Milestones – What are yours?

Posted on August 26, 2014 by RonaGofstein — No Comments ↓

On Saturday, August 16 the School Librarian’s Workshop Facebook page achieved a major milestone. The 1,000^th member joined. Less than a year ago we had just passed the 400 mark. Knowing I am reaching so many librarians (although not all our members are librarians) humbles me and makes me excited about the future of School Librarian’s Workshop, the e-newsletter the page represents.

The achievement also has me contemplating the importance of milestones in our lives. The term goes back to the ancient Romans and refers to the stones placed on the roads they built to let travelers know how far they had come. For me, it brings to mind the Ursula LeGuinn quote, “It’s good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” Focusing only on a journey’s end means you miss a lot along the way. Celebrating what you have achieved and reached is far more rewarding.

Birthdays and wedding anniversaries, particularly the decade ones, are familiar life milestones. So are graduations and reaching a number of years on a job you love. One big milestone in my life was becoming a lifetime member of Weight Watchers nearly ten years ago. Since then my milestones come every year as I continue to maintain my nearly fifty-pound weight loss.

Which brings me to my next thought about milestones. We tend to mark the big ones, but let the little ones slip by unnoticed. It’s important for all of us to take time to celebrate our achievements, big and small. We spend too much time focusing on what we haven’t done. Looking at our accomplishments is what motivates us to move forward, taking risks when necessary.

Setting small achievable goals, (a Weight Watcher maxim), is a good way to discover what you can do and how good it feels to acknowledge your success. With the stresses in today’s school environment, it is easy to be overwhelmed and feel you are not accomplishing anything. Pick one thing that will get you closer to your vision for your program or what you really want it to look like. Perhaps have an online book club for students. Work with one teacher on a project. Whatever it is, focus on that small goal. Then when you achieve it, celebrate it as a milestone on your journey.

So, what milestone have you recently achieved or are remembering? Any you plan to reach before the end of the year?

Tagged with: anniversary, celebrate, celebration, facebook, Hilda K Weisburg, Hilda Weisburg, librarians, members, milestones
Posted in General

Lessons From the Past – The More Things Change…

Posted on August 11, 2014 by RonaGofstein — No Comments ↓

Today the August/ September issue of School Librarian’s Workshop will be emailed to subscribers. It is the 35^th volume year. On this major anniversary it seems fitting to look back in time. The first issue appeared on September 1980. It was 16 pages and was mailed out every month from September to June. As today, there were no ads and articles were written jargon-free. Today, the issues come out every other month, are at least 24 pages long (and sometimes more), and require no postage

The masthead of that issue looks so very dated. The font is quaint. And yet it points to an ongoing theme in school librarianship. It’s laughable now to see the filmstrip projector and the 16mm reel. Of course headphones are still in use, but those were for listening stations. Technology has definitely come a long way. But – it is clear that from the beginning technology has been integral to what we do as librarians. Five years from now the tech we are using will be archaic. What remains the same is we will be the tech integrators.

Instead of Tech Today, the first issue had a column on Media Management. The article was entitled “Saving Money on Audio Equipment.” The equipment has changed, but we are still looking for ways to stretch our budget dollars. Some columns have parallels to ones in today’s issue. The Pencil Game was like the Puzzler, Reference Topic of the Month compares with Research to Go, and Library Skills Teaching Unit has been replaced by the Information Literacy Unit.

Under slightly different headings, the first issue had a bulletin board, poetry, and book reviews. Promoting the school library program has been an ongoing thread. September 1980 had a column called Media Center PR. Today we talk about advocacy and connecting with our administrators and community.

Teaching students how to do research showed up as a two-part article in March and April 1981. We wrote then that students tend to want to grab an encyclopedia article and run with it. Then it was print. Today it’s Wikipedia. Then and now, we work on teaching student how (not what) to think, how to determine what they need to discover, and where they can find it. The new twist is having them realize not all sources are equally accurate, but we have always been working to have them cite everything.

A professional development article in that first April (1981) issue, “Coping with Computers: Learn Their Language” sounds funny today in its review of COBOL, FORTRAN, PL/1, RPG, and BASIC, but the next to last paragraph has an important message. “Computers are here to stay. They represent a new challenge. Meet it with enthusiasm not fear.”

I was right about computers, but more importantly it says something that remains true today. We are role models for lifelong learners. Change is inevitable, but our core roles have not changed. We remain leaders in embracing change and integrating it into our lives and the lives of our students.

