Thanks so much to those who responded to my question about juggling 3 elementary
schools...There were requests for a hit so here it is:
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Thank you to all of you who responded to my message about going from
one
> to two elementary campuses- I now realize just how good we had it in
our
> district until this downsizing hit. Instead of copying everyone's
> responses, I have summarized below. If you care to have the
responses,
> e-mail me.
> There were 18 responses. My husband mentioned how incredible you all
> were in your reponse (he's an abd in info. science) and I agree
> librarians are a rare breed!
> States - IA, AZ, OH, CT, MI, NY, WA, 2 from PA, NJ, and MO.
> Schedules used- Flexible-2, one of them taught 3 libraries!
> MTu, ThF, Alt. Wed- 2
> 3 warned me not to split the day
> MWF, TTh- 3
> 6 day cycle-2
> one week on, one week off-1 (This is what I
> thought would work best
> for me, but then I put myself in a teacher's
> shoes and thought MWF,TTh would be better- for the mail issue,
too!)
> Aides or help of some kind- 4
> MT1/2 Wed, then 1/2Wed, Th,F at next school-1
> WThFMT rotation-1 This one is interesting!
>
> For you music lovers who need stress- reducing music, try Bocelli's
> SOGNO- WOW!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are some suggestions I've received:
>
> I work in 2 elementary schools (one 700 students, one
> 550 students). I work in one all day Monday & Tuesday
> then Wednesday morning; the other Wednesday afternoon,
> all day Thursday & Friday. I do have full time ibrary
>
> aides in each building, and part-time technology
> assistants. I teach 3rd & 4th grade research/library
> skills; 1st & 2nd are scheduled in for a story & book
> check-out with the aide on the days I'm not there. We
> also rely on parent volunteers to either shelve books
> or read stories. I am responsible for the technology
> in the buildings (we're not fully networked), but the
> tech aides handle the routine. I handle the library
> media budgets (AV, books, non-print, library supplies
> and technology supplies). I'm just beginning my 2nd
> year here, and I have to really focus on each school
> when I'm there, and ignore them when I'm not there. I
> consider myself very flexible and accommodating, BUT I
> have had to tell each principal on occasion that
> something would have to wait until I was in their
> building. Fortunately, they are very supportive and
> have been pushing for full time status in each
> building.
>
> I have four buildings (entire district) K-12. The
> administrators made my schedule. I spend 3 half days
> at 1 elementary, 2 half days at another elementary, 3
> half days at the middle school, and 1 full day at the
> high school. I have aides at the middle and high
> school, but none at the elementaries.
>
> I serve 5 campuses in a rural district. The most
> southern and northern are 26 miles apart. I have a
> "home school" in the middle, and the largest
> (162 students) where I also teach keyboarding to 4-6 2
> afternoons a week. Due to the arrangement, I'm on a
> fixed schedule with 1 afternoon a week that is "open".
> Two days are spent at the two largest schools and the
> others are served on 1/2 day schedules. We are in the
> process of trying to pass a
> bond issue that would build an elementary school on
> the site of the Jr/Sr. high in the country.
> (consolidated) Meanwhile, I'm a "Road Warrior" with
> all the other specialists while driving my
> "bookmobile"!
>
> I was divided between 2 schools last year - my first
> year working in an elementary school and as a
> librarian - talk about baptism under fire!!
> I went to one school Mon-Tues and the other Thurs-Fri
> and alternated Wed between the two. One school wasn't
> too bad - it was small (under 200) and they had always
> had a part-time librarian so their expectations were
> realistic. The other school had previously had a
> full-time librarian - and sometimes it seemed as if
> they expected me to do everything my predecessor did
> in 1/2 the time. Mostly I coped with the extra admin
> duties by working late. Both places I was on a very
> rigid fixed schedule with very little "free" time,
> much of which was 20 minutes here and there (which I
> found very difficult).
>
> Yes, I work at two schools about 20 minutes from each
> other. I visit one on T/TH and one on W/FR and
> Mondays are as needed. There is a full time aide
> in each building so the library is open when I am not
> there. I do storytimes for K - 2 and my aide does
> some of the KDG. and Preschool when I am not in the
> building. I do skills for 3 - 5 in blocks 6 to 8
> lessons. I never am assigned duties as I travel and I
> am not covering anyone's planning time.
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The students may feel that the assistant is the librarian because you are part
time in each school.
