[LM_NET] HIT: lib curriculum & discipline

[Melissa Byrd <mbyrd3@GMAIL.COM>]

Hello,
A few weeks ago, I posted a request asking about lib curriculum and
discipline as I will be an elementary librarian for the 1st time this year
after working in an academic library for 3 years.  Thanks to everyone for
the great advice and materials.  I didn't post all of the specific
activities/book lists since the message was far too large for the
listserv.  I have a lot of materials to look over
before school starts.  Sorry for the delay in posting the "HIT" as I have
been on vacation.  Thanks again to everyone who responded.  Responses are
below.
Melissa Byrd
Soon-to-be Elementary Librarian, Jacksboro Elementary
Jacksboro, TN
mbyrd3@gmail.com


I would think that your library curriculum would be your state course of
study.
I would suggest that you stress INFORMATION LITERACY skills and not library
skills per se.  Take a look at Information Power (ALA). Know your state
course
of study. Teaching information literacy skills in connection with the state
curriculum will cover those "skills" that everybody discusses.  Collaborate
with teachers to find out when they are teaching what topics in their
classes
and plan lessons with the teacher to extend knowledge that will teach
students
to use OPAC, reference books, magazines, maps, location of books by call
number and other literacy skills in context.  You can also integrate
technology research with your lessons. As for discipline, be firm, but kind.
Enlist aid of classroom teacher as you work with students in LMC.  I hope
you
have a flexible/open schedule.  This will provide you time to instruct group
of students and give teacher time for extra time with smaller group in
classroom. You can plan lessons that include teacher coming to LMC to work
with whole class and you. COLLABORATE! I hope this helps.



*Congratulations on getting an elementary position. I'm sure you will be
rewarded, surprised, pleased and disappointed daily!  For the opening day
activities, lessons, rules, etc. I would search first in the archives. There
is a wealth of material and ideas in there that have been posted over the
years. You will be overwhelmed.  *

*As for a curriculum, the place where I would start is with your state
standards. I would look at every grade level and see what standards are in
English/Language arts, Reading, Social studies, math and science, pull them
out and figure out ways to develop your year's plan around that. Here's an
example from what I do for Kinders with the CA standards: (mind you, I'm at
home so this is off the top of my head)*

*English/Language Arts, and Reading: Who is an author and illustrator and
what do they do? Publisher? Copyright date? Dedication page, cover, spine,
back, call number or address on the book. Books arranged in ABC order by
author's last name, pages are read left to right, shelves are read left to
right, etc. *

*Math: sorting and grouping concepts so I do fiction vs. non-fiction how do
they know which one is which, and then have the kids group themselves by
whether or not they have a F or NF book. (Dewey decimal stuff/order can be
added later for older grades) *

*Social Studies: getting along, book care, sharing, taking care of the
shelves and the library, responsible library behavior, different jobs in the
school, directions such as N, S, E and W…sitting and being able to listen to
a story*

*I'm sure you get the idea. Some of these concepts take all year, but the
routine and practice is good and creates a sense of security especially for
the younger ones.  *



You are going into an interesting situation, to be sure.  I bet they will
love you for all that you are going to do as the media specialist.

I was a little concerned that you wrote that you wanted to teach and not
just read to the kids and that you wanted to teach basic computer skills.
 If you do, then that role makes you a computer lab instructor and not a
media specialist.  I'd be careful about that.  And reading to kids, as part
of a standards based (look at your state standards closely every week when
planning lessons) lesson plan, is the best thing a media specialist can do,
I think.  Remember, reading aloud to kids, along with terrific activities to
build comprehension and vocabulary, is one of the best ways kids become able
and avid readers.  Your role here is so important in the life of kids.  And
this is coming from someone who is the webmaster for her school, still
fluent in HTML, using blogs for instruction, uses a SMARTboard for more than
just a convienent projection screen, etc. etc., and is about to set up my
first wiki.

As for discipline, if your lessons are strong and your procedures for
checking out/moving in the library are established and known, you won't have
problems.  Teach these procedures as your first lesson and reinforce each
week until the kids know them.  I have a fun PowerPoint to teach these basic
steps and the kids love it.

