Category: Learning Commons

We All Have Different Roles to Play... And That Is Okay

10/2/2018

Colleen Simpson is the library media specialist at the Lester J. Gates Middle School in Scituate
and a 2018 President’s Award winner.

The question of what the space of the library means for learners is something that is often posed to librarians and certainly we can come up with a lot of answers. Maybe you built a makerspace and now you are maximizing a portion of your library for hands-on student activities. Perhaps you’ve added flexible seating and movable furniture where students are working in both high and low spaces, standing, sitting, even cycling while they read. One of the elements of our job is to take the space we have, and see every inch to its ultimate utilization.

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Making Waves: Connecting Community, Inquiry, and the School Library

5/7/2016

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Samantha Whitney is a librarian at Gloucester High School
and a winner of a 2016 MSLA President's Award

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, and find your eternity in each moment.”
― Henry David Thoreau

While completing course work in my school library teacher program, one of my professors advised us to lay low, observe behaviors in leadership, identify those with influence and to not make waves in the first couple of years on the job. I often reflect on this advice as I pass the ocean every day on my way to school and how happy I am that I did not completely follow that advice. Getting involved in my community and making waves helped to advance my school library program initiatives and position the library as an integral learning resource. Most importantly, the decision to jump in quickly has made me a confident, knowledgeable, and effective teacher.

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Welcome to the Library

5/7/2016

2 Comments

Pamela Vallee is a Librarian at Lunenburg High School in Lunenburg, MA
and a winner of a 2016 Super-Librarian Award

I realize it is difficult to capture what I do each day. Every morning before I leave my house, I open the library schedule to check which classes are coming and gauge what the day might bring. But as organized as I try to be, I never know who will need me. Some days I am tied to my desktop computer trying to answer research or technology questions or make important updates to the website. Some days I am literally running back and forth across the library trying to help two or more classes at the same time. Some days I feel like a traffic cop directing students to open tables or available computers. Some days I discover that I need to be an emergency substitute and absorb extra classes into the library. Some days I am in other parts of the school assisting teachers and students with technology problems. In addition to the daily demands, I just finished teaching my first online PD course and need to create the next one. And our current high school will be torn down in a couple of months, so I have been weeding, organizing, packing and planning for the move into the new building and need to pack up everything in the library soon.

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We All Have Different Roles to Play... And That Is Okay

Making Waves: Connecting Community, Inquiry, and the School Library

Welcome to the Library

Forum Newsletter

Co-Editors
Katherine Steiger
Reba Tierney

Categories

Archives

We All Have Different Roles to Play... And That Is Okay

Making Waves: Connecting Community, Inquiry, and the School Library

Welcome to the Library

Forum Newsletter

Co-EditorsKatherine SteigerReba Tierney

Categories

Archives

Co-Editors
Katherine Steiger
Reba Tierney