Tagged with: changes, Hilda K Weisburg, Hilda Weisburg, new in the library, school librarian, School Librarian's Workshop, updates
Posted in General

Paradigms and Predictions – Exciting or Terrifying?

Posted on August 3, 2014 by RonaGofstein — No Comments ↓

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines a paradigm as “a … group of ideas about how something should be done, made, or thought about.” Unconsciously, we approach almost everything in life through a certain mindset. It is why those of us who are older struggle to incorporate the latest technology while kids use it effortlessly. It takes a great leap of thought to break through our paradigms and see other possibilities.

Technology brought us the classic tale of a company unable to see beyond its paradigm when Xerox, the premier copier of the day, foresightedly set up the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) staffed and funded it well, basically asking the “geeks” to create the future. They did. They came up bitmap displays, desktop publishing, laser printing, Ethernet, peer-to-peer and client server computers, and a graphic user interface (which Steve Jobs saw in 1979 and brought back to Apple). Xerox could have dominated computers, but they failed to see the uses for what was being invented. It was living in a paradigm that was coming to an end, but they couldn’t see it. More recently, Kodak failed to see how digital cameras would affect their market.

It is very hard to see the future from where we stand today. We only extrapolate from what is and hope we are guessing correctly. Even the aforementioned Steve Jobs, who brought the iPod to the world, had no idea what would spring from it. There is a huge “i-Industry” not only with Apple products but from those who make things for those products (docking stations, speakers, skins, etc.). Those looking at the first personal computers couldn’t see what people would really do with it.

Which brings me to predictions. I love reading them. They open my mind to possibilities. I just posted on the School Librarian’s Workshop Facebook page, an article entitled “21 Things that Will Become Obsolete in Education in 2020.” The ideas Shelley Blake-Plock puts forth are exciting. I like thinking classes will become ungraded and based on student interests and that school desks will disappear. I know students will cheer at the thought of AP exams and the SATs vanishing. I believe some of her ideas will happen. I am sure not all of them will.

Two push-pulls will be at work. The resistance of the education institutions to change is one. I am appalled that the individual student desk still exists and too many classrooms are still arranged in rows. Smartboards are often just fancy blackboards and students create products with tech glitz that have no more substance than the dioramas and posters of the 20^th century. On the other hand there are the kids who infiltrate the latest tech into schools. After much resistance, district after district is accepting BYOD (bring your own device).

My question is, how will this all play out? Can we even pretend to see what the future holds? Yet isn’t there a huge risk if we don’t attempt to envision it? What is “the next thing” and how will it change everything? And what are you looking forward to?

Tagged with: 21st century learning, changes. future, Hilda K Weisburg, Hilda Weisburg, librarians, libraries, library, paradigm shifts, support
Posted in Career, Librarian Life

Do You Know Your Stakeholders and How To Reach Them

Posted on July 29, 2014 by RonaGofstein — No Comments ↓

As school librarians we know students are our first priority. Most of us recognize that teachers follow close behind. Indeed where flexible scheduling exists, it’s hard to reach students without some connection with teachers. But what about your other stakeholders?

I often hear librarians complain their principal has no idea what they do. But whose fault is that? It’s our job to let administrators know what we do –and to what purpose. The challenge is doing it in a way that they listen to it. Memos are pretty much a dead form of communication – unless your administrator doesn’t handle tech well. Emails are not designed for length messages, but can be useful if used properly. So how do you reach them?

First a big Do Not .If and when your supervisor or principal drops by the library, if you are not in the middle of working with someone greet her and ask if she wants/needs something. Do not use this time to bring up any problems or concerns you have. The last thing you want is for her to associate you with complaints. If you are helping someone, excuse yourself briefly, check in with the administrator and let her know you will get back to her in a few minutes. For some reason principals seem to have a sixth sense and show up more often when the library is almost empty. Quickly explain the “lull” and say, “If you want to see the library as it usually is, I can send you a list of classes who will be coming that you might want to watch.” (That’s one good use of e-mails.)

The way to let your principal know what you do — and bring concerns to her attention is visually. Use a resource such as Animoto or, even better, Issuu to make your reports. And yes, you need to do reports even if they are not required. Monthly is usually too difficult but you should strive for quarterly. Focus on activities based on student learning (and how these connect to Common Core). Include short videos of students at work. Use graphs and other visuals to illustrate statistics. Don’t limit these to circulation figures. Look for more meaningful ones. How many students came to the library before school? After school? How many classes came? Highlight one or two outstanding projects, giving the name of the teacher. At the middle and high school, show how many different departments used the library.