I have posted my lesson plans for next year on my new media center homepage.
 Go here, http://www.avon.k12.in.us/Hickory/welcome.htm, click on media
center, media center home, 2006-2007 Library Calendar.  I have worked on
this for about 4 months.  I am now filling in some titles, for example,
under economics read alouds, and tying all the read alouds to the
Indianastate standard they support.  I have a lesson for every book,
focusing on 1.
 Before/During/After reading questions (higher order) and 2. vocabulary.  I
have a subscription to Linda's Links to Literature.  It is worth the $25.00
subscription fee.  You can go to my Personal Virtual Library to see the
sites I can't live without:  http://www.avon.k12.in.us/Hickory/PVL.htm.
 You'll see Linda's Links under lesson plans.



Discipline is tough.  I am not a break and teachers come to the library with
their students.  Many teachers are actively involved, others use the time to
grade papers, use the computer, etc.  I am fixed K-3 and flex 4-6 which
works pretty well.  I use 3 rules:  respect yourself, respect others and
respect property.



Last fall I attended an inservice on discipline in the library.  From that I
made a "puzzle" with 4 pieces titled Expectations.  The pieces say PLEASE
respect:  property, yourself, others; PLEASE stay on task; PLEASE follow
directions and PLEASE ignore other's poor choices.  When I introduced it, I
followed the concept of pieces of apuzzle being put together to make a whole
which is a good classroom atmosphere.



Another practice I followed from this workshop was a reward system.   I have
a small (Dollar store) cup with a lid for each of the 1-3 classes.  Students
earn marbles in their cup for coming in quietly, sitting down in a
quiet/orderly fashion, and can earn others during the lesson for raising
hands, etc.  When I can't put the lid on any more, each child picks from a
prize box.  These are dollar store items also and vary - sidewalk chalk,
pencils, erasers, markers and so on.  I look for things at WalMart, KMart,
dollar stores that come in multi-packs and end up being 10-25 cents each.
It can take a while to fill the container so I'm not giving things out on a
weekly basis.




Congratulations on your new position.  You'll have plenty of chance
for all your creativity to shine!

My change from a public library to an elementary library was a big
one, but I believe yours from an academic library to an elementary
library is even bigger.  I was at the elementary library for 12 years
and then moved on to the high school library, where I had some of the
same kids again.

About elementary discipline:

It took me awhile to realize that assigned seats make elementary
children much more comfortable.  Although they grouse some, they are
vastly relieved to know that if they aren't sitting with best friends
it is fate and not a broken friendship.  Letting them choose their
own tablemates purposefully was a total and complete disaster,
causing great pain to all concerned.  On the other hand, letting them
sign in at the first table on the first day worked out ok--lots of
time wasted (and some miserable children) on day 1, but resignation
after that.  You and I know that best friends will change 20 times
before the end of the year--but the children don't know it.

Opening the window and bringing in fresh air made everyone--all
ages--behave better.  I think it would work for h.s. students, too;
but I have no window.

One word I taught was "unobtrusive."  I allowed children to come in,
two at a time, from their classes (with teacher permission) and
borrow books "on their own."  To do so, they had to be
unobtrusive.  I taught them that if they looked at the kids in the
library classes, everyone would say "hi" and I would have to send the
kids with the passes back to their class.  If they looked at the
floor, they would be invisible.  No one would say hi.  I gave this to
them for "homework," to practice in the lunch line.  It really works!

The worst class I ever had, where the children were cruel to each
other, would sit in utter silence and peace to listen to a story.  I
didn't discover this until Hallowe'en, when I told them an Edgar
Allan Poe Story.  They graduated from high school a week ago, leaving
behind them a trail of teachers who had suddenly retired or sought
employment elsewhere; but they were still (relatively) human in the library.

My punishment, which really worked:  Tell a child he has to sit at
his table for the remainder of library class.  No walking around.  I
would bring the books specified.  Friends were allowed to come and
sit there, too, and talk quietly.  But the offender had to stay
there.  I am a firm believer that small punishments, like this, are
more powerful than big ones.

A little flexibility is required.  I remember stressing with one
second-grade class that there was to be no more tattling.  One girl
came up to me and whined that Harley was under the bus.  Just about
to loose the thunder on her head, I looked out the window.  He
was!  I called a word to my aide and ran outside to tell that driver
not to move a muscle and then coaxed Harley out.  He hadn't wanted to
attend afternoon Kindergarten, but hadn't yet figured out the basics
of skipping school...

