Two issues: unruly classes and principal misunderstands library duties.
How big are these unruly classes? I am very strict with voices and behavior from
day one with elementary so that they know if they misbehave they have to take a
timeout or go to our behavior coordinator in building. If students do not behave,
they have specific consequences that need to be clear and consistent. I manage five
15-24 student classes from grades 1-5 every day by segmenting the 45 minute period
into 15 minutes of lesson (or coloring or whatever), 15 minutes of me reading to
them, and 15 minutes to get a book, check it out, then sit and read it.
It seems to me that it is your responsibility to educate this principal as to what
it takes to operate the library. I think she left the barn door open to the perfect
method:
quote--
She wrote "If you need further support in designing lessons
that enable you to manage both students and check out procedures, I
expect you to ask for help. Both Jon (Assist Prin) and I are
available for support. .....In the future , if students are not
allowed to borrow books during a regularly scheduled library time, I
may be forced to take disciplinary action."
--end quote
She seems to think that lessons will somehow manage the students, and that is not
at all the case. Students are managed by adults. I don't blame the principal for
wanting students to take books out; this is the primary thing that libraries are
perceived to do at the elementary level. The issue here goes back to the first
point about behavior: what discipline is in place for students who do not behave in
the stacks? I know you can't watch them all, but in my expereince they watch each
other when high expectations are in place. Do you have the support of admin to
raise expectations and enforce them?
Just my .02
Brent Bradley
Library Media Specialist
Valley View Community School
Henry Wilson Memorial School
Farmington, NH
bsb_lib@yahoo.com
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