Address concerns by highlighting what you are trying to achieve and why. Briefly explain what needs to be done to get there, and identify your suggestions for dealing with the obstacles. Brevity is key in all this. Avoid going into too much detail. If your principal wants more information, she’ll ask.

The beauty of this approach is that when your report is interesting, your principal will likely include it, or at least information from it the Superintendent and from there to an important group of stakeholders most librarians forget –Board of Education members. Although not always seen in the school they ultimately play a life or death role in the library program. It is good advocacy to get to know who they are and what their chief concerns and interests are. A number of participants in my ALA Editions e-course decided to make the Board members a focus, planning to attend at least some meetings and targeting one board member a year. Do inform your principal before sending something to a Board member, but opening that channel of communication will result in more stakeholders knowing the value of the library program?

Does your principal know what you do? How well do you know Board members?

Tagged with: administrators, Hilda K Weisburg, librarian, librarians, principal, school librarian, stake holders, students, support, teachers
Posted in Career

Transformation – A New Mission Statement for Us All

Posted on July 21, 2014 by RonaGofstein — No Comments ↓

AASL just changed its Mission Statement to the extremely succinct and very powerful, “The American Association of School Librarians empowers leaders to transform teaching and learning.” It assumes that librarians are and will be leaders and it’s putting its resources behind the concept of transforming how students are taught and what they should be able to do as a result of their learning. For years ALA has been talking about how libraries transform communities. And it’s quite true that libraries can be and often are community anchors providing free information and services without regard for anyone’s ability to pay.

It needs to be equally true that school libraries transform the educational community. When there is an active, certificated librarian with adequate funding for the library program, this is the case. School librarians instill a love of reading (leaving it to teachers to teach the “how”) and guide students to discover how to develop research strategies so the information they find is relevant and accurate, crafting (hopefully in collaboration with teachers) projects which connect them to a global perspective where they create new content of value to others. In addition, school librarians are skilled tech integrators and help teachers incorporate the latest advances, websites, and apps into the curriculum.

But this ideal doesn’t happen everywhere. It certainly isn’t present in schools that have closed their school libraries or put them in the hands of well-motivated but untrained volunteers. The transformational potential of school libraries is also usually absent in schools where the librarian is overworked and underfunded.

What is needed with this new mission statement and directive is a transformation of school librarianship. School librarians must re-evaluate how they do business, what they should do to be more effective, and how they can communicate what they are able to bring to students, teachers, administrators, parents, and even the wider community. I am looking forward to seeing how the new mission will be put into action as part of AASLs new strategic plan as well as hearing how librarians are living this in their schools.

How does this new statement affect the Mission Statement you have for your library? Now is the time to be thinking of it so you are ready when school starts. And if you need help – just email me at hilda@slworkshop.net. I’m here to help you be indispensable.

Posted in Uncategorized

Can They Picture It?

Posted on July 15, 2014 by RonaGofstein — No Comments ↓

I have been a voracious reader since I was a young child. Words have always been an important part of my life, so I never thought much about the pictures words were painting in my head. Sure, I knew seeing a movie of a book I had read always required a shift of view, even if I loved the movie version, because it didn’t look the way I had imagined. But that seemed so obvious it was not worth considering—until today.

As an ASCD member, I get their monthly Education Update. The lead in the July edition is called “When the Screen Goes Blank: Helping Students See What They Read.” Research done by Jeffrey Wilhelm of Boise State University shows that poor readers see only the words in their heads. They don’t form pictures which limits their understanding of text. As librarians we know that reading is so much more than decoding. It’s about making meaning (comprehension) and often reading is a means of making connection with the subject matter. You can’t connect and certainly you can’t get new ideas if all you are seeing are words.

What is interesting about this study is one big cause of students’ inability to visualize what they are reading is they had little or no contact with picture books. Sad and obviously damaging. And it is one more reason why students desperately need to have elementary librarians in their schools. I have noticed non-librarians tend to read picture books to kids differently. Many of them read a page, then flash the picture. They may ask a question or two about it, but there is a small disconnect. When I was an elementary (and a children’s) librarian, I held the book with the spine in my palm, angling it so I could read the text while keeping the pictures in constant view. I practiced and became smooth at passing the book to my other hand without a break in the story to be able to read the facing page. At all times students were focused on the pictures, not on me.

As a high school librarian, I can remember having fun with a purpose by reading picture books to my much more sophisticated students to set the tone for a unit. Patricia Polacco’s Pink and Sayserved as a prelude to a study of Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage. They needed both emotional and visual connections to that time period to aid in their comprehension of the story.