I also had a sort of reward for responsible children:  There were old
filmstrip machines and old filmstrips.  The children loved to operate
the machines.  Since the filmstrips were no longer used for teaching,
I could let the children have the use of any filmstrips they
chose.  They saw this as a real privilege.  I didn't realize how
strongly they valued the filmstrips until I heard a student who had
moved a dozen times in his short life describing the most perfect
library of his childhood and realized it was mine!  I wonder whether
there's anything you could use in that way.

I found it was a good idea to encourage children to help, as much as
they were willing to.  Some would trim soup labels (which could be
exchanged for various school desiderata), some stamped date due
cards, some created displays on assigned topics, etc.  Kids who are
helping aren't getting into mischief...

As for the curriculum, you probably have a State guide.  My best
perception was to work closely with the teachers at each grade
level.  I invited each grade level to breakfast in the library my
first year, and asked them how we could work together.  I remember
the First Grade teachers said, "You can't do anything for us, our
children can't read."  But, over time, we developed some very good
collaborations.  My favorite one, the last year, involved the kids'
annual visit to the zoo.  I got a list of animals in our local zoo
and then used inter-library loan to secure a lot of easy books on
those specific animals.  The first-grade teachers had them brainstorm
questions to apply to all the animals (What do they eat?  Do they
have hair?  How are they born?) and then assigned kids to a committee
for each animal (making sure each group had an equal number of
stronger readers).  The kids wrote books, with one page to a
question.  They read their work to the class, holding up the book
where they had found the information (a first-grade bow to Works
Cited).  After the zoo visit, they each wrote a page or more to tell
additional info they had learned by seeing the animal for
themselves.  Then we bound the books, and they were wonderful.

Have fun!  All levels have their high points (and their low points, of
course).




 Our district has a new set of tech/computer benchmarks, I'll try to find
them and send them to you.... for Library rules, I searched the LMNET
archives and came up with mine:



Repectful

 - other people
 - library materials
 - rights of others to use the library

Ready

 - to listen
 - to read
 - to learn

Responsible

 - sign out procedures
 - return materials on time



If your school has a school wide discipline plan I
would follow that.  If not, you could use a traffic
light type thing for discipline.  Everyone begins on
green, if they are warned once they move to yellow for
caution, and if they misbehave again they are on red
for stop.  The third infraction could result in a note
to the teacher about the behavior.  You could utilize
colored stickers and put a yellow or red sticker on a
child that misbehaves to show they are on shaky
ground.  Discipline is a matter of personal choice
unless you have a school wide plan.  What type of
behavior would YOU accept in the media center?  What
behaviors are unacceptable to YOU?  We here in Georgia
are reorganizing our library curriculum, but if you
would like to see our old one you can access it by
going to
http://www.clayton.k12.ga.us/departments/instruction/mediaservices/mediacurriculum.pdf
I would collaborate with teachers and offer library
media lessons integrated into classroom curricula.  I
am planning on meeting with grade levels 15-20 minutes
once a month as well as during pre planning for this
very reason.




NC has a very good curriculum for information skills.  Here's the link.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/information/scos/



When I was teaching at the elementary level, I found that 4th grade was
ideal for teaching the Dewey Decimal system.




Congrats on your new position !!!  A word of advice though, your first year
you should really take stock of the situation and don't overly committ to
too many things that may seem initially feasible at first.  For example,
when you state that you'd like to teach computer skills as there's a
computer lab in another part of your school and no computer teacher, your
first priority (in my opinion) should be to the library and it's curriculum,
status, etc.  With 750 students coming in on a fixed schedule, you may not
even get 1 prep a day.  Ideally your school would fill the computer teacher
position, and then the 2 of you could collaborate with your teachers.  This
is what we do in my 6-8 school and we have 150 students LESS than you do.  I
cannot imagine trying to handle both programs and being able to do them well
- I think you would be spreading yourself too thin and setting a precident
you may later regret.  Is there room in your library for a bank of computers
?  When I started at my school we had 6 basically non-working machines, but
thanks to the support and encouragement of my principal, we now have a
mini-lab with 15 brand new Dells and a networked color printer.  This is how
I get to offer the best of both worlds to our students when they come to our
library.

If you would like a copy of our library curriculum for my district, drop me
a note at dlungaro@swregional.org and I'll e-mail it to you.  You may find
it helpful for your new job.



