then I meet with teachers one-on-one for actual
planning. I have tried using forms to do this, but I find every teacher has
a different idea about how things should be done. So I most often talk to
the teacher for input and organization, then write up a plan and submit that
to the teacher for approval. Sometimes, it's not even that formal because
the teacher may not want an entire unit or lesson completed. Sometimes I'm
just given the EE from TEKS and asked to design a lesson. Sometimes I'm
just asked to read a story to accompany a classroom unit.
I hope that you have specific questions that I can answer that will help you
more than this rather vague discussion. I think that administrators believe
that if we don't have a fixed schedule, we're not doing anything. That is
where circulation figures help, so I hope you have some that you can use for
comparison.
Another form of support that I encourage librarians to use are the TEKS for
science and social studies. The writers of the social studies TEKS were
fortunate to have a librarian on the committee and within those TEKS are all
kinds of opportunities for library use. However, these need to be imbedded
into units, not done in library periods, and to do that, one must have
flexible scheduling. Librarians in my district have begun to write units
for science and social studies using the Big 6 model and employing
technology and other library skills. If one of these would be helpful, I
would be happy to email it to you.
Please feel free to contact me if you have questions.
Charlyn Trussell
Bryan Elementary School
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=
All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law.
To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST, etc.) send email to:
listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER:
1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST
4) SET LM_NET MAIL * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv.
For LM_NET Help see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
Archives: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.shtml
See also EL-Announce for announcements from library media vendors:
http://www.mindspring.com/~el-announce/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=
LM_NET
Mailing List Home