Kathy Barclay of the Rowland Reading Foundation says students need to read with all five senses, identifying what they smell and feel in addition to what they see. In writing my YA fantasy, Woven through Time, I found pictures to help me focus better on what I was envisioning in my brain. I realize I was also smelling salt water when they neared the sea and the woodsy scent when my characters were in the forest. To fully “get” the story, students must become a part of it.

What techniques can you suggest to students (and teachers) to help poor readers at all levels learn to visualize what is happening on the printed page?

Tagged with: Hilda Weisburg, picture books, reading, reading to kids, school librarian, students
Posted in Career

How Do You Get PD?

Posted on July 7, 2014 by RonaGofstein — No Comments ↓

Professional development is not simple for school librarians. Most of the time, what your school and district offer have only a tangential relationship to what you need - and want – to learn. In order to grow professionally, you must take responsibility for it yourself. So where do you get it?

I am just back from the American Library Association’s Annual Conference, held this year in Las Vegas (and I admit that I hope they don’t go back there any time soon). Conferences are one of the best sources for my professional development because not only do I learn from the programs and the vendor exhibits, I also network with colleagues from across the country. Despite Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and the other social networks, these personal conversations alert me to new ideas and the people who are putting them into action. I know not everyone can afford the cost –or the time—to attend national conferences so other sources are needed.

Everyone is now on summer vacation – no matter whether your school year ends in May or June so it’s the perfect time to focus on your personal learning. Are you reading any books from ALA editions, ABC-CLIO, ASCD, Capstone Professional or other publishers of professional literature? You may have had little or no time to read professional journals during the school year now is a good time to catch up. (Don’t forget to take a closer look at School Librarian’s Workshop. There are PD articles every month.)

What areas do you want to strengthen? Do you want to be more pro-active working with teachers on Common Core? Need to learn more on how the library can support STEM in the school? Check for webinars – most are free.

If you are a member of Linkedin (I am), look for groups related to schools and school libraries. AASL has one and there is one for International School Librarians and for School Librarians. You can start a discussion on a topic of interest to you and get feedback. Find leaders to follow on Twitter and join some of the weekly chats.

Currently I am facilitating Being Indispensable: A School Librarian’s Guide to Proving Your Value and Keeping Your Job, a course I wrote for ALA Editions based on my book. Judging from participants’ posts on the discussion boards they are developing new skills and perspectives for learning how to promote their programs and being visible and vital to various stakeholders. I was told there is now a waiting list for the next time I give the course. (If you are interested, contact Dan Freeman dfreeman@ala.org.)

Summer will be over all too soon. Share what you are doing for your professional development, and if you haven’t started yet, there is no time like the present. Remember – you are a lifelong learner too!

Posted in Uncategorized

Ethics and Values – What Guides You Through Rough Days

Posted on June 23, 2014 by RonaGofstein — No Comments ↓

This past Tuesday, June 19, the American Library Association (ALA) commemorated the 75^th anniversary of the Library Bill of Rights, adopted by the association at its Annual Conference in 1939. It still forms the basis of the work done by the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom and was passed in response to Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath being banned in several locations and, as the press release notes, “by the rising tide of totalitarianism around the world.”

The Library Bill of Rights has been amended and reaffirmed several times since its adoption. Its existence has always made me proud to be a librarian, standing up for the freedom of access to information for everyone. Along with Code of Ethics it reminds me of why we librarians, whether school, public, academic, or other, are so important in a democracy. It’s not always easy, and many librarians have faced challenges by individuals and well-funded groups who want to remove books and other materials in conflict with their own personal beliefs. They don’t understand that libraries are for all, and in a democracy we don’t foist our viewpoints and perspectives on others. My personal credo is that every library should have something that offends someone—including the librarian who purchased it.

I have been thinking a lot about Ethics and Values this week not only because of the 75^th anniversary of that momentous statement by ALA, but also because the participants in my e-course, Being Indispensable: A School Librarian’s Guide to Proving Your Value and Keeping Your Job, are looking at their personal Code of Values. These are the basic principles that inform your choices on a daily basis. I used to have my students write their philosophy about the school library program, but I have come to recognize they are more focused when they can list the values that inspire them and make them proud of what they are doing even on those tough days.

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) lists nine Core Beliefs at the beginning of the AASL Standards for the 21^st-Century Learner which in essence are Core Values. Most of us have a personal code of values sometimes rooted in religion but often are about our ethics and morality in dealing with others. We rarely think about them or list them, but if asked we can state our guiding principles. As librarians, I believe it is imperative that we identify what our Core Values are.