Again, congrats and good luck.  Just remember - Rome wasn't built in a day



Melissa-

Here's a k-12 curriculum outline developed by local SLMS in cooperation with
our BOCES system. I am starting my first year at a k-5 elementary and plan
to use this as a gneral guideline. Hope it's helpful! Good luck!

http://www.wswheboces.org/sls/curriculum.htm




Our state association NJASL, has a curriculum online. It is at:
http://www.njasl.org/Publications.htm

Click on:

School Library Media Program: Catalyst for Efficient Implementation of Core
Curriculum Content Standards, K - 12 .
NJASL School Library Media Program, revised 2005

You might also check the LM_NET archives for "library rules". They are
usually discussed in the beginning of the school year.




Melissa,

Here's a copy of our curriculum plan, with brief descriptions of the
different types of things we do.  If you are interested in any of the
specific lessons, or would like to see some of the activity sheets, write me
directly and let me know what you're interested in.  Hope these are helpful,



Dear Melissa,

Here is a link to my website.

If you click on Grade 3, Grade 4 and Grade 5 you will see an outline of what
I do with those grades.

My rules are also listed.

Let me know if you want me to send you some of my most popular lessons and I
can do that the next time I am in my library in early July.

Good luck. I am sure that you will be just great in your new setting.

http://www.teacherweb.com/nj/Branchburg/OYlibrary/




The best advice for discipline is to avoid it as much as possible.


What I mean is this: Most kids want to be good (til the hormones hit,
anyway!) and just going over the rules (keep them very simple and broad: "Be
respectful of people, books and other materials, and library furnishings"
covers just about everything, right? and besides, the regular school rules
still apply in the library - no gum, etc.), policies and procedures at the
beginning helps.

 Make the orientation fun (have some visuals) and explain (even have
students practice) how to do things:

 "Procedures" (How to use a shelfmarker, how to line up to check out books,
where to turn them in, etc.).

"Policies" are not "rules" per se - policies are the way things are done:
how many books can be checked out at once, how many times things can be
renewed, what happens when things are late, damaged, etc.

I do an orientation for each class at the beginning of the year, geared to
their level, and allow 30 minutes ("please hold all questions til the end"
because I will probably answer your question in just a few minutes) and then
10 minutes for a quick book selection. I stagger my orientations doing the
upper grades one week and the lower grades the next week, otherwise my voice
would give out. I also remind kids that an "emergency" is an okay
interruption - if they need a tissue or if their tummy is rumbling (when flu
season hits) to say so. Otherwise you will get a stream of interrupting
questions. I also require that their homeroom teacher attend and I state
that your teacher is listening so that s/he also hears everything I'm
sharing with you (so there are no comments later about "she didn't tell us
that. . . " and so the teachers are aware of any changes I've made).



I find running a "tight (but friendly) ship" at the beginning of the year
makes for far fewer problems throughout the year.


Also, try not to get stuck behind the circ desk - if you don't have a
clerk/aide, perhaps a teacher or parent volunteer might be able to assist.
This way you are "on the floor" when the kids are moving about and can
"hover" over any potential problems. Most teachers (when the are present)
are more behavior-attentive than I am - I try very hard NOT to "shhhh" -
sometimes I just ring a bell, sometimes I just hover near the offenders
being too noisy. I only expect real quietness when I'm reading aloud or
explaining or announcing to the group.



If I have some real behavior problem (that has already been reminded), I
simply and quietly (if possible) confiscate the student's library pass
(could be their library card - my passes are their "card" and also their
shelfmarker with their barcode at one end) and return it to the teacher with
a post-it describing the poor behavior. The student is immediately sent back
to the classroom, or if entire class is present, they must wait at the
doorway or just outside. Before the student returns, they must write me
a note of apology. A real note, with date, Dear Mrs.____, I am sorry
about____and it will not happen again. Sincerely, their name. I keep these
in a folder in my desk. Then if a parent ever (and they haven't in 18 years)
or the principal needs to know what happened, it's all there in the note,
with their signature. Usually I reserve this for hitting or disrespect to me
or another adult (or could be to another child). I make a point of saying
during orientation that shelfmarkers are not swords, and no hitting - not
even play-hitting (kicking, etc.) of any kind in allowed in the library -
and I enforce it promptly. I have very little problem with it.

Have FUN! If you have fun, the kids will too. Teachers tell me that their
kids say library is their favorite time of the week.

-- 
Melissa Byrd

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