Thanks to all for such quick and informative responses!! I did not
include names of respondees here for brevity's sake. I am not including
here response info on curriculum and lesson plans- perhaps a separate hit?
Fred Jahns, Librarian
Vine Middle
Knoxville, TN
jahnsf@k12tn.net
First, a very appropriate response (so kindly worded:^)
- it might be a good idea to check out the archives
<http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/>. I know we've disscussed Teen
advisory groups (TAG), parent volunteers, displays, reading constest,
getting the word out, promotion, faculty interaction and collaboration,
etc over the last couple of years.
Here are my questions and responses:
1) I would like to find out about any types of programming that you have
been successful with for middle-schoolers (6-8). My goal is to increase
the use of the library by students and teachers, and get students reading
more. My ideas include having a book club and tying in with a potential
student video newscast on the school network.
-I've found that programs aren't nearly as necessary as personality. If
you genuinely like to be around middle school kids they will respond to
that better than anything else you can do. Support their interests and
you'll have all the kids you can handle.
-We did a lot of PR through our web site and school newsletters.
Parents came to the media center during orientation, parent/teacher
conferences and the book fair. We had a book preview week last fall that
was very successful. Kids got very excited about the new books. For two
years two teacher sad I coordinated a family reading night. The thing
that really drew a lot of teachers and kids (500 per day)
Into our media center was technology. I worked with teachers in all
subject areas to help integrate technology into the curriculum. I
especially worked with science and social studies, but also with allied
arts and lots of groups such as ESL and special ed. I think I could go on
and on and on because it was so much fun. If you go to my web site listed
below http://homepage.mac.com/maryalicea/Sites/Anderson/Anderson.html
and select the writing link on the right you will some some articles that
describe some of our program activity.
- The best way to increase the use of the library is to advertise what
sort of things you do! I know that I've done lunch bunch clubs (bring a
sack lunch to the library and I read aloud a chapter of a book once a
week). This has worked well, especially with the sixth graders. I try to
offer a wide variety of genres in this, so everyone's interests are met.
You can do such programs as Author of the Month, contests, etc. As I said
before, advertise! I also write mini-reviews of all the
books I read during the year and post them on one of the bulletin boards
here. It really will get kids talking to you about the books, which is
always a great way to get students reading more.
2) I would like ideas for collaborating with teachers at the middle school
level, particularly those other than Language Arts. What types of
activities or support have been successful in bringing classes to the
library?
-… support THEIR interests and you will have the classes. Talk to
those teachers closest to you first, and make sure they know what you
can do for them.
-… at the first faculty meeting of the year I introduced myself and let
all the teachers know that the library was available to them WHENEVER they
needed it. Over the years I've gotten the reputation of the guy to go to
for anything (not just information). As a result, I rarely have a day
without a scheduled class or two, and lots of drop-ins.
- I would highly recommend the Big 6 Research Method (www.big6.com). One
of the things I do is send out a monthly newsletter to the teachers (via
email). In it, I'll mention new titles, web sites of interest, book
reviews, and also mention topics that I'm willing to teach that month.
(For example, in the first newsletter, I would include Web Page Evaluation
as one of the topics I teach.) I don't limit myself to that, but it's a
great way to bring a teacher into the library that hasn't come before.
- I do an initial orientation with LA classes where I cover only the
fiction section--because that is what the LA teachers mostly want them to
check out--and how to check out, but then a couple weeks later I do a
"part 2" orientation to the Dewey section with the 6th grade math
classes--we have a fun locating activity using their birthdates and
addresses--and a Dewey review with the 7th grade math classes--kind of a
scavenger hunt where they solve 3 decimal-based problems. The math
teachers love having decimals reviewed as they are not part of the
curriculum but kids need the refresher, and they also like the
opportunity to bring kids to the library, which they rarely have in math.
It also reinforces me with the kids in other settings than LA.
Then I do a 3rd orientation for online resources a few weeks after
that with either Social Studies or Science classes. I introduce our
BroncoNET (main library) homepage and a couple databases to 6th graders
(typically encyclopedia & a geography/map one we get), and I review and go
into depth with a couple more for 7th grade (mag/news & biographies),
depending on what correlates to the particular curriculum or teacher
activity. I usually do this in a computer spine connected to the
particular classroom so each student can be at a computer, but I have done
it in the library with kids partnering on the 18 computers I have in
there. I also do a colony research intro with print & online resources
with 8th grade U.S. History about this time.
With the 3 orientations, I cover almost all library materials and
have interacted with all core subjects scattered through the 3 grades
during the 1st 9 weeks of school. This plan has been very popular at my
school because it keeps each visit short and covering just a bit of
material at a time for kids to remember.
Of course it really keeps me hopping, cycling through all this!!
- ONLINE COURSE - School Library and Classroom Collaborations
Next sessions:
EDUC 796 640F October 17 - November 30, 2005
EDUC 796 740F January 17 - February 28, 2005
http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/collaborate/
This course is for the Library Media Specialist who is trying to
strengthen or initiate collaboration activities between the Media Center
and the classroom. The course will examine ways to make collaboration a
success whether in a fixed or flexible schedule environment and explore
ways to work effectively with administrators to create more adaptive
schedules. Finally, course activities will demonstrate the use of
collaboration tools to fit every school environment from early primary to
high school. Participant Outcomes:
http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/collaborate/#objectives
RESOURCES:
Ohio Study: The largest study of student use of school libraries (13,000
students participating). 99.4% of respondents indicated that
library and librarians helped students with their learning.
http://www.oelma.org/StudentLearning/documents/OELMAResearchStudy2page.pdf
Strong Libraries Improve Student Achievement: This article could help
influence your administrator to modify your schedule to allow more time
for collaboration.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin178.shtml
Classroom and Library Collaboration: A self-test based on Loertscher's
Taxonomy of School Library Collaboration to find out where you are and
where you might want to go in your collaborative efforts with teachers.
Click on collaboration on the bottom right side.
http://www.forks.wednet.edu/high/Library/fhslibhome.htm
Strategies for Developing Teacher Contacts or How to Pester Your Teachers:
Deb Logan provides advice on how to get teachers involved in
library collaboration. http://www.deblogan.com/pester.html
3) What methods of P.R. have worked well for you to let parents know about
library activities and to solicit their support and/or volunteering.
- I do a 10-15 minute presentation at our first PTA meeting, showing
parents the BroncoNET (library) homepage which has all online library
resources listed, links to teacher webpages, and the school calendar of
activities & events. I have had a couple parents come to me after the
meeting to volunteer and that is about all I really need. More
importantly, I get numerous emails through the year from parents
about various things on the BroncoNET page--I think it's actually more
popular than our school homepage!!
I also contribute to our 2 PTA newsletters that are mailed to
homes, usually about library services for the fall one and about
the Book Fair in February for the winter one.
- Make a brochure / bookmark or something to send out to parents with
report cards - it can be about databases, library programs, etc. Use
brightly colored paper if they cannot be done in color to catch
attention of the readers. Our school puts the daily bulletin (class
meetings, ball game travel schedules & announcements) on the
webpage - put library notices there.
Have a link on your library webpage for parents about volunteering or
programs they might be interested in.
Contact radio & TV stations for free PSA's to promote programs. (OK,
I'm from a really small town and this works well for the local TV ad
channel & with the radio station.)
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