Share some of yours.

Posted in Uncategorized

Connecting in the 21st Century

Posted on June 16, 2014 by RonaGofstein — No Comments ↓

Those of us in education throw around the phrase “21^st Century Learning,” and while the phrase resonates with parents and others who want their children to be prepared for their future (or “College and Career Readiness” as the Common Core State Standards phrase it), they have little understanding of what that means. You can give a lengthy explanation of what you are doing to ensure students are getting 21^st Century skills, but your listeners’ eyes will glaze over long before you are done.

We seem to fluctuate between telling non-educators too much or incorporating too many terms such as “information literacy” and “deeper reading” which border on jargon (if it sounds like it needs quotes around it – it’s probably jargon), making us sound knowledgeable but imparting little information or worse, making our community feel ignorant. When I explain what 21^st century skills are, I say they can be reduced to three words: Connect, Collaborate, and Create, all of which must be present in a 21^st century lesson.

“Collaborate” is obvious. Students need to work with each other. We are in a participatory culture and working alone (or writing a paper for one reader) is not how the world now operates. “Create” is a reminder that students are not supposed to be reproducing what is already known. Innovation and growth—which is vital to the future of our country—does not come from repeating what has been done before. We expect students to turn the information they have gathered into something new. School Library leaders and professors refer to the importance of making meaning and content creation. It’s a big challenge.

“Connect” is an aspect that can be the most exciting. On the simplest level, it refers to students connecting with multi-type resources across a range of platforms, known as “transliteracy.” But on a larger scale, “Connect” has them reaching out beyond the walls of the library and school and, at its best, extending across borders.

In the upcoming August/ September 2014 issue of School Librarian’s Workshop, Shannon McClintock Miller reports on a project with her 3^rd grade students that started with their own interest in Rainbow Loom bracelets. Using a variety of online resources they shared their project, connecting with children in an orphanage in Mangalore, India. Her young students have learned what it is to be a member of the global community. That’s 21^st century learning!

Look for ways to have your students reach out and connect with the world. Libraries are so much larger than their walls. How are you explaining and showing this to your community? Do you need support?

Tagged with: 21st century learning, collaborate, connect, connection, create, Hilda K Weisburg, Hilda Weisburg, learning, library, support
Posted in Career, Librarian Life

Creating and Extending Community

Posted on June 9, 2014 by RonaGofstein — No Comments ↓

Most school—and public—librarians are committed to libraries being “open” 24/7. Our users can access resources from home or on the go from multiple devices. But we also need to be mindful of another function we serve. Our libraries should be community builders. One part of the Declaration for the Right to Libraries says, “LIBRARIES BUILD COMMUNITIES.

Libraries bring people together, both in person and online, to have conversations

and to learn from and help each other. Libraries provide support for seniors,

immigrants and others with special needs.”

It may seem at first reading that the statement refers to public libraries, but if your library becomes a community anchor for your school and beyond, you will be recognized as an invaluable resource—indispensable to those you serve. What does it mean for a school library to build a community? And more challenging, how can you create it?

A few weeks ago, my blog post was entitled “Safe in the Library,” and that is the first step. When students and teachers find the library to be a haven, it can easily morph into becoming the heart of the educational community. Bulletin boards and displays promoting the interests of teachers and students (and possibly administrators) attract attention. Publicizing resources connected to extracurricular activities—both those established by the school as well as those students of all ages engage in on their own—make the library a regular stopping place.

As the Declaration suggests, you can also create avenues for online conversations (Edmodo is one way) will position you as central to your users communicating across grade and age levels. Hosting Makerspace events bring new and regular patrons into your library. Perhaps a teacher is an expert for one of these meetings, and students get interact with him or her in new ways. Having kids showcase a personal interest or skill by leading a presentation gives them a sense of ownership and increases their self-esteem.

And don’t forget outreach. Some school libraries have organized Family Literacy nights which ties directly into a basic role of the library program. You can promote local clubs and organizations, including adult ones, to raise awareness of what is happening in the extended community—and making them conscious of you and your program. A member of a garden club might come in and give a demonstration. Once you learn what is out there, you can be creative in involving them with the school and the library with them (Don’t forget to get administrative approval first.) And, of course, reach out to your public library and to any local colleges and universities. Libraries and librarians need to work together to support each other and build communities.

Have you done any community-building in your school library? What other suggestions do you have?

Posted in Librarian Life