You will not be working with teachers and students when attending to other
duties. Hopefully, people will understand that your job is valuable.
I hope you can make your own schedule. That way you can be at one school for two
or three days if there is a research project going on with a class and yourself.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I will have 3 schools this year too- 2 elementary and the 6th grade
campus. I had 2 elementary schools for 2 years. My advice is not to try
and do it all. Eat lunch with the teachers when you can. It helps people
get to know you and allows you to talk about what you can do for them
in a low key way. The hardest part for me is not being at a school
everyday and being able to develop a relationship with teachers. Get in with
a few teachers and do what you can with them. Hopefully you won't have
an aide that tries to undermine you. One of my aides really resents me
and makes things difficult sometimes. BE clear and upfront with the
aides and principals about procedures and expectations. Good luck!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Diane- in my district, we all had multiple buildings until I moved
to our High School. It is hard to do, but we are so lucky in this
district because the cataloging and processing is done at our Central
office,as is our bookkeeping . That frees up the elementary librarians to
travel. In the elementary schools we have NO assistants, either. We are
also on fixed schedules,while the teachers are on their breaks and we
must do "extra duties" at every school. That is why I moved up to the
High School, but my day is still much longer then the other
teachers,because the Library is open 7-4 each day. Good Luck- it is challenging to
move around, but you meet so many students-I already knew HALF the
school when I moved here and it is such a blast to see how they have
changed. One time saver is to NEVER,NEVER see salespeople, never let them call
you and NEVER take previews or pull- outs, since you are moving
around. I also tried to be accomodating about things like field trips or
shool field days- try to switch your schedule around,if at all possible.
But there are always those who will want something- be careful about
that. in this district, at that time we had several half days of school,
always on Friday- the teachers want a whole day of service in half a
day- that was the hardest nut to crack- we were never happy on those days.
you have my best wishes-
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I too have three elem. buildings. I have an aide in each that takes
care of
the classes when I'm in the other buildings. Not an ideal situation,
but
one that I have gotten used to. I spent one week in each building, so I
see
every student once every three weeks. I do not see grade 5 and 6th for
the
entire year, only a semester each bc of scheduling. I would be happy to
help
you in what ever way I can. Keep in touch.
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I am an elementary librarian for 5 schools in Springfield, IL. There are 3
other elementary librarians in our district with the same amount of schools. We do
not have any aides/assistants. If we are lucky, we have some parent or senior
citizen volunteers at some of our schools. We are not required to teach lessons,
but I do like to teach mini lessons to the kids about how to use the library, i.e.
Dewey Decimal, fiction/nonfiction, book care, parts of the book, etc. I read to all
of the classes that I see or do book talks with the older kids sometimes. Then we
have check out time. There are lots of great library lesson plans on the web if you
get into the library curriculum on their district website. What state are you in?
It might be easier to find some from your state already because they usually tell
which state standards the lessons correlate with. Good luck with your new position.
I LOVE my job especially since I used to teach Grades 1 - 4.
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Hi Diane - I did that for seven years, and finally this past year got
to
stay at one school. Hooray! It's not fun. I found I spent a lot of my
time doing administrative things as I also had an assistant at each
school
and they did the checkouts etc. I had no duties at all. When I started
I
didn't commit to a specific schedule - I'd go where ever, whenever.
That
was great for me (if I felt stressed at one school, I could just go to
another). Since I am now at one school, my predecessor at the other two
schools has had to fix his schedule - he just rotates weeks. My theory
was
I wanted to be where I was needed, when I was needed. If a class(es)
were
doing a research project, I wanted to be there helping. Many teacher
appreciated this, and I had repeat customers year after year for
certain
projects. I also felt like I wasn't doing anything anywhere being
spread
out like that. When I asked for a letter of recommendation for a new
job,
the principal at one of the schools went to bat for me with the school
board, and they miraculously found enough $ to hire an additional
person.
Like any job, if you find one or two people at each school to work
intensively with, then the word spreads and you will have plenty of
collaborations.
If you have more specific questions, please ask... I don't really know
where to start!!
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I covered 2 schools.
I am just this year over one.
It was a nightmare at times.
Sometimes it was ok.
Just focus on one and try not to stress yourself out.
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Thanks Again!
Diane Briggs
SLMS
Troy City Schools, NY
dianebriggs@librarygames.net
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